Climate change is one of the major threats of our era, affecting business and the daily life of individuals, and with a possible fatal outcome for the world. It also has a negative influence on water supplies and ecosystems. These important and impressive facts not only hamper develop­ment of a society, but also increase the risks and problems of doing business. To address these issues, the third Sustainable Develop­ment Congress was organised by the Business Council for Sustainable Development, Turkey (TBCSD) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), in partnership with Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Faculty of Civil Engineering and the International Society for Photogrametry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). The congress was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 21st to 22nd May, 2008 and acted as a guideline for understanding sustainable development within the framework of the search for business opportunities. Equally important is the conducting of R&D by companies to produce solutions. The congress featured 33 important national and international speakers.

International
WBCSD president Mr Bjorn Stigson highlighted the fact that today’s world was resource and carbon-constrained, and that costs of raw material and energy would continue to rise. To create a low carbon-emitting and non-polluting so­ciety it was necessary to put a price on carbon emissions. “If business is to give specific recommendations on a new global climate-change framework,” he said, “it must be done in a timely manner.” He stated the need for Turkish businesses to engage internationally, because the rules of the game could not be determined by an individual country alone. Sustainable development was a cornerstone of EU policy. Other speakers discussed relations between climate change and development, giving facts and figures on the impact of business on Europe and Turkey. The most important topics involved reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which requires investment in alternative energy and carbon trading. Two parallel tracks, ‘Sustainability in the Construction Sector’ and ‘Sustainable Mobility’, focused on sector-specific solutions.

Earth Observation
The second day was mainly devoted to water and ecosystems. The most important message came from the Ministry for the Environment and Forestry, on signature of the Kyoto Protocol. Mr Suleyman Demirel, ninth President of the Republic of Turkey, was honorary guest. Describing the south-east Anatolian Project (GAP) as the first and biggest sustainable development project in Turkey, he went on, “When GAP is completed, nearly four million people will be living in a sustainable way, with new job opportunities. Thus the annual earning per family will increase by 209%.” ISPRS president Ian Dowman and secretary-general Orhan Altan provided eye-opening presentations focusing on the importance of earth-observation data for monitoring a variety of facets of the environment, ranging from climate change, through water management to disaster mitigation.