Working Paper Tackling Light Pollution for Sustainability: an Approach for the Vesancy-Versoix Bio-Corridor of Grand Genève LUDWIG, Kerstin & Collaboration BALSIGER, Jörg (Collab.) Abstract Do we still need the pristine night sky? Indeed, there is a problem. Globally, more than 80% of all people live under light polluted skies. The trend increases exponentially due to urbanization, road traffic, energy-efficient lighting technologies, municipal policies, and unawareness or rejection of the negative impacts of light pollution on all life forms and/or of possible solutions. Light pollution is unnecessary and / or excessive artificial light at night appearing as sky glow, glare, trespass or clutter. It fragments landscapes, harms human well-being and biodiversity, wastes energy and threatens food security. It also decreases our levels of empathy. From Geneva, Switzerland, one must travel more than 1,300 km to get away from it. In the cross-border setting of a Franco-Swiss biological corridor of Greater Geneva, we aim to tackle light pollution for sustainability. The analysis of two representative communes in the corridor shows high levels of light pollution (and an increasing rebound effect due to adoption of low energy-consumption lighting) as a result of inadequate socio-environmental policies. To reach the [...] Reference LUDWIG, Kerstin & Collaboration, BALSIGER, Jörg (Collab.). Tackling Light Pollution for Sustainability: an Approach for the Vesancy-Versoix Bio-Corridor of Grand Genève. 2017 Available at: http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:102605 Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version. 1 / 1 Light Pollution, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development in the Vesancy-Versoix Corridor Kerstin Ludwig Certificat de formation continue en Développement durable post-2015, édition 2017, Université de Genève Tackling Light Pollution for Sustainability – An Approach for the Vesancy-Versoix Bio-Corridor of Grand Genève Jury members: Professor Dr. Jörg Balsiger, University of Geneva and Mr. Vincent Scattolin, external expert at Municipality of Divonne les Bains and Community of Communes in Pays de Gex Geneva, 17 November 2017 Working Paper for UNIGE Open Archive, Revision dated 28 February 2018 Tackling Light Pollution for Sustainability – An Approach for the Vesancy-Versoix Corridor Table of Contents Executive Summary iii Introduction 9 Chapter 1 – Light Pollution and the Project 11 Chapter 2 – A Short History of Sustainable Development 15 Chapter 3 – SDGs and Light Pollution 34 Chapter 4 - Case study analysis for the Vesancy-Versoix corridor 49 Chapter 5 – DPSIR Analysis 57 Chapter 6 – Conclusions and Recommendations 64 Appendices 86 Acknowledgements 109 Bibliographical references 110 List of Tables Table 1: Impact of light pollution on selected SDG targets, and impact of selected SDG targets on light pollution Table 2: Reasons for the H/M/L impact ratings applied to light pollution in relation to the selected SDG targets Table 3: Cross-impacts of light pollution and 13 selected SDG targets Table 4: Prioritization of SDG targets relating to light pollution Table 5: Data on the two communes Table 6: Colour levels used in the New World Atlas maps and zoom in on study perimeter Table 7: Prioritised actions to reduce light pollution, grouped by SDG targets List of Figures Figure 1: Simplified system and its dynamics Figure 2: Tensions of sustainability in the search for equilibrium Figure 3: Planetary boundaries Figure 4: Risk of level of extinction (in %) of 10,350 animal, plant and mushroom species studied under the Red List Figure 5: (a) At night in Switzerland, (b) Light pollution in Europe, and (c) Forecast light pollution in Europe if transitioned to 4000 k CCT LED technology with the photopic flux of currently installed lamps Figure 6: Strong sustainability Figure 7: Vesancy-Versoix corridor Figure 8: The new world atlas of artificial sky brightness - Grand Genève Figure 9: Four ANPCEN labels Kerstin Ludwig II Tackling Light Pollution for Sustainability – An Approach for the Vesancy-Versoix Corridor Executive Summary Background Since the introduction of electric lighting, humanity has been ever more rapidly transforming our planet’s night environment, altering the natural cycle of day and night that has guided evolution since the beginning of life. This process has quickened significantly over recent decades due to urban growth and increased wealth. The introduction of new low-energy, low-cost lighting technology in recent years has resulted in a rebound effect, causing lighting at night to accelerate even further. According to a 2016 study in Science Advances, about 83% of the world’s population and more than 99% of the U.S. and European populations already live under skies that are “light-polluted”. In France, artificial light at night increased by 94 % since 1990. In Switzerland, light emissions into the night sky more than doubled between 1994 and 2012. This report considers light pollution as the excessive and unnecessary presence of artificial light at night that affects the night environment. The extent of light pollution varies depending on the light’s intensity and duration, the distances that it covers and its impacts. Light pollution results, for instance, in the sky glow that can be seen hovering over cities over long distances. It can also locally cause a blinding glare, which is disturbing and even dangerous. Clustering of lights is another manifestation of light pollution, as is the trespassing light that enters homes and other private spaces from without. Light pollution is now known to have substantial effects on all living beings. It impacts upon human health, affecting circadian rhythms, sleep patterns and hormonal balances that can lead to serious physical and mental illness. By restricting the view of the night sky, it additionally affects human emotional states, spiritual richness, culture and science (e.g. astronomy). There is strong evidence to suggest, furthermore, that excessive light at night may diminish – rather than increase, as is commonly believed – people’s safety and security. Very importantly, light pollution also has a dramatic impact on ecosystems, affecting feeding patterns and growth, migration, rest, reproduction and the resilience of animals, plants and other life forms, including micro-organisms. Loss of biological diversity is considered the most serious environmental problem facing our planet today. Out of the nine so-called “Planetary Boundaries” defined by Steffen et al. (2015), it is one of four areas (the others being biogeochemical flows – notably of nitrogen and phosphorus, land use change and climate change) where humanity has already exceeded the safe boundary and entered a danger zone. Globally, the rate of extinction per million species per year is 100 times greater than is specified in the boundary. Both France and Switzerland are facing substantial losses of biodiversity. Public perceptions, however, are far from this reality: over 70% of Swiss surveyed in 2016 believed, for instance, that the state of biodiversity in the country is “very good” or “fairly good”, despite evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless, the Swiss see conserving biodiversity as an essential “duty to future generations”, as a “connection” to nature and its “beauty”, and as a "moral obligation". This shows that there can be a very large gap between the actual and the perceived state of a country’s biodiversity, and between peoples’ intentions and their actions. Besides the ethical considerations, given the interconnections and dynamics of living systems, humans depend on nature. Destroying nature means cutting humans off from the resources necessary for our survival. Kerstin Ludwig III Tackling Light Pollution for Sustainability – An Approach for the Vesancy-Versoix Corridor Unnecessary or excessive artificial light at night also of course results in a waste of energy and of money, contributing substantially to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to poor use of resources. The above begins to illustrate the consequences of light pollution on what today we call “sustainable development”. Over the course of history, certain cultures have realised the obligation to protect and use the land and its resources in such a way that it will continue to serve their peoples into the future. In the face of the increasing dangers being faced by our planet, the international community has been discussing this matter from a global perspective since the early 1970s. In 1987, the Brundtland Report of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development formally defined sustainable development as “… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs…”. It thus must aim to achieve not only intragenerational but also intergenerational justice. Nevertheless, there continue to be differing views on how to approach sustainability, i.e. how to balance tensions and reach an equilibrium within the so-called “sustainability triangle” encompassing economic development, improvement of social conditions and the protection of nature. The so-called “weak” sustainability approach considers “natural capital” (i.e. nature as a resource) to be substitutable with social and economic capital. It aims to enhance economic efficiency and minimise the use of resources while improving human wellbeing. It places no limits on the use of natural capital, however, as long as the total end value for humans is increased. Thus,