Module 1: Environment Management (Notes)
Environmental management is concerned with the links between human social, cultural, and economic systems with the natural world, including both living (biotic) and non living (abiotic) components of the biophysical environment.
Environmental policy is about the utilization of natural resources (water, land, forest, minerals, wildlife, air, wind energy, solar etc.)
Techniques for environmental management
- Environmental laws, regulation, and policy.
- Environmental monitoring
- Enforcement.
- Education.
- Technical interventions
The objectives
The objective of environmental management is to improve the quality human life for the current generation and posterity
The manner
It involves the mobilization of resources
The use of government to administer the use of both natural and economic goods and services.
It uses systems analysis and conflict resolution to distribute the costs and benefits of development activities
Uses the principles of ecology which is interdependence of both living (biotic)and non living (abiotic) components.
Therefore, many activities are designed to use, improve, protect, and guard goods and services for development and conservation purposes
Integrating Environment and development
For an effective and practical approach in integrating environment and development the three aspects i.e. environmental, social and economic, have to be analyzed jointly.
Social Development
The part of the diagram labelled 'social equity' comprises a number of issues. Foremost, it emphasizes that any development has to be people centred, that is the involvement of the family, community groups and the individual in a particular place.
Social development therefore refers to equity, empowerment, participation, social mobility, social cohesion, cultural identity and institutional progress.
Economic Growth
Economic growth represents the interaction of economic institutions such as trade, commerce, finance departments, and the national planning office in the Nation.
To achieve the desired economic standard, it is a balancing exercise between wise use of available resources and fair social progress.
In this sense economic growth must be efficient and equitable.
Environmental Protection
This covers ecological issues, their utilization and guardianship.
Economic and social improvements have to be undertaken with attention to ecosystem integrity, carrying capacity, biodiversity and global environmental issues.
The Concept of Sustainable Development and its Implications
The resources of the entire world should be developed to the fullest possible extent with available means
The issue of rational utilization and sustainable development is very relevant now that the world population is growing very fast while the available resource to meet man’s need is decreasing at increasing rate
Development is dynamic process in which there is no end point
The technologically advanced nations continue to seek new means of improving their utilization of natural resource or for enhancing the conditions of the environment in which their people live.
At the same time the less advanced countries strive to reach level of economic well being which advanced nations have achieved.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development is defined as “the development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987).
This definition implies that sustainable development involves policies, strategies and programmes that do not make it more difficult for the development process to be continued by future generations than it is for present generations.
However, sustainable development has been confused with “development,” “sustainable growth,” and “sustainable use” this is why the following definitions have been put forward
Sustainable development means improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems.
Sustainable economy is the product of sustainable development it maintains its natural resource base and it can continue to develop by adapting to changing circumstances and through improvements in knowledge organization, technical efficiency and wisdom.
Sustainable living indicates the lifestyle of an individual who feels the obligation to care for nature and for every human individual and who acts accordingly.
Any kind of sustainability must involve Conservation which according to Jacobs
(1988), is an indispensable part of a wide field known as “the wise utilization of natural resources” aiming at utilization ad infinitum. It aims at
i. Maintaining essential ecological processes and life support systems.
ii. Preserving genetic diversity
iii. Ensuring the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems.
Requirements for SD (WCED, 1987)
a) A political system that secures effective citizen participation
b) An economic system that is able to generate surpluses and technical knowledge on a self reliant basis
c) A social system that provides solutions for tensions arising from disharmonious development
d) A production system that respects the obligation to preserve the ecological base for development,
e) A technological system that can search continuously for new solutions,
f) An international system that fosters sustainable patterns of trade and finance, and an administrative system that is flexible and has the capacity for self correction
Principles of Sustainable development
a) Respect and care for the community of life.
b) Improve the quality of human life.
c) Conserve the earth’s vitality and diversity.
d) Minimize the depletion of non renewable resources.
e) Keep within the earth’s carrying capacity.
f) Change personal attitudes and practices.
g) Enable communities to care for their own environments.
h) Provide a national framework for integration, development, and conservation.
Create a global alliance
It is obvious from the above that sustainable development entails
a) The embodiment of environmental concerns in development activities and technological use and
b) Necessary changes in attitudes, behavior, philosophy, moral, ethical values, religious practices, and relationships among human beings and between humans on the one hand and organisms or things on the other at the local, national, regional and global levels.
Sustainable development policies
Sustainable development can be interpreted in economic terms as “development that lasts” (Pearce and Barbier, 2000) i.e. a path along which the maximization of human well being for today’s generations does not lead to declines in future well being.
Important elements of sustainable development policies
- Long term planning horizons
- Pricing
- Delivery of public goods
- Cost effectiveness
- Environmental effectiveness
- Policy integration
- Precaution
- Transparency and accountability
- International cooperation
Social capital refers to networks, shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co operation within and among groups (OECD, 2001)
In practice, the concept of social capital is difficult to make operational and to measure,
However, Putnam (2001) has developed proxy measures based on statistics of
a) The amount of involvement in community and organizational life
b) Public engagement (e.g. voting)
c) Volunteer community activities
d) Informal sociability (e.g. visiting friends)
e) Reported levels of interpersonal trust
A number of studies suggest that social connectedness is correlated with physical and emotional health, lower crime rates, and performance of government institutions.
Measuring sustainable development
Measuring sustainable development at an aggregate level is difficult since it requires a broad integration of indicators of economic, environmental, and social changes
However, much recent work on measuring progress towards sustainable development has addressed specific issues, such as measuring climate change or the environmental and social impacts of particular sectors (e.g. agriculture, energy and transport).
These extensions are aimed at recording changes in environmental assets, and highlighting environment related transactions (e.g. pollution abatement and control expenditure).
Extensions to the social area may also allow the linking of accounts measuring employment, human capital, and the distribution of household income and consumption among various socio economic groups
Reconciling development policies with environmental objectives
The National Environmental Policy of Tanzania provides for the execution, a range of strategic functions using the policy instruments.
Instruments for environmental policy
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Environmental legislation
- Economic Instruments
- Environmental standards and indicators
- Precautionary Approach
- International Cooperation
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