The ill effects of a degraded environment to the human health and economic development was already recognized since the dawn of time. In the 5th century BC for example, Plato linked the massive soil erosion to the loss of timber that had denuded the hills and plains of Athens, Greece (Williams, 200...
BASIC ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS
The ill effects of a degraded environment to the human health and economic development was
already recognized since the dawn of time. In the 5th century BC for example, Plato linked the massive
soil erosion to the loss of timber that had denuded the hills and plains of Athens, Greece (Williams,
2006). Denuded forest was also linked to the fall of the Roman Empire with the addition of other serious
environmental concerns (Ahn, E, undated). Ingenious solutions were found and improved thru time.
Technological advancement had posed serious environmental problems. However, it has also
contributed to the progress of the science based solutions such as in obtaining and analyzing the data,
modeling and in examining the interactions and the impacts of human activities to the different
environmental compartments. Such result is imperative in the effective planning and environmental
management.
There is no exact definition to the term environmental management. Besides, it does not
actually involve managing the environment itself. It is rather a process of taking steps 'and influencing
others do positive impact to the environment like the conservation of resources, planning for the
environment, evaluation of the status of the environment, and environmental legislation and
administration. For the purpose of the discussions in this course the description below will be adopted
for environmental management:
"the process of allocating natural and man-made resources so as to make optimum use of the
environment in satisfying not only the present basic human needs but of the coming generations".
Environmental management has the following characteristics:
It is concerned with the impact of human activities to the environmental compartments;
It aims toward achieving sustainable development;
It demands a multidisciplinary approach;
It has to integrate different development viewpoints;
It concerns with short-term and long-term planning as well as from local to global scale; and
It seeks to integrate natural and social science, policy making and planning.
Purpose of Environmental Management
Thirty years since the culmination of the sustainable development concept and it has been
accepted as development framework by many countries of the world. Much awareness has been
developed regarding environmental protection and quality of life. Environmental management emerged
and also accepted as a tool for sustainable development.
Throughout the world, particularly in developing countries, there is an urgent need for the
management of the total environment.
, Environmental Management Principles
Environmental management refers to those activities which enhance beneficial links and minimize
adverse links among resources systems and their environments, and which seek to attain desirable
environmental system states, in response to community perceptions and desires, under prevailing socio -
economic and technological conditions.
In particular, the goals of resources management are often single purpose, whereas those of
environmental management are invariably multi-purpose’ this is because resources management
focuses only on its resource system while environmental management deals with both resource system
and their environments. Further, community needs and value are fundamental to environmental
management goal setting.
Environmental management principles help guide and shape the way people interact with the
environment as nations develop.
The Principles of Environmental Management:
These are some guiding principles of environmental management. These principles are helpful in
environmental decision making.
1. The Polluters Pay Principle (PPP)
For the last two decades, many economists have suggested that firms discharging
polluting effluents to the environment should somehow be made to pay a price for such
discharges related to the amount of environmental damage caused.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has suggested the
Polluter Pays principles (PPP) as a general basis for the environmental policy. It states that if
measures are adopted to reduce pollution, the costs should be borne by the polluters. According
to the OECD Council, “The principle to be used for allocating costs of pollution prevention and
control measures to encourage rational use of scarce environmental resources and to avoid
distortions in international trade and investment is the so-called Polluter Pays Principle.” The
essential concern of this principle is that polluters should bear the costs of abatement without
subsidy.
The Polluter Pays Principle, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of India, means that
the absolute liability for harm to the environment extends not only to compensate the victims of
pollution but also the cost of restoring the environmental degradation. Thus, it includes
environmental costs as well as direct costs to people or property. Remediation of the damaged
environment is part of the process of sustainable development and as such the polluter is liable
to pay the cost to the individual sufferers as well as the costs of reversing the damaged ecology.
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