Environmental Management: Sustainable Development and Environmental Impacts
Environmental Management
Environmental management refers to the set of legislative, economic, political, and technical measures designed to ensure responsible use of natural resources and minimize the potential impacts of human activities on the environment, with the aim of achieving sustainable development.
Models of Development
2.1 Uncontrolled Development
Uncontrolled development prioritizes economic growth above all other ecological considerations. Its ultimate goal is profit, and its growth is measured by the increase in economic activities. However, this type of development is unsustainable for several reasons:
- Natural resources are limited, and uncontrolled demand can lead to their depletion.
- Uncontrolled exploitation of resources is achieved through an increase in human activities, which can have negative environmental consequences.
- It increases the gap between countries with different levels of development.
Proponents of economic growth-based development models argue that:
- Control measures have been established to regulate the exploitation of resources.
- Environmentally friendly technologies have been developed to prevent environmental degradation resulting from industrial activities.
- Differences between countries cannot be used to justify this type of development, as it is based on these differences.
2.2 Sustainable Development
In response to studies showing that the uncontrolled development model was unsustainable, various movements emerged to curb this trend, one of which was conservationism.
The solution proposed by the conservation model was known as”zero growth”
Conservationism is a development model that advocates for freezing population and industrial growth worldwide and distributing wealth evenly to maintain the current model. It argues that continuing on the current path will lead to economic and environmental collapse.
However, the proposed solution was not viable for the following reasons:
- It is not possible to freeze population growth in a radical way.
- Freezing industrial growth would not resolve the differences between rich and poor.
- Distributing wealth equitably is a utopian concept that conflicts with the reality of the established global economic society.
The conservation model has evolved and adapted to the realities of today’s society.
In 1992, the first Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro.
The summit advanced the understanding of what constitutes development that is compatible with the Earth’s capacity and human needs.
This model of development is called sustainable development.
Sustainable development is based on the use of resources while respecting the environment, without preventing humans from achieving a desirable quality of life from social and economic perspectives.
It is based on the notion of maintaining a balance between humans and nature and considers the following:
- Development is sustainable when it integrates economic, social, and environmental factors.
- Social development and economic growth must be balanced.
- The economic model must prioritize environmental values.
- Environmental protection must be adapted to human needs.
Achieving sustainable development is challenging, but it is necessary to pursue this type of development.
Sustainability
Sustainability refers to the use of natural resources below their capacity for renewal, the production of waste below the carrying capacity of the environment, and the conduct of activities in accordance with the assimilative capacity of the environment.
Environmental Education
Environmental education is the process of recognizing, valuing, and fostering concepts to enhance the skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the interrelationships between people, their culture, and their biophysical environment.
Environmental Impacts
An environmental impact is any disruption caused to the environment due to human activity.
Not all changes are necessarily negative; some actions can improve the environment. However, environmental impacts are generally considered to be negative changes, such as pollution and deforestation.
The first evidence of any environmental impact is often a landscape impact.
Environmental impacts can be classified as either global or terrestrial subsystem impacts.
Global Impacts
Global impacts are those that have consequences around the world, such as the greenhouse effect.
Impacts on Terrestrial Subsystems
The main impacts on terrestrial subsystems include:
- Atmospheric composition changes, acid rain, noise pollution, light pollution
- Hydrosphere: Changes in temperature, over-exploitation of groundwater, pollution, eutrophication
- Geosphere: Soil loss, pollution, desertification
- Biosphere: Extinction of species, alteration of ecosystems, loss of habitat
Indicators of Environmental State
Studying the environment requires a series of parameters that objectively indicate its state. These are called environmental indicators.
An environmental indicator should provide a way to assess the state of the environment through a simple analysis.
Environmental indicators provide information on three types of aspects:
- Alteration induced by human activities on the environment
- Actual environmental status
- Compliance with measures taken to achieve a lower state or reduce environmental damage
The choice of a particular type of indicator allows us to draw conclusions about the degree of impact of human activities, the state of the planet, or the level of impact reduction measures taken.
Magnitude of Environmental Impact
The magnitude of an environmental impact is the degree of disturbance caused by an environmental indicator, measured on a scale of 1 to 10.
To estimate the environmental impact of certain actions on a particular medium, the following factors must be considered:
- Environmental quality: A measure of the set of properties, elements, and features of the environment that indicate the need to preserve the environmental system
- Environmental fragility: The capacity of a given environmental system to withstand an impact without being altered
- Capacity: The resistance of the environment to the introduction of an activity
To assess the impact of introducing certain activities on a medium, an impact study is performed that includes an array of carrying capacity that reflects the change that will occur on each unit of land.