Environment: Need for better Management Policy

Protecting the environment is a duty we hold in perpetuity. Each generation adds to the foundation, but finality is an illusion, almost like parallel lines meeting at the horizon: it doesn't happen. But still we need to look to the horizon and beyond. because that is where the solutions to our new challenges lie. As our reach should exceed our grasp, so must our vision extend beyond plain view.

Environment is integral to the overall process of development. It includes the relationship and interdependencies that exist between people and natural resources. Environmental change is thus the product not only of natural events, but also of the application of development models, practices and life-styles. In turn. any modification of the physical environment has important socioeconomic consequences that affect the quality of life.

The impact of changes in the physical environment on human well-being became an important public issue in the mid-1950s, mainly after pollution episodes led to health problems and the disruption of ecological balances. After the first major international meeting to review the environment the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, June 1972 an "environmental movement" emerged in both industrial and developing countries. It included the active participation of the public and private sectors alike.

If every human alive today consumed natural resources and emitted carbon dioxide at the same rate as the average American, European or Australian we would need at least another two earths, WWF, the conservation organization, revealed at the launch of its Living Planet Report 2000.

The same applies to the amount consumed by the average person in many of the world's richest coutnries including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom. Czech Republic. Hong Kong, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Estonia- Sweden, Norway. Finland. Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark. Kuwait, Singapore and United Arab Emirates.

The area required to produce the natural resources consumed and absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by mankind has doubled since 1961, and by 1996. was 30 percent larger than the area actually available.

"The only way to reverse these dangerous trends is to start considering the planet's natural resources seriously.".

"It is the consumers of the rich nations of the temperate northern regions of the world who are primarily responsible for the ongoing loss of natural wealth in the tropics," said Jonathan Loh, editor of the Living Planet Report.

The area needed to produce the natural resources consumed and absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by the average North American is almost twice the area required by the average Western European, and some five times greater than required by the average Asian, African and Latin American.

The Living Planet Index- WWF's measure of the state of natural ecosystems. produced in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Conservation Monitoring Center states that the combined natural wealth of forests, freshwater ecosystems and ocean environments has declined by abase. 33 percent since 1970, an average drop of about one percent per year.

Between 1970 and 1999. forests declined by 12 percent, freshwater eco systems declined by 50 percent and ocean environments declined by 35 % with the most severe deterioration occurring in the tropical and southern temperate regions of the world.

There have been some remarkable environmental successes over the past few years. However, while there used to be a long-time horizon for undertaking major environmental policy initiatives, time for a rational, well-planned transition to a sustainable system is running out fast. Full-scale emergencies now exist on a number of  issues. The world water cycle seems unlikely to be  able to cope wink the demands that will be made of it in the coming decades. Land degradation has reduced fertility and agricultural potential. These losses have negated many of the advances made through expanding agricultural areas and increasing productivity-Tropical forest destruction has gone too far to prevent irreversible damage. It would take many generations to replace the lost forests, and the cultures that have been lost with them can never be replaced. Many of the planet's species have already been lost or condemned to extinction because of the slow response times of both the environment and policy-makers; it is too late to preserve all the biodiversity our planet once had. Many marine fisheries have been grossly over-exploited, and their recovery will be slow. More than half of the world's coral reefs are threatened by human activities. While some may yet be saved, it is too late for many others. Urban air pollution problems are reaching crisis dimensions in many of the megacities of the developing world, and the health of many urban dwellers has been impaired. It is probably too late to prevent global warming as a result of increased greenhouse gas emissions; in addition, many of the targets agreed on in the Kyoto Protocol may not be met.

Environmental Issues

The single most important characteristic of the environmental movement has been the way that attitudes towards and knowledge about the environment have evolved. Twenty years ago the movement's emphasis was mainly on mitigating pollution and the destructive use of natural resources. Today we are interested in integrating environmental concerns with tine imperatives of economic growth and development. The initial perception of the environment as a constraint to economic activity has changed into an awareness that only by respecting functioning ecosystems is it possible to promote economic development in a healthy and sustainable manner and to take advantage of new opportunities that arise from appropriately using and/or conserving the environment. This issue is particularly important for developing nations, which need to keep promoting economic activities in order t6 improve the living standards of their people.

Awareness of resource depletion, the degradation of natural systems and the dangers of polluting substances has increased markedly in the past decade. These worsening conditions are destroying fragile ecosystems and displacing communities, especially women, from productive activities and are an increasing threat to a safe and healthy environment. Poverty and environmental degradation are closely interrelated. While poverty results in certain kinds of environmental stress, the major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized countries, which is a matter of grave concern, aggravating poverty and imbalances. Rising sealevels as a result of global warming cause a grave and immediate threat to people living in island countries and coastal areas. The use of ozone- depleting substances, such as products with chlorofluorocarbons, halons and methyl bromides (from which plastics and foams are made), are severely affecting the atmosphere, thus allowing excessive levels of harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the Earths surface. This has severe effects on people's health such as higher rates of skin cancer, eye damage and weakened immune systems. It also has severe effects on the environment, including harm to crops and ocean life.

This does not mean that we have resolved such issues as acid rain or the introduction of untested chemicals to the environment. Although there have been improvements in certain areas, some of the problems have become even more acute and widespread. Nevertheless, that such an evolution in understanding of the issues has occurred over recent years is in itself of major significance. In the process of this evolution, some important lessons have been learned-.

Although the effects of most environmental problems seemed restricted to specific geographical areas, we now know that many have become of global and regional significance, and that solutions have to be found at all levels. The production and consumption of chlorofluoro-carbons, for example, which occurs mostly in industrial countries, poses a threat to the ozone layer that protects all the earth's inhabitants and ecosystems from the sun's ultraviolet radiation.

Environmental issues in the 1980s became important mainly because of their economic and social implications. An example of this is the emission of greenhouse gases leading to climate change, with implications likely for the global ecological system. With warmer temperatures, some areas of the world might experience a reduction in water supplies, more soil erosion and flooding, and therefore fewer possibilities for food production. These effects, in turn, could easily result in more famine, social unrest and expensive rehabilitation programmes, especially in island and low-lying developing countries.

Current research into our living environment has provided new evidence of the severity of environmental issues. For example, the elimination of habitats. such as wetlands, and the felling of species-rich tropical rain forests is forcing plant and animal species to extinction in unprecedented numbers, eliminating reservoirs of fixed carbon, and restricting terrestrial and even marine mechanisms for sheltering carbon.

The key to successful global efforts to protect the environment lies in the broadest possible participation of the international community, including the availability of technical cooperation and financial mechanisms to aid developing countries. By the same token, the basis for successful local efforts depends on broad participation, especially by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that can support indigenous people's initiatives to protect, conserve and enhance their local environment.

The debate about the environment during the last five years has thus resulted in general agreement on three main points: the environment is a common concern to both industrial and developing countries, although the problems resulting from poverty and affluence are different; the solution of global environmental problems can only be achieved through international cooperation: and the integration of economic growth and environmental protection must be done according to a sustainable development approach.

The concept of sustainable development received wide international attention following its endorsement in the 1987 report by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). The Commissioners defined it as development that meets the needs of the present without limiting tlie potential to meet the needs of future generations. Within it are two key concepts:

The awareness of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and

The realization that limits to meeting people's current and future needs arc imposed by the current state of technology and social organizations.

The WCED maintained that the goals of economic and social development must be defined in terms of sustainability in all countries, industrial or developing. Physical sustainability cannot be secured unless development policies pay attention to considerations such as changes in access to resources and distribution of costs and benefits. The implementation of sustainable development has become one of the most important challenges of the 1990s.

Although the phrase ''sustainable development" is conceptually clear, the-actual mechanisms for realizing it are subject to considerable uncertainty. Different priorities have emerged between the developing and industrial countries given their immediate concerns.

Why, What and How ?

When considering and then implementing any environmental activity, three key factors should be appraised simultaneously: environmental management, sustainable development, and national objectives

Environmental management is the strategy by which human activities that affect the environment are organized with a view to maximizing social well-being and to preventing and mitigating potential problems by addressing their root causes.

Environmental issues cannot be viewed in isolation. They need to be addressed together with the process of development, taking into consideration the crucial importance of maintaining the proper balance between economic development, population growth, the rational use of natural resources and environmental protection and conservation. (Natural resources can be defined as all those renewable elements of the ecosphere such as water and terrestrial and aquatic biomass; nonrenewable elements, such as land in general, minerals, metals and fossil fuels; and semi renewable elements such as soil quality and the assimilative capacity of the environment.)

Society has identified valid reasons of "why" the environment must be protected and conserved. The concept of sustainable development can answer "what" needs to be done to protect the environment. Environmental management represents a set of practical tools that attempt to answer "how"' this will be done. Finally, the "why", "what", and "how" can be integrated only within a socio-economic context in which national priorities (such as poverty alleviation, public participation, job creation and others) can be pursued through environmental strategies.

Environmental Management shall thus essentially look into the concepts of intra and inter-generational equity, so as to make best use of Natural resources. The challenge before the legal community today is bring out Management tools so as to bring within the framework of Decision Making, so as to achieve the goals of Sustainable Development