ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
MODULE 1I: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, GUIDING PRINCIPLES
OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, AND EMERGING
CONCEPTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT
THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS
"The power of population is so superior to the power in
the earth to produce subsistence for man…Population,
when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio,
Subsistence, increases only in an arithmetical ratio.”
Year 1
Year 25
Year 50
Year 75
Year 100
POPULATION
100
200
400
800
1,600
FOOD
100
200
300
400
500
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE
ENVIRONMENT
Humans
and
societies
around the world had
primarily relied on food that
came
from
their
surroundings and their own
hands for nutrition.
The Agricultural Revolution
as the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution
saw an unprecedented
increase in agricultural
production due to increases
in labor, technology and land
productivity
The shift in the labor from
agriculture to an industry
based
labor
force
provided the tools for a
change in the production
and accessibility to food.
4
“
”Population does invariably
increase when the means of
subsistence increase.”
MALTHUSIAN TRAP
”
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT
As world population explodes, environmental management is faced
with ‘real-world’ challenges, which include:
▰ greed, corruption and foolishness;
▰ knowledge and technical skills which are still too limited;
▰ increasing numbers of people who demand more and more material
benefits;
▰ the time available to make real progress in resolving key
environmental degradation is probably limited
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT
COLBY’S EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGM ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
1. FRONTIER ECONOMICS (PROGRESS AT ALL COST)
▰ Nature was treated as an infinite supply of resources to be used by humans,
and a limitless sink for wastes.
▰ Managing the environment was more or less irrelevant because it was
‘outside’ economics.
▰ Technology was for improving human welfare and successfully stretching
resources to improve crop yields, fish catches, energy supply and so on.
▰ The attitude to pollution was usually to clean up later, if forced to, or disperse
it and forget it. Some developing countries still fall into this category.
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT
COLBY’S EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGM ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
2. DEEP ECOLOGY (ENVIRONMENTAL UTOPIA)
▰ The opposite of frontier economics.
▰ It is a dark-green (deep-green) philosophy, with an ecocentric rather
than human-centric outlook and a great diversity of supporters.
▰ It aims for harmony between humans and nature;
▰ It opposes the use of technology, and voices a wish to develop new
ethics and development outlooks (Devall and Sessions, 1985).
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT
COLBY’S EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGM ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
3. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (TRADE-OFFS)
▰ It was necessary to make trade-offs between development and
environmental protection.
▰ Tools like environmental impact assessment (EIA) were
developed.
▰ Remedial measures were promoted to counter environmental
damage.
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT
COLBY’S EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGM ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
4. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (SUSTAINABILITY)
▰ Threats of resource degradation, poverty, and population
growth
▰ Sustainability as necessary constraints for growth and
development
▰ Needs integration of multiple levels of government
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT
COLBY’S EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGM ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
5. ECO-DEVELOPMENT (GREEN GROWTH)
▰ Threats of ecological uncertainty and global change
▰ Emphasised the need to restructure society and
economics to ensure that development worked with, rather
than against, Nature.
▰ The emphasis was on qualitative development rather than
economic growth and on an awareness of the need for
sustainability.
HUMAN SOCIETY VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT
UNITED NATIONS DECADES OF DEVELOPMENT
1960s – GROWTH AT ALL COST
1970s – GROWTH WITH EQUITY
1980s – NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER
1990s – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
2000s – MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
2010s – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
THE PRIMARY GUIDING PRINCIPLE OF ENVI.
MGMT.
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“
Sustainable Development is
development that meets the
needs of the present without
compromising the ability of
future generations to meet
their own needs.”
- Bruntland Commission (World Commission on Environment
and Development, 1987)
”
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Sustainable Development consists of 3 fundamental tenets:
 That we should strive to increase the quality of human life, now and
into the future;
 That this should be done in a just and equitable manner;
 That it should be done while respecting the limits of supporting
ecosystems
Agyeman, Bullard and Evans 2003)
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As a concept, sustainable development draws upon two, often
opposed, intellectual traditions:
• One concerned with the limits nature presents to humans,
They see it as a quest for harmony between humans and their environment. That there
can be a shift less environmentally damaging improvements in realizing higher quality
of life
• The other with the potential for ever-increasing human
material development
They fail to accept that in a finite world there cannot be unlimited demand on
resources. They depend largely on technology to allow limits to be stretched in a
sustained manner
(Redclift, 1 1987: 199; Barrow, 1995b).
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MAINSTREAM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Currently, ‘mainstream’ sustainable development typically urges:
 the maintenance of ecological integrity;
 the integration of environmental care and development;
 the adoption of an internationalist (North–South interdependence) stance;
 the satisfaction of, at least basic, human needs for all;
 ‘utilitarian conservation’;
 concern for inter-generational, inter-group and inter-species equity;
 the application of science, technology and environmental knowledge to world
 development;
 the acceptance of some economic growth (somehow without exceeding environ mental limits);
 the adoption of a long-term view.