SOCI 402: ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
1. Introduction
Welcome to Environmental Sociology the newest sociological speciality only 3 decades old.
Environmental sociology as a discipline examines the interaction between human beings and
their biophisical environment. That is to say how we influence the physical environmentnt
and how it it affects us. Available evidence indicates that human societies are having an
unprecedented and dangerous impact upon the global environment (e.g. Brown 1978; Ophuls
1977; SCEP 1970; Woodwell 1978). What people are doing to the environment upon which
their existence depends has aroused widespread concern, expressed in legislation such as the
1969 National Environmental Policy Act and in events such as the 1970 "Earth Day" and the
1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. It has also drawn the attention
of a growing number of sociologists and has led quite recently to emergence of a new
sociological specialization - "environmental sociology." The purpose of this course is to
describe the emergence of environmental sociology and to delineate the essential
characteristics that qualify this new specialization as a distinct area of inquiry. In order to
accomplish this a number of more specific issues are addressed.
First, since sociologists were clearly not in the forefront of recent efforts to comprehend the
causes and consequences of changing environmental conditions, we briefly discuss
disciplinary traditions that made it difficult for sociology to recognize the importance of
environmental problems and ecological constraints--to the extent that several important
precursors of contemporary environmental sociology were largely ignored.
Second, we examine a brief history of recent organizational developments within sociological
associations that signalled the gradual emergence of environmental sociology. Implicit in
these organizational developments is a shift from what might be termed the "sociology of
environmental issues" to "environmental sociology" per se. An elaboration of the distinction
between these two forms a major portion of our review. Thus, in the third section we review a
variety of efforts in the 1960s and early 1970s to apply traditional sociological perspectives in
research on wildland recreation, resource management, and environmentalism ’(including
both the "Environmental Movement" and public attitudes toward environmental issues). In
retrospect it appears that such "sociology of environmental issues" research led some
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sociologists to appreciate the sociological salience of physical environments and thereby
provided a stepping-stone to current work in environmental sociology.
2. DISCIPLINARY TRADITIONS AND NEGLECT OF PRECURSORS OF
ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
The very recent emergence of environmental sociology, and the small number of its
practitioners, attest to sociology’s difficulty in coming to grips with environmental problems
and ecological constraints. This difficulty can be understood by examining historical
developments within sociology that have led most sociologists to use the term "environment"
to mean something quite different from what it means in most disciplines and in the larger
Society. In nonsociological parlance "the environment" means our physical surroundings, the
biosphere (or a local portion of it). In contrast, within mainstream sociology "environment"
means something altogether different--i.e, social and cultural influences upon behavior
[particularly in contradistinction to "heredity" (e.g. Swift 1965).
The early need to disentangle "environment" from "heredity" as sources of variation in human
behavior patterns (Bernard 1922:84) did not logically require that either source be dismissed
from fu~.her investigation. But "anti-reductionism" had become mandatory in sociology’s
drive for autonomy from other disciplines, so sociologists chose not to be "hereditarian."
The discipline was thus committed to (what used to be meant by) "environmentalism" (Swift
1965). To make further conceptual progress, sociologists had to go on to distinguish social
and cultural environments from physical and biological environments (Bernard 1925:325-8).
Again not from logical necessity but because of a taboo against "geographical determinism,"
sociological recognition of the salience of physical environments became restricted and
distorted (Choldin 1978a:353; Michelson 1976:8-23), while sociological attention the
ecosystem context and consequences of human life was severely limited by a similar taboo
against "biologism" (Burch 1971:14-20).
These professional aversions led sociologists to mispereeive or underrate important
sociological precursors of recent work in environmental sociology. Neglected, for example,
were a textbook chapter on "The Natural Environment" by Landis (1949) and two articles by
Mukerjee (1930, 1932) from India, had clearly seen that Homos apiens could be assured
stable and lasting dominancein the web of life only by understanding and working with
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ecosystem forces. Underrated was Sorokin’s (1942:66-67, 122, 262-64, 289) analysis of the
social repercussions of famine, for it was incompatible with the pervasive belief that human
society was becoming almost totally independent of bio-environmental constraints. Also
undervalued was Surnner’s essay on "Earth Hunger" (Keller 19!3:31-64), which recognized
that an environment’s carrying capacity could become insufficient and that this could
fundamentally undermine democratic and egalitarian institutions.
Further, Cottrell’s Energy and Society (1955:143) saw that high-energy technology does not
necessarily maximize human carrying capacity, but his impact was attenuated by traditional
sociologists’ professional reluctance to recognize any but strictly social causes of social
facts.
3. ORGANIZATIONAL RECOGNITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
Three organizational developments reflect the emergence of environmental sociology and, to
some extent, the transition from the "sociology of environmental issues" to "environmental
sociology."
First, in 1964, several members of the Rural Sociological Society (RSS) interested in
problems associated with use of forest, water, and other natural resources (e.g. problems of
fire prevention and competing recreational uses) formed a "Sociological Aspects of Forestry
Research Committee." Renamed the "Research Committee on Sociological Aspects of Natural
Resource Development" the following year, it evolved into the present "Natural Resources
Research Group" (one of the largest and most active of RSS’s quasi-formal "research
groups").
Second, in 1972, the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) decided to add an
"Environmental Problems Division." Organized in 1973, the Division’s membership
reflected a wide range of interests, although "environmentalism" and "environment as a social
problem" were topics of particularly strong interest.
Third, at the end of 1973 the Council of the American Sociological Association (in response
to a resolution from an ASA business meeting) authorized formation of a committee "to
develop guidelines for sociological contributions to environmental impact statements."
Appointed in early 1974, the "Ad Hoc Committee on Environmental Sociology’’ provided
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impetus (particularly via its widely distributed newsletter) for the emergence of its successor- an ASA "Section on Environmental Sociology." Organized at the 1975 ASA meeting, and
officially recognized in 1976, the Section appears to represent the full range of interests
currently pursued by environzmental sociologists.
Environmental sociology involves recognition of the fact that physical environments can
influence (and in turn be influenced by) human societies and behavior. Thus environmental
sociologists depart from the traditional sociological insistence that social facts can be
explained only by other social facts. Indeed, its acceptance of "environmental" variables as
meaningful for sociological investigation is what sets environmental sociology apart as a
distinguishable field of inquiry. Therefore, in the fourth section of this course we describe
after an analytical framework" that explicates the diverse range of societal-environmental
interactions that interest environmental sociologists. We also briefly review several areas of
current research emphasis within environmental sociology: the built environment,
organizational response to environmental problems, natural hazards, social impact
assessment, energy and resource scarcity, and resource allocation and carrying capacity. We
will conclude by discussing the likely future of environmental sociology including probable
areas of research emphasis, relations with the larger discipline of sociology, and relations with
other disciplines concerned with environmental research.
4. SOCIOLOGY ’OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Many sociologists were initially drawn into the study of environmental issues through an
interest in traditional sociological areas such as leisure behavior, applied sociology, and social
movements. Of particular importance in the historical development of contemporary
environmental sociology appear to be research on wildland recreation, problems of resource
management, and environmentalism. The following is a classical example:
Research on Wildland Recreation and Resource Management Problems
Wildland reational visits to "natural" environments such as national parks, national forests,
and wilderness areas boomed after World War II, reaching hundreds of millions of persondays per year ( Catton 1971). Sociological study of these activities also burgeoned as a direct
extension of traditional sociological investigation of leisure behavior (Cheek & Butch 1976;
Johannis & Bull 1971). For a while, preoccupation with the social organization of recreational
visitors (mainly as primary group; e.g. Burch 1965; Field & O’Leary 1973) overshadowed
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concern with environmental characteristics of recreational areas and human pressures upon
such areas.
To predict both the types of activities resource management agencies might have to provide
for and the amount of use to be expected on recreation sites, researchers studied visitor
attitudes and values (Clark et al 1971; Hendee et al 1971), social ties of recreation visitors
(Hendee&Campbell, 1969), and demographic characteristics of wildland recreationists
(Hendee 1969; White 1975). Other topics studied included "user satisfaction" (e.g. Bultena &
Klessig 1969), which often depended more upon recreation "experiences" than on tangible
"products" extracted from the environment. Investigators thus began to recognize a distinction
between "consumptive" and "nonconsumptive" uses of land and resources (Wagar 1969). But
visitor activities did sometimes harm the recreation environment, and so studies of
"depreciative" behavior were undertaken (Campbell 1970) and were followed by behavior
modification experiments to develop techniques for curbing such behavior (Clark et al 1972).
5. EMERGENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
By the mid-1970s, study of environmental problems had begun to sensitize some sociologists
to the reality of environmental problems and ecological constraints. This seemed to require
reappraisal of widely held sociological domain assumptions, such as the supposed irrelevance
of physical environments for understanding social behavior (see Jeffery 1976). Following
Klausner’s (1971:8, 11, 25) discussion of the doctrine of human exceptionalism within
sociology, the label "Human Exceptionalism Paradigm" (HEP) was applied to traditional
sociology’s implicit worldview (Catton and Dunlap 1978a:42-3). In contrast, from writings
of various environmental sociologists (Anderson 1976; Burch 1971, 1976; Buttel 1976;
Catton 1976a, b; Mordson 1976; Schnaiberg 1972, 1975) an alternative set of assumptions
stressing the ecosystem-dependence of human societies was extracted and termed the "New
Environmental Paradigm" or NEP (Catton & Dunlap 1978a:45; also see Buttel’s (1978a)
critique of the HEP-NEP distinction and Catton & Dunlap’s (1978b) response).
To contrast the traditional sociological worldview more accurately with the NEP, the obsolete
assumptions should probably be called the Human Exemptionalism Paradigm, for what
environmental sociologists deny is not that Homo sapiens is an "exceptional" species but that
the exceptional characteristics of our species (culture, technology, language, elaborate social
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organization) somehowe xempt humansf rom ecological principles and from environmental
influences and constraints.
As a fundamentally ecological worldview, the NEP should probably be called the "New
Ecological Paradigm." One thing it seems to make clear is that sociology has to take seriously
a dilemma traditionally neglected - human societies necessarily exploit surrounding
ecosystems in order to survive, but societies that flourish to the extent of overexploiting the
ecosystem may destroy the basis of their own survival (Burch 1971:49). So real is this
dilemma that it has begun to affect the writing of some nonenvironmental sociologists (e,g.
contrast the HEP-oriented remarks of Hrrowitz 1972 with the sober awareness of resource
limits in Horowitz 1977). The reality of the dilemma is also indicated by the fact that it has
been affecting not just sociology but other social sciences too, including both political science
(e.g. Ophuls 1977) and economics (e.g. Daly 1977).
Even in anthropology, where a "total ecological viewpoint" has long been available (e.g.
Thompson 1949) but where preoccupation with tribal and peasant communities (Bennett
1976:151, 306-11) delayed its macrolevel application, attempts are now being made to unify
the discipline around an ecological perspective (Hardesty, 1977).
Human Exeptionalism Paradigm and New Ecological Paradigm
Catton and Dunlap argue that the numerous competing theoretical perspectives in
contemporary sociology (for instance structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic
interactionism to name a few) tend to exaggerate their differences from each other. Catton and
Dunlap argue that their diversity is not as important as the fundamental anthropocentricism
which underlies all of them. This mutual anthropocentricism is part of a basic sociological
world view.
Catton & Dunlap label this view, the "Human Exceptionalism Paradigm" (HEP). Catton and
Dunlap argue that acceptance of the assumption of the HEP has made it difficult for most
sociologists to deal meaningfully with the social implications of ecological problems and
constraints. The HEP comprises several assumptions that have either been challenged by
recent additions to knowledge, or have had their optimistic implications contradicted by
events of the seventies. Accepted explicitly or implicitly by all existing theoretical
persuasions, they include:
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1. Human are unique among the earth's creatures, for they have culture.
2. Culture can vary almost infinitely and can change much more rapidly than biological traits.
3. Thus man human differences are socially induced rather than inborn, they can be socially
altered, and inconvenient differences can be eliminated.
4. Thus, also, cultural accumulation means that progress can continue without limit, making
all social problems ultimately solvable."
Catton and Dunlap state that sociological acceptance of this optimistic world view was shaped
by the doctrine of progress inherent in Western culture. They argue that the majority of the
public (until recently) maintained a strong belief that the present was better than the past and
the future would improve upon the present.
Catton and Dunlap state that neglect of the ecosystem-dependence of human society has been
particularly evident in sociological literature on economic development, which has failed to
recognize biogeochemical limits to material progress. When the public started to become
concerned about newly visible environmental problems, it was biologists who served as
opinion leaders not sociologists. Sociologists began to read the work of these "opinion
leaders" and assumption and perceptions changed.
Sociologists began to recognize that the reality of ecological constraints posed serious
problems for human societies as well as for the discipline of sociology. Catton and Dunlap go
on to describe the development of environmental sociology, which rests on a different set of
the following assumptions:
1. Human beings are but one species among the many that are interdependently involved
in the biotic communities that shape our social life.
2. Intricate linkages of cause and effect and feedback in the web of nature produce many
unintended consequences from purposive human action.
3. The world is finite, so there are potent physical and biological limits constraining
economic growth and social progress, and other societal phenomena.
4. Although the inventiveness of humans and the powers derived there from may seem
for a while to extend carrying capacity limits, ecological laws cannot be repealed
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5. AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
Study of interactions between environment and society comprises the core of environmental
sociology. Such interactions are complex and varied, and consequently environmental
sociologists investigate a diverse range of phenomena. To clarify the scope of the field and
organize the categories of phenomena it studies, an analytical framework has recently been
proposed (see Dunlap & Catton 1979). It is founded on the concept of the "ecological
complex" developed from the biologists’ concept of "ecosystem" by Duncan (1959:681-84,
1961) as part of his effort to apply insights from general ecology to sociological human
ecology (Duncan 1961:142-49).
Biologists define an ecosystema s the interacting biotic community and its environment. Since
this concept is inherently "multispecies" in its purview, Duncan (1959, 1961) developed a
simplified version focused on humans and emphasizing aspects of human life not shared by
other species. Specifically, human populations make considerable use of social organization
and technology in adapting to their environments. Thus, Duncan’s "ecological complex"
focuses on the weblike interdependence among Population, Organization, Environment, and
Technology (P, O, E, T); it stresses that each element is reciprocally related to every other
element (Duncan 1959; 684).
While the "ecological complex" is not quite synonymous with "ecosystem" (as writers have
often implied - e.g. Hawley 1968:329; Choldin 1978a:355), it nonetheless offers a useful
conceptual device for viewing the interactions of human societies with their environments.
Unfortunately, the ecological complex has not generally been used by human ecologists
within sociology for approaching what they themselves have said was their fundamental task- namely, "understanding how a population organizes itself in adapting to a constantly
changing yet restricting environment" (Berry & Kasarda 1977:12). Instead, sociological
human ecologists have typically devoted their attention to social organization per se, rather
than focusing on the role of organization (and technology) in enabling populations to adapt to
their environments. Furthermore, it has seemed to environmental sociologists that sociological
human ecologists have tended either to ignore the physical environment (Choldin 1978a:355)
or to neglect aspects of the ecosystem that are not human or derived from human action
(Dunlap &Catton 1979; Molotch & Foiler 1971:15-16).
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Thus, "environment" in the ecological complex has been treated as a social, or at best spatial,
variable--devoid of any physical substance (Michelson 1976:13-23). By giving that kind of
meaning to "environment," sociological human ecologists have lacked a basis for becoming
concerned with contemporary environmental problems.
In contrast to the organizational focus of sociological human ecology, the fundamental
characteristic of environmental sociology is the importance attached to the environment as a
factor that may influence, and in turn be influenced by, human behavior (Catton & Dunlap
1978a; Dunlap & Catton 1979; Schnalberg 1972; Zeisel 1975). Moreover, for environmental
sociologists, the "E" in the ecological complex denotes the physical environment rather than
the social environment.
The other three elements--P, T, and O - make up what Park (1936:15) called the "social
complex." Thus, environmental sociology examines the relationship between the physical
environment and the social complex. Just as biologists learned to see a biotic community and
its environment as an ecosystem, so environmental sociologists can recognize Park’s social
complex together with its environment as the entity Duncan’s ecological complex was
designed to analyze.
The proposed framework requires some elaboration of one element of the ecological complex,
namely, organization." An understanding of all phases of human interaction with the physical
environment requires consideration not only of the organizational forms of human
collectivities, but also their shared cultural values and the personalities of their constituent
members.
Thus the sociologically familiar tripartite distinction of cultural system, social system, and
personality system is substituted for the more general term social organization, or O. Each
element in the resulting expanded version of Park’s social complex--population, technology,
cultural system, social system, and personality system can influence (and in turn be influenced
by) the physical environment.
This leads us to define the basic task of environmental sociology as seeking to answer two
kinds of questions:
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(a) How do interdependent variations population, technology, culture, social systems, and
personality systems influence the physical environment?
(b) How do resultant changes (and other variations) in the physical environment modify
population, technology, culture, social systems, and personality systems, or any of the
interrelations among them?
It is important to note that the field that is now known as environmental sociology largely
began in the United States, and the number of environmental sociologists in the United States
is considerably greater than in any other country, or region, for that matter. For these reasons,
mainstream environmental sociology has generally reflected the tendencies of U.S.
environmental sociology.
There is a certain diversity to U.S. environmental sociology. But it is important to note that
until about the early 1990s, most mainstream American environmental sociology tended to
share some common views on its intellectual goals. There were two such interrelated goals
that deserve mention here.
The first was the commitment by most environmental sociologists to rectify what they saw as
the lack of attention to the biophysical environment in mainstream sociology (see, e.g.,
Catton & Dunlap, 1978; Goldblatt, 1996; Martell, 1994; Murphy, 1994). Their aim was to
showthat the biophysical world was relevant to sociological analysis as both a causal factor
shaping social change as well as an outcome of social structures or social processes.
The second commitment on the part of mainstream environmental sociologists was the notion
that the key research question of environmental sociology was to explain the causes of
environmental degradation or environmental problems.
Most major theories in mainstream environmental sociology thus proceeded to focus on the
task of explaining what powerful social forces led to environmental destruction. In general,
environmental degradation was seen as being an intrinsic or fairly automatic consequence of
the key social dynamics of 20th-century capitalist industrial civilization.
The most well-known theories in environmental sociology were those that posited a key factor
(or a closely related set of factors) that had led to enduring environmental crisis; these wellPage | 10
known theories included Schnaiberg’s (1980) theory of the ’treadmill of production,’
Logan and Molotch’s (1987) theory of the urban ’growth machine,’ Catton and Dunlap’s
(1980) theory of the ’dominant social paradigm’ and of the ’age of exuberance,’ and
Murphy’s (1994) theory of the irrationality of capitalist-industrial rationality. Because of the
stress placed on explaining theoretically why the United States and other advanced industrial
societies were inexorably tending toward environmental crisis, mainstream North American
environmental sociology found itself in an increasingly awkward position; most
environmental sociologists had given so much stress to explaining why environmental
destruction and disruption were inevitable, given the major social institutions within which we
live, that there remained little room for recognizing howa more sustainable society might be
possible or how social arrangements could be changed to facilitate environmental
improvements.
To be sure, many environmental sociologists - even those whose theories made environmental
disruption sound essentially inevitable and beyond the ability of groups and societies to deal
with it directly’began to devote attention to how societies could find their way out of the
’iron cage’ of environmental despair. Many of these attempts actually date from as early as
the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Likewise, although the theoretical work of Riley Dunlap and William Catton (e.g., Catton,
1976, 1980; Catton & Dunlap, 1978; Dunlap & Catton, 1994) tended to stress the
extraordinarily powerful momentum in the direction of environmental destruction, Dunlap in
particular
has
remained
strongly
committed
to
the
notion
that
the
’new
ecological/environmental paradigm’ is compelling and likely to catalyze environmental
citizens movements across the globe (Dunlap & Van Liere, 1984; Dunlap, 1993).
6. CONTRIBUTIONS OF DUNLAP AND CATTON ON THE EMERGENCE AND
GROWTH OF ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
There is little doubt that environmental problems will be one of humanity’s major concerns
in the twenty-first century and beyold, and it is becoming apparent that sociologists can play
an important role in shedding light on these problems and the steps that need to be taken to
cope with them. While the study of environmental issues is an inherently interdisciplinary
project, spanning the natural and social sciences as well as humanities, the crucial role of the
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social sciences in general and sociology in particular are increasingly recognized (e.g., Brewer
and Stern 2005).
This stems from growing awareness of the fact that environmental problems are
fundamentally social problems: They result from human social behavior, they are viewed as
problematic because of their impact on humans (as well as other species), and their solution
requires societal effort. It is, therefore, not surprising that sociologists have shown growing
interest in environmental issues in recent decades and that environmental sociology has
become a recognized field. Yet sustained sociological investigation of environmental
problems did not come easily, and is a relatively recent development in the field.
Although there was scattered sociological attention to both urban problems and natural
resource issues prior to the 1970s, environmental sociology developed in that decade as
sociology’s own response to the emergence of environmental problems on the public agenda.
At first, sociologists tended to limit their attention to analyzing societal response to
environmental problems, rather than examining the problems themselves. But as sociologists
gradually paid more attention to environmental issues, some began to look beyond societal
awareness of environmental problems to examine the underlying relationships between
modern, industrial societies and the biophysical environments they inhabit. The result was the
emergence of environmental sociology as a field of inquiry (Buttel 1987; Dunlap and Catton
1979a).
We briefly discuss how and why environmental sociology represents a major departure from
sociology’s traditional neglect of environmental phenomena, describe the field’s
institutionalization, examine the key environmental foci of research in the field, and review
both early and more recent research emphases in the field. Early emphases mainly involved
analyses of societal awareness of environmental issues, whereas recent emphases continue
this line of research but also include considerable work on the causes, impacts, and solutions
of environmental problems.
In contrast to the larger society, mainstream sociology in the 1970s was almost oblivious to
the significance of environmental problems. This blindness stemmed from a long period of
neglect of environmental matters, stimulated by the societal context in which sociology
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developed as well as its unique disciplinary traditions. The Durkheimian emphasis on
explaining social phenomena only in terms of other ’social facts,’ plus an aversion to earlier
excesses of biological and geographical ’determinisms,’ had led sociologists to ignore the
biophysical world (Benton 1991; Dunlap and Catton 1979a). To legitimize sociology as a
discipline, it was important to move away from explanations of, for example, racial and
cultural differences in terms of biological and geographical factors, respectively. Yet in the
process of developing distinctively social explanations for societal phenomena, our discipline
replaced older determinisms with sociocultural determinism (Carolan 2005a, 2005b).
For example, as recently as the late 1970s, sociologists of agriculture argued that it was
inappropriate to include factors such as soil type and rainfall in explanations of soil
conservation adoption or farm energy use because they were not social variables (Dunlap and
Martin 1983). These disciplinary traditions were strengthened by sociology’s emergence
during an era of unprecedented growth and prosperity, which made limits to resource
abundance and technological progress unimaginable, and increased urbanization, which
reduced direct contact with the natural environment. With modern, industrialized societies
appearing to be increasingly disembedded from the biophysical world, sociology came to
assume that the exceptional features of Homo sapiens’language, technology, science, and
culture more generally’made these societies ’exempt’ from the constraints of nature
(Catton and Dunlap 1980) and thus reluctant to acknowledge the societal relevance of
ecological limits (Dunlap 2002b).
Given sociology’s neglect of the biophysical environment - and tendency to equate ’the
environment’ with the social context of the phenomenon being studied - it is not surprising
that efforts to establish environmental sociology as an area of inquiry included a critique of
the larger discipline’s blindness to environmental matters.
Dunlap and Catton’s (1979a) effort to define and codify the field of environmental sociology
was accompanied by an explication and critique of the ’human exemptionalism paradigm’
(HEP) on which contemporary sociology was premised. While not denying that human beings
are obviously an exceptional species, these analysts argued that humans’ special skills and
capabilities nonetheless fail to exempt the human species from the constraints of the
biophysical environment.
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As seen earlier, Catton and Dunlap (1978, 1980) suggested that the HEP should be replaced
by a more ecologically sound perspective, a ’new ecological paradigm’ (NEP), that
acknowledges the ecosystem dependence of human societies.
The call for mainstream sociology’s dominant paradigm to be replaced with a more
ecologically sound one proved to be a rather controversial feature of environmental sociology.
While the exemptionalist underpinning of mainstream sociology has been increasingly
recognized (Dunlap 2002b), the call for adoption of an ecological paradigm has been
criticized for allegedly deflecting efforts to apply classical and mainstream theoretical
perspectives in environmental sociology (Buttel 1987, 1997).
Nonetheless, environmental sociologists are producing rapidly expanding bodies of both
empirical literature on the relationships between societal and environmental variables that
clearly violates Durkheim’s antireductionism taboo and theoretical literature representing
efforts to develop more ecologically sound theories that are not premised on the assumption
of human exemptionalism. Both of these trends reflect the declining credibility of
exemptionalist thinking within sociology (Dunlap 2002b).
6. ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
Environmental problems have a range of social impacts: they may impair human health, cause
economic and other welfare losses or damage the ecosystems on which both the urban and
rural areas depend. It is well known thatt environmental problems vary from region to region
and are influencedd by such variables as a city's size and rate of growth, income, local
geography, climate and institutional policies and capabilities. Environmental problems can be
divided into two sets of issues or 'agendas'.
The first set of issues, the so-called 'green agenda' deals with problems such as resource
depletion, climate change,, ozone depletion, increase of urban production, consumption, waste
generation and their interference with ecosystems. These environmental problems have
impactss that are more global and delayed, and often threaten long-term ecological
sustainability (McGranahan et al., 2001b). 'Green agenda' problems are the prime
environmental worries in the developed countries.
The 'brown agenda' focuses on environmental hazards at the household, neighbourhoodd and
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workplace level, which are the effect of pollution. It deals directly with the health risks and
threats that emerge from the local environment. Common problems are poor housing, low
availability and quality of drinking water, insufficient waste water disposal, bad drainage
waste accumulation and uncontrolledd waste disposal, and urban air pollution. Especially in
the large cities of developing countries such problems are a major threat to human health
(McGranahann et al., 2001b). It can be argued that at the household and neighbourhood level,
environmental health issues (the brown agenda) predominate, whereas issuess of ecological
sustainability (the green agenda) are more important at the city and higher levels.
Many studies of water and sanitation, solid waste services and urban environmental issues
identify institutional failure as the principal source of environmental problems. The speed
with which the urban populations have grown in Third World nations has far outpaced the
institutional capacity to manage. Arrossi et aL, 1994, indicate that the central characteristic of
the problems experienced in urbann areas is not the scale of population but the scale of
mismatch between demographic change and institutional responses. This mismatch is between
the speed with which population has concentrated in particular urban centres and the veryy
slow pace with which societies have developed institutional capacity to cope withh this. The
provisions of infrastructure services (water supply and sanitation) along with solid waste and
wastewater disposal are among the areas of great concern inn human settlements, especially in
the developing countries. Failure to provide these services adequately results in many of the
well-known costs of rapid urbanisation: threats to human health, urban productivity and
environmental quality (WRI,, 1996). Deficient services manifest themselves most obviously
in the form off pollution, disease and economic stagnation. The most common benefits arising
fromm improvements in service provision are better health, improved quality of life and time
savings, which can be allocated to other activities (ibid., 1996).
In informal and illegal settlements, the provision of sanitation is inadequate and the majority
of the households rely on pit latrines or bucket toilets.The number off urban residents who
had no access to adequate sanitation increased by almost 25%% to 400 million between 1980
and 1990 (Drakakis-Smith, 1996). Limited water supplies to urban areas also affect the
disposal of household waste. In these often overcrowdedd and under-resourced areas the
health consequences resulting from inadequate sanitation can be significantly worse than in
other urban areas or rural areas. All over the world, different countries are exploring different
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methods of providing adequate sanitation at a cost significantly lower than that of investing
inn conventional water-borne sewerage systems.
An estimated 30-50% of the solid waste generated within urban centres of developingg
countries is left uncollected or dumped on any available waste ground. Piles of garbage serve
as breeding grounds for disease vectors and rubbish blocks open drains (Arrossi, et al., 1994).
At times of heavy rain, the blocked drains may result in flooding with loss of life and
property. Many municipal authorities in the cities of the South are unable to cope with the
everincreasing heaps of garbage (Hardoy, et aL, 2001). There are sufficient examples off
alternative ways in which the relatively poor households can be serviced at affordable per
capita cost to suggest that garbage collection services could be greatly improved. Some of
these alternatives not only improve the solid waste thesee alternatives not only improve the
solid waste services, but also are a source off employment through recycling and trading of
recycled waste.
Seeking solutions to the many environmental problems in many cities is not aa purely
technical issue. The threats to environmental quality in urban areas, to a large extent, are the
result of human activities, and the solutions opted for are also human solutions, involving the
choice from suggested solutions and their implementation through values, institutions and
practices. Finding those solutions and implementing them are the challenges of
environmental governance. New debate of environmental governance has been spurred by
increased public awareness of the adverse environmental consequences and the fact that
environmental issues transcend sectoral boundaries. It is clear that there are environmental
challenges faced by the urban and rural environments all over the world.
7. ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS, OLD AND NEW
Give an note on sierra club in US; love canal and hooker chemical industries. Analyses of
environmental movement organizations and of the movement have arguably been one of the
few topics that have been stressed from the earliest days of environmental sociology to the
present. Even so, the sociological analysis of environmental movements has gone through
tremendous shifts over the past decade or so, for several reasons, a number of which pertain to
the role that environmental movements will play in shaping our environmental future. As
noted earlier, in mainstream U.S. environmental sociology, it was almost universally held that
the overarching mechanism for achievement of environmental integrity revolves around the
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role of environmental social movements. In addition, the environmental-sociological logic
behind lubemphasizing the role of environmental movements was also based on the
presumption that they would ultimately catalyze national environmental regulation.
But there are several reasons why many contemporary environmental sociologists have come
to believe that there are strategies for environmental improvement other than mobilization of
the kinds of environmental movements that currently predominate. There is also reason to
argue that environmental mobilization does not necessarily lead to parallel national policy
changes.
One reason for reconsidering the role of environmental movements in the future is the
recognition that these movements, particularly the mainstream ones that focus on affecting
environmental policies of the U.S. federal government and of international organizations and
regulatory bodies, are being increasingly challenged by environmental countermovements
(Austin, 2002). As Schnaiberg and Gould (1994, p. 148) pointed out, one of the increasingly
powerful types of environmental movements is that of the antienvironmentalist movement.
The antienvironmentalist movement involves a range of organizations such as the Wise Use
Movement, the Property Rights Movement, and several groups such as the Climate Council,
Business Roundtable, and the Global Climate Coalition that fought to prevent the U.S. federal
government from cooperating with the negotiations at the 1997 Kyoto Round (the Third
Session of the Conference of the Parties) and the 2000 Hague Round (the Sixth Session of the
Conference of the Parties) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(FCCC). The antienvironmentalist movement has developed a persuasive ideological position:
that the problem is more so environmental alarmists than it is environmental problems and
that the market is already doing a sound jobof allocating resources and has a well-funded
network of think tanks and support groups (such as the Hudson Institute and the Cato
Institute).
A second major reason for reevaluating the role of environmental movements is the
observation by many environmental sociologists (e.g., Mol, 1995) that radical
environmentalism, long viewed by many environmental sociologists as the type of social
force needed to counter rampant environmental destruction (see Schnaiberg, 1980), is perhaps
becoming increasingly irrelevant in dealing with modern environmental issues. These
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observers believe that environmentalists can be most effective if they engage in collaborative
relationships with industrial corporations and other entities whose actions have an impact on
the environment. More broadly, one of the strong tendencies among sociological observers of
environmental movements over the past decade or so is for them to express reservations that
one or another major segment of environmentalism is wrongheaded in its strategy and
destined to fail.
The third factor advanced by environmental sociologists and other scholars as a reason to look
beyond conventional environmental movements as mechanisms for advancing the cause of
environmental protection is that some of the most promising strategies in this regard have
little or no relationship to mainstream national and global environmental movements or local
movements. These strategies, which include options such as industrial ecology, strategic
environmental management, dematerialization of production, and delinking of growth and
deenvironmental degradation.
.
The linkages among affluence, environmental problems, and citizen environmental
mobilization are by no means automatic, however. Consider, for example, the fact that the
nature and extent of environmental problems are far better understood today than they were
three decades or so ago but that there has been little landmark environmental legislation
passed in recent years, at least by comparison with the 1970s (Kraft, 2001, chap. 4). Thus, in
addition to the need for scientific documentation (or a parallel process of popular or lay
documentation of an environmental issue) to mobilize people to be concerned about an issue,
these concerns need to be incorporated within environmental discourses or ideologies and be
seized upon by one or more environmental organizations. The attractiveness of an issue for
media coverage is also a significant factor in shaping the extent to which the problem
generates public interest and concern and becomes incorporated within the agenda of one or
more environmental groups (see also Hannigan, 1995).
Another reason why the role of environmental movements has come to be reassessed is that
these movements are increasingly being challenged-and often overwhelmed - by anti- or
counterenvironmental groups. Austin (2002), Rowell (1996), and Thornton (2000), for
example, have documented the growing trend toward well-funded antienvironmental
organizations’ being formed to contest the efforts by environmental organizations to
advocate for environmental control or reform policies. Typically, these groups are funded by
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private corporations or by conservative philanthropies, although there are instances in which
antienvironmental groups have emerged relatively spontaneously at the local level or are
unaffiliated with conservative corporate interests (McCarthy, 1998). Antienvironmental
organizations are most effective in the areas of land-use regulation and control of toxic
chemicals, in the sense of their being a consistent and influential voice for reducing the
’regulatory burden.’
Antienvironmental groups have been particularly influential in congressional and other
domestic discussions of policies for controlling greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, one of the
critical dimensions of the role played by environmental movement organizations and of the
movement as a whole is the capacity of these groups to contend with antienvironmental
groups at various levels.
The environmental movement has also undergone increasing differentiation. The movement is
far more complex than itwas at the dawn of environmental sociology as a recognized
sociological specialty. The past decade has witnessed the rise of other new’and often highly
innovative or provocative’environmental movement organizations and movements such as
the environmental justice movement, the grassroots environmental movement, and radical
ecological resistance movements in the developing world (Peet & Watts, 1996; B. R. Taylor,
1995). The closely related grassroots environmental movement and the environmental justice
movement in the United States, ’new social movements’ in European countries (Beck,
1987, 1992; Scott, 1990), and ’global social movements’ (Cohen & Rai, 2000) are
particularly notable instances of new types of environmental movements worth discussing.
There is a tendency when thinking about the environmental movement to focus largely on the
major national and international environmental groups because of their visibility. But it is the
case that Americans who are actually directly involved in environmental activism are much
more likely to do so within local rather than nationally or globally focused environmental
groups. The grassroots environmental movement is a particular, highly activist, component of
the groups that operate mainly in particular communities or regions.
The principal impetus for the grassroots environmental movement was the discovery of
widespread toxic chemical pollution in the Love Canal neighborhood near Niagara Falls,
NewYork (see Levine, 1982; Szasz, 1994). The grassroots environmental movement has
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continued to stress toxic chemical and related issues (toxic waste dumps, contamination of
water supplies, radioactive wastes, factory pollution, and siting of hazardous waste disposal
facilities and garbage incinerators).
Grassroots environmental groups also deal with broader issues of the protection of public
health. To some extent, grassroots groups focus on issues that the more visible organizations
in the environmental movement tend to ignore. Over the past 15 or so years, the more visible
parts of the environmental movement have tended to emphasize global-scale or transboundary
environmental issues, and in so doing, they have generally deemphasized relatively local
kinds of problems such as toxic wastes, land use, and so on. Grassroots environmental groups
fill the void created by mainstream groups that have moved toward the national and
international policy arenas.
Grassroots environmental groups differ from more mainstream ones in ways other than their
stress on public health and toxic substance issues. Although the large groups’ members are
mostly White and middle class, grassroots group members are from a broader cross section of
class backgrounds. Grassroots groups are especially likely to have women and volunteer
leaders. Grassroots group members are also much more likely to distrust government and
scientists and to take strong or uncompromising stands than are the national environmental
groups. There are tendencies toward antagonism between the two groups, a good share of
which comes from grassroots group members’ tending to ’perceive the nationals as remote,
overly legalistic, and too willing to accommodate to industry’s concerns’ (Freudenburg&
Steinsapir, 1992, p. 33).
In Kenya we can give example of the greenbelt movement pioneered by 2004 Nobel Peace
lauret the Late Wangari Maathai.
8. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
All environmental movements throughout the world aim to achieve one thing: that all
environmental benefits and the negative costs are equally distributed and everyone has a right
to a clean environment. Environmental justice, just like social justice have in its core the
respect of all human rights and fundanental freedoms that are inrenationally recognized.
Environmental justice ensures equal distribution of environmental goods/benefits and
environmental bads/ consequences or negative impacts to all regardless of race, religion or
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gender. The following section lists various and globally accepted principles of environmental
justice. These are not legal requirements but generally accepted principles.
The Principles of Environmental Justice (EJ)
1) Environmental Justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and
the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction.
2) Environmental Justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and
justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.
3) Environmental Justice mandates the right to ethical, balanced and responsible uses of
land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet for humans and
other living things.
4) Environmental Justice calls for universal protection from nuclear testing, extraction,
production and disposal of toxic/hazardous wastes and poisons and nuclear testing that
threaten the fundamental right to clean air, land, water, and food.
5) Environmental Justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural
and environmental self determination of all peoples.
6) Environmental Justice demands the cessation of the production of all toxins,
hazardous wastes, and radioactive materials, and that all past and current producers be
held strictly accountable to the people for detoxification and the containment at the
point of production.
7) Environmental Justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every
level of decisionmaking, including needs assessment, planning, implementation,
enforcement and evaluation.
8) Environmental Justice affirms the right of all workers to a safe and healthy work
environment without being forced to choose between an unsafe livelihood and
unemployment. It also affirms the right of those who work at home to be free from
environmental hazards.
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9) Environmental Justice protects the right of victims of environmental injustice to
receive full compensation and reparations for damages as well as quality health care.
10) Environmental Justice considers governmental acts of environmental injustice a
violation of international law, the Universal Declaration On Human Rights, and the
United Nations convention on Genocide.
11) Environmental Justice must recognize a special legal and natural relationship of
Native Peoples to the U.S. government through treaties, agreements, compacts, and
covenants affirming sovereignty and self-determination.
12) Environmental Justice affirms the need for urban and rural ecological policies to
clean up and rebuild our cities and rural areas in balance with nature, honoring the
cultural integrity of all our communities, and provided fair access for all to the full
range of resources.
13) Environmental Justice calls for the strict enforcement of principles of informed
consent, and a halt to the testing of experimental reproductive and medical procedures
and vaccinations on people of color.
14) Environmental Justice opposes the destructive operations of multi-national
corporations.
15) Environmental Justice opposes military occupation, repression and exploitation of
lands, peoples and cultures, and other life forms.
16) Environmental Justice calls for the education of present and future generations
which emphasizes social and environmental issues, based on our experience and an
appreciation of our diverse cultural perspectives.
17) Environmental Justice requires that we, as individuals, make personal and consumer
choices to consume as little of Mother Earth's resources and to produce as little waste
as possible; and make the conscious decision to challenge and reprioritize our
lifestyles to ensure the health of the natural world for present and future generations.
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These principles were agreed by delegates to the First National People of Color
Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC, drafted
and adopted these 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Since then, the Principles have
served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental
justice.
9. ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE
The term environmental governance is given a variety of meanings by different users and has
progressively become a component of 'aid-speak' and a political 'sing song'. It is a word
characterised more by its widespread use than its clarity or singularity of meaning,, just like
'sustainable development', 'partnerships' and 'poverty alleviation'. Paproski (1993) explains
the concept of governance as the process of interaction between the public sector and the
various actors or groups of actors in civil society. The crucial distinction between government
and governance is the notion of civil society, which can be defined as the public life of
individuals and institutions outside the control of the state (Harpham and Boateng, 1997).
Environmental governance refers to a shift from state sponsorship of environmental,
economic and social programmes and projects to the delivery of these through partnership
arrangements, hich usually involve both the governmental and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs). In effect, good governance is about governmental agencies and NGOs
working together (Stoker, 1997) in non-hierarchical and flexible partnerships (often
characterised as 'networks', Rhodes, 1995). The emergence of partnerships as key mechanisms
of environmental governance ensures the inclusion of new partners in the delivery of policies
and services. According to Harding (1996), these partners are established institutional actors
who have 'positional strengths' to deliver the required resources. The significance of this is
held to be the new role for the state as the coordinator and manager of these partnerships
(ibid.).
Young (1994 provides one of the most pertinent formulations in the field of governance. He
argues that governance arises as a social or societal concern whenever members of a group
find that they are interdependent in the sense that the actions of each impinge on the welfare
of others. Interdependence gives rise to collective action problems in the sense that actors left
to their own devices in an interdependent world frequently suffer joint losses as a result of
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conflicts or are unable to reap jointt gains because of an inability to cooperate. Young further
states that governance involves the establishment and operation of social institutions capable
of resolving conflictss and/or facilitating cooperation.
We argue that in any form of good environmental governance, new institutional arrangements
have to come into being that promote partnerships and forms of 'government at a distance'
(Murdoch and Abram, 1998). The state needs to seek out those external agencies, which seem
most appropriate to the delivery of particular governmental objectives and programmes and
aims, at least in principle, to coordinate and managee complex relations in line with some
notion of the 'public interest'. Although the 'public interest' is hard to define, one mechanism
that is frequently employed to inject some notion of 'public good' into the functioning of
governmental institutions is public participation. It is hoped that government can be kept in
tune with public aspirations through the enrolment of citizens, either as individuals or as
groups (ibid.).
The recent concern with environmental governance stems from a more general attention being
paid to 'good governance' as a development issue. One approach sees envirinmental
governance as essentially preoccupied with questions of financial accountability and
administrative efficiency (Badshah, 1997; Sampford, 2002). An alternativee approach that is
relevant to environmental sociology, is one more interested in broader political concerns
related to democracy and popular participation (Robinson, 1995). Good governance is a
concept that has recently come into regular use in political science, public administration and,
more particularly, development management.
It appears alongside such concepts and terms as democracy, civil society, popular
participation, partnerships, human rights and sustainable development. In recent years, it has
been closely associated with public sector reform (Okot-Uma, 2001). Many authors have
noted that good governance should, among other things, bee participatory, transparent and
accountable. Good environmental governance may therefore be defined as comprising the
processes and structures that guide political and socioeconomic relationships, with particular
reference to 'commitment to democratic values , norms and practices, trusted services and just
and honest business' (ibid.).
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Hence, good environmental governance should ensure that political, social, environmental
and economic priorities are based on a broad consensus in society and that the voices of the
poorest and the most vulnerable are heard in decision-making over the allocation of
development resources. UNCHS (2001) sees good governance not in terms of money or
technology, not even expertise, but in terms of a well-managed and inclusive decision
making.
UNCHS (now UN-Habitat) sees good environmental governance as an efficient and effectivee
response to urban problems by accountable local governments working in partnership with
civil society. Good environmental governance is therefore a powerful tool in helping make
environments better places to live and work in (UNCHS, 2001). It not only benefits citizens,
but also brings benefits to the economies. More specifically, itt assists in fighting corruption,
maintaining democracy, improving the quality of life andd life chances for all citizens while
at the same time improving opportunity for people to manifest their desires and wishes in life.
It also promotes security, equity and sustainability (ibid.).
According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific (UNESCAP) good environmental governance has eight major characteristics:
 it is participatory;
 consensus oriented;
 accountable;
 transparent;
 responsive;
 effective and efficient;
 equitable and inclusive and
 follows the rule of law.
It assures that corruption is minimised, views of minorities are taken into account and the
voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive too
the present and future needs of the society. Hence, good urban governance seeks new ways to
be creative, to build strengths and to access and utilise resources.
This is particularly true at the scale of the locality and the neighbourhood. It is at this level
that we find attempts to identify and utilise local knowledge, to build local institutional
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capacity and to develop social capital, all as means by which local problems can be solved,
local needs met and employment created with minimum state intervention (Keams and
Paddison, 2000).
Institutional frameworks are relevant at a variety of levels. They include international
organisations and national governments with roles and action plans in the governance of the
environment. Institutional frameworks can have widespread effects upon incentives and
disincentive structures, which can operate for environmental management. Pugh (1996)
argues that various institutions, firms, households, governmental agencies, CBOs and NGOs
each have characteristic comparative advantages. He goes on too argue that firms have a
comparative advantage in entrepreneurship, including the development of environmental
technologies, while governments have a comparative advantage in policy making, selling
property rights and in institutional reforms, NGOs and CBOs have a comparative advantage
in mobilising household efforts for pro-environmental purposes. Finally, households have a
comparative advantage in some aspects of personal and social development. It is therefore
important to consider the appropriate institutional combination in urban environmental
management.
Although institutional reforms facilitate good environmental governance, the county
government has a special role to play since it is the democratic level closest to the citizen.
Governance solutions are rightly felt to belong to the local level and so, after years of being
side-lined and ignored, local government now finds itself at centre stage. It is being
encouraged to innovate, to be close to the citizens and to develop partnerships.
The key challenges that the county government now faces include meeting the demand for
increased transparency and participation from citizens, modernising its administration and
services, fitting into other levels of governance and dealing with the new technologies and
taking advantages of their benefits. County governments are not the only organisations to take
decisions that can bring about improvements in people's lives. In many cases, it is other
institutions, be they in the private sector or civil society, that are in a better position to bring
about such changes in people's quality of life. For instance, communities in many low-income
neighbourhoods have been responding to environmental challenges in various ways.
Environmental management requires that there is cooperation between all the actors (from the
public, private and civil society sectors) in the urban and rural areas.
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These actors possess different qualities and this is the point at which it is strongly linked with
the concept of environmental governance. However, environmental governance is not limited
to issues related to the improvement of environment, but encompasses the broader poverty
reduction initiatives. This is where it gets very close to the concerns of sustainable
development.
Actors in Environmental Governance: their strengths and weaknesses
As mentioned above, several groups can be identified that can play a role in environmental
governance: the government at the national, regional and county level; the formal private
sector; the informal private sector; NGOs, CBOs and external support agencies. Incidentally,
households have often been left out in analyses of actors in environmental governance. Devas
(1999) argues that it is questionable whether individual households should be included in
environmental governance, since governance implies collective action rather than individual
action. However, households clearly are part of the picture, since they are participants in
environmental management. If we are to have a complete picture of collaboration between
different actors in the urban arena, households cannot be left out. We contend that households
are actively involved in environmental governance as members of the CBOs and also on their
own.
The public sector: central, regional and county governments
Although there is generally a major shift towards a more decentralised way of planning, still
most state authorities in many countries, whether industrialised or developing, receive their
powers and obligations from a central government authority. The allocation of powers and
responsibilities is to protect the rights of the citizens, to provide services and facilities which
are not specific to an individual, but are for theecommon good, or to provide a service or
facility which cannot be provided in any other way (Gidman, et al, 1994).
Regional and county governments still have to influence the developments in towns and rural
areas, because of the persistencee of problems such as inadequate housing, infrastructure and
services (educationn and health) for the low-income population, as well as traffic congestion
and pollution. In order to enhance the road towards sustainable development in cities, theree
is a need to make changes in the organisation and structure of local governments.
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The right kind of government is that kind that redefines its traditional role to be a catalyst and
facilitator (Osborne and Gaebler, 1993). Osborne and Gaebler refer to a reinvented
government as one that separates its functions of policy decisionmaking (steering) from its
function of service delivery (rowing). In other words, today's governments have to do less and
to lead more {ibid.). Only governments are the legitimacy and capability to steer and integrate
the activities of multiple stakeholderss by acting beyond single purposes. Steering means
bringing different stakeholders around the table and moderating differences and negotiating
cooperation.
The primary strength of the public sector stems from its legal authority, lawmaking power,
monitoring and regulatory function, and the mandate that it has too act directly with (or
delegate responsibility to) other stakeholder groups. It is the primary decision-maker with
regard to the public good and is expected to represent its constituencies. The public sector
also has the responsibility to work holistically in coordinating urban environmental
management initiatives with other community development needs.
UNCHS (2001) notes that the presence of the state varies greatly from one country to the
other, between strong states and weak states. Even in countries where the state is still strong,
as in France and the UK, it no longer has the political and economicc resources needed to
carry out the traditional functions of societal governance on its own. In developing countries,
for instance, local governments are not able to offer even basic services to many of the
citizens living within their jurisdiction. They are also poorly resourced and in many instances
poorly managed.
Therefore one of the weaknesses of the public sector is that it lacks reliable funding and
technical resources. Political interference and corruption, high staff turnover and significant
inefficient and inflexible bureaucracy are other weaknessess of the public sector. The new
role of the government has become to create frameworks and to facilitate collective action,
rather than to intervene directly {ibid.). As a result of institutional failure in many urban areas,
the public sector has not managed to deliver and there have been policies directed at
decentralisation of urban infrastructure management. The management of urban
environmental problems presents complex institutional challenges. The factors that cause
managerial complexity include a large number of organisations involved, cross-jurisdictional
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conflicts and overlaps, central-local conflicts and tensions between centralisation and
decentralisation.
Although county governments have nominal responsibilities for the provision of
environmental infrastructure, central government entities retain much of the authority and
financial resources to implement services. Considerable ambiguity exists about the roles of
various institutions working in the area of urban management and the provision of
environmental infrastructure lacks coordination.. The behaviour of bureaucracies that face
few incentives to perform well underlies many of these institutional problems. Helmsing
(2000) observes that an important issue is that greater involvement of other parties in the
provision of infrastructure and services would in fact require not a reduced but an expanded
regulatory capacity on the part of the government. He further states that new modalities of
infrastructure provision need new and complex regulatory and monitoring capacity of the
government and especially so in the new partnership arrangements (ibid, 2000).
The private sector
'Private'' does not only stand for firms, but also individuals, communities and households. In
many countries, under pressure of constraints on government resources, there is an
incremental process of unintended privatisation: as public services fail, enterprises and
households find their own solutions. This is especially thee case in the spheres of essential
personal services (transport, education, health) and basic infrastructure (water and fuel). The
other form of privatisation is programmed: where governments make policy decisions to sell
assets, to franchise or concede the whole operation or to contract out aspects of it (Batley,
1997).
The private sector can either be formal or informal, and - in the sphere of environmental
management - ranges from small, individual garbage collectors or waterr vendors to large
companies, which operate or develop large segments of water supply, sanitation and solid
waste management (UNDP, 1996; UNCHS, 1996; Davidson and Peltenburg, 1993; Faulkener,
1997). Employees within the private sector are concerned about issues of job security,
working conditions, and the particular social status that would be associated with certain jobs.
Private sector involvementt increases employment, and can also offer an element of security
and improved working conditions to groups of non-formal workers who are often exposed to
health hazards.
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The private sector can either be formal or informal. The term formal is used to signify those
organizations and actors that are officially recognised and accepted, and those processes
which conform to official rules and regulations. Informal actors are those who do not have
full, official recognition or do not comply in some way or other with official rules or
procedures. What is referred to as informal private sector is simply unregulated and un-taxed.
The formal private sector refers to institutions, firms and individuals who may be active in
many different aspects of infrastructure management but whose main objective and
organisation is to generate a profit on their investments. They can, because of their access to
financial resources and/or their potential ability to operate more efficiently, play a role in the
financing and/or provision of certain infrastructure services and in construction operations and
the maintenance of relevant facilities (Faulkener, 1997). Because a private concern mostly has
a much narrower focus than its public sector counterpart, it will frequently be able to offer
innovative technical and financial solutions and provide a benchmark price for the provision
of a service. In the literature, the private sector is endowed with qualities such as political
independence, economic rationality, efficiency, dynamism and innovation; qualities that make
it measure up favourably to public sector enterprise (Post, 2002). Empirical evidence on how
privatisation works is still rather flimsy and largely drawn from experiences in the North. In
many developing countries, there is often a strong political opposition to privatisation from
groupss afraid to lose from such reforms.
The private sector has strengths in transparency, its ability to innovate and replicate and its
customer focus (Caplan, 2001). It is able to respond quickly to the need to improve and
deliver services and has limited exposure to political interference. It is also responsive to
competitiveness. However, since the private sector is not politically accountable, there is still
a strong need for regulation by the public sector (Gentry,, 1997). Related to this is the overall
concern to ensure that the low-income population will benefit from such formal private sector
participation. In most instances,, the private sector tends to primarily serve the higher income
segments of society. The private sector tends to leave low-income areas because the profit
margins may be too low and the poor households may not be able to pay for the services
provided by the private sector.
Much of the literature on the role of the private sector overstates its potential and ignores the
fact that effective private sector participation requires strong, competent and representative
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local government to set conditions, oversee the quality and controll the prices charged. The
private sector lacks vision regarding community development, largely due to their distance
from the community and also from the customer. As seen above, many governments in
developing countries have institutional weaknesses to regulate the private sector. The private
sector also lacks financial transparency and is not able to perceive other sectors as equals
(rather than taking the lead). It is rigid and propagates hierarchical management styles Caplan,
2001).
It is important for governments to also recognise the informal private sector and develop
partnerships with this group. The informal sector is an important source of income and
employment for the poor in urban areas and this group can often bridge the gap between the
urban poor and the formal sector when it comes to the provision of less profitable urban
services or services with standards below these of the formal sector. Schubeter (1996) argues
convincingly that residents are producers of infrastructure services in the informal market,
that is, persons may earn their livelihood by such activities as hiring themselves to weed
parapets, diggingg drains and selling water in areas where it is scarce.
Informal and formal service providers are often in direct competition with each other and
strategies for reconciling the interests of these groups are an important partt of problem
solving (Gidman et al, 1994). The main obstacle for partnerships with the informal sector is
the common tendency in favour of the formal sector and the negative attitude among urban
planners and managers and policy makers against the informal sector {ibid).
Informal sector activities are considered as being transitional, and are supposed to disappear
automatically with economic growth (Mangal, 1998). This is frequently accompanied by
ignorance of the informal sector and local authorities and urban managers, and leads to its
marginalisation in spite of the major role actually played by this group in the cities and towns
of developing countries.
Community-based organisations (CBOs)
There is a huge variety of different types of CBOs, which include self-help, local, grassroots,
and community management organisations in addition to village or small town councils.
Members are often motivated by self-interest, but this should be channelled in a way to
promote the broader interests and development goals of the community.. Generally, CBOs
involve "any voluntary action undertaken by a group of persons which aims at the satisfaction
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of individual or collective needs or aspirations" (Arrossi et al, 1994). The distinctive feature
of a self-help initiative or activity is the substantial contribution made from the individual's or
group's own resources in terms of labour, capital, land and/or entrepreneurial skills.
Despite frequent mention in several major policy documents of the importance of CBOs,,
understanding of environmental CBOs in the urban areas is equally inadequate. The CBOs
may be seen as potentially important actors in public/private and public/civill society
partnerships, particularly in urban low-income communities.
These groups often play a crucial role in catalysing and/or facilitating the active participationn
of communities in infrastructure development. The CBOs, the nearest we come to voluntary
action for environmental improvement, are normally funded by the community itself. They
represent the community or member interests, and enjoy popular support. An effective
community organisation is a precondition for undertaking collective initiatives. In most
instances, intermediary organisationss and institutions can demonstrate alternative solutions to
meeting collective social needs through specific projects.
One of the major weaknesses of CBOs is that they are prone to internal fighting and power
struggles and their lack of resources and a broader perspective make them vulnerable to
external influences (Maina et al, 1998). CBOs also face some leadership problems. Moreover,
they cannot solve most community-level environmental problems without interventions from
local authorities and other actors. The provisionn of infrastructure and basic services is an
element of habitat improvement thatt generally cannot be tackled by a community or an NGO
in isolation. According to a framework developed by Lee (1994), water supply, sewerage,
drainage and garbage disposal are environmental management activities that are more closely
conducted at the community level, and they need to be linked to the larger framework of
urban administration to be viable and effective.
We argue that, although in the current literature a lot of emphasis has been laid on the role of
the CBOs, we need to ascertain whether CBOs are effective and whether they have their
resources to control. In most instances, CBOs have a weak resource base and they tend to be
influenced by powerful partners. We further need to know whetherr the CBOs in low-income
settlements are representatives or they are just membership organisations for house-owners
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only. These issues and many more can only be proved by empirical data that the current study
has attempted to collect in thee Kenyan context, using the Nakuru case study.
Non-governmental organisations (Public Benefit Organizations)
Arrossi et al, (1994) provide a concise definition of an NGO which refers to "all non-state,
non-profit making organisations and as a specific term for indigenous and/or Northern-based
organisations, which support self-help, grassroots, community or people's organisations and
individuals as needed". Generally, NGOs seek partnershipss with CBOs so as to gain
sustained and integrated results within the communitiess they want to intervene. NGOs
provide complementary skills and knowledge, working together towards a shared overall goal
related to the livelihoods of the communities where they are operational. NGOs are under
pressure from donors to enter into partnerships with CBOs and other actors and this is
nowadayss being used as criteria for funding.
It has been acknowledged that the NGO sector is making a significant contribution to the
promotion, production and improvement of shelter in various regions of the developing world
(UNCHS, 2001). NGOs operate according to the principle that alll people have a right to
control their own destiny, with a preference for shelter solutionss based on their own
community or neighbourhoods.
In many countries, NGOss play the role of enablers and implementers of new ideas and
models when working with CBOs and helping such organisations' development efforts. In
many instances, NGOs have succeeded in demonstrating alternative solutions to meeting
shelterr and service needs through specific projects and these, in turn, have sometimess
pointed to approaches that have wider applications {ibid.).
NGOs therefore are enablers alongside CBOs, mediators between people and the authorities
which controll access to resources or goods and services, advisors to state institutions on
policyy changes and, finally, they can be advocates who can put community concerns on the
national or international policy agenda.
We intend to indicate in this study that, although the roles of NGOs have been emphasised in
literature, they may not remain in a locality for so long especially when external funding is
ended. Experience has shown that some NGOs may not be necessarily serving the interests of
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the residents of the areas in which they operate (UNCHS, 2001). They also tend to implement
the funding agencies' projects and needs with too little concern for the locals.
Another major weakness of NGOs is that they are normally not accountable to the
communities that they work with, especially those in developing countries. NGOs lack
sufficient and predictable funding and they also lack power to influence decision-making.
Moreover, they tend to play their 'own rules'. NGOs may also compete directly with local
politicall representatives selected by the communities themselves.
External support agencies/ International community
Huge capital investments in urban infrastructure such as a
water reticulation system,
sewerage rehabilitation and extension require some form of assistance from external agencies
outside the municipality. There are also administrative constraints experienced by donor
agencies, especially the lack of trained personnel working within the recipient countries and a
need to keep the staff costs down.
This often results in a bias against smaller programmes, under which category many housing,
basic services and infrastructure projects fall. We argue that interventions by external support
agencies that seek an efficient implementation of 'their' projects may sometimes inhibit
innovative local solutions that are cheaper than the solutions designed by foreign agencies.
External agencies rarely stay for long and only continue their local presence to guarantee the
maintenance and expansion of new projects.
Many international donors with draw support from the community after completing one
'successful' project, just when this should have laid the basis for expanding the scale and
extending the scope of their work. Still, many donors operate on a 'project by project' basis
when what is needed is a long-term process to strengthen institutional capacity, overseen by
democraticc governance (UNCHS, 2001).
It is necessary for international agencies to ensure that their funding reaches a significant
proportion of those in need. Still, most funding agencies retain cumbersome procedures for
funding. This means long delays before a particular community knows whether it can go
ahead with an initiative it has planned and for which itt had obtained funding. International
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agencies need to strengthen support for the institutionall processes by which low-income
groups organise and develop their own action plans and programmes (UNCHS, 2001). New
approaches must be found if aid is to be effective in supporting a diversity of community level
initiatives that permit low-income groups to address their self-chosen priorities.
Households
The household is the key unit of production, reproduction and consumption, and the unit
where decisions on pooling and allocating labour and resources are made (Hordijk,, 2000).
So, we cannot analyse actors in the process of urban environmental management without
studying households and their roles. Poor households spend considerable amounts of physical,
economic and social energies to maintainn access to environmental resources, and manage
these resources in an effortt to minimise the negative impacts of their use on household
members.
According to Lee (1994), households not only manage environmental resources on their own,
but are also actively engaged with other households and in CBOs in addressing common
environmental management problems. Households in low-income urban areas experience
problems like the lack of safe and sufficient water supply, inadequatee sanitation, inadequate
housing and inadequate solid waste collection.
These environmental problems have a great impact on the daily life of households and their
practices. The perception of the environmental problems and related health risks is an
important factor determining the undertaking of activities related to solving some of the
environmental problems. Other factors that determine whether householdss undertake
environmental management initiatives are the composition off the household, the tenure of the
household and the duration that the household hass stayed in a specific neighbourhood.
From the foregoing we observe that there are several actors and as many viewpoints in a
given society. These actors have both their strengths and weaknesses. Good environmental
governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to reach a broad consensus
in society on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be
achieved.
It also requires a broad and long-term perspective on what is needed for sustainable human
development and how to achieve the goals of such development. The recognition of the
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different roles that are going to be undertaken by different actors collaborating to improve the
quality of the environment is almost meaningless unless they have the capacity to act
effectively. For instance, a local authority with adequate capacity has adequate powers and
autonomy, appropriate boundaries, and sufficient personnel, management, technical and fiscal
resources.
Many countries in the South are faced with inadequatee manpower, limited jurisdictional
responsibilities, unstable political systems,, interfering rather than supporting governments
and a chronic shortage of fiscal resources (Gilbert et ai, 1996). There is therefore need to
build capacities of all the actors discussed above if the strive to sustainability through
partnerships and good governance is to succeed. Secondly, financial, human and technical
resources should be availed and mobilised to support prioritised actions
10. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN KENYA
(1999, 2003, 2015)
Part 3 of National Environmental Management Act (1999) provides for Entitlement to a
clean and healthy environment as shown below:
(1) Every person in Kenya is entitled to a clean and healthy environment and has the duty to
safeguard and enhance the environment.
(2) The entitlement to a clean and healthy environment under subsection (1) includes the
access by any person in Kenya to the various public elements or segments of the environment
for recreational, educational, health, spiritual and cultural purposes.
(3) If a person alleges that the entitlement conferred under subsection (1) has been, is being or
is likely to be contravened in relation to him, then without prejudice to any other action with
respect to the same matter which is lawfully available, that person may apply to the High
Court for redress and the High Court may make such orders, issue such writs or give such
directions as it may deem appropriate to (a) prevent, stop or discontinue any act or omission deleterious to the environment;
(b) compel any public officer to take measures to prevent or discontinue any act or omission
deleterious to the environment;
(c) require that any on-going activity be subjected to an environment audit in accordance with
the provisions of this Act;
(d) compel the persons responsible for the environmental degradation to restore the degraded
environment as far as practicable to its immediate condition prior to the damage; and
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(e) provide compensation for any victim of pollution and the cost of beneficial uses lost as a
result of an act of pollution and other losses that are connected with or incidental to the
foregoing.
(4) A person proceeding under subsection (3) of this section shall have the capacity to bring
an action notwithstanding that such a person cannot show that the defendant’s act or
omission has caused or is likely to cause him any personal loss or injury provided that such
action (a) is not frivolous or vexatious; or
(b) is not an abuse of the court process.
(5) In exercising the jurisdiction conferred upon it under subsection (3), the High
Court shall be guided by the following principles of sustainable development (a) the principle of public participation in the development of policies, plans and processes for
the management of the environment;
(b) the cultural and social principles traditionally applied by any community in Kenya for the
management of the environment or natural resources in so far as the same are relevant and are
not repugnant to justice and morality or inconsistent with any written law;
(c) the principle of international co-operation in the management of environmental resources
shared by two or more states;
(d) the principles of intergenerational and intragenerational equity;
(e) the polluter-pays principle; and
(f) the pre-cautionary principle.
Section 7 of the Act establishes the National Environment Management Authority
(NEMA)
(1) There is established an Authority to be known as the National Environment Management
Authority.
(2) The Authority shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and
shall, in its corporate name, be capable of (a) suing and being sued;
(b) taking, purchasing, charging and disposing of movable and immovable property;
(c) borrowing money;
(d) entering into contracts; and
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(e) doing or performing all such other things or acts for the proper administration of this Act,
which may lawfully be performed by a body corporate.
58. Application for an Environmental Impact Assessment Licence
(1) Notwithstanding any approval, permit or license granted under this Act or any other law in
force in Kenya, any person, being a proponent of a project, shall before for an financing,
commencing, proceeding with, carrying out, executing or conducting or causing to be
financed, commenced, proceeded with, carried out, executed or conducted by another person
any undertaking specified in the Second Schedule to this Act, submit a project report to the
Authority, in the prescribed form, giving the prescribed information and which shall be
accompanied by the prescribed fee.
(2) The proponent of a project shall undertake or cause to be undertaken at his own expense
an environmental impact assessment study and prepare a report thereof where the Authority,
being satisfied, after studying the project report submitted under subsection (1), that the
intended project may or is likely to have or will have a significant impact on the environment,
so directs.
(3) The environmental impact assessment study report prepare under this subsection shall be
submitted to the Authority in the prescribed form, giving the prescribed information and shall
be accompanied by the prescribed fee.
(4) The Minister may, on the advice of the Authority given after consultation with the relevant
lead agencies, amend the Second Schedule to this Act by notice in the Gazette.
(5) Environmental impact assessment studies and reports required under this Act shall be
conducted or prepared respectively by individual experts or a firm of experts authorised in
that behalf by the Authority. The Authority shall maintain a register of all individual experts
or firms of all experts duly authorized by it to conduct or prepare environmental impact
assessment studies and reports respectively. The register shall be a public document and may
be inspected at reasonable hours by any person on the payment of a prescribed fee.
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(6) The Director-General may, in consultation with the Standards Enforcement and Review
Committee, approve any application by an expert wishing to be authorised to undertake
environmental impact assessment. Such application shall be made in the prescribed manner
and accompanied by any fees that may be required.
(7) Environmental impact assessment shall be conducted in accordance with the
environmental impact assessment regulations, guidelines and procedures issued under this
Act.
(8) The Director-General shall respond to the applications for environmental impact
assessment license within three months.
(9) Any person who upon submitting his application does not receive any communication
from the Director-General within the period stipulated under subsection (8) may start his
undertaking.
59. Publication of Environmental Impact Assessment
(1) Upon receipt of an environmental impact assessment study report from any proponent
under section 58(2), the Authority shall cause to be published for two successive weeks in the
Gazette and in a newspaper circulating in the area or proposed area of the project a notice
which shall state (a) a summary description of the project;
(b) the place where the project is to be carried out;
(c) the place where the environmental impact assessment study, evaluation or review report
may be inspected; and
(d) a time limit of not exceeding sixty days for the submission of oral or written comments
environmental impact assessment study, evaluation or review report.
(2) The Authority may, on application by any person extend the period stipulated in subparagraph (d) so as to afford reasonable opportunity for such person to submit oral or written
comments on the environmental impact assessment report.
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60. Comments on Environmental Impact Assessment report by Lead Agencies
A lead agency shall, upon the written request of the Director-General, submit written
comments on an environmental impact assessment study, evaluation and review report within
thirty days from the date of the written request.
63. Environmental Impact Licence
The Authority may, after being satisfied as to the adequacy of an environmental impact
assessment study, evaluation or review report, issue an environmental impact assessment
licence on such terms and conditions as may be appropriate and necessary to facilitate
sustainable development and sound environmental management.
64. Submission of fresh Environmental Impact assessment report after
Environmental Impact Assessment License issued
(1) The Authority may, at any time after the issue of an environmental impact assessment
licence direct the holder of such licence to submit at his own expense a fresh environmental
impact assessment study, evaluation or review report within such time as the Authority may
specify where (a) there is a substantial change or modification in the project or in the manner in which the
project is being operated;
(b) the project poses environmental threat which could not be reasonably foreseen at the time
of the study, evaluation or review; or
(c) it is established that the information or data given by the proponent in support of his
application for an environmental impact assessment licence under section 58 was false,
inaccurate or intended to mislead.
(2) Any person who fails, neglects or refuses to comply with the directions of the Authority
issued under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence.
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EIA PROCESS
The first phase of an environmental assessment is called an Initial Environmental examination
(IEE) and the second is Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) or simply detailed EIA.
a) Initial Environmental Examination (lEE)
IEE is carried out to determine whether potentially adverse environmental effects are
significant or whether mitigation measures can be adopted to reduce or eliminate these
adverse effects. The IEE contains a brief statement of key environmental issues, based on
readily available information, and is used in the early (pre-feasibility) phase of project
planning. The IEE also suggests whether in-depth studies are needed. When an IEE is able to
provide a definite solution to environmental problems, an EIA is not necessary. IEE also
requires expert advice and technical input from environmental specialists so that potential
environmental problems can be clearly defined.
b) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
EIA is a procedure used to examine the environmental consequences or impacts, both
beneficial and adverse, of a proposed development project and to ensure that these effects are
taken into account in project design. The EIA is therefore based on predictions. These impacts
can include all relevant aspects of the natural, social, economic and human environment. The
study therefore requires a multi-disciplinary approach and should be done very early at the
feasibility stage of a project. In other words, a project should be assessed for its environmental
feasibility.
EIA should therefore be viewed as an integral part of the project planning process. Unlike the
environmental audit (EA), which is conducted on existing projects, the EIA is applied to new
projects and the expansion aspects of existing projects.
Screening
EIA process kicks off with project screening. Screening is done to determine whether or not a
proposal should be subject to EIA and, if so, at what level of detail. Guidelines for whether or
not an EIA is required are country specific depending on the laws or norms in operation.
Legislation often specifies the criteria for screening and full EIA. Development banks also
screen projects presented for financing to decide whether an EIA is required using their set
criteria.
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The output of the screening process is often a document called an Initial Environmental
Examination or Evaluation (IEE). The main conclusion will be a classification of the project
according to its likely environmental sensitivity. This will determine whether an EIA is
needed and if so, to what detail.
Scoping
The aim of EIA is not to carry out exhaustive studies on all environmental impacts for all
projects. Scoping is used to identify the key issues of concern at an early stage in the planning
process (Ahmed & Sammy, 1987). The results of scoping will determine the scope, depth and
term of reference to be addressed within the Environmental statement. Scoping is done to:
 Identify concerns and issues for consideration in an EIA;
 Ensure a relevant EIA;
 Enable those responsible for an EIA study to properly brief the study team on the
alternatives and on impacts to be considered at different levels of analysis;
 Determine the assessment methods to be used;
 Identify all affected interests;
 Provide an opportunity for public involvement in determining the factors to be
assessed, and facilitate early agreement on contentious issues;
 Save time and money;
 Establish terms of reference (TOR) for EIA study
Scoping should be an ongoing exercise throughout the course of the project. The following
environmental tools can be used in the scoping exercise:
Checklists ’ Checklists are standard lists of the types of impacts associated with a particular
type of project. Checklists methods are primarily for organizing information or ensuring that
no potential impact is overlooked. They comprise list questions on features the project and
environments impacts. They are generic in nature and are used as aids in assessment.
Matrices - Matrix methods identify interactions between various project actions and
environmental parameters and components. They incorporate a list of project activities with a
checklist of environmental components that might be affected by these activities. A matrix of
potential interactions is produced by combining these two lists (placing one on the vertical
axis and the other on the horizontal axis). They should preferably cover both the construction
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and the operation phases of the project, because sometimes, the former causes greater impacts
than the latter. However, matrices also have their disadvantages: they do not explicitly
represent spatial or temporal considerations, and they do not adequately address synergistic
impacts.
Networks ’ these are cause effect flow diagrams used to help in tracing the web relationships
that exist between different activities associated with action and environmental system with
which they interact. They are also important in identifying direct and cumulative impacts.
They are more complex and need expertise for their effective use.
Consultations ’ with decision-makers, affected communities, environmental interest groups
to ensure that all potential impacts are detected. However there can be danger in this when
excessive consultation is done and some unjustifiable impacts included in the ToR.
Baseline data collection
The term "baseline" refers to the collection of background information on the biophysical,
social and economic settings proposed project area. Normally, information is obtained from
secondary sources, or the acquisition of new information through field samplings, interviews,
surveys and consultations with the public. The task of collecting baseline data starts right
from the period of project inception; however, a majority of this task may be undertaken
during scoping and actual EIA.
Baseline data is collected for two main purposes:
 To provide a description of the current status and trends of environmental factors (e.g.,
air pollutant concentrations) of the host area against which predicted changes can be
compared and evaluated in terms of significance, and
 To provide a means of detecting actual change by monitoring once a project has been
initiated Only baseline data needed to assist prediction of the impacts contained in the
ToR and scoping report should be collected.
Impact analysis and prediction
Predicting the magnitude of a development likely impacts and evaluating their significance is
core of environmental assessment process (Morris & Therivel, 1995). Prediction should be
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based on the available environmental baseline of the project area. Such predictions are
described in quantitative or qualitative terms.
Considerations in impact prediction
Magnitude of Impact: This is defined by the severity of each potential impact and indicates
whether the impact is irreversible or, reversible and estimated potential rate of recovery. The
magnitude of an impact cannot be considered high if a major adverse impact can be mitigated.
Extent of Impact: The spatial extent or the zone of influence of the impact should always be
determined. An impact can be site-specific or limited to the project area; a locally occurring
impact within the locality of the proposed project; a regional impact that may extend beyond
the local area and a national impact affecting resources on a national scale and sometimes
trans-boundary impacts, which might be international.
Duration of Impact: Environmental impacts have a temporal dimension and needs to be
considered in an EIA. Impacts arising at different phases of the project cycle may need to be
considered. An impact that generally lasts for only three to nine years after project completion
may be classified as short-term. An impact, which continues for 10 to 20 years, may be
defined as medium-term, and impacts that last beyond 20 years are considered as long-term.
Significance of the Impact: This refers to the value or amount of the impact. Once an impact
has been predicted, its significance must be evaluated using an appropriate choice of criteria.
The most important forms of criterion are:
 Specific legal requirements e.g. national laws, standards, international agreements and
conventions, relevant policies etc.;
 Public views and complaints;
 Threat to sensitive ecosystems and resources e.g. can lead to extinction of species and
depletion of resources, which can result, into conflicts;
 Geographical extent of the impact e.g. has trans- boundary implications;
 Cost of mitigation;
 Duration (time period over which they will occur);
 Likelihood or probability of occurrence (very likely, unlikely, etc.) ;
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 Reversibility of impact (natural recovery or aided by human intervention) ;Number
(and characteristics) of people likely to be affected and their locations;
 Cumulative impacts e.g. adding more impacts to existing ones.
 Uncertainty in prediction due to lack of accurate data or complex systems.
Precautionary principle is advocated in this scenario.
Impact prediction methodologies
Several techniques can be used in predicting the impacts. The choices should be appropriate
to the circumstances. These can be based on:
-
Professional judgment with adequate reasoning and supporting data. This technique
requires high professional experience; xperiments or tests. These can be expensive.
-
Past experience
-
Numerical calculations & mathematical models. These can require a lot of data and
competency in mathematical modelling without which hidden errors can arise;
-
Physical or visual analysis. Detailed description is needed to present the impact;
-
Geographical information systems,
-
Risk assessment, and
-
Economic valuation of environmental impacts
Analysis of alternatives
Analysis of alternative is done to establish the preferred or most environmentally sound,
financially feasible and benign option for achieving project objectives. The World Bank
directives requires systematic comparison of proposed investment design in terms of site,
technology, processes etc in terms of their impacts and feasibility of their mitigation, capital,
recurrent costs, suitability under local conditions and institutional, training and monitoring
requirements (World bank 1999). For each alternative, the environmental cost should be
quantified to the extent possible and economic values attached where feasible, and the basic
for selected alternative stated. The analysis of alternative should include a NO PROJECT
alternative.
Mitigation and impact management
Mitigation is done to avoid, minimize or offset predicted adverse impacts and, where
appropriate, to incorporate these into an environmental management plan or system. For each
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potential adverse impact the plan for its mitigation at each stage of the project should be
documented and costed, as this is very important in the selection of the preferred alternative.
The objectives of mitigation therefore are to:
 find better alternatives and ways of doing things;
 enhance the environmental and social benefits of a project;
 avoid, minimise or remedy adverse impacts; and
 ensure that residual adverse impacts are kept within acceptable levels
SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Analytical tools
Stakeholder Analysis is an entry point to SIA and participatory work. It addresses strategic
questions, e.g. who are the key stakeholders? what are their interests in the project or policy?
what are the power differentials between them? what relative influence do they have on the
operation? This information helps to identify institutions and relations which, if ignored, can
have negative influence on proposals or, if considered, can be built upon to strengthen them.
Gender Analysis focuses on understanding and documenting the differences in gender roles,
activities, needs and opportunities in a given context. It highlights the different roles and
behaviour of men and women. These attributes vary across cultures, class, ethnicity, income,
education, and time; and so gender analysis does not treat women as a homogeneous group.
Secondary Data Review of information from previously conducted work is an inexpensive,
easy way to narrow the focus of a social assessment, to identify experts and institutions that
are familiar with the development context, and to establish a relevant framework and key
social variables in advance.
Community-based methods
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) covers a family of participatory approaches and
methods, which emphasises local knowledge and action. It uses to group animation and
exercises to facilitate stakeholders to share information and make their own appraisals and
plans. Originally developed for use in rural areas, PRA has been employed successfully in a
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variety of settings to enable local people to work together to plan community-appropriate
developments.
SARAR is an acronym of five attributes -- self-esteem, associative strength, resourcefulness,
action planning and responsibility for follow-through -- that are important for achieving a
participatory approach to development. SARAR is a philosophy of adult education and
empowerment, which seeks to optimise people's ability to self-organize, take initiatives, and
shoulder responsibilities. It is best classed as an experiential methodology, which involves
setting aside hierarchical differences, team building through training, and learning from local
experience rather than from external experts.
Consultation methods
Beneficiary Assessment (BA) is a systematic investigation of the perceptions of a sample of
beneficiaries and other stakeholders to ensure that their concerns are heard and incorporated
into project and policy formulation. The purposes are to (a) undertake systematic listening,
which "gives voice" to poor and other hard-to-reach beneficiaries, highlighting constraints to
beneficiary participation, and (b) obtain feedback on interventions.
Observation and interview tools
Participant Observation is a field technique used by anthropologists and sociologists to
collect qualitative data and to develop in-depth understanding of peoples' motivations and
attitudes. It is based on looking, listening, asking questions and keeping detailed field notes.
Observation and analysis are supplemented by desk reviews of secondary sources, and
hypotheses about local reality are checked with key local informants.
Semi-structured Interviews are a low-cost, rapid method for gathering information from
individuals or small groups. Interviews are partially structured by a written guide to ensure
that they are focused on the issue at hand, but stay conversational enough to allow participants
to introduce and discuss aspects that they consider to be relevant.
Focus Group Meetings are a rapid way to collect comparative data from a variety of
stakeholders. They are brief meetings -- usually one to two hours -- with many potential uses,
e.g. to address a particular concern; to build community consensus about implementation
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plans; to cross-check information with a large number of people; or to obtain reactions to
hypothetical or intended actions.
Village Meetings allow local people to describe problems and outline their priorities and
aspirations. They can be used to initiate collaborative planning, and to periodically share and
verify information gathered from small groups or individuals by other means.
Participatory methods
Role Playing helps people to be creative, open their perspectives, understand the choices that
another person might face, and make choices free from their usual responsibilities. This
exercise can stimulate discussion, improve communication, and promote collaboration at both
community and agency levels.
Wealth Ranking (also known as well-being ranking or vulnerability analysis) is a visual
technique to engage local people in the rapid data collection and analysis of social
stratification in a community (regardless of language and literacy barriers). It focuses on the
factors which constitute wealth, such as ownership of or right to use productive assets, their
relationship to locally powerful people, labour and indebtedness, and so on.
Access to Resources is a tool to collect information and raise awareness of how access to
resources varies according to gender, age, marital status, parentage, and so on. This
information can make all the difference to the success or failure of a proposal; for example, if
health clinics require users to pay cash fees, and women are primarily responsible for
accompanying sick or pregnant family members to the clinic, then women must have access
to cash.
Analysis of Tasks clarifies the distribution of domestic and community activities by gender
and the degree of role flexibility that is associated with each task. This is central to
understanding the human resources that are necessary for running a community.
Mapping is an inexpensive tool for gathering both descriptive and diagnostic information.
Mapping exercises are useful for collecting baseline data on a number of indicators as part of
a beneficiary assessment or rapid appraisals, and can lay the foundation for community
ownership of development planning by including different groups.
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Needs Assessment draws out information about people's needs and requirements in their daily
lives. It raises participants' awareness of development issues and provides a framework for
prioritising actions and interventions. All sectors can benefit from participating in a needs
assessment, as can trainers, project staff and field workers.
Pocket Charts are investigative tools, which use pictures as stimulus to encourage people to
assess and analyse a given situation. Made of cloth, paper or cardboard, pockets are arranged
into rows and columns, which are captioned by drawings. A "voting" process is used to
engage participants in the technical aspects of development issues, such as water and
sanitation projects.
Tree Diagrams are multi-purpose, visual tools for narrowing and prioritising problems,
objectives or decisions. Information is organized into a tree-like diagram. The main issue is
represented by the trunk, and the relevant factors, influences and outcomes are shown as roots
and branches of the tree.
Workshop-based methods
Objectives-Oriented Project Planning is a method that encourages participatory planning and
analysis throughout the project life cycle. A series of stakeholder workshops are held to set
priorities, and integrate them into planning, implementation and monitoring. Building
commitment and capacity is an integral part of this process.
TeamUP was developed to expand the benefits of objectives-oriented project planning and to
make it more accessible for institution-wide use. PC/TeamUP is a software package, which
automates the basic step-by-step methodology and guides stakeholders through research,
project design, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Source:
edited
and
abridged
from
document
on
the
World
Bank
web
site
(http//www.worldbank.org.)
11. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
A major shift in thinking has embraced sustainable development as an organising principle
that allows reconciliation between economic development and environmental protection.
Much of this policy advocates taking local action to implement sustainable development, with
Page | 49
particular emphasis on the role of local authorities as delivery agents. The World Commission
on Environment and Development (WCED) used the term sustainable development in its
1987 final report, 'Our Common Future', and defined it as: "....development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs" (WCED, 1987).
This definition contains two concepts: the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs
of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given, and the idea of limitations
imposed by the state of technology and social organisation on the environment's ability to
meet present and future needss (WCED, 1987). This well-known definition of sustainable
development recognises that we need to link development and protection of the environment
in order to protect and manage ecosystems and natural resources which are essential to fulfil
basic human needs and improve living standards for all.
There is a wide range of scholarly and popular literature with competing and often
contradictory definitions of sustainable development. These perspectives differ primarily in
terms of their implicit assumptions with respect to what is to be sustained, variously invoking
biological systems, development trajectories, investment profitability, power relations, levels
of material consumption and cultural lifestyles (see for example, Satterthwaite and Mitlin,
1994).
The lack of a conceptual consensus in part explains the lack of clarity regarding sustainable
development within the scholarly and popular literature, as well as susceptibility of the
concept too political or ideological co-option (Selman, 1996; 1999). In some instances, the
concept has been adopted as a policy to guide future development.
Accordingg to Miller and Roo (1999), sustainable development refers to the longterm
viability of human activity. Many countries have adopted this principle as the cornerstone of
their efforts to address environmental challenges (Bührs and Aplin, 1999).
With the rise of the concept to political prominence, governments have followed different
courses with regard to its translation into their policies, institutions and practices. Given that
the term is open to many different interpretations, and perhaps should be categorised more as
a discourse than a definable concept, it is not surprising that its introduction has led to
Page | 50
different approaches by governments and communities. Countries all over the world seem to
follow different paths towards sustainablee development (Bührs and Aplin, 1999; Church,
2000).
There is a wide body of literature focusing on different approaches that could lead to
sustainable development. One branch of literature focuses primarily on environmental policy
with an emphasis on greening (see the work of Falloux and Talbot, 1993; Johnson, 1995;
Dalai-Clayton, 1996).
Another approach concentrates more on how it could be achieved through institutional reform
(OECD, 1990; Pugh,, 1996; O'Riordan and Voisey, 1998). A third pathway is that of social
mobilisation.
Rather than relying on governments to take the lead, or to expect much of institutional change
at the national level, advocates of social mobilisation put their faith and hope on communities.
As communities are closest to the action when it comes to putting sustainable development
into practice, this approach can be seen a a more direct means of effecting real change (Bührs
and Aplin, 1999).
These three approaches are based on different rationales and foci: on the idea of the need for
policy integration; on the idea that changing institutions may be more effective way to
influence behaviour and on a belief in the power of the people and the importance of practice
as a guide for policy {ibid.).
These approaches may be seen as complementary to each other. Since they are chosen for
different reasons and operate in different realms of governance (policy, institutional,, local), it
is unlikely that any of them on its own will achieve sustainable development. Green planning
without supporting institutional reforms and practice amounts to nothing more than symbolic
policy (Bührs and Aplin, 1999).
Bührs and Aplin further argue that institutional reform does not automatically produce good
policies or outcomes, in spite of claims to the contrary. Local and practical action, directed at
achieving sustainable development might be frustrated or undone by institutional obstacles
Page | 51
and conflicting policies. However, all this will depend on several factors in each specific
setting, which calls for empirical research and analysis of the specific settings.
Applied to environmental management, sustainable development seeks to guide growth in a
manner that does not close options for the long-term future, nor generates intergenerational
inequity (WCED, 1987). Sustainable development hence ensures that economic and social
aspects of change in addition to environmental features are all taken into account (Barrow,
1995).
The economic dimension calls for increasing employment opportunities through expansion
and attraction of firms, which complement rather than have negative implications for social
and environmental improvements. The social dimension includes contributing to a sense of
community and to social justice among groups within the population (Millerr and Roo, 1999).
The environmental dimension seeks to conserve biodiversity for economic, ethical and
aesthetic reasons, and to pursue stewardship of environmentall services, which provide both
valuable resources and absorb wastes in a continuing manner (Rees, 1992).
So, sustainable development has emerged as a new agenda for planning programmes in
societies at various stages of economic development. Its requirement that long-term growth
should balance the three dimensions demands knowledge and commitment. It calls for a
systematic treatment of the three dimensions in a manner which we currently only partly
understand: we must supplement scientifically based approaches with judgment where
knowledge is still only partial (Drakakis-Smith, 1996).
Environmental management process seeks to address the challenges of growth and eventually
the process should lead to sustainable development.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2015-2030
One of the main outcomes from the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in
2012 was international agreement to negotiate a new set of global Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) to guide the path of sustainable development in the world after 2015.
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The Rio+20 Outcome Document1 Indicates that the goals are intended to be ’actionoriented, concise and easy to communicate, limited in number, aspirational, global in nature
and universally applicable to all countries, while taking into account different national
realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and
priorities.’ They should be ’focused on priority areas for the achievement of sustainable
development.’
The Secretary General’s synthesis report of December 2014 powerfully reinforces the
message of universality, stating ’universality implies that all countries will need to change,
each with its own approach, but each with a sense of the global common good.’
As the discussions to create these goals have taken place over the past two years, much of the
international dialogue has however naturally focused on the problems of the developing and
least developed countries and how a combination of their own efforts and renewed
international co-operation and partnership can help them build on the achievements of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to make progress more rapidly towards the goals
and targets. These issues feature strongly in the set of SDGs and targets proposed by the
UN’s Open Working Group in August 20143 as the basis for further discussion and
negotiation in the General Assembly.
The SDGs have however always been intended to go beyond the MDGs and to provide a
comprehensive vision and framework for the evolution of all countries in the years ahead. The
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) therefore commissioned Stakeholder
Forum to prepare this new report as a contribution to redressing the balance of the debate on
these issues. It examines how the SDGs as universal goals include significant challenges to
developed countries to transform their own societies and economies in a more sustainable
direction as well as contributing strongly to the global effort to speed the achievement of
sustainable development in the developing countries.
All of the SDGs are relevant and apply in general terms to all countries including developed
countries. However, the nature and balance of the challenges they represent will be different
in different national contexts. This section proposes a methodology for identifying which of
the different goals and targets represent the biggest transformational challenges in any given
implementation context. It then illustrates how this methodology can be applied to give a
preliminary analysis of the particular challenges which the SDGs (if adopted in their current
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form) and their implementation will present to developed countries within their own societies
and economies.
This methodology was designed to offer a non-biased, objective approach to understanding,
country by country, where attention is most needed to advance sustainable development both
locally and globally. This could help developed countries to create focused and effective
implementation strategies and plans for achieving the SDGs within their own domestic
context.
Developed countries also of course continue to have a major responsibility to help developing
countries in their own transition to sustainability through Official Development Assistance
(ODA), international development policies, global cooperation and other means. Nothing in
this report is intended to diminish or divert attention from the central importance of that
challenge to the developed world.
The SDGs
GOAL 1. END POVERTY IN ALL ITS FORMS EVERYWHERE
This goal and its targets rightly focus primarily on the eradication of the most extreme forms
of poverty in the poorest countries, continuing the work of the Millennium Development
Goals. The most extreme forms of poverty are however comparatively rare in most developed
countries.
Even in developed countries there do however continue to be deprived areas or sectors of
society and aspects of poverty that need attention. Dealing with these problems ought to form
an important part of the sustainable development agenda in developed countries.
GOAL 2. END HUNGER, ACHIEVE FOOD SECURITY AND IMPROVED
NUTRITION, AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
This goal is also focused primarily on developing countries. Furthermore, in addition to the
forms of malnutrition associated with poverty, such as stunting and wasting, the developed
world has its own challenge in dealing with the growing problem of obesity associated with
patterns of overconsumption. Dealing with these problems should form a significant part of
the sustainability agenda in developed countries as well as developing countries. Even in
developed countries much also remains to be done to make agriculture more sustainable, to
improve land and soil quality and to become more resilient to changing climate patterns.
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GOAL 3. ENSURE HEALTHY LIVES AND PROMOTE WELL-BEING FOR ALL AT
ALL AGES
This goal and its targets focus primarily on the needs of developing countries. Health services
are well developed in most developed countries. But even in developed countries much
remains to be done to ensure that poorer and more marginal groups have adequate access to
health care, to promote healthier lifestyles, to reduce major causes of ill health, and to ensure
prompt and equitable access to health services. This should form part of their sustainable
development agenda.
GOAL 4. ENSURE INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION AND
PROMOTE LIFE-LONG LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL
This goal and its targets focus primarily on the needs of the developing countries. Education
at primary and secondary level is universal in most developed countries and consequently
Target 4.1 was scored as being achieved in our assessment, with the applicability and
transformation categories. But maintaining the quality of education remains an on-going
challenge in all countries.
GOAL 5. ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND
GIRLS
This goal and its targets are well-expressed in a way that is applicable and relevant to both
developing and developed countries. Considerable progress has already been made in most
developed countries.
But even in developed countries there remain many on-going challenges to secure full
equality in employment situations, and in various social and domestic settings. Target 5.4,
which calls for recognition of the value of unpaid care and domestic work and Target 5.5 on
ensuring equal opportunities for participation and leadership. Making further progress on
these issues must remain an important part of the sustainable development agenda in
developed countries.
GOAL 6. ENSURE AVAILABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF
WATER AND SANITATION FOR ALL
This goal and its targets are a well-balanced expression of the sustainability needs of both the
developing and developed countries. In most developed countries almost everyone has access
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to fresh water and sanitation services, consequently Targets 6.1 and 6.2, which focus on
achieving universal access to these services.
There are, however, a number of areas where the water cycle is not managed sustainably in
developed countries’ water extraction is depleting natural resources, the treatment of waste is
not entirely satisfactory, water-use efficiency could be improved and management of the
services use too much energy. The protection and restoration of water-related ecosystems is
also still a serious challenge in some developed countries.
GOAL 7. ENSURE ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE, SUSTAINABLE, AND
MODERN ENERGY FOR ALL
The focus on access in Goal 7 and its first target ’ securing universal access to energy for all
by 2030 ’ are clearly directed primarily to developing countries’ energy needs.
In developed countries most people already have access to energy, but there is a major
challenge to transform the energy systems of those countries to provide clean, modern and
sustainable energy at affordable prices. Consequently, this goal is given a high score of 6.4 for
developed countries.
The loss of the word ’sustainable’ from Target 7.1 when compared to the goal heading is
notable and reduces the transformational aspect of this target for developed countries when
taken as face value. Developed countries are encouraged to keep in mind the sustainable
aspirations articulated at the goal level when implementing all the targets within this goal.
The development of renewable energy (Target 7.2), the phasing out of fossil fuels, and the
promotion of energy efficiency (Target 7.3) should be key features of developed countries’
sustainable development strategies.
GOAL 8. PROMOTE SUSTAINED, INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC
GROWTH, FULL AND PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT AND DECENT WORK FOR
ALL
This goal has been a central objective for all countries in the world both developing and
developed, and is often regarded as being a necessary foundation for achieving many of the
other goals. The developed countries have in general already achieved high levels of GDP per
capita so in the assessment for those countries.
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But they still have much to do to achieve more sustainable patterns of production and
consumption and in shifting their objective towards growing wellbeing in their societies rather
than simply seeking to maximise GDP.
Target 8.4 on improving global resource efficiency in consumption and production and
decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation was identified as a key priority
for developed countries. Targets that focused on job creation, employment, equality and rights
(targets 8.3, 8.5, 8.6 and 8.8) were also identified as areas of focus for developed countries.
These should be central features of developed country sustainable development strategies.
GOAL 9. BUILD RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE, PROMOTE INCLUSIVE AND
SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIALIZATION AND FOSTER INNOVATION
This goal is relevant for all countries. All countries need to foster innovation, and to make
their industry and infrastructure more sustainable. But developed countries already have
extensive industrialisation and infrastructure in place. But Target 9.4 which calls on all
countries to upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable by 2030,
with increased resource use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally
sound technologies and industrial processes has a particular relevance to developed countries
and the sustainable redevelopment of their industries and infrastructure that they will need to
undertake over the next generation. Target 9.4 has been identified as the priority for
developed countries under this goal and this objective should feature in their sustainable
development strategies.
GOAL 10. REDUCE INEQUALITY WITHIN AND AMONG COUNTRIES
This goal and the targets proposed under it are relevant to all countries. Several recent studies
indicate that more equal countries tend to record higher levels of wellbeing and happiness
amongst their populations. From this perspective the recent tendency for many developed
countries to become more unequal is disturbing and needs to be addressed.
Target 10.1 urges that by 2030 all countries should progressively achieve and sustain income
growth of the bottom 40% of the population at a rate higher than the national average; and
other targets propose specific policy areas for attention to help advance equality within and
between countries. Target 10.4, which urges countries to adopt policies to progressively
achieve greater equality, was identified as the priority for developed countries under Goal 10.
Developed countries will need to introduce new ways of monitoring progress towards these
targets, and introduce new policies to achieve them.
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GOAL 11. MAKE CITIES AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS INCLUSIVE, SAFE,
RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE
This goal is relevant to all countries. Some of the individual targets are relevant primarily to
developing countries, but cities and settlements in developed countries also face significant
challenges.
Most developed countries have a wide range of cities and settlement patterns displaying
considerable variety in regard to sustainability, safety, resilience and inclusivity. Developed
countries and the cities and settlements in them may need to establish more quantified targets
in relation to the improvements needed in the sustainability of housing and other buildings,
and transport and planning policies in order to give more substance to this goal in their
situation.
Target 11.2 on transport, Target 11.3 on inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and Target
11.6, which calls for reducing the adverse environmental impact of cities with a focus on air
pollution and waste management, were identified as the priorities for developed countries
within this goal.
GOAL 12. ENSURE SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
PATTERNS
This is one of the crucial challenges for developed countries (and middle income countries)
and, as 12.1 indicates, developed countries are expected to take the lead in this area.
In spite of some progress on energy efficiency and on waste management and recycling most
developed countries are still consuming excessive amounts of non-renewable energy and
other primary resources. Developed countries have so far failed to decouple economic growth
from increased consumption of energy and other resources. Some businesses and sectors of
industry have made some progress towards sustainability over the past 20 years. But much
greater efforts will need to be made on these issues over the next 15 years.
All the targets under this goal scored highly in our assessment, highlighting sustainable
consumption and production as a key priority for developed countries within the SDGs.
GOAL 13. TAKE URGENT ACTION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS
IMPACTS
This is a crucial sustainable development objective for both developed and developing
countries. .
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Although some progress has been made in limiting greenhouse gas emissions in some
countries global emissions continue to rise and the prospects for damaging climate change are
worsening. Tougher targets and more vigorous implementation will be needed, particularly
from those developed and middle income countries that have been moving in the wrong
direction. While acknowledging that this subject is being negotiated separately under the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), it will be important
to translate the results of those negotiations into the SDGs and to ensure that they represent a
sufficiently ambitious set of targets for developed and middle income countries to build into
their sustainable development strategies. While all the targets under goal 13 are scored highly,
Target 13.2 on integrating climate change measures into national policies and strategies and
Target 13.3 on improving education, awareness and capacity on climate change are identified
as the priorities for developed countries. While the objective of strengthening resilience and
adaptive capacity to climate related hazards and disasters (Target 13.1) is a relevant area of
focus for developed and developing countries alike, it is primarily, and rightly, focused on
those countries that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
GOAL 14. CONSERVE AND SUSTAINABLY USE THE OCEANS, SEAS AND
MARINE RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The oceans and seas are global commons, and it is important that all countries should
contribute to managing them more sustainably. Some developed countries have been amongst
the worst offenders in terms of creating marine pollution and depleting fish stocks and other
marine resources. The targets proposed in this goal urge that basic conservation measures
should be put in place by 2020 and all but one were scored highly in terms of their relevance
for developed countries.
In particular, Targets 14.4 and 14.6 on the related issues of ending overfishing, illegal and
destructive fishing practices and prohibiting damaging fisheries subsidies were identified as
sustainable development priorities for developed countries. Target 14.2 on the sustainable
management and protection of marine and costal ecosystems, Target 14.3 on addressing the
impacts of ocean acidification and Target 14.5 on the conservation of costal and marine areas.
GOAL 15. PROTECT, RESTORE AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE USE OF
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS, SUSTAINABLY MANAGE FORESTS, COMBAT
DESERTIFICATION, AND HALT AND REVERSE LAND DEGRADATION AND
HALT BIODIVERSITY LOSS
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This goal and the targets under it are relevant to both developed and developing countries.
Developed countries have a mixed record in terms of protecting land, soil, forests,
biodiversity and ecosystems both within their own countries and in the impact of their trade
and investment in other parts of the world. More effort will be needed to achieve a sustainable
situation and the specific targets proposed in this goal. Target 15.5 which urges countries to
take urgent and significant action to reduce degradation of the natural habitat and halt
biodiversity loss was identified as being particularly relevant and important for developed
countries.Target 15.6 is on fair and equitable sharing of benefits and Target 15.7 on ending
poaching and trafficking of protected species.
GOAL
16.
PROMOTE
PEACEFUL
AND
INCLUSIVE
SOCIETIES
FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, PROVIDE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR ALL AND
BUILD EFFECTIVE, ACCOUNTABLE AND INCLUSIVE INSTITUTIONS AT ALL
LEVELS
This goal and targets are relevant to all countries. All countries will need to review the
adequacy of their institutional and judicial processes for the advancement of sustainable
development, and the achievement of the specific targets set out under this goal.
Target 16.6 to develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels was
identified as the key priority for developed countries under this goal, scoring highly in all
three categories and overall. Targets on reducing violence, reducing illicit financial and arms
flows and ensuring responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at
all levels also scored highly.
11. FROM STOCKHOLM TO RIO TO JOHANESBURG
There can be little doubt that the most significant shift in environmental thought in the late
20th century was that of viewing environmental problems and their potential solutions in
global context. It is seldom that a major scholarly book in environmental science or
environmental studies fails to make note of the fact that global environmental problems, such
as globalwarming, atmospheric ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, and transboundary
movement of toxic wastes, are among the most serious challenges to face humanity.
Accordingly, since the late 1980s, the notion that global environmental problems are the most
significant, serious, and challenging ones has become commonplace in the social sciences,
including but not limited to sociology (Redclift & Benton, 1994; P. J. Taylor & Buttel, 1992).
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There has thus been a clear trend in recent decades toward seeing our environmental future as
being premised on our ability to deal with these global-scale ecological processes and
concerns.
It should be noted, however, that the notion that environmental problems - particularly, our
most pressing or challenging ecological concerns - are essentially global in nature is hardly
new. Ever since the rise of the modern environmental movement beginning in the late 1960s,
the mainstream environmental movement has premised much of its thinking and strategy on
global conceptions of environmental problems. Paul Ehrlich’s famous book, The Population
Bomb (1968), for example, was perhaps the single most important inspiration and guide for
environmentalism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In The Population Bomb, Ehrlich
popularized the notion that there exists a global population, with its own global dynamics, and
that the essence of the human role on the Earth is that this global population is threatening
planetwide Malthusian-style environmental catastrophe. The strongly Malthusian flavor of the
environmental movement at the time was due in no small measure to the great influence that
Ehrlich’s notion of the ’population bomb’ had on movement leaders.
During the early and mid-1970s, another global conception of environmental problems, that
developed in the Meadows et al. (1972) book The Limits to Growth, came to be even more
prominent in academic and activist environmental thought. Meadows et al. argued that
because of the strong tendency for economic expansion to lead to insoluble pollution and
resource depletion problems, there was a need to adopt ’limits to growth’ policies at a
global level.
The search for feasible strategies to limit global growth, and thereby to reduce the degree to
which humans were affecting the integrity of the natural world, came to be the overarching
goal of the movement. The reasoning of Meadows et al. about the limits to growth also played
a significant role in the discussions at the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human
Environment, which strongly framed environmental discussions (in the developed industrial
countries at least) during the 1970s.
Note, though, that despite the long-standing tendency for environmental thought to have a
significant global dimension, it was the case that both Ehrlich’s notion of the population
bomb and Meadows et al.’s notion of limits to growth failed to catalyze durable
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environmental mobilization. Global notions of environmental problems and their solutions
have long been associated with north-south tensions. These tensions were manifest at the
1972 Stockholm Conference and particularly at the 1974 World Population Conference at
Bucharest, Romania.
In large part, these tensions emerged because the notions of population bomb and limits to
growth implied that the developing countries of the south were major causes of environmental
problems and/or that their aspirations for the levels of living standards enjoyed in the north
would need to be restrained if global environmental problems were to be solved. In addition,
there was considerable opposition (particularly among industrial corporations) and general
public ambivalence about population control and the imperative to constrain growth and
increase living standards.
The general lack of enthusiasm for modern environmentalism’s early forays into global
thinking, in fact, led to the movement’s having lost much of its momentum during the late
1970s and early 1980s. What would change all this would be the appointment of the World
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) by the secretary-general of the
United Nations in the early 1980s.
The commission was charged with developing newideas about howthe south and north could
come to agreement on ways to make progress in solving environmental and human problems.
WCED’s book Our Common Future (1987) played a highly influential role in popularizing
the notions of sustainability and sustainable development.
Most significantly, the WCED’s work led to some measure of compromise among
representatives of various world governments, environmental organizations, international
development nongovernmental organizations, and development agencies. The essence of the
compromise worked out within the WCED was that the contradiction between economic
growth and development could be diminished very substantially if new growth was harnessed
in a sustainable development framework.
Equally importantly, WCED’s Our Common Future also argued that the major ecological
problems that sustainable development policies were to address were essentially global-scale
ecological problems. Our Common Future, for example,was perhaps the first globally
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circulated book in which the greenhouse problem was portrayed as a master global
environmental issue. Most of the other ecological problems that WCED argued must be
addressed through sustainable development programs and policies were global-scale problems
such as deforestation, loss of biological diversity, desertification, soil and land degradation,
and so on.
The WCED’s Our Common Future, and the 1992 Rio Earth Summit paved the way for a
hopeful pattern of international collaboration and agreement that has subsequently become
one of the pillars of modern thought about how a more promising environmental future can be
made possible. In addition to the pioneering work of the WCED, by the time of the Earth
Summit, it was becoming well known that the 1987 Montreal Protocol had begun to make
major accomplishments in reducing the introduction of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) into the
stratosphere and in making possible a reduction of the rate of depletion of the stratospheric
ozone layer.
The relatively nonconflictual and effective process of agreeing to and implementing the
Montreal Protocol suggested that international treaties and agreements, and the international
organizations and regimes that are formed in association with these agreements, would be the
logical course to take in creating a better environmental future. The general impulse that led
to enthusiasm about and fascination with global environmental policy making also had some
precedent in the modern environmental movement. From an environmental movement
standpoint, the logic behind an international approach is fairly compelling. For one thing,
focusing on global-scale problems, particularly if these problems could be connected with
suggestions that future global-scale environmental disasters might occur, could be an effective
strategy for environmental groups to obtain media attention and to multiply their impact (Mol,
2000; Taylor & Buttel, 1992).
Thus, there has tended to be some association in environmental thought and strategy between
international environmental claims making and cultivation of an atmosphere of imminent
crisis (what Mol [2000] terms somewhat disparagingly as ’apocalypse-blindness’). Global
strategies also provide a way for environmental groups to multiply their impacts on policy;
instead of environmental groups’ having to contest policy decisions in every capital city
across the world, successful passage of a global-scale agreement could, in one fell swoop,
leverage governments across the world to implement new environmentally friendly policies.
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Third, as noted earlier, therewas growing disillusion with and opposition to standard
command-and-control national-level regulation, and the international arena promised a fresh
and possibly more comprehensive approach to environmental reform. Finally, international
negotiations promised more access by civil society groups to policy making than was often
the case with regulatory implementation in the United States and other industrial countries.
As a result of the late 1980s and 1990s spurt of interest in global environmental problems and
in the global frameworks for solving these problems, there have been some significant
changes in how many organizations, groups, and governments think about a desirable
environmental future. As the work of the WCED and activities leading up the Rio de Janeiro
Earth Summit moved forward and as global environmental problems were propelled into the
spotlight, there was a tendency for most large environmental organizations on the North
American coasts and across the major cities of western Europe to become increasingly global
in their discourses, issue foci, and their strategies. Second, prompted by the activities leading
up to the Earth Summit, frameworks for prospective environmental conventions and protocols
were put into place (see below for a more specific discussion of terminology).
Most of the critical international environmental negotiations that have occurred over the past
decade have been those connected in some way to the 1980s and 1990s work of theWCEDand
its successor the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development (UNCED).
Major examples of these frameworks for international negotiations include the Convention on
Biological Diversity and the FCCC. A large share of the work of the large environmental
organizations continues to focus on global environmental arenas such as these.
There are several different vehicles for such an international approach to improving the future
of the global environment. The most common mechanism is typically referred to as
’international environmental regimes,’ which are systems of norms and rules specified in a
multilateral agreement among signatory states to regulate actions on a specific issue or set of
issues (see Porter & Brown, 1996, chap. 1). Regimes generally involve some binding legal
agreement or instrument, the most typical of which is a convention.
A convention is a legal instrument that contains all the binding obligations that have been
negotiated and a detailed legal inventory of norms and rules. A framework convention (e.g.,
the FCCC laid down in advance of the Rio Earth Summit, which continues to be negotiated in
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the new millennium) is a very general or formal agreement negotiated in anticipation of
additional texts to be agreed to later that specify rules and obligations of the parties (called
’protocols’). Some agreements are ’soft,’ or, in other words, nonbinding, an example of
which is the Agenda 21 Plan of Action agreed to at the 1992 UNCED Earth Summit.
Nonbinding agreements, however, tend to have minimal impacts.
Such soft agreements typically lead to efforts to create a legally binding agreement. The
second major component of international environmental policy making consists of
international governmental organizations (IGOs). Environmental IGOs are intergovernmental
organizations formed for some specific purpose in relation to the environment. Important
environmental IGOs include UNCED, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
and the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD). Also, many
other IGOs, such as the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the
United Nations Development Programme, and theWorld Health Organization, play crucial
roles in global environmental policy making because their mandates relate closely to the
environment in one or more ways. UNEP has played a particularly prominent role in
international environmental policy making. UNEP, for example, was responsible for
convening a group of experts who adopted the World Plan for Action on the Ozone Layer.
Five years later, in 1982, negotiations leading to the Montreal Protocol began. The Montreal
Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer (usually referred to with the shorthand,
the ’Montreal Protocol’) was ultimately adopted in 1987. But some environmental IGOs,
such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, largely fail and become nonfunctional. The
FCCC has yet to develop a protocol with concrete agreed-on norms and rules for
implementation.The latest round of the FCCC, at the Hague in November 2000, essentially
ended in failure because the United States has declined to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Although international regimes and IGOs have some similarities, their roles should be
recognized as being quite distinct. Environmental IGOs themselves are not empowered to
formulate international agreements, whereas the raison d’être of international negotiations
and regimes is to establish norms, rules, and sanctions relating to environmentally related
conduct of signatory countries and their agents.
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Some international IGOs, however, have very substantial funding programs that have a great
deal of impact on the environment globally. The UNDP has a particularly large development
assistance grant fund (of approximately $1.5 billion annually) and is the major grant (as
opposed to loan-based) funder of sustainable development and integrated conservation and
development programs in the world today.
UNDP is one of the three implementers of the Global Environmental Facility that grew out of
the Earth Summit. TheWorld Bank is the largest international development finance agency
and has an even greater global environmental impact, historically a substantially negative one.
There are some differences of viewabout howthe international level of environmental policy
making and policy development operates or ought to operate. The most common viewis that
the most straightforward and immediate route to solving international environmental
problems is to engage in international negotiations with an eye to securing an agreement for
an international regime and legal protocol.
Although there have been some recent successes, such as the Categena Protocol on Biosafety
under the umbrella of the Convention on Biological Diversity (which was initiated in
conjunction with the 1992 Rio Earth Summit), most recent attempts at making breakthroughs
on protocols involving major global environmental issues have largely failed. The essential
failure of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol of the FCCC to secure ratification in a critical mass of
signatory states (particularly the United States), and the failure of the Hague Round to resolve
the impasse, makes it quite unlikely that there will be a significant agreement on greenhouse
gases and climate change for the foreseeable future.
Most observers also regard the 2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit as having been a resounding
failure as well. Despite the shortcomings of the past decade or so of international approaches
to environmental reform, there have recently been more optimistic assessments of the
cnstructive role that world society plays in environmental policy making. Frank (1997) and
Frank, Hironaka, and Schofer (2000) have argued that the most significant role played by
world society is through IGOs, rather than only or primarily through international regimes.
Frank and colleagues suggest that the IGOs’impacts on environmental policy making occur
over fairly long periods of time (see also Mol, 2000). IGOs serve to diffuse the shared
proenvironment and environmental scientific cultures of their ’epistemic communities’
down to the government agencies and officials of nation-states. Thus, for Frank et al., the
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existence of the large, prominent environmental IGOs such as UNEP and UNCSD, plus the
many smaller environmental IGOs (e.g., the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature), has been critical over time in inducing the governments ofworld nations to take
positive steps toward environmental control such as establishing autonomous environmental
ministries, becoming signatories to international environmental protocols, and setting aside
land and other natural areas for conservation and preservation.
Despite the widespread interest in the environmental level of international policy making, its
status as the focal point for ensuring a desirable environmental future is by no means clear. As
noted earlier, concrete accomplishments at the level of international regime and protocol
negotiation since the Rio Earth Summit have been very modest. It is also useful to evaluate
the success of the international strategy of environmental policy making by bearing in mind
that, to some degree, global environmental change is a frame or social construction in which
preexisting problems or concerns have essentially undergone repackaging (P. J. Taylor &
Buttel, 1992). Global environmental change, or atmosopheric disruption, essentially tends to
boil down to two key long-standing issues: air pollution and energy conservation.
It is therefore important to ask whether the decade or so of reframing air pollution and energy
conservation as global environmental change - or reframing the case for controlling air
pollution and conserving energy being that of staving off atmospheric or climate disruption has given us any greater leverage on the problem.
Again, it is not clear that environmental globalization has had advantages in making possible
significant environmental reforms in the arenas of air pollution control and energy
conservation. In fact, in the United States, the framing or social construction of air pollution
control and energy efficiency as being global issues requiring global-scale policy action has
clearly energized right-wing think tanks and conservative corporations to fight creeping
internationalism. Prior to Rio, there was seldom a concerted right-wing movement to counter
air pollution control and energy efficiency improvement programs. Now, however, the U.S.
Congress is very unlikely to ratify an international regime and protocol that appears to
partially exonerate developing countries from complying with greenhouse standards.
Environmental internationalism has so catalyzed the right-wing countermovement so
powerful that it prompted an unprecedented failure by Congress to pass amendments to the
Clean Air Act in 2000. In addition to environmental internationalism catalyzing right-wing
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opposition and heading off regulatory improvements that might have been possible if
particular issues had been defined as national ones, there are other actual or potential
shortcomings of international environmental agreements and environmental IGOs. First and
most important is the fact that there are very definite north-south differences of interest in
coming to agreement on protocols relating to fundamental global environmental concerns.
The industrial countries of the north now account for the bulk of resource-consumptionrelated insults to the global environment, but these countries are strongly divided on whether
they are willing to sacrifice growth or jeopardize their international economic stature in
pursuit of international environmental public or collective goods such as healthier forests, a
more stable climate, conservation of scarce land and soil resources, and so on. Many of the
developing countries of the south are unwilling to enter into agreements unless they are
essentially exonerated from major commitments over the short to medium term and unless
they can expect to receive ’green foreign aid’ to help finance a transition to a more
sustainable pattern of natural resource use.
With the end of the cold war, however, most industrial countries, particularly the United
States, are beginning to prepare foreign aid budgets that were originally established after the
KoreanWar in a climate of East-West rivalry over the hearts and minds of developing country
governments and their peoples. The end of East-West cold war rivalry has led to declining
foreign aid outlays and to a decreased likelihood that the south will receive subsidies to invest
in new green technology or in sustainable development programs. In effect, then, despite the
allusion in the WCED’s (1987) Our Common Future that all of humankind has a common
stake in international environmental protection, the apparent reality is that different countries
perceive very different (domestic) interests in international cooperation over the environment
(Yearley, 1996).
Differences of national interest in international environmental policy discussions have clearly
been the major factor preventing new landmark international agreements. In addition, social
research on international environmental regimes is increasingly discovering that national
political and regulatory styles remain very resistant to external pressures for change that
derive from international agreements.
The fact that an international environmental agreement has been secured by no means ensures
that fundamental changes in national styles of regulation and policy making will result.
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Recent controversies over the role of the WTO ’ particularly over how its policies relate to
trade in hormone-treated meat and genetically modified foods - suggest that international
negotiators are increasingly discovering the limits on howmuch global negotiations can
override national differences in regulatory cultures and practices (O’Neill, 2000; Weale,
Pridham, Williams, & Porter, 1996).
12: LIMITS TO GROWTH (exerpts for Meadows, et al, 2004)
The Limits to Growth (LTG) reported that global ecological constraints (related to resource
use and emissions) would have significant influence on global developments in the twentyfirst century. LTG warned that humanity might have to divert much capital and manpower to
battle these constraints - possibly so much that the average quality of life would decline
sometime during the twenty-first century. This book published in 1972 did not specify exactly
what resource scarcity or what emission type might end growth by requiring more capital than
was available - simply because such detailed predictions can not be made on a scientific basis
in the huge and complex population’economy’environment system that constitutes our
world.
LTG pleaded for profound, proactive, societal innovation through technological, cultural, and
institutional change in order to avoid an increase in the ecological footprint of humanity
beyond the carrying capacity of planet Earth. Although the global challenge was presented as
grave, the tone of LTG was optimistic, stressing again and again how much one could reduce
the damage caused by approaching (or exceeding) global ecological limits if early action were
taken.
The 12 World 3 scenarios in LTG illustrate how growth in population and natural resource use
interacts with a variety of limits. In reality limits to growth appear in many forms. In our
analysis we focused principally on the planet’s physical limits, in the form of depletable
natural resources and the finite capacity of the earth to absorb emissions from industry and
agriculture. In every realistic scenario we found that these limits force an end to physical
growth in World 3 sometime during the twenty-first century.
Our analysis did not foresee abrupt limits - absent one day, totally binding the next. In our
scenarios the expansion of population and physical capital gradually forces humanity to divert
more and more capital to cope with the problems arising from a combination of constraints.
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Eventually so much capital is diverted to solving these problems that it becomes impossible to
sustain further growth in industrial output. When industry declines, society can no longer
sustain greater and greater output in the other economic sectors: food, services, and other
consumption. When those sectors quit growing, population growth also ceases.
The end to growth may take many forms. It can occur as a collapse: an uncontrolled decline in
both population and human welfare. The scenarios of World 3 portray such collapse from a
variety of causes. The end to growth can also occur as a smooth adaptation of the human
footprint to the carrying capacity of the globe. By specifying major changes in current policies
we can cause World3 to generate scenarios with an orderly end to growth followed by a long
period of relatively high human welfare.
The End of Growth
The end of growth, in whatever form, seemed to us to be a very distant prospect in 1972. All
World3 scenarios in LTG showed growth in population and economy continuing well past the
year 2000. Even in the most pessimistic LTG scenario the material standard of living kept
increasing all the way to 2015. Thus LTG placed the end of growth almost 50 years after the
publication of the book. That seemed to be time enough for deliberation, choice, and
corrective action - even at the global level.
When LTG we hoped that such deliberation would lead society to take corrective actions to
reduce the possibilities of collapse. Collapse is not an attractive future. The rapid decline of
population and economy to levels that can be supported by the natural systems of the globe
will no doubt be accompanied by failing health, conflict, ecological devastation, and gross
inequalities. Uncontrolled collapse in the human footprint will come from rapid increases in
mortality and rapid declines in consumption. With appropriate choice and action such
uncontrolled decline could be avoided; overshoot could instead be resolved by a conscious
effort to reduce humanity’s demands on the planet. In this latter case gradual downward
adjustment of the footprint would result from successful efforts to reduce fertility and from
more equitable distribution of the sustainable rate of material consumption.
It is worth repeating that growth does not necessarily lead to collapse. Collapse follows
growth only if the growth has led to overshoot, to an expansion in demands on the planet’s
sources, and sinks above levels that can be sustained. In 1972 it seemed that humanity’s
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population and economy were still comfortably below the planet’s carrying capacity. We
thought there was still room to grow safely while examining longer-term options. That may
have been true in 1972; by 1992 it was true no longer.
1992: Beyond the Limits
In 1992 we conducted a 20-year update of our original study and published the results in
Beyond the Limits. In BTL we studied global developments between 1970 and 1990 and used
this information to update the LTG and the World3 computer model. BTL repeated the
original message; in 1992 we concluded that two decades of history mainly supported the
conclusions we had advanced 20 years earlier. But the 1992 book did offer one major new
finding. We suggested in BTL that humanity had already overshot the limits of Earth’s
support capacity.
Already in the early 1990s there was growing evidence that humanity was moving further into
unsustainable territory. For example, it was reported that the rain forests were being cut at
unsustainable rates; there was speculation that grain production could no longer keep up with
population growth; some thought that the climate was warming; and there was concern about
the recent appearance of a stratospheric ozone hole. But for most people this did not add up to
proof that humanity had exceeded the carrying capacity of the global environment. We
disagreed. In our view by the early 1990s overshoot could no longer be avoided through wise
policy; it was already a reality. The main task had become to move the world back ’down’
into sustainable territory. Still, BTL retained an optimistic tone, demonstrating in numerous
scenarios how much the damage from overshoot could be reduced through wise global policy,
changes in technology and institutions, political goals, and personal aspirations.
BTL was published in 1992, the year of the global summit on environment and development
in Rio de Janeiro. The advent of the summit seemed to prove that global society finally had
decided to deal seriously with the important environmental problems. But we now know that
humanity failed to achieve the goals of Rio. The Rio + 10 conference in Johannesburg in 2002
produced even less; it was almost paralyzed by a variety of ideological and economic
disputes, by the efforts of those pursuing their narrow national, corporate, or individual selfinterests.
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1970 ’ 2000: Growth in the Human Footprint
The past 30 years have produced many positive developments. In response to an ever growing
human footprint, the world has implemented new technologies, consumers have altered their
buying habits, new institutions have been created, and multinational agreements have been
crafted. In some regions food, energy, and industrial production have grown at rates far
exceeding population growth. In those regions most people have become wealthier.
Population growth rates have declined in response to increased income levels. Awareness of
environmental issues is much higher today than in 1970. There are ministries of
environmental affairs in most countries, and environmental education is commonplace. Most
pollution has been eliminated from the smoke stacks and outflow pipes of factories in the rich
world, and leading firms are pushing successfully for ever higher eco-efficiency. These
apparent successes made it difficult to talk about problems of overshoot around 1990. The
difficulty was increased by the lack of basic data and even elementary vocabulary related to
overshoot. It took more than two decades before the conceptual framework - for example,
distinguishing growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from growth in the ecological
footprint - matured sufficiently to enable an intelligent conversation about the limits to growth
issue. And world society is still trying to comprehend the concept of sustainability, a term that
remains ambiguous and widely abused even sixteen years after the Brundtland Commission
coined it.
The past decade has produced much data that support our suggestion in BTL that the world is
in overshoot mode. It now appears that the global per capita grain production peaked in the
mid-1980s. The prospects for significant growth in the harvest of marine fish are gone. The
costs of natural disasters are increasing, and there is growing intensity, even conflict, in
efforts to allocate fresh water resources and fossil fuels among competing demands. The
United States and other major nations continue to increase their greenhouse gas emissions
even though scientific consensus and meteorological data both suggest that the global climate
is being altered by human activity.
There are already persistent economic declines in many localities and regions. Fifty-four
nations, with 12 percent of the world population, experienced declines in per capita GDP for
more than a decade during the period from 1990 to 2001. The past decade also provided new
vocabulary and new quantitative measures for discussing overshoot. For example, Mathis
Wackernagel and his colleagues measured the ecological footprint of humanity and compared
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it to the ’carrying capacity’ of the planet. They defined the ecological footprint as the land
area that would be required to provide the resources (grain, feed, wood, fish, and urban land)
and absorb the emissions (carbon dioxide) of global society. When compared with the
available land, Wackernagel concluded that human resource use is currently some 20 percent
above the global carrying capacity. Measured this way humanity was last at sustainable levels
in the 1980s. Now it has overshot by some 20 percent.
Sadly, the human ecological footprint is still increasing despite the progress made in
technology and institutions. This is all the more serious because humanity is already in
unsustainable territory. But the general awareness of this predicament is hopelessly limited. It
will take a long time to obtain political support for the changes in individual values and public
policy that could reverse current trends and bring the ecological footprint back below the
long-term carrying capacity of the planet.
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