Environmental Management (continued)
There is considerable disagreement about the course that the
aforementioned intervention should take, which has cre-
ated a plurality of approaches to managing the environment.
(Note that the word environment usually means the natural
surroundings, both living and inanimate, of human lives and
activities; it also can mean the artificial landscape of cities,
or occasionally even the conceptual field of the noosphere,
the realm of communicating human minds.) Environmental
managers therefore fall within a broad spectrum that extends
from conservationists to technocrats, including those who
would limit human interference in nature and those who would
increase it in order to guide natural processes along benign
paths. Hence, both conservationists and developers are repre-
sented. It is hoped that they will come together over the need
to make economic development sustainable, without it being
undermined by long-term damage to resources and habitats
(Fig. 2).
Participants
Participants in the process of environmental management fall
into seven main groups:
1. Governmental organizations at the local, regional, national,
and international levels, including world bodies such as the
United Nations Environment Programme
2. Research institutions, including universities, academies,
and national laboratories
3. Bodies charged with the enforcement of regulations, such
as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
4. Businesses of all sizes and multinational corporations
5. International financial institutions, including the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund
6. Environmental nongovernmental organizations, such as
the World Wide Fund for Nature (World Wildlife Fund)
7. Representatives of the users of the environment, including
tribes, fishermen, and hunters
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science
Fig. 2 Without proper environmental management, economic and industrial development often lead to environmental pollution, especially in urban environments.
(Credit: Simon Alvinge/123RF)
