The agents of environmental management include foresters,
soil conservationists, policy-makers, engineers, and resource
planners. The main link between these diverse groups of peo-
ple is the need for accountability in the use of nature's riches.
However, although there is much collaboration, relationships
are often adversarial as objectives differ among the groups.
Some common themes of environmental management are
as follows:
1. Bilateral and multilateral environmental treaties
(transboundary ecological management)
2. Design and use of decision-support systems (practical
utilization of environmental data and expert systems for
environmental management)
3. Environmental policy formulation, enactment, and
policing of compliance (participatory planning and public
consultation regarding environmental programs)
4. Estimation, analysis, and management of environmental
risk (risk perception and communication studies)
5. Management of recreation and tourism (design
and implementation of environmentally friendly
ecotourism programs)
6. Natural resource evaluation and conservation (designation
and management of parks, preserves, and other protected
areas, and designation and protection of wilderness areas)
7. Positive environmental economics (economic justifications
for investment in environmental protection)
8. Promotion of positive environmental values by education,
debate, and information dissemination
9. Reduction of adverse environmental impacts
10. Strategies for the rehabilitation of damaged environments
(post pollution clean-up processes)
Management techniques
The need to improve management of the environment has
given rise to several techniques. There is environmental impact
analysis, which was first formulated in California and is codified
in the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Through
the environmental impact statement, it prescribes the investi-
gatory and remedial measures that must be taken in order to
mitigate the adverse effects of new development. In this sense,
it is intended to act in favor of both prudent conservation and
participatory democracy.
Another technique is environmental auditing, which uses the
model of the financial audit to examine the processes and out-
comes of environmental impacts. It requires value judgments,
which are usually set by public preference, ideology, and policy,
to define what are regarded as acceptable outcomes. Audits
use techniques such as life-cycle analysis and environmental
burden analysis to assess the impact of, for example, manufac-
turing processes that consume resources and create waste.
Environmental challenges
All of the main environmental problems of today's world fall
under the environmental management field. Most problems
are controversial. Tropical deforestation, ozone depletion,
and global warming have fueled debate over strategies for
the management of the global environment. Transboundary
pollution and the international exploitation of resources (for
example, the appropriation of raw materials in one country
and the patenting of their genetic derivatives in another) have
underlined the need for bilateral, and often multilateral, agree-
ments about sharing responsibilities. Radiation emissions, toxic
waste issues, hazardous material spills, and other catastrophic
pollution episodes have emphasized the need for secure and
standardized methods of treating pollutants.
Environmental management has risen to meet many of these
challenges. The field has expanded from a purely governmen-
tal preserve to one that encompasses the private sector as
well. Indeed, the manufacture of pollution control equipment
and the institutional management of environmental hazards
have turned into growth areas. Yet the successes must be seen
against a backdrop of deepening environmental crisis. Relent-
less population pressure, the unfettered nature of international
capital, and the numerous cases of significant environmental
mismanagement are examples of remaining problems.
Environmental Management (continued)
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