Importance of balancing environment and development
Increasing awareness and growing public concern on negative impact of
environmental issues has led many governments to re-consider their
strategies for growth and economic development. Many of the Asian
countries are trying to balance the development and environmental needs.
This is because our survival depends on the health of the planet
which comprises land, air, water, plants, animals and micro-organisms.
"People should be concerned about what we are doing to the climate,"
said Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, Jay Lawrimore.
It therefore, indicates that all of us are also responsible for the
health of the living planet for our own well-being and as well as our
future generations.
Today, any activity or condition resulting from human activity that
affects the environment adversely is defined as 'environmental
pollution'. The environmental problems may be broadly classified as
follows;
Local and immediate problems such as water pollution arising out of
municipal wastes, air pollution due to automobiles and industries, noise
pollution due to improper use of electronic equipments and other
machineries, regional problems such as acid rain, dumping and poisoning
of the environment by toxic waste, deforestation, soil erosion,
destruction of habitat and loss of bio diversity, global environmental
issues like green-house gas effect, ozone layer depletion.
International initiatives
Over the years a large number of international environmental
agreements have been signed.
The best known is the agenda 21, which took place because of the Rio
Conference held in 1992. Agenda 21 contains a series of action plans for
changing environmental behaviour in society. Most of the countries had
begun implementing such plans making a significant contribution to
protect the environment.
Other significant agreements include the Helsinki Convention, HELCON,
which protects marine life in the Baltic, the Paris Convention, PARCON,
which regulates emissions to the North Sea and the North Atlantic from
land based sources, and the Basle Convention which governs transport of
hazardous waste that crosses national borders. The Vienna Convention
(including the Montreal protocol), which addresses global reductions in
ozone depleting substances, has had a large impact.
The interesting initiative, in the recent years was the Kyoto
Protocol, which seeks commitments from all countries to reduce emissions
of greenhouse gases in order to prevent global climate changes.
Sustainable development
There are a number of definitions of sustainable development.
The Sustainable Development term refers to the principle that the
present generation shall not exploit natural resources in such a way as
to put future generations in danger.
Three factors namely environmental, social, and economic had been
added to the above mentioned definition based on the Rio Summit held in
1992, and, enriched this definition by indicating that any development
policy should include reference to the said factors.
Furthermore, later under the said main three pillars other
sub-components were added and enriched the definition. Considering the
three main pillars of the definition, it is clear that implementing a
sustainable development approach within an organization is a horizontal
task covering all functions of the organization.
The present trend towards a green supply chain has emphasized that
organization today can not only satisfy consumers' needs and wants by
upgrading quality of product and service but also remain in compliance
with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Green design and regulations
The basic idea of green design is to reduce ecological impact
throughout all phases of a product's life cycle, by introducing a better
design. This methodology helps to minimise the processing costs at the
end of a product's life whilst contributing to increase the profits from
recovered materials.
In designing a product, the designing team can change the raw
materials or substances used during the manufacturing to be less toxic,
more environmental friendly. For example hybrid car is a green product.
However, for some organisations green design concept is proactive one as
far as Europe is concerned due to the publishing of particularly the
following three directives.
ROHS Directive
This European directive is known as Restriction of Hazardous
Substances (ROHS), which addresses to limit the use of six hazardous
substances used in soldered joints, cathode ray tubes, relays or printed
circuit boards.
This is mainly applicable for manufacturers of electronics and
computer equipment.
Therefore, equipment which does not meet the standards cannot be sold
in the European Union. However, this directive indirectly covers all
major IT companies in the world.
WEEE Directive
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive
requires electrical and electronic equipment waste to be collected and
recovered, giving priority to reusing and recycling materials and
products. This directive, therefore, requires manufacturers to set up
recovery and recycling channels for their products or components.
Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
This REACH directive requires 'users' of chemical substances to
provide proof of their non-toxicity.
This directive covers many industry sectors.
In response to the global trends in green trade and the new
expectations, many large organisations in the world have begun to
integrate environmental considerations into product design. Many
organisations all over the world now consider concepts like raw material
reduction, energy conservation, use of changeable parts and components,
product recyclable, reduction of packaging volume and weight at the
design stage of the product as these steps would support to reduce the
environmental burden created by products. This indicates that the
'Vision' shared by these organisations is to achieve sustainable
development through the recycling and reuse of the earth's limited
resources.
Strategies and mechanisms
In view of the above, it is very necessary to consider the following
points in order to develop a suitable program to promote the concept of
Greening the supply chain.
Knowledge of the environmental performance of the product when making
a decision to purchase that product, long-term awareness and education
programs to promote the Green Concept and its benefits among people.
Full support from both the Policy-making and decision-making levels
about the Importance of Green Procurement, * Availability of waste
recycling and reuse schemes, * Availability of resource reduction
technologies, * Availability of Environmental Management Programs and
any other related programs, * Availability of incentives and
encouragements like tax concessions etc to industry to proceed in
manufacturing of green products, * Availability of Financial and
infrastructure support programs especially focusing SMEs, * Availability
of national level programs at the highest level to recognize the 'Green
Organisations' in the country.
Based on the above guidelines, it is possible to evaluate our current
situation and accordingly we can identify the gaps. Once we identify the
gaps it is necessary to formulate sound strategies and mechanisms to
cover up the gaps so as to implement an effective 'Green promotion'
program.
Current initiatives
It is worthwhile to mention that the Environment and Natural
Resources Ministry under the guidance of Environment Minister has taken
steps to establish a National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD)
along with a national action plan 'Haritha Lanka' covering 10 thrust
areas with the able Leadership of President to ensure the environmental
sustainability of development programs in the country.
This is a very commendable step and it is necessary to implement this
program with the support of every individual in the country to integrate
environmental and sustainable development considerations into the
day-to-day decision-making at all levels of the country to make Sri
Lanka a model country. This approach will help us to make our country an
environmental friendly country.
It is interesting to note a part of the speech made by the Dalai Lama
at the Consecration of the Statue of the Buddha and the International
Conference on Ecological Responsibility-a Dialogue with Buddhism, he
said, 'I feel that it is extremely important that each individual
realize their responsibility for preserving the environment, to make it
a part of daily life, create the same attitude in their families, and
spread it to the community'. This is the message that all of us should
remember if we want to create an environmental friendly country.
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