Some pitfalls of ‘manstream’ environmental theory and practice

Summary Radical environmentalists consider the environmental crisis to be ultimately one of culture and character. However, in analyses and strategies for social transformation, non-feminist greens have generally accepted the Patriarchal conception of human motivation, which is based on a rational, impersonal (read Masculine) model of Man. Thus, it is implicitly assumed that the motivations underlying the environmental crisis are greed or self-interest (deemed rational motives in Western Patriarchal culture). Owing to this male-centred perspective on human nature, green strategies have ultimately relied on an appeal to reason. This, at least, has failed relative to the accelerating pace of environmental destruction.It is argued that a focus on the abuse of power leads to a more useful analysis of the causes of human oppression and environmental exploitation. The abuse of power can be understood as an attempt to overcompensate for unmet emotional needs (e. f. for love, recognition, and a sense of belonging) through an excessive drive for gratification in other dimensions of life. In Patriarchal thought, emotional needs are largely denied, being non-rational and non-masculine, and hence have also been largely ignored in social policy. This realisation suggests new strategies.Dr Janis Birkeland was an attorney, architect and planner San Francisco, USA, and now teaches at the Department of Architecture, University of Tasmania. A more extensive discussion of these points can be found in Birkeland (1993a).     

Towards a new system of environmental governance

Summary Planning, the visible hand of government, is the resource allocation sphere that has the potential to prevent destructive conflict over resources, by creating a long term, rational, ethics-based and participatory decision-making process. Other public decision-making systems (the market, legal and political arenas), by their very nature, cannot adequately protect the environment or ensure sustainable development. However, as presently conceived, Planning⁺ cannot do so either. Reform has been impeded by an ideological bias which defines Planning as diametrically opposed to the market, such that creative alternatives to the two systems of social choice have not been developed.To address this problem, a new tri-partite structure of environmental governance is proposed. Based on an ecofeminist paradigm, it is primarily designed to constrain the potential for the abuse of power, and allow society to address environmental (ethical) as well as social (distributional) and economic (efficiency) issues. In a sense, it rationalises the social decision-making system by re-aligning rights, wants and needs with the appropriate decision-making forum (representative democracy, the market and Planning respectively). The model exposes the need to redesign all these institutions so that they better correspond to their logical functions within the resource allocation system. However, this paper focuses on the Planning system itself.Janis Birkeland was an attorney, architect and planner in San Francisco, USA. She now teaches at the Department of Architecture, University of Tasmania. This article is drawn from a longer 1990 paper Myths and Realities of Planning and Resource Allocation (Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania), which was presented at the Socialist Scholars' Conference, Melbourne, 18th July, 1991.     

Risk-taking and environmental perception

This paper investigates the relationship between pupils' environmental perception (in terms of preservation and utilisation of nature) and personality (in terms of risk-taking). 713 secondary school pupils in Switzerland were investigated. Environmental perception was assessed via three factors: Preservation, Utilisation of Nature and Consideration for Conservation. Risk-taking was evaluated via six factors: Positive Risking, Ambivalence, Thrill in Gambling, Ineffective Control, Effective Control, and Anger Reaction. Analysis of the correlation matrix between Risk-taking and Environmental perception revealed three profiles (types): the high scorer on Preservation is the controlled and cautious gambler. The Utiliser (anthropocentric) profile is essentially a mirror image of the first: the Utiliser does not enjoy unpredictable risks, reacts with anger when risks fail and has little control over his/her own risk-taking behaviour. The Consideration for Conservation (ecocentric) profile assumes a position between these two profiles.     

Environmental functions as a unifying concept for ecology and economics

Summary In spite of the increased awareness about many environmental problems, degradation and pollution of the natural environment by human actions still continue on a large scale. Some of the main reasons for man's continued abuse of the natural environment are the short-term nature of the economic planning process, which largely ignores the negative long-term effects of economic production on the environment (e.g. pollution), and the fact that the pricing system mainly concentrates on man-made goods and services while considering most natural resources to be free goods.This paper argues that environmental functions (i.e. natural goods are services) are at least as important to human welfare as man-made goods and services and should, therefore, be included in economic accounting procedures. To this end, it is suggested to replace the term natural resources by the concept of environmental functions and, efforts should be undertaken to increase our understanding of the ecological and socio-economic benefits of environmental functions to human society. Only when ecological principles become an integral part of economic planning and political decision-making is there a chance of achieving a happy global village based on harmony between man and nature.Rudolf S. de Groot is an environmental consultant and a Ph.D candidate in environmental planning and management in the Nature Conservation Department of the Agricultural University Wageningen. As a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Planning he is involved in the activities of the European Committee for National Conservation Strategies, to implement, monitor and update National and European Conservation Strategies.     

Forest Health,Collective Behaviors,and Management

This study compares community-based managed forests under different purposes of management, namely, state-driven conservation or community-designed utilization in two villages located in the Sopsai watershed, Nan Province, northern Thailand. The forest health under different intensity of uses is assessed in association with the collective behaviors and long-term purposes embedded in village social–cultural context. The study found no significant differences in forest succession and proportion in diameter at 1.3 m (dbh) class and height-class distribution of the forest under different use intensity. The forest for utilization also showed higher density and basal area of the local preferred species than the conservation forest. In the utilization forest, we also found a higher number of multipurpose and preferred species than in the conservation forest, which actually responded to the needs of the community in the long term to have more wood products (both firewood and timbers). The community-based forest management (CBFM) for utilization can also lead to natural regeneration and biodiversity similar to conservation forests. Through CBFM, forest resources can be managed to maintain the healthy condition under different intensities and respond to both community needs and external expectation. The findings also emphasize the importance of recognizing community needs and management objectives in watershed restoration and improving the productivity of forests under collective management.     

A course in Environmental Planning and Management

Summary This paper describes a 13-weeks, third-year course in Environmental Planning and Management developed and taught by the authors. Initiated in 1969, the course consists of a mix of lectures, seminars, workshop/laboratory sessions and field-based projects. The objectives of the course are for students: to become aware of the need for, and the complexities of, environmental management; to be able to criticise constructively work done by environmental agencies and consultants, managers and decision makers; and to learn and apply some of the methods and techniques used in environmental management.Topics covered by the current syllabus are: concepts of resource and environment; constitutional aspects; international law and the environment; Australian and Canadian environmental legislation and agencies; human manipulation of ecosystems; energy subsidies; modification of biogeochemical cycles; population dynamics and cropping; fisheries; national parks and reserves—policies in different countries; international heritage areas; environmental assessment (including impact assessment, land evaluation, land capability and land suitability assessment); and regional, integrated land-use and environmental planning and management. Techniques taught include: field surveys and interviewing; laboratory analysis of selected water quality, sediment and soil parameters including nutrient concentrations, heavy metal and pesticide residues; and for some students, applications of geographic information systems (GIS) technology following preceding GIS courses.A major problem is selecting the most appropriate mix between the social and natural sciences—appropriate, first in terms of students' heterogeneous skills and backgrounds, and second, in terms of understanding the causes of environmental problems and issues, and devising practicable solutions.     

Ethics and the Genetic Engineering of Food Animals

Biotechnology applied to traditional foodanimals raises ethical issues in three distinctcategories. First are a series of issues that arise inthe transformation of pigs, sheep, cattle and otherdomesticated farm animals for purposes that deviatesubstantially from food production, including forxenotransplantation or production of pharmaceuticals.Ethical analysis of these issues must draw upon theresources of medical ethics; categorizing them asagricultural biotechnologies is misleading. The secondseries of issues relate to animal welfare. Althoughone can stipulate a number of different philosophicalfoundations for the ethical assessment of welfare,most either converge on Bernard Rollins principle ofwelfare conservation (Rollin, 1995), or devolve intodebates over the ethical significance of animaltelos or species integrity. The principle of welfareconservation prohibits disfunctional geneticengineering of food animals, but would permit alteringanimals biological functions, especially when (as inmaking animals less susceptable to pain or suffering)do so improves an individual animals well being.Objections to precisely this last form of geneticengineering stress telos or species integrity asconstraints on modification of animals, and thisrepresents the third class of ethical issues. Most whohave formulated such arguments have failed to developcoherent positions, but the notion of species being,derived from the 19th century German tradition,presents a promising way to analyze the basis forresisting the transformation of animal natures.     

The search for the sustainable city in 20th century urban planning

Summary A new city has emerged in the 1990s, designed to achieve urban sustainability. The notion of sustainable urban form has its roots in the Garden City movement at the turn of the century. The garden cities of the 1900s and the ecological cities of the 1970s were proposed as alternatives to the pathology of modern urban form. Just as cities provide a place for humans to live, so they destroy ecosystems and become unfit habitats for the human spirit. The city must be made more vital, humane, efficient, beautiful, self-sufficient, and natural through a return to a more compact form, its impact on the environment must be decreased. These themes have re-emerged in the sustainable cities of the 1990s, advanced on behalf of future generations and planetary ecology. The sustainable city is a compact city. Calthorpe's Transit-Oriented Developments (1989) are hailed as sustainable because their walkable streets free residents from reliance on automobiles and their high density preserves surrounding wildlife habitat. The European Commission (EC) rests a sustainable future for Europe (1990) on the twin pillars of urban compactness and urban regeneration. Nash (1991) believes that sustainable global urbanization would consist of 1.5 billion humans living in 500 compact cities. He calls his vision Island Civilisation. The sustainable city is also a city of regenerative processes. Girardet (1990; 1992) thinks it has a circular metabolism, as distinguished from the linear metabolism of contemporary cities. McDonough (adviser to President Clinton on sustainable development) theorizes inThe Hannover Principles (1992) that in order to make civilization sustainable, urban form will have to be based on the principles of nature, which makes no waste, maximizes biodiversity and is sustained by the sun. The urban form designed by McDonald (1993), conceptualized with ideas from chaos theory, contemplates a sustainable city within a sustainable watershed and a form holistic, diverse, fractal and evolutionary. Lyle (1994) believes that the sustainable cities of the next century will be based on the green infrastructure of regenerative systems. The commonality linking these landmarks of sustainable urbanization is the ideal of bringing the city into a vital symbiosis with nature. The sustainable city is a green or living city. The search for the sustainable city in the 20th century has not been Utopian buttopian, a quest to create a form of city suited to optimal development of the Earth island.Andrew D. Basiago, an American lawyer and city planner, was a scholar in land economy at Cambridge. He is currently writing a book on solar cities.     

Desertification Control and Management of Land Degradation in the Thar Desert of India

India has 2.34 million km² of hot desert called Thar located in the north-western part of Rajasthan between latitudes 23°3 and 30°12 North and longitudes 63°30 and 70°18 East. The Indian desert is spreading annually over 12000 ha of productive land degrading it and slowly advancing towards the national capital New Delhi at the rate of 0.5 km per year. The Indian desert is characterised by huge shifting sand dunes; high wind speed; scarce rainfall; and intense solar radiation. Tremendous efforts have been made since the 1960s to arrest desertification and for ecological restoration of the Thar desert. An Ambitious afforestation programme including stabilisation of shifting sand dunes and creation of micro-climates through tree-screens and shelter-belt plantation was launched by the forest department of Rajasthan. A huge canal, 649 km long was also introduced to the Thar desert for ecological restoration.     

A national strategy for environmental education: an approach to a sustainable future?

Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 called on each nation to bring together a widely cross-sectoral group of people to prepare a national strategy for environmental education and training. In Scotland this process had already begun and the Secretary of State's Working Group on Environmental Education presented him with its recommendations for a strategy in April 1993, which he accepted in a statement of intent in June, 1995. The process itself, the comments received on the report since publication and continuing developments in the field, have demonstrated the importance of adopting broad definitions for both environment and education, spreading involvement in production of the strategy to all sectors and as wide a range of individuals as possible, dividing up the work so as to focus on all the main contexts in which learning takes place, working with the main potential implementers and not depending entirely on the availability of new resources. The process was in itself rewarding and its importance should not be underestimated. The approach adopted and the issues which it raised appear to have wide applicability to similar programmes elsewhere. This paper describes the process adopted in preparing the strategy, reviews some of the subsequent developments in Scotland, and assesses the factors which may have contributed to its success so far.Professor John C. Smyth, OBE is Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Paisley. He is President of The Scottish Environmental Education Council and he presented this paper at the Global Forum '94 Academic Conference Towards a Sustainable Future: Promoting Sustainable Development, Manchester, UK.     

The biodiversity crisis and the future of evolution

A large proportion of existing species — possibly half, conceivably even more — may be lost within the foreseeable future. But this may not prove to be the most consequential outcome of the current biodiversity crisis. More significant could be the disruption and degradation of several basic processes of evolution. It appears likely that for mass extinction episodes (MEEs) in the geological past, the recovery period usually lasted at least five million years. Because of certain unique features of the present MEE — notably the near elimination of biomes such as tropical forests, wetlands and coral reefs, which have served as powerhouses of evolution in the past — the bounce-back phase could extend several times longer than five million years. Among distinctive features of future evolution could be; in the short term, homogenization of biotas, a proliferation of opportunistic species, an outburst of speciation among particular taxa, and a pest-and-weed ecology; and, in the long term, a decline of biodisparity, the elimination of megavertebrates, an end to speciation among large vertebrates, and multiple constraints on origination, innovation and adaptive radiation. These disruptive phenomena would rank among the most prominent departures in the entire course of evolution. Full knowledge and understanding of what may characterize future evolution remains largely a black hole of research. As a consequence, conservation policies fail to reflect a further problem of the biodiversity prospect, perhaps exceeding the better recognized problem of the mass extinction of species.Professor Norman Myers is an Editorial Board member and regular contributor toThe Environmentalist. He is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at Green College, Oxford. This paper is a greatly expanded version of a preliminary probing in a popular magazine a decade ago (Myers, 1985). It has been prompted by a major international conference organized by the US National Academy of Sciences, scheduled for late 1996.     

Economic, social, and environmental sustainability in development theory and urban planning practice

In ten years, more than half the world's population will be living in cities. The United Nations (UN) has stated that this will threaten cities with social conflict, environmental degradation and the collapse of basic services. The economic, social, and environmental planning practices of societies embodying urban sustainability have been proposed as antidotes to these negative urban trends. Urban sustainability is a doctrine with diverse origins. The author believes that the alternative models of cultural development in Curitiba, Brazil, Kerala, India, and Nayarit, Mexico embody the integration and interlinkage of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Curitiba has become a more livable city by building an efficient intra-urban bus system, expanding urban green space, and meeting the basic needs of the urban poor. Kerala has attained social harmony by emphasizing equitable resource distribution rather than consumption, by restraining reproduction, and by attacking divisions of race, caste, religion, and gender. Nayarit has sought to balance development with the environment by framing a nature-friendly development plan that protects natural systems from urban development and that involves the public in the development process. A detailed examination of these alternative cultural development models reveals a myriad of possible means by which economic, social, and environmental sustainability might be advanced in practice. The author concludes that while these examples from the developing world cannot be directly translated to cities in the developed world, they do indicate in a general sense the imaginative policies that any society must foster if it is to achieve urban sustainability.     

Environmental knowing and action

Environmental knowing includes the very many bodies of formal theory which have some relevance to the environment, as well as the knowing which comes from experience in the environment. This knowing can be seen as informing action both conceptually and instrumentally. This paper presents a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach which can inter-relate these many knowings in a way which is relevant to and contingent on definition of particular environmental problems. This problem-focused approach involves application of a set of questions which are implied by a taxonomy of ignorance. The paper shows how the approach can inter-relate knowings as diverse as Taoism and energy-efficiency standards, with the purpose of informating environmental action.     

Arsenic levels in the marine ecosystem off the Kuwait coast, Arabian Gulf

Arsenic levels in seawater, microplankton (diatoms and dinoflagellates), shrimp (Penaeus semisulcatus), mollusc (Cerithium scabridum) and five types of fish (Maid, Nakroor, Nuwaiby, Suboor and Sheim) in five sampling stations (I–V) off the Kuwait coast were determined during the years 1995 to 1999. The maximum mean concentration of arsenic was observed in the order; the five fish (0.50–0.78 g g^–1)> mollusc (0.26 g g^–1)> shrimp (0.23 g g^–1)> particulate matter (0.03 g g^–1)> water and phytoplankton (0.02 g g^–1) from all the sites of the Kuwait coast. Station II possessed the maximum arsenic levels. In comparison with the arsenic levels in other parts of the globe, low arsenic levels were observed in most of the marine organisms off the Kuwait Coast. However, an increasing trend in arsenic concentrations was anticipated due to rapid local industrialization and on account of recent spills of arsenic compounds.     

The challenge of sustainable tourism

The paradigm of sustainable tourism is discussed in terms of analysing what it actually means. Certain questions are raised and these include the means of its measurement, the question of intergenerational impacts and how these may be assessed, the determination of what exactly is meant by environment, the aspect of tourism as an industry and, with specific reference to tourism in the developing world, the potential for neocolonialism. It is argued that, although sustainable tourism may be a worthwhile goal, inherent problems in the definition and measurement of its success make it an elusive if not academic target. The challenge of sustainable tourism is to see it in a broader context as but one tool of development and to ensure that it is examined in the context of the local community as well as a global perspective.     

Interpreting countryside recreation: The urban - rural dichotomy

Summary Noting a paucity of sociological research investigating countryside recreation from an experiential perspective, this paper reports on a study aimed at exploring the meaning of such terms as the countryside, rural and natural as they are understood by the person-in-the-street. A typification of countryside recreation is constructed which suggests that individuals have an essentially simple understanding of the environment in this context which centres upon an urban-rural dichotomy. The urban setting is generally associated with negative experiences while the rural setting is regarded more positively. These attitudes suggest that the countryside represents a form of refuge from many stresses commonly associated with modern, urban lifestyles. An implication of this conclusion is that attempts to educate people into recognizing the links between their everyday behaviour and the degradation of the countryside will be met with considerable resistance since this would entail them in reconstruing their relationship with the environment.     

Environmental management systems in further and higher education institutions

Many people within the further and higher education sector in the United Kingdom (UK) have now accepted that responsible environmental management of their day to day site operations is necessary, but they are still unclear as to what lengths they need to go to obtain marketplace credibility. Many people in other sectors believe that the only way to achieve real credibility in this area is to become accredited by the new British Standard BS7750 Specification for Environmental Management Systems. Others are expressing concern that such systems are cumbersome to operate and generate a needless level of bureaucracy and additional unwelcome paperwork.This paper briefly discusses the responsibilities of further and higher education institutions with regard to environmental management and outlines one possible alternative to the BS7750 approach, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Environment Initiative. It also outlines the approach taken by the University of Strathclyde over the past three years in the development of an environmental management manual for the Estates Management Department and the development of a system to control university-wide environmental management.In conclusion this paper will focus on the suitability of BS7750 systems within further and higher education institutions in comparison with the approach adopted in the CBI Environment Initiative.This paper was first presented at Global Forum '94 Academic Conference Towards a Sustainable Future: Promoting Sustainable Development, Manchester, UK.Mr K. McDonach is a research assistant and Dr P. Yaneske is Director in the Safety and Environmental Management Unit of the University of Strathclyde.     

The limits of technological optimism

Summary Technological optimism is the doctrine that a growing number of technological improvements in such areas as food production, environmental quality and energy will sustain life as human population soars. It evolved as a response to the Malthusian study The Limits to Growth (The Club of Rome, 1972). Like population biologist Paul Ehrlich, Professor James Krier of the University of Michigan Law School believes that the technological optimists may be wrong. Krier describes how the marginal costs of pollution control increasingly rise. He faults biologist Barry Commoner for neglecting population growth as the cause of pollution and positing the postwar technological transition as its cause. He argues that population growth forced this transition as science searched for substitutes for dwindling resources. Krier criticises as an article of faith the technological optimists' belief that S-curve patterns of technological advance will always arrive in response to the J-curve of exponential population growth. He thinks that the technological optimists may be deluding humanity by predicting the continual emergence of technological breakthroughs at ever-increasing rates. He favours growth policies that would allow humanity to ease into a steady state of resource use and minimise the maximum cost, which would be a global crash after technological innovation fails. Krier laments that modern technolgy can worsen pollution and invites problems of latency, irreversibility, zero-infinity risk and remoteness. He thinks that approapriate technologies which have failed economically may fail politically because the political process has been captured by opposing interests. Krier urges that the population crisis should be adressed insteadAndrew D. Basiago is a graduate of UCLA and Northwestern School of Law's environmental law programme. As writer, lawyer and environmental planner he has written articles about ecology for the Cousteau Society and interviewed such luminaries as R. Buckminster Fuller, Amory B. Lovins and     

The terms genetic resource, biological resource, and biodiversity examined

The definitions of genetic resource, biological resource, and biodiversity show the existence of degrees of innacuracy, according to the versions considered. The increasing acceptance of inappropriate concepts in the realms of plant genetic resources and biological conservation prompts re-examination of the subject. The argument raised is that the establishment of defective concepts may undermine the foundations of scientific thought itself.     

Biosphere reserves in Germany: A contribution to support sustainable development

Summary Biosphere reserves are protected areas of representative environments internationally recognised for their value for conservation and for their ability to provide the scientific knowledge, skills and human values to support sustainable development. Biosphere reserves — as a part of the UNESCO programme Man and the Biosphere (MAB) — make up a world-wide network sharing research information on ecosystem conservation, management and development. They include strictly protected core-areas — representative examples of natural or minimally disturbed ecosystems. Core areas are surrounded by buffer zones in which research, environmental education and training and recreation can take place. Buffer zones are, in turn, surrounded by transition areas, large open areas where the aim is to ensure rational development of the natural resources of the region. At present, twelve biosphere reserves are designated in Germany, covering in all an area of 11,589 km². The role of biosphere reserves to support sustainable development in Germany and Europe is discussed.Karl-Heinz Erdmann is a geographer and Deputy Secretary General at the Secretariat of the German National Committee for the UNESCO Programme on Man and Biosphere (MAB), Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. He is also a Committee Member of the Society for Man and Environment (GMU).