The need to manage

Introduction

Just as the natural environment is made up of a diverse array of interrelated ecosystems, which are almost impossible to isolate from one another, effective management strategies require consideration of the often competing interests, attitudes and values of all stakeholders (often referred to as interest groups). In Australia, it has become increasingly apparent that the community, private and government (including local, State/Territory and federal) sectors must integrate their efforts to better utilise, manage and protect the environment. Adopting this integrated approach will help to ensure that environmental management outcomes are sustainable, socially just and equitable.

Stakeholders

At the government level (also known as the public sector), stakeholders in environmental management issues include the federal government (also referred to as the Australian or Commonwealth Government), the State and Territory governments, and local governments (also called local councils). Power over management and decision-making processes is divided between these three tiers (levels) of government in different ways, depending on the issue at hand.

At a group level, stakeholders can come from the private or community sectors. Private industry stakeholders could include industries based on the commoditisation (the use and sale) of natural resources (such as mining, wood chipping, farming and agriculture), property and tourism developers plus local businesses. Community sector stakeholders could include non-government organisations (such as The Wilderness Society or The Red Cross), community centres, educational institutions (such as schools and universities) and churches.

At the individual level every member of society could essentially be considered a stakeholder. This is because environmental issues impact upon each and every one of us in some way, shape or form. Although individuals may not be considered a direct stakeholder for every single environmental issue that arises, we are all directly affected by at least some environmental issues. See animation 1

Integrated environmental management

As environmental changes have the potential to affect many people in a range of positive and negative ways, careful consideration of the viewpoints of all stakeholders and interest groups is extremely important. This is what we call taking an integrated approach.

Essentially, the purpose of taking an integrated approach is to ensure that the key goals of environmental management can be achieved. The three primary goals of environmental management that we will focus on throughout this unit are:

• achieving environmentally sustainable outcomes
• ensuring that the outcome achieved is socially just (or fair) for all stakeholders and
• ensuring that the decision-making processes through which the outcome is achieved are equitable for all parties involved.

At a government level, a key milestone in terms of integrated environmental management was the passing of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (the EPBC Act), which came into effect in July 2000. The EPBC Act represented a move towards greater coordination of federal, State and Territory efforts to address issues of environmental concern in Australia. While it did outline that the federal government would take the key leadership role, the authority of the States and Territories has still been upheld.

Key environmental management goals

Three key goals of integrated environmental management - which will be recurring themes throughout this unit - are the concepts of sustainability, social justice and equity. What follows are some explanations of terms which will help you understand why it is important that we strive to achieve these goals.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a concept which promotes achieving equality amongst people in the world's current human populations ('intra-generational equity') and between our current population and those of the future ('inter-generational equity'). The idea of sustainability also relates to striking a balance between our environmental, social and economic needs and interests. This is why sustainability is sometimes referred to as the 'triple bottom line'. The problem with defining sustainability, however, is that interpretations of what our environmental, social and economic needs and interests are differ considerably between stakeholders. See animation 2

Sustainable development

Sustainable development can be defined as achieving development that meets the needs of today's population, without hindering the capacity of future generations to achieve their developmental needs. It therefore means ensuring that successive generations will have the same access that we do to the features of the environment that enable humans to sustain life on Earth.

Although not a new idea in many cultures, the idea of sustainable development in the modern, industrialised world was first raised by environmentalists during the 1960s. Its emergence came largely in response to increasing anxiety about the irreversible effects that development practices of the consumer and capital-driven economic systems were having on the environment.

Sustainable development tends to focus on the long term impacts of environmental management decisions, not just the immediate effects they will have when they are applied. It also considers the impacts decisions will have upon a variety of communities and ecosystems, not just those to which they are being directly applied.

Ecological integrity - our 'natural capital'

Another important term to gain an understanding of is 'ecological integrity', which is also known as 'natural capital'. These terms basically refer to the health and well being of the physical environment. In order to maintain a high level of natural capital, our natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, need to be managed wisely to enable their continued use. A common example of this is the practice of replanting trees after a section of plantation (not old-growth) forest has been logged for the production of timber. Another example would be harnessing energy from the sun to produce solar power, which could replace the use of unsustainable and damaging alternatives such as coal and natural gas. See image 1

Social justice and equity - our 'social capital'

The more socially just (or fair) and equitable (equal) a society is the higher its levels of 'social capital'. Societies high in social capital tend to consist of people who have a shared sense of belonging to their community and mutual respect for one another. It means that people concern themselves with the welfare of other people, as well as the well being of the environments which surround them. This is an important step in the pursuit of sustainability because the happier people are, the healthier a society is overall. The more people care about the physical and human elements of their surroundings, the greater chance a society has of surviving.

Other sorts of capital that are useful to understand are 'human capital' (the abilities, knowledge and skills of people within a community, that enable them to be productive), 'institutional capital' (the quality of organisations of the public, private and community sectors) and 'economic capital' (produced goods, and other elements of the built environment which have an economic value).

How is the environment managed in Australia?

What follows is an introduction to the common processes that influence the way environments are managed in Australia. When reading about these processes, it is important to keep in mind that approaches to managing the environment should promote sustainability and should be integrated to achieve socially just and equitable outcomes. For these reasons, public education, awareness-raising and active citizenship (refer to Chapters 3 and 4) should also be a common element to these processes of management.

Planning and policy

Planning can be described as the process of organising our use of the environment. This is important because it helps to ensure environmental quality is retained while development needs are met. It also helps to ensure that public and private use of the environment is balanced.

Since World War II, the rapid growth of densely populated cities in most countries of the world has intensified the need for environmental planning. The process of globalisation has also led to a sharp move towards economies modelled on the capitalist system of economic growth. The rise of capitalism has significantly affected the way humans influence the physical and built environments.

In order for planning to work effectively, research should be undertaken and used to influence the process of policy making. This research should be comprehensive (cover a range of issues) and objective, meaning that it should not favour the interests of one stakeholder over another.

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are detailed studies which predict the impacts that a proposed action (for example, the development of a tourist resort) is likely to have on the environment to which it is being applied. EIAs assess the significance of any changes which may occur to the environment as a result of the action being proposed, and provide a platform for discussion between different stakeholders.

Under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 (Cth) an EIA needs to be completed before any action that may have a significant impact on the physical or built environment can be approved by the federal government. Some of the case studies that are explored in this unit provide examples of the very important role that EIAs play in the process of managing issues of environmental concern in Australia.

Conservation and preservation

Although sometimes used interchangeably, these terms mean quite different things in terms of environmental management. Conservation is based on the idea of using the Earth's resources, but in a sustainable manner. This means using renewable resources at a rate which ensures they are able to self-replenish, and using non-renewable resources at a rate whereby there will be enough left for future generations.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is a non-government organisation which plays a key role in influencing conservation issues. The aims of the ACF are to protect, restore and sustain Australian environments by working in collaboration with the various stakeholders.

Preservation on the other hand is concerned with keeping things in their present state or form. This means reducing the spread of human impacts on the physical environment by not touching things that have thus far been left in their natural state. Examples of this type of environmental management being put into practice include heritage listing of sacred Indigenous sites, ancient monuments, archaeological sites and historical buildings. Preservation also inlcudes protecting unspoilt ecosystems through the creation of national parks, nature reserves and marine sanctuaries. See image 2