The Role of Government in Environmental Management

A Growing Public Awareness

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness on the part of both national governments and multinational institutions that it is impossible to separate economic and social development issues from environmental concerns. Trends towards global warming, threats to the Earth's ozone layer, and deserts consuming agricultural land are among the many problems facing this and future generations. Many of today's environmental challenges arise from the unintended consequences of some forms of economic growth that consume large amounts of raw materials, energy, chemicals and synthetics. Still others emanate from the very lack of development in which widespread deforestation and overcultivation have been identified among the factors leading to rising incidence of disasters such as droughts and floods, and the extinction of plant and animal species. In many cases, rapid urbanization and the associated effects of population growth and uncontrolled industrial development have tended to undermine the natural resource base required for longterm sustainable development. Inefficient waste collection, improper disposal of toxic wastes, inappropriate land use, and water, land and air pollution are among the many resultant problems. Despite the view held by some that environmental problems are primarily of concern to industrialized nations, experience has shown the universal character of the environmental issue. When environmental concerns are described in terms of specific problems such as overcrowded and unsanitary housing, contaminated water supply, polluted air, soil erosion and depletion of other resources, it may be seem that decision makers in developing countries equally need to be aware of the need to organize and administer national development programmes in such a way as to ensure that environmental factors receive adequate attention. In fact, the need for governments to deliberately select pro-active environment policy options becomes quite evident. Moreover, the impact of human intervention in nature is growing more widespread, and the physical effects of actions in one country often cause results beyond its own frontiers, reflecting the complexity of environmental decision-making and management. The ever-deepening interconnection between environment and development both within and across borders leads to the conclusion that governments must begin to adopt a more integrated and coordinated approach to development and ensure that development, in future, is compatible with the need to protect and improve the environment. National governments bear a large share of the responsibility for appropriate large-scale environmental policy and action within their jurisdictions. Since a growing number of environmental problems are regional and/or global in nature, cooperation is also necessary among nations, and supportive action at the intemationallevel is required. Issues in Environmental Management Acceptance is widespread and growing regarding the interrelationship between environment and development. What has nat grown apace, however, are the institutional and managerial supports needed to ensure effective implementation of sustainable development objectives. Environmental management strategies are designed to control environmental degradation, regulate exploitation to acceptable limits and preserve the natural resource base within the context of overall national economic and social development objectives. To be truly effective, such strategies must also involve long-range planning and anticipate potential environmental problems before they arise and/or develop into crisis situations. In this process, the role of the public administration system is crucial.