Environmental

12
Conservation and
Management
UNIT

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
AND MANAGEMENT

Structure
12.1 Introduction 12.4 Sustainable Development
Expected Learning Outcomes Concept and Meaning of
12.2 Concept of Environment and Sustainable Development
Environmental Conservation Environmental Sustainability
Earth Summit
and Management
Millennium Development Goals
Concept of Environment
Sustainable Development Goals
Environmental Conservation and
Management
12.5 Summary
12.3 Meaning, Scope and 12.6 Terminal Questions
Assessment 12.7 Answers
Meaning of Environmental 12.8 References and Further
Conservation and Management Reading
Scope and Assessment of
Environment Conservation
Environmental Impact Assessment

12.1 INTRODUCTION
Everything that surrounds or affects an organism during its entire life span is
collectively known as the environment. It is comprised of both living and non-
living components which are also known as biotic and abiotic components
respectively. All organisms are dependent on their environment for food,
energy, water, oxygen, shelter and other needs. We have studied about these
aspects of environment in Block 1. Due to undesirable changes in various
components of the environment and destruction of the natural resources, we
are facing so many environmental and health problems. You might be thinking
about various measures to be adopted for mitigating these negative impacts.
Conservation of the environment has become an important concern for
humankind to minimise the above mentioned consequences. Through careful
planning and management of environmental problems like pollution (Air,
water, soil, and land), deforestation, loss of habitat and biodiversity can be
significantly reduced. 189
Conservation of In this unit, we will describe concept of environment, environmental
Environment conservation and management in Section 12.2. In Section 12.3 we will explain
meaning, scope and assessment of environmental conservation and
management. In the final section i.e. Section 12.4 we will elaborate different
facets related to sustainable development. After reading this unit, you will be
convinced that sustainable development and conservation of the environment
are necessary for the survival and well-being of the present and future
generations.

Expected Learning Outcomes

After completing the study of this unit, you should be able to:
v define the concept of environment;
v explain the concepts related to environmental conservation and
management;
v describe the scope of environmental conservation and management;
v explain the concept of sustainable development; and
v analyse various steps taken for the conservation of the environment.

12.2 CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT AND

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION AND
MANAGEMENT
Before explaining in detail about scope and assessment methods of
environmental conservation, we must know about the concept of environment,
environmental conservation and management in brief. We have already
discussed in detail about the concept of environment in Unit 1. However in the
below given section we will recapitulate in brief about the concept of
environment so that it would be easier for you to contextualise and relate it.

12.2.1 Concept of Environment

The environment can be defined as the physical surrounding of human being
of which they are a part and on which they are dependent for their activities
like, production, consumption as well as physiological functioning. Each
individual has varied physical environment namely water, air, land and natural
resources like soil and plants, animals and ecosystems, energy carriers etc.
The interaction and relationship between environment and organism are
highly complex. Organisms cannot live alone without interacting with other
organisms. Each organism has another organism as a part of its environment.
Each and everything which we need for our sustenance form our
environment. The environment is very dynamic and not static. Both biotic and
abiotic components and factors of the environment keep changing
continuously.
Environment performs several functions like it provides resources, assimilates
the waste material, sustains life and provides aesthetic services. All these
services mentioned above are known as ecosystem services and can be
grouped under three categories. These three categories are (i) provisioning,
190 regulating, and (iii) socio-cultural.
Table 12.1. Components of the Environment Environmental
Conservation and
Abiotic Biotic Management

Atmospheric Gases Green Plants

Wind Non-Green Plants
Water Decomposers
Energy Parasites
Temperature Symbionts
Fire Human being
Land and Topography Animal
Soil
Geologic Substratum

After knowing about the major components of the environment and its
importance, let us understand the concept of environmental conservation and
management,

12.2.2 Environmental Conservation and Management

The term environmental conservation defines anything we do to protect our
planet and conserve its natural resources. In simpler terms, we can express
environmental conservation as the management of natural resources, in a
planned way, to retain diversity and the balance in nature. It also includes
optimum and judicious use of natural resources in such a way that the needs
of the present generation are met and at the same time enough resources are
available for the future generations to meet their own needs.
The world is experiencing rapid population growth, particularly in the
developing countries. The rapid population growth is causing a situation of
resource stress because resources are in the limited volume to support a
certain number of populations. Apart from number, the present-day lifestyle
and rapid industrial development have resulted in over-exploitation of our
natural resources. This has increased human activities in the natural
ecosystem and resulted many environmental problems such as loss of
wildlife, pollution of air, water, land and noise, deforestation, diminishing fossil
fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), concentration of pesticides and insecticides in
harmful proportions in the bodies of living organisms. These actions have led
to many global environmental problems namely loss of biodiversity,
desertification, global warming, climate change and depletion of ozone layer.
Till now you must have realised that the major focus of any environmental
management is to reduce or minimise exploitation of natural resources and
consequences emerging out of it.

SAQ 1
What are the two major components of the environment?

12.3 MEANING, SCOPE AND ASSESSMENT

After discussing the concept of environment and environmental conservation
and management, in this section we will explain meaning, scope and
191
Conservation of assessment of environmental conservation and management. Let us first
Environment discuss meaning of environmental conservation and management in the
below given sub-section.

12.3.1 Meaning of Environmental Conservation and

Management
The recent advancement in the field of technology and rapid industrial
development has had a bad impact on our natural resources. The large-scale
extraction and exploitation of non-renewable resources such as minerals, oil
and coal or damage done to the physical environment have created a serious
threat to our ecosystem. The energy resources like coal and petroleum are
depleting at a faster rate, and once these are depleted, we have to depend on
some other source of energy. The problems regarding depletion of natural
resources occur due to over-exploitation and unplanned development. The
resources are available in the limited amount to cater to a certain population.
Population pressure is leading to over-exploitation of natural resources faster
than the regeneration capacity of the environment. For example, it takes a
long time in the formation of coal and petroleum. These are also non-
renewable resources. Therefore, it is very important for us to protect and
ensure the conservation of our natural resources. There are various ways to
conserve natural resources. The central idea of the conservation of natural
resources is the optimum utilisation. The optimum use of the resources can
be obtained by the principle of reducing the use, re-using the resources and
recycling the materials. Generally, when the environmental problems arise,
environmental managers plan to reduce the wastage or damage.

The major environmental problems have been degradation in the quality of

natural resources - for example, degradation in the natural quality of land, soil,
water and air etc. At the same time loss to the, flora and fauna, is leading
towards serious disruption in the ecosystem. These destructions to the natural
ecosystem further causing bigger global problems like global warming and
climate change.Various efforts have been made for the conservation of our
environment in the last three decades.

Environmental Management Plan: There is a need for sound and effective

Environmental Management Plan. Can you suggest what should be
considered while making an Environmental Management Plan? An
Environmental Management Plan should ideally consist of the following
points.

1. Administrative and technical set-up for management of environment.

Institutional arrangements proposed with other organizations
/government authorities for effective implementation of
proposed environmental management plan.

2. Mechanism of self-monitoring for compliance with environmental

regulations.

3. Integrating environmental management plans in the development

process, measures for minimizing use of natural resources, such as
water, land, energy, etc., and make provision for reuse and recycle.
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4. Environmental audit of various mitigation measures proposed for different Environmental
Conservation and
components/sections.
Management
5. Setting up environmental management cell and formulation of monitoring
protocol for various environmental components.

By now, you must have a clear idea about concept and meaning of
environmental conservation and management. Let us now discuss scope and
assessment of environmental conservation.

12.3.2 Scope and Assessment of Environment

Conservation
The environment is an integration of several subjects that includes both
science and social studies. The scope of environmental conservation and
management is extremely wide and covers some aspects of nearly every
major discipline. The scope also includes a technological and economic
aspect of environmental conservation and management.

The major scopes of the environmental conservation are as follows;

i) Control of environmental pollution and natural resource utilisation and
development
ii) Addressing issues related to global warming and climate change.
iii) Management of extreme events i.e. natural hazards and disasters
iv) Development in the field of environmental engineering.
v) Ecosystem management and habitat conservation etc.

Environmental management is completely a growing and dynamic concept. It

is mainly related to the management of the environment encompassing a
business or development. It generally represents the organisational structure,
responsibility sequences, processes and preconditions for the implementation
of environmental corporate policy. The major functions of good environmental
management are setting of the target and monitoring, information and
communication management, supporting the decision making. Environmental
management also includes internal and external auditing of various projects
and its implementation. Environmental Impact Assessment is one such tool
which is extensively used in the environmental management. Let us learn
about this in the below given section.

12.3.3 Environmental Impact Assessment

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a formal procedure generally used
for the prior assessment of positive or negative environmental consequences
of a plan, policy, program, or project prior to the final decision to move forward
with the proposed action. EIA is an approach which seeks to improve
development by a prior assessment.

Environment impact assessment includes:

i) Appraisal of existing environmental conditions

ii) Appraisal of existing and proposed production methods
iii) Probable impacts of the existing and proposed project.
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Conservation of iv) Review of technology and required improvement.
Environment We will discuss Environmental Impact Assessment in detail in the next unit.

SAQ 2
a) Conservation of the environment is important for:
i) Animals
ii) Plants
iii) Animals and plants
iv) All organisms
b) National parks and sanctuaries are established for:
i) Conservation
ii) Pets
iii) Hunting
iv) Recreation

12.4 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Till now you must have realised that the ultimate aim of environmental
planning and management is to proper utilisation of resources without doing
any harm or minimum harm to the environment.

12.4.1 Concept and Meaning of Sustainable Development

The concept of sustainable development was first explicitly defined in
"There's enough in the
Brundtland Commission Report in 1987 titled. “Our Commom Future”. The
world to meet the
needs of everyone but World Commission on Environment and Development popularly known as
there's not enough to Brundtland Commission defined Sustainable Development as that which
meet the greed of "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the
everyone". - Mahatma future generations to meet their own needs". If you closely read this
Gandhi definition you can understand the essence behind this concept. One can say
that this is an ideal or cherished goal for which every country or society has
been striving. It advocates for maintaining a balance between economy,
society and environment. Therefore, it is being argued that any development
would be sustainable if it is environment friendly, economically viable and
socially inclusive and desirable.
Let us analyse this in detail in the section given below.

12.4.2 Environmental Sustainability

Environmental sustainability is comprised of sustainable yield of renewable
resources, sustainable disposal of waste and development of renewable
substitute of non-renewable resources. There are certain conditions of
environmental sustainability.
i) The first is the rate of harvest of natural resources should not exceed the
rate of regeneration.
ii) Secondly, the rate of waste generation should be less than the
assimilative capacity of the environment, and
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iii) lastly, comparable renewable resources should be developed for the Environmental
Conservation and
depletion of nonrenewable resources.
Management
The concept of sustainability also provides an understanding about the major
threat to our physical environment due to increased human activities.
Unplanned and unregulated exploitation of natural resources are leading
towards risk of depletion. Therefore, it has become very important to sustain
or maintain our natural environment.
There are three principles of sustainability. When these three principles are
strictly adhered, this gives a complete solution to the problem of sustainability.
These three principles are three pillars that provide a strong base for
sustainability. These three pillars are social sustainability, environmental
sustainability and economic sustainability (Fig. 12.1). The most important
among these is environmental sustainability. If the problems related to
environmental sustainability are not tackled effectively, then the other two
principles of sustainability cannot be made strong. The environment is the
greater system on which most all other activities are dependent. Therefore,
the first and foremost criteria before starting any developmental activities, it
has to be assessed that whether such activities are environmentally bearable
or not. Simultaneously, it has to be assessed whether it is economically viable
and socially equitable or not.

Fig. 12.1: Environmental Sustainability.

After discussing in detail about sustainable development, let us discuss
certain important summit and conferences that shape the direction of
conceptualisation and implementation of plans and programmes related to
sustainable development.

12.4.3 Earth Summit

Any discussion about sustainable development is just not possible without
discussing about the Earth Summit held at Rio de Janerio. In the year1992,
more than a hundred heads of nation met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the
first International Earth Summit. The summit was organised for addressing
the urgent issues and problems of environmental conservation and socio-
economic development at the global level. The assembled leaders signed the
Declaration on “Environment and Development which is referred as Agenda
21. It was a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and 195
Conservation of locally by organisations of the UNO, governments and major groups in every
Environment area in which human impacts on the environment. The Rio Convention
endorsed the Global Forest Principles and adopted Agenda 21 for achieving
Sustainable Development in the 21st century.

12.4.4 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Another major effort for achieving sustainable development were made in
September 2000, wherein world leaders came together at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium
Declaration. This was an effort towards continuing the momentum which
was initiated in the Rio Summit. The Declaration committed nations to a
new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and hunger, and set out
a series of eight time-bound targets for the next fifteen years i.e. 2000-
2015. This commitment is known as the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). There are eight goals with 21 targets. To check the progress
made in each target, a series of measurable indicators were also formulated.
The MDGs emphasized three areas. These are human, capital, infrastructure
and human rights. The basic rationale behind this was of increasing living
standards.

The 8 MDGs are as follows:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

12.4.5 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

After the Rio Summit, 1992, the countries of the world met again in 2012 at
the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, popularly
coined as Rio+20 in Rio de Janerio. The main takeaway of the conference
was a document titled “The Future We Want”, in which the new agenda for
the post-2015 era was posted in front of world communities. The world
leaders have shown their commitment to migrate from the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These are the post 2015 intergovernmental development agreement. The
predecessor was the Millennium Development Goals. SDGs are the group of
seventeen goals which consist of 169 targets and 304 indicators, as
proposed by United Nations General Assembly’s Open Working Group on
SDGs to be achieved by 2030. After the negotiations, the agenda titled
“Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development” was formally adopted at the United Nations Sustainable
Development Summit. SDGs are the outcome and non-binding document of

196
Rio+20 conference (2012) held in Rio De Janerio. The group of seventeen Environmental
Conservation and
goals are presented in the below given Figure 12.2.
Management

Fig. 12.2: Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.

SAQ 3
a) How many goals are there in SDGs?

b) How many goals and targets were there in Millennium Developmental

Goals?

12.5 SUMMARY
In this unit you have studied:

· Environmental conservation and management is the protection of our

natural resources and natural ecosystem through careful planning and
executing various policies and programmes.

· Environment provides us with a variety of goods and services necessary

for our sustenance. However, the development of modern farming or
cultivation, Industrialization, rapid population growth has had a great
impact on planet’s natural resources due to over exploitation. Therefore,
conservation of our natural resources is a must in the present situation.

· Environmental sustainability is comprised of sustainable yield of

renewable resources, sustainable disposal of waste and development of
renewable substitute of non-renewable resources.
· SDGs are the group of seventeen goals which consist of 169 targets and
304 indicators, as to be achieved by 2030. After the negotiations, the
agenda titled “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development” was formally adopted at the United Nations Sustainable
Development Summit.

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Conservation of
Environment
12.6 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What is Environment? Why has it become important in recent years?
2. Describe in brief the meaning of environmental conservation? Why is
there a need for the conservation of the environment?
3. Explain in brief the major threats to the environment?
4. Explain in brief Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable
Development Goals.

12.7 ANSWERS
Self-Assessment Questions
1. biotic or living and abiotic or non-living
2. a-iv; b-i
3. a) Seventeen
b) Eight goals and 24 targets
Terminal Questions
1. Refer to Section 12.2
2. Refer to Section 12.3
3. Refer to Section 12.3
4. Refer to Section 12.4
12.8 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
1. Daly, H. E. (1990). Ecological Economics Toward some operational
principles of sustainable development. 2:1–6.
2. Gadgil, M. & Guha, R. (1993). This Fissured Land: An Ecological History
of India. Univ of California Press.
3. Odum, E. P., Odum, H. T. & Andrews, J. (1971). Fundamentals of
Ecology. Philadelphia: Saunders.
4. Sengupta, R. (2003). Ecology and economics: An approach to
sustainable development.
5. Singh, J. S., Singh, S. P. and Gupta, S. R. (2006). Ecology, Environment
and Resource Conservation. Anamaya Publishers.
6. Sodhi, N. S. & Ehrlich, P.R. (Eds). (2010). Conservation Biology for All.
Oxford University Press
7. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our
Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. http://www.environmentalmanager.org/wp

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