If you are a beginner in the field, the one thing you need to understand is that management of the environment does not describe the concept. Things are not such self-explanatory and literal when it comes to environmental management. To put is in the simplest of the terms, the management of human impact on the environment constitutes the subject at hand. It is how we reduce the ill effects of human activities on the environment and manage the activities in a sustainable fashion.
Beyond this simple explanation, one needs to understand that one needs to have a multidisciplinary and multifaceted approach towards managing the environment. The practice can only be successful if multiple sciences are combined on multiple scales so that optimum results are attained.
The need for environmental planning and management
Humans have throughout history exploited natural resources and produced waste that has simply been dumped on land or in water. Today, the volume of waste we produce is simply astronomical more so because there’s waste debris floating around in space orbiting the planet! But it is not just the waste management through skip bins Sydney that is taken care of when we talk about managing the environment. It has to be combined with sustainable usage of natural resources like fossil fuels, fresh water, minerals from the ground, and all other components that make up our environment.
How businesses use the energy, minerals and other resources derived from nature and how sustainable are those practices is what is the need of the hour. This is why we concern ourselves with environmental management.
What does the process involve?
Any type of management process involves a systematic approach and so does taking care of the environment. There are crucial elements to this process which one needs to understand in order to be successful in this endeavor.
- Identify the outcomes which are desired.
- Note down the constraints that will limit your ability to reach these outcomes. These could be economic, physical, cultural, social, technological or political constraints.
- Look out for options and make a list of the solutions that are feasible. Select the most feasible solution that will take you closest to your outcomes
- Solve environment conservation issues by anticipating and avoiding activities that have ill effects
The above process, as stated earlier, requires a multidisciplinary approach hence you will require a diverse set of group to tackle it. Hence you should work with academics, NGOs, policy makers, businesses, and civil servants. The more diverse the group the better implementation of the environmental safety net through your plan.
An important piece of the process also involves monitoring the whole exercise to be able to have course corrections as the plan unfolds. There would be moments of disagreements as well because a diverse set of people will not reach a conclusion easily. You need to follow the PDCA model whenever there is planning on a big scale involved. Plan, do, check, and act. Repeat the cycle and you will see that you have achieved the outcomes you intend to with minimum hiccups on the way.