|
The environment is a broad term encompassing
different aspects of the natural world, including the air,
water, flora and fauna, ecosystems and natural resources.
Throughout most of human history, human beings took for granted
their right to use, conquer and exploit these resources, which
seemed almost unlimited in their abundance. Over the past
30 years, concern has grown over the need to understand humans'
relationship with the environment, as burgeoning populations
and growing consumption have put pressure on the Earth. Several
important conferences and studies have contributed to this
changing understanding of the environment, including the 1972
Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the Bruntland
Commission's 1987 report on "Our Common Future,"
and the 1992 UNCED Rio Earth Summit. Natural resources are
now understood to be not only limited, but subject to degradation
and change. Their preservation has come to be viewed as self-preservation.
In response to this concern, environmental awareness
has penetrated virtually all academic disciplines. As techniques
and understanding of environmental economics have advanced,
so has awareness of the threat to long-term economic development
posed by the degradation of natural resources and the environment.
Environmental economics has emerged as a new field, and environmental
assessments are an essential part of most project analyses
today. The environmental impact of a project frequently falls
into the category of externalities, effects that are not taken
into account by the market-for example, the effect on respiratory
health of vehicular emissions. Externalities are quantified
as far as possible with evolving environmental economics techniques
for inclusion in the project analyses. Those that cannot be
quantified are evaluated qualitatively.
All of the major international financial
institutions and bilateral assistance organizations require
an environmental impact analysis to be included in feasibility
studies prior to approval of development projects. The World
Bank has been a leader in developing environmental economic
analysis (or ecological economics) and incorporating its use
in project analysis and evaluation. The Asian Development
Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations
have introduced similar requirements. Economic development
and trade are not incompatible with environmental conservation;
the challenge is to determine the most efficient way to advance
such projects while taking into account their environmental
consequences.
|
