Geog 2139 Environmental Management And Assessment Answers

To avoid the problem of pollution some policies has been formulated which acts as the best guidance to the problem of the pollution. However there have been certain problems regarding the policy, apart from it the aims and the instruments of the structure of the implementation of the policy can be studied in this context. It includes the problem context, the general principles which includes the polluter pays and the precautionary, the formulation of specific instruments and the implementation of the structure and the budget like the information campaign, the permits, the payment schemes tax, the fines and the person who administers all these and the reason behind administering all these. In dealing with all these certain environmental and scientific as well certain economic evidences has been taken into account.

Introduction to pollution

Pollution can be defined as the introduction of the contaminants that are harmful for the environment and for every human being. It has adverse effects on the entire environment as well as on the different habitat of species. There are different species that are present in the ecosystem. The pollution might cause harm to the different species of the ecosystem. The agents of pollution vary as they are present in different forms. They are in the form of air; they are sometimes present in the form of water, sometimes in the form of soil and sometimes in the form of sound. Each form of pollution has own way of adverse effects on the environment.  

With the passage of time and with the increasing pace of industrialization and the economic development it has to be mentioned there has been an increase in the level of pollution. The environmental pollution has increased to a great level and it has grown to a dangerous and harmful level. With the development in the industrial sector and the economic sector the level of pollution has increased to a larger amount. It has posed threat to lives of the larger amount of people. The problem of pollution has grown to such a level that it has caused serious harm to the people of different cities and nations. According to the researches it has been found that nearly 9 million of people have been found dead because of pollution (Powell, 2017).

However it can be mentioned that UK like any other country has been found to be severely affected because of pollution. The essay concentrates on the way that has been adopted in order to solve the problems related to the pollution and the existence of the same in different forms in the need of the overall UK environment to address with a proper framework and roadmap in place through which the implementation of the policies and measures ensures the sustainability of the environment. It further aims towards the betterment of the environment on a more efficient and much advanced level.

Pollution in the UK

The entire UK faces the threat of pollution. The results of pollution in UK are grave and they are faced by every individual dwelling in the regions of UK. The most prevalent form of pollution in UK is air pollution. It is the mostly existing form of pollution in the entire region. According to the report that was published in the year 2015, it was revealed that more than 50,000 people die because of air pollution in UK every year. It has been further found that the number of deaths because of pollution is higher in UK compared to the other developed countries like the France, Germany and Spain.

Air pollution was found to be the major cause of death in UK as found in the reports. It has been pointed out by the Chief executive of the British lung foundation, Dr Penny Woods that the consequences of air pollution was left unchecked and this was the main reason of the increase of the air pollution to a larger extent and it was increasing globally.

Apart from this the other exert named Simon Gillespie who is the chief executive of the British Heart Foundation added that in UK the air quality is poor and it therefore affects some of the most disadvantages and vulnerable members of different communities. These members include people having cardiovascular conditions, people who are young as well as elderly. Some effective steps have been taken by some organizations in spite of that the awareness level of the air pollution has to be increased. It should be taken into account that the apart from the publishing of different reports and other initiatives related to the awareness, it is important to outline the fact that soon some strong and effective steps have been taken by the different departments of the administration of a particular country in order to ensure the way of controlling the effects and the adverse conditions that arise in the environment due to air pollution (Mosley, 2009).

One of such initiative that is related to the eradication of the air pollution is the form of England Air Management. It consists of the fact that while any local authority is able to find an area where the required volume and percentages of different environmental components are not being met, the authority has been given the power to declare that particular area as an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA). The result of this can lead to the produce of a local Air Quality Action Plan which can measure the improvement of the air in that particular area. If it is not improved, the plan will work on the improvement of the same. The organizations like the DEFRA have been found to play an important role in this context. All such environmental authorities have been formulated in order to ensure the safety and security of every species that is possible only by keeping them away from any kind of pollution. The policies are framed in order to make way of eradicating pollution from the environment and to make the air of the environment safe to inhale for all the species in the environment.

The other concern that is important is the fact that the formulation of the laws and the policies by the government of UK is basically the outcome of the lesson that the country has gained from the past. One of the major lessons includes the past incident that occurred in the year 2014 and 2015. The overall environmental situation was not conductive for the people who suffered from any kind of heart diseases or any kind of disorders.

Later the supreme court of UK urged the government of the country to formulate certain strong and concrete policies through which the level of air pollution that has been occurring and that is present in the city could be brought down to a lower level. This formulation was the result of the event that occurred in the year 2014. In the immediate year this decision was taken by the Supreme Court.  This was responded by the government of UK in the year 2017. The government decided to ban the sale of the new petrol and diesel motor vehicles in the country by the year 2040. The government also took the decision of announcing the incentives and special room for the companies who are looking forward towards investing in the automotive sector of the country through and environmentally friendly approach and objective.

The essay further includes the objective, policies and the strategies that have been formulated by different institutions of the UK in order to look into the fact that the pollution level might not increase or they might remain in the level that might not pose any harm or threat to any species that are present in the ecosystem.

Approach towards environmental sustainability

There are multiple approaches and models that exist on the topic of environmental sustainability and the different ways in which the problems can be tackled and they can be rectified. This will ensure in the smooth running of the environment and the continued economic progress. The policy should be formulated in such a way so that it can provide chance of long living and long lasting benefit of all the species. The sustainability of all the species can be increased only by forming appropriate policies that can regulate the air pollution. The short term benefit should not be thought of rather the long term benefit should be taken into account.

The major debate and area of contention arises when there is a need of counterbalance the commercial and the economic needs with respect to the environmental development. This needs to be considered in case of long run. However while addressing this particular area, there are certain perspectives which cannot be overlooked and it is necessary to consider those issues. For the same purpose it is important to have a look at the language that has been used by the World Commission on Environment Development (WCED). This particular idea was formulated to define the term `sustainable development`. This is defined as the process of meeting the present needs without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs.

This approach has been put forward by WCED that emphasized firmly on the bottom-up- notion. The model states that the idea of sustainable future can come into formation in the requirements on the biophysical as well as social conditions that are fulfilled and that are met to the expectations.

There is need for the above mentioned conditions to support with the nature of the economic activity that is being carried out in order to confirm the flourishing of the humans. It can be carried out from one generation to other. It focuses on the concept of meeting the needs. It is different from the promoting the growth or working towards the satisfaction of the choices of the customers. It acts as one of the major components of the process of development (Lomborg, 2001).

The natural and the other kinds of resources are exploited in a faster pace in the present world. They are industrial sectors are consuming the energy resources in an increasing pace. This is heading the entire world towards the loss of the global economy. It is making the survival and the sustenance of the human beings difficult on earth. The increasing use of the resources are making the resources limited and they are lives of the human beings are therefore becoming less inevitable. It is because of this reason important to develop an understanding of the ways in which a country like UK intends to address this issue through which they develop their own vision towards the problem and form strategy and policy related to the environmental pollution.

There are few strategies that have been adopted in order to eliminate the above mentioned. The major purpose of the strategy is to reduce the problem and to formulate ways to control the reasons that are responsible for the growth of the problems. The strategy that has been developed by different institutions and administrative units of the country include the work that has been conducted by the universities and the educational institutions. The educational institutions include the University of Cambridge. The different policies and strategies related to the mission of having a clean environment and to have a clean country are formulated. The first and foremost phase of the strategy includes the focus on energy and carbon management.

The vision include the reduction of the scope of 1,2 ad 3 carbon emission while ensuring the sustainable measures that are designed for the development as well as the improvement of the environment that can be ensured at the same time.

Target

The objective can be fulfilled by setting up the target for the same. The two major targets need to be acquired in order to achieve the strategy that has been formulated. The targets are:

• Firstly, initiative should be taken to reduce carbon emissions from energy by 34 percent by the year 2020 against a baseline of 2005.
• Secondly, efforts should be made to aspire an ambition that should have a long time ambition in order to develop a carbon neutral approach from the use of the energy by the year 2050.

Key performance Indicators (KPIs)

The key performing indicators are framed in order to achieve the desired goals. The major components that will be used ad that will be included as KPIs include:

• The carbon emissions should be removed that is the result of the use of different sources of production of energy that are produced in tones.
• The carbon emissions through the use of materials that are water-related and in case of other water related substances.
• The carbon emissions should be reduced that are emitted from the use of energy per total income which is calculated in the form of tones per pound.
• The carbon emissions are observed from the use of water per total income which is calculated in the form of tones per pound.
• It includes the amount of percentage of energy that is generated from the onsite renewable or the even sources that contain low carbon content which is measured and which is expressed in the form of a percentage.

Implementation mechanism

The major idea of the implementation plan and the mechanism includes the assurance of the goals and the vision that have been included in the strategy. It includes the review of the carbon management plan in the year 2015 in order to include a proper roadmap and framework through which there is a chance for the reduction of the carbon emission. The appropriate target and the chance achieve the desired goal and targets of having a pollution free environment can be achieved through the application of the plan.

The other major implementation level mechanism that can be addressed as well as incorporated in this strategy is to increase to the level of focus as well as attention towards the implementation of the energy that is efficient and the development of the project that are focused towards the reduction of the emission of the carbon within the future projects that they develop, as well as with their existing ones. This can therefore be stated that a budget of 2 million pounds has already been approved by the Energy and Carbon Reduction Project (Sneddon, 2006).

Apart from the above observations another consideration that can be added is the use of the Electricity Incentivisation scheme. The financial incentive is provided to the financial institutions with the help of this scheme. The financial scheme intends to provide awareness as well as it intends the introduction of reforms that aims at helping the reduction of the unnecessary use of the electricity.

The project has been found to initiate by the University of Cambridge and therefore, it is important to point out that the implementation of the mechanism will include the investigation of all the possible opportunity on a strategic level that will include the utilization of the renewable resources of energy that are environmentally friendly and that causes no harm to the environment.

The further initiatives that have been taken at a massive level cannot be addressed alone. The project has been designed at an enormous level therefore, it cannot function alone. It has been formulated to change the entire landscape of a country. Therefore, it requires help and guidance from the relevant people. In such case it is necessary to seek the input and the guidance from the experts who are knowledgeable in such cases. This process can be applied in order to solve the difficult processes in the hassle free manner (Baker and Ekins, 2004).

The information that is collected related to the issue should be shared with other institutions that can be of great help. It is because the universities are an effective means of sharing information and lending knowledge to the society. They will serve as a proper roadmap and they will serve as a proper execution plan through which they are able to conduct and supervise all the operations related to the project effectively.

Water management

The vision of the water management for the sustainability is based on the effective use of water which ensures the efficient water management.

One of the most important targets that have been set for the water management is the reduction of the consumption of the water and the optimization in the overall management by 20 percent against the baseline that was initially set for the year 200.

Some of the essential key performing indicators that can be associated with the aims and the objectives that are formed in order to achieve through the initiative of water management include:

• The total water consumption should be measured and the water should be stated in meter cube.
• The total consumption of water on the individual basis should be measured and they should be measured in the form of meter cube per FTP.

Implementation mechanism

The effectiveness of the policy can be determined through the process in which the implementation has been conducted in an effective manner. The water consumption data should be formulated though which the usage of water can be accessed in any particular area. This would help in identifying the potential areas through which the conservation of the water can be ensured and implemented in an effective manner.

There is a severe need of the promotion of the ways of using the water. It includes the management of the water in an efficient way and this serves as an important role in ensuring the proper use of water and program related to the promotion of the same (Karen, 2013).

The other major component of the implementation program is the plan to seek and explore opportunities through which the installation of different water management measure such as rain water harvesting and other sustainable urban drainage system can be implemented in an effective manner. It is important to highlight the issues related to the conservation of water as well as the protection that has been referred by the states as a serious threat.

Conclusion

While concluding this can be stated that the world currently is facing with some serious environmental issues and problems. It is the air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution and sound pollution. This is creating harm to all the species of the environment. The key priority at this stage is to find proper and environmentally sustainable solution for the problems. The implementation of the policies and the strategies must be immediately done in order to save the large geographical area and the global atmosphere.

References

Anderson, H. Ross. (2009) "Air pollution and mortality: A history." Atmospheric Environment 43#1 pp: 142-152.

Lomborg, (2001) TheSkeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).

Sneddon, R.B. Howarth, and R.B. Norgaard, (2006)  “Sustainable Development in a Post-Brundtland World,” Ecological Economics 57 (2006): 253-68.

Higgins, Karen (2013) ‘Economic growth and sustainability – are they mutually exclusive?’.Retrieved online from:

https://www.elsevier.com/connect/economic-growth-and-sustainability-are-they-mutually-exclusive

Mosley, Stephen. (2009) "'A Network of Trust': Measuring and Monitoring Air Pollution in British Cities, 1912-1960." Environment and History 15#3 pp: 273-302. 

Powell, Tom (2017) ‘Pollution killing 50,000 people in the UK every year, research finds’.Retrieved online from:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/pollution-killing-50000-in-the-uk-every-year-research-finds-a3663371.html

Barker and P. Ekins, (2004) “The Costs of Kyoto for the U.S. Economy,” Energy Journal 25 (2004): 53-71.