The 60s of the twentieth century became a decisive time for the environmental field: it was then that the representatives of science realized that rational environmental management is a necessary measure, without which our resources will quickly be spent.
The attention of the scientific world to this problem was caused by an actively developing industry, which, although it testified to rapid progress, created comfortable living conditions, developed the economy, but at the same time, it also rapidly exhausted resources and contributed to the disruption of ecosystems.
What is environmental management?
By nature management is meant the possibility of using resources and environmental properties. They can be economic, environmental, wellness and cultural. Depending on this classification, the forms of nature management are also shared: health, cultural, environmental and economic, the latter of which is the leading one. These four forms, in turn, are divided into two, depending on the specifics of use: special and general.
Almost all of these forms of environmental management are subject to state control, and this is part of the environmental policy.
Rational environmental management is a system of interaction between mankind and nature, which consists in the systematic transformation of the environment , taking into account the use of those resources that are not renewed, and state control plays an important role here.
The power structures of states try to control nature management with the help of legislative acts: for example, the form of general nature management does not imply a special permit. The use of water and air falls into this category.
But special rational nature management is carried out solely on the basis of a permit that is issued by the responsible authorities to individuals or legal entities. Special include the use of subsoil, land, forest and wildlife.
Principles of Environmental Management
Since renewable and non-renewable natural resources with active and unlimited use can be depleted, there is a need to formulate principles for rational nature management.
- Planning and forecast. Rational nature management implies a scientific approach to the analysis of the situation associated with natural resources. To do this, commissions are organized that collect data and examine the state of resources, and based on the data received, make a report that serves to resolve one of the types of management: soft or hard.
- Systems approach. This principle implies a comprehensive assessment of how production affects the environment. The fact is that ecological systems are interconnected, and therefore, with emphasis on one area of resources, there is a risk of depleting others (for example, increasing fertility through active irrigation).
- Optimization. This principle is based on the fact that when saving resources, you need to pay attention to the economic industry of the region.
- Integrated use. According to this principle, it is better to build industrial enterprises in a certain area, taking into account the possibility of using many resources. This is done in order to pollute a smaller area.
- The introduction of environmental and economic systems. The meaning of this principle is to develop and install systems that pollute the environment less and at the same time consume less resources. The most popular example is wind farms. They have spread in Western Europe, but, nevertheless, they cause harm to humans due to the vibration that they create during work. Therefore, they must be built a few kilometers from the settlements.
Thus, we can say that compliance with these principles, taking into account modern environmental problems, can reduce the harm caused by humans only partially.