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<The Councillor as Guardian of the Environment>

An Essay and Workshop for Local Elected Leaders on Environmental Governance
with Emphasis on Adopting Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs)
- Training for Elected Leadership -

Part II - Workshop on the Councillor as Guardian of the Environment
- WORKSHOP -

WORKSHOP COMPONENTS

13.13 Trainer Presentation: OPTIONS FOR ACTION

To provide participants with a perspective on the appropriate deployment of technology to achieve the goals of environmental sustainability.

Develop a short presentation to prepare participants for the next two exercises, one with two critical incidents that demonstrate the actual deployment of sound and unsound technologies, and another that offers participants a practice experience with choosing environmentally sound technologies. As preparation, use material on Determining Options and Consequences from Part I supplemented by the following information and ideas of your own.

As Guardian of the Environment, you are responsible for action to deal effectively with environmental risks. As we have seen previously in this workshop, this involves becoming more sensitive to the local environment and working to either enhance or at least hold the line on the quality of life that currently exists in your community. It also involves the selection of interventions that are capable of managing environmental risks without causing new and even more detrimental conditions for urban inhabitants or the local ecology.

Vastly complicating the role of the local official in protecting and preserving the environment for future generations is the relentless pressure of new development and demands from local inhabitants for economic well-being. This complex task is brought into sharp focus by the term "sustainability;" that is, to make it possible for citizens to enjoy the most economic prosperity possible without diminishing the ability of future generations to enjoy equal or better prosperity.

Also important to environmentally conscious public officials is the concept of "environmentally sound technology." No one needs to remind you of the importance technology plays in the complex task of governing a local authority. Neither are you likely to dispute the proposition that all forms of economic progress involve some degree of environmental modification. When you approve the construction of a roadway or approve plans for siting an industrial plant or housing project, for example, the result will entail some compromise with the environment. For the environmentally conscious official, the question is how much compromise in each situation is acceptable. More particularly, the question is how sound is the application of a particular technology compared with alternatives that you might consider. These are questions which involve technical, economic, political, and social factors as well as those that are purely environmental or ecological.

Four categories of environmental technologies have been identified by UNEP's International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC): cleaner production technologies, monitoring and assessment technologies, local legislative mandates, and mitigation (end of the pipe) technologies. Most local officials have knowledge of or experience with each of these technologies in some form or another.

• Cleaner production technologies are activities used to avoid conditions or alter practices that could result in damage to the environment. These technologies are meant to encompass product substitution or the redesign of an entire production process rather than simply the use of new pieces of equipment. Example: the substitution of natural gas for oil as a heating fuel.
• Monitoring and assessment technologies are activities used to investigate and evaluate the condition of the environment including the release of pollutants and other materials of a harmful nature. Example: use of aerial photography to determine the tree cover in an area which is one measure of the level of CO₂ absorption in the atmosphere.
• Mitigation technologies make use of so-called "end of the pipe" methods to restore or improve ecosystems that have deteriorated due to naturally induced or anthropogenic effects. Example: the introduction of a toxic waste disposal unit to improve the performance of a waste incinerator.
• Local legislative mandates are meant to render hazardous substances harmless before they have a chance to affect the environment. Example: the registration of required pesticides with applicant certification and pre-market testing.

Local legislative mandates are included as a category of technology in this handbook for councillors as Guardians of the Environment because legislative mandates, including standard setting and enforcement, are among the most important responsibilities of local self-governance.

While technology has made possible the incredible progress enjoyed by much of the world, particularly since the industrial revolution, it is equally responsible for many of the world's woes, particularly in the less developed parts of the world. There are many reasons for technological mishaps attributable to the actions or omissions of local government officials.

• Continued reliance on a technology designed to serve the needs of an earlier, less urbanized environment. Built in a river delta, Bangkok constructed a series of klongs (canals) during the first century of the city's life to add to the natural waterway in the delta. Thai society was oriented around these waterways which provided domestic and agricultural water supplies, waste disposal, and the city's primary means of transportation. The drainage function of the klongs is one of the casualties of Bangkok's aggressive form of modernization. Many of the canals no longer exist, having been filled in to provide land for roadways. The ones remaining have to cope with the vastly increased urban run-off inasmuch as so much of the land has been built upon or paved over.¹⁴
• Unwise expansion or over exploitation of an otherwise sound technology. The watershed of Lake Naivasha, located about 60 miles north of Nairobi, is an important center for horticulture and a major cash-crop industry, providing a bountiful source of fresh vegetables for lucrative European markets. The business has expanded rapidly, creating jobs and generating foreign currency. Growers say they are careful with the precious lake water and use sustainable production methods based on a voluntary code of practice. However, environmentalists fear that voluntary controls cannot be relied upon to prevent over-exploitation of the lake by multi-national growing companies and wealthy landowners when a probable consequence would be the loss of jobs and foreign exchange.¹⁵
• Use of technology to respond to immediate growth problems without regard to future consequences. Returning to Bangkok for another example, heavy use is being made in that city of easily accessible groundwater to meet the needs of an exploding population, largely in areas without an existing water supply. The result has been severe subsidence in rapidly developing areas, particularly in central and eastern Bangkok. The practice continues owing to the prohibitively high cost of providing an integrated water supply system over a large area.¹⁶
• Insufficient effort to actively support the development of indigenous technologies by people who will benefit the most. Whenever people contribute to a project, they look after it. In the Annapurna region of Nepal, a drinking water project planned and built in Ghandruk at a cost of 6.4 million rupees without any consultation with local inhabitants soon broke down and fell into disuse. Subsequently, the villagers, with the help of a locally formed technical assistance group, planned and built their own system. The cost was a mere 50,000 rupees, half of which was paid by the locals themselves. The system is still in perfect operating condition. The success of the Nepali water system demonstrates why the development of appropriate technologies initiated by indigenous populations and built with their participation are often more effective than high priced, donor prescribed solutions.¹⁷

In this presentation, we are concentrating on the role of technology and the ability of local officials to recognize and make use of technologies that are environmentally sound. This poses two challenges for the local official as Guardian of the Environment. The first challenge is to develop within your local authority an organizational capacity to recognize and implement appropriate technologies to deal with identified risks or hazards to the local environment. The second challenge is to ask enough questions when considering the merits of keeping or changing any activity or practice with environmental consequences to avoid unfortunate mishaps or oversights as those described above.

Table of Contents

• Brochure
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• International Year of Forests
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• World Environment Day
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• UNEP Campaign
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