Lesson 1 - Intro Flashcards
What is MEAs?
Multilateral Enviromental Agreements
Multilateral > 3 states
What is COP?
Convention of the People
What is sustainable development?
The interaction zone (area of sustainability) is the balance between Human well-being, Enviromental integrity and Economic efficiency
What is management?
- Plan
- Organise (direct)
- Co-ordinate (integrate)
- Control
What do you manage?
PPMMIN
People Plant Money Material Information Natural Environment
What are 6 responsibilities as engineers?
- Be familiar with environmental governance frameworks.
- Be in compliance with regulatory frameworks at all levels.
- Consider technologies that would fulfill the requirements of these frameworks.
- Develop skill in the collection of the necessary data, analysis of the data, interpretation, and reporting.
- Be Innovative: the implementation of the Kyoto protocol could be seen as a business opportunity that would boost innovative clean technologies for carbon trading.
- Think, plan, design, build, operate sustainably!
What are the levels of engagement?
- A - Institutional policy/strategy
- B - Feasibility studies
- C - Project implementation
Describe level of engagement A – Policy or Strategic Level
- Private or public enterprises
– Common goal What is our business?
– Vision, mission, objectives
– Strategy
– Structure of authority and responsibility
– Resources (money/people, etc.)
– Interaction with sub-systems: internal and external - E.g.: Aurecon, Sasol, DWS, etc. State-Owned Enterprises Government Departments
Describe level of engagement B - Feasibility study
Integrated planning to involve all sectors of society
- Broad policy, e.g. National Water Resources Strategy (water-scarce areas – should a project be permitted?)
- Economic factors – Capital / Running / Cost: Benefit / e.g. Flood mitigation
- Social factors – e.g. People settlement/job creation
- Engineering aspects – Materials, Access, Resources
- Environmental aspects – Engineering projects have an impact on the environment
Team effort
Describe level of engagement C- Project implementation
- Communication
- Ensuring compliance with conditions
- Budget (all phases, e.g. noise reduction)
- Responsible actions
How can one solve any problem?
- Define the problem (with care)
- Develop and define possible alternative solutions
- Investigate and quantify each alternative
- Decide on criteria for evaluation
- Decide on a preferred alternative
- Develop the preferred alternative (Design)
- Construct
- O&M
Considering Project Implementation: Discuss the design framework.
Step 1: Preliminary thinking
- The perceived problem
- Awareness, evaluation, and consultation
Step 2: Developing and appraising the options
- Consultations
- Environmental information
- Scheme options
- Informal environmental appraisial
- Shortlist of options
Step 3: Choosing the preferred options
- Ranking of options
- Formal environmental assessment
Step 4: Designing and planning
Step 5: Operational phase
Step 6: Post-Project evaluation
What are the 3 dilemmas we face in our environment?
- Increasing population
- Natural resources, however, unchanged
- Therefore, without good management, environment will deteriorate
- Resources will become depleted
- Life-sustaining processes (ecological system) are destroyed
– will eventually lead to complete extinction and collapse
Name 4 classifications of environmental waste.
- Degradable waste
- Non degradable waste
- Reversible biological and geophysical consequences
- Irreversible biological and geophysical consequences
