Environmental management for sustainable development refers to managing of environmental

Environmental Management

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nIntroduction

nEnvironmental management for sustainable development refers to managing of environmental resources in a manner that will benefit the present generation without compromising the survival of the future generation. Good environmental management means safeguarding of natural resources while properly utilizing them (Golus̆in, Dodić and Popov 2013, p. 20). It mainly has three pillars which are; environmental protection, social development and economic development.This paper seeks to discuss the challenges and benefits from undertaking environmental management for sustainable development, research process undertaken and the benefits and challenges encountered, sustainable development of gas and oil companies and recommendations to the UN.There are several benefits of environmental management for sustainable development. One of them including reducing the costs and increasing productivity. Development of sustainable and conservation practices such as geothermal cooling and heating systems and using lead free fuel work towards achieving a more clean environment reducing the costs of clean-up (Islam, Khan and Chhetri 2012, p.53). Furthermore, there is also reducing of waste. Through various simple ways such as recycling of empty cans hence less non-degradable waste to the environment. Another advantage is attracting foreign investors (Roosa 2010, p.80).

n Foreign investors are more likely to want to be associated with a country/business/generation that applies good sustainable practices in relationship to the environment (Roosa 2010, p. 41). They are more likely to shun a place where there are implications of ecological disaster scandals.In as much as there are benefits associated with environmental management, there are also challenges associated with the same. One of the challenges is financial impediments. Some of the sustainable practices are costly and therefore hard to be implemented (Roosa 2010, p. 73).

n There is also a barrier on innovation. Some of the theoretical applications need to be developed to real life applications but due to inadequate research there are no innovations. Another challenge is that there is little awareness about environmental management and sustainable development. The civil society is ignorant about environmental issues and private sector does lack enough resources to pursue environmental management and sustainable development (Roosa 2010, p. 90).

nThe research method used was mainly qualitative online analysis. This is where there is development of a research question, by using specific orientation of the theory and analyzing the information and data collected (Hooley, Wellens and Marriott 2012, p. 23). This was carried using documentation analysis techniques where the research question was analysed by thorough interpretation and examining of online literature on the topic of environmental management for sustainable development by various authors, then deducing the information based on how I understood it to meet the task given. This research method is cost effective and time effective too as there is a wide array of information one can get from one search engine at a short period of time (Hooley, Wellens and Marriott 2012, p.29).

n Its also extremely easy to access to possibly massive, geologically different contributor pool. The challenge was in the inevitable biased nature of the web as its more likely to display most searched issues on the topic rather than the specific wanted hence may generate irregular data. There is also the challenge of language barrier where some information published in other languages other than English may be missed as one is not able to interpret them. Information is lost along the way (Hooley, Wellens and Marriott 2012, p.35).

nGas and oil companies strive to reduce negative impacts to people and the environment through sustainable development. Sustainable development has seen the oil and gas production companies attain certain benefits including cutting the cost of production and cleaning the environment as the energy produced is clean (Roosa 2010, p. 54). Despite the efforts to use alternative sustainable energy, gas and oil production is still practiced in sensitive environments as a result of revenue mismanagement and corruption. Some of the oil firms have unscrupulous operators who are out to make profit and therefore illegally deplete the oil reserves which have a negative ecological impact (Simon 2010, p. 46).

nTo achieve sustainable development, there is need for reporting of environmental health sustainability impact and aspects (Golus̆in, Dodić and Popov 2013, p. 76). The UN through their UNEP branch can occasionally carry audits and inspection of the petroleum companies. Some of the obsolete production procedures can be replaced with advanced technology which is more effective and environment friendly (Golus̆in, Dodić and Popov 2013, p. 81).

nConclusion

nEnvironmental management is essential for today and future generations. The benefits are immense and therefore there should be ways devised to counter the challenges in the implementation of the sustainable practices (Simon 2010, p. 67). There is a long way to go to achieve the sustainable development goals and more research should be done on environmental management. Gas and oil companies too should come up with more ways to ensure effective production with minimum environmental impacts (Roosa 2010, p. 60).

nReferences

nGolus̆in, M., Dodić, S. and Popov, S., 2013. Sustainable energy management. Walthan, Mass: Academmic Press.

nIslam, R., Khan, M. and Chhetri, A., 2012. Green Petroleum. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

nRoosa, S., 2010. Sustainable development handbook. Lilburn, GA: Fairmont Press.

nSimon, S., 2010. Global warming. New York: Collins.

nHooley, T., Wellens, J. and Marriott, J., 2012. What is Online Research?. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.