Environmental Management: Sustainable Development Goals

Study Notes

Environmental management is a broad and complex field that involves practical issues to sustain life and deals with the maintenance and sustenance of environmental quality and productivity, considering air, land, and water.
It refers to the process of managing, conserving, and preserving the natural environment and its resources.

Refocused efforts are needed to improve learning outcomes for the full life cycle, especially for women, girls, and marginalized people in vulnerable settings.
Quality education is a key aspect of sustainable development.

Definition: Cleaner Production is the continuous application of an integrated, preventive environmental strategy towards processes, products, and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce damage and risks for humans and the environment.
It is a tool to identify where and why a company is losing resources in the form of waste and pollution, and how these losses can be minimized.
Key elements: adds value to the Environmental Management System (EMS), emphasizes pollution prevention, can be applied to manufacturing industries and services, includes safety and protection of health.

1972: UN conference on "Human Environment" (Stockholm, Sweden) recognized the right to a healthy and productive environment.
1987: The World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) introduced the concept of Sustainable Development.
1992: The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit) produced the "Rio Declaration on Environment and Development", the "Statement of Forest Principles", and "Agenda 21".
2000: UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted to address poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa.

It involves setting guidelines for environmentally sound development policies, promoting sustainable development, and considering the best possible environmental option.
Approaches include preventive principles, precautionary principles, polluter pays principle, assessment of risks, hazards, and impacts, environmental stewardship, sustainable consumption and production patterns, and sustainable development.