Our Environment Contents

2. Impacts

There are a number of distinct and interlocking dimensions in the study and management of environmental issues.

The sustainability imperative holds its own fundamental dilemma. On the one hand, there should be wide agreement across industry and society of the importance of the survival of the planet, and its continued ability to support human existence. On the other, there is a wide disparity of views on the nature and extent of environmental crisis, the extent to which problems are isolated or systemic, the causes of problems, the level of effort that needs to be devoted to their management and the optimum amount of effort that is appropriate. There are many dimensions and complexities to be considered.

Stakeholders: Resource and environmental processes become issues because a range of different stakeholders are involved - people affected by, or with an interest in, how they are managed.
Management and decision making: Use and abuse of environmental resources does not "just happen". It is the outcome of decisions of individuals and organisations, consciously acting to achieve particular aims and objectives (and in the process often compromising others).
Ownership and empowerment: Different populations (or groups in society) have different degrees of influence and control over decisions which affect them.
Spatial scales: Human-resource relationships can be considered at many different spatial scales - local, regional, national, international. The nature of the issues can be quite different at different scales.
Timescales: Human-resource relationships can be considered at many different time scales - short, medium and long term. Changes over time are in some cases dramatic, in others barely discernible.
Knowledge and uncertainty: There are many facets of human-resource relationships about which science has not produced a definitive knowledge base. There are substantial areas of ignorance and uncertainty.
Sustainability: Requiring that the environment is managed in such a way to support the needs and wants of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to support their own needs and wants.

Can you think of other dimensions to the study and management of environmental issues?