The Concept of Cultural Environment and the environment policy.

 

 

The Concept of Cultural  Environment and the environment policy. 

 

1.Introduction:

Cultural Environment :

Cultural environments are a remarkable cultural, social and economic resource. They are important for the identities and well-being of people. Cultural environments and the features particular to them provide a unique edge to regions and places, serve as the foundation of the development of local communities and create business opportunities. Cultural environments are environments shaped by human activities, such as cultural landscapes in the countryside, forests, urban areas and cities, fixed archaeological structures on land or water, constructions and built environments from different ages, along with bridges, roads, power lines and industrial and harbour areas. On the one hand, cultural environments are a non-renewable resource, on the other hand, they are in a constant state of renewal and development. When changing and developing valuable cultural environments or creating new cultural environments or parts thereof, the values of the existing environment are a good starting point. What is lost once in a cultural environment, will remain lost forever.

 

Environment policy:

Environmental policies are needed because environmental values are usually not considered in organizational decision making. There are two main reasons for that omission. First, environmental effects are economic externalities. Polluters do not usually bear the consequences of their actions; the negative effects most often occur elsewhere or in the future. Second, natural resources are almost always underpriced because they are often assumed to have infinite availability. Together, those factors result in what American ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1968 called “the tragedy of the commons.” The pool of natural resources can be considered as a commons that everyone can use to their own benefit. For an individual, it is rational to use a common resource without considering its limitations, but that self-interested behaviour will lead to the depletion of the shared limited resource—and that is not in anyone’s interest. Individuals do so nevertheless because they reap the benefits in the short term, but the community pays the costs of depletion in the long term. Since incentives for individuals to use the commons sustainably are weak, government has a role in the protection of the commons. Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management, maintenance of biodiversity, the management of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species.For example, concerning environmental policy, the implementation of an eco-energy-oriented policy at a global level to address the issues of global warming and climate changes could be addressed.

 

2. Definition:

One way is to describe environmental policy is that it comprises two major terms: environment and policy. Environment refers to the physical ecosystems, but can also take into consideration the social dimension (quality of life, health) and an economic dimension (resource management, biodiversity). Policy can be defined as a "course of action or principle adopted or proposed by a government, party, business or individual".Thus, environmental policy tends to focus on problems arising from human impact on the environment, which is important to human society by having a (negative) impact on human values. Such human values are often labeled as good health or the 'clean and green' environment. In practice, policy analysts provide a wide variety of types of information to the public decision making process.

 

Environmental issues typically addressed by environmental policy include (but are not limited to) air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management, biodiversity protection, the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species, and the management of these natural resources for future generations. Relatively recently, environmental policy has also attended to the communication of environmental issues.In contrast to environmental policy, ecological policy addresses issues that focus on achieving benefits (both monetary and non monetary) from the non human ecological world. Broadly included in ecological policy is natural resource management (fisheries, forestry, wildlife, range, biodiversity, and at-risk species). This specialized area of policy possesses its own distinctive features.

3.History:

Though the Clean Air Act 1956 in response to London's Great Smog of 1952 was a historical step forward, and the 1955 Air Pollution Control Act was the first U.S. federal legislation that pertained to air pollution, the 1960s marked the beginning of modern environmental policy making. The stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson's New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962 and strengthened the Environmental movement. Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, became famous for his environmental work. Administrator Ruckelshaus was confirmed by the Senate on December 2, 1970, which is the traditional date used as the birth of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Five months earlier, in July 1970, President Nixon had signed Reorganization Plan No. 3 calling for the establishment of EPA. At the time, Environmental Policy was a bipartisan issue and the efforts of the United States of America helped spark countries around the world to create environmental policies.During this period, legislation was passed to regulate pollutants that go into the air, water tables, and solid waste disposal. President Nixon signed the Clean Air Act in 1970 which set the US as one of the world leaders in environmental conservation. The world's first minister of the environment was the British Politician Peter Walker from the Conservative Party in 1970. The German "Benzin Bei Gesetz" reduced Tetraethyllead since 1972.

 

In the European Union, the very first Environmental Action Programme was adopted by national government representatives in July 1973 during the first meeting of the Council of Environmental Ministers. Since then an increasingly dense network of legislation has developed, which now extends to all areas of environmental protection including air pollution control, water protection and waste policy but also nature conservation and the control of chemicals, biotechnology and other industrial risks. EU environmental policy has thus become a core area of European politics. The German Umweltbundesamt was founded in Berlin 1974.

Overall organizations are becoming more aware of their environmental risks and performance requirements. In line with the ISO 14001 standard they are developing environmental policies suitable for their organization. This statement outlines environmental performance of the organization as well as its environmental objectives. Written by top management of the organization they document a commitment to continuous improvement and complying with legal and other requirements, such as the environmental policy objectives set by their governments.

4. The role of Non-Governmental Organizations:

Non-Governmental organizations have the greatest influence on environmental policies.  These days, many countries are facing huge environmental, social, and economic impacts of rapid population growth, development, and natural resource constraints. As NGOs try to help countries to tackle these issues more successfully, a lack of understanding about their role in civil society and the public perception that the government alone is responsible for the well-being of its citizens and residents makes NGOs tasks more difficult to achieve. NGOs such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund can help tackling issues by conducting research to facilitate policy development, building institutional capacity, and facilitating independent dialogue with civil society to help people live more sustainable lifestyles. The need for a legal framework to recognize NGOs and enable them to access more diverse funding sources, high-level support/endorsement from local figureheads, and engaging NGOs in policy development and implementation is more important as environmental issues continue to increase.

International organizations have also made great impacts on environmental policies by creating programmes such as the United Nations Environment Programme and hosting conferences such as the United Nations Earth Summit to address environmental issues.

5. Instruments, problems, and issues:

Environmental policy instruments are tools used by governments and other organizations to implement their environmental policies. Governments, for example, may use a number of different types of instruments. For example, economic incentives and market-based instruments such as taxes and tax exemptions, tradable permits, and fees can be very effective to encourage compliance with environmental policy.The assumption is that corporations and other organizations who engage in efficient environmental management and are transparent about their environmental data and reporting presumably benefit from improved business and organizational performance.

 

Bilateral agreements between the government and private firms and commitments made by firms independent of government requirement are examples of voluntary environmental measures. Another instrument is the implementation of greener public purchasing programs.

 

Several instruments are sometimes combined in a policy mix to address a particular environmental problem. Since environmental issues have many aspects, several policy instruments may be required to adequately address each one. Furthermore, a combination of different policies may give firms greater flexibility in policy compliance and reduce uncertainty as to the cost of such compliance.

 

Ideally, government policies are to be carefully formulated so that the individual measures do not undermine one another, or create a rigid and cost-ineffective framework. Overlapping policies result in unnecessary administrative costs, increasing the cost of implementation.To help governments realize their policy goals, the OECD Environment Directorate, for example, collects data on the efficiency and consequences of environmental policies implemented by the national governments.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, through UNECE Environmental Performance Reviews, evaluates progress made by its member countries in improving their environmental policies.

The current reliance on a market-based framework has supporters and detractors. Among the detractors for example, some environmentalists contend that a more radical, overarching approach is needed than a set of specific initiatives, to deal with climate change. For example, energy efficiency measures may actually increase energy consumption in the absence of a cap on fossil fuel use, as people might drive more fuel-efficient cars. To combat this result, Aubrey Meyer calls for a 'framework-based market' of contraction and convergence. The Cap and Share and the Sky Trust are proposals based on the idea.

 

Environmental impact assessments (EIA) are conducted to compare impacts of various policy alternatives. Moreover, although it is often assumed that policymakers make rational decisions based on the merits of the project, Eccleston and March argue that although policymakers normally have access to reasonably accurate environmental information, political and economic factors are important and often lead to policy decisions that rank environmental priorities of secondary importance.

 

The decision-making theory casts doubt on this premise. Irrational decisions are reached based on unconscious biases, illogical assumptions, and the desire to avoid ambiguity and uncertainty.

 

Eccleston identifies and describes four of the most critical environmental policy issues facing humanity: water scarcity, food scarcity, climate change, and the population paradox.

 

6.Development of environmental policy, objectives, and targets:

This segment describes a process to develop and establish an environmental policy and its associated environmental targets, objectives, and management programmes. The environmental policy is defined in a statement which addresses the company expectations for programmes that are important to assure adequate environmental protection and define its future commitment towards preventing pollution and continuously improving the effectiveness of its environmental protection programmes. A set of environmental objectives, derived from the policy, define the overall goals which will ensure that the company's environmental performance will remain consistent with the commitment identified in its policy when its environmental management system (EMS) is implemented, Environmental targets reflect the requirements and standards that the company must strive to achieve each objective and minimize any harmful environmental impacts from its production and manufacturing processes or other activities. In addition to defining specific targets, environmental management programmes are also used to guide EMS implementation. These programmes, however, must provide the company with the necessary flexibility to select the most appropriate technologies to enhance its own processes and prudently allocate its available financial resources in areas that return the greatest overall environmental benefit.Though they are expected to allow some discretion in the allocation of resources targeted towards environmental protection, EMS programmes must also provide assurance that the corporation environmental policy, objectives, targets, and management programmes do not result in a facility failure to adhere to all of its certification requirements. The principle and factors described in this article should be considered to the extent that they are necessary and practical.

7. Cultural Heritage:

The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by UNESCO in 2001 is a legal instrument that recognizes cultural diversity as the "common heritage of humanity" and considers its safeguarding to be a concrete and ethical imperative inseparable from respect for human dignity.

 

Beyond the Declaration of Principles adopted in 2003 at the Geneva Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted in October 2005, is a legally binding instrument to all States Parties to the Convention that recognizes.

The distinctive nature of cultural goods, services, and activities as vehicles of identity, values, and meaning;

That while cultural goods, services, and activities have important economic value, they are not mere commodities or consumer goods that can only be regarded as objects of trade.

 

It was adopted in response to "growing pressure exerted on countries to waive their right to enforce cultural policies and to put all aspects of the cultural sector on the table when negotiating international trade agreements". Civil society played an important role in the elaboration and adoption of the 2005 Convention.

 

To date, 116 member states, as well as the European Union, have ratified the Convention, except the US, Australia and Israel. States Parties recognize the specificity of cultural goods and services, as well as state sovereignty and public services in this area. Thought for world trade, this soft law instrument (meaning non-binding) clearly became a crucial reference to the definition of the European policy choice.[clarification needed] In 2009, the European Court of Justice favored a broad view of culture—beyond cultural values through the protection of film or the objective of promoting linguistic diversity yet previously recognized. On top of it, under this Convention, the EU and China have committed to fostering more balanced cultural exchanges, strengthening international cooperation and solidarity with business and trade opportunities in cultural and creative industries. The most motivating factor behind Beijing's willingness to work in partnership at the business level might certainly be the access to creative talents and skills from foreign markets.

8. Cultural environment and built heritage:

Cultural environments are a remarkable cultural, social and economic resource. They are important for the identities and well-being of people. Cultural environments and the features particular to them provide a unique edge to regions and places, serve as the foundation of the development of local communities and create business opportunities.

Cultural environments are environments shaped by human activities, such as cultural landscapes in the countryside, forests, urban areas and cities, fixed archaeological structures on land or water, constructions and built environments from different ages, along with bridges, roads, power lines and industrial and harbour areas.

On the one hand, cultural environments are a non-renewable resource, on the other hand, they are in a constant state of renewal and development. When changing and developing valuable cultural environments or creating new cultural environments or parts thereof, the values of the existing environment are a good starting point. What is lost once in a cultural environment, will remain lost forever.

9. Protection of culture:

There are a number of international agreements and national laws relating to the protection of culture and cultural heritage. UNESCO and its partner organizations such as Blue Shield International coordinate international protection and local implementation.

 

Basically, the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Diversity deal with the protection of culture. Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights deals with cultural heritage in two ways: it gives people the right to participate in cultural life on the one hand and the right to the protection of their contributions to cultural life on the other.

 

The protection of culture and cultural goods is increasingly taking up a large area nationally and internationally. Under international law, the UN and UNESCO try to set up and enforce rules for this. The aim is not to protect a person's property, but rather to preserve the cultural heritage of humanity, especially in the event of war and armed conflict. According to Karl von Habsburg, President of Blue Shield International, the destruction of cultural assets is also part of psychological warfare. The target of the attack is the identity of the opponent, which is why symbolic cultural assets become a main target. It is also intended to affect the particularly sensitive cultural memory, the growing cultural diversity and the economic basis (such as tourism) of a state, region or municipality.

 

Another important issue today is the impact of tourism on the various forms of culture. On the one hand, this can be physical impact on individual objects or the destruction caused by increasing environmental pollution and, on the other hand, socio-cultural effects on society.

10.Concept Of Cultural Landscapes:

The concept of 'cultural landscapes' can be found in the European tradition of landscape painting. From the 16th century onwards, many European artists painted landscapes in favor of people, diminishing the people in their paintings to figures subsumed within broader, regionally specific landscapes.

The word "landscape" itself combines "land" with a verb of Germanic origin, "scapjan/schaffen" to mean, literally, "shaped lands". Lands were then considered shaped by natural forces, and the unique details of such landshaffen (shaped lands) became themselves the subject of 'landscape' paintings.

The geographer Otto Schlüter is credited with having first formally used “cultural landscape” as an academic term in the early 20th century. In 1908, Schlüter argued that by defining geography as a Landschaftskunde (landscape science) this would give geography a logical subject matter shared by no other discipline.  He defined two forms of landscape: the Landschaft (transl. original landscape) or landscape that existed before major human induced changes and the Kulturlandschaft (transl. 'cultural landscape') a landscape created by human culture. The major task of geography was to trace the changes in these two landscapes.

It was Carl O. Sauer, a human geographer, who was probably the most influential in promoting and developing the idea of cultural landscapes. Sauer was determined to stress the agency of culture as a force in shaping the visible features of the Earth's surface in delimited areas. Within his definition, the physical environment retains a central significance, as the medium with and through which human cultures act.

Since Schlüter's first formal use of the term, and Sauer's effective promotion of the idea, the concept of 'cultural landscapes has been variously used, applied, debated, developed and refined within academia. In the 1950s, for instance, J.B. Jackson and his publication 'Landscape' influenced a generation of particularly American scholars, including architectural historians Denise Scott Brown, and Gwendolyn Wright.

By 1992, the World Heritage Committee elected to convene a meeting of the 'specialists' to advise and assist redraft the Committee's Operational Guidelines to include 'cultural landscapes' as an option for heritage listing properties that were neither purely natural nor purely cultural in form (i.e. 'mixed' heritage). The World Heritage Committee's adoption and use of the concept of 'cultural landscapes' has seen multiple specialists around the world, and many nations identifying 'cultural landscapes', assessing 'cultural landscapes', heritage listing 'cultural landscapes', managing 'cultural landscapes', and effectively making 'cultural landscapes' known and visible to the world, with very practical ramifications and challenges.

11. Cultures of honour and cultures of law:

Various sociologists and anthropologists have contrasted cultures of honour with cultures of law. A culture of law has a body of laws which all members of society must obey, with punishments for transgressors. This requires a society with the structures required to enact and enforce laws. A culture of law incorporates a social contract: members of society give up some aspects of their freedom to defend themselves and retaliate for injuries, on the understanding that society will apprehend and punish transgressors.

 

An alternative to government enforcement of laws is community or individual enforcement of social norms.

 

One way that honour functions is as a major factor of reputation. In a system where there is no court that will authorise the use of force to guarantee the execution of contracts, an honourable reputation is very valuable to promote trust among transaction partners. To dishonour an agreement could be economically ruinous, because all future potential transaction partners might stop trusting the party not to lie, steal their money or goods, not repay debts, mistreat the children they marry off, have children with other people, abandon their children, or fail to provide aid when needed. A dishonourable person might be shunned by the community as a way to punish bad behaviour and create an incentive for others to maintain their honour.

If one's honour is questioned, it can thus be important to disprove any false accusations or slander. In some cultures, the practice of dueling has arisen as a means to settle such disputes firmly, though by physical dominance in force or skill rather than by objective consideration of evidence and facts.

 

Honour can also imply duty to perform certain actions, such as providing for and disciplining one's children, serving in the military during war, contributing to local collective projects like building infrastructure, or exacting revenge in retaliation for acts one is directly harmed by.

 

The concept of personal honour can be extended to family honour, which strengthens the incentives to follow social norms in two ways. First, the consequences of dishonourable actions (such as suicide or attempted robbery that results in death) outlive the perpetrator, and negatively affect family members they presumably care about. Second, when one member of the family misbehaves, other members of the family are in the position to and are incentivised to strongly enforce the community norms.In strong honour cultures, those who do not conform may be forced or pressured into conformance and transgressors punished physically or psychologically. The use of violence may be collective in its character, where many relatives act together.The most extreme form of punishment is honour killing. Dueling and vengeance at a family level can result in a sustained feud.

 

Honour-based cultures are also known as honour-shame cultures and are contrasted with guilt cultures on the guilt-shame-fear spectrum of cultures.

 

Cultures of honour are often conservative, encoding pre-modern traditional family values and duties. In some cases these values clash with those of post-sexual revolution and egalitarian societies. Add to this the prohibition against vigilante or individual justice-taking, cultures of law sometimes consider practices in honour cultures to be unethical or a violation of the legal concept of human rights.

12. Research and innovation policy:

Synergic to the environmental policy is the environmental research and innovation policy. An example is the European environmental research and innovation policy, which aims at defining and implementing a transformative agenda to greening the economy and the society as a whole so to achieve a truly sustainable development. Europe is particularly active in this field, via a set of strategies, actions and programmes to promote more and better research and innovation for building a resource-efficient, climate resilient society and thriving economy in sync with its natural environment. Research and innovation in Europe are financially supported by the programme Horizon 2020, which is also open to participation worldwide.

 

UNFCCC research shows that climate-related projects and policies that involve women are more effective. Policies, projects and investments without meaningful participation by women are less effective and often increase existing gender inequalities. Women's found climate solutions that cross political or ethnic boundaries have been particularly important in regions where entire ecosystems are under threat, e.g. small island states, the Arctic and the Amazon and in areas where people's livelihoods depend on natural resources e.g. fishing, farming and forestry.

13. Environmental policy integration:

The concept of environmental policy integration (EPI) refers to the process of integrating environmental objectives into non-environmental policy areas, such as energy, agriculture and transport, rather than leaving them to be pursued solely through purely environmental policy practices. This is oftentimes particularly challenging because of the need to reconcile global objectives and international rules with domestic needs and laws. EPI is widely recognised as one of the key elements of sustainable development. More recently, the notion of ‘climate policy integration’, also denoted as ‘mainstreaming’, has been applied to indicate the integration of climate considerations (both mitigation and adaptation) into the normal (often economically focused) activity of government.

14. Environment influence our culture:

The environment influences people in so many ways, it would be impossible to list all of them. However I will try to give some examples, I’m talking from the top of my head here so feel free to expand or correct me.

 

For starters… what would people be without the environment? Non existent. Everything we have in our lives is because of our surroundings. In the modern age being able to travel to different places and international trade definitely expand our scope, but still there are plenty of things you could only see or get at particular places.

 

When we talk about culture and groups of people we have to talk about food. Regardless of where you are on the globe people have a certain relationship with food and hold it at great value. The environment in which the people are dictates the types of food they have access too. That’s why island nations (or coastal regions) focus on fish in their cuisine - Japan is a prime example of food becoming a national staple; countries with warmer climates have fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet while people in colder climates historically rely on fatty meats, fish and root vegetables like potatoes.

 

The environment determines what kind of clothes we need or don’t need depending on the seasons and temperatures, and also back in the day in the day it determined the animals from which we could acquire fur for clothes (also primary meat people might eat as well as predators to be aware of).

 

On the topic of clothes and art forms, the environment to some extent determines the predominant colors people use as they tend to mimic what they see around them. Here is a stereotypical example of the brightly colored Hawaiian shirts on the islands full of flowers compared to the muted grayish-blue/brown coats you would encounter in gloomy London (of course those things apply less nowadays that’s why I’m using stereotypes).

 

The environment shapes architecture - from the materials people use to build (wood, stone, brick etc), to the locations they chose - settlements are usually built close to a water source (river, lake, sea) or close to some other type of valuable resource - forest, gold, marble etc. It also can dictate the style of the buildings - in a desert you want something made of a light stone to reflect sunlight, that is open an airy so you don’t melt to death in it. Needless to say when you look at North Africa, the Middle East, desert US states those elements are visible in the buildings. Lack of space is also a factor - if you take Hong Kong for example, buildings there are very narrow but extremely tall, it’s because there’s not a lot of land to go around so they’ve opted for stacking. Same to an extent in Japan with rice terraces being and example of agricultural stacking.

15. Major features of the environment policy:

The policy covered all geographical regions and 15 development sectors like Agriculture, Industry, Health & Sanitation, Energy and Fuel, Water Development, Flood Control and Irrigation, Land, Forest, Wildlife and Bio-diversity, Fisheries and Livestock, Food, Coastal and Marine Environment,

Transport and Communication, Housing and Urbanization, Population, Education and Public.

 

The policy has provided guidelines for the following sectors:

 

1.Agriculture: Environmentally sound agricultural practices are to be encouraged and ensured for attainment of self-sufficiency in food. Among the various specific measures, use of natural fertilizers and insecticides is encouraged as opposed to the application of agro-chemicals and artificial materials exerting adverse impact on the environment.

 

2.Industry: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for new industries, corrective measures for polluting industries, ban on establishment of polluting industries and development of environmentally sound and appropriate technology is required for sustainable and efficient utilization of natural resources.

 

3.Health and Sanitation: Healthy environment for rural and urban area, prevention of activities, which are harmful to public health and healthy workplaces for workers are to be ensured.

4.Energy and Fuel: Reduction of the use of fuel-wood and agricultural residues, exploring alternative energy resources, precautionary measures against potentially harmful use of nuclear energy and nuclear radiation, conservation of forest fuel and development of improved energy saving technology are recommended options for the sector. Apart from these, EIA has been made mandatory before implementing projects for exploration and extraction of fuel and mineral resources.

5.Water: Environmentally sound water resource management is suggested in utilization and development of water resources, construction of irrigation network and embankments, dredging of watercourses and in taking measures against river pollution. EIA is required before undertaking projects related to water resource development and flood control measures.

 

6. Land: Activities that cause or result in land erosion, salinity and alkalinity, and loss of soil fertility are prohibited. Compatible land use systems for different ecosystems and environmentally sound management of newly accreted land are recommended. Forest, Wildlife and Biodiversity: Conservation and expansion of forest zones, conservation of wildlife and biodiversity and conservation of wetlands are recognized as priority areas for action.

7. Fisheries and Livestock: Conservation of fisheries and livestock, mangrove forest and others ecosystems and prevention of activities that diminish the wetlands and natural habitats for fishes are the basic objectives in this sector. The need for an inter-ministerial coordination is indicated by requiring evaluation by the concerned agencies, of the existing projects on water development, flood control and irrigation, in order to minimize their adverse impact on fish growth and their habitat.

8. Food: Hygienic and environmentally sound method of production, preservation, processing and distribution of food and measures to ensure prohibition of import of harmful food items are recommended.

9. Coastal and Marine Environment: Coastal and marine eco-systems are identified as potential areas for intervention, where all internal and external polluting activities should be stopped. Fishing in coastal and marine environment within regeneration limits is recommended.

10. Transport and Communication: Road, rail, air and water transport systems should be operated without polluting the environment. EIA is required before undertaking any projects in these sectors.

11. Housing and Urbanization: Environmentally sound planning and development of housing and urban centers is required. Existence of water bodies in the cities is recommended for maintaining environmental and ecosystem balance in the urban areas.

 

12. Population: Planned and proper utilization of manpower including ensuring the participation and mainstreaming of women in all spheres is targeted for environmentally sound development activities.

 

13. Education and Public Awareness: Eradication of illiteracy through formal and non-formal education, building and raising public awareness of the environmental issues, dissemination of environmental knowledge and information are the policy guidelines for the conservation, improvement and sustainable use of natural resources.

 

14. Science, Technology and Research: Research and development institutes are required to consider the incorporation of the environmental issues in their research programs. To reinforce the policy, the Government of Bangladesh Environmental Conservation Act in 1997 that was subsequently amended in 2000. For the implementation and leadership, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) was assigned to play the role of lead agency. A National Environmental Committee was created with the Prime Minister as the as the Chairperson to give overall direction for implementation of this policy. The policy emphasized that the MoEF would take timely steps for appropriate amendment and modification of this policy on the backdrop of changes in the state of environment and socioeconomic and other needs of the country.

16. Human impact on the environment:

Human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes changes to biophysical environments and ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans, including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification, mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse. Modifying the environment to fit the needs of society is causing severe effects, which become worse as the problem of human overpopulation continues. Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include population growth, overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation, to name but a few. Some of the problems, including global warming and biodiversity loss pose an existential risk to the human race, and human overpopulation is strongly correlated with those problems.

 

The term anthropogenic designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term was first used in the technical sense by Russian geologist Alexey Pavlov, and it was first used in English by British ecologist Arthur Tansley in reference to human influences on climax plant communities. The atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen introduced the term "Anthropocene" in the mid-1970s. The term is sometimes used in the context of pollution emissions that are produced from human activity since the start of the Agricultural Revolution but also applies broadly to all major human impacts on the environment. Many of the actions taken by humans that contribute to a heated environment stem from the burning of fossil fuel from a variety of sources, such as: electricity, cars, planes, space heating, manufacturing, or the destruction of forests.

17. Conclusions:

Environment Policy

Case study of Bangladesh Environment Policy reveals some institutional learning and features: a. the Policy was drafted by a very distinguished panel of experts drawn from civil society, NGOs, academics, national and international consultants. However, the involvement of Ministry of Environment and its officials were more of supportive than active engagement and taking leadership –

a.which ultimately had cost the political ” ownership” of the Policy; b. with frequent changes in the leadership positions of the Ministry and Department of Environment, the pace and process of the implementation of the Policy not only bogged down but also seem to have changed the directions and priorities; c. to begin with there were some “political enthusiasm”, but with the change of regime, political commitment seems to have faded out; d. due to lack of inter-ministerial coordination, the Policy has not been translated fully in action or supported by supplementary rules, regulations and necessary amendments of other rules and policies; e. there has always been some form of tacit and open resistance to the Policy from the politically powerful lobbies and vested interest groups, f. general understanding and awareness of the public officials directly involved in the implementation of the Policy have been very much limited and vague. g. like many other policies, the Environment Policy of Bangladesh was over ambitious and did not take into account the mind-set of political leaders and bureaucracy, and the institutional capacity and processes of public administration system; and, h. finally the Policy to begin with also to a great extent failed to involve local government bodies at the grass roots. The implementation of the Environment Policy is handicapped by some institutional limitations and thus appears to be less effective in responding to the demand side of the service and interventions.

Cultural Environment

The cultural environment consists of the influence of religious, family, educational, and social systems in the marketing system. ... A number of cultural differences can cause marketers problems in attempting to market their products overseas.

Cultural environments shape the way that every person develops, influencing ideologies and personalities. Cultural environments are determined by the culmination of many different aspects of culture that influence personal choices and behaviors.Religious beliefs are an important building block of a specific cultural environment. For many cultures, a certain religion has been a critical part of everyday living for generations. Outsiders need to be aware of the customs and traditions related to specific religion in order to respectfully navigate a certain cultural environment.

18. References:

 

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Baqee, Abdul Environmental Degradation: Issues and Challenges, Key Note Paper presented to 13th.

 

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11. Hasan, S Rizwana (2012). "Environmental Laws". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

 

12. "The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995" (PDF). Legal Office, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Bangladesh Government. Retrieved 8 April 2015.

13. Khan, Mizan R (2012). "Environment". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

 

14. The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 Act No. 1 of 1995. p 153 - 166. http://www.moef.gov.bd/html/laws/env_law/153-166.pdf Archived 21 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine.

 

15. Law Digest, Bangladesh (3 September 2015). "A critical appraisal of Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act,1995 and Rules,1997". BDLD Blog. Retrieved 24 September 2016.