BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
As the living environment is contributing greater for human life, human beings should provide care and due attention to it in return. Unless we do this, its payback will be very dangerous to all of us as we are highly dependent on it. Taking this into consideration, it seems that the world begins to deliberate on it after observing the damage it has brought.
Even though they know that developed countries have impacted the economy, countries affected by environmental catastrophes are now bothered by the impacts. These days, every development has to gain information and carry out it considering the three aspects of philosophy: economic value -where every inventor focuses, environment value- the natural resource and the social environment as well, says Samuel Hailu, Environmentalist, who specialized in environmental and social impact studies.
The society and natural environment is the foundation for investment. Thus, when investors are looking at the economic values, their base should be both environmental and social values. If they do not pay attention to these critical components of sustainability, focusing only on economic gain is perilous to the environment.
As they are the sources of economy, damaging the two foundations threats sustainability. That is what has been happing in the world since time in the past.
Many investors are not able to operate for more than 30 years. Why the lifetime of investment is short? The study we made depicts that Ethiopian businesses and investors lag behind in applying the concept of sustainability, Samuel says.
If everyone focuses on the economic values but ignores the social value, the impact will create instability both on the social and environmental aspects. Consequently, companies would not be able to earn a sustainable income and hence gradually they will be forced to shut down.
In our history, Ethiopian Airlines is among the few companies that have been operating for long. Most of the companies established at the same time either vanished or experienced a change in ownership. By and large, sustainability is a critical component.
There is a philosophy that says: “We need to start looking at the environment from different dimensions. We have got to put every being in mind. And nature has two big components – the mental power and environment power.” Samuel recalls.
The sustainability aspect implies how we use mental power to develop the environment, he pronounces correlating, “If your mental power is very strong, you can understand what is in the environment and how to manage it.” If this is so, economic development, sustainability and social responsibility can persist together.
Furthermore, Samuel suggests a point which holds six roots in itself. One, understanding oneself- how to use the imaginative power and mental power to visualize the environment and to understand what is within it to handle or process it.
The second is, as human have a certain lifetime, so it is essential to think for the betterment of the next generation and pass down good environment. This must be the core component of the environment protection. Here comes the sustainability issue. “If we consume whatever we have to satisfy the current need, this would have devastating consequences.”
The third is partnership. If all contribute, the environment would be protected better. Collaboration enhances advancement for the coming generation.
His forth root is, that important efforts in protecting the nature should be admired instead of endangering it. And the world should pay attention to it and supplement unreserved supports to important deeds in protecting the environment.
He says that the law of negation has to be seen differently. Stability is the balance between positive and negative forces. If one understands the environment well, it is stable because stability comes when two opposing forces come together.
Sustainability is his sixth basement to care for environment. “Until today, we have been operating in a linear process-flow system. For instance, a given company processes the resource in order to gain a product and waste. That is a linear flow in every dimension.”
As the resource is scarce, it ends up somewhere. Thus, “we have to use the resource at hand properly. We have to use the biological ecosystem- which is a closed system.” Samuel insists the world.
In the biological ecosystem, there is no waste. Everything recycles itself and maintains the equilibrium. So, the businesses have to consider how environment can make them stable within a closed system so that, nothing will be wasted, be it time, energy and resource.
Moreover, Samuel asserts that there are two groups who raise contradictory views about development and environment. There are those who entirely focus on development. And, on the other hand, environmentalists disparage development activities. It is a polarized issue.
Indeed, everyone needs development. But, during the industrial revolution for instance, while everyone was focusing on industrial development, it brought a lot of damage and caused diseases and pollution.
However, the ultimate goal of development is to improve the livelihood of the society. But development is not the sole building block for progress.
He says: “For me, we need development to make a better society. Indeed, developers focus only on the bottom point which is financial return whatever the cost on the environment might be.”
This has brought great damage to the environment. “Hence, we have to also think of sustainability not only in terms of the environment but also in terms of society.”
For instance, in our country, the government has been engaged in mega infrastructure developments to make societal aspirations such as road network and health services a reality. But, what is missed is the society since the development has created a lot of displacement, Samuel demonstrates.
The development has to come but it has to ensure the direct benefit of the current and forthcoming generation. With this, it is possible to ensure sustainability.
There are a couple of reasons for this. One is the government has limited capacity. Of course, we have got environment impact assessment and pollution control proclamations ratified in 2002, he pronounced. In general terms, these are the point that support development endeavors.
Nevertheless, the rapid development strategy which was issued before ten years has some gaps in ensuring sustainability. The then officials were focused highly on ensuring rapid economic development. But, when they tried to bring quick development, as the bureaucratic procedures took time and there was reluctance in fully implementing legal frameworks meant to protect the environment. As a result, many projects were started without environmental documentations.
Even if some projects have gone through the environmental assessment process, the processes did not pass through all the required procedures. Though reports are done with good mitigation measures, their implementations are less.
The other hindrance is environmentalists. “We have not properly designed tools of environmental procedures and systems to produce an effective document;” he notes adding, consequently, the impact is reflected in the environment.
The third is the inventors; they are not concerned about the environment. Globally, they have to know what their liability is and what cost would they incur if something went wrong.
Therefore, running only for financial earnings hinders sustainable development. All need to consider environmental impacts in their thirsts for making money and enhancing development to benefit the societies at large. Collaborative approach guarantees passing down of the reliable environment to the next generation.
The Ethiopian Herald 12 February 2021
