ENGINEERS AND

THE ENVIRONMENT

1
1. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
AS A GLOBAL FRAMEWORK

• Basic definition …
• …and Main Characteristics
• The Social Dimension of Sustainable
Development

2
SUSTAINABILITY

3
What is sustainability ???

4
5
 Presentation Outline
1 - Definition of Sustainability

2 - Core Concepts of Sustainability

3 - Sustainability “Building Blocks”

4 - IPCC’ ( AR4) report

5
- Sustainable Development
6 - Global warming Mitigation Action

7 - Corporate Sustainability

8 -Q& A session 6
 Definition of Sustainability
Sustainable
practices
Sustainability
“Meets the needs
of the present without
“The ability to compromising the
continue a defined ability of future
behavior indefinitely” Generations to meet
their own needs”
United Nations, 1987

7
 Basic Definition ….
• A concept popularised by the Brundtland Report:
“Our Common Future”, 1989
• “A sustainable development is able to answer
the needs of the present generation without
compromising the capacity of future generations
to satisfy their own needs”
• It is a development : it aims at improving the
well-being and the quality of life for all
• It has conditions for sustainability : this implies to
protect the existing resources (i.e. economic,
social, natural…) which may be required by the
future generations to maintain a standard of
living at least as good as our
8
 … and Main Characteristics
• Three main operational characteristics:
– A multidimensional aspect. There are several
interrelated dimensions (economic, social and
ecological, …). They have to be taken into account
together for any analytical and decision process
– Linkages between generations. This raises the issues
of (i) impact on the next generation, (ii) transmission
between the generations, and (iii) intra and inter-
generational equity
– A focus on people’s capacity. This brings : (i) the issue
of participation, through stakeholders, in the decision
making process, (ii) the inclusion of everybody within a
society, (iii) the importance of the capacity
9
Objectives of Sustainable Development

Social Objective
Ecological Objective
Reduce poverty/
SD has 3 Management of
increased equity main natural resources
objectives

Economic Objective
Increased efficiency
and growth
10
 Objectives of Sustainable Development

Economic Objective
(Increased efficiency and growth)

1. Income distribution 1. Environmental assessment

2. Employment 2. Valuation

3 main
3. Targeted assistance 3. Internationalism

Social Objective
objective Ecological
(Reduce
poverty/increased
equity)
of SD Objective
(Management of
natural resources)
1. Popular participation
2. Consultation
3. Pluralism 11
 The Social Dimension of
Sustainable Development
• Greater focus at Johannesburg World Summit (2002)
• The social dimension is twofold:
– The social sectors : education, health, culture...
– The social links : networks, social cohesion, exclusion…
• The main objective is the reduction of poverty :
– Income and consumption, access to goods and services
(education), assets and potentialities, capabilities
• Other issues are also related to poverty :
– inequality, inequity, vulnerability, social exclusion.
– Reducing poverty may not be enough: the issue becomes
that of social sustainability (in the human development)
12
 Presentation Outline
1 - Definition of Sustainability

2 - Core Concepts of Sustainability

3 - Sustainability “Building Blocks”

4 - IPCC’ ( AR4) report

5
- Sustainable Development
6 - Global warming Mitigation Action

7 - Corporate Sustainability

8 -Q& A session 13
2. THE ROLE OF CAPABILITIES
WITHIN THE SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT

• Concepts and Definitions

• Ensuring Social Sustainability
• The Strengthening of Capabilities
• The Transmission of Capabilities

14
 Concepts and Definitions
• The capability is “the capacity of doing and being”:
i.e. a capability to function (A.Sen)
• It requires potentialities (assets), individual ability
of conversion, social opportunities and the ability of
agency (act, think, communicate with others)
• This leads to achieved functionings and well-being:
to have the means to live the life which is expected
• A list of central human functional capabilities in 10
items was proposed (M.Nussbaum)
• It is based on the person (reasonable in a social
network) and not on the individual (rationality)
15
 Core Concepts of Sustainability

Future Thinking:
Intergenerational responsibility

Environmental Thinking:
Carrying capacity of the planet
to absorb waste and support life

Social Justice:
Equity, Dignity, Basic services, Human rights,
Stakeholder voices

Economic Responsibilities

16
 Traditional quality of life indicators

A view of community as three separate, unrelated parts: an economic part, a

social part and an environmental part. Traditional quality of life indicators tend
to measure these 3 parts separately
17
 Sustainability quality of life indicators

A view of community as three concentric circles: the economy exists within

society, and both the economy and society exist within the environment.
Sustainability indicators attempt to measure the extent to which these
boundaries are respected 18
 Presentation Outline
1 - Definition of Sustainability

2 - Core Concepts of Sustainability

3 - Sustainability “Building Blocks”

4 - IPCC’ ( AR4) report

5
- Sustainable Development
6 - Global warming Mitigation Action

7 - Corporate Sustainability

8 -Q& A session 19
 Sustainability “Building Blocks”
PROFITS

Growth is both
essential and good
PLANET
PEOPLE Defining economic
Re-engineer value: “eco-services”
Human rights
Reuse Social responsibility
Challenge: Assimilating
Revert “Local” community
profitability into
Labor protections
Recycle accreditation
programs and regulation

20
 Sustainability vs Project Phases

Project site Economy

Equity
Deconstruction Design
Durability

Comfort
Renovation Construction

Maintenance Operation

Sustainability as a process should be considered at all phases

21
 Presentation Outline
1 - Definition of Sustainability

2 - Core Concepts of Sustainability

3 - Sustainability “Building Blocks”

4 - IPCC ( AR4) report

5
- Sustainable Development
6 - Global warming Mitigation Action

7 - Corporate Sustainability

8 -Q& A session 22
 Temperature increase of
2 - 6oC by 2100

Sea level rise of 1-1.5m

by 2100

Snow cover to shrink with increases

in thaw depth

Increased Tropical cyclone strength since

IPCC-4A Report, 2007

1970 due to man made global warming

“Very Likely that” hot extreme heat waves and

heavy rain fall will become more frequently 23
 Pakistan
Floods August
USA 2010
Hurricane Katrina
New Orleans
2005

GCC
Indonesia
KSA 12/12/2009
Oman 6/07/2010 Floods

UAE 06/2/2010 Tsunami 2010

Hurricane & Floods (2005-2010) 24

Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, USA- 2005 25
Tropical cyclone Phet, Oman, July-2010 26
UAE Floods, February-2010 27
Pakistan Floods, August-2010 28
 Presentation Outline
1 - Definition of Sustainability

2 - Core Concepts of Sustainability

3 - Sustainability “Building Blocks”

4 - IPCC’ ( AR4) report

5
- Sustainable Development
6 - Global Warming Mitigation Action

7 - Corporate Sustainability

8 -Q& A session 29
 30
Worldwide rapid urbanization
 Concrete and
Cement
Produce CO2

Heat gain
and Electricity
Construction
Consumptions Wastes

Land uses
Modification
Buildings Construction and Climate Change
31
 Ensuring Social Sustainability
• In this context ensuring social sustainability means :
– an improvement in the people’s capability of well-being,
– equity in the distribution of capabilities (assets, rights, skills)
within the current generation
– equity in the transmission of capability between generations
• One may note that :
– Poverty traps and social exclusion makes the inter-
generational transmission of capabilities extremely difficult
– Inequality prevents the reduction of poverty and inequity
jeopardizes the social capabilities (social cohesion)
– Vulnerability can be reduced with the strengthening of
capabilities
• The various forms of sustainability are inter-related
• All these aspects have be taken into account for
sustainable poverty reduction policies
32
 The Strengthening of
Capabilities
• Improving the people’s capability for a better
quality of life implies a development which focuses
on the strengthening of the persons’ capabilities
(sustainable human development)
• It differs from a development focussing on the
individual’s income (growth), even if the two may
be interrelated (well-being, quality of life)
• It should reduce the capability poverty: lack of
capability which implies other forms of poverty
• This implies appropriate policies : education plays
the major role through it four pillars (learning to
know, to be, to live together, to do)
33
 The Transmission of
Capabilities
• Protecting and transmitting human and social capabilities
(human and social capital) from one generation to the
others is a condition for sustainability
• It implies the transmission of potentiality (assets), ability,
knowledge, rights… (If not…, e.g. HIV/AIDS)
• An intergenerational transmission which has to be
equitable
– E.g. this implies a low impact of armed conflicts, protection of
natural resources, improvement in the quality of education…
• But it also requires equity in the present generation to
avoid social exclusion, to suppress poverty traps, etc.
• A double gender dimension in the transmission process :
– The role of women for children’s education within the family
– Their vulnerability due to gender inequalities and the risk of poverty
34
 In defining SD one should
avoid two extremes
• One is what might be called “mere sustainability” –
simply ensuring that economic production can remain
steady or increase
• The other one is to include every desirable goal in it:
environmental conservation, improved health and
education, gender equity, participatory democracy,
peace and international cooperation – as this is not
analytically useful (it does not help to address
tradeoffs, deep-rooted social conflicts and already-
existing environmental damage)
35
 A need for different definitions

• “any attempt to define the concept precisely, even if it

were possible, would have the effect of excluding those
whose views were not expressed in that definition”
• Open definitions of sustainable development help
communities and groups of actors to define sustainability
programmes and action that befits their concern. Without
such flexibility, no action may come from such
interactions or only actions which meet official
sustainability aspects, such as global warming

36
 Different view

• let communities define SD (based on their values, moral

positions, informed by understandings afforded by
science about effects and consequences)
• To have environmental policies and other sectoral
policies (education, science, etc.) in the pursuit of SD
• It is not against official sustainability concerns and
targets, laid down in sustainability strategies at the
national or local level, but a too narrow range of goals
may act as a straightjacket.
• When used there should be mechanisms to adapt top-
down policies
37
 The reason being that
• Sustainable development is not about making progress in terms of 3 or 4
parameters but about achieving a positive process of social change that
proceeds in such a fashion that it avoids generating internal
contradictions that would undermine the possibility of further advance
• What is to be sustained is not a predetermined environmental feature
but a process of development that implies improvement or advance, with
multiple benefits – environmental ones but also economic benefits and
social benefits.
• flexible interpretations allows for a multitude of actors -- possibly the
whole of society -- to be involved, allowing for locally adapted
solutions

38
The vagueness of SD is often
deplored
From a governance perspective such disagreement is an
essential part of sustainable development, one that makes
operationalisation and implementation difficult simply because:
– there are different ideas of what sustainable development
amounts to for actors in various sectors (e.g., energy,
transport, agriculture, food systems, waste management);
– existing solutions tend to be sustainable within these sectors
rather than across the whole of society:
– new developments bring new risks that cannot be
anticipated;
– it is a long-term, open-ended project that precedes and
supersedes limited term, democratically elected
governments;
– it involves trade-off decisions on highly contested issues that
cause dilemmas
39
Sustainability is not an end-state to
be reached
• Sustainability cannot be translated into a
blueprint or a defined end state from which
criteria can be derived and unambiguous
decisions can be taken to get there (Mog)
• The non-sustainability of present systems can
be used as a guide
– High-input agriculture agriculture
– Over-depletion in world fisheries
– Fossil-fuel based energy use

40
 What science can do

• Operationalise elements of SD
• Offer tools for evaluation and critical analysis
• Assess the (non)sustainability of existing and
future systems
• Highlight consequences of action
• Offer models of adaptive management at the
programme level and national level
• While accepting that sustainability is itself the
emergent property of a conversion about what
kind world we collectively want to live in now and
in the future (Robinson)
41
 3. THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION

• Informing on Sustainable Development

• Strengthening People’s Capabilities
• Ensuring Social Sustainability
• Facilitating the Transmission of
Capabilities

42
 Informing on Sustainable
Development
• Education is the best way to teach the people:
– On the world current situation (both for economic, social,
environment issue) and the consequences for future generations
– On how to behave for saving protected resources, avoiding pollution
and waste, relating with the others…
• This could be done through specific modules in all forms of
education, formal, non-formal and informal, and towards the
various population groups
• Training of the teachers and decision-makers on the
content and objectives of human sustainable development
is essential. The support of the medias is needed.
• Adapted training materials (books, pictures, videos) to the
public and the local context are required
43
 Strengthening People’s
Capabilities
• Enhancing the person’s capabilities is the basis of
Education for All programs
• The four pillars of Dakar Framework for Action
– Learning to know (cognitive skills): reasoning
– Learning to be (personal skills): dignity
– Learning to live together (social skills): social capital
– Learning to do (practical skills): know-how to act
• Acquiring these skills helps to convert potentialities
into capabilities and to achieve functionings
• Through all forms of education: primary, secondary,
technical and vocational, higher, lifelong learning…
44
 Ensuring Social Sustainability
• A key issue nowadays:
– Poverty reduction objective: going out of poverty traps, avoiding
social exclusion, eradicating destitution, ensuring access…
– Living peacefully together: social and cultural diversity, gender
sensitivity, children acceptance…
• The guarantee of quality education for all brings a answer to
the first point
• For the second, the role of psycho-social abilities: to
enhance personal skills (self-esteem, coping) and social
skills (cooperation, empathy, negotiation). The objectives of
learning to be and learning to live together.
• Other specific values and capabilities are to teach: the
sense of justice, equity, responsibility, sharing with others...
This could complement the senses of freedom and liberty

45
 Facilitating the Transmission
of Capabilities
• By definition, education aims at transmitting any form of
knowledge from one person to another
• For sustainable development, the issue is to ensure that
the future generations receive, in an equitable way, both
the potentialities and the skills they need to build their
capability of improving the quality of life (well-being)
• There is a complex chain of transmission: the teachers, the
parents, the pupils, the trainees, people in the medias
• At this level, the quality for education is fundamental: it
guarantees the quality of what will be transmitted to the
next generation

46
 Common Environmental
Problems in the World
The world faces a number of major environmental
issues, which threaten to have dire consequences for
the future of the planet and its life-forms unless
tackled. Many of these environmental problems are
man-made, the result of pressures the human race
has placed on the planet through activities such as
land clearance, globalization and industrialization.
Environmental problems contribute to global warming
and to the destruction of ecosystems.

47
 Air Pollution
A range of gases, typically emitted through human
activities, are threatening the Earth's atmosphere and
causing global warming. Among these, carbon
dioxide is perhaps most commonly discussed.
Harmful amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted when
we burn fossil fuels; activities such as production
plants and commercial travel are responsible for
releasing this pollutant into the atmosphere in huge
quantities. Since the 2000s, many people have
attempted to cut their carbon footprint to reduce these
emissions, as noted by the National Geographic
website.
Chlorofluorocarbons --- sometimes found in aerosol
canisters --- and methane also damage Earth's
protective ozone layer, increasing the threat of global
warming. Levels of sulfur dioxide must also be
monitored. This pollutant is found in the smog which
appears above industrialized cities, and it can lead to
acid rain when released. 48
 Deforestation
Deforestation involves the clearing of Earth's natural forests,
typically for the purpose of creating building materials. This
threatens the environment, since trees perform important roles
for our planet: they regulate carbon dioxide gases, acting as a
sponge and preventing the gas re-entering the atmosphere,
and also absorb sunlight as part of their photosynthesis
process. A heavily forested area, such as a rainforest, will
reflect only 12 to 15 percent of the sun's rays, while a
deforested area will reflect 20 percent, according to the
Atmosphere, Climate and Environment Information Program.
Thus if forests are removed, more gases are released into the
atmosphere, and more sunlight is reflected back, leading to
climate change

49
 Water Pollution

Water pollution comes in many forms and adversely

affects the humans, plants and animals that depend on
clean water in their everyday lives. Some of the causes of
water pollution include sewage, which can become a
problem in underdeveloped countries in particular.
Sewage is less likely to be treated properly in these
countries, causing illness if it gets into a population's
drinking water supply. Oil is another threat to the Earth's
water. Oil can enter the ocean through spills or through oil
dumping and drains. Oil does not dissolve well, and can
thus be hazardous for marine life.

50
 Soil Erosion

Soil erosion occurs naturally, but what's more

worrying is accelerated erosion that's the result of
human activities, including misguided cultivation
methods and overgrazing. These activities leave
soil overexposed to harsh winds and excessive
rainfall, which then dislodges soil. The result is that
agriculture is affected, both in the areas where the
soil moves to, and the place where it comes from.

51
 The Main Causes of
Environmental Problems
Environmental problems are a hot-button issue in
today's society. Many organizations have raised an
alarm about disappearing habitats and global
warming. The question of what is contributing to
these problems is sometimes controversial, but
there are a number of underlying causes of
environmental problems with which most can agree.

52
 Climate Change

Humans contribute to a warming Earth through the

release of greenhouses gases such as carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere through deforestation, agriculture,
industrial pollution and the use of the automobile. The
use of domesticated animals also has an effect on the
environment; cows, goats and pigs all release methane
gas, a greenhouse gas, accounting for about a quarter
of all methane emissions, according to EduGreen.

53
 Population Growth

Population growth is one of the most significant

causes of environmental problems. Humans require
energy, space and resources to survive. According
to the Clean Water Action Council, population
growth is the biggest threat to the environment. The
human population is rising beyond the Earth's
ability to regenerate. Population growth leads to
scarce sources of water in places around the world,
along with scarce cropland, declining fisheries and
forests and species extinction.

54
 Poverty

Poverty is a significant cause of environmental

problems. Poor nations often engage in land
resource stripping just to "survive or pay off debts,"
according to the website Global Issues. For
example, deforestation leads to increasingly
devastated land. Forests in these nations are
damaged exponentially because timber companies,
agricultural businesses and local populations use
forest resources for survival.

55
 Wasteful Use of Resources

The practice of wasting valuable resources by

human beings contributes to environmental
problems. For example, leaving lights on when you
are away from home unnecessarily uses energy.
Many environmental preservationists recommend
switching to fluorescent lighting, as opposed to
incandescent lighting. Incandescent lights are
considered inefficient, as 10 percent of the
electricity results in light. The rest results in heat.

56
 Ecological Ignorance

The fifth cause of environmental problems is

ecological ignorance, or the failure to understand
the effects of human behavior on the relationship
between the environment and living things. A
simple example is deforestation. Humans beings,
plants and animals rely on the oxygen produced by
forests for survival. Deforestation is an example of
ecological ignorance when a logging company, for
example, destroy trees without understanding the
real world impact on living beings in the area.

57
 Five Stages in Addressing an
Environmental Problem
Environmental problems include the pollution of air and
water sources, erosion of soils, increase of world
temperature, and the rise of ocean levels by global
warming, as well as the loss of biodiversity. An
increasing world population and its subsequent
consumption and waste generation are among the main
causes of these and other environmental damages.
According to the Norwegian University of Life Sciences,
land degradation also causes environmental problems.

58
 Defining the Environmental
Problem
The first stage in addressing an environmental problem is to
define it accurately. This is done by using information
sources and techniques that can help locate and identify
issues related to the problem. The problem is defined in a
detailed, step-by-step manner that highlights all its
associated effects that require immediate attention. The first
stage also includes the identification of opportunities and
challenges in defining the environmental problems. The
purpose of this stage is to strategically focus on locating
accurate and complete information on the environmental
problem, define it in a usable format, and justify its selection
over other environmental problems. Examples of well-
defined environmental problems include child lead poisoning
and the environmental and human health impact of smog.
59
 Establishing Goals and
Measures
The objective of stage two is to detail the (step-by-
step) process involved in achieving a desired result.
The goals and measures defined are SMART
(specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time
sensitive). This stage also determines whether
desired results have been achieved or not. Each
individual goal is isolated and its specific measures
are identified.

60
 Selecting Appropriate Tools

This stage identifies and selects appropriate tools that

address the environmental problem. The five categories
of tools that are employed in the process include
compliance assistance (CA), compliance monitoring
(CM), compliance incentives (CI), enforcement, and
innovations and sound business practice. Before
deciding on which tool(s) to consider to best address
the problem, a range of behavior change options are
considered. They aim to further improve environmental
performance by fostering compliance. These options
include education, encouragement, accountability and
deterrence.

61
 Establishing Roles and
Responsibilities
This stage defines how to select the team that will
plan, implement and monitor the environmental
strategy. The team should be well suited to develop
an appropriate strategy and achieve its desirable
goals. A team of experts with well-defined roles,
responsibilities, skill sets and knowledge should
form the leadership component of the process. An
overall manager will oversee all operations,
manage resources, select and deselect team
members, and put in time to work on the
implementation of the defined strategy.

62
 Developing & Implementing
the Plan
This stage details a work plan and ways that
ensure its successful implementation. Work plans
are developed by team leaders who are fully
committed to achieving desired objectives. One of
the most common ways of establishing work plans
is through brainstorming. Once a work plan is
defined, team leaders assign appropriate activities
and appoint progress coordinators whose task is to
monitor, evaluate and report the results of the
implemented strategy. This stage also includes the
designation of resources and the deployment of
workforce.

63
 Electricity
Generation from
fossil fuels

Household
appliances
64
 Chacaltaya Glacier, Bolivia (1940 - 2005)

By 2005, the glacier had separated into three distinct small bodies
65
(IPCC AR4, 2007)
The Disappearance of Lake Chad in Africa 66
The scientific consensus is that
most of the warming observed over
the last fifty years is attributable to
human activity, through emissions
of greenhouse gases – such as
carbon dioxide and methane – into
the atmosphere.

67
 Ecological Enhancements
Ecological enhancements are strategies designed to improve wildlife
habitat for plants and animals. Ecological enhancements restore a site
to a more natural, ecologically healthy state, which increases the
value of the affected ecosystem as well as the neighboring built
environment. The benefits of ecological enhancements are:

Environmental Ecological controls can benefit the environment in

numerous ways, such as serving as a filtration
system in storm water runoff or biodegrading
environmental contaminants.
Economic Remediation projects with ecological
enhancements are resulting in significant cost-
savings.
Social Sustainable development using ecological
enhancement serves communities by preserving
green space and creating opportunities for
environmental education. 68
 Smart Growth
That Smart Growth principles are essential for environmentally
responsible growth and development. Smart Growth addresses, on
a broad scale, how and where development should occur. Smart
Growth benefits are

Environmental Smart Growth strategies can improve air and water

quality, facilitate redevelopment of contaminated
properties, and preserve open space.
Economic Smart Growth strategies can create jobs and
expand the local tax base to create economically
competitive communities.
Social Smart Growth development creates healthy
communities by creating a cleaner environment
and builds stronger neighborhoods that create a
greater sense of community.
. 69
70
Steel Reinforced Concrete Fiber Reinforcement
71
 Global Warming Mitigation Action

• Greening of the cities:

– Parks & greenbelts

– Urban villages
– Green buildings
– Bio-remediation

• Landscape restoration
and rehabilitation

72
 Implications: Landscape

• Role of landscaping
– Cooling and air scrubbing
– Green roofs and buffers
– Interior plant scaping
• Controversial issues
– Water use
– Yard waste

73
Wind Energy

74
Photovoltaique Panels

75
Hydroelectric Power Generation

76
77
Save Electricity
78
Recycling of Waste Materials

79
Example: Paper recycling
process

Recycling one(1) ton of paper saves

17 mature trees,
26 m3 of water,
2.3 m3 of landfill space,
2 barrels of oil (84 US gal or 320 l), and
4,100 kilowatt-hours (15 GJ) of electricity
Save enough energy to power the average
Malaysian home for six months
(US EPA, 2010)

80
 Presentation Outline
1 - Definition of Sustainability

2 - Core Concepts of Sustainability

3 - Sustainability “Building Blocks”

4 - IPCC’ ( AR4) report

5
- Sustainable Development
6 - Global warming Mitigation Action

7 - Corporate Sustainability

8 -Q& A session 81
 Corporate Sustainability
Environment - Planet
Eco-efficiencies
Eco-effectiveness

Sustainable
Development (SD)

Economy - Profits
Growth, Jobs, Equity - People
Taxes Employees
Products Community / Culture
Services World
82
 Smart Business
Asset
Management
Natural Capital

Financial Capital
Built Capital
(Capital Growth)
Human Capital
Social Capital
(Productive Society)
Sustainable Value Creation

83
 Municipal Sustainability
Ecological Integrity
Economic
Responsible Air, Land, Water,
Security
Growth Biodiversity, Local
Responsible
renewable energy,
businesses,
Zero waste
Jobs, Tax base
Governance and
Infrastructure
Empowerment
and Built
Environment Social Well-being
Public transit, Health care, Safety,
Energy-efficient Education, Housing,
buildings Culture
84
Thank you
Questions ?
85