Strategic Environmental Assessment. (3) How to measure over-use of a resource compared to its availability? Environmental Assessment - Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland. Report calls for using ecosystems in disaster prevention. [BRUSSELS] More research is needed to understand how ecosystems can help reduce disaster risks around the world, according to a report launched in Brussels, Belgium, today. The World Risk Report 2012 says that human development activities have "massively raised the hazard potential". It cites the destruction of coral reefs and mangrove forests in South-East Asia — which has reduced protection against flooding and tidal waves — and increased deforestation, which has led to worsening soil erosion and the exacerbation of floods and landslides in Pakistan.
If future development is "poorly done", it will put even more vulnerable people at risk from disasters, the report warns. But it also outlines an alternative scenario in which the conservation of ecosystems works hand in hand with sustainable development to link disaster risk reduction, environmental and socioeconomic goals. The Social Responsibility of Business is Natural Resource Protection. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ve asked our writers (and guests) to respond to the question” What is the Social Responsibility of Business?” Please comment away or contact us if you’d like to offer an opinion. One cannot write about the ‘social responsibility of business’ without mentioning Milton Friedman who stated in 1970 that, “There is one and only one social responsibility of business — to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.”
This view is now considered to be outdated and conservative as more and more businesses are finding their value outside of simply making a profit. I do not disagree with the notion that the primary purpose of any business is to make profits – indeed that is how any business can stay afloat. One of the reasons that making a profit cannot be the only responsibility of business is the increasing resource crunch. Image Credit: Akhila Vijayaraghavan © Pavan Sukhdev: Put a value on nature! Indicateurs biodiversité. Improvements in Air Quality add Years to Life Expectancy in US. Are all the environmental laws and regulations accomplishing anything? Sometimes progress is not apparent, so it is good news that a new study led by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has found an association between reductions in fine particulate matter and improved life expectancy in 545 counties in the U.S. from 2000 to 2007.
It is the largest study to date to find beneficial effects to public health of continuing to reduce air pollution levels in the U.S. The study appears in the December 3, 2012 online edition of the journal Epidemiology. "Despite the fact that the U.S. population as a whole is exposed to much lower levels of air pollution than 30 years ago—because of great strides made to reduce people’s exposure—it appears that further reductions in air pollution levels would continue to benefit public health," said lead author Andrew Correia, a PhD candidate in the Department of Biostatistics at HSPH".
Los Angeles from the air via Shutterstock. How Much Is Clean Water Worth? A lot, say researchers who are putting dollar values on wildlife and ecosystems—and proving that conservation pays 02-01-2005 // Jim Morrison THE WATER THAT QUENCHES THIRSTS in Queens and bubbles into bathtubs in Brooklyn begins about 125 miles north in a forest in the Catskill Mountains. It flows down distant hills through pastures and farmlands and eventually into giant aqueducts serving 9 million people with 1.3 billion gallons daily.
Because it flows directly from the ground through reservoirs to the tap, this water—long regarded as the champagne of city drinking supplies—comes from what's often called the largest "unfiltered" system in the nation. But that's not strictly true. New York City discovered how valuable these services were 15 years ago when a combination of unbridled development and failing septic systems in the Catskills began degrading the quality of the water that served Queens, Brooklyn and the other boroughs. What's this ecosystem worth to the city of New York?