Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cause considerable ground contamination and thus poses a threat to surface and
groundwater. If not dealt with properly, this pollution can, ultimately, affect drink-
ing water supplies and agricultural land, which has clear implications for human
health. Consequently, if not addressed effectively, the legacy of groundwater pol-
lution can cost millions of dollars to clean up.
•
Waste: airports and airlines generate significant amounts of solid waste from
in-flight catering and cabin services, along with engineering, maintenance,
office-based activities and terminal facilities. Some of this waste is of a hazard-
ous nature, posing a threat to human health and the environment if not handled
in specific ways. Even the relatively benign solid waste stream (for example,
packaging, paper and food waste) has important environmental implications
arising from the need to utilize disposal routes, such as landfill and incineration.
Given the breadth of these environmental impacts, it is hardly surprising that the
growth of the aviation sector is often seen to be at odds with the goal of sustainable
development. On the other hand, as an important source of economic growth, avia-
tion has a key role to play in illustrating how sustainability can be addressed in prac-
tice. As a contribution to understanding how - and to what extent - environment
and economy might be reconciled, this chapter reviews the sustainable development
debate and the nature of environmental management systems (EMS) and their
potential within the aviation industry. The chapter presents the results of an inter-
national survey of airline environmental management and EMS usage.
S
USTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
:
COMPENSATING
FOR
GROWTH
The term 'sustainable development' came to prominence following the publication
of
Our Common Future
, a report into the key development issues facing the planet
and commissioned by the United Nations (UN) in 1984 (WCED, 1987). Popularly
known as the Brundtland Report, after the chair of the commission, the publication
coined the most widely accepted definition of sustainable development: 'Sustainable
development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs' (WCED, 1987, p43).
While this definition has been criticized for being open to a wide array of inter-
pretations, this very quality has also been welcomed as it allows scope for forging a
consensus to promote sustainable development (Cairncross, 1991). The first major
attempt to arrive at such a political consensus on mechanisms by which to achieve
more sustainable forms of development occurred at the 1992 United Nations Con-
ference on Environment and Development (UNEP) in Rio, otherwise known as the
Earth Summit. At this conference, many of the key findings of the Brundtland
Report were endorsed; in particular, it was acknowledged that:
•
Poverty is a major cause of environmental degradation, and thus any sustainable
future would need to address the social and economic factors underpinning world
poverty.
