Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
- physical activity: physical effort is accompanied by an increase in pulmonary
ventilation and because of this more pollutants are able to enter a person's
respiratory system.
Data are available that provide some information on the first of the three
abovementioned factors. This can be explained by the fact that the measurements
recorded do not take the quality of air inside buildings into consideration, even if
city dwellers spend, on average, more than 80% of their time at home or in the work
place.
The geographical information produced nowadays is no longer subject to the
peremptory and authoritarian affirmations that were once made. It is now produced
in such a way that many different viewpoints can be considered, and can be used for
the creation of a common model, in other words it is now used as the basis of
governance.
6.4.2.
The difficult task of reducing pollution levels. Can information be used as a
governance tool?
The issue of atmospheric pollution can be used as a great example to highlight
the ideas and issues that are associated with governance. Brodhag defines
governance as: In the context of sustainable development governance is considered
as being a process of collective decision-making which does not involve only one
authoritative entity. In a complex and uncertain system, for which the different
issues are linked together, none of the people involved in the system have all of the
necessary information, nor do they have the authority to properly manage a long-
term strategy. This strategy can only be created as the result of co-operation
between the institutions and the different parties who are interested in developing
the strategy. In such a co-operation each entity is entitled to exercise their full
responsibilities and execute their power
16
.
Knowledge and the distribution of information to a wider public suggests that
more people are becoming involved in the decision-making process and this
complicates actions that need to be carried out in a domain in which everything is
very unclear and in which many different spatial-temporal scales overlap. The
diversity of those members of the public who receive information about pollution
levels implies that there has been a certain amount of standardization of the
measurements, and of the data. In addition to this, demanding protocols have been
introduced to which the metrologist has to adhere.
16 Translation of the French definition given by Christian B
RODHAG
, Florent B
REUIL
,
Natacha G
ONDRAN
, François O
SSAMA
,
Dictionnaire du développement durable AFNOR
, 2004
edition.
