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ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT Conflict or Reconciliation ?

PERSA FOKIALIAssociate Professor

University of the Aegean2011

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Contents :

I. Development

II. Environment

III.The conflict

IV.The consequences

V. The reconciliation

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Ι. DEVELOPMENT

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Development = growth, increase

In an economy (e.g a country) we talk about development if year after year we observe an increase in the economy’s income.

If something like this talkes place, then ……

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Individuals on average become wealthier and have process to relatively more goods and services ….

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Many privete and public investment projects improve infrastructure…….

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Employment reaches a satisfactory level and unemployment is reduced.

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In agriculture

Depending on the structure of the economy, development is observable in many branches of economic activity and sectors

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In industry

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In tourism

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In commerce

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In technology and innovation

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Since very early, development was a desirable target of societies.

Development was the reason for many discoveries, progress and modernisation.

With no development today we would not have reached the so called economic miracles.

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Nevertheless, there is a sector that can be destroyed due to development, particularly if no attention is paid to it.

This is environment.

Development has negative impacts on environment since:

Development needs resources.

Many resources are natural/ physical (eg. Land, raw material, water, energy.

Physical resources are scarce in our planet.

If natural resources are destroyed, development stops. …..

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ΙΙ. ENVIRONMENT

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…. Rachel Carson, biologist and novelist, got a letter from a friend in Massachusets ….

He wrote that an airplane on a governmental mission has sprayed DDT to destroy mosquitoes in the area. Next day his yard became silent…..

Once upon a time in the summer of 1957….

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The book was titled SILENT SPRING

Rachel Carson

The biologist, who was working at the department of fishery and natural environment, has decidesd to write a book and to inform the people about the impact of DDT.

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She wanted to stress in her book that:

In more and more parts of the world spring comes,without being previously announced by the return of the swallows ....

and :

Mornings are strangely silentin those areas which formerly were filled by the beauty of the song of birds

The book was the kick-off for the modern ecological movement.

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The book begins with a story about a charming rural town which suddenly begins to realize that diseases and death are spread around threatening its existence.

The local people realise that unconsciously some of their actions were poisoning them.

The author writes in the preface to the book :

This town does not really exist ...

I do not know any city that has suffered all the misfortunes I describe. Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened somewhere ....

... A terrible threat hangs over our heads, that we have not understood how it came ...

... What is the reason for the silence of the voices of spring in the towns? ...

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ΙΙΙ. THE CONFLICT

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This was how a great debate started concerning the conflict between development and environment. It was soon well understood that: The more we consume agricultural goods the more we force farmers to use pesticides and fertilisers. The more we try to increase industrial production, the more we pollute the soil, the air, the sea and the water

The more massive the tourism production the higher the probability of noise pollution, traffic problems, landscape damage etc.

By not taking into account environmental problems we increase the probability of the next generations to have access to the same products and services that determine our present welfare.

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In other words ... ..

Although development solves many problems and increases present welfare, it leads to several major environmental impacts that affect negatively (or are expected to affect in the future) our daily livesIf attention is not paid to them, our planet is threatened ....and so are we… and/or our children… .

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Development

Environment

The pendulum of the relationship between environment and development