Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development

Abstract

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The term ‘Environment’ has been conceived differently by different scholars probably because of the encompassing nature of the term. Hence, it is bound to mean different things to different people. However, UNESCO defines environment as “all sorts of physical and social resources available at a given time and in a given location for the satisfaction of human needs and aspirations”. Environmental protection on the other hand encompass the careful use of land, air, water, minerals, plants and animal resources and other natural resources so that they are not destroyed. In practice, Environmental protection requires effective planning and the planning is guided by seven principles namely; Trust doctrine principle, Precautionary principle (halt adverse projects), Principle of intergenerational equity (sustainable development), Principle of intergenerational equity (access to all), Subsidiary principle (consult), Polluter pays principle and User pay principle. A host of harmful effects arise from environmental neglect some of which are Ozone layer depletion, Acid Rain, global warming and the consequence of unhindered radioactive waste among others. The ozone layers is important in absorbing harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun which are responsible for a number of related health and environmental issues such as skin cancers and adverse effects on phytoplankton. The depletion of the ozone layer is as a result of a marked spike in Chloroflurocarbonate (CFC) emissions, which destroys the molecular composition of the ozone layer‘s free occurring oxygen O3. A number of allied international bodies are dedicated to curbing this menace and Nigeria has as well joined the bandwagon as a state actor following the discovery of toxic waste on the port island of Koko in 1987 which made it to swiftly bring down the hammer on such future harmful occurrences by enacting enabling legislations to establish a host of environmental protection bodies. Another emergent issue is the correct disposal of radioactive waste. Until 1970, USA, Britain, France, Japan and the Soviet Union disposed nuclear waste into the ocean and as of today, there are enormous volumes of mine tailings in uranium producing countries which as at 2008, accounted for 200 million tons of radioactive waste. A large proportion of these nuclear wastes are in Canada and the USA with underground storage repositories reaching full capacity and the nuclear country resorting to above ground storage which poses a serious bio hazard in addition to mounting public distrust and protests. Although, Nigeria is yet to commence uranium mining, but serious radioactive hazards are posed by other sources like Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM) which occurred as a result of prolonged tin mining and the resulting environmental and radioactive challenges with some locals using materials from abandoned mines to build houses. Hence, it is imperative that the world needs sustainable development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The principle of sustainable development has been imbibed by the UN through the Rio declaration that seeks protection of the environmental ecosystem via five agreements which emerged from the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development also known as the Earth Summit. Seminar presented by Adamu Abdul