5th Global Conference
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Conference Programme, Abstracts and Papers
Monday 3rd July - Thursday 6th
July 2006
Mansfield College, Oxford
Session
4: Paradigms, Sustainability and Development
Chair: Kriss Kevorkian
The Convergence of Three Environmental Paradigms
in Major Transportation Project
Melita
Elmore
LSI Environmental Management Systems and Compliance Training, Pflugerville,
Texas, USA
OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate how applications from three familiar environmental systems (National Environmental Policy Act, Environmental Management Systems and Adaptive Management) can work well together to advance a large scale project. A major design-build highway construction project provides a case study.
CONTENT: Scope of Work: Planning for State Highway 130, a major new-location freeway in Central Texas began more than 10 years ago. The development of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) provided the planning and public involvement framework in the early days of project development. Over time, the project evolved into a design-build toll road, a development model by which the project Developer took on the responsibility, under the oversight of the state highway agency, of complying with all the environmental commitments that were established by or coordinated through the NEPA process. These included commitments to satisfy permitted fill regulations, including the creation of compensatory wetland tracts; to mitigate impacts on historic resources; to assess wildlife habitat and comply with preservation commitments; and to design and construct the project under a proactive “zero violations” mandate of the Development Agreement.
RESULTS: Recognizing that following through on all these commitments required a comprehensive, systematic approach, the Developer has designed and implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS) based on the ISO 14001 model but highly adapted to the dynamic environment of a design-build project. An important element of the EMS is an adaptive management program, which allows for quick and effective responses to often unforeseen events and opportunities and puts the entire organization on a learning curve. The synergistic interplay of these three environmental management paradigms has proven effective not only in sticking to the original environmental commitments established by the NEPA process, but also in advancing the project’s aggressive design-build construction timetable.
Empowerment of Professionals as a Strategy for Effective
Sustainability of the Built Environment
Joseph
Akin Fadamiro
Department of Architecture, Fedeal University of Technology,
Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
The development professionals by their training play
vital roles in the shaping of the built environment. However the environmental
threats, real or potential, to the quality of life, environmental movements
have begun in virtually all sections of industrialised countries in the
area of business, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and construction.
With the whole world embracing the concept of sustainability, the present
planning, design and development pofessionals in the developing countries
are challenged to address their environmental problems through their
proposals.
This paper examines the level of intervention of the professionals
through their principles of sustainable designs which include economy
of resources, life cycle designs and human behavioural considerations
in designs. It thereafter investigates the effect of their contributions
to the development of the urban environment in the bid enhance the of
achievement of comfort and sustainable management of the built environment.
Sustainable Development, Bioethics and 'Vulnerable' Human Subjects:
Ethics of Sustainable Economic Enrichment of Diverse traditional Cultures
Participating in Pharmaceutical Research
Janet
Brewer
Department of Law, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Bioethics is a branch of ethics concerned with issues surrounding health care and the biological sciences, including biomedical research. A recent survey conducted by UNESCO revealed that most ethicists view biodiversity as a key component of a comprehensive bioethics curriculum. Indeed, the Convention on Biological Diversity sets forth a commitment for maintaining the biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources The process of drug discovery based on traditional knowledge and plant remedies illustrates how biodiversity, sustainable development and bioethics are inextricably linked. The International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups, or (ICBGs) program serves as a concrete example of the dependency of drug companies upon traditional cultures for research and drug discovery, and further illustrates the linkage between ethics and sustainable economic growth. ICBGs are an innovative effort to further human health through pharmaceutical research and development, incentives for conservation of biodiversity, and new methods of sustainable economic enrichment of diverse traditional cultures. Overall, sustainable development is critical to bioethical discourse where certain methods of pharmaceutical research and development practices are concerned.