Introduction to Environmental Management: Concepts and Evolution

Vocabulary flashcards covering core definitions, frameworks, historical evolution, international summits, and institutional milestones in Environmental Management based on Week 3 lecture notes.

Management (Bartol & Martin, 1998)

The process of achieving organizational goals by engaging in the four major functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Process of Management

A model illustrating the transformation of basic resource inputs (men and women, machinery, materials, money, resources) through fundamental management functions (planning, organising, directing, controlling) into end results, stated objectives, and outputs.

Environmental Management (Sharratt, 1995)

The management of the environmental performance of organizations, bodies, and companies.

Environmental Management (EM)

A decision-making process that regulates the impact of human activities on the environment so that the capacity of the environment to sustain human development is not impaired, while seeking the best possible environmental option to promote sustainable development.

Framework for Environmental Management

A process consisting of five overlapping steps to address environmental problems: recognizing and prioritizing environmental problems; developing appropriate objectives; formulating policies, by-laws, rules, strategies, and actions; implementing and enforcing these; and evaluating the system's effectiveness and efficiency.

Appropriate Environmental Management

The state achieved when resources are used efficiently for the benefit of human development and are conserved due to the critical role they play in sustaining the ecosystem.

Inappropriate Environmental Management

The misuse or excessive use of resources by over-utilizing or under-utilizing them, alongside failing to conserve those resources that form the basis for the ecological functioning of ecosystems.

1972 Stockholm Conference

The first major Global Environmental Conference (UN Conference on the Human Environment) that brought industrialized and developing nations together, affirmed that environment and development are integrated, was signed by 72 countries, and led to the creation of national environmental ministries and UNEP.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

A global environmental body established as a direct result of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED)

Also known as the Brundtland Commission, a body established by the United Nations in 1983 and chaired by former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland to formulate a global agenda for change and unify countries in pursuit of sustainable development.

Our Common Future (1987)

The landmark report produced by the Brundtland Commission (WCED) that defined and popularized the concept of sustainable development and outlined its guiding principles before the commission dissolved in 1987.

Rio Summit of 1992 (Earth Summit)

A landmark United Nations conference that aimed to operationalize sustainable development through initiatives including Agenda 21.

Agenda 21

A comprehensive action plan adopted at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit containing 115 chapters that address various dimensions of sustainable development with a heavy emphasis on poverty reduction.

World Environment Day

An international environmental observance celebrated annually on the 5th of June.

Environmental Protection Council (EPC)

The national environmental body established in Ghana in 1974 under National Redemption Council (NRC) Decree 239.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The Ghanaian statutory body established under EPA Act 490 of 1994, responsible for regulating the environment and ensuring the implementation of government environmental policy.

Disaster Management (in Environmental Management)

A subset of environmental management focused on identifying and studying natural and man-made causes and effects of disasters to establish early warning systems before disasters occur.

Kyoto Protocol

An international environmental agreement designed to manage environmental impacts on climatic and weather conditions by preventing and regulating the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.