Role of the city in environmental management

The study focuses on Asia, where countries have already made enormous strides in the adoption of environmental regulations, standards, and goals. An initial section examines: the positive and negative impacts of urban development on the environment in terms of deforestation, birth rates, and pollution control; the complementary roles of public and private investment; the varying impacts of residential and industrial wastes; and the role of environmental protection as an investment in urban infrastructure. The second section presents a strategic framework for urban environmental management. Key elements include: (1) establishing environmental priorities; (2) increasing public awareness and participation; (3) improving enforcement methods and cost-recovery; and (4) increasing the role of the private sector and NGO"s in the provision of environmental services. Environmental protection, it is concluded, is neither a luxury or peripheral good nor an arcane specialty requiring totally new skills and methodologies. Most of the technical skills required are already employed in other infrastructure investment areas: land use planning, project management, cost-recovery, and legal enforcement. Environmental protection is also an investment in the economic carrying capacity of urban areas, since it increases the number of people, the number of economic activities, and the standard of living an urban region can support.