Low Environmental Awareness Research Articles

Challenges with minimising mercury pollution in the small-scale gold mining sector: Experiences from the Guianas

This paper examines the barriers to mitigating mercury pollution at small-scale gold mines in the Guianas (Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname), and prescribes recommendations for overcoming these obstacles. Whilst considerable attention has been paid to analysing the environmental impacts of operations in the region, minimal research has been undertaken to identify appropriate policy and educational initiatives for addressing the mounting mercury problem. Findings from recent fieldwork and selected interviews with operators from Guyanese and Surinamese gold mining regions reveal that legislative incapacity, the region's varied industry policy stances, various technological problems, and low environmental awareness on the part of communities are impeding efforts to facilitate improved mercury management at small-scale gold mines in the Guianas. Marked improvements can be achieved, however, if legislation, particularly that pertaining to mercury, is harmonised in the region; educational seminars continue to be held in important mining districts; and additional outlets for disseminating environmental equipment and mercury-free technologies are provided.

ISO 14000 and the Construction Industry: Survey in China

The rapid growth of the Chinese economy sparked off a great volume of construction activities, but the damage caused by construction activities to the environment is indisputable and has alerted some large Chinese construction firms to seek effective environmental management. The ISO 14000 series offers a framework for managing construction operations to improve environmental performance. To discover the conditions of implementation of ISO 14000 in the construction industry, a structured questionnaire survey was conducted whose results show that the major motivation for implementing the system was to seek entry to the international construction market. Other motivations include standardization of the environmental management procedures for internal operations, obtaining social recognition, gaining confidence from clients and a better corporate image, enhancing the environmental awareness of subcontractors, and cleaner sites as a result of better housekeeping. However, some obstacles remain along the path, such as the financial burden, poor rates of return for most firms, low environmental awareness, and inadequate legal enforcement. Based on the analysis and discussion, the paper concludes that the government should take the lead in encouraging training, providing financial support, and improving the legal framework to promote ISO 14000 for the Chinese construction industry.

Public awareness and the environment: “How do we encourage environmentally responsible behaviour?”

This paper examines:• the relationship between environmental action and knowledge of the environment;• political, social and economic factors influencing the ability of individuals and societies to act in an environmentally responsible manner;• the possible motivations and contexts for encouraging greater responsibility toward the environment in various communities. The annual National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF) Survey reveals that many US residents subscribe to environmental myths which may interfere with their efforts to act or agitate for environmental responsibility. Conventional wisdom might suggest that people in developing nations such as China would have a lower environmental awareness. In fact, when Shanghai residents were recently asked comparable questions to those in the NEETF Survey (part of an Asian Development Bank project), they often outperformed their American counterparts in their knowledge of environmental issues and in willingness to participate in activities such as recycling. - However in countries like China, changes are also required at an institutional level to make serious inroads into the problem of environmental degradation. In these circumstances, public awareness is a powerful tool only if the public has the power to drive institutional change. In many countries political influence constrains implementation of environmental projects with insufficient short-term political accolades. Similarly there are short-term economic and social goals that can dominate over the environment in the decision making process for both communities and individuals. This paper draws on USA, Australia and China survey data and the international experience of its authors in public awareness campaigns. The paper will discuss how environmental communicators can possibly change environmental attitudes and behaviour by understanding the contexts and the motivations for this change.

Environmental Impact Assessment in the Czech Republic and Romania

The Czech Republic and Romania present two very different levels of development of environmental impact assessment ( EIA ) , even though both countries gained their independence in the same year (1989) and both have aspirations to join the European Union (EU). This article examines the various driving forces for EIA legislation, analyses the different EIA concepts and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the two regimes. While the Czech Republic introduced an EIA Act in 1992 (based mainly on the EC Directive 851337jEEC), Romania has yet to draft any ElA-specific legislation. Furthermore, the concept of EIA in Romania is very different to that in the Czech Republic and the EU. While all indicators suggest that the Romanian EIA system is ineffective, little research has so far been carried out to verify this. The Czech Republic, by contrast, shares many weaknesses of its EIA system with those of EU countries. Both share common problems of many Central and Eastern European countries, including low or variable public environmental awareness, an immature NGO movement (but gaining in strength and experience), a history of minimal public involvement in decision-making, and internal conflicts within government which inhibit the development of EIA and wider environmental legislation.

The Right to Demand: Citizen Activism and Environmental Politics in Japan

Growth-oriented government policies in postwar Japan created high levels of domestic pollution. These conditions gave rise in the 1960s and 1970s to widespread public protests, spearheaded by locally based environmental "citizens' movements. "However, decreasing pollution levels, a weak tradi tion of citizen political participation in Japan, and the low environmental awareness of the average Japanese citizen all combined to weaken the in fluence o f thesegroups in the 1980s. Although some groups, especially anti nuclear movements, have had limited success, Japanese grassroots environ mental groups are still considerably smaller and less influential than their Western counterparts.