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In the 10 years since the Rio Summit of 1992, progress has been slow but encouraging. The accomplishments include the following:
[ Back to Top ] Engineering Organizations
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Soon
after the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(known as the Rio Summit), a group of engineers made a systematic analysis
of the conference's primary action document, Agenda 21 (|
Global organizations representing engineers are educating their members about sustainable development and encouraging them to apply it in their work. |
Global engineering organizations, working independently and together,
provide information and leadership to the engineering profession. Each
of these organizations has made progress in encouraging their members
to understand and apply the principles of sustainable development.
The primary global organizations representing professional engineers are the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), the International Union of Technical Associations (UATI, http://www.unesco.org/uati), the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC, http://www.fidic.com/resources/sustainability) and the International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS, http://www.atse.org.au/international/caets.htm). In addition, many engineers are employed by the companies that constitute the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD, http://www.wbcsd.ch).
In September 1991, the WFEO held a meeting of its General Assembly in Arusha, Tanzania. At this meeting WFEO adopted the Arusha Declaration (Word, 37KB) on the future role of engineering, developed from a study of Our Common Future, (the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development) and other documents. This declaration provided helpful guidelines that could be used by engineers in their projects.
Following this meeting, WFEO's Environmental Committee began to review the results of preparatory meetings for the UNCED conference scheduled for Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In reviewing drafts of Agenda 21, it appeared to the WFEO members that the engineering contributions to both developmental and environmental projects were omitted and that these omissions weakened the report.
Independently, FIDIC formed an Environmental Task Committee in 1988 to review environmental trends and to provide recommendations to FIDIC members. They also developed guidelines, policies and training programs. FIDIC members also became concerned by the lack of engineers in the planning of the Rio Summit.
Until 1991, WFEO and FIDIC worked independently in support of sustainable development. However, both organizations began to realize the need for joint efforts if the real contributions of engineers were to be recognized at the Rio Summit. This led to the decision to form a new organization that would be a partnership of WFEO, FIDIC and UATI. A representative group from these organizations met in New York in 1992 during the final meetings of the UN delegation to the Rio Summit. The engineers drafted a Vision Statement and the broad goals for a new World Engineering Partnership for Sustainable Development (WEPSD). The results of this engineering meeting were shared with the UN delegates at an open house at the United Engineering Center, located near the headquarters of the United Nations. Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the Rio Summit, assisted the engineers at this open house, where he told the UN delegates that "the concept of sustainable development would be impossible without the full input by engineers."
The WEPSD organization accomplished a great deal in its five years and successfully laid the groundwork for the many programs in support of sustainable development that are being pursued by WFEO, FIDIC and other international organizations through their members and committees. In addition to activities at the international level, engineering societies in many countries have also been extremely active in considering the implications of sustainable development in engineering practices.
Members of WFEO and WEPSD were present at the 1992 Rio Summit, and WFEO officers were represented at the Rio + 5 conference. In addition, WFEO and FIDIC collaborated in developing a report for the Rio + 5 conference, The Engineer's Response to Sustainable Development published by WFEO in February 1997.
Since 1997, the major international engineering organizations have worked
together on several projects and are making contributions to the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in South Africa in 2002.
In addition, for the first time, engineers and scientists have agreed
to be represented jointly at the WSSD. This includes the preparation of
a joint paper entitled Role
and Contributions of the Scientific and Technological Community to Sustainable
Development
(Word, 95KB).
[ Back to Top ]
Ethics, Policies and SD Guidelines
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Many engineering organizations have developed environmental
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In the last 15 years, many of the international and national engineering
organizations have developed codes of ethics that deal with the environment
and sustainable development. Environmental policies are similar to codes
of ethics but focus on principles of professional practice.
Some of the best examples include the following:
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The WFEO Arusha Declaration on Environment and Development (Word, 37KB).
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The WFEO Model Code of Ethics (Word, 19KB), adopted in September 2001.
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FIDIC adopted a powerful set of environmental policies in 1990. These include guidelines on the obligations of the consulting engineer with respect to their projects and clients (http://www.fidic.com/about/statement04.asp).
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The Melbourne Communique (Word, 23KB) is a statement of operating principles adopted by 20 national organizations of Chemical Engineers.
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In 1992 the American Association of Engineering Societies adopted The Public Policy on Sustainable Development and Action Principles (http://www.aaes.org/content.cfm?L1=2&L2=3&OID=18 ). AAES also developed six action principles (Word, 23KB) to guide engineers in applying sustainable development.
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The Code of Ethics of the American Society of Civil Engineers was a pioneering effort that has far reaching implications; the code is enforceable in requiring consideration of sustainable development principles in civil engineering projects. (http://www.asce.org/inside/codeofethics.cfm)
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In June 2002 representatives of the National Academy of Engineering in the USA met with representatives of the major American engineering organizations to consider how to unify the American engineers in support of the goals of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa and to work together after this conference. Further meetings are planned and recently the group adopted a powerful statement
(Word, 21KB) on engineers and sustainable development.[ Back to Top ]
Earth Charter
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Engineers contributed a technological perspective to |
Beginning
as early as 1945, during the formation of the United Nations, discussions
began about the need for an earth ethic. In 1972, at the UN Stockholm
Conference where the current environmental declarations were initiated,
discussions continued about an earth ethic, and, in 1982, The World Charter
for Nature was adopted by the UN General Assembly. The 1987 World Commission
on Environment and Development report Our Common Future also described
the need for an Earth Charter. During the 1992 Rio Summit, the Earth Charter
was to have formed the ethical foundation upon which Agenda 21 and other
Rio documents were to have been based.
A new Earth Charter initiative was begun in 1994 by Maurice Strong, Chairman of the Earth Council, and Mikhail Gorbachev, Chairman of Green Cross International. An Earth Charter Commission was appointed and numerous drafts were distributed and circulated among the nations of the world, resulting in the Earth Charter that was officially launched on June 29, 2000 in The Hague. The Charter will be debated, revised and presented to the UN for consideration at the 2002 UN General Assembly. Governments will be invited to endorse the Earth Charter at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.
The WFEO contributed to developing the Earth Charter in several ways. In 1997, a USA National Earth Charter Committee was appointed. This committee included James Poirot who, at that time, was a vice president of WFEO and President of the WFEO Committee on Technology (ComTech). Subsequently, WFEO was invited to present its views at an Earth Charter Continental Conference held in Cuiaba, Brazil in 1998, and WFEO participated in a virtual conference to comment on a draft of the Earth Charter. Making a presentation at WFEO's 1999 General Assembly, James Poirot described WFEO's actions in support of the Earth Charter.
In response to the Earth Charter challenge, the WFEO Executive Council adopted its Earth Charter Resolution (Word, 20KB) on September 20, 2000. This action followed the WFEO General Assembly's 1999 adoption of four resolutions supporting the Earth Charter (Word, 19KB).
The implications to engineers of the Earth Charter (Word, 42KB) were explained by WFEO Vice President Poirot at the World Congress on Sustainable Development held in Calcutta, India on January 21, 2000. The current draft of the Earth Charter (Word, 40KB) can be found in the attached file. This is a powerful document and deserves to be widely read.
[ Back to Top ]
Joint Programs
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Several international engineering groups have partnered in
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During the past 10 years, the engineering community has developed closer
relationships with the World Bank, the UN and other international agencies
that provide programs and funds to meet the needs of people by applying
engineering and technology.
In 1996, the World Engineering Partnership for Sustainable Development (WEPSD, a partnership between WFEO, FIDIC and UATI) worked with the World Bank and UNDP to evaluate the feasibility of treating urban wastes for land application in agriculture. The program considered the problems and opportunities of reusing municipal organic wastes and human wastes after appropriate treatment. This joint program demonstrated that properly treated urban organic wastes could help solve two problems: reducing the health hazards of cities, and increasing food productivity through improved crop yields in nearby farms. The results of this program are highlighted in this 1996 paper and in the final project report (Word, 1.3MB).
Protecting and developing water resources is one of the most critical problems facing the world. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF, http://www.gefweb.org) is a major funding agency designed to address severe environmental problems such as the need for safe water supplies. The GEF, FIDIC and WFEO worked together to develop the International Waters Workshop-CEO Dialogue, held on June 7-8, 2000 at the World Bank in Washington, DC, where international water experts were invited to recommend high priority water projects. The conference outlined a long-term program for consideration by the GEF and private investors, and recommended that follow-up conferences be held to facilitate specific regional projects. The results of the workshop are summarized in this file (Word, 178KB), and additional information is available on WFEO ComTech's web site (www.wfeo-comtech.org).
WFEO and FIDIC have agreed to assist the UNEP-GEF Technology Transfer Networks (SANet) program to help disseminate information about environmentally responsible technology. The SANet program (http://www.sustainablealternatives.net) is a partnership of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). SANet's mission (Word, 77KB) is to facilitate widespread use of cleaner technology, successful case histories, expert knowledge, planning tools and co-financing of projects.
[ Back to Top ]
UN Commission on SD
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Engineering organizations have helped advance sustainable development by making presentations to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. |
The United Nations Commission
on Sustainable Development (Word, 25KB) (UNCSD) was established in
December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up to the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janiero in 1992.
In June 1997, James Poirot, then President of WFEO's ComTech, participated in the Earth Summit + 5, Special Session of the UN General Assembly (Word, 59KB). Poirot's attendance at this conference led the UNCSD to involve the engineering community in its annual meetings. Since 1998, WFEO has organized and sponsored four panels of experts on important topics. Presentations from these panels can be found on WFEO's ComTech web site (http://www.wfeo-comtech.org).
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Water Panel, April 27, 1998. Four expert panelists presented case histories to demonstrate how privatization projects can be initiated and structured.
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Production/Consumption Panel, April 28, 1999. Four expert panelists presented case histories featuring cleaner production technologies.
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Panel on Sustainable Practices in Agriculture, May 1, 2000. Three expert panelists presented case studies on natural resource management technologies.
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Energy Panel, April 17, 2001. Three expert panelists presented case histories about technologies that employ renewable energy sources.
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In addition, an engineering officer of WFEO was a member of and advisor to the U.S. delegation to the 1997 UN General Assembly.
[ Back to Top ]
Computers and Communication
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Engineers have helped develop breakthroughs in computer technology and communication networks. |
In
the past 10 years, dramatic advances have been made in computers and computer
software. Computers have become exponentially more powerful, smaller and
more economical, and the Internet has made rapid communications possible
throughout many parts of the world. Computer engineers played an integral
role in this progress.
Along with rapid changes taking place with computers and communication networking, software development has evolved to allow enormous amounts of data to be stored, and has provided powerful technical programs of great help to scientist and engineers. Exchanging electronic information has also allowed existing knowledge, information and technologies to be shared to fulfill public and private needs. Through this exchange of information the engineering profession has been able to provide an engineering dimension to sustainability issues.
However, as technology has expanded rapidly, a gap has developed between the countries with access to technology and those without. This condition is commonly referred to as the "digital divide." WFEO's committees on Information and Communication (CIC, http://www.coi-tn.org/fmoi-cic/cic.shtml) and Technology (ComTech) are working to develop better methods for sharing information (Word, 20KB) among practicing engineers.
In 1999, WFEO endorsed a proposal to establish a virtual engineering library for sustainable development. Virtual engineering libraries can be accessed from the Internet, and range from those that provide titles or abstracts only, to those that provide access and downloads for full text papers or lecture notes. It was envisioned that virtual engineering libraries on the Internet would be useful in supporting engineering education in schools, technical colleges and universities. The Institution of Engineers, Australia and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand agreed to lend support to the development of a prototype of such a system. It is hoped that this prototype, named the Australasian Virtual Library (AVEL) could become the model for a future global system, called the Virtual Environment and Sustainable Systems Engineering Library (VESSEL). This program is described in a paper by William J. Rourke (Word, 69KB), Special Advisor to the president of WFEO.
The AVEL program has been incorporated into the Australian Virtual Columbo Plan, which is being funded as part of Australia's overseas aid program. Substantial funds are also being provided by the World Bank. The Virtual Columbo Plan is initially being directed towards primary and secondary school teachers and policy makers. In coming years, material will be supplied to university lecturers, including those giving engineering courses.
[ Back to Top ]
Educational Programs
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Engineering groups started educational programs for engineering
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Many universities are beginning to introduce the principles of sustainable development into their curricula. An overview of the progress (Word, 23KB) from 1992 to 1997 is contained in the report The Engineer's Response to Sustainable Development, dated February 1997, published by WFEO. In the USA many engineering colleges have developed extensive programs with special courses on the environment and sustainable technologies. Other institutions have integrated these concepts in their courses.
The Georgia Institute of Technology provides and excellent example. They have created an Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development and have incorporated the principles of sustainable development into the university's strategic plan. Information about the programs at Georgia Tech may be found at http://www.istd.gatech.edu. This web site describes the history of this effort and describes the courses that the Institute offers.
Other forward-looking university programs include those at the University of Florida (http://www.ees.ufl.edu), the Systems Engineering Department of the University of Virginia (http://www.sys.virginia.edu) and the Earth Systems Engineering Program at the University of Colorado (http://ese.colorado.edu).
Several programs are evolving that will provide financing for students or recent graduates to become interns for a year with environmentally-oriented companies. One such intern program available in Canada is the Institute for Leadership Development (Word, 24KB), affiliated with York University. A similar intern program has been established in Australia as part of the Australian Ambassadors Scheme.
In 1994 an international workshop of invited educators from the Asia Pacific region was convened in New Zealand to examine "Fundamentals of Environmental Education in Engineering Education." Outputs from this workshop have been widely published, and a major follow-up conference was held in Paris, France on September 24-26,1997. This conference was jointly sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC). Educators and professional engineers from 27 countries attended the Conference. Many recommendations came out of this conference that still warrant close examination, published in a report entitled, Engineering Education and Training for Sustainable Development (Word, 136KB).
Sustainability is also finding its way into university accreditation procedures. In the USA, for example, each engineering university must be accredited periodically. The organization responsible for coordinating this process (ABET), in their document Engineering Criteria 2000 (PDF, 333KB) states that students must be prepared for professional practice through a curriculum that includes "most of the following considerations: economic, environmental; sustainability; manufacturability; ethical, health and safety; social; and political."
International engineering organizations have also contributed to sustainable development education. FIDIC has developed training programs for their members and for industry that provide guidance on how to inventory and analyze environmental issues as well as setting up environmental management systems. These programs have been developed in collaboration with UNEP and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and are described on the UNEP web site (http://www.unepie.org/outreach/business/ems.htm).
A regional program that incorporates sustainable development concepts is described in the article Report From Africa (Word, 24KB) by Rafik Meghji, WFEO ComTech's Regional Vice President for Africa and member of the Executive Committee for FIDIC.
[ Back to Top ]
Industrial Processes
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Engineering has developed new approaches in industrial processes
to |
Many industrialized nations have adopted laws and regulations in the last
30 years to regulate the generation of toxic wastes. Other laws attempted
to regulate the cleanup of old waste sites. At first, industries in the
USA struggled to comply with these strict regulations. Over time, many
of the leading industries began to realize that removing waste from the
process stream could result in significant savings and increased profits.
As industries began to take the initiative in reducing waste improving processing, a group of industry executives decided to share knowledge and cooperate in other ways. The result was the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD, http://www.wbcsd.org). This organization now consists of a coalition of 160 companies united by a shared commitment to sustainable development. These companies represent many engineering disciplines.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (http://www.iisd.org) also advances policy recommendations, including those for industrial processes.
[ Back to Top ]