Effective Environmental Management: A Panacea for Socio-Economic Development of Developing Countries

Abstract

The science of environmental management is one of the areas of great interest in the present millennium. It deals with the whole concept of the environment, its characteristics, resources, and effective exploitation for the benefit of man. The environment offers unlimited opportunities for socio-economic development through effective exploration and exploitation of the available resources and purposeful utilization of the proceeds in developmental projects. However, in developing countries, environmental management is subject to various limitation and draw – backs. Consequently these countries continues to grapple with the challenges of climate change and its impacts, food security, population explosion, pest infestation, communicablediseases as well as pollution, contamination and environmental sustainability. The overall effects are poverty, low living standard, poor health, inadequate housing, high level of unemployment and under-employment, low agricultural productivity, technological backwardness and poor socio-economic development. Against the above background, it becomes pertinent to carry out an investigation on the essence and methods of effective environmental management, its socio-economic implications and the problems militating effective utilization of environmental resources in developing countries, hence this research. The work is a descriptive survey and the investigation revealed that lack of knowledge and proper planning in environmental issues, lack of executive capacity, technical know-how and political will as well as inadequate funding and socio-cultural inclinations are some of the factors limiting effective environmental management in developing countries. It is therefore recommended that adequate budgetary provisions be made for funding research on environmental management, capacity building and human development.