Why Environmental Monitoring is Crucial for Sustainable Development?

Introduction

It is impossible to overestimate the significance of environmental monitoring in the goals of sustainable development and environmental preservation. Environmental monitoring entails the methodical gathering, examination, and interpretation of data in order to evaluate the condition of the environment, spot changes, and direct wise decision-making. This blog delves into the complexities of environmental monitoring, including its methods, uses, and critical role in preserving the health of our planet.

Understanding Environmental Monitoring

Environmental monitoring involves various activities to monitor air and water quality, soil health, biodiversity, climate patterns, and other environmental parameters. The objective is to collect precise data to inform policymakers, researchers, and the public about the environment's condition.

The CEQ regulations (1987) enunciate the principle of post-EIS environmental monitoring in sections 1505.3 and 1505.2(c). The CEQ regulations focus on monitoring in conjunction with implementing mitigation measures.Monitoring can also be used to determine the effectiveness of each of the types of mitigation measures.

Sadler and Davies (1988) delineate three types of environmental monitoring associated with the life cycle of a project, plan, or program; these include baseline monitoring, effects or impact monitoring, and compliance monitoring. Baseline monitoring refers to the measurement of environmental variables during a representative pre project period to determine existing conditions, ranges of variation, and processes of change.

Effects or impact monitoring involves the measurement of environmental variables during project construction and operation to determine changes which may have resulted from the project. Finally, compliance monitoring is periodic sampling or continuous measurement of levels of waste discharge,noise, or similar emissions, to ensure that conditions are observed, and standards are met. Pre-EIS monitoring includes baseline monitoring, while post-EIS monitoring encompasses effects or impact monitoring, and compliance monitoring.

Benefits of environmental monitoring

Numerous purposes and implied benefits can be delineated for pre- and post-EIS environmental monitoring. For example, Marcus (1979) identifies the following six general purposes or uses of information from post-EIS monitoring.

Provides information for documentation of the impacts that result from a proposed federal action, with this information enabling more accurate prediction of impacts associated with similar federal actions.
Warns agencies of unanticipated adverse impacts or sudden changes in impact trends.
Provides an immediate warning whenever a preselected impact indicator approaches a pre-selected critical level.
Provides information for agencies to control the timing, location, and level of impacts of a project. Control measures involve preliminary planning as well as the possible implementation of regulation and enforcement measures.
Provides information for evaluating the effectiveness of implemented mitigation measures.
Provides information to verify predicted impacts and thus validate impact prediction techniques. Based on these findings, techniques, such as mathematical models, can be modified or adjusted.

Purpose of environmental monitoring

The purposes of environmental auditing are to verify compliance with environmental requirements, evaluate the effectiveness of in-place, environmental management systems, and assess risks from regulated and unregulated substances and practices.
Some direct results of an auditing program include an increased environmental awareness by project employees, early detection and correction of problems and thus avoidance of environmental agency enforcement actions, and improved management control of environmental programs (Allison 1988).
Several references are available describing protocols and experiences in auditing related to the EIA process (Canter 1985a; Munro,Bryant, and Matte-Baker 1986; PADC Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning Unit 1982; Sadler 1987;United Nations Environment Program, 1990).

Careful planning and implementation of an environmental monitoring program is necessary to meet the stated purposes of monitoring. Three premises relative to monitoring programs in the United States are,

An abundance of environmental monitoring data is routinely collected by various governmental agencies and the private sector. These data typically need to be identified, aggregated, and interpreted.
Environmental monitoring programs are expensive to plan and implement; therefore, every effort should be made to use extant monitoring programs or modify extant programs.
Due to overlapping environmental management and monitoring responsibilities of many local, state, and federal government agencies, environmental monitoring planning must be coordinated with several agencies.

Applications of Environmental Monitoring

1.Air Quality Monitoring

A systematic method of monitoring the air quality proportion determines the amount of pollutants in place like particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. This knowledge is mainly applied to the development of air quality standards, implementation of emission control measures, and well-being of the public.

2.Water Quality Monitoring

Understanding the quality of water sites entail monitoring factors which include the composition of pH, liquid oxygen available, nutrient level, and foulant level. Therefore, this data is very crucial for making drinking water safe, maintaining health of aquatic ecosystems, and delivering high quality services in water management.

3.Climate Monitoring

Observation of the climate parameters, such as temperature, precipitation, and greenhouse gases concentrations, most particularly plays the role of the core on the understanding of climate change patterns. This helps to set mitigation and adaptation behaviors while it also increases the knowledge that feeds the climate research.

4.Soil Health Assessment

The evaluation of soil health will concern data collection factors such as nutrient levels, moisture within soil, and pollution. This information is a considerable component of sustainable farming systems, and also affects landuse policies as well as soil deterioration prevention measures.

5.Biodiversity Monitoring

Monitoring biodiversity enables the monitoring of changes in species populations and reducing their habitats, and thereby the health of ecosystems. In this view, getting to this information is very critical for conservation efforts as well as for the understanding of the impact of human activities on environmental systems.

Challenges and Future Trends

Although critical for environmental protection, monitoring has its problems that range from insufficient finances to data integration matters to standardized methods development. The future direction in the area of environmental monitoring would include integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning for data analysis, an enhancement of the citizens science and other initiatives for the collection and interpretation of environmental data as well as the design of new sensor technologies for real-time monitoring.

Conclusion

Environmental monitoring is at the top of protecting the environment. It makes it possible to create policies, make well-informed decisions, and take proactive measures to address environmental issues. As technology progresses and worldwide concerns escalate, environmental monitoring will play an even more crucial role in steering humankind toward a sustainable future. It becomes apparent that it is an essential instrument for attaining a peaceful coexistence with Earth, offering understanding of the state of ecosystems and the consequences of human activity on our planet.