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The Environment and Standards: Close Together
The aftermath of the Rio Earth Summit and of the Kyoto
Convention have shown the difficulty faced by many governments in coming
to grips with global environmental issues. The merit of these high profile
events however is that they have created a new consciousness among business,
industry and consumers of many positive steps that they can themselves
take with or without a strict regulatory framework.
International Standards have for many decades been a primary tool in resolving
such issues. They address the quality, safety, produceability and many
other aspects of an ever-growing array of products, processes and services
as technological and industrial development accelerates around the world.
They are based on international consensus. By offering globally applicable
solutions, they are cost effective and allow all to take advantage of
the knowledge and experience gained in the more advanced economies.
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Perhaps most importantly in dealing with environmental
issues, they are for voluntary adoption by anyone from a single
individual to a government or group of governments, which means
that they can be used and acted upon before legal requirements are
introduced.
By their nature, by necessity and by design, ISO,
IEC and ITU are in the front line of efforts to meet perhaps the
greatest and certainly one of the most public challenges of the
new Century - our environment, how to protect it and how to manage
it better.
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In much of the industrialised world, management of environmental
issues has become as much a cornerstone of business practice as health,
safety and quality. But it is self-evident that not all countries have
the resources of the industrialised world. Environmental aspects of Standards
are significantly different in at least one respect from other broad-ranging
subjects of international standardisation such as quality. The basic arguments
for environmental considerations in Standards are the same as those for
sustainable development. The environmental aspects of standardisation
are in fact a component of sustainable development.
ISO, the IEC and ITU also have an important responsibility as well as
an active role in helping developing and newly industrialised countries
to become environmentally conscious while contributing to make their own
future economically and environmentally stable. Whether it is in management,
product, systems, process, measurement or testing Standards - or indeed
by facilitating sustainable development through the spread of standardised
telecommunications - each organisation has its part to play and each works
with a host of others to have the widest possible consensus as well as
the most globally beneficial effect.
Having more than 30 years of active involvement with the issues, ISO,
the IEC and ITU have a three-dimensional approach to the environmental
aspects of standardisation. Hundreds of Standards already exist, for example,
dealing with specific questions such as the sampling, testing and analysis
of air, water and soil. Thousands more covering a multitude of physical
products, increasingly in the electrical, electronic and telecommunication
spheres, already contain information and recommendations on environmental
aspects like materials, industrial processes, recycling and waste disposal.
Many of these will also have an important role in current efforts to help
consumers with standardised, clear and easily understood eco-labelling.
At the strategic level, international Standards on environmental management
offer a structure, a methodology and practical tools to help organisations
of all types to manage the impact of their activities on the environment.
All these Standards are available for industry to use in environmentally
conscious design and manufacture, in effect to regulate itself as regards
the environment. In the area of telecommunication, standardised systems
enable scientists around the world to collect, analyse and disseminate
data on climate change, on the state of our waters or underground resources,
providing the authoritative indicators by which remedial solutions can
be elaborated and implemented to protect our environment.
Even International Standards cannot be all things to all people. But the
informed, realistic and responsible way in which ISO, the IEC and ITU
are addressing environmental issues that affect us all will have a growing
impact on society's response to meeting its own expectations. The environment
and international Standards are perhaps more than just close together.
For the foreseeable future, they are inextricably linked.
Mr Mario Cortopassi, President of ISO
Mr Mathias Funfschilling, President of the IEC
Mr Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of ITU
Adapted from ISO Bulletin October 2001
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