Local autonomy and green developmen

By Pae Ki-pyo

Green fever is sweeping the world of management recently.

It is not so hard to find executives who assert the idea, that it is time to break from unconditional development and the logic of arithmetical efficiency and instead balance with nature in consideration of the environment, as their business philosophy.

This movement is called sustainable development, a term that first appeared in a U.N. report in 1987. In this report, sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of this generation impeding ability to satisfy their needs.

As environmental issues are not just the matter of one nation but have become a major international talking point, ``sustainable development” is leading to national management. The United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of last year is a part of this context. Green development is now a global drift that cannot be denied. It is wise for us to take part to enhance our national competitiveness.

Since the amount of recyclable water resources per person is ranked at the bottom 142 among 180 countries around the world, it is necessary to pay more attention to water resources. When I was young, I never imagined that there would come a time when water could be bought. Individuals do not notice it yet because of the high efficiency of water usage with good infrastructure; however, it is clear that we need to call attention to water resources before it is too late.

Moreover, as environmental issues are easily creating a situation occurring from a public issue called the free ride phenomenon, in which a person aiming for convenience by taking the results arising from the actions of the majority people in a group that she or he belongs to, an effort by the local government is needed. As a CPA working in America, I could have observed and experienced the efforts of many foreign local governments to purify the environment.

For instance, the city Barcelona in Spain established an ordinance to use more than 60 percent of solar energy for heating and hot water for new buildings, and Portland in the U.S. is expecting the reduction of about 60,000 tons of CO2 discharge for the next 10 years by providing carpool information through the internet in order to reduce gas emission from cars.

Under recent concerns about water resources and an effort by local governments on environmental issues, the ``GEM” campaign in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, is worthy of notice. GEM is a compound word that combines the capital letter G of Goyang, and the acronym EM that stands for Effective Micro-Organism.

A substance called EM, which was developed by Professor Teruo Higa of Tyukyus University in Japan in hopes of providing happiness to mankind rather than making profits for few people, has boundless usefulness in many areas such as improving water quality, fermentation, environmental-friendly agriculture, and animal husbandry.

The ``GEM” campaign induces interest and participation of citizens by distributing EM to people and educating them under the supervision of the city. It is a desirable campaign in a way that it correlates to a concept that was globally popular last year called ``Nudge,” which induces self action not to compel or neglect.

An era has come that holds ``how to develop without exerting bad influences as much as possible on the environment” as a competitive power according to the aftereffects of industrialization.

A nation cannot escape the urgency of times like this. The more the country contributes to environment issues, the easier it is to give moral satisfaction and superiority to the public and reinforce foreign negotiating power on a national level.

In order to do that, the roles of local governments are significant. If local governments make more efforts and act out to improve the environment, then the national competitiveness will naturally be reinforced.

The writer is a certified public accountant in Delaware in the United States and he is currently pursuing an MBA at Seoul National University. He can be reached at consultant@snu.ac.kr.