Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Barton, Jonathan R.
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia
Title: The North-South Dimension of the Environment and Cleaner Technology Industries
Abstract: The environment industry has grown rapidly since the 1980s. This growth is a 
	 response to environmental regulations. Due to the relatively early application of
	 these regulations in the US, Europe and Japan, these areas have become competitive
	 producers and exporters of environmental products and services. As the industrial
	 sector has developed, environmental awareness has been raised and competition and
	 international trade in the environment industry has expanded. There is now a clear
	 North/South dimension to international patterns of development of the industry and
	 its trade. Whilst environment industries were established to deal with waste
	 reduction and disposal strategies, there has also been a drive towards cleaner
	 production.
	 The European environment and cleaner technology industries are reviewed in order to
	 establish their competitiveness and the shift between the two different approaches
	 to environmental management: amelioration by environmental industries and
	 prevention by cleaner technologies in process and production. Latin American
	 provides the counter-example, the experience of the environment industry and
	 cleaner production in the South.
	 The nature of the expansion of the industrial environmental management sector is
	 questioned, particularly the composition of the sector and how it is interpreted in
	 different countries. The paper suggests that the environment industry and cleaner
	 technologies should be understood as industries rather than as unquestionably
	 'environmentally positive' sets of products and services. The paper also addresses
	 the extent to which these industries reveal an information and technology gap in
	 environmental management. This gap may, on the one hand, assist environmental
	 managers in the South, but on the other may lead to a condition of environmental
	 management dependence. 
Keywords: Environmental Policy, North South Relations , Industry, Trade
Series: Discussion Paper
Creation-Date: 1998
Number: 02
File-URL: http://www.intech.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/9802.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 94.1 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unuint:199802