The Role of Engineers in Sustainable Development

José Medem Sanjuán

1. THE WORD FEDERATION OF ENGINEERING ORGANIZATIONS

2. SITUATION OF THE WORLD

3. CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

4. BENEFITS AND BASIC ELEMENTS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

5. STATEMENT TO THE EARTH COUNCIL AL RIO

6. OBLIGATIONS OF THE ENGINEERS

7. INNOVATION

8. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

9. CONCLUSION

As President of WFEO it is a great pleasure and at the same time an immense honour to make this presentation on the occasion of the FIDIC 2000 Annual Conference "Sustainability and the Expanding Role that Engineers should play in the Future".

First of all I want to congratulate FIDIC for the perfect organisation of this Conference and at the same time I want to express my gratitude for your kind invitation to participate as your guest in this important event.

Today we are starting a close collaboration between two important international Federations, FIDIC taking care of the consulting engineers, and WFEO as the umbrella organization of all national and regional engineering organizations, and I am convinced that this cooperation will benefit both Federations.

1. THE WORD FEDERATION OF ENGINEERING ORGANIZATIONS

Founded in 1968 by a group of regional and national engineering organizations, under the auspices of UNESCO in Paris, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) is a non-governmental international organization that brings together national engineering organizations from over 80 nations and represents some 8,000,000 engineers from around the world.

The Federation is the worldwide leader of the engineering profession and co-operates with national and other international professional institutions in developing and applying engineering to the benefit of humanity.

WFEO and UATI, the International Union of Technical Associations and Organizations, jointly created in 1994 the International Council for Engineering and Technology (ICET), one of the twelve NGOs formally associated with UNESCO.

The General Assembly, the supreme governing body of the Federation, meets biennially. Between meetings, the affairs of the Federation are directed by the Executive Council, urgent business being transacted by the Executive Board.

The Secretariat located in Paris is headed by the Executive Director and conducts the day-to-day business in consultation with the President.

2. SITUATION OF THE WORLD

The growth of our civilization has created a dangerous situation at the end of this millenium with plenty of unsustainable activities, like population growth, megacities, poverty, planet's life support systems, unsustainable consumption, health, scarcity of water resources, greenhouse effect, ozone hole, supply of energy, etc. The problem of how to ensure a sufficient supply of environmentally friendly energy is one of the biggest challenges facing our planet today.

Everyone is aware of the environmental problems of global warming and deforestation on the one hand and the social problems of increasing poverty and growing shanty towns on the other. Nearly one billion persons are now impoverished or hungry with little or no employment. When these two factors collide, we have new scale of disasters.

Last year natural disasters created more refugees than wars and conflict combined. Declining soil fertility, drought, flooding and deforestation forced 30 million people to become environmental refugees as they moved off their land and into squatter urban communities, claiming from last year's El Niño 21000 lives. One billion people live in shanty towns around the world and 40 of the 50 fastest growing cities are located in earthquake zones. Another ten million people live under constant threat of floods.

3. CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

There are many definitions of sustainable development.

Herman Daly of the World Bank describes sustainability thus:

• the rate of use of renewable resources should not exceed the rate of regeneration
• the rate of use of non-renewable resources should not exceed the rate of development of sustainable alternatives.
• the rate of emission of pollutants should not exceed the capacity of the environment to absorb them.

A colloquial way of expressing the same truths of these definitions might be "If we threat the environment as though there were no tomorrow, there will be no tomorrow not as we know it".

Engineers must view environmental, technological, economic and social development as interdependent concepts in which industrial development and ecological sustainability are addressed as complementary aspects of a common goal.

Sustainable development demands new roles, not only for engineers, but also for all members of the development team, who must work together to ensure success. Sustainable development requires finding new ways to do business; most significantly, to do more with less - less resources, less energy consumption and less waste.

In order to safeguard the survival of humanity the per capita consumption of resources in the industrialised world must be massively reduced, promoting a change of lifestyle, away from excess to more quality of life and environment for everyone. We must change without delay our unsustainable consumption patterns if we want to be consequent with the sustainable development.

In the dialogue over environmental responsibility, sustainable development quickly became a nebulous concept, a type of overarching moral obligation of one generation to the next. Much of the environmental community first described it as the maintenance of existing resources to meet the needs of both the present and future populations. Sustainability today has evolved into a concept which is less centered on protecting the environment from humanity and more focused on compelling individuals to make sensible choices concerning resource consumption.

The effort to achieve sustainability without sacrificing personal well-being will undoubtedly be helped by new scientific knowledge and new technologies developed from it. Improvements in technological understanding and choice can make significant contributions to sustainable development and to human health and welfare. Scientific and technological knowledge has led to remarkable advances that have been of great benefit to humankind. But at the same time the application of technological advances have led in the past to environmental degradation, contributing to social imbalance and making possible sophisticated weapons. Scientific knowledge, technological ability and courage to seek out new horizons are becoming ever more concentrated and focused at this turn of the new millenium.

The biggest challenge of all is that all groups and interests separately identified must come together and work together for the indefinite future. It will require a willingness from all parties to abandon extreme or simplistic positions in favour of rational appraisal of conflicting aims and benefits. There is a need for consensus building and co-operation, indeed for team work.

4. BENEFITS AND BASIC ELEMENTS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Meeting the needs of the present in a way that doesn't jeopardise the future makes good sense for engineers, regardless of the area in which they work. Engineering practices which aim to assist the transition to sustainability offer a number of benefits:

• reduced cost of operations and services
• rapidly expanding business opportunities
• improved competitiveness
• avoidance of unpleasant surprises
• community harmony
• livable communities

The basic elements of sustainability are:

• economic vitality
• social equity
• conservation of biodiversity
• maintenance of ecological integrity

To move toward sustainability it is necessary for engineers to take a somewhat broader view of their responsabilities and to recognise the overall life cycle context of a project of which their work is only a part. This is very important for the consulting engineers involved in large projects.

5. STATEMENT TO THE EARTH COUNCIL AT RIO

The concepts and principles of sustainable development place a burden on the engineer. A burden to change the way we do business. James Poirot, Vice-President of WFEO and the Chairman of the Committee on Sharing, Transfer and Assessment of Technology, made the following remarks in March of 1997 to the Earth Council at Rio.

"Of the ten million engineers in the world, eight million are members of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations and thus have a vital and powerful role in the successful implementation of sustainable development. As engineers accomplish their work in the built environment and in the manufacture of products, they provide an important linkage for implementing sustainable development".

One of the four commitments made by Poirot at Rio + 5 was to make all engineers knowledgeable of the sustainable development principles and this is being done by various WFEO Standing Committees, CEE and ComTech with quarterly newsletter, websites and annual presentations at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development over the last three years.

Jim Poirot concluded his comments suggesting that engineers should continuosly participate in explaining to the public the principles of sustainable development as they relate to the works of engineers, in order to achieve more rapidly a sustainable future in the built environment.

In our last General Assembly, held in Madrid, WFEO adopted the following resolutions in support of the Earth Charter:

1. WFEO will submit constructive comments on the Benchmark Draft II by December 31, 1999, including that humanity be placed first, and we have done this.
2. WFEO will support the continuing development and use of the principles having engineering implications in the modified Abbreviated Earth Charter as published in Benchmark Draft II, recognizing that the United Nations may modify it during the 2000-2002 review period.
3. WFEO will bring the full Earth Charter, as finalized by the United Nations, before the WFEO General Assembly in 2003, recognizing that actions by WFEO could include exceptions to certain principles.
4. Recognizing that the Earth Charter is being defined as the "Principles of Sustainable

Development", WFEO supports incorporating language into engineering codes of ethics which indicate that engineers should follow the Principles of Sustainable Development and that these principles are as defined in the Earth Charter as modified according to Resolution 3.

Very recently (29.06.00) a new phase of the Earth Charter Initiative was officially launched at the Hague, with the purpose to celebrate the accomplishments of the consultation process and the release of the final Earth Charter document, which empowers and links the efforts of ongoing civil society movements and is used as a framework for personal and professional codes of conduct. Engineers were a part of the Earth Charter launching ceremony and WFEO is visible in numerous instances on the Earth Charter website. You see that engineers are active in the development of the Earth Charter and have become respected for setting an example of a profession taking action to incorporate addressing the principles of sustainable development into professional codes of ethics.

Governments, both national and local, are expecting their consulting engineers to be knowledgeable of sustainable development principles and will often ask them to explain how consulting engineers are incorporating sustainability into their companies and their projects..

We think that, without sound engineering, the Earth Charter principles and objetives will never be accomplished. If the engineers can't find a technical solution, then there usually isn't one.

6. OBLIGATIONS OF THE ENGINEERS

As engineers, we must support sustainable development having in mind that human beings are at the center of concern for sustainability. We must work to promote public recognition and understanding of the need for sustainable development and the policies and technology required to achieve an ecologically sustainable world for future generations, applying the values of the scientific and technological community to build sustainability. Specifically, we must:

• Cultivate a new understanding of political, economic, technical and social issues and processes related to development, watching the world with new eyes, constantly changing their perspective.
• Acquire the skills, knowledge and information to facilitate sustainable future, and actively address the world's central problems.
• Develop the tools required to achieve sustainable integration of the environment and development.
• Acquire new economic approaches that ensure true pricing and recognition of our natural resources and environment as capital asset.
• Move beyond our disciplines to evaluate alternatives and to affect policy changes toward sustainable development.
• Develop partnerships with other design professionals, economists and social, environmental and physical scientists to arrive ecologically sustainable solutions.
• Adopt and apply an integrated systems approach where the relationship of the parts to the whole is considered.
• Assume responsability to set priorities in the fight against the problems facing humanity.
• Use the Internet to communicate with one another, to talk and discuss, no matter where you are or which company you happen to work for, no matter what nationality you have or the color of your skin.

7. INNOVATION

Innovation, the act of introducing and using new ideas, technologies, products, and/or processes, plays an important role in the economy of all the countries and the global marketplace. Technological innovation, along with the research and development that contribute to it, has spurred the growth and industrial leadership of the industrialized countries by increasing their productivity and global competitiveness, and by enhancing their quality of life. The ease and quickness in which technology commercialization and innovation occurs is critical to the technological and economic future of these nations.

Engineers occupy a variety of roles in industry development and maintenance and spend their days dealing with disparate issues associated with their particular disciplines and assignments. In order to function in a global economy, they must confront the formidable challenge of applying a long term view to short term projects so that the promise of present development does not overshadow the promise for future growth.

The particular role of the engineer will be to design for sustainability and to present options for better achievement of sustainability. Engineers will not just present options from the very worst upwards. Engineers must increasingly be sufficiently attuned to issues of sustainability and acceptability that the bad options are not offered at all. They will have a key role in the continuing development of specifications and codes of practice directing efforts towards sustainability.

There is an important role for engineers and scientists to help in formulating reasonable policies, to help in educating the public as to why those policies are reasonable and necessary, to gain the public's confidence in political decisions that are based on technical concepts and to identify specific engineering solutions that conform with the policy objectives.

Engineers should alight their energies and gear their activities towards purposeful action in raising the quality of life for civil society in the next millenium. Sustainable quality has first priority from the procuring of new materials through processing to marketing to the customers.

Business, Science and Government have to live by innovation, otherwise they will not be able to achieve their goals.

8. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

For relief of poverty we need the concerted efforts of the whole global science, engineering and technology community since the problem is global and SET will more and more be converging. Development is needed to eradicate poverty.

WFEO has the moral obligation to cooperate with developing countries in the essential task of relieving poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, according to Principle 5 of Agenda 21.

In order to accelerate this important process in our last General Assembly held in Madrid last November a new task force was created under the chairmanship of Past President C. Bauer and with representatives of India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Libya and Lebanon, with the mission of studying the possibilities of the support to less developed countries.

There is no way that we will have peace on our planet in the future unless we can address the questions of equity and the issues of poverty. A peaceful world is dependent on being an equitable world.

WFEO's role is essentially that of facilitator, trying to strengthen the capacity of regional members to the objective of partnership arrangements for the conduct of conferences, seminars and training programs, with a strong contribution in education and training in environmental management. Continuation of global progress in the reduction of illiteracy is vital for the world, achieving a much more equitable access to and use of knowledge. The sharing of knowledge is of vital importance not only to ensure that we are provided with such necessities as food, water, clothing and shelter, but also to understanding one another, resolving disputes, avoiding conflicts and creating harmony.

The program should support and increased technology transfer in order to stimulate engineering capabilities in the developing countries. Rich countries should help the less developed countries to gain access to the skills and technologies they need.

First of all the real needs of the developing world must be identified by the national members before the right action can be applied by themselves. The skills and capacities of the engineering community can make an enormous contribution to the prospects of a more equitable future. If there is no equity and if poverty is not addressed, then there will be no peace in the future.

WFEO should promote refined and new technologies and share information and expertise through national institutions, initiating and implementing a program to strengthen the professional institutions and providing management and technical capacity building to the members of these institutions, offering expert advice.

It is essential that this process must assure that the local persons involved, trained and stimulated by this program, will be able to apply their improved knowledge and skills working productively in their own countries.

With new information and communication technologies dismantling the obstacles to research cooperation, developing countries have a great opportunity to close the knowledge gap that separate them from the world's most scientifically-advanced countries.

The technological elite will have to work hand in hand with engineers and scientists to improve the quality of human life and the environment that supports it. In any case international cooperation is needed to inform and train businesses worldwide in enabling more efficient production and consumption patterns.

9. CONCLUSION

From all we have presented regarding WFEO and the engineering profession, we may conclude that engineers know their critical role in creating a sustainable earth and that we are becoming more and more involved each year in sustainable development practices. Without sound engineering the principles and objectives of sustainable development will never be accomplished.

Therefore as President of  WFEO I want to express our firm commitment and engagement with the sustainable development and our willingness to cooperate closer with FIDIC and other International Organizations in the vital issue of sustainability.