|
|
MRF
> Environment >
News and Events > UNEP
Press Release
PRESS RELEASE
New Publication
October 2001
Environmental Technology Assessment (EnTA)
Manila, Philippines Training Workshop Report
22-25 February 2000
Environmental Technology Assessment (EnTA) is a pro-active, structured
approach for evaluating technologies prior to their implementation as
new technologies, and more efficient uses of the existing ones are essential
to promote sustainable development, to protect the environment and to
alleviate poverty. EnTA is one of the important environmental management
tools and has been developed by UNEP's Division of Technology, Industry
and Economics through its International Environmental Technology Centre
(IETC) and its Production and Consumption Branch.
This training Workshop, designed to familiarise participants with the
EnTA process using automotive battery recycling as a case study, was convened
by The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in conjunction with
the International Lead Management Centre (ILMC) and the Carl Duisberg
Gesellschaft (CDG).
The workshop programme included presentations and discussions on environmental
assessment techniques, the economics of sustainable environmentally sound
battery recycling, construction and design of the modern recyclable lead
acid battery, principles of hydro-metallurgical and pyro-metallurgical
battery recycling, and the methods and practices of EnTA, as well as a
practical, field-based assessment exercise in EnTA. As a result of the
workshop, 40 participants from government, industrial processes, environmental
managers, representatives of educational institutions and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) from the ASEAN region, and from selected countries
in transition are now trained in the use of EnTA.
Considerable progress was also made towards an evaluated and revised
EnTA Manual, ready for worldwide use by Governments and industry as a
selection tool for sound environmental management of recycling and other
processes, and preparation of a model workshop. The workshop thus contributed
to international advanced training, to dialogue and to human resources
development, including international know-how transfer between North and
South, and East and West. Equally important is the fact that EnTA identifies
if more sophisticated assessment tools, such as environmental risk assessment
and cost-benefit analysis, need be used to ensure that the appropriate
environmental outcomes can indeed be achieved. The EnTA trainer's manual
is annexed to the Workshop Report.
Increased use of EnTA is important as today's environmental agenda is
too complex for ad hoc approaches to technology use. Prevention and waste
minimization is both more efficient and more effective at delivering the
economic and environmental performance demanded by society today.
The full text of the Report is available, in pdf format, on the Mineral
Resources Forum website at www.mineralresourcesforum.org.
|
