Unsustainable Land Use

Waste Management seen at Trincity Industrial Estate

" Waste Management  is the generation, prevention, characterization, monitoring, treatment, handling, reuse and residual disposition of solid wastes. This waste material is produced due to human activity and it requires management because if not reduced, there can be irreversible threats that can be detrimental to both human health and the environment."(Cossu, n.d)

The picture above illustrates an area that appears to be a dump but however this area of land is found amongst the well established businesses found within the Trincity Industrial Estate. Just to name a few there are large warehouse shopping centers such as Super Quality Grocery, Nm Ghany Ltd and IAM & Company Ltd. Yes it is an industrial site but how sustainable is this practice by these companies. 

Behind the fence , one can see mountainous piles of plastic and cardboard boxes taking up this land space. For an area with such developmental status, having a site like this is distasteful  and can be noted as being a waste of space. It is certain that this area compiled with so much rubbish is as a result of owners because the fencing around the area gives the assumption that this land is privatized. So therefore there is the privatization of an open space being used for private dumping. Why have any of these company owners or even the owner of the land instead of using this space as a dump, used this land to create a green space?

Not all land has to be used for commercial use which encourages economic gains. However this poor use of space surely provides an insight into the level of respect large companies such as these has for the environment. It is seen that when a country as a whole is trying to reach a level of sustaining its environment, areas such as these shows the reality which suggest that man is going to serve in his own best interest hence land use is unsustainable.

Another example of this can be seen in Port of Spain around the Queen's Park Savannah,where I have noticed a building that has been abandoned for a long period of time.

Abandoned building seen around Queens Park Savannah

With the abandonment of this building, and due to it becoming dilapidated over a period of time, it may or may have already become home to many rodents and may be associated with many health risks. By these spaces being left to exist, this is an unsustainable practice therefore by removing these areas and regenerating green spaces and creating an eco-system, positive changes into the environment can occur. All it takes is one person to make a change and spread the word in order for people to work together and provide a sustainable environment,  that is not being degraded. As such people need to be educated on practices that can encourage the sustainable use of land. "There should also be the effective environmental management required for markets and policy decisions so that it takes into consideration the limited bio-capacity of the planet instead of people consuming more than they need " (Potts, 2006)

Listen to what the UNEP had to say about Unsustainable Land Use here

Reference:

Jason Potts. “Global Commodity Chain Sustainability Analysis: An analytic framework for assessing ecological impacts of commodity supply chains and appropriate policy responses.” IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2006.

<http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/global_commodity_chain.pdf>

Raffaello Cossu. "Waste Management". N.p:n.d <http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0956053X14000269/1-s2.0-S0956053X14000269-main.pdf?_tid=47084716-c1ed-11e3-bc7d-00000aab0f26&acdnat=1397271239_3bc73f00eaf7ff1b1296db2252dcbcb9>