Case Study and Sustainability

¶ … Waste Crisis in Campania, Italy

Since early 1990s to late 2000s, the Italian government issued a formal State of Emergency in the region of Campania, south-west Italy because of the saturation of regional waste treatment facilities. During this period, there was huge evidence including a study by World Health Organization that showed increased accumulation of legal, illegal, urban and industrial waste, which in turn contaminated water, air, and soil. The contamination was brought by a series of toxic pollutants from the waste including dioxins. This case provides significant insights regarding sustainability and demonstrates various ecological economics sustainability concepts. Moreover, this case study raises some sustainability challenges or questions that are helpful when considering environmental sustainability.

Synopsis of the Case

Campania region in south-west Italy was under a formal State of Emergency for nearly 14 years i.e. between 1994 and 2008 (Civil Society Engagement with Ecological Economics, 2010). This emergency was brought by the increased accumulation of all manner of waste including urban and industrial waste that contaminated the region's air, water, and soil through a series of toxic pollutants like dioxins. Campania's soil, superficial and underground waters, and atmosphere has been affected by the more than 20 years unlawful and/or unsuitable treatment and disposal of urban and industrial waste. Some of the major factors that caused this contamination include detrimental cultural behaviors, criminal behaviors by major stakeholders such as politicians and company managers, and unlawful activities of the Camorra. Moreover, the region's waste management cycle has been permeated by a network of criminal organizations that carry out unlawful activities that harm the environment. The situation has threatened the life of every living thing and humans given that this region is densely populated.

Ecological Economics Sustainability Concepts Used in the Case

Ecological economics is a different approach to environmental problems from the neoclassical or conventional economics approach. Through ecological economics, the well-being of future generations is based on maintenance of non-market and non-quantifiable characteristics of nature and human institutions. The core concept of ecological economics is sustainability, which is viewed empirically and qualitatively. In this case, sustainability is viewed from local to global spatial scales and biophysical indicators. In Campania's case study, waste management practices failed to measure up to the concept of sustainability, which is regarded as the ability of an activity to continue without affecting the balance between resources and resultant wastes (Barker, 2013). The region is continually subjected to environmental injustice that contaminates the environment at the expense of the lives and welfare of residents. Moreover, Campania's ecological footprint shows that the assimilation of generated waste is 15 times more than its resource base can support, which shows lack of balance between resource use and environmental limits.

The second ecological economics sustainability concept used in this case study is co-evolution, which is based on the interactions between natural and human-economic systems. Based on this concept, markets cannot adequately meet people's needs or produce technologies and activities that are ecologically-sound in the long-term. The Ecomafia has infiltrated the region's waste management system for financial gain to the detriment of environmental safety and wellbeing of the residents. The concept of co-evolution is also based on the premise of a good relationship between private behavior/activities and social goods like clean water and air (Barker, 2013). To this extent, private behavior by politicians, policymakers, company managers, and Camorra generate social problems like waste crisis and pollution in Campania.

Sustainability Lessons from the Case Study

Campania's waste crisis provides significant sustainability lessons, particularly from an ecological economics perspective. One of the lessons sustainability learned from the case study is the need to balance resource use and waste generation in order to achieve sustainability. Resource utilization should not be promoted and enhanced at the expense of reducing waste generation or effective waste management. Secondly, sustainability and sustainable development can be achieved through appropriate collaboration between various stakeholders including civil society organizations. The lack of suitable collaboration hinders sustainability measures and generates environmental problems as shown in Campania's case. Third, sustainability requires environmental justice through environmentally-friendly practices.