ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

Industry Analysis, Trends and Potentials

Market Characteristcis, Needs, Gaps and Opportunities

Consumer Values, Interests, Attitudes

Competitors and Competitive Positioning

Policies and Regulations

Social, Demographic, Cultural Trends and Patterns

Technological Status

Cost of Doing Business

Environment Analysis
Environmental assessment or analysis should recognize four general areas of concern. These are the social, the political, the economic and the ecological factors.

Social factors include the demography of the society under study like its population, age, morbidity and gender parameters. They look at the education and skills levels of the populace, their health and their state of physical as well as psychological security. Social factors necessarily entail an appreciation of religious values as well as cultural customs and mores. They take into account the structure of society, the relationship and interaction of one social group to the other and the general “pecking order” of societal authority.

Political factors have to do with power structures and forces which influences an environment’s internal governance and its external linkages. These structures and forces include the existing government power elite and their oppositionist, religious sects, anarchists, business tycoons, activists, reactionaries, the military, revolutionaries, landlords, peasants, management, labor unions, the voting masses, etceteras. These factors weave a web of protagonists, a pattern of collaborations and conflicts. They are founded on certain constitutional or legal frameworks which most follow but other seek to destroy. They have to do with the control and management of vital internal resources including human, natural, physical and monetary. Political forces also seek to attract augmentative resources from the outside environment while striving to prevent destructive elements from entering its internal boundaries.

Economic factors involve all productive forces generated by capital, land and labor from both the formal and the informal sectors of the economy. Investments in various forms of assets with their corresponding financial sources are the foundations of economic wealth generation and distribution. They are shaped by technology sourcing and usage, management expertise, manpower skills, savings realized, consumption patterns, investment level, financing raised and production realized. Economic factors determine the general quality of life of the people living in the environment under evaluation.

Ecological factors situate how the different parts of the ecosystem or ecological environment affect one another. They assess how these parts tend to build or destroy, enhance or degrade other parts. They, therefore, determine the environment’s ability to continually provide sustenance and well-being to its living inhabitants, be they men, animals or plants. Ecological factors define the quality of life produced by the environment due to productivity or conservation programs. Ecological factors dictate the condition of the environment’s natural resources and degree of utilization or exploitation of these resources. They establish the pollution levels regurgitated by economic and social activities.

The social, political, economic and ecological factors are the parameters by which one evaluates the past, present and future performance of the environment. These factors can be viewed from different perspectives depending on one’s interests and concerns.