Executive Summary
Peace and security are vital components that significantly contribute to regional and international stability. The United Nations (UN) commits to peacekeeping operations to help navigate countries through the difficult path of conflict to peace. Nonetheless, the UN does not work alone in the maintenance of peace and security across the world. Instead, the UN collaborates with regional organizations for support in maintaining international peace. This article examines the role of regional agencies in the maintenance of peace and security. It discusses the legal basis of peacekeeping operations by regional arrangements, the forms of cooperation between the UN and the organizations in maintaining international order, active mission by regional organizations; and, the advantages of using regional agencies to resolve conflicts. The article concludes that regional organizations are the cornerstone to international peace and significantly reduce the UN’s peacekeeping burden.
Introduction
The prospective role of regional organizations to help maintain international peace and security was envisioned during the establishment of the United Nations (UN) and is embodied in the Chapter VIII of the UN charter. The 1992 UN Secretary-General report to the UN Security Council titled ‘An Agenda for Peace’ outlined how the UN might respond to violations of international peace and security post the Cold War. The report recommended several proposals, including the UN drawing on the support of regional organizations in maintaining international peace and security. The report emphasized the importance of regional organizations in supporting the UN peacekeeping efforts across various spectrums, from preventive diplomacy to peacebuilding post-conflicts. Thus, regional organizations significantly lightened the UN’s burden of maintaining peace and promoting participation, consensus, and democracy in international affairs.
Therefore, the main objective of this article is to analyze the role of regional organizations in maintaining international peace and security. The paper will firstly discuss the term regional organization before addressing the legal framework of international peacekeeping and security. The article will continue with a discussion on forms of cooperation between the UN and regional organizations to promote international peace and security. Moreover, the paper will briefly discuss some of the active and recently concluded regional organization peacekeeping operations worldwide and their influence in resolving the conflicts at hand. Lastly, the article highlights the advantages of regional organizations in maintaining peace and security, followed by a conclusion that highlights the significant points of the article.
Regional Organizations
The UN Charter does not provide a specific definition for the term regional organization. However, the wording in article 52 of Chapter VIII of the UN Charter provides guidance on the description of a regional organization. The Charter uses the terms ‘regional arrangements’ and ‘regional agencies.’ the keyword in both terms is ‘regional’, which suggests geographical vicinity must exist between the members of the organization. However, the degree of vicinity between the member states is not restricted to territorial contiguity, but extends to cultural, economic and political vicinity. Examples of regional organizations include the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Western Europe Union (WEU), the Arab League, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the African Union (AU). However, regional organizations need a constitutional basis to conduct peacekeeping and security operations.
The Legal Basis of Regional Organizations Conducting Peacekeeping Operations
The legal basis for regional originations in the maintenance of international peacekeeping and security operations has been a subject of doctrinal debate as the UN Charter does not mention peace operations. Nonetheless, Articles 52 and 53 in Chapter VIII of the UN Charter can provide legal basis for peacekeeping operations.
Article 52 (1) states that “nothing in the present Charter precludes the existence of regional arrangements or agencies for dealing with such matter relating to the maintenance of international peace and security as are appropriate for regional action, provided that such arrangements or agencies and their activities are consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations” (The United Nations, 1945).
Article 53(1) states that “the Security Council shall, where appropriate, utilize such regional arrangements or agencies for enforcement actions under its authority. But no enforcement action shall be taken under regional arrangements or by regional agencies without the authorization of the Security Council” (The United Nations, 1945).
Therefore, the terms ‘activities’ and ‘enforcement’ as used in articles 52 and 53 respectively have come to be known as peace operations, providing a legal basis for their existence.
Forms of Cooperation between the UN and Regional Organizations
The UN works collaboratively with regional organizations in maintaining international peace and security. The cooperation is critical in promoting dialogue, providing support and in deployment of joint operations to solve conflicts across the world. The Secretary-General outlined the forms of cooperation between the UN and regional organizations in 1995 report titled ‘Supplement to an Agenda of Peace’. According to chapter 86 of the supplement, the forms of cooperation include consultation, diplomatic support, operational support, co-deployment and joint operations. The Security Council responded to the supplement by reaffirming the crucial role of regional organizations in the maintenance of peace and security.
Consultation
Consultation facilitates exchange of views on conflicts that both the UN and the regional organizations may be attempting to solve. According to the 1995 Supplement to an Agenda of Peace, consultations can either be formal with periodic reports made to the General Assembly, or less formal, where the Secretary-General calls consultative meeting with the leaders of all regional arrangements that cooperate with the UN (The United Nations, 1995). Specifically, the UN maintains close consultations with the relevant regional and sub-regional organizations on specific conflicts. Thus, through consultations, the UN and the regional organizations can establish appropriate actions to solve the conflict.
Diplomatic Support
The diplomatic support between the UN and regional organization is twofold as either of the parties can provide support through diplomatic initiatives to each other. As indicated in the 1995 Supplement to an Agenda of Peace, the support can also include technical input as OSCE does with regards to constitutional issues relating to Abkhazia (The United Nations, 1995). Regional organizations have participated in the UN peacemaking activities, which have led to the establishment of peacekeeping potations and support them through diplomatic initiatives (Supplement to an Agenda for Peace, 1995). For example, the role played by the African Union (AU), the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in supporting the UN peacekeeping efforts in Somalia. Therefore, regional organization s contributes to the UN’s peacekeeping efforts through diplomatic initiatives to resolve conflicts through respectful and productive discussions around the subject matter.
Operational Support
Regional organizations contribute to the UN’s peacekeeping efforts by providing operational support. According to the 1995 Supplement to an Agenda of Peace, operational support rendered by the regional organizations varies depending on the requirements on the ground (The United Nations, 1995). A particular example relating to operational support is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) provision of airpower to support the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav Wars. Similarly, the UN can provide technical advice to the regional organizations that are engaged in peacekeeping operations of their own. Therefore, the cooperation of the UUN and regional organizations facilitate the maintenance of international peace and security.
Co-deployment
The UN can co-deploy multiple regional organizations with different mandates but with the common purpose of maintaining peace and security in a country (The United Nations, 1995). For example, the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) comprised of various regional organizations with different mandates. The International Police Task Force (IPTF) among other tasks monitored the local police; the NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force (IFOR/SFOR) helped in maintaining a safe and secure environment, OSCE assisted in the organization of elections, the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNCHR) provided care for refugees,; while the European Union (EU) provided development assistance. Therefore, the UN deploys peacekeeping missions in conjunction with various regional organizations to maintain international peace and security.
Joint Operations
Regional organizations also contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security through joint operations. In a joint operations model, the staffing, directions, and financing of peacekeeping operations is shared between the UN and involved regional organizations (The United Nations, 1995). For example, the UN and the OAS 1993 jointly launched a peacekeeping mission in Haiti that aimed to promote and protect human rights in Haiti, which was under a military-led government. The mission, named the International Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH) was resourced by both the UN and the OAS. Therefore, regional organizations play a role in the maintenance of peace and security by providing resources, including finial, resources and direction, in joint peacekeeping operations.
Example of Regional Organization Peacekeeping Operations
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world’s largest security organization, comprising 57 participating states from Europe, Central Asia and North America. The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, launched in 1995 with the initial goal of promoting the building of democratic institutions and protection of human rights, is an active operation and continues to play a vital role in fostering a sustainable, secure and stable environment in the country (The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, n.d.). The mission focuses on establishing institutions, associations, and processes aimed at averting future conflicts. Moreover, the mission has significantly contributed to strengthening the country’s governance and a democratic society. In general, the mission supports political and educational reforms and works to promote and protect human rights of all residents in the country.
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)
The UN Security Council authorized the AU to deploy the Africa Mission in Somalia (AMISON) in 2007 following years of political instability and recurring conflicts in the country. Since its deployment, AMISOM continues to conduct operations in the country and has contributed to various achievements. For example, the mission has restored stability and re-established political space, which led to the establishment of new federal institutions and the adoption of a new constitution in 2012 (The African Union. 2019). Moreover, the mission supported the country, enabling to conduct presidential elections in 2017 and the scheduled 2021, prior to which the last presidential election was in 1986. Lastly, AMISOM has helped combat Al-Shabaab militants in the country, and is preparing for gradual transfer of security responsibility to the Somali Security Forces. Therefore, the mission has significantly contributed to the restoration of peace, security and effective governance in Somalia.
The United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
UNAMID was a hybrid joint African Union and United Nations peacekeeping operation that was formally approved by the Security Council in 2007through adoption of resolution 1769 to establish stability in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan. The mission’s mandate included protecting civilians; facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid; mediating between the government and non-signatory armed movements; and, supporting the mediation of community conflicts (UNAMID, 2021). UNAMID completed its mandate in the region in 2020, with complete withdrawal of both uniformed and civilian personnel as of 30 June 2021 (The United Nations, 2021). Thus, the mission contributed to the promotion of human rights, peace and security in a region that was heavily polarized and divided.
Advantages of Regional Organization in Maintenance of Peace and Security
Regional organizations offer a myriad of advantages in conducting peacekeeping and security operations. Firstly, the members of regional organizations may share various aspects such as culture, territorial boundaries, language, and other background aspects thus are likely to be more in tune with the conflict at hand. Additionally, in some cases, personal relationships exists between the leaders of member states, which can facilitate a greater understanding of the conflict and constructive dialogues to resolve the conflict. Secondly, the member state of regional organization being in the geographic vicinity of the conflict can provide a timely response, preventing escalation of the conflict. Lastly, members of a regional organization have a greater political will in preserving regional stability to prevent suffering the consequences of instability, such as reduce economic growth, increased spending on defense and hosting and providing for refugees. Thus, regional organizations provide an effective way of dealing with international peace and security.
Conclusion
Overall, regional organizations are a critical component of international order as they contribute to the maintenance of peace and security through peacekeeping operations. The existence of regional organizations and their operations enshrined in Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, indicating that the founders of the UN foresaw the important role of these organizations in the maintenance of international peace and security. Regional organizations contribute to The UN’s effort of peacekeeping in a myriad of ways, including consultation, diplomatic support, operational support, co-deployment and joint operations. Lastly, regional organizations maintenance of peace and security as member of an organization often perceive it in their interest to preserve stability in their region and avoid consequences of instability.
Reference List
UNAMID. 2021. About UNAMID. [online] Available at: <https://unamid.unmissions.org/about-unamid-0> [Accessed 3 November 2021].
The African Union. 2019. African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) | The Africa-EU Partnership. [online] Available at: <https://africa-eu-partnership.org/en/projects/african-union-mission-somalia-amisom> [Accessed 3 November 2021].
The United Nations. 1945. Charter of the United Nations and statute of the International Court of Justice. [online] Available at: <https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/CTC/uncharter.pdf> [Accessed 3 November 2021].
The United Nations, 1995. Supplement to an Agenda for Peace: Position Paper of the Secretary-General on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations. [online] Available at: <https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9/UNROS19951.pdf> [Accessed 3 November 2021].
The Organization for Security and Co-operation, n.d. The OSCE. [online] Available at: <https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/176234/FactsheetontheOSCEMissiontoBosniaandHerzegovina.pdf> [Accessed 3 November 2021].
The United Nations, 2021. Withdrawal of Hybrid Peacekeeping Operation in Darfur Completed by 30 June Deadline, Under-Secretary-General Tells Security Council, Outlining Plans to Liquidate Assets | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases. [online] Available at: <https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sc14587.doc.htm> [Accessed 3 November 2021].
Root-Cause Analysis And Safety Improvement Plan Essay Sample For College
The safety concern pertaining to medication administration in a healthcare setting, which needs to be addressed, is persistent medication administration errors, which occur through treatment management mistakes. The root cause of this issue is the poorly designed medication administration protocols, and it is also attributable to the failure to observe the right guidelines and policies during treatment administration. The issue of medication administration mistakes has been persistent in the Mayo Clinic healthcare setting, whereby several inaccuracies have been experienced in the recent past. Some of these mistakes involved the administration of the incorrect dose, wrong medication, and missing doses, and which are the universally reported medication administration errors in the healthcare setting (Hammoudi et al., 2018). This paper will discuss the root-cause analysis of the safety issue of medication administration errors, application of evidence-based strategies, safety improvement plan with evidence-based and best-practice strategies, and the existing organizational resources.
Analysis of the Root Cause
The root cause of the persistent medication administration and treatment management errors includes poor communication between the care providers and patients, having drug labels that sound similar and medicine prescriptions that are similar. When administering medication, one can make diverse errors, such as wrong dose prescription, incorrect time, erroneous drug, mistaken means, exclusion of some dosages, mistaken patient, lack of certification, and methodological errors. In the Mayo Clinic setting, there were common medication administration errors, such as improper diagnosis, counseling errors, dose inaccuracies, disastrous drug distribution, observes drug and drug expedient associated problems, improper drug management, unsuccessful communication, and absence of suitable patient education (Hammoudi et al., 2018). This problem was detected by the return clients of the Mayo Clinic healthcare setting, and they raised complaints of the above-mentioned medication administration errors. This issue mainly affected the patients, their families, and the entire community that was receiving healthcare services from the Mayo Clinic (Koyama et al., 2020). The issue had a direct negative impact on the patients and their families due to inaccuracies involving missing medications (oversights), duplicate medications, and dosing errors in drug interactions that even worsened the condition of some patients.
The noteworthy negative effects of the medication administration errors to the patients included deterioration of ailment, insubstantiality, antagonistic medication occurrences, and prolonged stay in the hospital. The issue also triggered the increment of increases in the charges when seeking for further medication to elevate their condition. While the medication administration errors occurred unintentionally, they had a significant impact on the care seekers and providers; a phenomenon that contributed to some cases of hostile mental and adverse expressive effects on the convoluted providers (Koyama et al., 2020). Some of the key side effects of this issue to the patients included occurrences of burnout, lack of attentiveness, underprivileged work enactment, prompting of posttraumatic stress disorder, melancholy, suicidality, and rejection (Thompson et al., 2018). Consequences faced by physicians after medication errors can include loss of patient trust, civil actions, criminal charges, and medical board discipline. For some patients who were given the wrong route of drugs and inappropriate dosage course, the problem caused serious and longstanding undesirable effects, and also death.
What was supposed to occur was the aggregate adherence to guidelines and offering of dosage prescriptions in the administration of medications. This would have resolved the breaches experienced during the administration of drugs. Considering the cause of this issue, it is evident that there were some steps not taken, and also the administration of the medication to some patients’ care practices was not conducted as intended (Keers et al., 2018). The controllable and uncontrollable environmental factors that had influenced the issue of medication administration errors included extraordinary noise levels that interrupted the communication between the patients and the caregivers, poor lighting and inappropriate environmental temperature, the principles of the operational environment, and the degree of drug faults that resulted in the medication errors (Koyama et al., 2020). The other environmental factors that affected the problem included element contamination, environmental pollution, adverse weather changes, and the presence of some disease-causing microorganisms, the absence of high-quality health care infrastructure, and poor services eminence.
The resource factors that had an influence that had influence in the problem were the Mayo clinic’s health care assets and materials, the facilities, personnel, and funds that were involved in the provision of health care in the amenity. The human errors and factors that contributed to the issue included the patients’ and caregivers’ emotional stress, lack of inspiration, having a huge workload, ordinary deprived communication, and misused patient data stored in the information systems, which acted as the causative to the medication administration errors experienced (Thomas et al., 2017). The communication factors that contributed to the medical administration issue were listening and paying attention to the doctor’s prescriptions, the approach used in the communication, the patient’s emotional awareness, the use of written communication, and communicating in problematic situations.
Application of Evidence-Based Strategies
The previous literature states that the occurrence of medication administration mistakes is characteristically alleged to the failure of the conventional rights of treatment management (Keers et al., 2018). This involves practices such as not treating the right patient, offering the wrong medication, wrong time prescription, and the incorrect dose route. These factors have contributed to the safety issue because they involve the typical processes for ensuring that the healthcare setting achieves safe medication administration (Stricker et al., 2020). The recent literature has accentuated that the errors that occur in medication administration and treatment process are part of the complex medication process, which involves multidisciplinary teams that work together to guarantee patient-centered quality care delivery (Wen et al., 2019). Poor communication and lack of patient education during medication administration increase the risk of medication errors. Strategies can be used to address the medical administration errors safety issue by providing solutions to the existing care gaps, which lead to the occurrence of medical administration mistakes (Stricker et al., 2020). The best practices that can be used to address the issue include introducing standardized communication, providing appropriate patient education, and enhancing nursing workflow to reduce possible errors.
Improvement Plan with Evidence-Based and Best-Practice Strategies
The practices that should be taken by the Mayo Clinic healthcare setting to address the root causes of the medical administration error issue include the arrangements, new processes, the new policies, and/or professional development that will be undertaken to address all the root causes. The implementation of standardized communication in the Mayo Clinic Health System will improve the patient and caregiver communication principles are used to safeguard recommending the right medication (Thompson et al., 2018). Furthermore, ordinary abbreviations and arithmetical conventions are suggested by the shared directives. The management of suitable patient education in the healthcare setting will help to mitigate the risk of healing management errors (Koyama et al., 2020). This will be important for all healthcare providers to utilize the perfect communication approaches and policies routinely provided by the education programs to patients, particularly when prescription procedures are modified and adapted.
There will be new processes in optimizing the nursing workflow meant to reduce the medical administration’s potential errors. In health care settings, distractors during the medication administration process are common and associated with increased risk and severity of errors (Wen et al., 2019). Minimizing interruptions during medication administration and structuring care checks through consistent workflows will be a key strategy in enabling the safe administration of medications. Some policies such as the Medicines Act 1968 will be important in the provision of the main legal frameworks for the medication prescribing, and supplying of the appropriate storage and management of medicines, categorizing them into the right categories (Koyama et al., 2020). This policy will be fundamental because it is the law that covers the administration of medicine among patients. The goals and the described outcomes of the above actions are to improve the status of medication administration, to evade medication errors and interruption, and to prepare the medications for patients at a while to avoid misperception (Hammoudi et al., 2018). This plan will be implemented in the course of four months, and the outcomes will be assessed after every month.
Existing Organizational Resources
The organizational personnel that would help in the improvement of the implementation and the outcomes of the plan includes the Mayo Clinic Healthcare professionals actively convoluted in excellence development exertions, which are nurses, medical technicians, physicians, and other medical provision staff (Stricker et al., 2020).. The organizational resources that may be needed to obtain success for the plan are materials, personnel, funds, and facilities involved in the provision of quality health care services (Thomas et al., 2017). Therefore, the essential resources in this plan will be human recourse (work resources), capital (cost resources), and material goods (material resources).
Conclusion
The occurrence of medication administration errors denotes the inaccuracies inexperienced in the recommending, dispensing, giving, and prescription of medications. In the past, medication administration errors have caused injury and pain to many patients in the U.S. However, utmost of the experienced medication administration errors are prevented. The best practices to thwart medication administration errors involve enhancing patient education and introducing standardized communication in the health care setting. The causative factors for this safety issue are also attributed to caregivers, patients, and practitioner errors related to low healthiness literacy, deprived patient-provider communication, deficiency of health knowledge, and collective precautions in the Mayo Clinic outpatient instances.
References
Hammoudi, B. M., Ismaile, S., & Abu Yahya, O. (2018). Factors associated with medication administration errors and why nurses fail to report them. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 32(3), 1038-1046.
Keers, R. N., Plácido, M., Bennett, K., Clayton, K., Brown, P., & Ashcroft, D. M. (2018). What causes medication administration errors in a mental health hospital? A qualitative study with nursing staff. PloS one, 13(10), e0206233.
Koyama, A. K., Maddox, C. S. S., Li, L., Bucknall, T., & Westbrook, J. I. (2020). Effectiveness of double checking to reduce medication administration errors: a systematic review. BMJ quality & safety, 29(7), 595-603.
Stricker, N. H., Lundt, E. S., Alden, E. C., Albertson, S. M., Machulda, M. M., Kremers, W. K., … & Mielke, M. M. (2020). Longitudinal comparison of in clinic and at home administration of the cogstate brief battery and demonstrated practice effects in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. The journal of prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, 7(1), 21-28.
Thomas, L., Donohue-Porter, P., & Fishbein, J. S. (2017). Impact of interruptions, distractions, and cognitive load on procedure failures and medication administration errors. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 32(4), 309-317.
Thompson, K. M., Swanson, K. M., Cox, D. L., Kirchner, R. B., Russell, J. J., Wermers, R. A., … & Naessens, J. M. (2018). Implementation of bar-code medication administration to reduce patient harm. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes, 2(4), 342-351.
Wen, A., Fu, S., Moon, S., El Wazir, M., Rosenbaum, A., Kaggal, V. C., … & Fan, J. (2019). Desiderata for delivering NLP to accelerate healthcare AI advancement and a Mayo Clinic NLP-as-a-service implementation. NPJ digital medicine, 2(1), 1-7.
Self-Sustainable Building Essay Example
Introduction
Climate change and global warming are social issues that negatively impact society and need to be addressed by governments and communities. The problems can be addressed through minimized use of plastics, cars, and other activities that lead to the combustion of fossil fuel. A strategy of accommodating self-sustainable buildings is one of the approaches that is being adopted in managing urban cities of many countries. According to the data released by the United Nations, in the year 2050, about sixty eighty percent of the world population will be living in the cities. The statistics would show that seventy-eight percent of energy would be consumed, and sixty percent of greenhouse gas emissions would be produced, increasing air pollution and global warming (Oduyemi & Okoroh, 2016). For this reason, this agent improved its New Urban Agenda as a project management agenda to advise nations on the urbanization processes. The governments were instructed to make these cities inclusive, habitable, resilient, healthy, and sustainable. Through this project management plan, many cities have accommodated self-sustainable buildings to address the climatic change issue. Therefore, the paper will discuss the topic of self-sustainable based on the elements, some examples of these buildings in the world, and the benefits.
Characteristics of Self-Sustainable Buildings
Self-sufficient homes are also known as autonomous homes and are the ones that are designed in ultimate green living dwellings. These are buildings whose construction features improve the quality of the environment of the place they are located. They are homes designed to highly depend on themselves for cooling, electric heating, and many others. Each of these homes is designed differently based on the location, climatic condition, and the needs of the owner. These buildings are said to pave the way for efficient and sustainable planning for the urban areas in the United States. These buildings minimize water and energy consumption, and the governments are utilizing them to develop urban areas and seek to combat the negative effects of global climate change. Therefore, it is important to achieve this efficiency, reduce water and other resources that minimize pollution, and reduce energy consumption (Oduyemi & Okoroh, 2016). The body used in the United States to establish whether a building can be considered self-sustainable is the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design. This is a government body that is widely used to establish p[practices and strategies that the community members can use to construct self-sustainable buildings. The following are some of the characteristics of greenhouses, and one of them is sustainable sites. Sustainable sites mean that these buildings can protect and maintain the natural habitat of the community. Also, these buildings are designed to reduce pollution and utilize natural resources, and they are able to facilitate interaction with nature. The second element is that they use water efficiently since they minimize the use of water during construction. They can also reduce the building’s water footprint, ensuring that little water has been used. Based on location and transport, these buildings are not constructed in environment-sensitive areas, therefore, providing public transport resulting in reduced use of private cars. Reductions in private car use play a significant role in reducing air pollution and preventing climatic changes in the United States (Oduyemi & Okoroh, 2016). These buildings use renewable energy, reduce energy consumption, and increase energy use efficiency based on energy and the atmosphere. Materials and resources used to construct these buildings accommodate recycling systems, save resources during construction and use sustainable materials. The other factor of these constructions is that they have indoor environmental quality. The quality of space of these houses and the occupants has clean air, thermal control, and reduced noise pollution. Other elements include designed innovation and regional priority in which innovative sustainability approaches are accommodated during construction. These buildings promote social equity, environment, and public health in their locations based on regional priority.
Sustainable Buildings in the World
One of the buildings is in the United States that was heralded in 2013 as one of the sustainable and greenest buildings. The Bullit Center in Seattle, USA, a six-story building, has been recognized as a self-sustainable building globally. This building was a concept conceived by the Foundation president Dennis Hayes, and it was designed to have a lifespan of two hundred and fifty years. The other building is the Iberdrola Tower, Bilbao, Spain. This building was designed by Cesar Pelli and had the characteristics of representing zero miles of renewable energy. It is the benchmark of sustainable design and efficiency of energy use. Constructing this building was to create value for the environment, the employees, and the customers. It is a working environment that promotes knowledge on organizational learning, is environmentally friendly, and encourages teamwork (Iberdrola, 2021). These are factors that help in the increment of production hence the promotion of economic growth. The California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, USA, is the other self-sustainable building constructed in 2008. It is a natural history museum and a research institute that Renzo Piano-designed. This building can recycle water, make natural lighting, and has green roofing containing California plants. These characteristics prove that the buildings are self-sustainable and help conserve the environment in the United States. Since the building has natural lighting, it reduces lighting that may cause carbon emissions to the atmosphere. The green roofing helps to clean the environment hence the promotion of the habitat of the individuals. The green roofing reduces noise pollution that is created by other construction materials like iron sheets. The other building that has been approved is the World Trade Center, Manama, Bahrain. This is a two- two hundred and forty high twin tower built in the City of Manama. It is said to be the first building to accommodate wind turbines in the world through its design and fifteen percent energy consumption (Iberdrola, 2021). In the city of Australia, there is the Pixel Building, Melbourne, Australia, which is the first office building that is carbon neutral. The office has a green roof and has installed solar panels that produce their energy and store the water needed. The building is designed with a multicolored façade that provides natural lighting and improves ventilation, minimizing energy consumption. These characteristics enhance the habitat and also help in conserving the environment. Parkroyal Collection, Singapore, Singapore, is a luxury hotel with fifteen thousand square meters of garden terraces that delight visitors. These gardens are designed to be self-sufficient through the consumption of minimal energy. Solar cells, motion sensors, and rainwater collection for recycling promote environmental conservation in the area. The picture of the building shows that it is surrounded by green plants hence helping in improving the environment. Finally, the other structure is the Reforma Tower, Mexico City, Mexico. This building is located in the Mexican Capital and is two hundred and forty-six meters high (Iberdrola, 2021). The building utilizes wind and solar energy hence reducing consumption and promoting environmental conservation. The water used in the construction is recycled and used to generate electricity, and hence it is self-sustainable. The air conditioning system applied in the building uses an artificial intelligence controller through sensors distributed in the building to optimize energy use.
Ways to make buildings green
One of the ways to promote self-sustainable buildings is taking an intelligent approach to energy in the following manner. Minimizing the use of energy in the life cycle of the building through renovations that are less expensive and comfortable is significant. Integration of low carbon and renewable technologies can be used to supply the needs of the buildings during the design. Safeguarding water resources is the way of promoting green building in the nation. The community and companies can explore ways to improve wastewater efficiency and harvest water for safe indoor use. These innovative ways have contributed to ensuring that water resources have been protected. Also, there should be considerations on the drainage infrastructure, storm water infrastructure that surrounds these self-sufficient buildings. The other way is through minimizing waste and maximizing the reuse of resources. There should be innovative ways that ensure the use of fewer durable materials that reduce waste (World Green Building Council, n.d). The community should engage in the reuse and recycling of resources. Promoting health and well-being is another way of ensuring green building in the community. This promotion can be achieved through the delivery of good indoor air quality through ventilation and avoidance of chemicals and materials that emit toxic emissions. Incorporation of natural light is a way of promoting sustainable building in which the comfort of the occupants is promoted. Based on health promotion, there is a way to design acoustics and proper sound insulation that help in a peaceful educational and health facilities environment. Right indoor temperature can be promoted through appropriate management, building, and monitoring systems. The management of the companies also promotes a self-sustainable climate by keeping the environment clean. In this perspective, even the surrounding community needs to recognize that the urban environment should preserve nature. This plan ensures that land quality and diverse wildlife are highly protected, and this can be achieved through creating new green spaces. The fresh green spaces can be created by planting more trees, and the community should be mobilized to ensure that quality spaces are created. The management should also look for more innovative ways to make the urban areas more productive by bringing agriculture to the cities. The community should be educated to reduce the perspective that agriculture is for the rural areas. The creation of resilience and flexible culture is another way of making buildings green. As mentioned, climate change has become inevitable in the world, resulting in fires, earthquakes, and flooding. Proper management should be considered to ensure that the buildings can adapt to these climatic changes (World Green Building Council, n.d). There should be a proper design that is flexible and dynamic to anticipate the changes and avoid demolition or rebuilding. Another approach is connecting with the people and the communities by creating diverse environments to connect with the communities. Engaging the communities in planning accommodates ideas that can be used to improve the social and economic aspects. The green buildings should be built to ensure distance amenities that encourage environmentally friendly options like cycling and walking. There should be explorations of potential information communication technologies that communicate plans to create a better environment. Finally, all stages of the building life cycle should be considered. In this perspective, designing, construction, operation, and maintenance of a building should have lower environmental impacts on the community. The resources such as water and energy used for transport and production of the materials are minimized, hence reducing the impacts, and as a result, green building is promoted.
Benefits of Green Building
The benefits of eco-friendly construction will be discussed in the following eight advantages. The construction uses processes and materials that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient. Green buildings have increased in popularity to reduce the rates of global warming in the world. One of the benefits of the self-sustainable building is low operation cost and low maintenance. As mentioned earlier, green buildings incorporate unique construction features to ensure the efficient use of water and energy resources. An example is the use of the task lighting approach, and daylight immensely reduces the amount of power used by the lighting systems. These systems help in saving water and energy bills since maintenance costs can account for eighty percent. Reduction of these energy and water costs contributes to the increment of earnings since the buildings are business-oriented (Shafique et al., 2018). The construction of these green buildings may be expensive, but in the long term, maintenance is cheaper.
The other benefit of self-sustainable buildings is that it has enhanced health due to eco-friendly life. Studies show that individuals in these green structures experience significant health benefits because of the materials used. These green buildings avoid the use of building materials that consist of volatile organic compounds. These building materials release carcinogens and toxic fumes into the atmosphere, resulting in chronic illnesses such as respiratory illnesses, allergies, and cancer cases. The sickness results in the loss of individual and government resources to cater to health needs. The economy of the country is therefore improved when diseases are avoided through self-sustainable buildings.
Energy efficiency is the other advantage of self-sustainable buildings. Many designers of green buildings try their best to reduce the rate of dependency on energy from non-renewable sources. In most buildings, they install solar panels that utilize the energy from the sun. Also, the windows are designed so that natural light is allowed into the building, reducing artificial light use. The strategies ensure efficient use of energy in these buildings (Bredenoord, 2016). Energy efficiency does not benefit the companies and individuals only but the entire world, protected from global warming. Enhancement of indoor environment quality is the other benefit related to self-sustainable building. The quality depends on the indoor conditions and how the occupants are influenced. The conditions include air quality, thermal conditions, and ergonomics. Designers have made massive progress in developing quality architecture to positively affect the occupants. Designers reduce the use of material that emits dangerous elements into the atmosphere through operable windows. The designs have greatly affected the occupants of green buildings through improved health, quality of life, and reduced stress levels.
Water efficiency is important, and it is another benefit achieved through self-sustainable building. It involves saving water being used today and conserving it for the future generation. Green building is significant in allowing alternative water sources such as reduced water waste and use of rainwater. The plumbing systems in these buildings are efficient in water purification and recycling, hence saving water resources. Green building also reduces the strain on this resource which is a scarce resource that causes anxiety.
Material efficiency has an advantage based on the materials utilized in self-sustainable structures (Bredenoord, 2016). The use of materials and physical processes in the building is minimized without compromise of the outcomes. Material efficiency is acquired through reusable, long-lasting, and recycled materials, allowing few materials to be used. In this perspective, material efficiency means that less energy, water, and other resources are used in construction. Designers achieve this through the reduction of waste, protecting the air supply, and preserving natural resources.
Protecting the ecosystem and promoting a better environment is the key aspect of self-sustainable building. As mentioned, the United Nations suggested using a self-sustainable approach to protect the environment and reduce the negative impacts of global warming. The issue of globalization has brought concern due to the depletion of significant resources and increased pollution that has polluted the environment. This sustainable architecture plays a role in benefiting the planet through reduced reliance on non-renewable sources such as coal. Green architecture ensures the promotion and maintenance of a clean environment (Bredenoord, 2016). A clean environment then helps reduce health issues related to global warming, and this promotes the economic growth of the countries.
Finally, the durability of green buildings has been witnessed, and companies are considering them because of their lifespan. There is proof that the green materials used in roofing and recycled decking endure for many years and require less maintenance. The durability is also improved because many of them lack chemical treatments, and they are healthier for the habitat’s environment.
Role of Government and Community in Self-Sustainable
The government is a critical body with an essential role in the promotion of self-sustainability. The role of the government is based on the policies, programs, and strategies that are utilized to promote self-sustainability. One of the ways is through the government investing in the programs that help in reduction use of resources such as energy and water through the building. For instance, there can be educational programs that educate the community on the need to promote green building. Involving the community is significant since they educate each other and become ambassadors of environmental conservation. Another role of the government is to invest in and promote innovations that support recycling and reusing waste products. Waste management practices can be promoted that help reduce waste and, hence, protect the environment (Kang et al., 2016). Support of the government is important in ensuring that the self-sustainable buildings increase to help in the reduction of the effects of global warming. The community also has a role to play for the country and for the world. Some of the actions of the community include volunteering in earth-friendly activities like planting trees. Also, a community member can volunteer in the education process to educate other members on the importance of sustainable building. For example, on the issue of waste management, the community can educate each other and get involved in reusing and recycling hence promoting self-sustainable building. The community can ensure that pollution levels have been reduced to protect natural systems. The use of natural resources like energy, water, and others efficiently is the role of the community, and the approach protects the resources.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the paper has discussed the meaning of self-sustainable building as the application of reusable and renewable resources in building, hence reducing energy consumption. A number of self-sustainable buildings have been mentioned, and some of the materials used in their construction process. The benefits of self-sustainable building such as material use efficiency, energy use efficiency, health promotion, and others have been mentioned. The role of the government and the society in ensuring the self-sustainable building has been mentioned. According to the essay, global warming can be prevented through self-sustainable building. Therefore it becomes the role of the government, the policymakers, and the community to work as a team in this process. It can be used as a strategy for health promotion in maintaining a healthy community. In every country, a healthy community has a significant impact on the country’s economy, and therefore the government should consider investing in the self-sustainable building. Also, the improved climatic change reduces health impacts due to global warming; hence ensuring that the government saves resources used in healthcare and, therefore, improves economic Status. Currently, the world is suffering from climatic change. The government of the United States should be part of a self-sustainable building project to manage the adverse impacts of climate change.
References
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World Green Building Council, (n.d). How can we make our buildings green? Retrieved from: https://www.worldgbc.org/how-can-we-make-our-buildings-green