UNEP

The Connection between Sport and Environment

Impact of sports on environment
Like any individual or corporation, the action of a sportsman/woman, a sport association or a sport equipment manufacturer has an effect on their surrounding - the environment. As we build our stadiums and sport centres, modify our water courses for training and competitions, modify shorelines of lakes, divert and or straighten rivers, and as we turn the planet into a veritable golf course, we are losing our wetlands, breeding grounds for our fish, birds and insects, polluting surface and ground water sources with pesticides, fungicides and chemical fertilizers and lowering our water tables and supplies. The ecological costs of these actions are indeed extraordinary

Impact of the environment on sport
A degraded environment does not discriminate between members of the society - - athletes or non-athletes. Athletes are particularly vulnerable not only through the frequency of their exposure, but also the intensity of their efforts. For example, during exercise, you breathe in more air than when you are not involved in exercise - ten times more on average.

Imagine the following : what impact will the thinning of the ozone layer have on an athlete’s performance ? Will it mean wearing hats, sunglasses and repeated doses of sunblock for those who practice outdoors ? Will it lead to higher incidences of skin cancer or cataracts ? What impact has air pollution on sportsmen/women ? You probably have many answers to this and many other questions on the impact of the environment on sport.

SPORT as an Opportunity to promote environmental awareness
UNEP SPORT AND ENVIRONMENT OBJECTIVES
We are all athletes or fans of one type of sport or another. Sport, more than any other activity, mobilizes billions of people. UNEP believes that sport is an important vehicle to promote environmental awareness. Sport can play an important role in our efforts towards sustainable development. By displaying its commitment to environmental conservation and publicizing its successes in staging green events, it provides a good example, to the public, of the benefits of embracing environmental ethics and values

* Promoting green games
* Promoting Environmental awareness through sport

UNEP AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES

UNEP and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) signed a Co-operative Agreement in February 1994, in which both organizations agreed to jointly undertake international actions to promote sustainable development. As a result of this commitment by the IOC :

1. The environment became the third dimension of olympism alongside sport and culture.

A Sport and Environment Commission was created in the IOC to advise the Executive Board on policies necessary for environmental protection. UNEP plays an important role in this Commission which meets regularly to review the integration of environmental considerations in Olympic events.

The 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway set new standards for mega-sports events. It ensured that future sport events would be required to include environmental measures as part of their basic mandates. The Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee received the UNEP Global 500 Award in 1994 for setting environmental standards, which were absent from previous Olympic games.

Environmental Guidelines for the Summer Olympics were developed to guide Olympic hosts to ensure that the construction of facilities is done in a more environmentally friendly manner. The Guidelines were successfully used in the Sydney Olympic Games. As a result, the organizers of the Sydney Games were honoured with the Global 500 Award in 2001 for organizing the greenest games ever.

Agenda 21 for Sport and Environment. A sustainable development agenda for sport was developed and adopted in 1999. A UNEP/IOC Working Group has been established to provide advice and guidance on and to monitor the implementation of the Agenda.

World Conferences on Sport and Environment is organized every two years by the IOC with the support of UNEP. The last World Conference was held in Nagano, Japan from 3 to 4 November 2001. The World Conference brings together major sports stakeholders of the Olympic Movement to review the implementation for the agenda 21 for Sport and Environment and to discuss environmental issues related to preparations of upcoming Olympic games.

The Connection UNEP & Global Sports Alliance Nature & Sports Training Camps Tennis Forum for Global