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Sustainable Development and Environmental Reform
considered a management tool that encompasses a set of environmental
management techniques needed to ensure that the operation of the project
complies with the environmental requirements and regulations. The following
process involves the development of an environmental management system
(EMS) within the organization for continuously managing its environmental
performance based on the ISO 14001 standards. An EMS incorporates the
environmental concerns into the organization’s operation and enables it to
reduce its environmental impacts as well as increase its operating efficiency.
Periodic audits must be carried out to check that the environmental man-
agement system is effectively implemented and maintained. At the same
time, an EMS is considered a necessary tool for adopting the strategies of
cleaner production (CP) which is the next step towards environmental reform.
Cleaner production focuses on the prevention of waste generation at the
source which is achieved by adopting CP techniques to enhance processes,
products, or services that will lead to energy, raw material, and cost savings
as well as protection of the environment. A CP audit is necessary to sys-
tematically identify and evaluate cleaner production opportunities. Cleaner
production is one of the main tools of industrial ecology (IE) which provides
a framework for identifying the impacts of industries on the environment
and for implementing strategies to reduce these impacts as it involves study-
ing the interactions and relations between industrial systems and ecological
systems. The ultimate goal of IE is to achieve sustainable development that
will eventually lead to achieving environmental reform and compliance with
the environmental regulations aimed at protecting the environment and con-
serving the natural resources.

Regulations
Regulations are the base of the environmental reform structure since they
provide the policies to all activities influencing the environment. Environ-
mental regulation is a must to be able to perform environmental compliance.
The law will necessitate the establishment of an environmental protection
agency, whose responsibilities are to set regulations that investors have to
follow, set the inspection procedures that ensure compliance, develop the
standards that guarantee preserving the environment, prepare periodical
reports on the state of the environment, etc.
Governments should adopt two methodologies or mechanisms for
implementing the environmental regulations; providing financial incen-
tives to encourage the community to engage in activities and projects that
aim at protecting the environment and imposing fines and legal punish-
ments in case of deviation from regulations.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
In 1969, the United States enacted the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). This Act requires that people think about environmental consequences