ASSEMBLY - EIGHTEENTH SESSION
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21/4/71
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Agenda Item 14:
The role of civil aviation in the relationship
between technological advancement and the human
environment
SUMMARY
This paper is presented to assist the Assembly in
defining the role of civil aviation in the interaction between
technological advancement and the human environment. The paper
is intended to form the basis for ICAO's contribution to the
United Nations International Conference on the Problems of the
Human Environment, which will convene in June 1972 in Stockholm.
A draft resolution is presented confirming ICAO's readiness, while
pursuing technological advancement in aviation, to keep under
continuing review its responsibility to contribute to the
preservation of a wholesome human environment.
References: United Nations Resolutions 2398 (XXIII), 2581 (XXIV)
Manual on Airport Master Planning - Doc 8796-AN/89I
Introduction
i)	A United Nations Conference on the Problems of the Human Environment
will convene in June 1972 in Sweden. The United Nations has defined the main
purpose of the Conference to be "to serve as a practical means to encourage, and
to provide guidelines for, action by Governments and International Organizations
designed to protect and improve the human environment, and to remedy and prevent
its impairment, by means of international co-operation....”
ii)	The scope of the Conference is very wide as it requires examination of
all aspects of the harmonization of advancing technology with human needs and
environmental necessities. In this vast complex, civil aviation in its development
since the first world war has grown to become a significant influence. The aviation
community represented by ICAO owes it to the United Nations to submit an aviation
view regarding the impact of civil air transportation on the people's lives; it
appears proper to invite the Assembly to establish that view.
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iii)	То facilitate this action, the text at Appendix I is offered as a basis
for the formulation of ICAO’s views on the role of civil aviation in the relationship
between technological advancement and the human environment. In the light of its
discussion by the Executive Committee and the Technical Commission, the text will
be further developed and, together with a suitable Resolution on the subject,
presented to the United Nations Conference as ICAO's contribution to the documentation
of that Conference. A draft for such a Resolution is presented at Appendix II.
Action by the Assembly
iv)	The Assembly is invited to review the paper at Appendix I and to adopt a
Resolution on the lines of the draft at Appendix II.
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APPENDIX I	APPENDIX I
THE ROLE OF CIVIL AVIATION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT AND THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT
1.	The basic role of air transportation is that of providing one means of
interconnecting communities and cultures. The significance of this role has been
growing throughout the history of civil aviation. Its ultimate magnitude has
probably not yet been recognized and certainly its potential not yet fully realized.
The exploration of the relative importance of that role requires a comparative
study of the impact of all various means of transport and communications on the
human environment, which is a subject extending well beyond the present scope of
ICAO's activities. Contributions to the United Nations Conference on the role of •
all forms of human contact are planned by other parties. For these reasons no
attempt is made to evaluate in detail the relative significance of civil aviation
for the community as compared with other forms of transportation.
2.	The benefits of civil aviation - often indirect and generally difficult
to measure in full - find expression in the development of trade and commerce,
with the tourist industry often profiting in particular, in the higher level of
national income' and in the many advantages of more rapid communication both
within the country and abroad, for health, pleasure and social welfare generally.
The development of civil aviation as a result of technological advancement is
having an ever-increasing impact on the human environment.
J.	The human environment can be interpreted in the narrow physical sense,
or it can be considered to embrace the full range of human activity within the
people’s physical environment. This paper relates aviation developments to the
human environment in its wider sense. All phases of civil air operations affect
that environment, but recent public attention appears to concentrate on the
manifestations of aviation’s impact particularly on the people’s physical envi-
ronment. •.
4.	Aircraft en route interact with their physical surroundings in various
ways. Thus far, these effects are minor, if not negligible, in comparison with
the impact that the requirements of the aircraft’s approach, landing, ground
handling and take-off have on the community in the vicinity of airports. This may
change to some degree. Later in this paper the stage reached in ICAO's study of
the en route aspects is indicated. First, however, the predominant influence of
airport activity will be explored.
INFLUENCE OF THE AIRPORT
5.	At the airport, the air transportation system and the community meet and
it is there that the interests of both interact most intensely, in some respects
in competition, in other more fundamental respects to their mutual benefit. Aircraft
noise, particularly in the vicinity of airports, is perhaps the most readily
recognizable factor influencing the community since.its daily physical impact affects
society most directly. There are, however, many other direct and indirect technical
and other effects of airport activity that have fundamental and lasting significance.
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Economic and sociological factors such as industrialization and housing with
associated zoning questions and Urban growth, surface transportation and trade
result from the operation of the airport. Ecological, biological and recreational
consequences must be accounted for. Numerous studies have been conducted or are in
hand to explore these diverse inter-relationships. Some salient conclusions are
presented in the following paragraphs.
Economic role of the airport
6.	As in the case of seaports, airports function to meet such varied transport
needs of a community as are associated with trade and commerce, government business
and the private affairs of individuals. As with the provision of other facilities
having a public utility character, decisions to provide airport facilities are based
on broader considerations than the economic viability of their operation, most
important among these being the tangible and the intangible benefits that an airport's
existence can be counted upon to bring both to the economy of the local community and
of course to the national economy as a whole. Such benefits are diverse and it is
virtually impossible to itemize them. However, in broad terms of their effect on the
local economy - and in many cases they prove unquantifiable as they percolate through
the economic system - special mention should be made of the increased and more
diversified business and employment opportunities, and with them, the higher community
income, which directly materialize in the vicinity of an airport. Optimum economic
benefits for the surrounding community will result from carefully planned integration
of the airport’s activities within the programme of residential, industrial and
transportation developments and associated land use in its vicinity.
Aircraft noise
7•	Technological development resulting in an increase in material wealth
sometimes occurs at the expense of the wholesomeness of the human environment
and airport development is no exception. Among the technical factors influencing
the relationship between airport activity and the life of its neighbours, aircraft
noise is undoubtedly, at least at this stage, the principal consideration. It has
been recognized that the noise problem is now most serious at those older aero-
dromes which were sited prior to noise becoming a major problem. In the site
selection of new airports attempts must be made to ensure that the planning of
approaches and take-off paths, run-up areas, location of new housing and recreation
areas aim at maximum compatibility between the operational requirements of the air-
port and the community’s interests. For older airports, such measures are less
feasible since acquisition of land and property, affected, by noise, and the dis-
placement of major commercial and industrial activities would often be prohibitively
expensive.
8,	The work of ICAO with regard to aircraft noise concentrates on the necessary
protection of the people in the physical environment of the airport. As a result of
a resolution of the ICAO Assembly in 1968, a world-wide conference was convened in
1969 to deal with various aspects of aircraft noise in the vicinity of aerodromes.
That conference has taken important action with far-reaching effects. International
agreement has been reached regarding the manner in which aircraft noise is described,
measured and monitored. Important human aspects have been studied from the medical
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point of view. Recommendations to States have been formulated for the reduction of
ground run-up noise and for operational procedures to be complied with to reduce
noise levels around airports. Perhaps most important of all, definite noise limits
requiring international compliance have been established for future subsonic
jet transport. .ICAO is further pursuing aircraft noise certification matters
and the retrofitting of existing subsonic jet transport aircraft to reduce
engine noise.
9.	ICAO's work in the field of aircraft noise is well advanced. The
international standards established through ICAO for the noise certification of
future subsonic civil air transport aircraft is a positive step which will
benefit the human environment. Keeping the noise of future aircraft types
within limits considerably lower than those related to present-day aircraft will
help efforts to achieve a quieter world.
Land use
10.	The increase i.. land required for the development of existing airports
and for the creation of new airports at new sites, both normally in the proximity
of large population centres, has become a matter of fundamental significance.
Land requirements for airport planning of the 19.40's and early 1950's took into
account factors such as good access to the airport and safety of flight. These
factors were directed towards the self-interest of the airport for its own sound
operation and not always towards that of its neighbours who, in their daily lives,
were not affected to such a significant degree by the airport's activities as they
are today.
11.	The land required for airport development has increased dramatically as
a result of increased numbers of operations and passengers, volume of cargo and
operating requirements of new aircraft. Whereas 1,600 hectares (4,000 acres)
may have been adequate twenty years ago for a major international airport, some
airports being constructed now require areas as large as 6,000 hectares (15,000
acres) to satisfy direct operational, needs. This demand for land for the
operation of a modern airport is now being felt in a wider and wider area surround-
ing the airport, and is becoming an important factor controlling urban development.
The requirement for land is not limited to the actual physical facilities needed
to provide operational capacity on the ground, such as runways, aprons, buildings.
Much additional land is used to provide space to satisfy associated needs, such as
those for access roads and ancillary industry. In sometimes extensive zones in
the proximity of airports, the use of land is restricted to activities compatible
with the airport's operations.
12.	The withdrawal of land from other uses is meeting with increasing
resistance from communities in metropolitan areas which do not always recognize
the greater economic benefits that often accrue from the use of land for airports
as compared with non-airport use. This problem may not be easy to control, since
it is difficult to assess accurately the role that each potential new airport site
may play in fostering or jeopardizing community welfare. Proper national attention
to this matter, resulting in enlightened advice, may largely overcome this element
of resisting communities. ' ICAO has accepted responsibility for providing guidance
to States in this matter.
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Ecology
13.	The increased understanding of the delicate inter-relationship among
natural life systems has made it necessary to become-sensitive to the effect that
airport development can have on its biological environment? in some cases, the
airport's neighbours fear that the ecology in the vicinity of the airport will be
significantly affected by its operation. Noise and engine emission from aircraft
and the drainage or fill of adjacent swamps may affect wild life in the surrounding
area. Waste disposal from the airport, both solid and liquid, particularly petroleum
waste products, presents problems that are being attacked. The effect of the airport
on the hydrology of the area and the danger of polluting nearby water are being faced.
The long range effects of chemicals used to combat bird hazards and of the application
of weed and grass growth inhibitors are being carefully considered.
14.	There are compensating factors. Instead of damaging the ecology, the
change from agricultural to airport land may be beneficial, as for example due to
the elimination of chemical fertilizers and agricultural pesticides. Large-scale
drainage may dispose of unhealthy swamps. Parks and sporting ground are providing
useful buffers around the airport.
15,	Ecologists, conservation groups and environmental experts have in some
parts of the world begun to represent in the airport planning processes the community's
needs for the preservation of a wholesome environment.
Air pollution
16.	Attention has recently been drawn to the growing amount of pollutant
deposited in the atmosphere due to the rapidly increasing volume of air-traffic
and greater fuel consumption of larger aircraft powerplants. Its possible effect
away from airports is now minor and will probably be negligible for some time to
come. It is discussed later in this paper. Because of the much higher traffic
density in the vicinity of airports, this matter is assuming some, importance near
population concentrations. . In particular, smoke trails emitted by engines of
arriving and departing aircraft have caused some concern, but retrofitting is
eliminating this effect. Meso-climatological conditions at airports determine
the potential seriousness of airport air pollution in the different parts of
the world. Where generally turbulent conditions in the lower layers above the
airport will prevail, it is unlikely that aircraft engine emission will ever
have a noticeable effect on the community. In areas with long periods of stable
atmospheric conditions, accumulations of air pollutants in the proximity of
airports caused by aircraft may become sufficiently important to have occasionally
some effect on the community's well-being, be it small in comparison with that
generated by internal combustion surface transport at and around the airport.
Transportation capacity
17*	the past, city-to-airport transportation has been planned to handle
whatever increased level of air-traffic demand was anticipated. Anticipated air
traffic is the net outcome of a large number of inter-acting factors, which it is
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not necessary to present-here. In the process of forecasting future air-traffic,
insufficient- attention has been paid in some cases to the need to assess the level
of resulting ground-traffic that the community can accommodate and support. It is
necessary to pay increased attention to this factor in the future planning of
airport development. The community will need to recognize that it must provide
the necessary transportation capacity between a major population centre and the
associated large airport, using one or more of presently available means, such
as road, conventional rail and helicopter transport, or introduce new means, such
as developing fast ground transportation systems and STOL aircraft. Such improved
city-to-airport transportation will also benefit the airport's neighbours. If,
however, adequate city-to-airport transportation capacity cannot be provided,
distribution of the air-traffic over a system of smaller airports will increasingly
become necessary, with consequential advantages and disadvantages.
18.	As much as availability of land plays a role in the potential for
increasing access to airports by passengers and cargo, airspace saturation in the
proximity of major airports is beginning to provide a further constraint on
airport growth. Notwithstanding the temporary relief expected for some airports
from large capacity aircraft, airspace utilization will continue to increase and
its saturation is already influencing the expansion possibilities for existing
airports and the planning of new airports.
Rate of adjustment of the community
19»	Airport development is a rapid process which is measured in terms of
several decades, as compared with the much slower rate of past development of modes
of transportation such as railway systems and commercial shipping. As a result,
communities have had more time to adjust themselves progressively to the demands
and opportunities of developing surface transportation systems which have taken
many more decades, if not centuries, for their development. This has allowed
successive generations to modify their economic and social requirements in an
attempt to maintain harmony with the growing activity concerned. While these
attempts have not always been successful, in the aviation era, coinciding with a
period of rapid urban development, the adjustment processes of the community must
be accelerated to a degree that often causes friction between tne parties concerned.
There is a pressing demand for the preservation of available natural assets. The
fast growth-rate of airport-land requirements and the deterioration of the physical
environment of the growing airport in some respects are beginning to cause conflict
which the aviation world can ignore only at the expense of the wholesomeness of
the human environment. Fortunately, in developing States this problem appears thus
far to be much less severe than it is in the older, densely populated parts of
highly industrialized States. The lessons learned by the latter will undoubtedly
benefit the former.
Airport planning
20.	In view of the many and growing inter-connections between airport operations
and the multiple aspects of the community's well-being, the main factors of which
are outlined in the preceding paragraphs, ICAO will continue to provide guidance,
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assisting all parties concerned in as objective and effective a manner as can be
realized within the limits of its resources. This responsibility has been recognized,
and a good deal of ICAO’s meeting activity addresses itself to the development of a
concensus on the various aspects of this complex matter. An Airport Master Planning
Manual published by ICAO in 1969 states that in long range planning of airports,
including the expansion of existing airports, planners should assess their proposed
plan's potential impact on the airport's environment and should be required to seek
agreement of the community with such assessment. This will often involve close
relationship with the jurisdictions that control the land in the area surrounding
the airport. It may be expected that these influences of the non-aviation community
on airport development will grow, and the civil aviation world should accept the
obligation of taking fully into account legitimate social needs so as to ensure that
the airport is a compatible neighbour in all respects.
THE AIRCRAFT EN ROUTE
21.	In paragraph 4 it is stated that thus far aircraft en route interact with
their environment in a minor way. Present-day operating altitudes reduce the
aircraft noise to non-objectionable levels; this may not be true for future
generations of aircraft, notwithstanding higher operating altitudes.
Sonic boom
22.	During its 1963 Assembly, ICAO stated that it attaches great importance
to ensuring that no unacceptable situation for the public is created by sonic boom
when supersonic aircraft are introduced into commercial service. An ICAO programme
was initiated calling for the creation of appropriate machinery for the purpose of
ensuring that international standards would take due account of the problems which
the operation of supersonic aircraft may create for the public, and to take action
to achieve international agreement on the measurement of sonic boom, to define
"unacceptable situation for the public", and to establish corresponding limits.
The machinery established by ICAO is taking active steps to determine at what point
sonic booms become unacceptable. The studies underway include examination of the
effects of sonic boom on humans, property, animals and terrain. Care is being
taken to ensure that no aspect is overlooked. An international group of technical
experts has prepared a detailed report on the effects of sonic boom and the ranges
of sonic boom values likely to emanate from known supersonic transport designs.
In a further phase of ICAO's study, operational, economic, social and legal experts
are being added. This enlarged group will make recommendations, for consideration
by a world-wide meeting on the point where sonic booms become unacceptable.
Atmospheric pollution
2J. Engine emissions of present-day aircraft en route at high altitudes are
not harmful, the visible evidence of them being limited to occasional condensation
trails. There is as yet no scientific data to support the contention voiced in
some quarters that SST engine emissions at high altitudes will materially affect
the weather or otherwise have a harmful effect on the atmosphere and hence on
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humans. The jet engine that powers these and other transport types of aircraft
is known to deposit far less pollutants than the piston-engine which preceded it
Engines that emit invisible exhaust gases are now available and will no doubt be
fitted to future types. Action to retrofit some existing jet transport aircraft
with such engines has already been taken and it can be assumed that this modifi-
cation programme will become more widespread.
24.	No other actual or potential impact of the passage of aircraft overhead
is believed to be of any significance for the community.
Recreation and health
25»	This survey would not be complete without expressing some view on the
effect of air transportation on recreation and health. Air transportation has
indirectly benefitted the human environment by facilitating long-distance trans-
portation of large population groups to geographical areas climatologically optimal
for health and recreation. Also, modern air evacuation has drastically changed the
possibility of treating complicated and specialized cases of illness or injury,
resulting in favourable prospects for recovery and survival which were out of the
question in pre-aviation days.
THE ROLE OF ICAO
26.	The need for vigilance regarding the role of aviation for the community’s
well-being and the technical, sociological and other considerations that enter into
this field have been amply demonstrated by the ever increasing amount of public
discussion of all aspects of this matter. ICAO accepts the responsibility for
keeping the matter under review with the aim to ensure maximum compatibility between
development of civil aviation and the preservation of a wholesome human environment
in its wider sense. The attached Resolution on the subject, adopted by ICAO's
Assembly at its 18th Session (1971),should leave no doubt that ICAO accepts this
responsibility.*
* Note for the Assembly: This final sentence introduces the Resolution which the
Assembly may wish to adopt on the subject. A draft for such a Resolution is
offered at Appendix II.
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APPENDIX II
APPENDIX II
Draft Resolution
1)	WHEREAS an International Conference on the Problems of the Human
Environment under the aegis of the United Nations will convene
in 1972;
2)	WHEREAS this Conference aims to encourage and to provide guidelines for
action by Governments and International Organizations towards
harmonization of industrial and technological development with
preservation of a wholesome human environment;
3)	WHEREAS advancing technology has caused civil aviation to become a
significant influence in the human environment;
WHEREAS the preamble to the Convention on International Civil Aviation
states that "the future development of international civil aviation
can greatly help to create and preserve friendship and understanding '
among the nations and peoples of the world...." and Article of
that Convention states that ICAO should "develop the principles and
techniques of international air navigation and to foster the planning
and development of international air transport so as to.... meet
the needs of the peoples of the world for safe, regular, efficient
and economical air transport";
5)	wHEREAS in fulfilling this role, ICAO strives to achieve a balance between
the benefit accruing to the community through international civil
aviation and the burden that is unavoidably placed on the human
environment in order to make it possible for civil aviation to
make the best use of advancing technology;
THE ASSEMBLY resolves that the United Nations Conference on the Problems
of the Human Environment be informed that:
(1)	the Convention on International Civil Aviation places on ICnC the
responsibility to guide the development of international civil
aviation in such a manner as to bring benefit to the peoples of 
the world;
(2)	in fulfilling this role ICAC is conscious of the burden that may be
placed on the human environment, and of its responsibility to reduce
this burden so as to achieve maximum compatibility with safe and
orderly development of international civil aviation;
(3)	in discharging its responsibilities^ ICAO assists and will continue to
assist States by all available means, in order that they may reap the
benefit of the potential which civil, aviation offers for improving
living conditions.
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