Analysis of Impacts: Festivals and Events on Society and Environment

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of festivals and events, examining their effects on economic development, social justice, and environmental sustainability. It explores both the positive aspects, such as job creation and international branding, and the negative consequences, including environmental footprints and social disruptions. The report delves into case studies like the Woodstock music festival and the Commonwealth Games, highlighting issues such as environmental damage, displacement of communities, and financial scams. It also discusses the role of mega-events in urban planning, the impact on migrant workers, and the long-term consequences of public fund mismanagement. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of sustainable development practices and offers recommendations for hosting future events in a responsible and beneficial manner. The analysis covers various aspects, from the introduction of environmental protection to the impact on local communities and the need for better monitoring and control by governing bodies to prevent corruption and ensure that the benefits of these events are equitably distributed. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for a balanced approach, ensuring that events contribute positively to society, the economy, and the environment.

IMPACTS OF FESTIVAL
AND EVENTS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
Books and Journals.....................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Concept of the sustainability is increasing day by day with the discourse of the mega-
event. the hosting of the mega events which has tremendous effect on developing as well as
emerging countries. it can be positive in terms of the economic investment ,skills development,
job creation and also international branding. it can be also negative in the terms of their
environment footprint .besides all the environment thought process the important question which
arises is need to be addressed as to hoe such mega events in the particular situations benefits the
poor. it also provides the recommendations that can encourages the sustainable development to
host the mega events in the future.
MAIN BODY
The Mega Events are now being staged in countries which are developing but a rapid
speed. It is a new trend and provides the opportunities for the analysis, to plan as well as
implement the mega events. The major impacts of the mega events and how they contribute
towards sustainable development of the urban areas. The mega events are hosted for
encouraging investments that will be beneficial for the economy as whole. The framework of
sustainability which is taking turn of global competition for attracting new events may
compromise the agenda of urban planning by hosting the mega event in the country.
Matters related to economic development, social justice, globalisation and technological
changes are having long as well as short-term implications. Every policy will have to fulfil all
these requirements if it does not want to face rejection(Gursoy and et.al., 2017). Sustainable
developments means the ability to meet present needs without sacrificing the needs of future
generations. By establishing the Olympic partner sponsorship program it gained large cash
inflows by Olympic games by association with the big corporations. By including the big
businesses like McDonalds, Coca Cola, Dow Chemical with the Olympic movement which are
considered to be the least sustainable in the field of environment it was assumed that they will
flow a green wave to the Olympic shores. Considering the Olympic congress held in Paris, 1994
an Olympic Pillar as Environmental protection was introduced. The IOC has the role of
encouraging awareness among the corporates and other events about the environmental issues so
that the mega events like Olympics are held accordingly.
As per IOC the sponsorship and the partnership program has helped the organisations to
spread their messages worldwide helping them to achieve the sustainability goals. The mega
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events enforce the companies and partners to create employment, investments and the new
innovations which will help the company as hole(Taks, Chalip and Green, 2015).
Along with the positive side which are limited there are large number of repercussions
which are faced by the environment. There are various examples of the events that highly
impacted the environment and the society as a whole. The hosting severely damage the areas
which they are hosted. One of the well known example of Woodstock music which was held in
Bethel in August 1969. The event was regarded amongst the powerful cultural and social event
held in the 20th century but when talking about the environment it was undesirable. Organisers
failed in making proper arrangements for managing the crowd. Unavailability of the camping
areas and the parking slots resulted in destruction of fertile farmlands, crops of the farmers were
rotten and many more damages. Unmanaged parking blocked the roads of highways which
caused inconvenience for the local public and disturbed other transportation.
Events like Common wealth Games held in India for which it gained many appreciations
from all around the world. All are aware about the benefits such as the employment, investments
and much more opportunities for the country people. But no one noticed the negative impacts it
had on the country and its people(Holmes and et.al., 2015). The hosting wiped out several trees
from the outskirts of Delhi which is already the high pollution issues. The event removed
thousands of the people which were living in the slum areas, the event the people homeless
which are already poor. The jobs which were created by the event were temporary and the
people who were influenced by the event and left their jobs became unemployed after the events.
Not only this, no one is unaware of the scam which was made in common wealth games such
scams make the funds which are gained from the general public(Kromidha and et.al., 2019)
through taxes and other sources for hosting of the events were utilised for the benefit of few
organisations for their personal benefit. These scams damage the economy of the country. The
economy tends to lose much than it gains through the hosting of such events. The fraud of
thousands of crore rupees would not be held if the event were monitored and controlled properly
by the governing bodies(Viehoff and Poynter, 2016). The money could be utilised for the
betterment of the people, they could have made infrastructure facilitating the people of the
country. So the mega events had negative impact on the society, environment and undoubtedly
on the environment as well.
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With the re-invasion of the musical festivals events such as Burning Man held in San
Francisco and the European rave parties the exploitation again started. But till now people
became aware about the impact they were leaving on the third party stakeholders. They are
realizing the negative impact, that the events are having on the society and the environment.
Music Festivals are becoming very popular now days again hosting of the events require lot of
land for which trees are cut and the large sound system cause so much of noise pollution
affecting many people living nearby, and traffic raise will also create more pollution in the cities
which they are held(Preuss, 2015).
The most recent event which highlighted about the exploitation faced by the migrant
workers over Qatar due to the development of infrastructure for the Soccer World Cup which is
going to be held in 2022. it again gained the focus of the world on the impacts and benefits of
hosting the mega events. The word Mega event brings the attention only towards the benefits on
large scale forgetting the long term impact. The events gets attention because of the saturated
media, urban regeneration plans, marketing and a boost to the country people. The events is
likely to cross the investment of 10 million euros which will not last even for a month.
The negative side of the Mega events cannot be hidden for long as the country has to
suffer a lot because of these events in the long run. In Montreal, Canada people are still paying
taxes for the over spending on the Olympic games which were held in 1976, so one can imagine
the the significant impact it can have on a country that the people are still paying even after 30
years. The events generally results in the huge wastage of the public funds. The investments is
often because of non essential programs and projects, short term employment and the major
sufferers are the local people as they face hike in their cost of living as the market tends to rise
in the areas in which the events are held(Kromidha and et.al., 2019).
Olympics which were held in Sydney in 2000 were seen having a positive impact. The
image projected that Sydney is a modernised World City which have changed from its colonial
posts. It also showed that it healed the cultural differences and highlighting Australia as a
beautiful and multi cultural country having pristine environment. The issues which were faced
are planning laws were diluted by the organisers in Sydney. Any criticism over the games was
defined as un- Australian. The people fro outside and the locals faced discrimination after the
events.
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The further issues that the mega events brings are related with breaking of laws and
crimes. The mega events attract numbers of drug smugglers because of the events and the large
tourists which would be coming to attend the events, the human trafficking also increases to a
abnormal levels. The countries face a enormous increase in the levels of crime which are held
around the mega events. ,Millions of tourists visits the place of the events and the local business
people for increasing their business fulfil all the demands which are raised by the tourist. The
management of the country is lost to a considerable extent a large number of people from within
and outside the country gather at a place disturbing the whole controlling and monitoring of the
the areas. Events end within few days it takes a long time to the authorities to regain its control
over the locality and to reduce crimes(Müller, 2015).
CONCLUSION
By carrying out he above analysis it a can be concluded that the holdings of the mega events
bring not only the benefits to the country like the urbanisation, increased infrastructure , tourism,
job opportunities and many such other factors. But beyond this there is negative side too of
every mega event there is a large environment damage to the countries fields are cut for places,
increased pollution in the areas because of the tourists and the traffic. The other negative are the
unemployment after the events, increased crimes and several other negative factors because of
which people have to suffer in the long run. From the above study it can be justified that the
Sustainability of Mega events is a Myth.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Gursoy, D. and et.al., 2017. Impact of trust on local residents’ mega-event perceptions and their
support. Journal of Travel Research. 56(3). pp.393-406.
Holmes, K. and et.al., 2015. Events and sustainability. Routledge.
Kromidha, E. and et.al., 2019. A longitudinal perspective on sustainability and innovation
governmentality: The case of the Olympic Games as a mega-event. Journal of
Management Inquiry. 28(1). pp.77-93.
Müller, M., 2015. The mega-event syndrome: Why so much goes wrong in mega-event planning
and what to do about it. Journal of the American Planning Association. 81(1). pp.6-17.
Preuss, H., 2015. A framework for identifying the legacies of a mega sport event. Leisure
studies. 34(6). pp.643-664.
Taks, M., Chalip, L. and Green, B.C., 2015. Impacts and strategic outcomes from non-mega
sport events for local communities. European sport management quarterly. 15(1). pp.1-
6.
Viehoff, V. and Poynter, G., 2016. Mega-event cities: Urban legacies of global sports events.
Routledge.
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