ABSTRACT

Current definitions of the notion ‘environment’ include ‘the totality of the physical conditions on the Earth or a part of it, especially as affected by human activity’ ( The Concise Oxford Dictionary 1998: 452), ‘the external conditions or surroundings, especially those in which people live or work’ ( Collins English Dictionary 1994: 520) and ‘the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded’ (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary). All these definitions characterize the environment as being connected to humans, as if without humans, or before their existence on Earth, there would be no environment. This anthropocentric view is exemplified, and supplied with a humanitarian perspective, by the Sphere Handbook (2011: 14) that understands the environment ‘as the physical, chemical and biological elements and processes that affect disaster-affected and local populations’.