ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

ENVIRONMENTAL  DEGRADATION  AND  ITS IMPLICATIONS

Dr. Goutam Patra

Asst. Professor

Govt. College of Education Banipur

Gtmpatra21@gmail.com

In villages, we would have seen the trees being cut for using the land to grow crops or to construct houses. The  small water bodies that existed some time ago are no longer seen now. In  cities, we must have seen trees being felled for constructing houses, multiplexes and roads. We all feel the impact of air pollution owing to emission of carbon monoxide by large number of vehicles and harmful gases from factories. We come to know by reading newspapers or listening to discussions on radio or watching on television how the rivers and even the underground water sources are being polluted and the water level is going down fast. In hilly areas, forests are being cut to meet the fast growing needs of the people. Many of us are aware that all these are adversely affecting our environment. The deterioration of environment has also led to various kinds of man-made disasters and natural calamities  like The Bhopal Gas tragedy, Tsunamis, Landslides and London Smog, and what happened regarding their management. In this paper, therefore, we shall study the phenomenon of environmental degradation and how it is related to natural calamities, disasters and their management.

Let us begin the discussion on environmental degradation by understanding the term ‘environment’ itself. What does the word ‘environment’ mean? Commonly environment means the surroundings in which we live. We may have read or heard terms like social environment, political environment, literary environment and school environment. But the environment which we shall discuss has a different meaning.

In the present context, environment denotes all the elements, processes and conditions around us along with their interrelationships. It is defined as the sum total of all the conditions and circumstances and the living and non living things around us, which affect its life. Let us try to understand this concept through a concrete example. For the children of the couple, the environment comprises the park, trees, plants, flowers, playing equipment, air and water There are fish in the pond. But for the fish, it is not the same. For them, environment is the surroundings within the pool. The living and non living things in the pool make the environment of the fish. Therefore, for any living organism like a human being or a plant or an animal, the environment means everything, living or non living, which surrounds it.

CLASSIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENT : Environments can be classified in many ways based on various factors. We have seen above that environment is referred to as social environment, political environment, literary environment and school environment. But the environment which we are trying to understand is classified on the basis of the process of its creation or evolution. Based on this, environment falls into two main categories: natural environment and human-made environment. Natural environment: It includes all living and non-living things that occur naturally on Earth and  evolved through a natural process. The creation of these components has been done by nature, and not by any human intervention or support.

Human-made environment: On the other hand, human-made environment includes all those things which are created by humans for their use. Human beings construct these surroundings, as these are needed for providing the required setting for human activity. These things range from the large-scale civic surroundings to personal places. For example, houses, roads, schools, hospitals, railway lines, bridges and parks are components of human-made environment.

There is yet another kind of environment which plays an important role in the living conditions of human beings. This is called the social environment. Social environment includes cultural norms and values, the culture that individuals live in, and social, political, economic and religious institutions with which they interact.

The environment is our life support system. In fact, it affects and influences the growth, development, and survival of all organisms, including human beings. All kinds of our needs are met by the environment. It supplies the basic necessities for life and supports large number of life forms. We are dependent on the environment for our food, shelter, water, air, soil, energy, medicines, fibers, raw materials, and many other things. The environment maintains atmospheric composition and protects all kinds of life on earth from harmful effects of solar radiation.

But in spite of all these benefits we find that the quality of environment is deteriorating and it is being degraded continuously. It is not only that the resources of the environment are being irrationally utilised, we are contributing dangerously to its pollution. Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations.() The World Resources Institute (WRI), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1998.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION : Let us understand how our environment i.e., air, water and land, is progressively contaminated, overexploited and destroyed.  We are utilizing resources like water, soil, trees, coal, petrol without caring for the future. We are carelessly interfering with the eco-system and deliberately killing wild animals. In fact, there are many forms of environmental degradation. Whenever habitats are destroyed, biodiversity is lost, or natural resources are depleted, the environment is hurt.

 We now know that healthy environment is essential for the very existence of human society and other living organisms. But environmental degradation is going on unabated. The important factors are the following:

 Social Factors/ Growing Population: Population is the greatest resource of any country and a major contributory factor for development, and yet it is a major cause of environmental degradation. As we find, the rapid pace of population growth has led to the excessive utilization of natural resources. Huge population also leads to huge production of wastes. The resultant outcomes are loss of biodiversity, pollution of air, water and soil and increased pressure on arable land. All these have been putting great stress on the environment

 Poverty: Poverty is said to be both the cause and effect of environmental degradation. You may have seen that the poor people use natural resources more than the rich. They use these for building their huts, for cooking, for their food and for meeting many other needs. In this way they deplete these resources faster as they have no opportunity of gaining access to other types of resources.

Urbanisation: It is observed that  a large number of poor people from villages moving to towns, cities and mega cities to earn their livelihood. This has led to unplanned and rapid expansion of cities, creating enormous pressure on the infrastructural facilities.

Changing Life Style: There has been a remarkable change in the style of living of people. This change is visible not only among the people living in cities and towns but also among those who live in villages. The changing life style of people has enormously increased their level of consumption. The fallout of the fast increasing use of modern gadgets like refrigerators and air conditioners is the release of harmful gases in the atmosphere. This has been causing global warming which is very dangerous. In fact, due to overuse of modern gadgets, harmful gases like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are released which lead to global warming.

Economic Factors:

Agricultural Development: Agricultural development is so important for a country like ours. But this has been affecting the environment adversely. As we have been experiencing in India, the green revolution has led to over exploitation of land and water resources. Extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides has been a major source of contamination of water bodies and land degradation.

Industrialization: Rapid industrialization has been the foremost contributor to environmental degradation. Based on the information collected through various sources, we find that most of the industries adopt the technologies that place a heavy load on environment. These technologies lead to intensive use of resources and energy. The current pace of industrialization therefore is resulting in the depletion of natural resources like fossil fuel, minerals and timber, and contamination of water, air and land. All these are causing immense damage to ecosystems and leading to health hazards.

 Economic Development: It is a fact that the pattern of economic development has also been creating environmental problems. The pace of economic development has been putting immense pressure on resources. The economy today has become consumption intensive which demands greater use of resources and promotes life styles that lead to wastage. The irrational use of resources and wastages are resulting in depletion of environment.

IMPLICATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION :

The degradation of environment is thus a very serious concern. And it is occurring primarily due to excessive and reckless exploitation and unscientific management of natural resources. In fact, it has emerged as a global challenge for all the countries of the world. As stated above, the pollution of air, water and soil caused by emission of harmful gases, release of industrial effluents, urban wastes and radio-active wastes and reckless use of fertilizers and pesticides is threatening the very survival of modern civilization.  About 50 percent of geographical area of India suffers from varying degrees of degradation caused by deforestation, overgrazing, agricultural mismanagement, shifting cultivation, soil erosion, soil salination, water logging, alkalinity, and acid rains. Over 5.3 billion tonnes of top soil is lost every year due to soil erosion. The average soil loss is estimated to be over 16 tonnes per hectares per year which translates into approximately 1 millimetre (mm) each year or 1 centimetre (cm) every decade. It takes nature about a thousand years to form one cm of soil. The production of cereals will drop remarkably due to global warming.

Global Warming:

Scientist around the world are getting increasingly alarmed over global warming’s impact on human health. Warming climate is responsible for spread of serious infectious diseases. Increasing temperatures are lengthening the growing season of some crops. Himalayan glaciers are melting. The rivers originating in Himalayas will get dried.. One of the major causes of environmental degradation is generation of solid wastes. If we pile up all these at sea level in the shape of a cone, a pyramid with circular base of one kilometer region, its peak would be higher than Mount

Through rapid globalization the West and the East have been getting closer, catastrophes become global in scale, e.g. global warming, pandemic influenza and international terrorist attack. Local problems need global solutions. For example, food insecurity in Russia and China 2010, political crises in North Africa 2011 and earthquake-tsunami-radiation disaster in Japan 2011 are all affecting nearly everyone. Natural and human-induced disasters have become major subjects. If the twin tower terrorist attack in 2001 was still regarded as an independent anti-US incident; arguably, people were really made awake by the Indonesia Boxing Day tsunami 2004. The attitude towards environmental hazards was gigantically changed. The gruesome pictures of bleeding victims and the disconsolate crying for their beloved ones trapped by the falling rubble in an earthquake attracted voluminous reports by media. With the aid of internet, people are no longer thinking that environmental hazards are something happening far away from them, or something never affecting someone they know. The ensuing events like Hurricane Katrina 2005, Pakistan Kashmir earthquake 2005, the July 7 bombing in London 2005, Haiti earthquake 2010, Eyjafjallajokull eruptions 2010, Europe snowstorms 2010, the Australian flood and cyclone Yasi 2011, Christchurch earthquake 2011 and Japan disaster (earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown) 2011 provide examples for testing the integrated disaster management approaches. Hazards may be unpredictable but disasters can be avoided. Hazards, risk and vulnerability are key elements for the equation of disaster management. To solve this equation, it is imperative to answer these questions: Is the environment becoming more hazardous? Are disasters really getting worse? What is disaster? Are we becoming more at risk

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Because of the serious consequences of environmental degradation, it has been a matter of great concern. Very often it is linked with development. There is a strongly expressed point of view that the major reason of environmental degradation has been the model of development adopted by human society. It is defined as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In this context it is necessary to eliminate irrational use of natural resources that causes environmental depletion. Sustainability requires managing the needs of development in a way that ensures that the economy and society continue to exist without destroying the natural environment on which we depend. We can achieve the goal of sustainable development by managing the scientific use of our natural resources.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT Environmental degradation has still more serious implications. Do you know that around the world a growing share of devastation triggered by disaster stems from environmental degradation and resource mismanagement? Disasters have become one of the greatest challenges, but they can be managed. We may better understand disaster management by understanding the term disaster. A disaster is the tragedy that negatively affects society and environment. Disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriately managed risks. These can be classified into two categories based on their origin: Natural Disasters and Humanmade Disasters. A natural disaster occurs when a natural hazard (e.g., volcanic eruption or earthquake or flood) affects human life. Disasters caused by human action, such as negligence, error, or by the failure of a system are called human-made disasters. Examples of such disasters are: Bhopal Gas Tragedy, Landslides that take place in different parts of our country or Floods due to breaches in dams. Although the consequences of a disaster are immense, its impact can be minimized. Minimizing the adverse effects of natural and human-made disasters by adopting suitable strategies is called disaster management. Its process involves four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Mitigation :

Mitigation may appear to you as a technical or difficult term. It means the efforts that are made to prevent hazards from developing into disasters, or to reduce the effects of disasters to the minimum, when they occur. The mitigation phase differs from the other phases because it focuses on long-term measures for reducing or eliminating risks. Even before the phase of mitigation, there may be a phase of the identification of risks. It is better to identify the risks before you plan and make efforts to reduce the impact of disaster. For example, during rainy season, there may be the possibility of flood in a river. If the possible damage to be caused by the flood is identified, one may plan and take steps to reduce the damage.

 Preparedness: In the preparedness phase, disaster managers develop plans of action for when the disaster strikes. This includes (a) communication plans with easily understandable terminology and methods; (b) proper maintenance and training of emergency services; (c) development of emergency shelters and evacuation plans; (d) getting ready and maintaining disaster supplies and equipment; and (e) developing organizations of trained volunteers among civilian populations.

 Response :When a disaster occurs, actions under the response phase are taken. These include the mobilization of the necessary emergency services and also of people who respond immediately in the disaster area. This is likely to include emergency services, such as firefighters, police and ambulance crews. A well planned strategy as part of the preparedness phase enables efficient coordination of rescue. Recovery The aim of the recovery phase is to restore the affected area to its previous state. It differs from the response phase in its focus. Recovery efforts are primarily concerned with actions that involve rebuilding destroyed property, re-employment, and the repair of essential infrastructure.