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An Overview on Environmental Degradation and Mitigation

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First Online: 28 April 2022

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Vijay P. Singh 12 ,
Shalini Yadav 13 ,
Krishna Kumar Yadav 14 &
Ram Narayan Yadava 15

Part of the book series: Water Science and Technology Library ((WSTL,volume 104))

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Environmental degradation is directly linked with environmental quality deterioration and depletion of resources. It is the world's most pressing problem and has created many challenges to humans, plants, animals, wildlife, and their habitats due to injudicious use of natural resources like unlimited burning of fossil fuel, water and soil pollution, and emission of harmful gases. The environmental degradation may be caused due to the several factors including pollution, climate, climate change, waste disposal, deforestation, desertification, and overpopulation. Worldwide, many policy initiatives have been born to develop strategies for mitigating and adapting to regulate and minimize restoring environmental degradation. The present chapter aims at (1) presenting an overview of environmental degradation to better understand this global issue, (2) describing different types of environmental degradation, (3) explaining several causes of environmental degradation in detail, and (4) discussing the impacts of environmental degradation and their mitigation measures briefly.

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Shalini Yadav

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Krishna Kumar Yadav

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Singh, V.P., Yadav, S., Yadav, K.K., Yadava, R.N. (2022). An Overview on Environmental Degradation and Mitigation. In: Singh, V.P., Yadav, S., Yadav, K.K., Yadava, R.N. (eds) Environmental Degradation: Challenges and Strategies for Mitigation. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 104. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95542-7_1

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Human Impacts on the Environment

Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. These negative impacts can affect human behavior and can prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water.

Help your students understand the impact humans have on the physical environment with these classroom resources.

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Population growth, environmental degradation and climate change

More than a third of 50 recently surveyed Nobel laureates cited “population rise / environmental degradation” as the biggest threat to humankind. Second on the list was “nuclear war”, cited by 23 percent of the laureates, while no other issue was selected by more than 10 percent of respondents.

Are the survey responses of the Nobelists an accurate assessment of the relative importance of the threats facing humanity? And why were population increase and environmental damage bundled together in the survey, rather than being treated as separate issues?

A new report on population growth and sustainable development from the Population Division of UN DESA revisits the complex relationships linking population increase to social and economic development and environmental change.

On 23 February, the new report will be launched at the Future of the World Global Policy Dialogues: The Future of Population Growth kicking off at 8:30 a.m. EST. This event will be discussing the findings of the report and the linkages between population growth, socioeconomic development and environmental change.

The human population has experienced a period of unprecedented growth, more than tripling in size since 1950. It reached almost 7.8 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow to over 8.5 billion in 2030, the target date for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This growth is the result of two trends: on the one hand, the gradual increase in average human longevity due to widespread improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine, and on the other hand, the persistence of high levels of fertility in many countries. But is growth of the human population responsible for the environmental catastrophe our planet is facing?

The data tell a different story. For example, although high-income and upper-middle-income countries contain around 50 per cent of the global population, they contribute around 85 per cent of global emissions of carbon dioxide. Such emissions from upper-middle-income countries have more than doubled since 2000, even though the population growth rate was falling throughout this period. Most high-income countries are growing slowly if at all, and for some the population has been decreasing.

Could measures to limit future population growth make a substantial contribution to mitigating climate change? A fundamental challenge is the slow pace at which population trends change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) underlines that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Globally, population growth is slowing down and may come to a halt by around 2100, thanks to the smaller family sizes associated with social and economic development. However, given the intrinsic momentum of population growth, the range of plausible trajectories of global population over the next few decades is quite narrow. For this reason, further actions by Governments to limit the growth of populations would do little to mitigate the forces of climate change between now and 2050.

Instead of looking for solutions in demographic trends, achieving sustainability will depend critically on humanity’s capacity and willingness to increase resource efficiency in consumption and production and to decouple economic growth from damage to the environment. High-income and upper-middle-income countries should acknowledge their disproportionate contributions to global environmental damage and take the lead in building a more sustainable economic system for the benefit of future generations.

At the same time, in many low-income and lower-middle-income countries today, rapid population growth remains a matter of concern, because it adds to the challenges of achieving social and economic development and of ensuring that no one is left behind. The continuing high levels of fertility that drive such growth are both a symptom and a cause of slow progress in development, often linked to a lack of choice and empowerment among women and girls.

Rapid population growth makes it more difficult for low-income and lower-middle-income countries to commit sufficient resources to improving the health and education of their populations. Rapid growth and the associated slow progress in development also diminish their capacity to respond and adapt to emerging environmental threats, including those caused by climate change.

Achieving the SDG targets related to reproductive health, education and gender equality will require empowering individuals, particularly women, to make choices about the number and timing of their children. The experience of countries from all regions suggests that such changes will facilitate, and could potentially accelerate, the anticipated slowdown in global population growth over the coming decades.

Learn more about the Future of the World Global Policy Dialogues: The Future of Population Growth event on 23 February. Register here by 22 February. Learn more and access the report on the website of UN DESA’s Population Division .

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Environmental Pollution and Degradation

Last updated on February 3, 2024 by ClearIAS Team

What is the Environment?

The environment is the physical surroundings of a person, a part of which they are, and on which they depend for activities including physiologic function, production, and consumption. The natural resources in his physical environment include air, water, and land as well as plants, animals, and ecosystems.

Table of Contents

Pollution and Pollutants

Pollution is any unfavorable alteration in the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of our environment, including the air, water, and soil, that may or will hurt people or other species as well as the life support systems of our biosphere. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash, and can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories.

Categorization of Pollutant

According to the origin, pollutants are categorized as:

Natural: A natural pollutant is a pollutant created by substances of natural origin such as volcanic dust.
Anthropogenic: Anthropogenic pollutants are created by human activities.

According to their nature of disposal, pollutants are grouped into:

Biodegradable pollutants: Biodegradable materials such as human and animal wastes, agro-based residues, and fertilizers can also pose a threat if their quantities or inputs exceed the “assimilative capacity of the environment.
Non-biodegradable pollutants: The non-biodegradable pollutants such as heavy metals, and pesticides, move through the food chain and may get magnified to dangerous levels in higher trophic level organisms. Some of these combine with other compounds and produce toxic substances.

As per their existence in nature, pollutants are categorized as:

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Quantitative Pollutants: These occur in nature and become pollutants when their concentration reaches beyond a threshold level. E.g. carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxide.
Qualitative Pollutants: These do not occur in nature and are man-made. E.g. fungicides, herbicides, DDT etc.

According to the form in which they persist after release into the environment, pollutants are categorized as:

Primary Pollutants: Pollutants released into the environment as a result of some natural and/or human activity, e.g., carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, suspended particulate matter, and hydrocarbons.
Secondary Pollutants: formed by the chemical interaction of primary pollutants with atmospheric gases and moisture, often catalyzed by sunlight are known as secondary pollutants e.g. ozone (O.), peroxy acyl nitrates (PAN), aldehyde, sulphuric acid, and nitric acid.

Causes of Environmental Degradation

Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment caused by the deterioration of resources including soil, water, and air; the loss of ecosystems; and the extinction of wildlife.

The main contributors to environmental degradation include modern urbanization, industrialization, population expansion, deforestation, etc. Unplanned urbanization and industrialization have contaminated the water, air, and sound systems. The air is additionally polluted by the smoke produced by automobiles and industries, which includes nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and chlorofluorocarbon.

Climate Change

The release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere causes climate change . It mostly results from the burning of fossil fuels, agricultural emissions, and changes in land use brought on by the eradication, clearing, and burning of forests.

The biological and socioeconomic repercussions of climate change are already evident, and its anticipated effects have the potential to significantly alter the global mean surface temperature, sea level, ocean circulation, precipitation patterns, climatic zones, species distributions, and ecosystem function.

The rapid population growth and economic development in the country are degrading the environment through the uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization, expansion and intensification of agriculture, and the destruction of natural habitats.

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On just 2.4% of the world’s land, India is home to 17% of the world’s population. Population pressure on the environment is linked to environmental pressures like biodiversity loss, air and water pollution, and increased demand for arable land. Population affects the environment primarily through the use of natural resources and the generation of waste.

Stratospheric Ozone Depletion

Because of the pollution caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere, stratospheric ozone is being depleted. It is a serious issue because the absence of protective ozone at high altitudes causes an increase in the amount of harmful solar ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation that penetrates the surface of the earth, leading to a variety of health problems and ecological effects.

Poverty is said to be both cause and effect of environmental degradation. The fast increment of human numbers joined with urgent poverty and rising levels of utilization are draining natural resources on which the vocation of present and future ages depends.

Degraded Air Quality

Worldwide, Approximately a billion people live in areas that mostly comprise industrial cities, and they are said to be the ones who are most affected by air pollution. The deterioration of air quality is caused by several air pollutants, but some major ones are particulate matter, such as oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulfur, lead, and other aromatic compounds (such as benzene).

Degraded Water Quality

Impurities brought on by contaminants can also seriously affect water quality, having a variety of negative repercussions on both the environment and human health.

Numerous other human activities, such as mining and industrial processes that may release harmful effluents, contribute to water contamination. Other significant factors contributing to the marine environment’s substantial degradation are oil spills, plastic waste buildup, and biological accumulation of persistent organic pollutants.

Read: Water Pollution Prevention

Deforestation

It has been estimated that around half of the world’s mature forests have been cleared by humans. Deforestation occurs for a variety of reasons, but the majority of deforestation now occurs when tropical forests are cleared for agriculture and pastoralism; destruction of trees for charcoal production, and the selective logging of forests for timber.

Effect of Environmental Pollution and Degradation

Environmental pollution and degradation have an impact on several aspects of life:

Public Health

Public health is threatened by pollution, a lack of fresh water, and population growth. According to the WHO, unhealthful settings are directly responsible for about one out of every four deaths each year.

Water-Related Challenges

According to a UNICEF report, 2.1 billion people do not have access to securely managed drinking water services, and 4.5 billion do not have access to safely managed sanitation facilities.

Additionally, diarrheal infections claim the lives of 340,000 children under five years of age every year. Water scarcity already affects four out of every 10 people and according to UNISDR, 90% of natural disasters are water-related.

Natural resources are strained by rapid population growth, which causes environmental degradation. Simply said, a growing population increases the need for food, clothing, and housing.

Ecosystems & Endangered Species

Both ecosystems and species are impacted by the long list of environmental problems that exist on this planet. In fact, by 2050, one in ten plant and animal species is predicted to become extinct.

Way Forward

Social Awareness: The need to raise public awareness of the consequences of pollution is urgent.
Population Control: If the environment is to be protected it is essential to check population growth.
Environment Conservation Acts Implementation: The Environment (Protection) Act was passed in 1986 in India to check the deterioration in the quality of the environment. Such government measures should be strictly enforced.
Control over Industrial and Agricultural Pollution: Controlling the air and water pollution brought on by industrial development is essential for environmental conservation. The use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers should be avoided to prevent agricultural pollution.
Afforestation: An extensive afforestation campaign should be launched in the interest of environmental protection.
Water Management: Provisions should be made to provide rural people with clean drinking water and river water should be made clean.
Management of Solid Waste: Planned management of solid waste is very essential.

Read: Environmental Regulatory Bodies

Environmental pollution and degradation can have a disastrous effect on a country or region’s social, economic, and environmental systems as well as the entire planet’s ecosystem. Environmental catastrophes pose a threat to the legacy of a healthy and supportive environment left for future generations. To reduce the dangers associated with environmental degradation and its contributing elements, (such as climate change) governments, international organizations, and communities must collaborate at all levels.

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Building a Foundation for Sound Environmental Decisions (1997)

Chapter: 5 summary, conclusions, and recommendations, 5 summary, conclusions, and recommendations.

Pressures on the environment will continue to increase. Global population increase, rising incomes, and agricultural and industrial expansion will inevitably produce unanticipated and potentially deleterious ecological, economic, and human health consequences. Environmental research has proven its value in helping to respond to and prevent many environmental problems, and it continues to be a wise and necessary investment.

The charge to this committee was to provide an overview of significant emerging environmental issues; identify and prioritize research themes and projects that are most relevant to understanding and resolving these issues; and consider the role of EPA's research program in addressing these issues, in the context of research being conducted or sponsored by other organizations. After careful deliberation, the committee decided not to simply present a limited list of "emerging" issues with specific research projects to address them. Such an exercise would provide a mere snapshot in time, based on the insights of one particular collection of individuals. Instead—and hopefully more valuably—this report provides an overview of important environmental issues and presents a framework for organizing environmental research. The report also describes major research themes and programs of relevance to EPA; suggests criteria that can be used to identify and prioritize among important research areas; recommends actions EPA should take to build its scientific capacity; and provides illustrations of the kinds of research projects that EPA should consider.

CONCLUSIONS

As a key environmental agency, EPA needs to support and maintain a strong research program. An evolving understanding of the complexity, magnitude,

and inter-relatedness of environmental problems leads us to conclude that a new balance of research programs may be helpful. This report describes a framework for conducting research in a way that will help alleviate the problems of the moment while providing a basis for solving tomorrow's problems.

In the past, pressing environmental issues have been addressed primarily through focused research efforts directed toward solving particular problems. Although this approach to environmental research can be effective, has often been necessary, and will surely continue, it also has limitations. In order to address the abundance of established, emerging, and as-yet-unknown environmental issues, an expanded understanding of the scientific principles underlying environmental systems is needed. Achieving this understanding will require innovative, interdisciplinary approaches.

To develop the knowledge needed to address current and emerging environmental issues, EPA should undertake both problem-driven research and core research . Problem-driven research is targeted at understanding and solving identified environmental problems, while core research aims to provide broader, more generic information that will help improve understanding of many problems now and in the future. Core research includes three components: (1) understanding the processes that drive and connect environmental systems; (2) development of innovative tools and methods for understanding and managing environmental problems; and (3) long-term collection and dissemination of accurate environmental data.

Research activities within problem-driven and core research programs may often overlap. Fundamental discoveries can be made during the search for a solution to a narrowly defined problem; likewise, as illustrated earlier in this report, breakthroughs in problem-solving often occur as a result of core research efforts. Both kinds of investigations are needed, and feedback between them will greatly enhance the overall environmental research endeavor (see Figure 5-1 ).

Because EPA's task of protecting the environment and human health is so vast and difficult, and because resources to undertake the necessary research are very limited, choices will have to be made among many worthwhile projects. The approaches for making these choices will be different in the core and problem-driven portions of the research program. The former should seek better understanding of fundamental phenomena and generate broadly relevant research tools and information. The latter will be more responsive to regulatory activities and other immediate needs and should be guided by the paradigm of risk reduction. Because there are so many specific issues of importance to the public, the Congress, and EPA's own program and regional offices, there is a temptation to include many problems for attention. It is important to resist this trend: it will inevitably lead either to the dilution of efforts to solve the most pressing problems or to the reduction of funding available for critical core research needs.

FIGURE 5-1 A framework for environmental research at EPA.

Interactions among the natural environment, plants, animals, and the evergrowing human population are highly complex and inherently unpredictable. Although this report provides a broad overview of current and emerging environmental issues, it is important to note that this is merely a snapshot in time. Identification of issues requiring attention is a dynamic, continuous process.

With its limited budget, staff, and mandate, it is not possible or reasonable for EPA to act alone in understanding and addressing all environmental problems. Many other federal agencies, state agencies, other organizations (including utilities), universities, and private companies have played and will continue to play important roles in environmental research. Cooperation with others will be particularly needed in the area of environmental monitoring, a complex and costly undertaking, and in the investigation of global-scale issues.

Another factor to consider in determining EPA's research role on a particular environmental issue is whether the private sector has any incentive to study or develop better solutions, or whether the primary research must originate from the public sector to serve the public good. Examples of areas of "public good" that might deserve EPA attention include municipal wastewater and drinking water treatment, nonpoint-source pollution control, restoration of degraded ecosystems, and large-scale regional and global air pollution problems.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To enhance the productivity and effectiveness of EPA's research efforts, the committee makes recommendations in three areas: a general approach to research, core research themes, and problem-driven research themes.

Approach to Research

EPA should establish a balance between problem-driven and core research. Although there is currently an emphasis on problem-driven research projects in EPA, the core component of EPA's research program should be developed to be approximately equal in magnitude.

EPA should develop an internal mechanism for continually identifying emerging issues and then applying a risk assessment evaluation to these issues to determine the highest priorities and areas of greatest uncertainty. One important method for identifying emerging issues is to review and synthesize new findings from the core research program. EPA research personnel should be fully engaged in the issue identification and research planning process.

EPA should cooperate closely with agencies, organizations, municipalities, universities, and industries involved in environmental research. In addition to providing research support, mechanisms for cooperation might include participation of EPA management in interagency coordination efforts, participation of staff in scientific meetings and conferences, and incentives and rewards for individuals who seek out and work with their counterparts in other organizations. Collaboration should be maintained in research endeavors, environmental monitoring, data archiving, and environmental policy formulation and evaluation. EPA should continue to act as a coordinator in bringing various environmental researchers together to exchange information and ideas, possibly in the form of interdisciplinary workshops on particular environmental topics. This would also help in ''scanning the horizon" to identify new environmental trends and emerging problems. Through these meetings, EPA can discuss the relative risks as well as solutions and policies and can determine which areas require more research.

EPA should compile, publish, and disseminate an annual summary of all research being conducted or funded by the agency in order to facilitate both better cooperation with others and better internal planning. The report should be organized into broad strategic categories, with sub-categories describing program areas. Publications and other output should be listed and made available upon request.

Core Research Themes

The core component of EPA's research program should include three basic objectives:

Acquisition of systematic understanding about underlying environmental processes (such as those displayed in Table 2.2 );

Development of broadly applicable research tools, including better techniques for measuring physical, chemical, biological, social, and economic variables of interest; more accurate models of complex systems and their interactions; and new methods for analyzing, displaying, and using environmental information for science-based decision making;

Design, implementation, and maintenance of appropriate environmental monitoring programs, with evaluation, analysis, synthesis and dissemination of the data and results to improve understanding of the status of and changes in environmental resources over time and to confirm that environmental policies are having the desired effect.

Core research projects should be selected based on their relevance to EPA's mission, whether such research is already being sponsored by other agencies, and the quality of the work proposed, as determined by a peer-review process. Cross-cutting, interdisciplinary studies that take advantage of advances in many different fields will be particularly valuable.

As part of its core research efforts, EPA should conduct retrospective evaluations of the effectiveness of environmental policies and decisions. Retrospective evaluations are critical to ensuring that environmental policies are achieving their intended goals without creating unpredicted, undesirable side-effects.

EPA should make a long-term financial and intellectual commitment to core research projects. Progress in core research generally does not come quickly; therefore it is important that the agency provide adequate long-term support to this kind of knowledge development, allowing it to follow its often unpredictable course. Tool development and data collection must be ongoing endeavors in order to be fully effective.

Problem-Driven Research Themes

EPA should maintain a focused, problem-driven research program. The problem-driven and core research areas will be complementary and result in the interaction of ideas and results.

Evaluation of problem-driven research areas should focus on reducing the risks and uncertainties associated with each problem. EPA should retain its emphasis on risk assessment to prioritize among problem-driven research areas. Using criteria such as timing, novelty, scope, severity, and probability satisfies this requirement, as does the more detailed risk assessment framework described in the EPA strategic plan for ORD. Although risk assessment and

TABLE 5-1 Recommended Actions for EPA

management provide a good framework for choosing among issues, the methodology must be refined to achieve more accurate assessments.

EPA should concentrate efforts in areas where the private sector has little incentive to conduct research or develop better solutions to environmental problems.

Problem-driven research should be re-evaluated and re-focused on a regular basis to ensure that the most important problems are being addressed. Unlike core research priorities, which may not change much over time, in the problem-driven area EPA must develop adaptive feedback capabilities to allow it to change directions when new issues arise and old issues are "solved" or judged to pose less risk than expected.

This committee was not asked to, and did not, address issues concerning EPA's research infrastructure, the appropriate balance between internal and external research, mechanisms for peer review, and other research management issues. Recommendations in these areas will be made by the Committee on Research and Peer Review at EPA (see Chapter 1 ). Table 5-1 summarizes recommended

actions that are intended to provide EPA with the knowledge needed to address current and emerging environmental issues.

Good science is essential for sound environmental decision-making. By implementing the recommendations contained in this report, EPA can increase the effectiveness of its research program and thus continue to play an important role in efforts to protect the environment and human health into the next century.

Over the past decades, environmental problems have attracted enormous attention and public concern. Many actions have been taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others to protect human health and ecosystems from particular threats. Despite some successes, many problems remain unsolved and new ones are emerging. Increasing population and related pressures, combined with a realization of the interconnectedness and complexity of environmental systems, present new challenges to policymakers and regulators.

Scientific research has played, and will continue to play, an essential part in solving environmental problems. Decisions based on incorrect or incomplete understanding of environmental systems will not achieve the greatest reduction of risk at the lowest cost.

This volume describes a framework for acquiring the knowledge needed both to solve current recognized problems and to be prepared for the kinds of problems likely to emerge in the future. Many case examples are included to illustrate why some environmental control strategies have succeeded where others have fallen short and how we can do better in the future.

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American Academy of Arts  and Sciences

The Ethical Dimensions of Global Environmental Issues

Donald A. Brown is Senior Counsel for Sustainable Development for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection, and director of the Pennsylvania Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental Policy.

INTRODUCTION

In 1950, the world’s population was 2.5 billion people. By the year 2050 it is expected to have grown to between nine and ten billion people. During this time of dramatic population growth, the human impact on the planet has increased significantly, not only because of the huge increase in our numbers, but also because of the new technical power to dig deeper, cut faster, build larger, and traverse more quickly great distances in automobiles, trucks, and planes. As a result, serious new environmental problems have emerged on a global scale. These problems include global climate change; worldwide loss of biodiversity, forests, and wetlands; long-range transport of toxic substances; decline of coastal ocean quality; and degradation of the world’s freshwater and ecological systems. 1

These new threats raise critical new ethical questions for the human race. Yet even some of the most obvious ethical dimensions of emerging global environmental problems are only dimly seen by most; rarely are they part of the public debate. In a 1999 New York Times op-ed piece on climate change entitled “Indifferent to Planet Pain,” Bill McKibben, wondering why the ethical dimensions of global warming were not more widely understood, writes:

I used to wonder why my parents’ generation had been so blind to the wrongness of segregation; they were people of good conscience, so why had inertia ruled so long? Now I think I understand better. It took the emotional shock of seeing police dogs rip the flesh of protestors for white people to really understand the day-to-day corrosiveness of Jim Crow. We need that same gut understanding of our environmental situation if we are to take the giant steps we must take soon. 2

Yet there is little evidence that global environmental problems feel urgent to most Americans. There are several reasons why this is so.

Unlike the brutal television images of dogs and police attacking defenseless civil rights marchers that galvanized the public in the early 1960s, there is little direct visible evidence that demonstrates how human suffering is being caused in the rest of the world by the profligate use of fossil fuels in the United States. To understand the climate change problem well enough to trigger deep moral concern, one must understand things that are not immediately evident to the naked eye, such as how the burning of fossil fuels in the United States may affect distant people—and an even more distant and abstract posterity. We must learn to see that the amount of coal and oil burning in one country may affect temperatures in many others. We must be able to visualize concretely how the use of certain pesticides in one part of the world is threatening, through long-range air transport, human health and the environment in other places on the globe. We must see that high levels of consumption of paper in the developed world is leading to the destruction of forests in the developing world.

Most ethical systems and our intuitive ethical sensitivity are focused on our responsibilities to people who are close by and can be directly affected by our actions. The technical power that humans now have to affect adversely people they will never meet is a challenge for such ethical systems. Still, global environmental problems raise very serious ethical issues: for example, a global climate change will hurt the poorest on the planet, seriously reduce the quality of life for future generations, and threaten plants and animals around the world. Is this right or just, particularly if those who are most harmed are least responsible for the problem?

Vested interests have in addition often diverted public debate from ethical reflection by focusing on what appear to be “value-neutral” issues of cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, and scientific uncertainty. The debate appears to revolve around “facts” and thus hides a host of dubious ethical assumptions.

This essay will look at a few emerging environmental problems, such as climate change and diminishing biodiversity, in order to identify some of the more important ethical issues often hidden in the public debate about these matters. As Michael McElroy has pointed out, public analysis of these problems is often limited to scientific and economic concerns. Yet the ethical aspects of environmental problems need to become much more central in public discussions. For one reason, the failure to consider the ethical aspects means that decisions will be made that are inadvertently unjust or unethical; the current generation in the developed world will treat unfairly the interests of future generations and poor people who do not have a say in environmental policy. Second, solutions to our most pressing environmental problems will require concerted action involving almost all of the nations on Earth; most nations are unlikely to agree to such concerted action unless they believe that they are being treated fairly and ethically.

CLIMATE CHANGE

The Problem

As Michael McElroy has explained, both natural forces and human activities are influencing the global climate. The greenhouse effect, which allows incoming solar radiation to pass through the earth’s atmosphere but prevents much of the outgoing infrared radiation from escaping into outer space, is a natural process. Natural greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and other trace gases. Without the greenhouse effect, life on Earth as we know it would not exist.

Emissions of some greenhouse gases are a result of human activities, and these create an enhanced greenhouse effect. These anthropogenic (human-induced) greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone-depleting substances. Human activities have altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere; as a result, the earth’s climate is changing. Over the past two hundred years, emissions from cars, power plants, and other human inventions have led to about a 30 percent increase in the natural concentration of carbon dioxide and more than a 100 percent increase in the atmospheric concentration of methane. Globally, the average temperature of the earth has warmed over 0.55°C since the mid-nineteenth century, when measurements began.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organization created by the United Nations to study global warming, concluded in a 1995 scientific assessment that “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” In another, more recent assessment, the IPCC has concluded that there is “new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.” 3 In other words, humans have already begun to change Earth’s climate. It is already too late to prevent some damage to the climate system. Continued addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere will further alter the global climate and cause increasing temperatures as well as changes in rainfall and other weather patterns.

The IPCC concluded that unless the world takes steps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, global temperatures could rise between 1.4 and 5.8 0 C by 2100. 4 Although there are still some scientific uncertainties about the timing, magnitude, and regional impact of such changes, there is strong evidence that they will have significant consequences for humanity and the environment. On the assumption that the climate system responds without sudden nonlinear surprises to greenhouse gas buildup, the projected planetary effects of increased warming include:

Higher average global precipitation, with some parts of the earth becoming dryer while others become wetter.
A rise in sea level of 0.09 to 0.88 meters by 2100.
Changes in regional climate and vegetation.
Changes in the productivity of agricultural lands.
Increases in the intensity and severity of tropical storms. 5

Models show that the effects of climate change are not distributed equally around the world. Actual temperature differences will likely vary greatly according to location, with projected increases much smaller in the tropics than in regions near the poles. Decreases in precipitation are expected in some areas, while precipitation is expected to increase in others.

Climate models show that the poorest people around the world are the most vulnerable to climate change. This is so for the following reasons:

The ecological systems of many of the poorest nations are most at risk. Human-induced climate change represents an important additional stress to the many ecological and socioeconomic systems already affected by pollution, increasing resource demands, and nonsustainable management practices. The vulnerability of human health and socioeconomic systems—and, to a lesser extent, ecological systems—depends upon economic circumstances and institutional infrastructure. This implies that systems typically are more vulnerable in developing countries where economic and institutional circumstances are less favorable. 6

The poorest nations are most vulnerable to storms, flooding, and a rising sea level. Estimates put about 46 million people per year currently at risk of flooding due to storm surges. In the absence of safety measures, and without taking into account anticipated population growth, a 50-centimeter sea-level rise would increase this number to about 92 million; a 1-meter sea-level rise would raise it to about 118 million. 7 Studies using a 1-meter projection show a particular risk for small islands and deltas. Some small island nations and other countries will be more vulnerable because their existing sea and coastal defense systems are less well established. Countries with higher population densities will be more vulnerable. Storm surges and flooding could threaten entire cultures. For these countries, a sea-level rise could force an internal or international migration of populations. 8

Bangladesh, to take an example, is a densely populated country of about 120 million people located in the complex delta region of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers. About 7 percent of the country’s habitable land (with about 6 million people) is less than 1 meter above sea level, and about 25 percent (with about 30 million people) is below the 3-meter contour. 9 Bangladesh is already extremely vulnerable to damage from storm surges. Storm surges in November of 1970 and in April of 1991 are believed to have killed over 250,000 and 100,000 people, respectively. In addition to raising the vulnerability of such regions to catastrophic flooding, climate change increases the threat that tropical storms will be harmful. 10

The health of the poor worldwide is at greatest risk from global warming. Climate change is expected to cause significant loss of life in the poorest nations. Direct health effects include increases in cardiorespiratory mortality and illness due to an anticipated increase in some regions in the intensity and duration of heat waves. 11 Indirect effects of climate change, which are expected to predominate, include potential increases in the transmission of vector-borne infectious diseases (e.g., malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and some viral encephalitis) resulting from extensions of the geographical range and season for vector organisms. 12 Models project that malaria incidence could rise by 50–80 million additional annual cases, relative to an assumed global background total of 500 million cases. Some increases in nonvector-borne infectious diseases—such as salmonellosis, cholera, and giardiasis—also could occur as a result of elevated temperatures and increased flooding. Limited supplies of fresh water and nutritious food, as well as the aggravation of air pollution, will also have human health consequences. 13

The food supplies of the poor are especially at risk from global warming. Many of the poorest nations are in arid regions of Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Relatively small changes in temperature and precipitation, together with the nonlinear effects on evapotranspiration and soil moisture, can result in relatively large changes in runoff, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. 14 Many of the world’s poorest people—particularly those living in subtropical and tropical areas and those dependent on isolated agricultural systems in semi-arid and arid regions—are most at risk of increased hunger. Global food supplies during the next century may become increasingly inadequate to meet projected consumption due to both climatic and nonclimatic factors. 15

The poorest nations have the least financial and institutional ability to adapt to climate change. The poorest nations are the least prepared to spend money on strategies that might allow them to adjust to hotter and drier climates, more violent storms, rising sea levels, degraded agricultural resources, and increased burdens on human health organizations. Many countries cannot afford food imports, irrigation systems, large-scale public works to prevent flooding, or costly health protection strategies. In the poorest nations, the capacity for research, analysis, and policy development is generally weak. Yet it is precisely the poor who will be most vulnerable to the unanticipated shocks of climate change.

Ethical Issues Raised by Global Warming

There are a number of ethical questions raised by human-induced climate change.

How much degradation from human-induced climate change should be tolerated by the international community? To solve the climate change problem, governments will eventually have to agree at what level to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), governments have agreed to take action to stabilize greenhouse gases at a level that “prevents dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” 16 Yet neither the UNFCCC nor subsequent negotiations have been able to agree on a level that is “dangerous.” The level at which greenhouse gases are stabilized will ultimately determine how much damage to human and nonhuman interests is tolerated. For instance, nations could agree to stabilize greenhouse gases at a level that protects human health but allows significant damage to endangered species and ecological systems. Therefore, the decision about the ultimate level of stabilization raises serious ethical questions about what the duties of human beings are to other forms of life, as well as our duties to future generations and to those in poverty, who will suffer the most from human-induced climate change.

At the third Conference of the Parties to the Convention in Kyoto in 1997, the developed nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent on average below 1990 levels. But this is only a small percentage of what will be needed to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The international community has yet to face the issue of setting an ethically defensible level for these gases.

Is the absence of scientific certainty about the consequences of human-induced climate change a valid excuse for not taking protective action? Those opposing U.S. intervention often argue that no action should be taken on climate change until scientific uncertainties about the impact of climate change are resolved. This American insistence on eliminating uncertainties violates the UNFCCC, a document ratified by the United States, in which the signatories agreed not to use scientific uncertainty as an excuse for not taking action. 17 Although there are still some scientific uncertainties about the timing and magnitude of climate change, many facts are not in dispute. We know, for instance, how naturally occurring greenhouse gases warm the planet, how these greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation, that humans are releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, that greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere in proportion to their human use, and that there has always been a strong correlation in the historical record between levels of greenhouse gases and temperature. The most recent IPCC assessment identifies numerous additional areas where scientific uncertainties have been entirely resolved, or where uncertainties persist but adverse global consequences are highly likely. 18 We know that human-induced changes in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will change the climate in a way that will cause great damage. What we do not know with certainty, given nonlinear feedback mechanisms in the climate system, is the actual timing and magnitude of the change.

This situation poses an important ethical question: is scientific uncertainty about the timing and magnitude of climate change a valid excuse for not taking action? Those who argue that nations have an ethical responsibility to act now can list a number of good reasons for their position:

The adverse potential impacts on human health and the environment from human-induced climate change are enormous;
The effects on the poorest people of the world are disproportionate;
The real potential for very harsh climate surprises is much greater than indicated by the often- quoted predictions that rely on assumptions of linear responses to climate change;
Much of the science of the climate change problem has never been in dispute;
Some damage from human activities is likely already taking place;
The likelihood is strong that serious and irreversible damage will be experienced before all the uncertainties can be eliminated;
Delay runs risks of its own. The longer nations wait to take action, the more difficult it will be to stabilize greenhouse gases at levels that do not create enormous damage.

Should cost-benefit analysis of climate-change programs be used as a prescriptive tool for national policy? Some in the United States who oppose government action on climate change argue that action is not justified because the costs to the United States of reducing greenhouse gas emissions outweigh the benefits to the United States of preventing global warming. This use of cost-benefit analysis as a prescriptive tool raises several ethical issues, most of which are hidden in public-policy debates. The questions raised by a cost-benefit analysis include:

Whether costs to the United States alone can justify lack of action by the United States to reduce greenhouse gases, which could cause harm in other nations;
Whether an analysis that relies on a market-based “willingness-to-pay” method of determining the value of damages to plants, animals, ecosystems, or humans distorts other ways of valuing nature;
Whether a mode of analysis that omits questions of distributive justice or duties to future generations is ethically defensible.

Do the developed nations have special responsibilities to act before the poorer nations? Another standard objection to American action on climate change is the argument that the United States should take no action until the developing world agrees to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This argument rests on the fact that the United States cannot solve the problem of climate change by itself, and some nations in the developing world continue to contribute to the problem. If the United States acts and the developing world does not, so goes this argument, climate change will still happen and American industry will put itself at a competitive disadvantage. For this reason, there has been strong opposition to the Kyoto Protocol provisionally signed by the Clinton administration in December of 1997. In response, the Clinton administration announced it would not seek Senate ratification of the Kyoto Protocol until it obtained firmer commitments to reduce emissions from the developing world. In the meantime, the U.S. Congress would not approve any government action to reduce greenhouse gases, arguing that such action would amount to a back-door ratification of Kyoto. Although the George W. Bush administration has recently announced that it will reject the Kyoto Protocol, on several occasions it has stated that developing-world commitments will be a cornerstone of its approach to an international regime created to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet the United States emits a disproportionate share of greenhouse gases. With 4 to 5 percent of the world’s population, it emits 22 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. The United States has also contributed mightily to the magnitude of the existing problem. Given the historical contributions of developed nations like the United States and the current imbalance in per capita emissions, those who argue for immediate action by the developed nations make their argument on grounds of equity. They argue that those who have caused most of the existing problem and have the resources to finance reduction strategies have a special duty to reduce emissions immediately.

Is it legitimate for any nation to refuse to take action until all nations agree on “least-cost” solutions? The third argument against the United States’ taking immediate action is based on the idea that the United States has a right to insist upon an international regime that will reduce U.S. costs. Many have argued that the United States should not unilaterally reduce greenhouse gases until the details of a worldwide system for trading carbon are agreed to. At the UNFCCC in Kyoto, the United States successfully promoted various market-based mechanisms to trade property rights in carbon reductions. Although the general framework of these trading mechanisms was agreed to in Kyoto in 1997, many of the details are still contentious. Yet the United States insists on waiting until an international trading regime is in place before taking domestic action. To establish such a regime, a large number of complex issues will need to be worked out:

How to develop an international baseline for carbon sources;
How to avoid cheating from projects that do not actually reduce greenhouse gases;
How to keep track of whether carbon reductions have occurred;
How to avoid giving credit for improvement that would happen without climate change programs;
How to measure credit for carbon sequestration projects in forests and agriculture when it is not clear what carbon reductions will permanently be achieved from such projects;
How to decide if a rich country like the United States should be allowed to achieve all of its legally required reductions by buying credits from poor nations that will sell them.

Because of the complexities entailed by any scheme to implement a trading regime, insisting that all the details be worked out in advance could delay for years any agreement on reductions. Given that the United States is currently the nation emitting the most greenhouse gases, it is ethically dubious for it to make universal agreement on trading rules a precondition for American action to reduce emissions. One of the most important ethical issues entailed by the trading controversy, therefore, is whether a nation that is emitting large amounts of a pollutant that is likely to cause great damage can use as a valid excuse for not taking action the fact that other nations will not agree to a trading regime that might reduce costs.

There are, finally, several other ethical issues raised by the American approach to establishing a trading regime. They include questions of whether the atmosphere’s capacity to absorb safely some amount of greenhouse gases should be divided up into property rights that can be brought and sold, and whether a trading regime based upon an inequitable allocation among nations is just.

What national targets for reducing greenhouse gases are equitable? In addition to the dubiousness of allowing efficiency to trump ethical concerns, the trading regime suffers from another potentially serious ethical problem: it can only be ethically benign if the preliminary allocation is just. 19 Before trading can take place, nations must agree on a fair allocation of emissions allowances that will become the baseline of the system. Because the United States has between 4 and 5 percent of the world’s population but emits 22 percent of the greenhouse gases, its final share of allowable emissions ought to take into consideration its disproportionate responsibility for the problem.

In Kyoto in 1997, the United States agreed to a 7-percent reduction below 1990 levels. This was a first step toward reducing greenhouse gases, but only a small step: far greater levels of reduction will be needed to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at safe levels. To achieve that goal, all the world’s nations will need to reduce emissions by 50 to 80 percent below the level of emissions in 1990. Given the variations in historical and cumulative emissions, current total and per capita emissions, and factors such as wealth, energy structures, and resource endowment, what are equitable national caps for greenhouse gas emissions? Some developing nations have argued that distributive justice demands that national allocations be based on a per capita calculation. The United States has resisted discussions of an equitable basis for determining national responsibilities, despite the fact that in ratifying the UNFCCC the United States agreed that each nation should reduce its emissions according to equitable criteria. 20

LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY

Another global threat is the worldwide loss of biodiversity, a term that describes nature’s variety. Biodiversity is usually analyzed at three different levels: genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity. 21

Although species extinction has existed since life first emerged on Earth, worldwide concern about rapid loss of biodiversity has been steadily increasing. Current rates of extinction are probably much greater than they have been at any time in history, except at periods of cataclysmic destruction. Rates of species extinction have increased dramatically as human numbers and technological power have increased.

The actual rates of species extinction are not known, because relatively few species have been identified. Although scientists have been cataloging species for over two centuries, only 1.8 million have been identified out of a total 3 to 30 million estimated species worldwide. While a great deal is known about higher-level species, such as mammals, birds, and some plants, less is known about insects and microorganisms. Because so many species have not been identified, scientists worry that many will become extinct before they are ever discovered and properly cataloged.

Given known rates of extinction, it is clear that humans are accelerating these rates as their impact on the planet increases. Scientists can account for the extinction worldwide of 75 mammals and over 1,600 birds, resulting in a loss rate of one species every four years up until the end of the nineteenth century. Between 1900 and 1980 another 75 mammals and birds became extinct, and the loss rate accelerated to one species a year. In 1993, the estimates for mammal and bird extinction were between one and three species a year.

Although mammals and birds receive most of the public’s attention, lower species such as insects often play a vital role in the web of life. The most optimistic scientific estimates suggest that depletion rates for all species currently run from one to three species a day. Some of these projected losses are to species such as pollinating insects that may play important roles in maintaining ecosystems.

Scientists estimate species loss rates by making projections from known rates of habitat loss and comparing these with known species losses in similar ecosystems that have lost habitat. Based on these projections, a recent United Nations report projects that between 2 and 25 percent of the world’s tropical forest species will become extinct in the next 25 years.

Worldwide, the major threats to biodiversity are nonnative species introduction, habitat destruction, and hunting or other acts of deliberate extermination. Habitat destruction is caused by land development, by degradation caused by pollution or vegetative removal and erosion, and by fragmentation of ecosystems.

The Ethical Problems Entailed in Protecting Biodiversity

We have a duty to protect biodiversity. Loss of biodiversity raises the ethical question of human responsibility to protect plants and animals. Utilitarian, deontological, biocentric, ecocentric, and feminist ethical ways of thinking about biodiversity loss may lead to different conclusions about duties to preserve plants, animals, and ecosystems. Some argue that the duty to protect plants and animals stems from their value for human uses; those who base the value of plants and animals on human use often attempt to quantify that value by measuring their potential market value in the form of food, pharmaceuticals, fibers, and petroleum substitutes. Yet others argue that plants and animals have intrinsic value and should be treated as sacred objects rather than as material for human consumption. If biodiversity has a value that cannot be quantified in market transactions, it should not be treated as a commodity in a cost-benefit analysis.

Who should pay for protection of biodiversity? The greatest losses of biodiversity are occurring in species-rich tropical areas and in other places inhabited by many of the world’s poorest peoples. In many places, poor people threaten biodiversity by clearing forests to grow food. As a result, if richer nations do not assist the poorer nations, a great degree of the world’s biodiversity will be lost. Moreover, other species-rich areas in poorer nations are threatened by activities such as logging. In order to relieve grinding poverty, poorer nations have been encouraged by richer nations to exploit natural resources for export. For this reason there is an indirect causal link between the use of resources in the developed world and their exploitation in the developing world. Although the richer nations have provided limited funds to protect biodiversity in poorer nations, the richer nations often deny that they have any special responsibility to protect biodiversity. Many international meetings on biodiversity have been marked by bitter disagreement between rich and poor nations about who should pay for this protection.

Environmental Degradation Essay

Introduction.

Have you ever thought about what keeps us living in this world? Is it the air, water, food, land, plants or animals? All these living and nonliving things in the environment are what make life possible in the world. We should be grateful for many things in the environment that enable us to lead a happy life. If you are wondering how the environment balances everything perfectly, you must understand the significance of the environment and the need to control its degradation.

The environmental degradation essay in English will be helpful for students to develop an awareness of environmental degradation. Although environmental degradation is not a recent phenomenon, the continuous exploitation of nature has posed serious threats to the environment. Hence, it is necessary to be aware of the issues and implement effective ways to reduce environmental degradation.

Related essay: Essay on Environment Day

Causes of Environmental Degradation

The human population is growing at an unexpected rate, along with their needs. As human needs are mostly met by the environment, all the natural resources are getting impaired and wasted. Even though most of these resources are said to be renewable, the rising demands of humans lead to their increased use, which eventually results in the depletion of natural resources. So, overpopulation is the main cause of environmental degradation, which is discussed in this environmental degradation essay.

To make our lives comfortable, we highly depend on the environment for food, clothes and shelter. As a result, we cut down several trees to build homes and living spaces. This further affects the environment as it will lead to deforestation. As the forest area is cleared for human purposes, there will be a rise in carbon dioxide levels, which makes the environment unfit for living beings.

Pollution is yet another cause that is detailed in this environmental degradation essay in English. Pollution can happen through air, water or land. There are many industries and factories that emit pollutants into the air, water and land, thus contaminating these natural resources. Some of these pollutants are harmful to us and may cause serious health problems in the long run. By throwing away waste materials like plastics and other chemicals, we are contributing to soil pollution and threatening our lives.

Ways to Solve Environmental Degradation

As we have seen the main factors that contribute to environmental degradation, let us be familiar with how to solve them through this environmental degradation essay in English. We can save our environment if we firmly believe that future generations also need to live here. One of the most important ways to reduce environmental degradation is through reforestation. As we relentlessly cut down trees, let us pledge to plant more trees and bring back the forests. In this way, we can control the level of carbon dioxide in the air. We must also implement the 3 Rs in our lives by reducing, recycling and reusing materials. Along with taking several innovative measures to control pollution, we can address the issue of environmental degradation.

You can find essays similar to the environmental degradation essay, along with a wide range of kids’ learning resources, such as poems, short stories, worksheets, etc., on BYJU’S website.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main effects of environmental degradation.

Any adverse change in the environment would affect humans. As toxic gases and pollutants are inhaled by humans, it impacts their health by causing many respiratory issues. Besides, the ozone layer depletes due to the presence of these pollutants, which emits harmful radiation to the Earth. It could also lead to climate change.

What leads to environmental degradation?

Overpopulation and urbanisation are the major factors that contribute to environmental degradation. Humans tend to exploit the environment for their selfish needs. Due to pollution and deforestation, harmful gases get accumulate in the environment, which leads to its degradation.

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Environmental Pollution And Degradation

World is facing severe problem of environmental degradation due to rapid increase in population and economic development that weakens the environmental resource.

Environment Pollution

Environment pollution is worldwide issue and it has adverse impact on the health of human populations (Fereidoun et al, 2007). Universal environmental pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions and acid deposition, as well as water pollution and waste management is deliberated as global public health problems, which should be examined from manifold perspectives such as social, economic, legislation, and environmental engineering systems, as well as lifestyle habits helping health promotion and reinforcing environmental systems to repel adulteration (Loux, 2011). It is observed that the problems of environmental pollution is intense in the developing world, where traditional sources of pollution such as industrial emissions, poor sanitation, insufficient waste management, polluted water supplies and exposures to indoor air pollution from biomass fuels affect humans (Samet, 2001). Recently, modern pollutants have emerged which are associated with traffic congestion and the use of modern chemicals in the home, in food, for water treatment and for pest control. Air Pollution has emerged as growing global issue among environmentalists and researchers especially in developed countries since the decade of 1960 (Kan, 2009). It affects human and animal lives, natural ecosystems and the man-made environment. The main pollutants found in the air people breathe include, particulate matter, PAHs, lead, ground-level ozone, heavy metals, sulphur dioxide, benzene, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide (European Public Health Alliance, 2009). Air pollution in urban areas has numerous health impact such as a shorter lifespan for city inhabitants (Progressive Insurance, 2005). Air pollution is also responsible for climate change due to the enhanced greenhouse effect, acid rain, and the depletion of the ozone layer that constitute important global environmental problems. Mishra stated that fast growth in urban population, increasing industrialization, and rising demands for energy and motor vehicles are the deteriorating air pollution levels (2003). He further said that other factors, such as poor environmental ruling, less efficient technology of production, jammed roads, and age and poor maintenance of automobiles also increase pollution level. It is established that air pollution is caused of ill health and death by natural and man-made sources. Major man-made sources of ambient air pollution include tobacco smoke, combustion of solid fuels for cooking, heating, home cleaning agents, insecticides industries, automobiles, power generation, poor environmental regulation, less efficient technology of production, congested roads, and age and poor maintenance of cars and other automobiles. The natural sources include furnaces and waste disposals, forest and agricultural fires (European Public Health Alliance, 2009). Air pollution occurs both outdoors and indoors and is caused by human activities and natural mechanisms. Outdoor air pollution is described as the discharge of numerous air pollutants in to the atmosphere, in concentrations that threaten the health of living organisms or upset the function of the environment as a system leading to human health damages in various ways. Indoor air pollution is defined as the amount of chemical, biological and physical contaminants in the air inside a building. Indoor air pollution is more dangerous as compared to outdoor air pollution. Some of indoor air pollutant sources in houses including building materials, pressed wood products and furniture, central heating and cooling systems, several personal care or household cleaning products, painting colours, solvents, heating or cooking appliances (stoves, wood and gas burning fireplaces, gas heaters), tobacco smoke, office machines and other products used in daily activities (EPA, 2007).

Consequences of Air Pollution: Air pollution cause many health issues. It is found that CO2 is a good transmitter of sunlight, but it also partially restricts infrared radiation going back from the earth into space, which produces the greenhouse effect that prevents a drastic cooling of the Earth during the night. Increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere strengthens this effect and is expected to result in a warming of the Earth's surface. Air pollution has harmful impact on plant life. Sulphur di oxide is considered as most harmful pollutant (Rao, 1989).

Air pollution monitoring is very necessary to control pollution. These techniques collect data by scientists to enable them to make informed decisions to manage overall quality of environment.

Water pollution: Water pollution is also a matter of concern for human life. Polluted water comprises of Industrial discharged wastes, sewage water, rain water pollution (Ashraf et al, 2010). Water can also be polluted by agriculture or households cause damage to human health or the environment. (European Public Health Alliance, 2009). This water pollution adversely impacts the health and quality of soils and vegetation (Carter, 1985). Pollutants in water include a wide range of chemicals, pathogens, and physical chemistry or sensory changes. Many of the chemical substances are toxic or even carcinogenic. Pathogens can obviously produce waterborne diseases in either human or animal hosts. The effects of water pollution are major cause of death for humans at global scale. Furthermore, water pollution affects oceans, lakes, rivers, and drinking water (Scipeeps, 2009). A drinking water contained a fluoride content ranging from 5.26 to 26.32 milligrams per litre and this is too high as compared to the World Health Organization�s standard of 0.6 to 1.7 milligram per litre (Rizvi, 2000). It has been found that Paper and pulp mills consume large amount of water and discharge liquid and solid waste products into the environment. The liquid waste is usually high in biological oxygen demand, suspended solids, and chlorinated organic compounds such as dioxins (World Bank, 1999).

Types of water pollution:

Treatment of water pollution: There are many ways by which water pollution can be treated such as industrial treatment, denitrification, septic tank, and ozone waste water treatment. Before raw sewage can be carefully released back into the environment, it must be treated properly in a water treatment plant. In a water treatment plant, sewage goes through a number of chambers and chemical processes to reduce the amount and toxicity of the waste. Denitrification is an ecological approach to avert the leaching of nitrates in soil, and stops ground water pollution with nutrients. Septic tanks treat sewage at the place where it is located and used to treat sewage from an individual building. Untreated sewage from a property flows into the septic tank and the solids are separated from the liquid. Environmentalists use Biological processes to degrade the solid matter. Another method to treat water pollution is well known Ozone wastewater treatment. An ozone generator break down pollutants in the water source. The generators convert oxygen into ozone using Ultraviolet radiation and Electric discharge field. There are numerous advantages of ozone to treat wastewater such as this technique kills bacteria successfully, oxidizes substances such as iron and sulphur. There are some drawbacks of adopting ozone to treat wastewater such as it requires energy in the form of electricity, cost money and cannot work when the power is lost and cannot remove dissolved minerals and salts.

Water pollution treatment

Land/ Solid waste Pollution: This type of pollution also shake environment. Inadequate management of solid waste is one of the main causes of environmental pollution (Kimani, 2007). Land pollution is one of the main forms of environmental calamity in current situation (Khan, 2004). Causes of Land Pollution include Mining and quarrying, Sewage waste, Household Garbage and Industrial Waste. Consequences of Land Pollutants are dangerous such as extermination of wild life. In land pollution, acid rain kills trees and other plants and vegetation that provides food and shelter is destroyed. It can seriously disturb the balance of nature, and, in extreme cases, can cause human mortalities. Pesticides can damage crops; kill vegetation and poison birds, animals, and fish. Most pesticides kill or damage life forms other than those intended. To prevent Land Pollution, it is advised that more and more land should be brought under farming. Trees should be planted everywhere. Waste matter should be disposed immediately and avoid drilling the Land for more underground water. People must avoid using more chemical fertilizers and Pesticides. Noise pollution, soil pollution and light pollution also harm the environment at an alarming rate. Causes of Noise Pollution include aircraft noise, noise of cars, buses, and trucks, vehicle horns, loudspeakers, and industry noise, as well as high-intensity sonar effects which are extremely harmful for the environment, noise from construction and civil engineering works. Extreme noise pollution occurs due to technical advancement and the motor vehicle, which is responsible for about ninety percent of all undesirable noise internationally. Effects of Noise Pollution are Hearing Loss, High Blood Pressure, Stress, Sleep Disturbance, Colour Blindness. To Avoid Noise Pollution, the Government should ensure the new machines that should be noise proof. Air ports must be away from residential area. Do not sound horn symbol is to be in school roads. Soil pollution is described as the impurity of soil of a particular region. Soil pollution mainly is a result of penetration of damaging pesticides and insecticides, which deteriorate the soil quality, thus making it contaminated and unfit for use later. Main causes of soil pollution include Industrial wastes such as harmful gases and chemicals, agricultural pesticides, fertilizers and insecticides, ignorance towards soil management and related systems, unfavourable and harmful irrigation practices, improper septic system and management and maintenance of the same, leakages from sanitary sewage, acid rains, when fumes released from industries get mixed with rains, fuel leakages from automobiles, that get washed away due to rain and seep into the nearby soil, improper waste management techniques, which are characterized by release of sewage into the large dumping grounds and nearby streams or rivers. Light pollution is described as excessive and incorrect artificial light (Mizon, 2002). It is caused due to extreme use of artificial lights by humans. The powerful artificial light which are used to brightens offices, factories, sports stadium, street, parks and sometime even housing complexes obscure the night sky.

Urban Sky Glow: The brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas.
Light Trespass: Light falling where it is not intended, wanted, or needed.
Glare: Excessive brightness which causes visual discomfort. High levels of glare can decrease visibility.
Clutter: Bright, confusing, and excessive groupings of light sources, commonly found in over-lit urban areas. The proliferation of clutter contributes to urban sky glow, trespass, and glare.

Plethora of environmental studies have shown that environmental pollutants have various adversarial health effects. The most important harmful effects are prenatal disorders, infant mortality, respiratory disorders, allergy, malignancies, cardiovascular disorders, and increase in stress oxidative, endothelial dysfunction, mental disorders, and various other harmful effects. Though, short-term effects of environmental pollutants are usually underlined, wide range of hazards of air pollution from early life and their possible implication on chronic non-communicable diseases of adulthood should be underscored. Many studies have demonstrated that environmental particulate exposure has been linked to increased risk of morbidity and mortality from many diseases, organ disturbances, cancers, and other chronic diseases (Kargarfard, 2011). Consequently, experts advised to take immediate action and control the pollution. Otherwise, the waste products from consumption, heating, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation, and other human activities will damage the environment.

Environmental Degradation

Factors that led environmental degradation, types of environmental degradation.

Deforestation

Causes of deforestation: There are several causes of current deforestation such as dishonesty of government institutions, the unfair distribution of wealth and power, population growth and overpopulation, and urbanization. Globalization is also major cause of deforestation, though there are cases in which the impacts of globalization have supported localized forest recuperate.

Desertification:

Causes of environmental degradation

Effects of environmental degradation.

Impact of environmental degradation (Source: Chalecki, 2003)

To summarize, Pollution is due to harmful substances or products into the environment. There are several types of pollutions in the environment such as Water Pollution, Air Pollution, Soil Pollution, land pollution. Environmental degradation is the collapse of the earth or worsening of the environment through consumption of assets such as air, water and soil, the destruction of environments and the annihilation of wildlife.

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Solutions to Environmental Degradation

Environmental degradation is the breakdown of the earth or deterioration of the environment caused by the consumption of assets such as air, water, and soil; the destruction of habitats; and the extinction of species. It is defined as any alteration or aggravation to nature’s turf that is deemed harmful or unwanted.

Environmental degradation is defined as the deterioration of the environmental system as a result of human involvement. Degradation of the environment can have catastrophic consequences for many creatures, plants, and humans. As a result, in order to avoid these negative repercussions, we should implement several steps in our daily lives.

(1) Stop Deforestation

Stopping deforestation is critical for our environmental system in order to reduce the negative effects of environmental degradation. We cannot afford to chop or burn down our trees because they store greenhouse gases and create oxygen. We cannot afford to chop or burn down trees because they store greenhouse gases, create oxygen, and provide a natural habitat for many animals and plants that will become endangered if these forests are destroyed.

In the interest of environmental protection, a large-scale afforestation program should be initiated. We can make an even bigger difference by replanting or afforestation. Furthermore, forests provide a natural habitat for a variety of animals and plants, which may become endangered if these forests are destroyed. Therefore, stopping deforestation is crucial for our environmental system.

(2) Government Regulations

Governments must intervene and establish a framework whenever there are issues that result in serious environmental degradation. Governments levy hefty taxes on activities that threaten our planet and provide financial incentives for ecologically favorable conduct.

These will also compel corporations and individuals to refrain from practices that contribute to environmental damage.

(3) Fines and Punishment for Illegal dumping

To mitigate the negative ecological repercussions of illegal dumping, hefty fines should be imposed. People and businesses will continue to dump rubbish illegally since they know the consequences are minimal even if they are caught. Raising the sanctions for unauthorized dumping would thereby boost the incentive to dispose of rubbish at authorized waste disposal locations.

(4) Reduce Consumption Levels

It has become imperative that we cut our consumption levels. Our sophisticated civilization is always looking for the latest technologies, smartphones, and trendy outfits, among other things. However, this tendency results in massive resource depletion and waste production. To avoid the negative environmental implications, we must drastically reduce our consumption levels.

(5) Reuse and Reduce Waste Generation

You may reduce waste output by making better use of your things and food. If you want to get rid of outdated but still functional items, be creative in giving them a new look or repurposing them. Your material possessions will be utilised more effectively as a result. If they can no longer be used, separate them and donate them to recycling.

(6) Avoid Plastic

Plastic waste is a major environmental issue that contributes to considerable plastic pollution and the destruction of our world. To reduce plastic waste, avoid purchasing things with plastic wrapping or packing, and avoid using throwaway plastic bags, cups, plates, containers, silverware, and so on. Bring your own reusable items that can be reused multiple times instead.

(7) Education

It is critical that children understand the negative environmental repercussions of our daily lives and how we can reduce our environmental impact. This education should begin in primary school. In comparison to adults, children are usually more ready to learn new things and adjust their behavior.

These children are more likely to act in an environmentally-friendly manner when they grow up, and they might also convince their parents to behave in a more ecologically friendly way.

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Next Course: “Metagenomics for health and industrial applications”, August 2024

Apply for a scholarship to participate in the course coordinated by Dr. Daniel Kurth at PROIMI-CONICET (Tucumán, Argentina).

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Massive sequencing technologies have revolutionized microbial ecology, allowing access to in-depth knowledge of environmental samples' taxonomic and functional composition. This knowledge could be a starting point for diverse applications, but the massive data sets involved have a steep learning curve for generation and interpretation.

The course aims to cover cutting-edge microbes characterization and analysis methodologies under next-generation sequencing platforms, focusing on the basics of applications to human health and enzyme bioprospection. Students will develop basic bioinformatic skills to understand the steps from raw data to genomic information and to interpret the results in light of the selected applications.

This course will introduce metagenomics, applicable to human health and biotechnological processes. Technical lectures will feature essential content, including sample collection, DNA extraction, library preparations, standardization, and description of different sequencing technologies and strategies. Other lecturers will show the application of metagenomics to specific subjects (see below). A practical module will focus on acquiring bioinformatics skills directed to processing raw data, interpreting taxonomic and functional results, and searching genes with biotechnological interest.

This course is aimed at graduate students interested in applying sequencing technologies in their projects. Besides basic microbiology and molecular biology knowledge, no previous experience is required. The course will allow acquiring basic informatics skills and theoretical knowledge to start working on sequence data analysis. An outline of the contents is detailed below. The contents of the theoretical module will be oral presentations with a written evaluation on the final day.

Participation in the course will be entirely waived for selected students. The scholarship includes registration, travel to the course location, and lodging. Students are expected to bring their laptops for practical sessions.

Content summary:

1. Theoretical module:

Introductory lectures will describe the basis of sequence analysis, including:

• Sample collection and experiment design. DNA extraction methods and biases. Library preparation and standardization.

• Sequencing technologies and their impact on microbial ecology.

• Sequencing strategies: amplicons, metagenomics (Whole MetaGenome Shotgun Sequencing), metatranscriptomics (Whole MetaTranscriptome Shotgun Sequencing).

• Data processing: Curation, assembly, and annotation.

Other lectures will provide examples of different applications of metagenomics, such as:

• Biodiversity in extreme environments.

• Agro-industrial waste degradation.

• SARS-CoV-2 sequencing.

• Human microbiome in health and disease

• Bee microbiomes and their influence on colonies' health and production

• Enzyme bioprospection.

2. Practical module:

• Basic informatics concepts, including working locally or on the cloud. Command line using the Linux operating system.

• Analyzing an amplicon dataset from raw data from microbial communities using QIIME2. All basic steps will be covered, including OTU/ASV calls, taxonomic assignment, alpha and beta diversity analysis, and statistical methods for evaluating results. Advanced techniques for specific applications will also be covered, including multivariate methods for analyzing microbial communities, identification of biomarkers, and inference of functions with databases.

• Analysis of shotgun datasets with an assembly-based approach. Microbial Assembled Genomes (MAGs). Gene annotation.

• Alternative online resources for amplicon and shotgun sequence analysis.

• Basic tools in genomic analysis for annotation will be applied to study glycoside hydrolases for agro-industrial waste degradation. The CAZy database will be used to analyze selected enzymes' diversity, structure, and function.

Application procedure

Complete this form to apply.

For more information, send your questions to [email protected].

Deadline: May 5th, 2024.

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COMMENTS

Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.
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Causes of environmental degradation. The major factor of environmental degradation is human (modern urbanization, industrialization, overpopulation growth, deforestation, etc.) and natural (flood ...
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In general, environmental degradation refers to any undesirable and harmful changes made to the environment by human beings or natural causes (Barbier, 1987;Barbier and Markandya, 1989).
An Overview on Environmental Degradation and Mitigation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through exhaustion of natural resources, including all the biotic and abiotic components, including air, water, soil, plant, animals, and all other living and non-living elements on the earth (Bourque et al. 2005 ). The availability of resources such as water and land will be ...
PDF What is Environmental Degradation, What Are Its Causes, and How ...
ORCID ID: Ian Scoones 0000-0001-8547-4464 Google Scholar: Ian Scoones. Suggested citation: Scoones, I. (2022) What is Environmental Degradation, What Are Its Causes, and How to Respond?, IDS Working Paper 577, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/IDS.2022.065.
Human Impacts on the Environment
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Building a Foundation for Sound Environmental Decisions
Over the past decades, environmental problems have attracted enormous attention and public concern. Many actions have been taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others to protect human health and ecosystems from particular threats. Despite some successes, many problems remain unsolved and new ones are emerging.
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Meanwhile, the negative impacts include degradation of environmental conditions, increased demand for resources, social conflicts, and increased unemployment (Jadhav and Ranveer, 2016). The ...
The Ethical Dimensions of Global Environmental Issues
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Causes, Effects and Solutions to Environmental Degradation
2. Loss of Biodiversity. Biodiversity is important for maintaining the balance of the ecosystem in the form of combating pollution, restoring nutrients, protecting water sources and stabilizing climate. Deforestation, global warming, overpopulation and pollution are a few of the major causes of loss of biodiversity. 3.
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So, overpopulation is the main cause of environmental degradation, which is discussed in this environmental degradation essay. To make our lives comfortable, we highly depend on the environment for food, clothes and shelter. As a result, we cut down several trees to build homes and living spaces. This further affects the environment as it will ...
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Course ENV 107: Assignment. Environmental degradation in developing countries and its effect on human health: Causes, consequences/impacts and mitigations. ... Environmental degradation, which includes the depletion of natural resources, has significant impacts on various aspects of our lives. Here are some of the effects of environmental ...
Environmental Degradation
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Industrial Pollution and Environmental Degradation
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Environmental Degradation: Causes and Remediation Strategies
Editor: Vinod KumaR. CO-EDITOR (S): Jogendra Singh| Pankaj Kumar. Environmental Degradation. Causes and Remediation Strategies (Volume 1) The compliance of this book is helpful for academicians ...
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Environmental degradation is the consequence of market failure, that is, the non-existent or poorly functioning markets for environmental goods and services. In this framework, environmental degradation is a particular case of consumption or production externalities reflected by divergence between private and social costs (or benefits).
Types of Environmental Degradation
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Solutions to Environmental Degradation. Environmental degradation is the breakdown of the earth or deterioration of the environment caused by the consumption of assets such as air, water, and soil; the destruction of habitats; and the extinction of species. It is defined as any alteration or aggravation to nature's turf that is deemed harmful ...
Next Course: "Metagenomics for health and industrial applications
• Agro-industrial waste degradation. • SARS-CoV-2 sequencing. • Human microbiome in health and disease • Bee microbiomes and their influence on colonies' health and production • Enzyme bioprospection. 2. Practical module: • Basic informatics concepts, including working locally or on the cloud. Command line using the Linux operating ...

An Overview on Environmental Degradation and Mitigation

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Human Impacts on the Environment

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