Global Environmental Problems
Overview of Global Environmental Problems
The concept of “environment” has evolved since it started to become a global issue in the early 1970s. At first, it was a kind of global recognition that the Earth’s ecosystems are in fact fragile, and that human beings have been contributing much to its degeneration. When countries started to join efforts to strike a balance between improving the quality of human life and protecting the environment for the sake of future generations, a new awareness materialized. The social and economic welfare of human beings is closely linked to their environment. Any change in the socio-economic fields will have an impact on the earth’s environment and vice versa, whether positively or negatively, immediately or eventually. And in many cases, negative results are irreversible. The Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992 concluded that the economic, social and environmental concerns are inescapably interlinked to world development. Hence it pledged to eradicate environmental problems, reduce poverty and foster sustainable development through integrated efforts and global cooperation.
Sustainability is the key to prevent or reduce the effect of environmental issues. There is now clear scientific evidence that humanity is living unsustainably, and that an unprecedented collective effort is needed to return human use of natural resources to within sustainable limits. For humans to live sustainably, the Earth's resources must be used at a rate at which they can be replenished.
Concerns for the environment have prompted the formation of Green parties, political parties that seek to address environmental issues. Initially these were formed in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the United Kingdom but are now present in many other countries. Examples of the Green parties include the Australian Green Party, the Values Party of New Zealand, the Ecological Democratic Party of Germany, and the Green Party of the United Kingdom. So also the existence of environmental Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) like the Greenpeace Foundation and the Friends of the Earth Organisation.
The greatest environmental concern of the 21st century is the human induced global climate change. During the industrial revolution, raw materials like fossil fuels, minerals, forests and clean water seemed inexhaustible and nature was regarded like a sink to dump the waste. We used materials to make the things we wanted, then discarded them when they were no longer useful. This approach returned an improved lifestyle but caused massive pollution and environmental degradation. Soon the threshold limit for the environmental degradation was exceeded and now we are facing the threat of species extinction.
The other growing environmental concern is the growing population. In 2005, the world population reached about 6.467 billion people and we are adding 75 million people every year into already existing pool of population. Predications are that the population will grow to 8-9 billion people by the middle of 21st century before it
stabilize. The rate of population growth has slowed down from 2% to 1.2% in last three decades.
The rapid growing population and economic development is leading to a number of environmental issues because of the uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization, expansion and massive intensification of agriculture, and the destruction of forests. Major environmental issues are forest and agricultural degradation of land, resource depletion (water, mineral, forest, sand, rocks etc.), environmental degradation, public health, loss of biodiversity, loss of resilience in ecosystems, livelihood security for the poor. The condition of the environment is a worldwide issue. Air and water pollution do not recognize borders; poor soil conditions in one nation may reduce another country’s food supply.
At the same time, different regions do face different problems. One key distinction is between the environmental threats faced by developed nations, such as the United States and western European countries, and developing nations, such as India and Mexico. Most agree that these nations may have dissimilar crises, but debate remains over whether the solutions to their problems are unique as well. The environmental problems faced by developed nations are largely the result of their economic strength and higher standards of living. Overconsumption is cited by many observers as a cause of resource depletion in the First World. Overall, the developed world has 23% of Earth’s population but consumes two-thirds of the resources. Environmentalists contend that this high level of consumption will ultimately lead to the depletion of the planet’s resources, resulting in adverse consequences for human populations.
Developed nations have reduced their rate of population growth, so overpopulation is not as great a problem as it was previously considered to be; however, because of the high level of consumption, each new person in a developed nation will use three times as much water and ten times as much energy as a child born in a developing country. The industries needed to create products for consumption also affect the environment through the emission of greenhouse gases and other wastes.
In contrast, the environmental crises faced by developing nations are the result of poverty. For example, developing countries often lack the resources and sanitation facilities to provide the public with clean water. Tropical deforestation, caused by the slash-and-burn techniques of poor farmers, is another dilemma. Developing countries nations may consume vastly less than America and Europe but their population growth rates are much higher. These nations lack the natural resources and social services that will be needed in order to provide their burgeoning populations with adequate food, shelter, and employment in the coming years.
As developing nations (or Third World nations) move closer to First World status (Developed countries), the accompanying growth in industry could also affect the environment, especially through the emission of greenhouse gases. The global warming agreement reached in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997 exempted developing nations such as China, India, and Mexico from requirements to reduce their emissions. But according to the United Nations, countries exempted from the
agreement will create 76% of total greenhouse gas emissions over the next 50 years. The exemptions in the Kyoto agreement (which must be approved by 55 nations) raise the question of whether developed and developing nations should utilize the same methods in order to conserve the environment. If the environment truly is a worldwide issue, then the solutions may also be universal. However, international agreement on environmental issues is often difficult to achieve because countries are not at equivalent stages of social and economic development.
As noted earlier, the Kyoto global warming agreement reveals the difficulty of finding universal solutions to environmental problems. Developing nations would not consider even voluntary participation in emission reduction, arguing that such measures would impede their efforts to improve their economies and industries. Even within developed nations, the response to the treaty has varied. In June 1998, the European Union reached an agreement that it will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 8%. However, many people in the United States have more negative attitudes toward the agreement; they assert that achieving the reduced emission levels could hurt the nation’s economy. For example, some American analysts contend, companies might move their plants to developing nations, causing job losses in the United States. Moreover, they argue, emission controls could cause oil and gas prices to rise. Without the participation of the United States-the world’s leading polluter the treaty might not succeed. As the Kyoto controversy suggests, international agreement over solutions to global environmental problems is not easily attained.
At the dawn of the third millennium, a powerful and complex web of interactions is contributing to unprecedented global trends in environmental degradation. These forces include rapid globalization and urbanization, pervasive poverty, unsustainable consumption patterns and population growth. Often serving to compound the effects and intensity of the environmental problems described above, global environmental challenges require concerted responses on the part of the international community. Global climate change, the depletion of the ozone layer, desertification, deforestation, the loss of the planet’s biological diversity and the trans boundary movements of hazardous wastes and chemicals are all environmental problems that touch every nation and adversely affect the lives and health of their populations. As with other environment-related challenges, children are disproportionately vulnerable to and suffer most from the effects of these global trends. Moreover, all of these global environmental trends have long-term effects on people and societies and are either difficult or impossible to reverse over the period of one generation. Unless, effective global actions are taken early, we will end up plundering our children’s heritage and future in an unprecedented way.
Lessons must be learnt from various environmental crises that we are facing today. This is essential for the sustainable future of our environment. We are at a turning point because our present decisions will decide the fate of future generations and the power to save the environment lies in our hands. If we are able to address the environmental concerns today, we can prevent the problems from becoming irreversible.
Understanding the earth's natural systems (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere) provide an essential understanding of the scientific concepts, processes and historical background to environmental issues.
Contemporary Global Environmental Problems
Environmental problems around the world are numerous and interconnected. All the problems are related with each other by some or the other way, and hence, tackling them one by one has just become difficult. The following are some of the contemporary problems affecting the environment globally.
Climate change:
Climate change has become more than obvious over the past decade, with nine years of the decade making it to the list of hottest years the planet has ever witnessed. Some of the most obvious signs of this include irregularities in weather, frequent storms, melting glaciers, rising levels of sea, etc. Going by the prevailing conditions, it is not difficult to anticipate that the planet is heading for a dramatic climate change, somewhere in the near future.
It is now widely recognized that global warming over the past 50 years is largely due to human activities that have released green- house gases into the atmosphere. The most recent assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that the global average surface temperature has increased by about 0.6°C during the 20th century. The seemingly small rise of mean temperature is already showing adverse effects. One of the consequences has been a rise in the global average sea level. Another effect has been more frequent and intensified droughts in recent decades in parts of Asia and Africa. Additionally, in most mid and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere continents, precipitation has increased by 0.5 to 1.0 per cent per decade in the 20th century. The world’s emissions of greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide, continue to increase. The most recent estimates are that atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) will double or triple pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. As a result, global surface temperature is expected to increase by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius from 1990 to 2100. The repercussions of climate change will disproportionately affect those who are least able to adapt - the poor and the most vulnerable sections of society, including children. For example, scientists project that this level of warming could, among other things:
Greatly exacerbate the range, frequency and intensity of natural disasters, from flooding, to droughts, to torrential rains, ice storms, tornadoes and hurricanes;
Cause sea levels to rise by between nine and 80 centimetres by 2100 due to the expansion of warming waters and the melting of polar icecaps and other glaciers, which in turn may produce deadly flooding in many low-lying areas and small island States, displacing millions from their homes;
Increase the number of environmental refugees resulting from weather-related disasters;
Augment the risk of disease migration and disease out-breaks; and
Render large areas of the world “uninsurable” due to the magnitude of property damage from disasters.
Conservation of species:
Another global environmental issue, species conservation basically deals with conservation of flora and fauna, in order to curb the extinction of species. Extinction of a single species of plant or animal results in a dramatic imbalance in the ecosystem, as a number of other species dependent on it directly or indirectly are also affected. Over the last century or so, several plants and animal species have become extinct thus resulting in a major loss for the biodiversity of the planet.
Its primary focus is on maintaining the health of the natural world, its fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation, including non-renewable resources such as metals, minerals and fossil fuels, and energy conservation, which is important to protect the natural world. Those who follow the conservation ethic and, especially, those who advocate or work toward conservation goals are termed conservationists.
To conserve habitat in terrestrial Eco regions and stop deforestation is a goal widely shared by many groups with a wide variety of motivations. To protect sea life from extinction due to overfishing or climate change is another commonly stated goal of conservation — ensuring that "some will be available for future generations" to continue a way of life. The consumer conservation ethic is sometimes expressed by the four R's: " Rethink, Reduce, Recycle, Repair" This social ethic primarily relates to local purchasing, moral purchasing, the sustained, and efficient use of renewable resources, the moderation of destructive use of finite resources, and the prevention of harm to common resources such as air and water quality, the natural functions of a living earth, and cultural values in a built environment.
Energy crisis:
The energy crisis is the concern that the world’s demands on the limited natural resources that are used to power industrial society are diminishing as the demand rises. These natural resources are in limited supply. While they do occur naturally, it can take hundreds of thousands of years to replenish the stores. Governments and concerned individuals are working to make the use of renewable resources a priority, and to lessen the irresponsible use of natural supplies through increased conservation.
The energy crisis is a broad and complex topic. Most people don’t feel connected to its reality unless the price of gas at the pump goes up or there are lines at the gas station. The energy crisis is something that is ongoing and getting worse, despite many efforts. The reason for this is that there is not a broad understanding of the complex causes and solutions for the energy crisis that will allow for an effort to happen that will resolve it. The fact that we are largely dependent on fossil fuels for our energy requirements has made us significantly vulnerable to severe energy crisis. Though, quite a few renewable energy sources have been identified, none of them have been promising enough when it comes to replacement of fossil fuels as
the major source of energy for mankind. Attempts to tap the full potential of these sources are in progress, and our future by and large depends on these attempts, as fossil fuels are on the verge of exhaustion. An energy crisis is any great bottleneck (or price rise) in the supply of energy resources to an economy. There has been an enormous increase in the global demand for energy in recent years as a result of industrial development and population growth. Since the early 2000s the demand for energy, especially from liquid fuels, and limits on the rate of fuel production has created such a bottleneck leading to the 2000s energy crisis.
Exploitation of natural resources:
Our greed for more has left us empty handed in terms of natural resources in several parts of the world. Several human activities, including the likes of mining, agriculture, fishing etc., has resulted in drastic degradation of our natural resources. While mining and agriculture have triggered large-scale deforestation, over fishing has only resulted in the reduction of population of marine creatures inhabiting the planet. If the trends continue, we are bound to exhaust those natural resources on which we are dependent, and thus dig our own graves.
The exploitation of natural resources is the use of natural resources for economic growth, sometimes with a negative connotation of accompanying environmental degradation. It started to emerge on an industrial scale in the 19th century as the extraction and processing of raw materials (such as in mining, steam power, and machinery) developed much further than it had in preindustrial eras. During the 20th century, energy consumption rapidly increased. Today, about 80% of the world’s energy consumption is sustained by the extraction of fossil fuels, which consists of oil, coal and gas. Another non-renewable resource that is exploited by humans are Subsoil minerals such as precious metals that are mainly used in the production of industrial commodities. Intensive agriculture is an example of a mode of production that hinders many aspects of the natural environment, for example the degradation of forests in a terrestrial ecosystem and water pollution in an aquatic ecosystem. As the world population rises and economic growth occurs, the depletion of natural resources influenced by the unsustainable extraction of raw materials becomes an increasing concern.
Land degradation:
Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Natural hazards are excluded as a cause; however human activities can indirectly affect phenomena such as floods and bush fires. This is considered to be an important topic of the 21st century due to the implications land degradation has upon agronomic productivity, the environment, and its effects on food security. It is estimated that up to 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded.
Land pollution, owing to human activities, and desertification, due to loss of vegetation has left the surface of the planet unsuitable for human use. Land degradation can be attributed to the fact that we have become too laid-back in
terms preservation of the nature. Improper soil use, haphazard waste disposal, large-scale deforestation and other such human activities harmful for nature are on the rise, something which is invariably taking a toll on our natural surroundings.
Land use:
Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. It also has been defined as the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover type to produce, change or maintain it. Land use practices vary considerably across the world. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization Water Development Division explains that "Land use concerns the products and/or benefits obtained from use of the land as well as the land management actions (activities) carried out by humans to produce those products and benefits. As of the early 1990s, about 13% of the Earth was considered arable land, with 26% in pasture, 32% forests and woodland, and 1.5% urban areas.
Land use information provides answers to one or more of the following questions concerning the current use of the land –
What: the purpose of activities undertaken - e.g. the specific products and services, that are sought
Where: the geographic location and extent of the spatial unit under consideration
When: the temporal aspects of various activities undertaken - e.g. the sequence of carried out operations like planting, weeding, etc.
How: the technologies employed - e.g. technological inputs/ materials such as fertilizer, irrigation, labour, etc.
How much: quantitative measures - e.g. areas, products
Why: the reasons underlying the current land use – e.g. land tenure, labour costs, market conditions, etc.
Nuclear issues:
Nuclear power does have high potential, but the problems associated with it are no less. Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants is one of the major problems we are likely to face, especially if safety regulations are not followed properly. It doesn't end here as the threat of some nation diverting its nuclear power to produce nuclear arsenal is always looming over the mankind.
The environmental impact of nuclear power results from the nuclear fuel cycle, operation, and the effects of nuclear accidents. The greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear fission power are much smaller than those associated with coal, oil and gas, and the routine health risks are much smaller than those associated with coal. However, there is a "catastrophic risk" potential if containment fails, which in nuclear reactors can be brought about by over-heated fuels melting and releasing large quantities of fission products into the environment. The most long-lived radioactive wastes, including being evacuated from a 20 km exclusion zone set up
around the power plant, similar to the 30 km radius Chernobyl Exclusion Zone still in effect.
Nuclear power has at least three waste streams that may harm the environment:
Spent nuclear fuel at the reactor site (including fission products and plutonium waste)
Tailings and waste rock at uranium mining mills, during reactor operation
Releases of large quantities of dangerous radioactive materials during accidents
Overpopulation:
Yet another major global environmental issue is overpopulation. As the population of world continues to soar at an alarming rate, the pressure on the resources of the planet is increasing. These problems associated with overpopulation range from food and water crisis to lack of space for natural burial. Overpopulation also results in various other demographic hazards. Incessant population growth will not just result in depletion of natural resources, but will also put more pressure on the economy. After all sustaining a huge population requires quite a mammoth effort for a nation, as far as finance is concerned.
Human overpopulation occurs if the number of people in a group exceeds the carrying capacity of the region occupied by that group. Overpopulation can further be viewed, in a long term perspective, as existing when a population cannot be maintained given the rapid depletion of non-renewable resources or given the degradation of the capacity of the environment to give support to the population.
The term human overpopulation often refers to the relationship between the entire human population and its environment: the Earth or to smaller geographical areas such as countries. Overpopulation can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, an increase in immigration, or an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. It is possible for very sparsely populated areas to be overpopulated if the area has a meagre or non-existent capability to sustain life (e.g. a desert). Advocates of population moderation cite issues like quality of life, carrying capacity and risk of starvation as a basis to argue against continuing high human population growth and for population decline.
Pollution:
This is perhaps the most obvious, yet most ignored global environmental issue in this list of environmental problems. The term 'pollution' in itself have several other aspects, prominent ones among which include air pollution, water pollution and land pollution. On one hand air pollution can be attributed to the large amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by industries and vehicles, water pollution and land pollution is caused as a result of waste disposal from factories, oil-carrying vessels etc. Basically, mankind is to be blamed for this issue as our activities tend to hamper the environment at an alarming rate. If this trend continues, we will be very soon left without any fresh air to breathe, and clean water to drink.
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution.
Waste management:
As population increases, human activities increase, which eventually increases the amount of waste produced. This waste doesn't just include those harmful gases let out in the atmosphere or toxic waste released in water bodies, but also includes nuclear waste, e-waste, medical waste and even the waste from our homes. With limited area available on the planet, and most of it being inhabited by us, we are left with no space to dispose this waste. The rate at which this waste is produced is far more than the rate at which it is being treated, and this just results in piling up of waste, which eventually pollutes the environment.
Waste management is a set of activities that include the following:
collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste;
control, monitoring and regulation of the production, collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste; and
Prevention of waste production through in-process modification, reuse and recycling.
Conclusion
These were some of the major global environmental issues and problems which have been threatening the planet for quite some time now. However, the environmental issues the planet faces today are not just restricted to the list given above. Several issues, including problems due to construction of dams, genetic pollution, Nano toxicology, etc., are surfacing every other day, thus making the list of global environmental issues longer with time. If we don't start attending to these issues one by one, the moment is not far when we will have no option left but to surrender to these environmental issues.
References
i. "World Population Prospects, the 2012 Revision". United Nations Population Division.
ii. Categories and Criteria The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 18 September 2015. http://www.iucn.org/
iii. http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-and-solutions-to-the-global-energy-crisis.php
iv. http://www.energyshortage.org/
v. Geoffrey McNicoll, Population and Sustainability, 2005 No. 205, The Population Council, Inc.
vi. Richard Cronin & Amit Pandya, Exploiting Natural Resources: Growth, Instability, and Conflict in the Middle East and Asia, 2009, The Henry L. Stimson Center
vii. D.L. Johnson & L.A. Lewis, Land Degradation: Creation and Destruction, 2nd edition, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Oxford, 2007.
viii. David Mitchell, Michael Buxton & Trevor Budge, Assessing the Role of Land Use Planning in Natural Resource Management, 2004
ix. International Panel on Fissile Materials (September 2010). "The Uncertain Future of Nuclear Energy" (PDF). Research Report 9. p. 1.
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