Ecology and Ecology and Environmental DegradationEnvironmental Degradation

Prof. D. K. Paul

P. G. Dept. of Zoology

Patna University, Patna, Bihar

and

Chiranjeev KumarM. Sc., Environment Management, FRI, Dehradun

Environmental degradation occurs when the use rate exceeds the

replacement rate.

Environmental DegradationEnvironmental Degradation

• Resources owned by none, but available to all users free of charge

• May convert potentially renewable resources into nonrenewable resources

• Tragedy of the Commons

Common Property Resources

Who owns these resources?

• Property rights give ownership to all resources on the property.

• Common property or free-access resources are those resources that are not owned but available for use by everyone.– For example: the air, the ocean

Tragedy of the Commons

• The over-use of a natural resource as a result of unclear property rights. If ownership of a resource is not established, everyone has an incentive to take as much of it as possible, quickly depleting the resource. – A typical example is the decline in the fish

population resulting from over-fishing of the ocean.

Our ‘Commons’ are in Danger

• Atmosphere• Climatic Factor• Ozone layer• Water resources, including ground aquifers• Forests• Soil• The oceans, coral reefs and their bounty• National parks and wetlands• Nonrenewable natural resources– Fossil fuels, mineral ores, topsoil…..

Causes of Environmental Degradation

Social FactorsEconomical FactorsInstitutional Factors

7

Social Factors are

PopulationPovertyUrbanization

8

Economic Factors areGrowing transport activities

Expansion of chemical based industry

The manufacturing technology adopted by most of the industries which generally is based on intensive resource and energy use

Non-existent or poorly functioning markets for environmental services

Market distortions created by price controls and subsidies

9

Institutional Factors are

Lack of awareness and infrastructure makes implementation of most of the laws relating to environment, extremely difficult and ineffective.

10

Environmental degradation increases poverty

√ Environmental degradation reduces the stock of natural capital and poor are disproportionately affected.

√ Environmental degradation increases vulnerability

(e.g. soil erosion….decreased yields, deforestation…

flooding).

√ Pollution increases morbidity and mortality (e.g.

exposure to pesticides, contaminated water, indoor air

pollution)

√ Deforestation and over-pumping increase the cost of

basic goods such as firewood and drinking water.

Water Resource Degradation

Water Resource Limits

• In 1950, people used half of accessible water

• Are now dependent on dams

• Pollution loses 33% of potential water

• Since the 1950s, global demand for water has tripled.

• Groundwater quantity and quality are declining due to over-pumping, runoff from fertilizers and pesticides, and leaking of industrial waste.

• Half a billion people live in countries defined as water-stressed or water-scarce;

• By 2025, that figure is expected to surge to between 2.4 billion and 3.4 billion.

- UNFPA

Disappearing water…In many parts of India and China, ground water is depleting at the rate of 1.5 meters per year

Available Drinking waterAvailable Drinking water

Less than 1% of the total water on the Earth

Every Three minutes…

(CSE Survey)

Every three minutes, a child in India dies of diarrhea arising out of contaminated

water

To Save Natural Treasure: Water

• Important step for solutions to issues of water and environmental conservation is to change people's attitudes and habits

• Conserve water because it is right thing to do!.

• What you can do to conserve water?

• Use only as much water as you require.

• Close the taps well after use. While brushing or other use, do not leave the tap running, open it only when you require it.

• To check that there are no leaking taps.

• Do not leave the taps running while washing dishes and clothes.

• Water in which the vegetables & fruits have been washed - use to water the flowers & plants.

• Re-use water as much as possible

Poverty need not be a source of resource degradation

• The non-poor are the main source of degradation (big logging companies, livestock operations, over-consumption).

• Traditional technologies are conservation friendly (agro-ecology, agroforestry).

• The poor can adopt win-win technologies that raise incomes and increase conservation: ecoagriculture, ecotourism.

• Cooperation/collective action in the management of Common Property Resources.

• The poor can be environmental activists (Chipko movement in India, Chico Mendes rubber tappers in Brazil).

• Markets for environmental services induce conservation by the poor: through ecotourism.

Impact on the Environment

• Increasing affluence and population is damaging Earth’s essential ecology

• For everyone to live at today’s US footprint would require 3 planet Earths

• Major increases are occurring in human population and affluence.

• Major stresses result in our society, natural environment and ecology.

Deforestation

• Deforestation has not only resulted in irreversible damage to the natural habitat of many wildlife species, but has also resulted in loss of biodiversity and increase in aridity.

Deforestation changes to world geography

• It is a major contributor to:

– Global Warming– Emission of greenhouse gases– Global climate change– Reduced net oxygen levels – Biosphere instability– And others

Statistics of Deforestation • More than 12 million hectares of forest land is lost

to urbanization or allied activities each year. This has resulted in a rapid global decline in some regions. For example: – In Nigeria 81% of its original forest cover is now

permanently lost. – The forests of Central America are down by two-thirds

lowlands, since 1950.– Countries like India, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand,

Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Sri Lanka, the Congo and Ghana have lost much more than 50% of their rainforest cover.

– United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization or UNFAO

Impact• Deforestation affects the water cycle

• Reduces soil quality and results in soil erosion and flooding

• The land's capacity to hold ground water shrinks with the depleting forest cover

• The absence of trees leads to increase salinity in the soil cover and thus, affects the agricultural activity

• Deforestation destroys genetic variations and results in a permanent loss of various rare plant, animal and insect species

• Damage to forests, believe it or not, affects every citizen's living standard

To prevent deforestation:

• Wildlife sanctuaries: not only save the wild animals, but also save the woods and trees.

• Water management: improper water management causes the deforestation. This should be controlled.

Deforestation should be controlled

• Commercial forest plantation • Use recycled items• Farming practices• Become an advocate: learn how

the person can spread the word.• Support conservative organization:

support the organization through work, devotion, time etc.

Biodiversity is in Danger

• Biodiversity is essential to life on Earth and holds untold treasures for the future

• Recovery times from the great extinctions took 10’s of millions of years

• “Accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, is tied to rising and extreme change in temperatures, and more severe storms.

• The sea level has risen an estimated 10-20 centimetres, largely as a result of melting ice masses and the expansion of oceans linked to regional and global warming.

• Small island nations and low-lying cities and farming areas face severe flooding.”

-UNFDP

“Over the last half century, land degradation has reduced cropland by an estimated 13 percent and pasture by 4 percent.”

- UNFPA

“Three quarters of the world’s fish stocks are now fished at or beyond sustainable limits. Industrial fleets have fished out at least 90 per cent of large ocean predators in the last 50 years.” - UNFPA

The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The

activist is the man who cleans up the river

~ ROSS PEROT

Thank You