Quarter 2

Criterion D Summative Task for MYP 3 Science

Unit: How Do Humans Impact the Natural World?

Submission Date: 4th December, 2022

Given below is the link to an information note from the UN. It discusses the environmental changes sweeping the
world at a faster pace than previously thought, making it imperative that governments act now to reverse the
damage being done to the planet. Under the title Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6): Regional Assessments, six
separate reports provide highly detailed examinations of the environmental issues affecting each of the world’s six
regions: the Pan-European region, North America, Asia and the Pacific, West Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean,
and Africa. While all the regions are suffering from many similar environmental concerns, a few happen to be of
bigger concern for the regions due to geographical, social and demographic reasons. Read the information note to
know the priority environmental issues which are priority for each of these regions.

Rate of environmental damage

TASK: Create a report with the following details. You may type or write the report

1- Select any one region along with one environmental concern that is a priority for this region.
2- Summarise key factors ( scientific, social, geopolitical/ economic reasons) that have contributed to this issue.
Also, explain how it is affecting the planet/ people?
3- Summarise various solutions which can be implemented by the government, NGOs and other organizations to
limit or reverse the damage.
4- Evaluate the solutions you have proposed with respect to environment, economy and the belief system you had
chosen (ecocentric, techno-centric, anthropocentric)
5- Present the picture/ text/ video of the symbolic artifact you have created to demonstrate your belief system.
6- Summarise how it represents the problem and the solution discussed in this report.

Criteria descriptors

1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 Mar

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ii. States ii. States the ii. Outlines the ii. Describe and
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communicate language to language to to communicate
understanding of communicate communicate understanding of
environmental understanding of understanding of environmental
issues and environmental environmental issues and solutions
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Average Score
Report:
Region: West Asia
Environmental Concern: Conflict and displacement
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) states that “In addition to their tragic
human toll, disasters and conflicts can destroy infrastructure, undermine human security and
tear apart the fabric of sustainable development.” This statement elaborates on the fact that the
environment plays a significant role in the extent of the conflict and refugee displacement and its
management, which can further be proved strongly by the situation in West Asia.

Post the Cold War, economic and environmental instability arose in West Asian countries
(especially in Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait and Syria) due to geopolitical disagreements, which
has further inflamed in the current times, with the region’s temperatures rising twice as fast as
the global average, and are expected to cross an increase of 5°C by the end of the century.

Climate change in West Asia is visible in the forms of increased and frequent flooding due to
heavy rainfall, wildfires and even repeated sandstorms in countries such as Iraq occuring for at
least 100 days every year. This unpredictability in weather patterns primarily affects the
agricultural produce of the region which leads to increased food demand and clean water
scarcity (especially in capital/metropolitan cities), and further causes political unrest and
increases the transmission risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera and food-borne
pathogens such as Salmonella and Listeria.

The demand for supplies doesn’t only cover for the citizens of the country, but for refugees
currently inhabited. The refugee population in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Yemen, which
accounts for 2.97 million of the total population of these countries combined, produced about
1,440 tonnes of waste per day in 2015, which is often left untreated or not recycled and placed
directly in a landfill. This waste places environmental burdens and creates unsanitary conditions
for nearby localities, further supporting the spread of diseases.

It’s not only climate that creates and inflames conflict, but simultaneously conflict places burden
on the country’s environment. Explosive weapons used in the region’s conflicts release
hazardous materials such as asbestos (a heat-resistant fibrous silicate material used for civil
insulation) and industrial chemicals and fuels such as kerosene, liquid hydrogen and liquid
oxygen into the environment, eventually harming nearby residential localities.

Additionally, damage to power plants, oil rigs or any other industrial facilities, can cause
chemical spills, water contamination and heavy metal radiation and munition leaching into the
environment and affecting the health of residents of that country.

In 2011, at the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, the terrorist organization ISIS gained control of
the country’s oil refineries and utilized the mass oil production for their economic gain. As a
result, on September 2014, the United States (in collaboration with the Syrian government)
bombed the oil refineries to limit the organization’s growth and funding, which released sulfur
dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide in the environment, causing hazardous air
pollution and soil, surface water and groundwater contamination.

According to the UNHCR and UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention for Climate
Change) the main reason for this reciprocal relationship between climate and conflict is mainly
due to government resource exhaustion. The increased demand for supplies and political unrest
as mentioned above, saturates and overwhelms government authorities, which creates a loss in
human security and wellbeing during unavoidable extreme weather events, triggering both
national and international conflict in the region. This could be prevented with the collaboration of
intergovernmental organizations, peace-making treaties and neighboring countries/regions.

Intergovernmental organizations such as UNEP aim to tackle post-conflict humanitarian

situations, which include recovering infrastructure and the environmental conditions, to remove
economic stress from the government.

UNEP also provides a ‘Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment’ programme for countries to

investigate the severity of environmental damage after a conflict has occurred. This type of
environmental assessment was conducted in Lebanon after the July-August 2006 conflict, which
resulted in the bombing of the Jiyeh power plant, causing the spillage of heavy fuel oil in the
Mediterranean Sea, spanning about 150 kilometers of the Lebanese coastline. Alerts from the
government about possible contamination caused UNEP to send a team of twelve environment
experts to collect samples of water, soil, ash, dust and sediments from over 100 different sites.
The samples were then sent to laboratories to prepare a report of UNEP’s findings and a list of
recommended follow-up actions for the government to refer to.

To help the Lebanon government organize such procedures, the government of Greece, a
neighboring region, allocated $1.64 million to the country. This helped to further reduce the
economic burden on the government for the country’s regeneration.

Additionally, to reduce the agricultural impact due to climate change, governments should
promote sustainable and urban farming techniques throughout the country, instead of relying on
rural areas to generate the produce. For example, the Lebanese government initiated the
“Zari’et Albi (the plant of my heart)” scheme, which encourages citizens to plant fruit and
vegetable plants in rooftop gardens of buildings or on the residence’s balconies, to increase the
availability of local produce in urban areas, rather than relying on imported goods.

These anthropocentric solutions, focusing on the aspects of technology, following sustainable

practices and national law, can help conflict-affected countries in West Asia to remove economic
and mass production burdens from the country’s government, and hence making them more
adaptable towards climate-induced conflict and environmental damage.

Artifact:
[Link]
The proposed solutions in the scientific report are related to the artifact as the video describes
that anthropocentrism is the belief system that focuses upon the fact that nature is designed for
the human population to utilize and protect using the mediums of technology, law, architecture
and following sustainable practices with respect to the situation of mass deforestation in South
America. Similarly, this report provides solutions on similar aspects and mentions that both the
environmental damage due to conflict and the climate-induced conflicts in West Asian regions
are due to human-related issues and can be solved by government regulations, aid from
neighboring countries and intergovernmental organizations and daily sustainable actions
involving the local population.

Citations:
1. Rate of Environmental Damage Increasing Across Planet but Still Time to Reverse Worst
Impacts
2. Environmental legacy of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas.
3. Building resilience to disasters and conflicts | West Asia | UNEP - UN Environment
Programme
4. The potential of sustainable agriculture in Lebanon | Annahar
5. Climate Action | West Asia | UNEP - UN Environment Programme
6. Syria's 10-Year War Has Left a Toxic Environmental Legacy | Time
7. (PDF) Environmental Security and Sustainability in West Asia
8. [Link]