CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
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Contents
INTRODUCTION TO INTRODUCTION TO INTRODUCTION TO
ENVIRONMENT NATURAL RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
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Part 1: Introduction to Environment
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What is Environment?
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Defining what we mean by “the
environment” is more complicated
than it first appears
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Environner
• Encircle
• Surround
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The “environment” consists of all, or any, of the following media,
namely, the air, water and land; and the medium of air includes the air
within buildings and the air within other natural or man-made structures
above or below ground.
The 1990 UK Environment Protection Act
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“The environment is the sum of all external conditions affecting the
life, development and survival of an organism. Environment refers to
the physical conditions that affect natural resources (climate,
geology, hazards) and the ecosystem services that sustain them
(e.g. carbon, nutrient and hydrological cycles)”.
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
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Classification of environment based on components
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Natural Environment
Features:
• No artificial or man-made component
• Air, water, soil, land, forest, wildlife, flora and
fauna
• Dynamic
• Self-regulating mechanism through counter-
balance
• Subdivisions: Lithosphere, Hydrosphere,
Atmosphere and Biosphere
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Artificial Environment (Human-made)
Features:
• Environment is modified extremely through
modern technology by human beings
• Industrial, commercial, agricultural or housing
purposes
• Conscious of unconscious destruction or
displacement of some plants and animal species
• Development of means of transport
• Improper plowing and moderate grazing
• Irrational fishing and hunting
• Transgenic animals.
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Environmental Degradation
Environmental degradation is the decline in the quality and
quantity of environmental components, causing negative
impacts on human health, living organisms, and nature
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Environmental Pollution
Environmental pollution is the alteration of the physical,
chemical, and biological properties of environmental components
that do not conform to environmental technical regulations and
standards, causing harmful impacts on human health, living
organisms, and nature.
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Environmental Incident
The environmental incident is an
event that occurs during human
activities or due to unpredictable
changes in nature, causing serious
pollution and environmental
degradation
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Environmental Carrying Capacity
• Represents the maximum population size of a species that an
environment can sustainably support, given available resources and
existing conditions
• Helps us understand these systems, particularly in the context of
population growth and resource management
• For informed decision-making regarding conservation, resource
utilization, and sustainable development.
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Environmental refugees
• Environmental refugees are individuals
who are forced to leave their homes due
to severe environmental conditions that
threaten their survival.
• These conditions can arise from a
combination of natural disasters, such as
hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, as
well as human-induced factors like land
degradation, pollution, and climate
change.
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FUNCTIONS OF NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
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Functions
1. Provisioning services
2. Regulating services
3. Supporting services
4. Cultural services
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1. Provisioning Services
Supply essential resources like food (e.g.,
crops, fish), water, timber, fiber, and genetic
resources for medicine and agriculture.
Genetic Resources: The rosy periwinkle from
Madagascar’s rainforests led to cancer-fighting drugs
(vincristine, used in leukemia treatment).
* vincristine là một alkaloid chống ung thư chiết
xuất từ cây Dừa cạn
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Lúa ma – nguồn gene quý ở Đồng Tháp Mười
• Vào mùa lũ, khi nước dâng đến đâu, cây lúa
mọc theo đến đó, những năm lũ lớn, nó vươn
dài đến 3-4 m là chuyện thường.
• Mùa lúa ma trổ từ tháng 10 đến tháng 12, điểm
khác biệt so với các loài lúa khác là hạt chỉ chín
về đêm. Bông lúa chín chuyển dần từ màu xanh
sang vàng, khi chắc hạt màu đen, mỗi đêm chỉ
chín vài hạt và sẽ rụng ngay khi gặp ánh sáng
mặt trời.
Nguồn: VN express 33
2. Regulating Services
Maintain ecosystem balance through
processes:
• Climate regulation (e.g., forests absorbing
CO₂),
• Water purification (e.g., wetlands filtering
pollutants) and waste assimilation,
• Pollination (e.g., bees supporting crop Cây trầu bà hấp thụ formaldehyde và
production), benzene, góp phần làm sạch không khí
và nước.
• Disease control (e.g., natural predators
managing pests). 34
3. Supporting Services
Enable other ecosystem functions via processes:
• Soil formation,
• Nutrient cycling (e.g., decomposition recycling nutrients),
• Primary production (e.g., photosynthesis producing oxygen and
biomass; or Phytoplankton in oceans produce 50-80% of Earth’s
oxygen and form the base of aquatic food chains, supporting global
fisheries.
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4. Cultural Services
Offer non-material benefits such as
spiritual enrichment, recreation Ghềnh đá dĩa Phú Yên
(e.g., parks, hiking), aesthetic value,
and cultural heritage tied to natural
landscapes.
Vườn Quốc gia Bidoup Núi Bà (Lâm Đồng) 36
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INTRODUCTION TO NATURAL RESOURCES
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What are Natural resources?
Natural resources are defined as
resources which exist independent of
human actions.
A natural resource is any material,
substance, or organism found in nature
that is useful to people.
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Renewable resources
• Renewable resources are those which are reproducible or
replenished easily over time (trees in the forests, fishes in the
ocean).
• Potentially renewable can become nonrenewable resources, if
used for a prolonged time at a faster rate than it is renewed by
natural processes.
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Nonrenewable resources
• Nonrenewable resources are natural resources that cannot
be replaced after they are used.
• Nonrenewable resources exist in a fixed amount on Earth
Ex: Rock, minerals, metals, uranium, and fossil fuels such as
petroleum, coal, and natural gas.
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INTRODUCTION TO DEVELOPMENT
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Những cải tiến về công nghệ đã khiến cho con người kiểm soát thiên
nhiên nhiều hơn và góp phần gia tăng dân số. Đường kẻ đứt quãng thể
hiên ba xu thế của dân số trong tương lai : (1) tiếp tục tăng trưởng ; (2)
ổn định, và (3) có sự sụp đổ/suy thoái dân số rồi ổn định ở mức thấp
hơn (Nguồn : Tyler Miller, 2002)
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• Development is defined as the process of growth and change
in human social, political, and economic system, utilizing
resources from the environment.
• But….. what good is the development if the entire
environment which helps us live is destroyed and polluted
to level of no return?
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Environment is much more important
1. Even minor developmental activities are harming the environment.
2. These minor activities when clubbed together become a major source of
environmental degradation. For e.g. waste generated in one household is very
less. But when we combine garbage of millions of households, the quantity is
hug.
3. We must preserve the quality of environment as no amount of development
can bring back the environment.
4. No development is useful if the environment is gone. It is the environment
that helps us to survive.
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The link between economic growth and environment 48