Environmental Sciences

(CHY 1002)
Course Study Material

Department of Chemistry
School of Advanced Sciences

Prepared by: Dr. K. Thenmozhi

Dr. S. Senthilkumar
Dr. D. Sangeetha
Dr. Barnali Maiti
Dr. Padala Kishor

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 Module 1

Environment and Ecosystem

 Key environmental problems, their basic causes and sustainable solutions.
 IPAT equation.
 Ecosystem, earth – life support system and ecosystem components
 Food chain, food web, Energy flow in ecosystem
 Ecological succession- stages involved, Primary and secondary succession, Hydrarch,
mesarch, xerarch
 Nutrient, water, carbon, nitrogen, cycles; Effect of human activities on these cycles.

ENVIRONMENT
The environment is everything around us. It includes the living and the non-living
things (air, water, and energy)
Environmental science, an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living
and non-living parts of their environment.
What are the components of our environment?
One way of classification of our surroundings is into Chemical, Physical and
Biological components.
Chemical – all material things
Physical – mainly concerned with energy processes
Biological – both flora and fauna, as well as their interactions.

EARTH’S LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEM HAS FOUR MAJOR COMPONENTS

 The four major components of the earth’s life-support system are the
 atmosphere (air)
 hydrosphere (water)
 geosphere (rock, soil, and sediment),
 biosphere (living things).
 Life is sustained by the flow of energy from the sun through the biosphere, the cycling
of nutrients within the biosphere and gravity.

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 MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
 Air, water and land pollution
 Green house effect
 Global warming
 Destruction of ozone layer
 Problem of waste disposal
 Decline in biological diversity
 World food crisis.

MAJOR CAUSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

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 SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

THREE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY

Lessons from nature that we use throughout to guide us in living more sustainably.
• Reliance on solar energy: The sun warms the planet and supports photosynthesis—a
complex chemical process used by plants to provide the nutrients, or chemicals that most
organisms need in order to stay alive and reproduce. Without the sun, there would be no plants,
no animals, and no food. The sun also powers indirect forms of solar energy such as wind and
flowing water, which we can use to produce electricity.
• Biodiversity (short for biological diversity): This refers to the astounding variety of
organisms, the natural systems in which they exist and interact (such as deserts, grasslands,
forests, and oceans), and the natural services that these organisms and living systems provide
free of charge (such as renewal of topsoil, pest control, and air and water purification).
Biodiversity also provides countless ways for life to adapt to changing environmental
conditions. Without it, most life would have been wiped out long ago.
• Chemical cycling: Also referred to as nutrient cycling, this circulation of chemicals from the
environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment is
necessary for life. Natural processes keep this cycle going, and the earth receives no new
supplies of these chemicals.
Thus, for life to sustain itself, these nutrients must be cycled in this way, indefinitely. Without
chemical cycling, there would be no air, no water, no soil, no food, and no life.

IPAT -Environmental Impact Model

In the early 1970s, scientists Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren developed a simple model showing
how population size (P), affluence, or resource consumption per person (A), and the beneficial
and harmful environmental effects of technologies (T) help to determine the environmental
impact (I) of human activities. We can summarize this model by the simple equation

I = P × A × T.
Impact (I) = Population (P) × Affluence (A) × Technology (T)

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 Figure shows the relative importance of these three factors in less-developed and more-
developed countries. While the ecological footprint model emphasizes the use of renewable
resources, this model includes the per capita use of both renewable and non-renewable
resources. The environmental impact (I) is a rough estimate of how much humanity is
degrading the natural capital it depends upon.
In most less-developed countries, the key factors in total environmental impact are
population size and the degradation of renewable resources as a large number of poor people
struggle to stay alive. In such countries, where per capita resource use is low, about 1.4 billion
poor people struggle to survive on the equivalent of $1.25 a day and about half of the world’s
people must live on the equivalent of less than $2.25 a day.
In more-developed countries, high rates of per capita resource use and the resulting high per
capita levels of pollution and resource depletion and degradation usually are the key factors
determining overall environmental impact. In other words, overconsumption by about 1 billion
people is putting tremendous pressure on our life-support systems. To some analysts this factor
is more important than the population growth factor.

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 ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
As our ecological footprints grow, we are depleting and degrading more of the earth’s natural
capital.

ECOLOGY
 Ecology is the study of interactions among organisms or group of organisms with
their environment.

 The environment consists of both biotic components (living organisms) and abiotic
components (non-living organisms).

 Habitat refers to the physical and chemical factors of the place where the organisms
live.

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 STRUCTURE OF ECOSYSTEM
Ecosystem consists of both biotic and abiotic components:

Ecosytem

Biotic Abiotic

Autotrophic Heterotrophic Physical Chemical

components components Components Components

(producers) (Consumers)

Air, Water, organic inorganic

Soil, Sunlight substances substances
Macro Micro etc.
consumers consumers

(decomposers)
Proteins, micro and
Carbohydrates macro
1. Primary consumers elements
2. Secondary consumers
3. Tertiary consumers
4. Quaternary consumers

BIOTIC COMPONENTS:
• Producers – Green plants which can synthesize their food themselves (Plants)
• Consumers – All organisms which get their organic food by feeding upon other
organisms (Rabbit, man)
• Decomposer – They derive their nutrition by breaking down the complex organic
molecule to simpler organic compound (Bacteria, fungi)

• Consumers
• Herbivores – Plant eaters, They feed directly on producers known as primary
consumers (e.g. Rabbit, human)

• Carnivores – Meat eaters, They feed on other consumers

• If they feed on herbivores they are called secondary consumers (Frog)

• If they feed on other carnivores they known as tertiary consumers (snake, big fish)
• Omnivores – They feed on both plants and animals. (humans, rat)

• Detritivores - They feed on the parts of dead organisms (ants, earthworm)

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• Decomposer
• They derive their nutrition by breaking down the complex organic molecules to
simpler organic compounds and finally into inorganic nutrients. (bacteria and fungi)

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS:

• Physical factors:
• The sunlight, average temp, annual rainfall, wind,
soil type, water availability etc. are some of the important physical features which have
strong influence on the ecosystem

• Chemical factors:
• Availability of major essential nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous,
potassium, hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur largely influence the functioning of the ecosystem

FUNCTIONS OF AN ECOSYSTEM
 In the ecosystem, biotic components and other materials like N, C, H2O circulated
within and outside of the system.

 The energy is transferred from one trophic level to the other in the form of a chain
called as food chain.

The major functional attributes of an ecosystems are as follows

 Food chain, Food webs and tropic structure
 Energy flow
 Cycling of nutrients (Biogeochemical cycles)
 Primary and secondary production
 Ecosystem development and regulation

Food Chain: The transfer of food energy from the source in plants through series of
organisms that consume and are consumed is called the ‘food chain’.
Sunlight Plants Herbivores Carnivores
(Producers) (Primary consumers) (Secondary consumers)
Food Web: The interlocking pattern of various food chains in an ecosystem is known as
food web.

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In a food web, many food chains are interconnected, where different types of organisms are
connected at different tropic levels, so that there are a number of opportunities of eating and
being eaten at each tropic level.

Example: Insects, rates, deer’s, etc. may eat Grass; these may be eaten by carnivores (Snake,
tiger). Thus, there is an interlocking of various food chains called food webs.

Inorder to give stability for the ecosystem nature established food web. If a species at lower
trophic level is extinct then the higher trophic level species can feed on others to continue
their survival without going to extinction due to greater opportunity of eating in food web.

NATURAL CAPITAL
 The main structural components of an ecosystem (energy, chemicals, and organisms).

 Nutrient cycling and the flow of energy—first from the sun, then through organisms,
and finally into the environment as low-quality heat.

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 ENERGY FLOW IN THE ECOSYSTEM
 Energy is needed for every biological activity.

 Solar energy is transformed into chemical energy by a process of photosynthesis.

This energy is stored in plant tissue, and then transformed in to mechanical and heat form
during metabolic activities.

 In the biological world, the energy flows from sun to plants and then to all
heterotrophic organisms like micro-organisms, animals, and man i.e. from producers to
consumers. 1% of the total sunlight falling on the green plants is utilized in photosynthesis.

 This is sufficient to maintain all life on this earth. There is no 100% flow of energy
from producers to consumers. Some is always lost to environment. Because of this, energy
cannot be recycled in an ecosystem ‘it can only flow one way’.

The flow of energy follows the two laws of thermodynamics:

Ist law of thermodynamics: The law states that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed
but it can be transformed from one form to another. Similarly, solar energy utilized by green
plants (producers) in photosynthesis converted into biochemical energy of plants and later into
that of consumers

IInd law of thermodynamics: The law states that energy transformation involves degradation
or dissipation of energy from a concentrated to a dispersed form. We have seen dissipation of
energy occurs at every trophic level. There is loss of 90% energy, only 10% is transferred from
one trophic level to the other.

NUTRIENT CYCLING IN ECOSYSTEM

 Matter, in the form of nutrients, cycles within and among ecosystems and the
biosphere
 Human activities are altering these chemical cycles.

The elements and compounds that make up nutrients move continually through air,
water, soil, rock, and living organisms within ecosystems, as well as in the biosphere in cycles
called biogeochemical cycles (life-earth-chemical cycles), or nutrient cycles.

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 WATER CYCLE
Biogeochemical cycle that collects, purifies, and distributes the earth’s fixed supply of water
from the environment to living organisms and then back to the environment.

The water cycle is powered by energy from the sun and involves three major processes-
evaporation, precipitation, and transpiration. Incoming solar energy causes evaporation of
water from the earth’s oceans, lakes, rivers, and soil. Evaporation changes liquid water into
water vapor in the atmosphere, and gravity draws the water back to the earth’s surface as
precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, and dew). Over land, about 90% of the water that reaches the
atmosphere evaporates from the surfaces of plants, through a process called transpiration, and
from the soil.
Water returning to the earth’s surface as precipitation takes various paths. Most
precipitation falling on terrestrial ecosystems becomes surface runoff. This water flows into
streams, which eventually carry water back to lakes and oceans, from which it can evaporate
to repeat the cycle. Some surface water also seeps into the upper layers of soils where it is used
by plants, and some evaporates from the soils back into the atmosphere.
Some precipitation is converted to ice that is stored in glaciers, usually for long periods
of time. Some precipitation sinks through soil and permeable rock formations to underground
layers of rock, sand, and gravel called aquifers, where it is stored as groundwater.

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 A small amount of the earth’s water ends up in the living components of ecosystems.
As producers, plants absorb some of this water through their roots, most of which evaporates
from plant leaves back into the atmosphere during transpiration; some of the water combines
with carbon dioxide during photosynthesis to produce high-energy organic compounds such as
carbohydrates. Eventually these compounds are broken down in plant cells, which release the
water back into the environment. Consumers get their water from their food and by drinking it.

Human influence on water cycle

 We withdraw large quantities of freshwater from streams, lakes, and aquifers
sometimes at rates faster than nature can replace it.

 We clear vegetation from land for agriculture, mining, road building, and other
activities, and cover much of the land with buildings, concrete, and asphalt. This increases
runoff, reduces infiltration that would normally recharge groundwater supplies, accelerates
topsoil erosion, and increases the risk of flooding.

 We increase flooding when we drain and fill wetlands for farming and urban
development. Wetlands provide the natural service of flood control, acting like sponges to
absorb and hold overflows of water from drenching rains or rapidly melting snow.

NITROGEN CYCLE
Bacteria in Action
Cyclic movement of nitrogen in different chemical forms from the environment to
organisms and then back to the environment.

The major reservoir for nitrogen is the atmosphere. Chemically unreactive nitrogen gas
(N2) makes up 78% of the volume of the atmosphere. Nitrogen is a crucial component of
proteins, many vitamins, and nucleic However, N2 cannot be absorbed and used directly as a
nutrient by multicellular plants or animals.

Two natural processes convert, or fix, N2 into compounds that plants and animals can
use as nutrients. One is electrical discharges, or lightning, taking place in the atmosphere. The
other takes place in aquatic systems, in soil, and in the roots of some plants, where specialized
bacteria, called nitrogen-fixing bacteria, complete this conversion as part of the nitrogen cycle.
The nitrogen cycle consists of several major steps. In nitrogen fixation, specialized
bacteria in soil as well as bluegreen algae (cyanobacteria) in aquatic environments combine
gaseous N2 with hydrogen to make ammonia (NH3). The bacteria use some of the ammonia
they produce as a nutrient and excrete the rest into the soil or water. Some of the ammonia is
converted to ammonium ions (NH4+) that plants can use as a nutrient.
Ammonia not taken up by plants may undergo nitrification. In this process, specialized
soil bacteria convert most of the NH3 and NH4+ in soil to nitrate ions (NO3–), which are easily
taken up by the roots of plants. The plants then use these forms of nitrogen to produce acids
such as DNA (various amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and vitamins).

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 Animals that eat plants eventually consume these nitrogen-containing compounds, as
do detritus feeders and decomposers. Plants and animals return nitrogen-rich organic
compounds to the environment as both wastes and cast-off particles of tissues such as leaves,
skin, or hair, and through their bodies when they die and are decomposed or eaten by detritus
feeders.
In ammonification, vast armies of specialized decomposer bacteria convert this detritus
into simpler nitrogen-containing inorganic compounds such as ammonia (NH3) and water-
soluble salts containing ammonium ions (NH4+). In denitrification, specialized bacteria in
waterlogged soil and in the bottom sediments of lakes, oceans, swamps, and bogs convert NH3
and NH4+ back into nitrate ions, and then into nitrogen gas (N2) and nitrous oxide gas (N2O).
These gases are released to the atmosphere to begin the nitrogen cycle again.

Human interference in Nitrogen cycle:

1. We add large amounts of nitric oxide (NO) into the atmosphere when N2 and O2 combine as
we burn any fuel at high temperatures,
such as in car, truck, and jet engines. In the atmosphere, this gas can be converted to nitrogen
dioxide gas (NO2) and nitric acid vapor (HNO3), which can return to the earth’s surface as
damaging acid deposition,commonly called acid rain.
2. We add nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere through the action of anaerobic bacteria on
commercial inorganic fertilizer or organic animal manure applied to the soil. This greenhouse
gas can warm the atmosphere and deplete stratospheric ozone, which keeps most of the sun’s
harmful ultraviolet radiation from reaching the earth’s surface.
3. We release large quantities of nitrogen stored in soils and plants as gaseous compounds into
the atmosphere through destruction of forests, grasslands, and wetlands.
4. We upset the nitrogen cycle in aquatic ecosystems by adding excess nitrates (NO3–) to bodies
of water through agricultural runoff of fertilizers and animal manure and through discharges
from municipal sewage systems. This can cause excess growth of algae.
5. We remove nitrogen from topsoil when we harvest nitrogen-rich crops, irrigate crops
(washing nitrates out of the soil), and burn or clear grasslands and forests before planting crops.

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 CARBON CYCLE
Cyclic movement of carbon in different chemical forms from the environment to
organisms and then back to the environment.

Carbon is the basic building block of the carbohydrates, fats, proteins, DNA, and
other organic compounds necessary for life. Various compounds of carbon circulate through
the biosphere, the atmosphere, and parts of the hydrosphere.
The carbon cycle is based on carbon dioxide (CO2) gas, which makes up 0.039% of the
volume of the earth’s atmosphere and is also dissolved in water. Carbon dioxide is a key
component of the atmosphere’s thermostat. If the carbon cycle removes too much CO2 from
the atmosphere, the atmosphere will cool, and if it generates too much CO2, the atmosphere
will get warmer. Thus, even slight changes in this cycle caused by natural or human factors can
affect the earth’s climate and ultimately help to determine the types of life that can exist in
various places.
Terrestrial producers remove CO2 from the atmosphere and aquatic producers remove
it from the water. These producers then use photosynthesis to convert CO2 into complex
carbohydrates such as glucose (C6H12O6). The cells in oxygen-consuming producers,
consumers, and decomposers then carry out aerobic respiration. This process breaks down
glucose and other complex organic compounds to produce CO2 in the atmosphere and water
for reuse by producers. This linkage between photosynthesis in producers and aerobic
respiration in producers, consumers, and decomposers circulates carbon in the biosphere.
Oxygen and hydrogen—the other elements in carbohydrates—cycle almost in step with carbon.

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 Some carbon atoms take a long time to recycle. Decomposers release the carbon stored
in the bodies of dead organisms on land back into the air as CO2. However, in water,
decomposers release carbon that can be stored as insoluble carbonates in bottom sediment.
Indeed, marine sediments are the earth’s largest store of carbon. Over millions of years,
buried deposits of dead plant matter and bacteria are compressed between layers of sediment,
where high pressure and heat convert them to carbon-containing fossil fuels such as coal, oil,
and natural gas.

Human influence on carbon cycle:

 We are altering the carbon cycle mostly by adding large amounts of carbon dioxide to
the atmosphere
 When we burn carbon-containing fossil fuels (especially coal to produce electricity).
 We also alter the cycle by clearing carbon-absorbing vegetation from forests
especially tropical forests, faster than it can grow back.

ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
Ecological succession is the gradual process by which ecosystems change and develop
over time. Nothing remains the same and habitats are constantly changing.

Types:
 Primary Succession: The process of creating life in an area where no life previously
existed
 Secondary Succession: The process of restabilization that follows a disturbance in an
area where life has formed an ecosystem.

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 STAGES OF ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
 Nudation : It is the development of a bare area without any life form.

 Invasion: It is the successful establishment of one or more species on a bare area

through dispersal or migration.

 Competition and coactions : As the number of individuals grows there is

competition, both inter-specific and intra-specific for space, water and nutrition.

 Reaction : The living organism grow use water and nutrients from the substratum and
modify the environment in such a way that it become unsuitable for the existing
species and favor some new species and leads to several seral communities.
 Stabilization: The succession ultimately stabilize in a more or less stable community
called climax which is in equilibrium with the environment

Ecological successions starting on different types of areas are named differently

 Hydrarch or Hydrosere: Starting in watery area like pond, Swamp, bog
 Mesarch: Starting in an area of adequate moisture

 Xerarch or xerosere: Starting in a dry area with little moisture such as bare
rock, sand and saline soil

Module 1 -Important Questions:

1. What are the major environmental problems? Give the basic causes and sustainable
solutions for the same.
2. Explain IPAT equation with respect to less developed countries and more developed
countries.
3. What are the structural components of Ecosystem?
4. What are life support system and explain the function of ecosystem?
5. Explain food chain and food web.
6. How energy flows in ecosystem following the laws of thermodynamics?
7. What are the different stages of ecological succession?
8. Starting from Hydrarch/ mesarch/ xerarch how does ecological succession proceed to
stable community?
9. What is biogeochemical or nutrient cycle? Explain the human interference on water,
carbon and nitrogen cycles.
10. In detail explain water/carbon/nitrogen cycle with suitable illustration.

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 MODULE 2
BIODIVERSITY
 Importance of Biodiversity
 Types, mega-biodiversity;
 Species interaction
 Extinct, endemic, endangered and rare species
 Hot-spots
 GM crops
 Terrestrial biodiversity
 Aquatic biodiversity
 Significance of biodiversity
 Threats to biodiversity -Natural and anthropogenic activities
 Conservation of biodiversity

Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the variety of the earth’s species, or varying life-forms,
the genes they contain, the ecosystems in which they live, and the ecosystem processes of
energy flow and nutrient cycling that sustain all life.

 Scientists have identified more than 2 million species. Tens of millions - remain
unknown.

 The tremendous variety of life on Earth is made possible by complex interactions

among all living things including microscopic species like algae and mites.

 The biodiversity found in genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes is vital
to sustaining life on earth.
 Each species plays a specific ecological role called its ecological niche.
 Any given species may play one or more of five important roles - native, nonnative,
indicator, keystone, or foundation—in a particular ecosystem.
 Species Diversity Includes the Variety and Abundance of Species in a Particular
Place.
 Species richness- the number of different species present.
 Species evenness- the comparative numbers of individuals of each species present.

LEVELS OF BIODIVERSITY

 The three levels at which biological variety has been identified as the following
 Genetic diversity
 Species diversity
 Ecosystem diversity

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 Genetic Diversity: Genetic diversity is a level of biodiversity that refers to the total
number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species.
 Genes are the basic unit of hereditary information transmitted from one to the other.
 Eg. Oryza sativa – differ in size, shape, aroma and nutrient content.
 Worldwide there are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice, species name Oryza
sativa.
Species diversity:
 Species diversity refers to the number and distribution of species in one location.
 Humans have a huge effect on species diversity; the main reasons are:
- Destruction, Modification, and/or Fragmentation of Habitat
-Introduction of Exotic Species
-Over harvest
- Global Climate Change
Ecosystem Diversity:
 Ecosystem diversity refers to the diversity of a place at the level of ecosystems.
 The ecosystems also show variations with respect to physical parameters like
moisture, temperature, altitude, precipitation etc.
 This diversity has developed over millions of years of evolution
 We cannot even replace the diversity of one ecosystem by that of another.
Eg: Rain forest, Pond Ecosystem, Desert Ecosystem

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 INDIA- A MEGA BIODIVERSITY NATION

 6% of the world’s species exist in India

 10th among plant richness, 11th in terms of endemic species
 6th place in origin of agricultural crops
 Total number of living species identified 150,000
 2 hotspots of the world are found in india
 One of the 12 mega-biodiversity countries exists in India
 Different types of climate, topography and flora and fauna induced by these.
 The annual rainfall varies from less than 37 cm in Rajasthan to 1200cm in Meghalaya
 Three different seasons – winter, summer and monsoons.
 The seasonal severity varies considerabley.
 The vegetation rages from:- Xerophytes in Rajasthan
 Evergreen in the North-East and Western Ghat areas
 Mangroves of coastal areas
 Dry deciduous forests of central India
 Conifers of the hills Alpine pastures in the high reaches of the Himalaya

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 HOT SPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY
Definition - Areas which exhibit high species richness as well as high endemism are termed as
hot spots of biodiversity
Criteria for recognizing hot spots
-Richness of the endemic species
At least 0.5 % of plant species should be endemic.
Endemic Species: Species which are restricted to a particular area
Two hotspots present in India
 Eastern Himalayas
 Western Ghats
Eastern Himalayas:
 Northern Himalayan states of India, some part in Nepal and Bhutan
 35,000 plant species of which 30% are endemic species, 63 % mammals, 60 % of the
Indian birds are from North East
 Eg: Orchid species, citrus, jute, Indian tiger
Western ghats
 40% plants, 62% amphibians, 50 % lizards are endemic
 Forests occur upto 500 m elevation – 20% forest evergreen
 Only 6.8% of the original forests are existing now in this region
 Eg: Different species of Lizards, reticulated python, Indian salamander, lizard hawk

IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY
Endangered species: Species in danger of extinction and whose survival is unlikely if the
casual factors continue operating. Eg: Peacock, Indian tiger
Extinct: If not seen for 50 years. Used for species which are no longer known to exist in the
world. Eg: Dinasour, Dodo, Himalayan Quail, Indian Cheetah
Vulnerable: Species believed likely to join the endangered category in the near future if the
casual features continue operating. Eg: Indian Rhinoceros, Nilgiri Langur.
Rare: Species with small world populations that are not at present endangered or vulnerable
but are at risk. Eg: Sparrows, black buck.
Endemic Species: Native to a particular place. Eg: Asiatic Lion, Red Panda
Native species: Those species that normally live and thrive in a particular ecosystem. African
elphants in Africa.
Exotic: invasive, alien, and exotic species. Non- native species which have been moved by
human being from their native place to non-native environment. Eg: Orchids, Cacti

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 VALUES OF BIODIVERSITY
Intrinsic value: Something that has value in and of itself
Utilitarian value: It is useful to others

UTILITARIAN VALUES
 Consumptive use value
 Productive use value
 Social value
 Ethical value
 Aesthetic value
 Option value
 Ecosystem service value
Consumptive use Value:
 Biodiversity products are consumed directly
 Food from animals: Cattle, pigs, chickens, buffaloes, ducks – all are originally beloged
to forests we tamed them now.
 Plants: greens and vegetables – all our food crops are originally existed in forests
 Fish – belongs to water bodies
 Herbal Medicines- medicines extracted from tropical plants and organisms. Eg:
Tetracycline, quinine, cancer drugs from periwinkle
 Fuel
Productive use value:
 Commercially usable – marketed
 Lumber
 Wild gene resources
 Tusks of elephants
 Musk from musk deer
 Silk from silkworms
 Wool from sheep
Cultural and social value:
 Customs, religion and psycho-spiritual related values
 Certain plants are worshipped or used to worship
 Holy basil (Tulsi), Mango leaves, Palm pree in Egypt
 Dances of tribal people are often related to wildlife
 -snake, fish, cow, peacock etc
 Cows and snakes are worshiped
Ethical value:
 Ethical value is also known as existence value
 Having affection for other living beings and feeling that all life should be preserved
 We do not use several of plant and animal species directly. But we still feel that they
shoud not go to extinction
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Aesthetic value:
 No one wish to visit vast stretches of barren land with no sign of visible life.
 People spend money to visit- eco-tourism.
 The willingness to pay – to visit
 Eco-tourism estimated for aesthetic value – about 12 billions dollars annually
Option value:
 The potential of biodiversity – presently unknown and needed to be explored.
 Potential, cure for AIDS or cancer.
 Exploration within the depth of marine eco-system
Ecosystem service value:
 Prevention of Soil erosion,
 prevention of floods and disaster
 Maintaining soil fertility,
 Cycling of nutrients C,N,P,S.
 Contribution to watercycle.
 Pollution breakdown and absorption (CO2 is absorbed by forest)
 Reduction of the threat of global warming.

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 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY
 Habitat destruction
 Poaching
 Man-wildlife conflicts
 Pollution
 Species Introductions
 Global Climatic Change
 Exploitation

HABITAT DESTRUCTION
 Loss of Habitat:
Is the largest cause. Forests and grasslands have been cleared for
• agriculture
• pasturing
• human settlement and
• for development projects
• In India forests are lost at a rate of 0.6%/year
 Habitat fragmentation:
– Small regions of forest are removed for
 roads,
 urbanisation,
 agriculture
– It results in division of forests into smaller fragments
– Some animals need large territories (eg: Bear, tiger)
– When forests are divided these animals cannot survive
 Deforestation:
Cutting trees for timber, removal of medicinal plants, construction of dam
 Raw materials:
Production of hybrid seeds – wild plants used as raw materials. As a result plant
species become endangered
 Production of drugs:
 Wild plants – used for production of drugs; therefore several medicinal plant become
extinct
 Wetlands are often destroyed due to draining, filling and Pollution

POACHING
• Killing/hunting of animals
• Illegal trade of wild life
– Despite ban, animals are killed for Furs, horns, tusks, skins (crocodile)
– Live specimens are smuggled
– Subsistence poaching: Killing animals for food
– Commercial poaching : Hunting & killing animals to sell their products

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 MAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICTS
 Man-wildlife conflicts arise
o when wildlife starts causing immense damage and danger to the man
o Such condition, very difficult for the forest department to compromise the
affected villagers & gain village support for wild life conservations.
 Examples:
1. In Sambalpur, Orissa
– 200 humans killed by elephants.
- In retaliation the villagers killed 100 elephants
2. Man eating tiger - In Royal Chitwan National park, Kathmandu
In 2004 - 20 Nepalese people were killed,1 four year old child
Remedy:
• Tiger conservation projects: Making available tranquilizers guns, binoculars and
radiosets etc to deal with danger
• Solar powered fencing instead of electric
• Croping near forests should be prevented
• Adequate food should be made available for animals within the forest
• Wild animal hunting rituals should be stopped.

How to sustain Terrestrial Ecosystem?

 We can sustain forests by emphasizing the economic value of their ecological
services, removing government subsidies that hasten their destruction, protecting old-growth
forests, harvesting trees no faster than they are replenished, and planting trees.
 We can sustain the productivity of grasslands by controlling the numbers and
distribution of grazing livestock, and by restoring degraded grasslands.
 Sustaining biodiversity will require more effective protection of existing parks and
nature reserves, as well as the protection of much more of the earth’s remaining undisturbed
land area.
 We can help to sustain terrestrial biodiversity by identifying and protecting severely
threatened areas (biodiversity hotspots), restoring damaged ecosystems (using restoration
ecology), and sharing with other species much of the land we dominate (using reconciliation
ecology).

24
 CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY
Two approaches of Biodiversity Conservation
 In Situ conservation (within habitat): This is achieved by protection of wild
flora and fauna in nature itself
 Biosphere Reserves
 National Parks
 Wildlife Sancturies
 Conservation reserves
 Tiger reserves
 Seed Stands and seed production areas
 Plus trees

 Ex situ conservation -Conservation of flora and fauna outside their habitat

 Botanical gardens
 Arboreta
 Herbal gardens
 Clonal repositories
 Plant herbarium
 Provenance trials

25
  Gene banks / Seed banks
 Culture collections

In-Situ Conservation
1. Biosphere reserves:
It conserve some representative ecosystems as a whole for long-term in situ
conservation.
Following the “Man and biosphere” approach advocated by the UNESCO, 14 sites
have been identified as biosphere reserves covering area of 49012.62 [Link]

Name of the place State

Nanda Devi U.P.

Nilgiri Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu

Gulf of Mannar Tamil Nadu

Sunderbans West Bengal

Manas Assam

Similipal Orrisa

Nokrek Meghalaya

Great Nicobars -

2. National Parks:
 A National Park is an area dedicated for the conservation of wildlife
along with its environment. It is also meant for enjoyment through tourism but without
impairing the environment. Each National Park usually aims at conservation specifically
of some particular species of wildlife along with others.

26
 There are 97 existing national parks in India covering an area of 38,199.47 km2,
which is 1.16% of the geographical area of the country.
 In addition, 74 national parks are proposed in the protected area network report.

3. Wildlife sanctuaries:
 They are also protected areas where killing, hunting, shooting or capturing of wildlife
is prohibited except under the control of highest authority. There are 508 wildlife sanctuaries
covering an area of 3.6 % of the geographical area. Another 217 sanctuaries are proposed in
the Protected Area Network Report.
 For plants, there is one gene sanctuary for Citrus (Lemon family) and one for pitcher
plant (an insect eating plant) in Northeast India.
 For the protection and conservation of certain animals, there have been specific
projects in our country e.g. Project Tiger, Gir Lion Project, Crocodile Breeding Project,
Project Elephant, Snow Leopard Project etc.

4. Tiger Reserves:
 Project Tiger was launched in the year 1973 to save the tiger. Starting from nine (9)
reserves in 1973-74. In number it has grown upto 29 in 2006. Geographical area covered by
these project tiger areas is 1.17%.
 Eg: Periyar, Kanha, Corbett

27
5. Seed Stands and Seed production areas:
 The best natural stands or plantations that are near full stocking are used for the
development of seed production areas.
 One of the important component is the improvement of seed quality.
6. Plus trees:
 Tree Plus selection is one of the methods to conserve diversity at species level.
 Plus tree is a phenotypically superior tree. It is the utilization part of gene
conservation.
Ex-Situ Conservation
1. Botanical gardens:
 India has more than 100 botanical gardens under different management systems
located in different bio-geographical regions.
 Central and state governments manage 33 botanical gardens that maintain the
diversity in the form of plants or plant populations.
2. Arboreta:
 An arboretum generally refers to a place established for conservation of tree species.
 FRI (Forest Research Institute) Dehradun,
 an arboretum with 130 tree species
 a bamboosetum of 53 species
 NBPGR (National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources), Bhubaneswar

28
  an arboretum of 1,430 species of trees
 a palmeretum of 100 different types of palms
 a bamboosetum with 61 collection of bamboo
 an orchidarium housing 220 species of orchids
3. Herbal gardens:
 Refers to the gardens that conserve herbs, shrubs that are of medicinal value and
aromatic value.
 The concept of herbal gardens has been picked up by the NGOs in India.
 Several institutions, State Forest Departments and NGOs in different parts of the
country, have established herbal gardens.

4. Plant herbarium:
 Plant diversity preserved in the form of herbarium
 The Botanical Survey of India has the largest holding of 1,500,000 specimens.
 There are many more herbaria
 Presidency College Madras (1,00,000)
 The Blater Herbarium at St. Xavier’s College, Bombay (1,00,000)
 St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirapally (60,000)

5. Provenance trials:
 Provenance trials help in exploration of gene resources called genecological
exploration
 More than ninety species provenance trials have been established in different parts of
India to screen out best provenance for raising new plantations with increased productivity
 Provenance are collected from different geographical, ecological and environmental
conditions and play important role in gene conservation.

6. Seed Orchards:
 Seed orchards contribute greatly to the production of quality planting stock of the
desired species
 These are plantations established primarily for the production of seed of proven
genetic quality.
 Establishment of seed orchards is part of long-term conservation management
programme and also a long-term breeding programme.

7. Zoos and aquariums:

 Captive breeding programmes of endangered animals
 Semen banks
 Zoo Authority of India
 164 recognized zoos
 Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species, Hyderabad.
 Captive breeding of Red Panda and its restocking into the wild

29
 AQUATIC BIODIVERSITY
 The general nature of aquatic systems:
Saltwater and freshwater aquatic life zones cover almost three-fourths of the earth’s surface,
with oceans dominating the planet.
The key factors determining biodiversity in aquatic systems are temperature, dissolved
oxygen content, availability of food, and availability of light and nutrients necessary for
photosynthesis.
 Importance of marine aquatic systems:
Saltwater ecosystems are irreplaceable reservoirs of biodiversity and provide major
ecological and economic services.
 Human activities affect marine ecosystems:
Human activities threaten aquatic biodiversity and disrupt ecological and economic services
provided by saltwater systems.
 Importance of freshwater ecosystems:
Freshwater ecosystems provide major ecological and economic services, and are
irreplaceable reservoirs of biodiversity.
 Human activities affect freshwater ecosystems:
Human activities threaten biodiversity and disrupt ecological and economic services provided
by freshwater lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

Aquatic systems include

(a) Saltwater oceans
(b) Bays, such as Trunk Bay at St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands
(c) Freshwater lakes such as Peyto Lake in Canada’s Banff National Park
(d) Wild freshwater mountain streams.

We can divide aquatic life forms into several major types:

Plankton, which include
(a) Phytoplankton, tiny drifting plants and
(b) Zooplankton, drifting animals that feed on each other and on phytoplankton; Eg:
Jellyfish, which uses long tentacles with stinging cells to stun or kill its prey.
Other major types of aquatic life are
(c ) Nekton, or strongly swimming aquatic animals such as whale, and
(d) Benthos, or bottom dwellers such as sea star attached to coral in the Red Sea.

Human Activities Are Disrupting and Degrading Freshwater Systems

 Dams and canals fragment about 40% of the world’s 237 largest rivers. They
alter and destroy terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitats along these rivers and in their
coastal deltas and estuaries by reducing water flow and increasing damage from coastal
storms.
 Flood control levees and dikes built along rivers disconnect the rivers from their
floodplains, destroy aquatic habitats, and alter or reduce the functions of nearby wetlands.
 Cities and farms, which add pollutants and excess plant nutrients to nearby
streams, rivers, and lakes.

30
 Inland wetlands have been drained or filled to grow crops or have been covered
with concrete, asphalt, and buildings. The rest were lost to mining, logging, oil and gas
extraction, highway construction, and urban development.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS

History of crop improvement
• By trial and error for almost 9900 years
• By scientific principles of breeding for last 100 years
• By chemical induced mutation for last 75 years
• By rDNA technology last 25 years

CHALLENGES AHEAD
 Population in 2050 AD: 1.5 B
 Shrinking area of cultivated land
 Diminishing water resources
 Malnutrition and undernourishment
 Deterioration in soil quality
 Climate change (global warming)

31
 Genetically Modified (GM) Crops
 GM crops are genetically improved and contain a gene or genes from the same or a
different species artificially inserted in its genome.
 Tissue Culture & Transformation – gives the maximum flexibility for moving genes
within or between species.
 Bt-cotton - First GM crop – 2002
 Second in global cotton production
 Area – 8.0 million hectares – 2008
 Yield gain - 31%
 Reduction in pesticide sprays – 39%
 Golden Rice
 For Nutritional quality
 Expression of enzymes of β-carotene pathway in rice endosperm
 Amelioration of Vitamin A deficiency

Advantages of GMO’s:
 Enhance desired traits
 Pest resistance
 Improve nutritional content
 Less time than controlled breeding
 Improve accuracy
 Herbicide tolerance
 Cold tolerance
 Medical advantage eg. Edible vaccines
 Virtual end of world hunger. Eg. No malnutrition
 Cheaper or faster to grow and don’t have to be rich in plant
 Endless possibilities and anything alive can be genetically modified
 Reduce production cost to reduced chemical and mechanical need in planting,
maintenance and harvest.

Disadvantages of GMO’s
 Harm to organisms
 Doesnot taste natural
 Spread of superweeds
 Spread of superbugs
 New trade, tariff and quota issues
 May cause health problems
 Larger companies have more power
 Possible greed to GMO manufacturers
 Unforeseen allergen risks
 Allergies may become more intense
 New allergies may arise
 Widening corporate size gaps between food producing giants and smaller ones.

32
 Species Interaction - Five Major Ways
Ecologists identify five basic types of interactions between species as they share limited
resources such as food, shelter, and space:
• Interspecific competition:
When members of two or more species interact to gain access to the same limited resources
such as food, water, light, and space.
• Predation: When a member of one species (the predator) feeds directly on all or part of a
member of another species (the prey).
• Parasitism: When one organism (the parasite) feeds on another organism (the host), usually
by living on or in the host.
• Mutualism: Interaction that benefits both species by providing each with food, shelter, or
some other resource.
• Commensalism: Interaction that benefits one species but has little or no effect on the other.
These interactions have significant effects on the resource use and population sizes of the
species in an ecosystem

INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION
Resource partitioning:
Species competing for similar scarce resources evolve specialized traits that allow them to
share resources by using parts of them, using them at different times, or using them in different
ways.

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 THE PREDATOR–PREY RELATIONSHIP
[One species benefits other species dies]
 Herbivores can simply walk, swim or fly up to the plants they feed on.
 Carnivores feeding on mobile prey have two main options: pursuit and ambush.
 Cheetah catch prey by running fast
 The American bald eagle can fly and have keen eyesight.
 Interactions between Predator and Prey Species Can Drive Each Other’s Evolution
 Prey species have developed specialized ways to avoid their predators:
 Camouflage, chemical warfare, warning coloration, mimicry, deceptive looks,
deceptive behavior.
 Coevolution
Long-term interactions between bats and their prey such as moths and butterflies can lead to
coevolution, as the bats evolve traits to increase their chance of getting a meal and the moths
evolve traits to help them avoid being eaten.

PARASITISM
[Species Feed off Other Species by Living on or inside Them].
 Parasitism occurs when one species (the parasite) feeds on another organism (the host),
usually by living on or inside the host. In this relationship, the parasite benefits and the host is
often harmed but not immediately killed.
 Example: Blood-sucking parasitic sea lamprey attached itself to an adult lake trout
from the Great Lakes (USA).

MUTUALISM
[Both Species Benefit]
 In mutualism, two species behave in ways that benefit both by providing each with
food, shelter, or some other resource.
 Hummingbird benefits by feeding on nectar in this flower, and it benefits the flower
by pollinating it.
Example:
(a) Oxpeckers and black rhinoceros: Oxpeckers (or tickbirds) feed on parasitic ticks that
infest large, thick-skinned animals such as the endangered black rhinoceros.
(b) Clownfish and sea anemone: A clownfish gains protection and food by living among
deadly, stinging sea anemones and helps to protect the anemones from some of their predators.

34
 COMMENSALISM
[One Species Benefits and the Other Is Not Harmed]
 Commensalism is an interaction that benefits one species but has little, if any, beneficial
or harmful effect on the other.
 Bromeliad—an epiphyte, or air plant—in Brazil’s Atlantic tropical rain forest roots on
the trunk of a tree, rather than in soil, without penetrating or harming the tree.
 In this interaction, the epiphyte gains access to sunlight, water, and nutrients from the
tree’s debris; the tree apparently remains unharmed and gains no benefit.

Module 2- Important Questions:

1. Justify India as a megabiodiversity nation.
2. How do species interact among themselves?
3. Give the merits and demerits of GM Crops.
4. In detail explain the importance of terrestrial biodiversity.
5. Elaborate on the threats to biodiversity particularly man-wild life conflict, habitat destruction
and poaching.
6. Explain the Ex-Situ and In-situ methodologies for conservation of biodiversity.
7. What are hot spots? Give the salient features of Indian hot spots.
8. Explain extinct, endangered, vulnerable, rare, endemic and exotic species with suitable
example.
9. Describe the ecological and economical benefits rendered by aquatic biodiversity.
10. With suitable examples explain the Mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, prey-predator
relationship and interspecific competition.

35
 Module – 3
Sustaining Natural Resources and Environmental Quality

 Environmental hazards – causes and solutions.

 Biological hazards – AIDS, Malaria,
 Chemical hazards- BPA, PCB, Phthalates, Mercury.
 Nuclear hazards
 Risk and evaluation of hazards.
 Water footprint; virtual water, blue revolution.
 Water quality management and its conservation.
 Solid and hazardous waste – types and waste management methods.

36
Environmental hazards:
 Biological Hazard
 Chemical Hazard
 Nuclear Hazard
 Risk and evaluation of hazards.

Major Health Hazards:

Biological - Pathogens like bacteria, viruses, parasites, protozoa, and fungi.
Chemical - harmful chemicals in air, water, soil, food, and human-made products
Physical - fire, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and storms
Cultural factors - unsafe working conditions, unsafe highways, criminal assault, and poverty

Lifestyle choices - smoking, making poor food choices, drinking too much alcohol, and having
unsafe sex
***************************************************************************

Biological Hazards:
Flu, AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases
and malaria.
A non-transmissible disease is a not caused by
any living organism.

Eg. Cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel)

diseases, most cancers, asthma, and diabetes.

A transmissible disease (also called a

contagious or communicable disease) is an
infectious disease that can be transmitted from
one person to another by living organism - By
pathogen such as a bacterium, virus, or parasite.
Eg. tuberculosis (TB) , flu, and measles.

Infectious disease:
The life cycle of malaria Plasmodium parasites circulate from mosquito to human and back to
mosquito.

37
Malaria:
About one of every five people in the world—
most of them living in poor African countries—
is at risk from malaria. There is no vaccine for
preventing this disease. It infects and destroys
red blood cells, causing intense fever, chills,
drenching sweats, severe abdominal pain,
vomiting, headaches, and increased
susceptibility to other diseases. Four species of
protozoan parasites in the genus Plasmodium
cause malaria.

ks

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HIV/AIDS:
HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus. AIDS - Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.
Discovered in 1983. Worldwide 40 million affected - mostly in Africa, India, China, Russia. 3
million died in 2003 due to HIV/AIDS.

Where did it come from?

The origin is from monkeys, and other apes in Africa. It spread through HIV contaminated
polio vaccine programs. Hepatitis B viral vaccine in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco

Through small pox vaccine programs of Africa. Some believe that it is man made – by Genetic
Engineering.

38
Activities spreading HIV:
Blood contact; Blood transfusion; Use of infected injection syringes, surgery tools ; Through
unprotected sex with multiple partners; Can pass from mothers to their babies; During delivery
and breast feeding.

Activities which do not spread HIV:

It does not spread through sweat, tears, urine or saliva. It does not spread through mosquito or
bed bug bites. It does not spread through simple touch. It does not spread through sharing
utensils, towels, clothing etc. The virus dies quickly outside blood.

Effects of HIV/AIDS on Environment:

Large number of deaths can cause changes in local environment. Most of the people infected
are labours - loss of labour and so production decreases. With fewer adults, children find it
difficult to survive. People who are infected become weak and cannot do hard physical work
like farming – crops and food production will fall. Teachers, doctors affected – education and
medical treatment hampered. Without labor, less time will be spent on environmental activities
like soil conservation
***************************************************************************

Chemical Hazards:
Chemicals that can cause cancers and birth defects and disrupt the human immune, nervous,
and endocrine systems.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed arsenic, lead, mercury, vinyl chloride
(used to make PVC plastics), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as the top five toxic
substances

Carcinogens:
Chemicals, types of radiation, or certain viruses that can cause or promote cancer

Eg: arsenic, benzene, chloroform, formaldehyde, gamma radiation, nickel, PCBs, radon,
certain chemicals in tobacco smoke, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, X-rays, and vinyl chloride.

Mutagens:
Includes chemicals or forms of radiation that cause mutations, or changes, in the DNA
molecules found in cells, or that increase the frequency of such changes.
Eg: nitrous acid (HNO2), formed by the digestion of nitrite (NO2–) preservatives in foods.

Teratogens:
chemicals that cause harm or birth defects to a fetus or embryo.

39
Eg: Ethyl alcohol, angel dust, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, mescaline,
PCBs, phthalates, thalidomide, and vinyl chloride.

Chemicals may affect our Immune, Nervous, and Endocrine Systems:

• Arsenic, methyl mercury, and dioxins can weaken the human immune system
• Natural and synthetic chemicals in the environment, called neurotoxins, can harm
the human nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves).

• Effects can include behavioral changes, learning disabilities, retardation, attention

deficit disorder, paralysis, and death.

• Examples of neurotoxins are Poly chlorinated biphenyls, PCBs, methyl mercury,

arsenic, lead, and certain pesticides.

• Hormonally active agents (HAAs) disrupt the endocrine system Certain pesticides
and other synthetic chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA).

• -HAAs include aluminum, atrazine and several other herbicides, DDT, mercury,
PCBs, phthalates, and BPA.
• -Estrogen mimics and hormone blockers are sometimes called gender benders
because of their possible effects on sexual development and reproduction

• - thyroid disrupters and cause growth, weight, brain, and behavioral disorders.

***************************************************************************

Mercury (Hg):
Hg and its compounds
HgS and HgCl2,
methylmercury
(CH3Hg+) are all toxic.
Research indicates that
long- term exposure to
high levels of mercury
can permanently
damage the human
nervous system, brain
function, kidneys, and
lungs. fairly low levels
of mercury can harm
fetuses and cause birth
defects.

40
The BPA Controversy:
Estrogen mimic is bisphenol A (BPA):
It is a chemical building block in certain hardened plastics (especially shatter-proof
polycarbonate)

• Baby bottles
• Sipping cups

• Reusable water bottles

• Sports drink and juice bottles
• Microwave dishes

• Food storage containers

• Can liner in nearly all canned food
• Beverage products.

BPA adverse effects include brain damage, early puberty, prostrate disease, breast cancer,
heart disease, liver damage, reduced sperm count, impaired immune function, type 2 diabetes,
hyperactivity, increased aggressiveness, impaired learning, increased addiction to drugs such
as amphetamines, decreased sex drive in males, and obesity in unborn test animals exposed to
BPA

These hormone mimics are chemically similar to female sex hormones called estrogens. In
males, excess levels of female hormones can cause feminization, smaller penises, lower sperm
counts, and the presence of both male and female sex organs (hermaphroditism).

Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls (PCB):

PCB are a class of more than 200 chlorine-containing organic compounds that are very stable
and non-flammable. Paints, fire retardants in fabrics, preservatives, adhesives, and pesticides.
Soil, air, lakes, rivers, fish, birds, your body, and even the bodies of polar bears in the Arctic.

Phthalates:
Phthalates are used to soften polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic found in a variety of products
and used as solvents in many consumer products. Phthalates are found in many perfumes,
cosmetics, baby powders, body lotions, hair sprays, deodorants, nail polishes, and shampoos
for adults and babies. They are also found in PVC products such as soft vinyl toys, teething
rings, and blood storage bags, IV bags, and medical tubes used in hospitals. Phthalates has
caused birth defects and liver cancer, kidney and liver damage, premature breast development,
immune suppression, and abnormal sexual development.

41
Nuclear Hazard:
Nuclear power has a low environmental
impact and a very low accident risk, but
its use has been limited by a low net
energy yield, high costs, fear of
accidents, long-lived radioactive
wastes, and the potential for spreading
nuclear weapons technology.

Explosions and partial or complete

meltdowns are possible, as we learned in
1986 from the serious accident at the
Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine.

By 2005, some 56 people had died

prematurely from exposure to radiation
released by the accident. The number of
long-term premature deaths from the

accident, primarily from exposure to radiation,

range from 9,000 by World Health
Organization estimates, to 212,000 as
estimated by the Russian Academy of Medical
Sciences, to nearly 1 million according to a
2010 study by Alexey Yablokov and two other
Russian scientists, published by the New York
Academy of Sciences.
High-level radioactive wastes consist mainly
of spent fuel rods and assemblies from
commercial nuclear power plants, the waste
materials from dismantled plants, and assorted
wastes from the production of nuclear
weapons. They must be stored safely for at
least 10,000 years and, by some estimates, up
to 240,000 years if long-lived plutonium-235
is not removed from the wastes.

42
Risk - Assessment- Management:
Risk: -is the probability of suffering harm from a hazard that can cause injury, disease, death,
economic loss, or damage.

Risk assessment: is the process of using statistical methods to estimate howmuch harm a
particular hazard can cause to human health or to the environment.

Risk management: -involves deciding whether or how to reduce a particular risk to a

certain level and at what cost.

Estimating Risks from Technologies:

The overall reliability or the probability (expressed as a percentage) that a person, device, or
complex technological system will complete a task without failing is the product of two
factors:

System reliability (%) = Technology reliability (%) x Human reliability (%)

With careful design, quality control, maintenance, and monitoring, a highly complex system
such as a nuclear power plant or space shuttle can achieve a high degree of technological
reliability. But human reliability usually is much lower than technological reliability and is
almost impossible to predict: To err is human.

43
Evaluating and avoiding Risks:
Scientists use live laboratory animals, case reports of poisonings, and epidemiological studies
to estimate the toxicity of chemicals, but these methods have limitations. Because of the
difficulty in evaluating the harm caused by exposure to chemicals, many health scientists call
for much greater emphasis on pollution prevention. Becoming informed, thinking critically
about risks, and making careful choices can reduce the major risks we face.
**************************************************************************

Water Pollutants:
Water pollution is any change in
water quality that can harm living
organisms or make the water unfit
for human uses such as irrigation
and recreation.
various infectious agents such as
certain strains of coliform bacteria
Escherichia coli, or E. coli

dissolved oxygen (DO), COD,

BOD toxic heavy metals in the
ocean.

Eutrophication is the natural

nutrient enrichment of a shallow
lake, estuary, or slowly moving
stream. It is caused mostly by
runoff of plant nutrients such as
nitrates and phosphates from
surrounding land.

Near urban or agricultural areas, human activities can greatly accelerate the input of plant
nutrients to a lake—a process called cultural eutrophication. Such inputs involve mostly
nitrate- and phosphate-containing effluents from various sources.

44
Water footprint:
 Water footprint, which is a rough measure of the
volume of water that we use directly and indirectly to
keep ourselves alive and to support our lifestyles.

 Water that is not directly consumed but is used to

produce food and other products is called Virtual
water, and it makes up a large part of our water
footprints, especially in more-developed countries.

 Each of us can help to bring about a “blue revolution”

and reduce our water footprints by using and wasting
less water.

45
Solutions for Water crisis:
 Pollution Prevention to Protect Groundwater
 Protecting Watersheds Instead of Building Water Purification Plants
 Using Laws to Protect Drinking Water Quality
 Sewage Treatment to Reduce Water Pollution

Water conservation practices:

1. Decreasing run-off losses:
 Infiltration into the soil can reduce loss
 Contour cultivation
 Conservation bench terracing
 Water spreading – channeling, lagoon- leveling
 Chemical wetting agents like surfactants
 Chemical conditioners –Gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O)
 In Sodic soils – HPAN (hydrolysed
 polyacrylonitrile) improve permeability
 Water-storage structures – ponds, dug-outs

2. Reducing evaporation losses:

Some methods available

 Use of asphalt sheets below the soil

 Super slurper – copolymer of acrylonitrile and starch absorbs water upto 1400 times its
weight
 Planting trees on the edges of fields

3. Storing water in soil:

 Some water is stored in soil in the root zone.
 If the land is left fallow for some time that water will become available

4. Reducing irrigation losses:

 Covered canals to reduce seepage
 Irrigation in early morning or evening
 Sprinklers
 Use of less water requiring hybrid varieties
 Drip irrigation

46
5. Reuse:
 Treated water can be reused
 Water from washings bath tubs etc (grey water) for watering gardens

6. Stop wastage:
 Close taps
 Repair leaks
 Use small capacity flush

7. Increase block pricing:
 Put a charge on water
 Introduce proper laws
 Educate people
Rainwater Harvesting:
It is a technique of increasing the recharge of groundwater by capturing and storing rainwater.
This is done by construction of special water harvesting structures like dug wells, percolation
pits, lagoons, check dams etc.

• Obectives
– Reduce run off loss
– Avoid flooding of roads
– Meet the increasing demands of water
– Raise the water table
– Reduce groundwater contamination
– Supplement groundwater supplies during lean season

Methods of rainwater harvesting are

1. Storing in tanks or reservoirs above or below ground
2. Constructing pits, dug wells, lagoons trenches or check dams on rivers and streams
3. By recharging groundwater

47
Traditional rainwater harvesting:
In ancient India there
were lakes and ponds in
every village constructed
by kings. In Rajasthan
underground tanks and
embankments were
found. In Himalayan
regions bamboo pipes
were used to draw water
from streams. Collecting
rain water from roof-tops
is one of the oldest
techniques in India. In
Villages Lake cut ponds
were made. In
Tamilnadu, they had separate such ponds for bathing, washing.

Solid waste:
Solid waste contributes to pollution and represents the unnecessary consumption
of resources; hazardous waste contributes to pollution as well as to natural capital
degradation, health problems, and premature deaths.

 Industrial solid waste

 Municipal solid waste (MSW)
 Hazardous, or toxic waste

 A sustainable approach to solid waste is first to

 reduce it,
 then to reuse or
 recycle it, and
 finally to safely dispose of what is left.

48
Solid waste management:
We attempt to control wastes in ways that reduce their environmental harm without seriously
trying to reduce the amount of waste produced.

Methods of Discarding Wastes

1. Sanitary Land fill
2. Biocompost
3. Incineration

49
Solid waste management –Priority:

50
51
Hazardous waste:

Solutions:
Physical methods for detoxifying hazardous wastes:
Include using charcoal or resins to filter out harmful solids, distilling liquid wastes to separate
out harmful chemicals, and precipitating, or allowing natural processes to separate, such
chemicals from solution.

52
Chemical methods are used to convert hazardous:
Chemicals to harmless or less harmful chemicals through chemical reactions

Nanomagnets:
Magnetic nanoparticles coated with certain compounds that can remove various pollutants
from water.

Biological methods for treatment of hazardous waste:

 -bioremediation, in which bacteria and enzymes help to destroy toxic or hazardous

substances, or convert them to harmless compounds.
 -phytoremediation, which involves using natural or genetically engineered plants to
absorb, filter, and remove contaminants from polluted soil and water

Solution to solid waste:

53
Module 3 -Important questions:

1. Infectious diseases are major health threats. There are number of ways to prevent or
reduce the occurrence of infectious diseases. Do you think which four of the
approaches are the most important? Why?
2. Enumerate the sources of solid waste. Discuss the various methods used to discard the
solid waste with its merits and demerits.
3. List out possible domestic solid waste and Explain the available methods used for safe
disposal of solid waste.
4. In future, municipal solid waste could become a source of energy in cities. Explain.
5. Describe the hazards caused by BPA, mercury and phthalates.
6. What kind of toxic substances present in soft drink canes or baby bottles that are
responsible for the risk of health?
7. Distinguish the various types of water footprint, and write the challenges in conserving
water at the present and comment on it.
8. Explain the available methods used for safe disposal of solid waste with neat diagrams.
9. Briefly discuss about the chemical hazard caused by the following compounds.
[Link] 2. polychlorinated biphenyl 3. Bisphenol A
10. How can we evaluate the chemical hazards? Mention the limitations associated with
the methods to estimate the toxicity of chemicals?

54
 Module – 4
Energy Resources

 Renewable - Non-renewable energy resources-

 Advantages and disadvantages - oil, Natural gas, Coal, Nuclear energy.
 Energy efficiency and renewable energy.
 Solar energy, Hydroelectric power, Ocean thermal energy,
 Wind and geothermal energy. Energy from biomass, solar-Hydrogen revolution.

55
Human Energy Use:
We get most of our energy by
burning carbon-containing fossil
fuels. Note that oil is the most
widely use form of commercial
energy and that about 79% of the
energy used in the world. 85% of
the energy used by the United
States comes from burning non-
renewable fossil fuels.

Net Energy:
Net energy is the amount of high-quality energy available from an energy resource minus the
amount of energy needed to make it available. Net Energy Is the Only Energy That Really
Counts. Energy Resources With Low or Negative Net Energy Yields Need Help to Compete
in the Marketplace. Reducing Energy Waste Improves Net Energy Yields and Can Save
Money.

What can you do for efficient energy consumption?

56
Per capita energy use and GNP:

BTU = British thermal unit, (252 heat calories)

GNP = Gross National product

Renewable Energy Resources

– Solar Energy
– Wind Energy
– Hydropower
– Tidal energy
– Ocean Thermal Energy
– Geothermal Energy
– Biomass Energy
– Biogas
– Bio fuels
– Hydrogen as fuel

57
Non-Renewable Energy
– Coal
– Petroleum
– Natural Gas
– Nuclear Energy

58
Solar Energy:

Sun is the ultimate source of energy. The nuclear fusion reaction occurring inside the sun
release enormous quantities of energy in the form of heat and light. The solar energy received
by the near earth space is approximately 1.4 kilojoules/Second/m2 known as solar constant.

Solar Cells – Principle:

Photovoltaic cells. It is made up of thin wafers of semiconductor material like silicon or

gallium. The potential difference produced by a single PV cell of 4 cm2 is about 0.4 to 0.5 volts
and produce current of 60 milli amperes.

59
Solar Energy:
Passive and active solar
heating systems can heat water
and buildings effectively, and
the costs of using direct
sunlight to produce high
temperature heat and
electricity are coming down
Passive solar heating systems -
absorbs and stores heat from
the sun directly within a well-
insulated structure. Walls and
floors of concrete, adobe,
brick, or stone, and water
tanks.

An active solar heating

system - captures energy
from the sun by pumping a
heat absorbing fluid (such as
water or an antifreeze

60
solution) through special collectors, usually mounted on a roof or on special racks to face the
sun.

Sunlight to Produce Electricity:

-using photovoltaic (PV) cells,
commonly called solar cells.
Most solar cells are thin wafers
of purified silicon (Si) or
polycrystalline silicon with
trace amounts of metals that
allow them to produce
electricity.

Solar thermal systems use

different methods to collect
and concentrate solar energy
in order to boil water and
produce steam for generating
electricity

61
Hydropower Energy:
Electricity from Falling and Flowing Water:
Hydropower uses the kinetic energy of flowing and falling water to produce electricity. A
high dam across a large river to create a reservoir. Canada, China, Brazil, the United States,
and Russia. Largest human-caused source of methane. Microhydropower generators:
produce electricity from flowing water by tapping into the energy from ocean tides and waves.

Hydropower:

Ocean Thermal Energy (OTE):

The energy available due to
the difference in temperature
of water at the surface of the
tropical oceans and at the
deeper levels is called ocean
thermal energy. A difference
of 20 °C or more is required.
The warm surface water is
used to boil liquid like
ammonia. The colder water
from the deep oceans is
pumped to cool and condense
the vapours of ammonia into
liquid.

62
Wind Energy:
When we include the environmental costs of using energy resources in the market prices of
energy, wind power is the least expensive and least polluting way to produce electricity.

Wind to Produce Electricity- The differences in the angles of the sun’s rays hitting the earth
between the equator and the poles create different amounts of solar heating; together with the
earth’s rotation, this creates flows of air called wind. We can capture this indirect form of solar
energy with wind turbines on land and at sea that convert it into electrical energy. Such wind
turbines are being erected in large numbers at some sites to create wind farms. Denmark, the
world’s most energy-efficient country, gets 20% of its electricity. Largest wind-power
producers in 2009 were China, the United States, Germany, Spain, and India. Minimum
wind speed required 15 km/h.

Wind Energy:

A large number of wind mills are

installed in clusters called wind
farms Ideal locations are coastal
regions, open grasslands, mountain
passes where the winds are strong
and steady The minimum wind
speed required for satisfactory
working of wind mill is 15 km/hr.
Wind potential of our country is
about 20,000 MW, we are
generating about 1020 MW. The
largest wind farm of our country is
near Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu
generating 380 MW of electricity.

63
Geothermal Energy:
At places where there is superheated water below the earth's surface but steam remains trapped
below the earth's surface, a different method is used. Two pipes are sunk into the earth.
Through one pipe cold water is pumped which is then converted to steam and comes out
through the other pipe as super heated steam and is used to rotate the turbines to generate
electricity.- USA & NZ.

Geothermal Energy:
Geothermal energy is heat stored
in soil, underground rocks, and
fluids in the earth’s mantle.
Capture of geothermal energy is
by using a geothermal heat pump
system. Hydrothermal reservoirs
of geothermal energy. This is
done by drilling wells into the
reservoirs to extract their dry
steam (with a low water content),
wet steam (with a high water
content), or hot water, which are
then used to heat homes and
buildings.

64
Tide Energy:
During high tide, when the level
of water in the sea is high, sea-
water flows into the reservoir of
the barrage and turns the turbines.
The turbines then turn the
generator shaft to produce
electricity.

During low tide, the sea-water

stored in the barrage reservoir is
allowed to flow out into the sea.
This flowing water also turns the
turbines and generates electricity.

There are only few sites in the

world where tidal energy can be
suitably harnessed. Bay of fundy,
Canada La Rance, France Gulf of
cambay, gulf of kutch and
sunderban deltas in India.

Biomass Energy:
Biomass is the organic matter produced by the plants or animals which includes wood, crop
residues, cattle dung, sewage, agricultural wastes. Energy plantation; Solar energy is trapped
by green plants through photosynthesis and converted into biomass energy. Fast growing trees
like cottonwood, poplar, crop plants like sugarcane are some of the important energy
plantation. Petro-crops;Certain latex-containing plants like euphorbias and
oil palms are rich in hydrocarbons can yield an oil like substance at high
emperature and pressure. This oily material may be burnt in diesel engines directly or may be
refined to form gasoline. Agrircultural and urban waste biomass: Crop residues, sugarcane
residue, coconutshell etc., are some of the common agricultural wastes which produces nergy
by burning. In rural areas these forms of waste biomass are burned in open furnaces called
chulhas (efficiency < 8%)

Biogas:
Biogas is a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, major constituent being
methane. It is produced by anaerobic degradation of animal waste in presence of water It is
non-polluting, clean and low cost fuel Useful in rural areas since lot of animal waste is available
India has the largest cattle population in the world (240 million).

65
Advantages:
It is clean, non polluting and cheap. No storage problem since it is directly supplied from plant.
The sludge left over is rich fertilizer.

Floating gas holder type biogas plant:

Fixed dome type biogas plant:

Instead of steel gas holder there is dome shaped roof made of cement and bricks.

66
Biofuels:
Ethanol: It can be easily produced from carbohydrate rich substance like sugarcane,
corn. It burns clean non-polluting.

Gasohol: It’s a mixture of ethanol and gasoline. Common fuel in brazil and
Zimbabwe.

Methanol: Methanol can be easily obtained from woody plants. It is very useful
since it burns at lower temperature than diesel and gasoline.

Biomass energy:
Solid biomass is a renewable resource for much of the world’s population, but burning it faster
than it is replenished produces a net gain in atmospheric greenhouse gases, and creating
biomass plantations can degrade soil and biodiversity.

Biomass consists of plant materials (such as wood and agricultural waste) and animal wastes
that we can burn directly as a solid fuel or convert into gaseous or liquid biofuels. crop residues
(such as sugarcane and cotton stalks, rice husks, straw, corn cobs, and coconut shells) and
animal manure can be collected and burned. Cottonwoods, willows, and poplars, and by
growing shrubs, perennial grasses such as switchgrass, and water hyacinths in biomass
plantations. Liquid biofuels such as biodiesel (produced from vegetable oils) and ethanol (ethyl
alcohol produced from plants and plant wastes).

67
Hydrogen as fuel:
Due to highest calorific values it can serve as an excellent fuel. By thermal dissociation of
water (at 3000 K and above). It is produced by chemical reaction of water with some other
chemicals in 2-3 cycles. Electrolytic method dissociate water to hydrogen and oxygen by
making current flow through it. Photolysis of water involves breakdown of
water in the presence of sunlight to release hydrogen.

Hydrogen Fuel:
Hydrogen fuel holds great promise for powering cars and generating electricity, but for it to be
environmentally beneficial, we would have to produce it without using fossil fuels. The sun
produces its energy, which sustains life on the earth, through the nuclear fusion of hydrogen
atoms. Fuel cells that combine H2 and oxygen gas (O2) to produce electricity and water vapor
(2 H2 + O2 to 2 H2O + energy), which is emitted into the atmosphere. H2 also provides more

68
energy per gram than any
other fuel, therefore a
lightweight fuel ideal for
aviation. It is a fuel produced
by using other forms of
energy, and thus has a
negative net energy yield.
Fuel cells are best way to use
H2 to produce electricity, but
current versions are
expensive. Electricity from
coal-burning and nuclear
power plants to produce H2
would add much more CO2
to the atmosphere per unit of
heat generated than does
burning carbon-containing
fuels directly.

H2 could be used as fuel if it is made with electricity produced by low- polluting, renewable
sources (Solar/ wind) that emit little or no CO2. The basic ideas of a solar-hydrogen energy
scheme are first that solar energy should be collected where it is most available. The electricity
from solar panels thus obtained, would be used to electrolyze water. The H2 from the
electrolysis would be pumped up and piped to distant places.

A fuel cell takes in hydrogen gas and separates the hydrogen atoms’ electrons from their
protons. The electrons flow through wires to provide electricity, while the protons pass through
a membrane and combine with oxygen gas to form water vapor. Note that this process is the
reverse of electrolysis, the process of passing electricity through water to produce hydrogen
fuel.

69
Petroleum, or crude oil (oil as it comes out of the ground), is a black, gooey liquid consisting
of hundreds of different combustible hydrocarbons along with small amounts of sulfur, oxygen,
and nitrogen impurities.

Oil supplies about one-third of the world’s commercial Energy. We use oil to grow most of our
food, transport people and goods, and make most of the things we use every day. The products
of crude oil distillation, called petrochemicals, are used as raw materials in industries.

Conventional oil is currently abundant, has a high net energy yield, and is relatively
inexpensive, but using it causes air and water pollution and releases greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere. Heavy oils from tar sand and oil shale exist in potentially large supplies but have
low net energy yields and higher environmental impacts than conventional oil has.

Petroleum:
Saudi Arabia has the largest
portion of the world’s
conventional proven crude
oil reserves (20%). Saudi
Arabia, with the world’s
largest proven conventional
crude oil reserves, could
supply the world’s entire
oil needs for only about 7
years. Get exhausted in 40
years.

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Tar Sand and Oil Shale:
Heavy Oil from Tar Sand or oil sand:
-is a mixture of clay, sand, water, and a
combustible organic material called bitumen-
a thick, sticky, tarlike heavy oil with a high
sulfur content.

Oil Shale: Oily rocks are another potential

supply of heavy oil. Such rocks, called oil
shales, contain a solid combustible mixture of
hydrocarbons called kerogen. It is extracted
from crushed oil shales after they are heated in
a large container-a process that yields a
distillate called shale oil.

Liquefied petroleum Gas (LPG):

The main component of petrol is butane, the
other being propane and ethane. Under
pressure petroleum is converted to LPG. It is odourless. In domestic gas cylinders ethyl
mercaptan, a foul smelling gas, is added. In India at Digboi (Assam), Gujaratplains,
Bombay high, deltaic coasts of Godhavari, Krishna, Kaveri and Mahanadhi.

COAL:
Coal was formed 350 million years
ago in the hot, damp regions of the
earth during the carboniferous age.
Anthracite [hard coal, 90% carbon,
8700 kcal/kg). Bituminous [ Soft
coal, 80% carbon]. Lignite [Brown
coal, 70% carbon]. The coal reserves
are likely to last for about 200 years,
if the use increased by 2% per year,
then it will last for another 65 years
India has 5% of world’s coal and
Indian coal is not very good in terms
of heat capacity Major coal fields in
India are Raniganj, Jharia, Bokaro,
Singrauli, Godavari valley The coal
state of India are Jharkhand, Orissa,
West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh,
Andrhra pradesh, Maharashtra.

71
72
Module 4- Important questions:

1. Describe in detail the renewable energy resources are harnessed from ocean.
2. Recommend any three renewable energy techniques in detail which can meet the present
and future India’s energy demand.
3. Suggest some green alternative fuels which could be produced using plant matter, and
water and mention their advantages and disadvantages.
4. Write a note on solid waste classification and management methods.
5. Explain the role of water electrolysis in Solar-Hydrogen revolution.
6. Bring out the differences between active solar energy and passive solar energy.
7. Write the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy.
8. Recommend any three renewable energy techniques in detail which can meet the present
and future India’s energy demand.
9. What are PV cells? Mention its application in terms of renewable energy resource
harnessing device.
10. List out the ideal locations to install the windmill for wind energy. Write its merits and
demerits compared with other renewable energy resources.

73
 Module 5
Environmental Impact Assessment
 Introduction to environmental impact analysis
 EIA guidelines
 Notification of Government of India
Environmental Protection Act – Air, water, forest and wild life Act
 Impact assessment methodologies
 Public awareness
 Environmental priorities in India
 Sustainable development

Environmental Impact Assessment

 Définition: « A systematic process for evaluating and documenting information on
the potentials, capacities and functions of natural systems and resources in order to
facilitate sustainable development planning and decision making in general, and to
anticipate and manage the adverse effects and consequences of proposed
undertakings in particular. » (Sadler, 1996)
or
 « Systematic examination of the consequences of a project, with a view of improving
overall environmental quality, by reducing or mitigating the negative consequences
and capitalising on the positive ones. » Other definitions emphasise the process, or
integration of social impacts.

74
 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
 Environmental Impact Assessment is a widely accepted and important tool for Environment
Management for ensuring optimal use of natural resources for sustainable development.
 It is being increasingly adopted in several countries.
 The aim of EIA is to identify and subsequently predict the impacts of Commercial, Industrial
and Legislative proposals, Policies and Operational procedures and interpret and
communicate information to all stake holders about these impacts.

Need for EIA

Any developmental activity in the form of new project proposals (e.g. setting up of
chemical/ petrochemical complexes, Metallurgical plants like Iron and Steel mills, Mining
activities, Atomic and Conventional Power Generating stations and research facilities,
construction of a dam/railway line, introduction new regulations etc.) is likely to affect
Environmental quality and hence calls for the carrying out of an EIA. In many countries
EIA has become mandatory before allowing such project activities to start.
In India the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has made EIA a statutory
requirement in 1994 for 29 specific activities in different sectors like industries, mining,
irrigation, power, transport, tourism etc.
 Mining Projects
 Industrial Projects
 Thermal Power Projects

75
 River Valley, Multipurpose, Irrigation and H.E. Projects
 Infrastructure Development and Miscellaneous Projects
 Nuclear Power Projects
Aims and objectives of EIA
 Modify and improve existing design
 Ensure efficient resource use
 Enhance social aspects
 Identify key impacts and measures for mitigating them
 Inform decision-making and condition-setting
 Avoid serious and irreversible damage to the environment
 Protect human health and safety

EIA—three core values

 Integrity - the EIA process will conform to agreed standards
 Utility - the EIA process will provide balanced, credible information for decision-making
 Sustainability - the EIA process will result in environmental safeguards

76
 EIA Process
 Screening – EIA Required or not
 Scoping – Identify the key issues of concern at early stages of plan.
 Impact Assessment – Potential positive/negative environmental, social, economic and
cultural impacts including cumulative, regional, temporal and spacial consideration.
 Alternatives – Alternative site/ alternative methodology (clean techniques)
 Mitigation – action to prevent, avoid or mitigate the adverse effect (Pollution control
techniques)
Environmental Report – comprehensive document that repot

Steps involved in the EIA process

• Identification and Selection of a competent coordinator for the EIA and the collection of
all relevant background information. This is done immediately after a project is identified.
• Broad analysis of the impacts of project activities with a view to focus on issues needing a
detailed study.
• Collection of detailed data on the current environmental status of the project site and
surroundings (prior to the project implementation) and preparation of the environmental
inventory describing comprehensively all the components of the environment existing in
the area where the proposed project is being considered to be implemented.

77
• Quantitative Impact evaluation terms including potential mitigation measures. Project
alternatives should be kept ready before the impact evaluation.
• Impact Assessment taking into account environmental losses and gains as well as economic
costs and benefits for each alternative proposed and preparation of an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) which will be a formatted public document specified by authorized
national, state and/or local agencies.
• Public scrutiny of the EIS and review at public hearings.
• Detailed documentation of the work done in the EIA with specific recommendations about
the proposed project and alternatives with comments on the environmental and economic
impacts of each.
• Decision-making process by the decision maker. The decisions normally fall into any one of
the following categories.
(a) Proposal accepted
(b) Proposal accepted with amendments
(c) Alternate proposal accepted
(d) Proposal is rejected
(e) Further study of the proposal.
• Post monitoring: Follow up and monitoring of the project activities during installation and
operation phases and conduct audits to compare actual performance with the EIA predictions
and suggest improvement measures.
General and industry specific assessment methods are available :
 Industrial products - Product environmental life cycle analysis (LCA) is used for identifying
and measuring the impact of industrial products on the environment. These EIAs consider
activities related to extraction of raw materials, ancillary materials, equipment; production,
use, disposal and ancillary equipment.
 Genetically modified plants - Specific methods available to perform EIAs of genetically
modified organisms include GMP-RAM and INOVA.
 Fuzzy logic - EIA methods need measurement data to estimate values of impact indicators.
However, many of the environment impacts cannot be quantified, e.g. landscape quality,
lifestyle quality and social acceptance. Instead information from similar EIAs, expert judgment
and community sentiment are employed. Approximate reasoning methods known as fuzzy
logic can be used. A fuzzy arithmetic approach has also been proposed and implemented
using a software tool (TDEIA).

78
 Contents of EIA
 (1) Details of the proposed project/action and alternates including all phases of
action
 (Construction, Operation, Shutdown).
 (2) Nature and magnitude of the predicted impacts of the proposed action under
the following three categories.
 (a) Physical: Air, water and land pollution, natural disasters like flood, earthquakes
etc.
 (b) Biological: Flora and fauna, biodiversity, endangered species.
 (c) Socioeconomic.
 (3) Identification of human concerns.
 (4) Measurement criteria of the significance of the predicted environmental
changes.
 (5) Estimate the significance of the impacts of the environmental changes.
 (6) Recommendations about the acceptability or otherwise of the proposed
projects and alternates.
 (7) Monitoring procedures during and after implementation of the project.
 To quantitatively estimate the impacts of different factors the technique of
LEOPOLD MATRIX is often used.

79
Steps involved in EIA

80
Advantages of EIA

Benefits of EIA
• Cost and time saving in project implementation due avoidance of mid course design
changes or corrections.
• Increases acceptability of the project among all stakeholders.
• Laws and regulations of the country/society is fully complied and hence no future
conflicts.
• Improves project performance by decreased pollutant emissions, effective resource
utilization and minimization of treatment and cleanup costs.
• A healthy environment (flora, fauna, biodiversity, clean air, water and land).
• Improved human health.
• Paves way for sustainable development.

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The EIA Process comprises
 Screening - to decide if and at what level EIA should be applied
 Scoping - to identify the important issues and prepare terms of reference
 Impact analysis - to predict the effects of a proposal and evaluate their significance
 Mitigation - to establish measures to prevent, reduce or compensate for impacts
 Reporting - to prepare the information necessary for decision-making
 Review - to check the quality of the EIA report.
 Decision-making - to approve (or reject) the proposal and set conditions
 Follow up – to monitor, manage and audit the impacts of project implementation
 Public involvement - to inform and consult with stakeholders

ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION

India is the first country in the world to have made provisions for the protection and
conservation of environment in its constitution. On 5th June, 1972, environment was first
discussed as an item of international agenda in the U.N. Conference on Human Environment
in Stockholm and thereafter 5th June is celebrated all over the world as World Environment
Day. Soon after the Stockholm Conference our country took substantive legislative steps for
environmental protection.
 The Wildlife (Protection) Act was passed in 1972,
 followed by the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974,
 the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980,
 Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and subsequently
 the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

 The provisions for environmental protection in the constitution were made within four
years of Stockholm Conference, in 1976, through the 42nd amendment as follows :
 Article 48-A of the constitution provides: The state shall endeavour to protect and
improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife of the country.
 Article 51A(g) provides:
 It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural
environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for
living creatures.

82
  Thus our constitution includes environmental protection and conservation as one of our
fundamental duties. Some of the important Acts passed by the Government of India are
discussed here.
WILDLIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972
The act, a landmark in the history of wildlife legislation in our country, came into existence in
1972. Wildlife was transferred from State list to concurrent list in 1976, thus giving power to
the Central Govt. to enact the legislation.
The Indian Board of Wildlife (IBWL) was created in 1952 in our country, which after the
enactment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act actively took up the task of setting up wildlife
National Parks and sanctuaries. The major activities and provisions in the act can be summed
up as follows:
(i) It defines the wild-life related terminology.
(ii) It provides for the appointment of wildlife advisory Board, Wildlife warden, their powers,
duties etc.
(iii) Under the Act, comprehensive listing of endangered wild life species was done for the first
time and prohibition of hunting of the endangered species was mentioned.
(iv) Protection to some endangered plants like Beddome cycad, Blue Vanda, Ladies Slipper
Orchid, Pitcher plant etc. is also provided under the Act.
(v) The Act provides for setting up of National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries etc.
(vi) The Act provides for the constitution of Central Zoo Authority.
(vii) There is provision for trade and commerce in some wildlife species with license for sale,
possession, transfer etc.
(viii) The Act imposes a ban on the trade or commerce in scheduled animals.
(ix) It provides for legal powers to officers and punishment to offenders.
(x) It provides for captive breeding programme for endangered species. Several Conservation
Projects for individual endangered species like lion (1972) Tiger (1973), Crocodile (1974) and
Brown antlered Deer (1981) were started under this Act. The Act is adopted by all states in
India except J & K, which has it own Act.

Some of the major drawbacks of the Act include mild penalty to offenders, illegal wild
life trade in J & K, personal ownership certificate for animal articles like tiger and leopard
skins, no coverage of foreign endangered wildlife, pitiable condition of wildlife in mobile zoos
and little emphasis on protection of plant genetic resources.

83
Water (Prevention & Control of pollution) Act, 1974: Functions
State Pollution Control Board: SPCB : Similar functions to be executed
 Either a fulltime or part time chairman having special knowledge
 Maximum of five state government officials
 Maximum of five representatives from among members of local authorities
 Maximum of three non-officials representing agriculture, fishery or trade or
industry
 Two representatives of State Government companies or corporations
Powers; Every industry has to obtain consent from the board.
 Power to obtain information from individuals regarding removal or discharge of water.
 Power to enter and inspect any plant, record, register, document and conduct search of
a place if the authority has reason to believe that an offence under this Act has been
committed
 Power to grant, and discharge of sewage or industrial effluents and to impose conditions
with regard to discharge.

Remedial Measures
 In times of emergency, the board has powers to take appropriate remedial action
which includes restraining or prohibiting a person from discharging polluting
matters.
 In all other instances the board has to make an application to a court not lower
than that of a first class Magistrate.
Penalties
 Imprisonment for a period extending to 3 months or fine up to Rs. 5000 or both
In case of continuing violations,
 An additional fine extending to Rs. 1000 per day of violation.

 FOREST (CONSERVATION) ACT, 1980

This act deals with the conservation of forests and related aspects. Except J & K, the act is
adopted all over India. The Act covers under it all types of forests including reserved
forests, protected forests or any forested land irrespective of its ownership.
 The salient features of the Act are as follows:
(i) The State Govt. has been empowered under this Act to use the forests only for forestry
purposes. If at all it wants to use it in any other way, it has to take prior approval of central
Government, after which it can pass orders for declaring some part of reserve forest for non-

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forest purposes (e.g mining) or for clearing some naturally growing trees and replacing them
by economically important trees (reforestation).
(ii) It makes provision for conservation of all types of forests and for this purpose there is an
Advisory committee which recommends funding for it to the Central Government.
(iii) Any illegal non-forest activity within a forest area can be immediately stopped under this
Act.
(iv) Non-forest activities include clearing of forest land for cultivation of any type of
plants/crops or any other purpose (except re-afforestation).
(v) However, some construction work in the forest for wildlife or forest management is
exempted from non-forest activity (e.g. fencing, making water-holes, trench, pipelines, check
posts, wireless communication etc.) 1992 Amendment in the Forest Act
(vi) In 1992, some amendment was made in the Act which made provisions for allowing some
non-forest activities in forests, without cutting trees or limited cutting with prior approval of
Central Govt. These activities are setting of transmission lines, seismic surveys, exploration,
drilling and hydroelectric projects. The last activity involves large scale destruction of forest,
for which prior approval of the Centre is necessary.
(vii) Wildlife sanctuaries, National Parks etc. are totally prohibited for any exploration or
survey under this Act without prior approval of Central Govt. even if no tree-felling is involved.
(vii) Cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber and plants which are cash-crops, are included
under non-forestry activity and not allowed in reserve forests. Even cultivation of fruit-bearing
trees, oil-yielding plants or plants of medicinal value in forest area need to be first approved by
the Central Govt. This is because newly introduced species in the forest area may cause an
imbalance in the ecology of the forest. If the species to be planted is a native species, then no
prior clearance is required.
(viii) Tusser cultivation (a type of silk-yielding insect) in forest areas by tribals as a means of
their livelihood is treated as a forestry activity as long as it does not involve some specific host
treelike Asan or Arjun. This is done in order to discourage monoculture practices in the forests
which are otherwise rich in biodiversity. Plantation of mulberry for rearing silkworm is
considered a non-forest activity. The reason is same as described above.
(ix) Mining is a non-forestry activity and prior approval of Central Govt. is mandatory. The
Supreme Court in a case T.N. Godavarman Thirumulkpad Vs. Union of India (1997) directed
all on-going mining activity to be ceased immediately in any forest area of India if it had not
got prior approval of Central government Removal of stones, bajri, boulder etc from river-beds
located within the forest area fall under non-forest activity.

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(x) Any proposal sent to central govt. for non-forest activity must have a cost-benefit analysis
and Environmental Impact statement (EIS) of the proposed activity with reference to its
ecological and socio-economic impacts.
(xi) Thus, the Forests (Conservation) Act has made ample provisions for conservation and
protection of forests and prevent deforestation.
Salient features of CPCB and SPCB
It provides for the establishment of Central and State Boards for pollution control. It confers
them with powers and functions to control pollution. The Central and State Pollution Control
Boards are widely represented and are given comprehensive powers to advise, coordinate and
provide technical assistance for prevention and control of pollution of water. The Act has
provisions for funds, budgets, accounts and audit of the Central and State Pollution Control
Boards. The Act makes provisions for various penalties for the defaulters and procedure for
the same. The main regulatory bodies are the Pollution Control Boards, which have been,
conferred the following duties and powers:
 Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB):
 (i) It advises the central govt. in matters related to prevention and control of water
pollution. Coordinates the activities of State Pollution Control Boards and provides
them technical assistance and guidance.
 (ii) Organizes training programs for prevention and control of pollution. Organizes
comprehensive programs on pollution related issues through mass media.
 (iii) Collects, compiles and publishes technical and statistical data related to pollution.
Prepares manuals for treatment and disposal of sewage and trade effluents. Lays down
standards for water quality parameters.
 (iv) Plans nation-wide programs for prevention, control or abatement of pollution.
Establishes and recognizes laboratories for analysis of water, sewage or trade effluent
sample.
 State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB)
The State Pollution Control Boards also have similar functions to be executed at state level and
are governed by the directions of CPCB.
(i) The Board advises the state govt. with respect to the location of any industry that might
pollute a stream or a well. It lays down standards for effluents and is empowered to take
samples from any stream, well or trade effluent or sewage passing through an industry.
(ii) The State Board is empowered to take legal samples of trade effluent in accordance with
the procedure laid down in the Act. The sample taken in the presence of the occupier or his

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agent is divided into two parts, sealed, signed by both parties and sent for analysis to some
recognized lab.
(iii) If the samples do not conform to the prescribed water quality standards (crossing maximum
permissible limits), then consent is refused to the unit.
(iv) Every industry has to obtain consent from the Board (granted for a fixed duration) by
applying on a prescribed Proforma providing all technical details, along with a prescribed fee
following which analysis of the effluent is carried out.
(v) The Board suggests efficient methods for utilization, treatment and disposal of trade
effluents. The Act has made detailed provisions regarding the power of the Boards to obtain
information, take trade samples, restrict new outlets, restrict expansion, enter and inspect the
units and sanction or refuse consent to the industry after effluent analysis.
(vi) While development is necessary, it is all the more important to prevent pollution, which
can jeopardize the lives of the people. Installation and proper functioning of effluent treatment
plants (ETP) in all polluting industries is a must for checking pollution of water and land.
Despite certain weaknesses in the Act, the Water Act has ample provisions for preventing and
controlling water pollution through legal measures.
THE AIR (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT, 1981
 Salient features of the act are as follows:
(i) The Act provides for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.
(ii) In the Act, air pollution has been defined as the presence of any solid, liquid or gaseous
substance (including noise) in the atmosphere in such concentration as may be or tend to be
harmful to human beings or any other living creatures or plants or property or environment.
(iii) Noise pollution has been inserted as pollution in the Act in 1987.
(iv) Pollution control boards at the central or state level have the regulatory authority to
implement the Air Act. Just parallel to the functions related to Water (Prevention and Control
of Pollution) Act, the boards performs similar functions related to improvement of air quality.
(v) The boards have to check whether or not the industry strictly follows the norms or standards
laid down by the Board under section 17, regarding the discharge of emission of any air
pollutant. Based upon analysis report consent is granted or refused to the industry.
 Social Issues and the Environment 201
(vi) Just like the Water Act, the Air Act has provisions for defining the constitution, powers
and function of Pollution Control Boards, funds, accounts, audit, penalties and procedures.
(vii) Section 20 of the Act has provision for ensuring emission standards from automobiles.
Based upon it, the state govt. is empowered to issue instructions to the authority in charge of

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registration of motor vehicles (under Motor Vehicles Act, 1939) that is bound to comply with
such instructions.
(vii) As per Section 19, in consultation with the State Pollution Control Board, the state
government may declare an area within the state as air pollution control area and can prohibit
the use of any fuel other than approved fuel in the area causing air pollution. No person shall,
without prior consent of State Board operate or establish any industrial unit in the .air pollution
control area.
(viii) The Water and Air Acts have also made special provisions for appeals. Under Section 28
of Water Act and Section 31 of Air Act, a provision for appeals has been made. An Appellate
Authority consisting of a single person or three persons appointed by the Head of the State,
Governor is constituted to hear such appeals as filed by some aggrieved party (industry) due to
some order made by the State Board within 30 days of passing the orders.
The Appellate Authority after giving the appellant and the State Board an opportunity of being
heard, disposes off the appeal as expeditiously as possible.

 THE ENVIRONMENT (PROTECTION) ACT, 1986

The Act came into force on Nov. 19, 1986, the birth anniversary Late Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi, who was a pioneer of environmental protection issues in our country. The Act
extends to whole of India. Some terms related to environment have been described as
follows in the Act:
(i) Environment includes water, air and land and the inter-relationships that exists among and
between them and human beings, all other living organisms and property.
(ii) Environmental pollution means the presence of any solid, liquid or gaseous substance
present in such concentration, as may be, or tend to be, injurious to environment.
(iii) Hazardous Substance means any substance or preparation which by its physico-chemical
properties or handling is liable to cause harm to human beings, other living organisms, property
or environment. The Act has given powers to the Central Government to take
measures to protect and improve environment while the state governments coordinate the
actions. The most important functions of Central Govt. under this Act include setting up of:
(a) The standards of quality of air, water or soil for various areas and purposes.
(b) The maximum permissible limits of concentration of various environmental pollutants
(including noise) for different areas.
(c) The procedures and safeguards for the handling of hazardous substances.
(d) The prohibition and restrictions on the handling of hazardous substances in different areas.

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(e) The prohibition and restriction on the location of industries and to carry on process and
operations in different areas.
(f) The procedures and safeguards for the prevention of accidents which may cause
environmental pollution and providing for remedial measures for such accidents.
(g) The power of entry and inspection, power to take sample etc. under this Act lies with the
Central Government or any officer empowered by it.
(h) For the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing
and abating pollution, standards have been specified under Schedule I- IV of Environment
(Protection) Rules, 1986 for emission of gaseous pollutants and discharge of effluents/waste
water from industries.
 (i) These standards vary from industry to industry and also vary with the medium into
which the effluent in discharged or the area of emission. For instance, the maximum
permissible limits of B.O.D. (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) of the waste water is 30
ppm if it is discharged into inland waters, 350 ppm if discharged into a public sewer
and 100 ppm, if discharged onto land or coastal region.
 (j) Likewise, emission standards vary in residential, sensitive and industrial area.
Naturally the standards for sensitive areas like hospitals are more stringent. It is the
duty of the Pollution Control Board to check whether the industries are following the
prescribed norms or not.
 Under the Environmental (Protection) Rules, 1986 the State Pollution Control Boards
have to follow the guidelines provided under Schedule VI, some of which are as
follows:
 (a) They have to advise the Industries for treating the waste water and gases with the
best available technology to achieve the prescribed standards.
 (b) The industries have to be encouraged for recycling and reusing the wastes.
 (c) They have to encourage the industries for recovery of biogas, energy and reusable
materials.
 (d) While permitting the discharge of effluents and emissions into the environment, the
State Boards have to take into acthe assimilative capacity of the receiving water body.
 (e) The Central and State Boards have to emphasize on the implementation
 of clean technologies by the industries in order to increase fuel efficiency and reduce
the generation of environmental pollutants. Under the Environment (Protection) Rules,
1986 an amendment

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 Roles of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in short
 advises to central govt.
 - coordination of state PCBs – providing technical guidance
 - training programs – defining functions
 - creating awareness through mass media
 - technical and statistical data collection
 - manuals for treatment of sewage and industrial effluents
 - standards for water quality parameters
 - Establish and recognize labs for analysis

State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) in short

 advises to state govt.
 - other activities similar to CPCB
 - empowered to take samples for testing from
 any water body or effluent – how testing
 conducted?
 - any new industry should get consent from
 SPCB – all technical details in prescribed
 format and fees should be submitted
 Enforcement of environmental legislation - drawbacks
 Drawbacks in wild life protection act
 Drawbacks in forest conservation act
 Powers are with central govt. action is delayed
 Penalty is lesser then cost of pollution treatment
 Not included in right to information act
 Legal delays – 60 days notice to central govt.
 Lack of funds
 Out of court settlements
 ETPs are costly for small industries
 Weak govt. policy – political influences on the board heads

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 Public awareness
 Education does not provide knowledge about environmental and pollution related
aspects
 Policy makers – politicians – unaware of environmental and pollution aspects and
impacts
 General public are thinking about development but not about the impacts of such
development on environment
How to propagate public awareness?
 Among students – through education All stages including school and college
level, following the directives of the Supreme Court
 Among the masses through mass media
Articles, environmental rallies, plantation campaigns, street plays, real eco-disaster stories and
success stories of conservation efforts. TV serials like Virasat, Race to save the Planet, Heads
and Tails, Terra-view, Captain planet
 Among policy makers – orientation and training
Workshops and training programmes, Publication of environment - related resource material in
the form of pamphlets or booklets
Sustainable Development\
Why did we become a threat to the nature?
• We tried to improve our quality of life
• We want to ‘DEVELOP’
• In the process of development we created problems
• Is development wrong? What actually went wrong?
• What is wrong in development?
• If a country has sound economy we called it developed – if it does not then it is
undeveloped or developing
• We considered “improvement in our economy” as development – That is wrong!
• Economic Development is not the only factor which will decide the quality of life
Focus on Economic development alone led to…
• Over exploitation of natural resources
• Loss of biodiversity
• Human oriented thinking – not bothered about environment and other living beings
• A mentality that don’t care about future generation
• Increased economic differences in nations within as well as between different nations

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What kind of development we are looking for?
• Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
- Brundtland G.H, former Norweign PM and Director of WHO

• Two decades back it has been realized that the development should be a
“Sustainable development”
• A sustainable development is a development in which a balance is maintained
between three types of development
- Social
- Environment
- Economic

• That means, before going for any developmental activity we should verify,
How will our action impact people?
How will our action impact the environment?
How will our action impact economy?

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 Key aspects of sustainable development
i. Inter-generational equity
We should hand over a safe, healthy and resourceful environment to our future
generations
ii. Intra-generational equity
Decreasing the wealth gap between rich and poor, within the country and between the
countries should be decreased
Technological developments should aim to solve the problems of poor countries & not
always the sophistication of rich

Measures to sustainable development -How to achieve sustainable development

1. Using appropriate technology
– Technology employed should be Locally adaptable, eco-
friendly, and culturally suitable
– It involves local resources and local labour – design with nature
(ROSATOM)
2. The 3 R’s, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Minimize resource use, reuse again
and again, Recycle if not possible to reuse.
3. Prompting environmental education, public awareness and training
4. Resource utilization should be limited to Carrying Capacity
Sustainable development –
Indian context
1. In the last 50 years our economy has grown – rich poor gap also has grown
2. We have become self sufficient in food production
3. Our food self-sufficiency came with indiscreet use of fertilizers and pesticides
4. We are the largest contributor to population growth – 17 million every year
5. Our economy has grown because of increased industries
6. Pollution of air, water and land also increased because of these industries
7. In the recent past migration from villages to cities has increased tremendously –
results in increased need for shelter, food, water, energy-all are concentrated in a
small area – threatening the carrying capacity
8. India with rich biodiversity and huge population has a long way to go for sustainable
development.

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 9. The National Council of Environmental Planning and Coordination (NCPC)
set up in 1972 was the focal agency in this regard.
10. The Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) , set up in 1985 has formulated
guidelines for various developmental activities keeping in view the sustainability
principles.

Module 5- Important Questions:

1. What is EIA? Explain different steps involved in EIA?
2. What are the objectives of EIA?
3. Explain in details of wild-life protection act?
4. Explain in details of water act?
5. Explain in details of forest act?
6. Explain in details of air act?
7. What is environmental legislation? Explain the advantages
8. Disadvantages of environmental legislation?
9. Discuss the salient features of CPCB and SPCB?
10. What is called sustainable development?
11. How to achieve sustainable development?
12. What is public awareness?
13. How to propagate public awareness?

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 Module-6
Human Population Change and Environment

>Urban environmental problems;

> Consumerism and waste products;
> Promotion of economic development
> Impact of population age structure
> Women and child welfare,
>Women empowerment.
> Sustaining human societies: Economics, environment, policies and education.
Urban environmental problems

Half of the World’s People Live in Urban Areas

 Today 79% of Americans and about 50% of the world’s people live in urban areas.
Urban areas grow in two ways—by natural increase (more births than deaths) and by
immigration, mostly from rural areas.
 Rural people are pulled to urban areas in search of jobs, food, housing, educational
opportunities, better health care, entertainment, and freedom from religious, racial,
and political conflicts. Some are also pushed from rural to urban areas by factors such
as poverty, limited land for growing food, declining agricultural jobs, famine, and
war.
Four major trends are important for understanding the problems and challenges of urban
growth.
 First, the proportion of the global population living in urban areas is increasing.
Between 1850 and 2009, the percentage of people living in urban areas increased
from 2% to 50% and could reach 60% by 2030. About 88% of this growth will occur
in already overcrowded and stressed cities in developing countries.
 Second, the number and sizes of large urban areas is mushrooming. Each week, 1
million people are added to the world’s urban areas. More than 400 urban areas each
have 1 million or more people.
 Third, urban growth is much slower in developed countries than in developing
countries. Still, developed countries, now with 75% urbanization, are projected to
reach 81% urbanization by 2030.

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  Fourth, poverty is becoming increasingly urbanized, mostly in developing countries.
The United Nations estimates that at least 1 billion people in developing countries live
in crowded and unsanitary slums and shantytowns within most cities or on their
outskirts; within 30 years this number may double.

Urbanization Has Advantages: Urbanization has many benefits.

> From an economic standpoint, cities are centers of economic development, innovation,
education, technological advances, and jobs.
 They serve as centers of industry, commerce, and transportation. Urban residents in
many parts of the world tend to live longer than do rural residents and to have lower
infant mortality rates and fertility rates.
 They also have better access to medical care, family planning, education, and social
services than do their rural counterparts. However, the health benefits of urban living
are usually greater for the rich than for the poor. Urban areas also have some
environmental advantages.
 Recycling is more economically feasible because concentrations of recyclable
materials and funding for recycling programs tend to be higher in urban areas.
Concentrating people in cities helps to preserve biodiversity by reducing the stress on
wildlife habitats. And central cities can save energy if residents rely more on energy
efficient mass transportation, walking, and bicycling.
 Urbanization Has Disadvantages Most Urban Areas are Unsustainable Systems.
 Although urban populations occupy only about 2% of the earth’s land area, they
consume about 75% of its resources and produce about 75% of the world’s climate-
changing carbon dioxide emissions from human activities, according to the Worldwatch
Institute. Because of this high resource input of food, water, and materials and the
resulting high waste output most of the world’s cities have huge ecological footprints
and are not self-sustaining systems
 Cities Lack Vegetation. In urban areas, most trees, shrubs, or other plants are
destroyed to make way for buildings, roads, parking lots, and housing developments.
So most cities do not benefit from vegetation that would absorb air pollutants, give off
oxygen, help cool the air through transpiration, provide shade, reduce soil erosion,
muffle noise, supply food, provide wildlife habitats, and give aesthetic pleasure. As one

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 observer remarked, “Most cities are places where they cut down most of the trees and
then name the streets after them.”
 Cities Have Water Problems. As cities grow and their water demands increase,
expensive reservoirs and canals must be built and deeper wells must be drilled. This
can deprive rural and wild areas of surface water and can deplete underground water
supplies.
 Flooding also tends to be greater in some cities that are built on floodplains near
rivers or along low-lying coastal areas subject to natural flooding. And covering land
with buildings, asphalt, and concrete causes precipitation to run off quickly and
overload storm drains. In addition, urban development has often destroyed or degraded
large areas of wetlands that have served as natural sponges to help absorb excess water.
 They Concentrate Pollution and Health Problems. Because of their high population
densities and high resource consumption, cities produce most of the world’s air
pollution, water pollution, and solid and hazardous wastes. Pollutant levels are
generally higher because pollution is produced in a smaller area and cannot be dispersed
and diluted as readily as pollution
 They Affect Local Climates and Cause Light Pollution. On average, cities tend to be
warmer, rainier, foggier, and cloudier than suburbs and nearby rural areas. The
enormous amount of heat generated by cars, factories, furnaces, lights, air conditioners,
and heat absorbing dark roofs and streets in cities creates an urban heat island that is
surrounded by cooler suburban and rural areas.
 Life Is a Desperate Struggle for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries Poverty
is a way of life for many urban dwellers in developing countries. At least 1 billion
people live under crowded and unsanitary conditions in cities in developing countries
and according to a 2006 U.N. study, that number could reach 1.4 billion by 2020.
 Some of these people live in slums—areas dominated by tenements and rooming
houses where several people might live in a single room. Others live in squatter
settlements and shantytowns on the outskirts of these cities. the streets
 They build shacks from corrugated metal, plastic sheets, scrap wood, cardboard,
and other scavenged building materials, or they live in rusted shipping containers and
junked cars.
 Still others live or sleep on Poor people living in shantytowns and squatter
settlements usually lack clean water supplies, sewers, electricity, and roads, and are
subject to severe air and water pollution and hazardous wastes from nearby factories.

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  Many of these settlements are in locations especially prone to landslides, flooding,
or earthquakes. Some city governments regularly bulldoze squatter shacks and send
police to drive illegal settlers out. The people usually move back in or develop another
shantytown elsewhere.
Population growth
How many people can the earth support?
Earth’s carrying capacity for humans without seriously degrading the life-support system that
keeps us and many other species alive – not known
What factors influence the size of the human population?
Population size increases through births and immigration, and decreases through deaths and
emigration. The average number of children born to women in a population (total fertility rate)
is the key factor that determines population size.
How does a population’s age structure affect its growth or decline?
The numbers of males and females in young, middle and older age groups determine how fast
a population grows or declines.
How can we slow human population growth?
We can slow human population growth by reducing poverty, elevating the status of women and
encouraging family planning
What is exponential growth?
 Exponential growth occurs when a quantity such as the human population increases at
a fixed percentage per unit of time, such as 2 % per year. Exponential growth starts off
slowly.
 But eventually, it causes the quantity to double again and again. After only a few
doublings, it grows to enormous numbers because each doubling is twice the total of
all earlier growth. Because of exponential growth in the human population in 2010 there
were about 6.9 billion people on the planet.
 Collectively, these people consume vast amounts of food, water, raw materials and
energy, producing huge amounts of pollution and wastes in the process. Each year, we
add more than 80 million people to the earth’s population. Unless death rates rise
sharply, there will probably be 9.5 billion of us by 2050.
This projected addition of 2.6 billion more people within your lifetime is equivalent to about 8
times the current U.S. population and twice that of China, the world’s most populous nation.
For most of history, the human population grew slowly.

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> But for the past 200 years, the human population has grown rapidly, resulting in the
characteristic J-curve of exponential Growth. Three major factors account for this population
increase.
• First, humans developed the ability to expand into almost all of the planet’s climate
zones and habitats.
• Second, the emergence of early and modern agriculture allowed us to grow more food
for each unit of land area farmed.
• Third, death rates dropped sharply because of improved sanitation and health care and
development of antibiotics and vaccines to help control infectious diseases.

Thus, most of the increase in the world’s population during the last 100 years took place
because of a sharp drop in death rates—not a sharp rise in birth rates.
About 10,000 years ago, when agriculture began, there were roughly 5 million humans on the
planet; now there are about 6.9 billion of us.
 It took from the time we arrived on the earth until about 1927 to add the first 2
billion people to the planet; less than 50 years to add the next 2 billion (by 1974);
and just 25 years to add the next 2 billion (by 1999). This is an illustration of the

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 awesome power of exponential growth. By 2012 we will be trying to support 7
billion people and perhaps 9.5 billion by 2050.
 The rate of population growth has slowed, but the world’s population is still
growing exponentially at a rate of about 1.21% a year.
 This means that about 83 million people were added to the world’s population
during 2010—an average of more than 227,000 people each day, or 2 more
people every time your heart beats. This is roughly equal to adding

Human Population Growth Continues but

Is Unevenly Distributed

World’s five most populous countries will be in 2010 and in 2050 (projected)

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 Human Population Growth Continues but Is Unevenly Distributed
Geographically, this growth is unevenly distributed and this pattern is expected to continue.
About 1 % of the 83 million new arrivals on the planet in 2010 were added to the world’s more-
developed countries, which are growing at 0.17 % a year.
The other 99 % were added to the world’s middle- and low-income, less developed countries,
which are growing 9 times faster at 1.4 % a year, on average. And at least 95 % of the 2.7
billion people likely to be added to world’s population by 2050 will be born into less-developed
countries.
Human Population - Grow, Decline or Remain Stable
The basics of global population change are quite simple. If there are more births than deaths
during a given period of time, the earth’s population increases and when the reverse is true, it
decreases.

Zero population growth (ZPG)

When the number of births equals the number of deaths during a particular time period, the
global population size does not change. Instead of using the total numbers of births and deaths
per year, demographers use the birth rate, or crude birth rate (the number of live births per
1,000 people in a population in a given year), and the death rate, or crude death rate (the
number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population in a given year).

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 Human populations grow or decline
Human populations grow or decline in particular countries, cities, or other areas through the
interplay of three factors: births (fertility), deaths (mortality) and migration. We can calculate
the population change of an area by subtracting the number of people leaving a population
(through death and emigration) from the number entering it (through birth and immigration)
during a specified period of time (usually one year).
Population change = (Births + Immigration) – (Deaths + Emigration).
> When births plus immigration exceed deaths plus emigration, a population increases; when
the reverse is true, a population declines.
Women Are Having Fewer Babies but Not Few Enough to Stabilize the World’s
Population (Women empowerment)
> Another measurement used in population studies is the fertility rate, the number of children
born to a woman during her lifetime. Two types of fertility rates affect a country’s population
size and growth rate.
Replacement-level fertility rate
> The first type, called the replacement-level fertility rate, is the average number of children
that couples in a population must bear to replace themselves. It is slightly higher than two
children per couple (2.1 in more developed countries and as high as 2.5 in some less developed
countries), mostly because some children die before reaching their reproductive years. Does
reaching replacement-level fertility bring an immediate halt to population growth? No, because
so many future parents are alive. If each of today’s couples had an average of 2.1 children, they
would not be contributing to population growth. But if all of today’s girl children grow up to
have an average of 2.1 children as well, the world’s population would continue to grow for 50
years or more (assuming death rates do not rise) because there are so many girls under age 15
who will be moving into their reproductive years.

Total fertility rate (TFR)

The second type of fertility rate, the total fertility rate (TFR), is the average number of children
born to women in a population during their reproductive years.
> This factor plays a key role in determining population size. Between 1955 and 2010, the
average TFR dropped from 2.8 to 1.7 children per woman in more-developed countries and
from 6.2 to 2.7 in less-developed countries.

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> The average TFR for less developed countries is projected to continue dropping , while that
for more-developed countries is likely to rise slightly. Many factors affect a country’s average
birth rate and TFR. One is the importance of children as a part of the labor force, especially in
less-developed countries

Several Factors Affect Birth Rates and Fertility Rates

This is a major reason for why it makes sense for many poor couples in those countries to have
a large number of children. They need help with hauling daily drinking water, gathering wood
for heating and cooking, and tending crops and livestock.
> Another economic factor is the cost of raising and educating children. Birth and fertility rates
tend to be lower in more-developed countries, where raising children is much more costly
because they do not enter the labor force until they are in their late teens or twenties.
(In the United States, for example, it costs more than $220,000 to raise a middle-class child
from birth to age 18.)
> By contrast, many children in poor countries receive little education and instead have to work
to help their families survive.
> The availability of, or lack of, private and public pension systems can influence the decision
of some couples on how many children to have, especially the poor in less developed countries.
Pensions reduce a couple’s need to have many children to help support them in old age There
are more infant deaths in poorer countries,
> So having several children might insure survival of at least a few—somewhat like having an
insurance policy. Urbanization plays a role. People living in urban areas usually have better

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access to family planning services and tend to have fewer children than do those living in rural
areas.
> This is especially true in less developed countries where children are often needed to help
raise crops and carry daily water and fuel wood supplies.
Another important factor is the educational and employment opportunities available for
women. Total fertility rates tend to be low when women have access to education and paid
employment outside the home.
> In less developed countries, a woman with little or no forma education typically has two
more children than does a woman with a high school education.
> In nearly all societies, better-educated women tend to marry later and have fewer children.
Average age at marriage (or, more precisely, the average age at which a woman has her first
child) also plays a role. Women normally have fewer children when their average age at
marriage is 25 or older.

Several Factors Affect Death Rates

> The rapid growth of the world’s population over the past 100 years is not primarily the result
of a rise in the birth rate. Instead, it has been caused largely by a decline in death rates,
especially in less-developed countries.
> More people in these countries started living longer and fewer infants died. This happened
because of increased food supplies and distribution, better nutrition, medical advances such as
immunizations and antibiotics, improved sanitation, and safer water supplies (which curtailed
the spread of many infectious diseases).
> Two useful indicators of the overall health of people in a country or region are life expectancy
(the average number of years a newborn infant can be expected to live) and the infant mortality
rate (the number of babies out of every 1,000 born who die before their first birthday).
Between 1955 and 2010, the global life expectancy increased from 48 years to 69 years (77
years in more-developed countries and 67 years in less-developed countries) and is projected
to reach 74 by 2050. In 2010, Japan had the world’s longest life expectancy of 83 years.
Between 1900 and 2009, life expectancy in the United States
increased from 47 to 78 years and, by 2050, is projected to reach 83 years. In the world’s
poorest countries, however, life expectancy is 57 years or less and may fall further in some
countries because of more deaths from AIDS and internal strife.

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Migration Affects an Area’s Population Size
The third factor in population change is migration: the movement of people into (immigration)
and out of (emigration) specific geographic areas.
In 2009, more than 190 million people migrated from one country to another—more than 60
million of them from less developed countries to more-developed countries.
>Most people migrating from one area or country to another seek jobs and economic
improvement. But religious persecution, ethnic conflicts, political oppression, wars, and certain
types of environmental degradation such as soil erosion and water and food shortages drive
some to migrate.
> According to a UN study and another study by environmental scientist Norman Myers, in
2008 there were at least 40 million environmental refugees— people who had to leave their
homes because of water or food shortages, drought, flooding, or other environmental crises.
An estimated 1 million more are added to this number every year.

Age structure
A Population’s Age Structure Helps Us to Make Projections
> As mentioned earlier, even if the global replacement level fertility rate of 2.1 children per
woman were magically achieved tomorrow, the world’s population would keep growing for at
least another 50 years (assuming no large increase in the death rate).
 This continued growth results mostly from a population’s age structure: the
numbers or percentages of males and females in young, middle, and older age
groups in that population.
 middle, and older age groups in that population. Population experts construct a
population age structure diagram by plotting a given population’s percentages of
males and females in each of three age categories:

 Pre-reproductive (ages 0–14): consisting of individuals normally too young to have

children;
 Reproductive: (ages 15–44), consisting of those normally able to have children; and
 Postreproductive (ages 45 and older), with individuals normally too old to have
children.

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  > More developed countries—was under age 15. Over the next 14 years, these 1.8
billion young people—amounting to about 1 of every 4 persons on the planet— are
poised to move into their prime reproductive years.
 > The dramatic differences in population age structure between less- and more-
developed countries show why most future human population growth will take place in
less-developed countries.
> However, the fastest growing age group is seniors— people who are 65 and older, according
to a 2009 report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The global population of seniors is projected to
triple by 2050, when one of every six people will be a senior. This graying of the world’shave
extended our lifespans. Some analysts worry about how societies will support this growing
group of elderly people. Population is largely declining due to less birth rates and medical
advances. In China (Core Case Study) currently has 16 seniors per 100 workers. By 2025, it
will have roughly 30 seniors per 100 workers, and by 2050, this ratio will be 61 to 100.

Population Characteristics
 Age structure: Different types -Pyramid, bell and urn shapes – population growth can be
predicted

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107
 How Can We Slow Human Population Growth?
The First Step Is to Promote Economic Development:

Is there any limit to the growth of he human population on our planetary home? Assuming that
our population will eventually exceed the ability of the earth’s resources to support us, even
though no one knows when that would be, many scientists argue for adopting a precautionary
approach by taking steps to slow or stop population growth. Scientific studies and experience
have shown that the three most important steps to take toward that goal are
(1) to reduce poverty primarily through economic development and universal primary
education, (2) to elevate the status of women, and (3) to encourage family planning and
reproductive health care.
(2) Demographers, examining birth and death rates of western European countries that
became industrialized during the 19th century, developed a hypothesis of population
change known as the demographic transition: As countries become industrialized and
economically developed, first their death rates decline and then their birth rates decline.
According to the hypothesis based on such data, this transition takes place in four distinct
stages.
(3) > Figure 6-18 shows the progress of two countries— the United States and Bangladesh—
in making a demographic transition in terms of the average number of births per woman
(TFR). The United States is in the early phase of stage 4 and Bangladesh is approaching
the early phase of stage 4. Due to demographic transition - developed countries growing
rate 0.5% with doubling time 118 yrs In developing countries – where more than 90%
population living – growth rate more than 2%- doubling time less than 35 yrs

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 Empowering Women Helps to Slow Population Growth
 A number of studies show that women tend to have fewer children if they are
educated, have the ability to control their own fertility, earn an income of their
own, and live in societies that do not suppress their rights. Although women make
up roughly half of the world’s population, in most societies they have fewer rights
and educational and economic opportunities than men have.
 For example, in 2008 the government of Afghanistan passed a law that allows a
man to withhold food from his wife if she refuses to have sex with him; it also
forbids any woman from going out of her home without her husband’s permission.
 Women do almost all of the world’s domestic work and child care for little or no
pay and provide more unpaid health care (within their families) than do all of the
world’s organized health care services combined.
 An increasing number of women in less developed countries are taking charge of their
lives and reproductive behavior. As it expands, such bottom-up change by individual
women will play an important role in stabilizing populations, reducing poverty and
environmental degradation, and allowing more access to basic human rights.
 Promote Family Planning Family planning provides educational and clinical
> Services that help couples choose how many children to have and when to have them. Such
programs vary from culture to culture, but most provide information on birth spacing, birth
control, and health care for pregnant women and infants.

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> Family planning has been a major factor in reducing the number of births throughout most
of the world. It has also reduced the number of abortions performed each year and has
decreased the numbers of mothers and fetuses dying during pregnancy.

> Studies by the UN Population Division and other population agencies indicate that family planning
is responsible for a drop of at least 55% in total fertility rates (TFRs) in less-developed countries, from
6.0 in 1960 to 2.7 in 2010.
> For example, family planning, coupled with economic development, played a major role in the sharp
drop in average number of children per woman (TFR) in Bangladesh from around 6.8 to 2.4 by 2010.
Between 1971 and 2010, Thailand also used family planning to cut its annual population growth rate
from 3.2% to 0.6%, and to reduce its TFR from 6.4 to 1.8 children per family. According to the UN,
had there not been the sharp drop in TFRs since the 1970s, with all else being equal, the world’s
population today would be about 8.5 billion instead of 6.9 billion.
WOMEN WELFARE – WHY CONSIDERATION
 Women suffer in many ways because they are physically weak and harassed
 For cultural reasons, domestic violence, mental torture, physical
work
 They are often denied of even their fundamental rights
 Gender discrimination exists in many parts of the world – girl children are not
sent to school, often not given even enough food and women are not permitted
to come out of the house.
 Displacement causes special problems to women. When men go to other places
in search of jobs, women are left behind. They do not get any compensation.
They will become dependent on males for wages or they may have to take up
less decent jobs which are humiliating and give less income.

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INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

 United Nations Decade for Women (1975-85)

 It held an international convention on the elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women, 1979

ORGANIZATIONS FOR WOMEN

 There is a need for more stringent laws

 These aspects are looked into in Ministry of Women and Child development
 Works for education, family planning, health care and awareness.
 Many women groups have formed which take up women welfare issues
 There are legally constituted “women cells” to take care of legal problems of
women
 Displacement of women due to mining and associated problems are taken care of
by National Network for Women and Mining” – 20 groups in different states
 NGO’s like Mahila Mandals – trying to create awareness amongst women of
remote villages about their rights.

WHAT PROBLEMS DO CHILDREN HAVE?

 Out of 21 million born, 1 million are abandoned

 Social and economic reasons
CHILDREN RELATED PROBLEMS

 Children are more prone to diseases – especially water borne diseases

 Childhood cancer rates are increasing at the rate of 6%/year
 Toxic pollutants are causing birth defects
 20 million are estimated to be child labours in India

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  Some in hazardous industries
 Brass, match making, fireworks…

CHILD LABOUR

 Main cause is poverty

 They do not get nutritive food even
 They are often forced to work and not paid well for their work
 Their working conditions are unhealthy
 They do not get any education
SOLUTION

UN General Assembly in 1959 adopted the “Declaration of the Rights of a Child”

 It became INTERNATIONAL LAW in 1990
 The law defines the rights of children
 Survival, protection, development and participation
1. Right to survival: Good standard of living, good nutrition and health
2. Right to protection: Freedom from exploitation, abuse and inhuman treatment
3. Right to development: Access to education, early child care and support, social
security and right to leisure and recreation
4. Right to participation: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion and right
to appropriate information
5. World summit on children in 1990
6. Agenda for the well being of children – to be achieved by the new millennium
ndia also signed to agree with it.
7. Ministry of Human Resource Development has formulated the plan for child
development
STRATEGIC PLAN FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT

 Priority is given for

 Health, education, nutrition, clean and safe drinking water,
sanitation and good environment
 Access to schooling, specially for girls
 Education including health and nutrition, diseases and their causes
 Up gradation of home-based skills for girls,

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  Mid-day meals scheme
 Low cost early childhood development activities

CONSUMERISM

• Consumer - someone who buys and uses goods and services

• Consumerism
- a theory that a progressively greater consumption of goods is economically beneficial
- a preoccupation with and an inclination towards the buying of consumer goods
- refers to consumption of resources by people
 Problem of improper consumerismUncontrolled manufacture of goods leading
to inferior quality
 Rampant adulteration leading to health and hygiene problems
 Improper services resulting in dissatisfaction and stress
 Production of lots of waste leads to depletion of natural resources and
environmental imbalance

Consumerism
– increasing exponentially due to increase in population
- more demanding life-style
Two types of conditions
(i) People over-population: per capita consumption less
- more people than available resources
- over-exploitation of resources
– environmental degradation
– poverty, premature deaths, under-
nourishment
- (ii) Consumption over-population
Less developed countries (LDCs)
• over all consumption is high – Less population but consumption of more resources
• Per capita consumption is high – luxurious life style
• More consumption of resources and hence more waste generation

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 CONSUMERISM AND IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT:

Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren developed a simple model showing how population size (P),
affluence or resource consumption per person (A), and the beneficial and harmful
environmental effects of technologies (T) help to determine the environnmental impact (I)
of human activities

Environnemental Impact (I) = (P) X (A) X (T)

Economic Systems
Supported by Three Types of Resources
 Natural capital
- resources and services produced by the earth’s natural processes, which support all
economies and all life.
 Human capital, or human resources, includes
-people’s physical and mental talents that provide labor, organizational and management
skills, and innovation.
 Manufactured capital, or manufactured resources
- items such as machinery, equipment, and factories made from natural resources with the
help of human resources.

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 High throughput Economy
(Negative impact on Environment

Ecological economists suggest that:

1. Resources are limited and we should not waste them, and there are no
substitutes for most types of natural capital.
2. We should encourage environmentally beneficial and sustainable forms of
economic development, and discourage environmentally harmful and
unsustainable forms of economic growth.
3. The harmful environmental and health effects of producing economic goods and
services should be included in their market prices (full-cost pricing), so that
consumers will have more accurate information about the harmful environmental
and health effects of the goods and services they buy.

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 Economic Tools for Environmental Protection
 Economic growth is usually measured by the percentage change in a country’s GDP.
 Gross domestic product (GDP): the annual market value of all goods and services
produced by all firms and organizations, foreign and domestic, operating within a
country.
 Changes in a country’s economic growth per person are measured by per capita GDP:
the GDP divided by a country’s total population at midyear.

 New indicators—called environmental indicators—to help monitor environmental

quality and human well-being.
 One such indicator is the genuine progress indicator (GPI)—GDP plus the estimated
value of beneficial transactions that meet basic needs, but in which no money changes
hands, minus the estimated harmful environmental, health, and social costs of all
transactions.


 Gross national happiness (GNH) as a measure of its efforts toward sustainable
economic development. Its GNH is based on an evaluation of the country’s
conservation of its natural environment, preservation of cultural values, fairness in
access to its wealth (equity), and good governance
Ways to Sustainable Environment
 Environmental Economic Indicators Could Help Us Reduce Our Environmental
Impact
 Include the Harmful Environmental Costs of Goods and Services in Their Prices
 Label Environmentally Beneficial Goods and Services
 Reward Environmentally Sustainable Businesses
 Tax Pollution and Wastes Instead of Wages and Profits
 Environmental Laws and Regulations Can Discourage or Encourage Innovation
 Use the Marketplace to Reduce Pollution and Resource Waste
 Reduce Pollution and Resource Waste by Selling Services Instead of Things

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Environment policy recognition

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 Poverty and Environmental Issues

Reducing poverty can help us to reduce population growth, resource use, and
environmental degradation.
 Mount a massive global effort to combat malnutrition and the infectious diseases
that kill millions of people prematurely
• Provide universal primary school education for the world’s nearly 800 million illiterate
adults (a number that is 2.5 times the size of the U.S. population).
According to Nobel Prize–winning economist Amartya Sen, “Illiteracy and innumeracy
are a greater threat to humanity than terrorism.” Illiteracy can also foster terrorism and
strife within countries by creating large unemployed individuals who have little hope of
improving their lives or those of their children.
• Provide assistance to stabilize population growth in less-developed countries as soon as
possible, mostly by investing in family planning, reducing poverty, and elevating the social
and economic status of women. Focus on sharply reducing the total and per capita ecological
footprints of their own countries as well as those of rapidly growing less-developed countries
such as China and India.
• Make large investments in small-scale infrastructure such as solar-cell power facilities in
villages, as well as sustainable agriculture projects that would enable less-developed nations
to work towards more energy-efficient and sustainable economies.
• Encourage lending agencies to make small loans to poor people to increase their income.

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Sustainable Economy – A Low throughput Economy

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 Environmentally Sustainable Economies
We can use the three principles of sustainability as well as various economic and environmental
strategies to develop more environmentally sustainable economies.
 To estimate and include the harmful environmental and health costs of producing goods
and services in their market prices.
■ Phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies and tax breaks, and replacing them with
environmentally beneficial subsidies and tax breaks.
■ Tax pollution and wastes instead of wages and profits, and to use most of the revenues from
these taxes to promote environmental sustainability and to reduce poverty.

We Can Become More Environmentally Literate:

Learning how to live more sustainably requires a foundation of environmental education
aimed at producing environmentally literate citizens. Here are some key goals for each person
seeking environmental literacy:
 Understand as much as we can about how the earth works and sustains itself,
and use such knowledge to guide our lives, communities, and societies. •
 Understand the relationships between the economy and the earth’s natural
support systems and the role of economics in making the transition to more
sustainable economies and societies. •
 Use critical thinking skills (p. 2) to become seekers of environmental wisdom
instead of overfilled vessels of environmental information and misinformation. •
 Understand and evaluate our environmental worldviews and continue this as a
lifelong process.
 We can literate ourselves by environmental wisdom view

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Major component of environmental education

Module 6 - Important Questions:

2. Explain urban environmental problems?
3. Discuss the benefits of urbanisation?
4. Discuss the dis-advantages of urbanisation?
5. What is exponential growth? Describe the past, current, and projected exponential
growth of the world’s human population?
6. Explain the different age structure for different country?
7. What is consumerism? How is it related environmental impact? How it is differ from
developed to developing county?
8. How to slow the world population growth?
9. What is necessity of women empowerment?
10. How women empowerment and child welfare related to population growth?
11. How women could stabilize the population growth?
12. Explain the definition of sustainability? How can we live more sustainably?
13. What is called demographic transition? How demographic transition is related to zero
population growth?
14. What is RFR and TFR? How is it related to population growth?
15. What is zero population growth? How zero population growth could be achieved?
16. What is economics? Distinguish among natural capital, human capital (human
resources), and manufactured capital (manufactured resources). What is a high-
throughput economy?

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17. List eight principles that ecological and environmental economists would use to make
the transition to more sustainable eco-economies.
18. Define and distinguish between gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita GDP.
What is the genuine progress indicator (GPI) and how does it differ from the GDP
economic indicator?
19. What is poverty and how is it related to population growth and environmental
degradation? List three ways in which governments can help to reduce poverty.
20. What is an environmental worldview? What are environmental ethics? Distinguish
among the following environmental worldviews: planetary management, stewardship,
and environmental wisdom
21. Define politics, policies, and democracy. Describe eight principles that decision
makers can use in making environmental policy?

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 Module 7
Global Climate Change and Mitigation
 Climate disruption
 Greenhouse effect
 Ozone layer depletion
 Kyoto protocol, Carbon credits
 Carbon sequestration methods
 Montreal Protocol
 Acid rain
 Role of Information technology in environment
 Case Studies

Climate disruption and Greenhouse effect:

The progressive heating up of atmosphere and earth’s surface due to IR trapping gases like CO2
is called greenhouse effect. Part of the sun’s radiation falling on earth’s surface is reflected and
another part is absorbed. The absorbed radiation is later radiated out. If all the absorbed light
is radiated out earth should cool very much in the night.

But day and night temperatures in many places differ very little. This is because of Greenhouse
effect by certain gases like Carbon dioxide, Methane, Chlorofluorocarbons, Nitrous oxide,
Ground level Ozone in the atmosphere that can absorb IR radiation emitted by the earth. Thus
earth does not cool as much as it does without them.

Greenhouse gases can absorb upto 70% of the radiation. If there are more Green House gases
than the natural level, Earth gets heated up beyond normal temperatures and this is called
Global warming.

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Bad Effects of Global warming:
1. Land and ocean temperatures rise
2. North and south pole Glaciers melt
3. Sea levels rise (due to oceans warming in “swells” and due to melting of polar regions)
4. Ocean currents change
5. Weather patterns change

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 6. Ecological disturbance
7. Effect on Agriculture
Uncertain weather – severe changes in precipitation
Droughts and famine (some areas)
Excessive rains in other regions cause floods and loss of crops.
Soil moisture will change
Pest growth is altered
Pests adapt better than crops

8. Effect on biodiversity
Extinction of Polar Bears: Require pack ice to live
Sea turtles : Breed on the same islands as their birth ; Could go extinct on some islands
as beaches are flooded
Other species may go extinct as rainfall patterns change throughout the world
9. Effect on human health
Fewer deaths from cold, more from heat
Since more mosquitoes, snails and insects can grow (as more fish which eat them die
due to increase in temperature of the water) – diseases like malaria will be on high.
Higher temperature and humidity increase sweating and cause skin diseases and
respiratory diseases.

Steps to Prevent Global Warming:

 Plant more trees
 Control population growth
 Cut down rate of CFC’s and fossil fuels
 Use non-conventional (renewable) sources of energy
 Shift from coal to natural gas
 Reduce carbon dioxide from smoke
 Use photosynthetic algae to remove carbon dioxide
 Adopt sustainable agriculture – grow heat resistant crops

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 Ozone layer depletion

Ozone Layer is located in the stratosphere and it protects the Earth from ultraviolet rays emitted
by the sun. The wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation are absorbed by the ozone molecules.

-Ozone absorbs UV-B radiation

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Natural cycle of formation and depletion of ozone:

Chlorofluoro carbons (CFC’s) and other halogenated hydrocarbons(HCFCs, methyl bromide,

carbon tetrachloride, NO2, and methyl chloroform) contribute to the destruction of
stratospheric ozone. Just one chlorine and bromine atom can catalyze the destruction of
100,000 ozone molecules.

CFCs were used in refrigerators, home insulation, aerosols, plastic foam, and throwaway food
containers. Both chlorine and bromine from halogenated hydrocarbons deplete the ozone.

Chlorine and bromine-containing compounds (CFC’s) are stable in the troposphere, but
degraded under intense ultraviolet light in stratosphere. UV rays release the chlorine (Cl) from
the CFCs, causing ozone (O3) to be depleted.

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 Kyoto protocol, Carbon credits
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change. It aims at reduction of Green House Gases (GHGs) and others
like CFCs

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force
on 16 February 2005. Currently, there are 192 Parties (191 States and 1 regional economic
integration organization) to the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC. Countries have committed to
cut emissions of CO2

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Other Green house gases such as Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), Hydrofluorocarbons
(HFC’s), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

Goals of Kyoto Protocol:

• To reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% by 2012
• Individual countries were assigned higher or lower targets

• Due to more than 150 years of industrial activity, developed countries are principally
responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere

• The total percentage of developed countries emissions is 63.7%

• Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations

• Any country that fails to meet its Kyoto Protocol target will be penalized

Characteristics of Kyoto Protocol:

• India and China are not obligated to reduce greenhouse gas production at the moment
as they are developing countries

• The Protocol allows developed countries to meet their GHG emission limitations by
several "flexible mechanisms”
– Emissions trading (in terms of carbon credits/Kyoto credits)

– Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

– Joint implementation

Carbon Credits
Carbon credits and carbon markets are a component of national and international attempts to
mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs).One carbon credit is equal
to reduction of one ton of carbon dioxide.

The goal is to allow market mechanisms to drive industrial and commercial processes in the
direction of low emissions of GHGs into the atmosphere. During Kyoto protocol, allocation of
carbon credits or Kyoto credits was made to different countries. Each credit gives the owner
the right to emit one metric tonne of carbon dioxide or other equivalent greenhouse gas.
If a country exceeds its emission quota, it has to pay for it in three possible mechanisms to get
back the credits:-

– Mechanims I – Emission Trading

– Mechanism II – Clean Development Mechanism
– Mechanism III – Joint Implementation Mechanism

Carbon credits can be gained even by individuals within a country by developing projects that
reduce GHG emissions. Several private and government organizations are existing now for sale

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and purchase of carbon credits. The actual value of each credit may vary, subject to the market
position. Currently its value is about 12-20 Euros.

Carbon Credits – India Scenario:

India has generated approximately 30 Million carbon credits. About 140 million in run, the
second highest transacted volumes in the world. India’s carbon market is growing fast. 850
projects with a huge investment of Rs 650,000 million are in pipeline. The revenue from 200
projects is estimated at Rs. 97 billion till 2012 (As per the Prime Minister's Council on Climate
Change). India has been able to register approximately 350 projects spread across various
sectors .

Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol aims at Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. It is an international
treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous
substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion. Treaty was opened for signature on
September 16, 1987 and came into force on January 1, 1989. In 1987, representatives of 36
nations met in Montreal, Canada, and developed the Montreal Protocol. This treaty’s goal was
to cut emissions of CFCs by about 35% between 1989 and 2000.

About 36 countries signed the treaty and 196 countries has approved the treaty. The ozone layer
is expected to recover to 1980 levels by 2050. Kofi Annan quoted as saying that "perhaps the
single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol".
Seasonal thinning of ozone layer above Antarctica in 1989. The largest Antarctic ozone hole
recorded as of September 2006.

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 Carbon sequestration methods
Carbon sequestration is the general term used for the capture and long-term storage of carbon
dioxide.
Capture can occur

– Point of Emission – Ex: Power plants

– Through natural resources – Ex: Photosynthesis
It removes carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere.
Sequestration methods include:
• Soil Sequestration - enhancing the storage of carbon in soil

• Plant Sequestration - enhancing the storage of carbon in forests and other vegetation
• Geosequestration - storing carbon in underground geological formations

• Ocean Sequestration - storing carbon in the ocean

• Mineral Carbonation - subjecting carbon to chemical reactions to form inorganic
carbonates

Soil sequestration
Soils contain 700 gigatonnes (Gt, 109 tonnes) to 3000 Gt of carbon. When forests are
converted to agricultural land, the soil carbon content decreases. Agricultural usages also tend
to reduce soil carbon.

Current research is use of “biochar” to increase the soil carbon sink. Biochar is a type of
charcoal that results from heating organic materials such as crop residue, wood chips,
municipal waste or manure in an oxygen-limited environment. This process is known as
“Pyrolysis”.
Management practices that can retain or increase the carbon content of soils include

– low-tillage or no tillage

– use of manures and compost,

– conversion of monoculture systems to diverse systems
– crop rotations and winter cover crops

– establishing perennial vegetation on steep slopes.

Plant sequestration
Plants use the energy of sunlight to convert CO2 from the atmosphere to carbohydrates for their
growth and maintenance, via the process of photosynthesis. Uptake of CO2 by vegetation will
decrease with time as plants grow to their full capacity

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Biological storage could be enhanced through agricultural and forestry practices and
revegetation. It provide a significant shorter-term contribution to climate change mitigation.

Geosequestration
Geosequestration is the injection and storage of greenhouse gases underground, out of contact
with the atmosphere.
Suitable site - geological formation

– Depleted oil and natural gas fields, coal beds.

– Deep natural reservoirs filled with saline water (saline aquifers)

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) involves injecting CO2 into the oil-containing reservoir to
pressurize the reservoir and improve the rate of flow of oil. The displaced oil is pushed through
the well bore

Ocean sequestration
The ocean represents the largest carbon store on earth. It has a significant sink for
anthropogenic CO2 emissions of similar magnitude to the land sink.

Proposed to bypass the natural ocean CO2 uptake mechanism thro’ inject CO2 directly into the
deep ocean. It would remain isolated from the atmosphere for several centuries

Alternative method - large scale ocean fertilisation with iron to stimulate phytoplankton growth
and photosynthesis.

Mineral sequestration
It is also known as mineral carbonation. It involves reaction of CO2 with metal oxides that are
present in common, naturally occurring silicate rocks. It mimics natural weathering
phenomena. There are sufficient reserves of magnesium and calcium silicate deposits to fix the
CO2.

Acid Rain
Normal rain water is slightly acidic because it contains dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2),
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and Nitrogen oxides (NOx) which are normally present in the air. Acid
rain contains more acidity than the normal value. Due to presence of acid ions & due to the
dissolution of these gases present in higher concentration. Air pollution caused by gaseous
emissions from industrial sources, burning of fuels (thermal plants, chimneys of brick-kilns
or sugar mills) and vehicular emissions. Acid rain will occur locally near the sources of air
pollution. Due to the movement of air, acid rain may occur for away from the source.

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U.K. contributes 26% of the acidic sulphur deposited in the Netherlands, 23% in Norway and
12% in Sweden. Acid emissions arise naturally from volcanoes, forest fires and biological
decomposition, especially in the oceans. SO2 pollutions is mostly contributed by thermal power
plants, refineries industry and NOx form road transport, power stations and industry. Acid gas
concentrations in the air will vary according to location, time and weather conditions.

Effects of Acid Rain:

• Damage to aquatic life

– reduction in diversity and populations of fresh water species
– soil organisms are killed in acid rain

• Damage to Trees and Plants

– SO2 has a direct toxic effect on trees

– acidifying soils which may cause loss of essential nutrients such as magnesium,
thus impairing plant growth

• Damage to Buildings and Materials

– All historic buildings suffer damage and decay with time
– SO2 penetrated porous stones such as limestone and is converted to calcium
sulphate

Reducing acid pollution:

• Fuels may be treated to reduce their sulphur content. Cut the eventual emissions of SO2
by the introduction of a sorbent such as limestone

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 • Nox can be reduced by adding ammonia and passing it over a catalyst to produce
nitrogen and water. This process is called selective catalytic reduction (SCR)

• Fitting a catalytic converter to the exhaust system reduces NOx emissions by up to 90%
• To develop non-fossil fuel energy sources such as nuclear power or renewable energy
(solar, wind, tidal power, etc.)

Role of Information technology in environment

Development of internet facilities, worldwide web, Remote sensing, geographical information
system (GIS) and information through satellites has generated a wealth of up-to-date
information on various aspects of environment and health.

 Database:
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India has compiled database
on various biotic communities - wildlife database, conservation database, forest cover database
and for diseases like HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Fluorosis.

 National Management Information System (NMIS):

NMIS of Department of Science and Technology has compiled a database on Research and
Development Projects along with information about research scientists and personnel involved.

 Environmental Information System (ENVIS):

MoEF has created an Information System called Environmental Information System (ENVIS).

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The ENVIS generates network of database in areas like pollution control, clean technologies,
remote sensing, coastal ecology, biodiversity, western Ghats and eastern Ghats, environmental
management, media related to environment, renewable energy, desertification, mangroves,
wildlife, Himalayan ecology, mining, etc.

The National Institute of Occupational Health provides computerized information on

occupational health i.e. the health aspects of people working in various hazardous and non-
hazardous industries, safety measures.

 World Wide Web

[Link]/environmental science

 Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS)

Satellite imageries provide us actual information about various physical and biological
resources, water logging, desertification, deforestation, urban sprawl, river and canal network,
mineral and energy reserves.

Digital information on a number of aspects like water resources, industrial growth, human
settlements, road network, soil type, forest land, crop land or grassland.
Monsoon, ozone layer depletion, inversion phenomena, smog.
We are able to discover many new reserves of oil, minerals.
Disease infested areas prone to vector-borne diseases malaria, schistosomiasis

IT related Case Studies

Ocean Monitoring Satellites:
IRS-P4 Ocean Color Monitor, IRS-P4 OCM is the first satellite sensor developed and launched
by India for ocean color applications on 26 May 1999. India launched another similar ocean-
monitoring satellite on Sept. 23, 2009. The main objectives of the satellites are to study surface
winds and ocean surface strata, observation of chlorophyll concentrations in ocean waters,
monitoring of phytoplankton blooms, study of atmospheric aerosols and suspended sediments
in the water.

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HealthSAT project by ISRO ( Indian Space Research Organization ) :

A project initiated by ISRO that provides

infrastructure for rural areas as well as the
communication bandwidth via its dedicated
HealthSAT satellite. A telemedicine system
in a small health centre consists of a
personal computer with customized
medical software connected to a few
medical diagnostic instruments, such as an
ECG or X-ray machine or an X-ray scanner
for scanning X-ray photos. Through this
computer, digitized versions of patients'
medical images and diagnostic details (such as X-ray images and blood test reports) are
dispatched to specialist doctors through the satellite-based communication link. The
information, in turn, is received at the specialist centre where experienced doctors examine the
reports, diagnose, interact with the patients (along with local doctors), and suggest appropriate
treatment through video-conferencing.

KIOSK:
The Information Kiosk, is an IT based facility that
rural communities avail of to examine the data they
collected in different graphical forms and tables -
without the support of an outsider.

The Kiosk software is totally touch screen driven

(no physical keyboard) with large icons displaying
limited but focused data supported by graphics and
animations. Local language is used (though the
system has multi-lingual capability) and has very simple and clear navigational paths.

Here, IT provides an opportunity to the rural communities to use tools that support them in
decision making related to groundwater use and cropping system changes.

Software monitoring of wildlife:

New Delhi: In a bid to save the endangered big cats, the Centre is introducing M-Stripes, a
software monitoring system to strengthen effectiveness of surveillance and anti-poaching
measures, in all the 39 tiger reserves across the country. This program is already introduced in
some reserves and a decline in poaching is already noticed in them.

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 Module 7- Important Questions
1. How carbon credits will help you to earn money from it? Explain.
2. Will it be easier for societies to mitigate climate change by implementing any protocol?
Explain your answer.
3. Why has an “ozone hole” appeared over Antarctica when ozone depleting substances
are present throughout the stratosphere?
4. What is carbon footprint? Why carbon capture and sequestration is important?
5. How does emission trading and clean development scheme help the countries to control
the emission of GHG?
6. How earth’s mountain glaciers are progressing and influencing warming world?
7. Ozone could be both good and bad for earth’s environment? Explain.
8. Our government wants the net carbon emission of our country to be zero in the next
few years. Suggest suitable methods to reach the goal.
9. If Montreal protocol is implemented in a developing country like China or developed
country like Germany, who will be benefitted more with this? Write a proper
explanation.

10. Why do we need to capture and store carbon dioxide? Discuss briefly any two methods
of carbon sequestration.
11. If you are a policy maker, what are the steps you would take to minimize the emission
of greenhouse gases?
12. What are the possible reasons you think that is behind the success of Montreal protocol.
13. Explain the role of information technology in environment and health.
14. Explain the reason for Artic sea ice is melting faster than predicted. Discuss the methods
to control the Artic ice melting.
15. What are the environmental impact of CFC release and explain with mechanism.

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