31

[Link].

ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES
 © UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

Dr. Sanjay Deshmukh Dr. Dhaneswar Harichandan

Vice Chancellor, Professor-Cum-Director IDOL,
University of Mumbai University of Mumbai

Programme - : Shri Mandar Bhanushe

Co-ordinator [Link]-cum-Asstt Director,
IDOL, University of Mumbai

Course Writers : Shri D. G. Phondekar

[Link] College of Sicence & Commerce,
Vidyavihar, Mumbai.

Dr. (Mrs.) Kamalini Bandekar

[Link] College, Ghatkopar, Mumbai.

Dr. Hemant Pednekar

Kirti College, Dadar, Mumbai.

Shri Ravindra Deodhar

SIWS College, Wadala, Mumbai.

Editor : Mrs. Nisha Ravindra Deodhar

Manjunatha College of Commerce,
Thakurli (E), Dist. Thane.

July [Link]. Environmental Studies

Published by : Professor cum Director

Institute of Distance and Open Learning,
Universityof Mumbai, Vidyanagari,
Mumbai - 400 098.

DTP Composed : Ashwini Arts

Gurukripa Chawl, M.C. Chagla Marg, Bamanwada,
Vile Parle (E), Mumbai - 400 099.

Printed by : Bipin Enterprises

 CONTENTS

Sr. No. Tittle Page No.

1 Environment : An Overview 01
2 Natural Resources 27
3. Distribution patterns, Utilization & Conservation of
Water, forest and energy resources 42
4. Population and Environment 64
5. Challenges of population growth, Environment and
Human Health relation 79
6. Food Production In The World 99
7. Food Trade, World Hunger & Food Security 118
8. Secondary and Tertiary Sectors 145
9. Tourism 155
10. Natural Disasters 163
11. Man Made Disasters 172
12. Environmental Concerns And Issues 179
13. Environment Movements 200
14. Environmental Managements 214


 I

SYLLABUS
(w.e.f. 2009-10)
OBJECTIVES

1. To create an awareness of environmental perspective, both

natural and human, in Environmental studies.
2. To highlight functional links between environment, economy and
society and bring out the issues emerging from this interface.
3. To expose the students to the emerging environmental issues,
both natural and human.
4. To sensitize the students towards measures that could be taken
to reduce and mitigate the environmental problems.
5. To acquaint students with relevant tools and techniques to
assess and analyze the environmental aspects.

Unit 1 - Environment: An overview

a) Environment - Structure and components - Typology - Natural

and Human
b) Ecosystem as part of Environment - Functioning and Levels of
Organization - Linkage with society and economy.
c) Emerging issues of development - Environment as a source and
depository of resource, products and waste.
d) Sustainable use of resource - a multidisciplinary approach
Importance of Environmental Studies.

Unit 2 - Natural Resources

a) Definition, importance and classification of natural resources.

b) Resource rich and Resource poor regions - emerging gaps
c) Distribution patterns, utilization and conservation of water, forest
and energy resources.

Unit 3 - population and Environment

a) Man environment relationship - Changing patterns - Role of

technology.
b) Contemporary trends of growth and distribution of world
population.
c) Challenges of population growth, Carrying capacity of
Environment - Human Development Index as a measures of
development - Patterns of human development in India.
d) Environment and human health (a case study)
 II

Unit 4 - Food and Environment

a) Sources and areas of production of food in the world

(Agriculture, Fishing, Livestock - rearing)
b) Pattern of Food Trade
c) Food Security and Global Patterns of Nutrition and Hunger.

Unit 5 - Secondary and Tertiary Sectors

a) Base of spatial interaction - Role of Transport and

Telecommunication technology - time and Space convenience
b) Changing nature of manufacturing and services in developed
and developing countries.
c) Tourism as emerging service - New tourism (Eco-tourism,
medical tourism, etc) - Challenges before India.
d) Impact of tourism - economic, socio - cultural and
environmental.

Unit 6 - Disasters: Natural and Man-made

a) Concepts of Disaster - Natural and Man - made

b) Natural hazard / Disasters: Causes and Consequences -
Earthquake & Tsunami, Cyclone, Flood & Drought (a case
study)
c) Man - made disasters: Causes and Consequences - nuclear
accident, Oil spill and leakage, Industrial accidents (a case
study)
d) Disaster Management Cycle - Pre - disaster, disaster
occurrence and post-disaster - Role of technology

Unit 7 - Environmental Issues and Movements

a) Environmental problems - Causes and Effects.

b) Global issues - Global climate changes, Trans - boundary
movement of hazardous waste, Threats to Biodiversity (a case
study)
c) Regional issues - Acid rain, Desertification (a case study)
d) Local issues - related to CRZ implementation, Solid waste
disposal (garbage, bio-medical waste, e-waste), Flooding of low
lying areas, Special Economic Zone (a case study)
e) Major environmental movements in India - Role of public opinion
in environmental protection - Green Business and Green
Consumption
 III

Unit 8 - Environmental Management

a) Environmental Management - Concept & Need - relevance of

Environmental Education
b) Constitutional and legal provisions in India - International efforts
towards environmental protection - role of WTO.
c) Environmental Statement, ISO 14000, ISO 16000,
Environmental Impact Assessment.
d) Role of technology in environmental management (GIS, GPS,
Remote sensing as tools)
e) Carbon Bank and Carbon Credit (a case study)

Map Work

a) Map reading - Bar Diagram, Located Circles, located Pie

diagram, Choropleth, Isopleth, Dot Map, Flow Map and
Pictogram.
b) Map Filling - Environmentally Significant features - World,
Konkan and Mumbai


 1

1
ENVIRONMENT : AN OVERVIEW
Unit Structure:
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Environment
1.2.1 Structure and Components of Environment
1.2.2 Types of Environment
1.3 Ecosystem as a Part of Environment
1.3.1 Ecosystem
1.3.2 Functioning and Levels of Organisation in
the Ecosystem
1.3.2 Linkage of Ecosystem with Society and Economy
1.4 Emerging Issues of Development
1.4.1 Environment as a Source and Depository of Rsources,
Products
1.4.2 Impact of Economic Development on Environment
1.4.3 Environmental Issues of Unsustainable
Development
1.5 Sustainable Use of Resources
1.5.1 Sustainable Development
1.5.2 Multidiscilpinary Approach
1.5.3 Importance of Environmental Studies
1.6 Let us Sum up
1.7 Glossary
1.8 Suggestive Reading
1.9 Unit End Exercises

1.0 OBJECTIVES
1. To study the structure and components of environment.
2. To appreciate the functioning of ecosystem.
3. To appraise the linkage of ecosystem with society and
economy.
4. To understand the impact of development on environment.
5. To evaluate the need for sustainable use of resources.
6. To justify the importance of environmental studies in the
present day world.
 2

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Our planet Earth is most suitable to sustain life. Plenty of

oxygen for the animals to breathe and plenty of water for the
variety of life forms that evolve and also the circulation of
nutrients e.g. water cycle, carbon cycle etc. to maintain life on
earth. As the citizens of this planet, we must be curious about the
functioning of the environment. Once we understand the true
meaning of the term `environment', we realize our contribution
towards its quality and this is main purpose of environmental
studies.

Today we affect environment significantly by extracting

minerals, using energy and emitting pollutants in our quest to
meet the demands of growing population. Overexploitation and
pollution are corroding the life support systems. CFC in the
atmosphere today will continue to deplete ozone layer for centuries
to come. Extinct species shall never come back. We have to be
conscious about the consequences of unsustainable development
and learn to put in more efforts for better environmental quality.

1.2 ENVIRONMENT

The term 'environment' is derived from French word environ

which means to encircle or surround. Everything that surrounds us
– the air, water, all living and non-living things - constitute our
environment and it influences our lives. It is from the environment
surrounding us that we get food to eat, water to drink, air to breath
and all necessities of our lifestyle.

According to Gaia hypothesis, (Gala – Greek goddess

Mother Earth), earth and all living things form a single system with
interdependent components and have ability to self-regulate.

As components are Inter-linked and interdependent,

environment is a live dynamic system and therefore any change
made in one component gets transferred to all other components
in a cyclic manner till it covers the entire system. This
understanding is necessary to realize that human impacts disturb the
functioning of environment and the results are disastrous.
 3

This is clearly indicates that use of environment for

development may appear to be beneficial to human societies but
definitely not for the environment as a system. The destruction of
environmental elements caused by human societies led to many
crisis situations in this century and will lead to disasters in the near
future.

1.2.1 STRUCTURE AND COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT

The global environment has four mutually interacting components:
1. Lithosphere
2. Hydrosphere
3. Atmosphere
4. Biosphere

Biosphere occupies the central position and derives life

supporting elements from other spheres of environment --
Gaseous elements like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen etc froth
atmosphere, water from hydrosphere and mineral nutrients from
lithosphere.
 4

COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT

LITHOSPHERE -- Lithosphere is the outermost solid land surface

of the earth generated largely by igneous processes in which
magma (molten rock) cools and solidifies to form solid land. It
consists of about 15 slowly drifting plates on a layer of partially
molten rock (asthenosphere). The plates carry continents and
ocean floor with them. Lithosphere is thickest in the continental
region (average 40km) and is thinnest under the oceans (average
10-12km)

HYDROSPHERE – It is assumed that hydrosphere contains 1360

million cubic km of water. By far the greatest amount of water
(97%) is in oceans and inland seas. About 2% of the water resources
are lbcked in the glaciers and ice caps. The remaining about 1% is
available as surface water resources in rivers lakes streams,
reservoirs, ground water and water vapour in the atmosphere.

ATMOSPHERE – The atmosphere is the insulating blanket of air

which is composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon and
other gases and a variable amount of water vapor. The atmosphere
forms a major source of carbon dioxide to plants and oxygen to
both plants and animals. The ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere
plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV)
radiation that reaches the surface. The atmosphere of the Earth
serves as a key factor in sustaining the planetary ecosystem

BIOSPHERE – The biosphere is the part of Earth's outer shell

within which life occurs. It Includes different types of ecosystems
and sustain all life forms including human beings. Till now, more
than 3, 50,000 species of plants and 11 million species of animals
have been identified. The upper limit of biosphere is determined by
availability of oxygen, moisture, air pressure and temperature.
Decrease in these factors, with increase in height, delimits the
upper limit of the biosphere.

1.2.2 TYPES OF ENVIRONMENT

Environment can be broadly classified as natural

environment and cultural or human environment.

Natural environment encompasses living and non-living

things occurring on the earth. It is an ecological unit that
functions as natural systems without human intervention e.g. deep
interiors of forest, virgin environments of remote places, desert
environment, polar environment, coastal environment etc.

The natural environment is contrasted with the human or

cultural environment. It comprises the areas and components
 5

that are strongly influenced by human actions or thoughts e.g.

urban environment, social environment, political environment,
economic environment etc. You are familiar with urban and rural
environment. While rural environment is of simple nature, urban
environment is more complex due to use of technology in its
making. Similarly one can easily understand the difference
between social environment and political environment because
social environment means social and cultural institutions
developed by particular community and political environment
comprises the nature of government, laws and the regulatory system
which affect the community.

Check your progress

1. Explain the term 'environment'. Give suitable examples
2. What is the major difference between natural and human
environment.
3. 'Environment is a system'. Justify with examples
4. Write in brief about the components of environment.
5. Write short notes on :
a) Human environment
b) lithosphere

1.3 ECOSYSTEM AS A PART OF ENVIRONMENT

All types of plants and animals that survive in the

global environment system constitutes biosphere. It is further
subdivided into biomes because the earth has different climatic
zones and therefore specific combination of vegetation and animal
life e.g. temperate forest, equatorial rain forest etc are noticed in
different parts of the world. Biomes are at the meso level. Within
the biomes, are different ecosystems—pond ecosystem, desert
ecosystem etc
 6

1.3.1 ECOSYSTEM

Any unit that includes all the organisms in a given area

interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of
energy leads to clearly defined tropic structure, biotic diversity,
and material cycles (exchange of materials between living and
nonliving parts) within the system is called an ecosystem.

The term ecosystem coined by [Link] (1935) to explain

the interaction between biological and physical components of
environment.

Since the physical conditions determine the nature

and characteristics of biotic component of the ecosystems, there
are spatial variations in the biotic communities. Based on
this considerations ecosystems are divided into two major
categories.-

1. Terrestrial or land based ecosystems

2. Aquatic ecosystems i.e. ecosystem in water
 7

Each ecosystem has definite organization comprising structural

and functional components. Structural component includes abiotic
and biotic component. Functional component is the volume and rate
at which material circulates and energy flows in the ecosystem.
 8

Structural component of the ecosystem

1. Biotic component
2. Abiotic component
Biotic components are the living organisms of an ecosystem.
According to various modes of nutrition, they are classified as:
1. Producers
2. Consumers

Producers – green plants that convert solar energy into food

energy in the process of photosynthesis. As they are self-
nourishing they are called autotrophs.
Consumers - heterotrophic organisms that consume directly or
indirectly the food energy found in green plants.
a) Primary consumers – herbivores i.e. they are dependent on
the green plants for food e.g. cattle, deer, goat, rabbit,
insects etc.
b) Secondary consumers – flesh eating animals like fox, cat,
snake etc who consume primary consumers.
c) Tertiary consumers – top carnivores which prey other
carnivores and herbivores e.g. lion, tiger, hawk, vulture etc

Decomposers --micro organisms like fungi and some

bacteria which are incapable of preparing their food and live on
dead and decaying plants or animal parts. They decompose
complex organic substances of the dead parts into simple
forms to make them available to the producers. By releasing
enzymes, they carry out extra digestion of the dead remains and
convert them into simple inorganic substances.

Biodiversity --Variety of producers and consumers in an

ecosystem is denoted by the term biodiversity. Biodiversity boosts
ecosystem productivity. Greater species diversity ensures natural
sustainability for all life forms and healthy ecosystems can better
withstand and recover from a variety of disasters. Therefore,
while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the
diversity in wildlife.
 9

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS

Abiotic components provide nutrients to sustain life of biotic

components. This component includes:
i) Inorganic substances – water, gaseous elements, minerals
that are required for synthesis of organic substances by the
producers.
ii) Organic substances derived from dead plants and animals
as well as from their excreta.
iii) Climatic elements like temperature, light, winds, rain,
moisture etc.

These abiotic components play an important role in

influencing the nature of biotic components of the ecosystem
because both the components are interlinked and interdependent.

Plants or autotrophs utilize abiotic elements and prepare food for

other biotic elements i.e. consumers. The dead remains of the
plants and animals get disintegrated by the decomposers and
nutrients are returned to the abiotic component of the ecosystem.
Due to this type of interrelation natural ecosystems are capable of
self-regulation and self-maintenance.

1.3.2 FUNCTIONING AND LEVELS OF ORGANISATION IN

THE ECOSYSTEM

Functional component is the volume and rate at which material

circulates and energy flows in the ecosystem.
All systems require inputs to make them work, and they
all produce outputs.
 10

Natural ecosystems of the environment receive energy from Sun.

The autotrophs or plants utilize solar energy and produce food
energy in the process of photosynthesis. This food energy is then
passed on to the other organisms i.e. consumers of the ecosystem.

Food chain -- The transfer of food energy from the source in plants
through a series of organisms with repeated eating and being
eaten is referred to as food chain.
In the following examples of food chain 'is consumed by' is
denoted as

Food chains are not isolated sequences but are

interconnected with one another. This interlocking pattern of
consumption is called foodweb.

As energy is passed on from one level to the next, only a

small share of it is retained in the body of living organisms. Most
energy is converted into heat and given back to the atmosphere.
 11

Because of the high rate of the heat loss from organisms, the
supply of energy in the ecosystem attenuates very rapidly
with transfer through each group of eaters.

The following linkage diagram explains the unidirectional

path of energy in the natural ecosystems

CONSUM ERS PC – PRIM AR Y, SC – SECOND ARY & TC

–TERTIARY

If herbivores eat 1000k cal of plant energy, about 100k cal

will convert into herbivores tissues, 10 k cal into first level
carnivores production and 1k cal into 2nd level carnivores
production i.e. 90% loss of energy from one trophic level to the next.
In other words, the energy level gradually tapers in the food chain,
forming a pyramid like structure. Therefore graphic representation
of trophic structure is called ecological pyramids.

P.C. – Primary consumers S—secondary consumers

Basically three types of pyramids are recognized:

1. Pyramids of numbers – producers are highest in number

and the number decreases with each successive level.
2. Pyramids of biomass – In terrestrial ecosystem, pyramid is
upright but i n aquatic ecosystem it is inverted. The
phytoplankton, algae and small aquatic plants are lighter in
biomass and are rapidly eaten by primary consumers (water
fleas, insects etc.).
 12

3. Pyramids of energy – Greater amount of energy is available at

the producer level than at the primary consumer level and the
energy at the primary level is more than secondary level thus
the general pattern of pyramid remains upright in all
ecosystems.

Biogeochemical cycles
While the flow of energy in an ecosystem is one-way, nutrients
needed to produce organic material are circulated in the system
(moved through the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and
biosphere) and reused several times e.g. water cycle. These
cycles are of two types:
 Gaseous cycles in which reservoir is in the atmosphere e.g.
carbon, oxygen, nitrogen
 Sedimentary cycles in which reservoir is in lithosphere e.g.
phosphorus and sulphur cycle

Carbon occurs as a carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as organic

compounds in plants and animal bodies, in coal and petroleum
deposits and as in organic carbonate in water rocks shells etc.
photosynthesis brings carbon of atmosphere into the biotic pool
while respiration and decomposition of organic matter adds this
element to the atmosphere
 13

Nitrogen cycle

Nitrogen is an essential element for all living organisms. The main

reserve of nitrogen is atmospheric air. Biological nitrogen fixation
carried on by some bacteria and blue green algae brings the
nitrogen of the atmospheric pool into the soil or aquatic bodies from
where it is taken up in the biosphere. Decay and decomposition of
plants and animal waste yields ammonia which is converted into
nitrite by bacteria (nitrosomonas) and then nitrate by the activity
of the bacteria like nitrobacter. The process of dinitrification brought
about by the bacteria such as pseudomonas, thipbacillus etc.
converts nitrates into elemental nitrogen which is finally added to
atmosphere,

In general each cycle possesses three aspects: I) input ii) output

and iii) internal cycling of nutrients. Nutrients are absorbed by the
plants from the soil and become part of food. The food moves from
producers to consumers to decomposers and the nutrients are
released back to the soil or atmosphere by the activity of micro-
organisms.

1.3.3 LINKAGE OF ECOSYSTEM WITH SOCIETY AND

ECONOMY

We can understand the linkage of ecosystem with society

and economy through the services rendered by the components of
ecosystem. Collectively, they are known as ecosystem services.
For example, when fungi, worms and bacteria transform the raw
"ingredients" of sunlight, carbon and nitrogen into fertile soil this
transformation is an ecosystem service. Walking outside after the
sunrise and feel the sun on your skin. See a butterfly pollinating a
flower, and be cooled by a gentle breeze. The sun, the
pollination, and even the breeze, are examples of the services
provided by the ecosystems.
 14

Let us understand some more examples.

 Mangroves and coral reefs that shelter the shoreline from
erosion and heavy surf.
 Decomposition and recycling of waste
 Photosynthesis
 Storage of large amounts of carbon in plants
 The regulation of climate, water etc
 biomass production, production of atmospheric oxygen, soil
formation, cycling of nutrients

On one hand there is a long list of ecosystem services but on the

other hand human societies grab these services to satisfy the their
rising demands. To satisfy the demand of more progress or
development of the economy, economic activities are developed
on a very large scale and services given by the ecosystem
are exploited ruthlessly.

Over the past 50 years, humans have changed natural

ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than any comparable
period in human history. Growth of population and advances in
technology increased the pressure on ecosystems and resulted in
the loss of vital ecosystem services which purify and replenish
water, soil and air resources. Unfortunately, since ecosystem
services are freely available, they are often undervalued but if
we maintain the quality of natural assets, we will benefit from
greater returns.
 15

Check Your Progress

1. Define what is an ecosystem? What are different types of
ecosystems?
2. Note down the classification of ecosystems.
3. What are the different components of ecosystem? Explain
them with suitable examples.
4. Explain the term biotic diversity with suitable examples.
5. Give the list of terrestrial ecosystems that function in the
natural environment.
6. Why is Biodiversity important? Does it really matter if there
aren't so many species?
7. Briefly describe the functional component of an ecosystem.
8. What is meant by nutrient cycling? Explain by taking the
example of carbon cycle.
9. What are biogeochemical cycles?
10. Explain the nature of energy flow in the ecosystem?
11. What are ecological pyramids?
12. Write short notes on
a) Autotrophs
b) Food chain
c) Food web
ci) Phosphorus cycle
13. Write in brief about the linkage between ecosystem and
society and economy.

1.4 EMERGING ISSUES OF DEVELOPMENT

In last few decades it has become increasingly evident that

global ecosystem has the capacity to sustain only a limited
level of utilization. Ecosystems cannot go on replenishing
resources if they are overused or misused. At a critical point
increasing pressure destabilizes the natural balance. Surprisingly,
we, as a society, do not strongly resist forces that bring about
ecological degradation. These forces are the sectors of the
society that use a 'get-richquick' approach to development and we
support them because we need fruits of development. We wish
to enjoy modern lavish lifestyle.

No doubt, development is for our benefit (convenience

and comforts) but it is a sword of destruction of the ecological
assets. This is mainly due to our improper thinking on what
'development' means. Consequently, there are many serious issues
in both developed and developing countries.
 16

1.4.1 ENVIRONMENT AS A SOURCE AND DEPOSITORY OF

RSOURCES, PRODUCTS

Anything that satisfies human wants or anything that

benefits human beings is called a resource. Environment is a
storehouse of wide variety of resources that are demanded for
survival of human beings and also for progress of human
societies. Water is a resource. We need water for drinking,
washing, cooking and also for agriculture, industry and to
generate electricity. Soil is a resource. The nature of crop grown
depends upon type of soil. It is the most basic resource for
agriculture. Stones, sand are used for construction. Metallic and non-
metallic minerals support industrial development. Fuels satisfy our
energy needs. Forest provides timber and other valuable
products. The list of resources is very long and sufficient to
explain the importance of environment as a source and depository
of variety of resources produced and consumed in the human
societies.

The natural resources are either consumed directly or

processed into new forms to satisfy specific demands. Such
processed resources are called cultural resources or products or
goods e.g. chair, ship, bridge, biscuits etc

1. 4. 2 IM P AC T OF ECONOM I C DEV ELOPM E NT ON

ENVIRONMENT

Throughout history humans have both affected, and been

affected by, the environment and it is used and altered by a wide
variety of people with many different interests and values. Human
interaction with the environment increased during Paleolithic era
(50 thousand to 1 million year ago) when he gathered the
knowledge of fire and tools to bring about change in the
environment. Neolithic period (10,000 to 60,000 BC) was
characterized by the domestication of plants and animals, use of
metals and harnessed energy. Bronze age (shortly after 3000
BC) and Iron Age (starting 1000 BC) is known for large scale
deforestation, grazing of pastures, clearance of land for
agriculture and settlements.
 17

Technological revolution of 20th century not only increased

the rate of resource exploitation, production and also increased the
storage capacity.

Access to the variety of products of technology for comfort

brought about change in human attitude — greedy and careless. As
a result, the wave of consumerism and m aterialism
increased the consumption of resources significantly and
pressurized the production sector and consequently, markets
flooded with the products to satisfy basic and luxury needs of
the growing population. Under these circumstances, waste
dumped in the environment increased by many folds.

Economic growth of human societies transforms beautiful natural

environment into the huge ugly waste basket/ dustbin.
1.4.3 ENVIRONM ENTAL ISSUES OF UNSUSTAIN ABLE
DEVELOPMENT

It is important to note that about 50,000 years ago, the total world
population is estimated to be not more than 10 million. But
tremendous increase from one billion in 1800 to 4 billion in 1987
and today human number has crossed the mark of 6 billion.
 18

With small human numbers in the past, throwing away the bio-
degradable waste was not.a serious issue. But today, enormous
number throwing away large quantity of bio-degradable and non-
biodegradable waste and contributing to all types of pollution is
indeed extremely damaging to the environment.

This clearly indicates that in the 21st century, human pressure on

natural environments is greater than before in terms of magnitude
and efficiency in disrupting nature and natural landscapes and thus
valuable ecological assets turn into serious issues.

 Pollution in many different forms like air, sea, water, noise

pollution is a serious issue and pollution levels on global scale
are constantly rising. Industry, together with vehicles is major
culprit that made our planet polluted.
 Air pollution. This is caused by polluting industries and
vehicular traffic. Burning incinerators, furnaces and stoves
cause it. Wind is responsible for spreading air pollution. The
Ozone layer has been damaged because of the use of CFC's
(Chlorofluorocarbons) which are used in a number of industrial,
commercial, and household applications.
 Water pollution. Industries and factories release toxic wastes
into the water. Leakage from oil tankers causes pollution of the
sea. Pesticides and fertilizers also cause water pollution.
Sewage released by cities into water bodies. It is predicted
that there will be conflicts among nations because water will
become scarce.
 Soil Erosion. When trees and plants are destroyed that
causes increase in soil erosion.
 Destruction of biodiversity. Many plant and animal
species have become extinct or are approaching
extinction because of human activities. These
endangered species may have important uses in
medicine and science for humans.
 Devastation of natural habitats. Species such as tigers and
lions are reducing in numbers because humans are steadily
destroying the natural habitats which sustain them.
 Diminishing natural resources. Mankind is using up
natural resources at an alarming rate. Fuel, water, minerals,
timber are being consumed rapidly. Oil and natural gas
resources are expected to get over by the end of this
century.
 Pollution in Marine habitat. Overfishing has led to the extinction
of many fish species. The oceans are vast but still vulnerable
to pollution.
 Adverse impact of mass tourism – all types of pollution
noticed in popular resorts.
 Adverse impact of government policies -- the policies pursued
 19

in the industry, transport and energy sectors having a direct

and damaging impact on the coasts, major rivers (dam
construction and associated canal building) and mountain
landscapes (main road networks).
 Problem of solid waste disposal -- Waste can attract rodents
and insects which cause gastrointestinal parasites,
yellow fever, worms, the plague and other conditions for
humans. The most dangerous aspect of the waste is that it often
contains highly toxic and hazardous materials that are injurious
to both human health and environmental quality. Exposure
to hazardous wastes can cause neurological disorders,
reduce resistance to infection and cancer. Waste can
contaminate surface water, groundwater, soil, and air
and cause more problems not only for humans but also
for the other species of ecosystems.
 Global warming is the increase in the average
temperature of Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the
mid-20th century caused by increasing c o n c e n t r a t i o n s o f
g r e e n h o u s e g a s e s r e s u l t i n g from human activity such as
fossil fuel burning and deforestation.
 Loss of forest cover. Forest being cut down for timber,
construction and for obtaining extra agricultural land.
Deforestation, particularly in rainforests is serious because
rainforests regulate the climate, so destroying them means
giving more impact to climate change as well as destroying
habitats of many animals and plants t h a t c a n b e f o u n d
o n l y i n t h e s e a r e a s . T h e m o s t important rainforest in the
world is Amazon rainforest that covers area of five and a half
million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) , almost 20 `)/0
of this rainforest is already destroyed, and if we continue
this current trend we'll be soon on a verge of making
the biggest environmental disaster in history.

The list is endless. If we fail to act, we will come to the point

of no return where there won't be any available solutions left
to us. This is the time in our history where we have to show that
we have been blessed with superior intellect in order to protect
our planet not to destroy it. Let us not forget that our future
generations also need this planet to survive.

Check your progress

1. What is the difference between endowment and resource?

Give examples
2. 'Environment is a source and depository of resources.'
Explain
3. Comment on progress of human societies and the resulting
impact on the environment.
4. Discuss the process in which resources are developed in
the human societies and the waste is generated in the
 20

environment.
5. Note down the consequences of economic growth or
development.
6. Discuss the issues related to the forest and animal
resources.
7. Write short notes on :
a) Global warming
b) Pollution
c) Solid waste

1.5 SUSTAINABLE USE OF RESOURCES

Today, environment is a global issue which forces us to

think. What are we doing? What will happen if we do not make
necessary modifications in our means, methods and objectives?

Development of skills and technology may be highly beneficial

and prestigious to human societies but definitely not for

It is a high time that we should re-think and take proper

steps to build up the world of sustainable society. Each one of us can
adopt sustainable lifestyle. To achieve this goal we must change
our attitude towards lifestyle and the environment we interact with.

Love and respect for nature is the greatest sentiment

that will change our attitude from careless to care taker of the
nature. Think about beauty of forest in the rainy season, crystal
clear water of springs, freshness and energy of the tides. If we
respect this, we cannot act to destruction of life-support system –
ecosystem.

1.5.1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable development implies meeting the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.

The term 'Sustainable Development' was introduced in 1987

by World Commission on Environment and Development
(Brundtland Commission) in its report 'Our Common Future'

Let us ask ourselves the basic question -- What is the

maximum number of people the Earth can sustain? If we are
using our renewable environmental resources faster than they
can replenish, the most obvious consequence is shortage of
resources now and the acute shortage or depletion in the
future. We must learn to sustain resources so they continue to
 21

provide benefits to all living beings of present and future

generation.

It a process of change in which, the exploitation of

resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of
technological development and institutional change are all in
harmony and enhance both current and future potentials to
meet human needs and aspirations.

To assure the potential of life support system to serve our

future generations, we must reduce the use or wastage of non-
renewable resources, sustainable use of renewable resources –
including use of fresh water, soil and forest in a manner which
ensures the natural rate of replacement and keeping within
the absorptive capacity of local and global sinks for wastes-
including the capacity of rivers to break down the biodegradable
waste as well as capacity of global environmental system such as
climate, to absorb green house gases.

The United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and world Summit on
Sustainable Development at Johannesburg in 2002 have drawn the
attention of people around the globe to the deteriorating condition
of our environment. It is clear that no citizen of the earth can afford
to be ignorant of environment issues. Even our ancient scriptures
have em phasized about practices and values of
environmental conservation. It is now even more critical than
ever before for mankind as a whole to have a clear understanding of
environmental concerns and to follow sustainable lifestyle practices.

 Practice simple living. Ask yourself if you really need more

material goods to make your life happy.
 Rent, borrow or barter. Can you reduce the amount of stuff
you consume by renting instead of buying equipments that
you use rarely?
 Recycle or reuse the materials and make optimum use of
things you purchase.
 Buy green products. Look out for the goods produced in
environment friendly manner.
 Buy locally grown or locally made products

Situation will improve only if each one of us begins to take action in

our daily lives and thereby we will be contributing to sustainability of
better ecosystem services for us and for future generations.

1.5.2 MULTIDISCILPINARY APPROACH

The quality of environment being the most important issues today,

the challenge is to find approaches to environmental
 22

management to ensure the better quality of life and also the

protection of our environment and natural resources that are the
foundations of our well being. In order to face these challenges,
students today will need more than superficial knowledge. A
multidisciplinary approach is necessary for deeper
understanding of the technological, political, and social options
and strategies for both studying and m anaging the relationship
between our society and the environment.

Thus the study environment requires the knowledge developed in

many different disciplines.

 Physical sciences including chemistry and physics along with

geology, atmospheric science oceanography, geography etc
increase our knowledge of physic-chemical structure of
abiotic or non-living components of the environment.
 Life sciences incl uding botany, zoology, biochemistry,
biotechnology, micro biology, genetics ecology etc. help in
understanding biotic components of the environment.
 Mathematics, statistics, computer science serve as effective
tools in resources management.
 Educati on helps in making people aware of various
environmental problems and their solutions.
 Economics, sociology, mass communication furnish inputs to
deal with socio-economic aspects.
 Political science and environmental law provide tool for judicious
management for protection of environment

Study of environment with a multi-disciplinary approach help

us to realize that sustainable use of resources is inevitable for
present and future generations. Thus importance of
environmental studies is ever increasing in the present day world.

1.5.3 IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

We all know that the environmental problems are

increasing not only in number but also in scale. What is our
future? Today, if we have long list of environmental issues
resulting from the development, what is our role in this process?
Today, if we are experiencing shortage of water, food and other
necessities of life, what will happen in future? What type of
attitudinal change is necessary to assure the continuous availability
of the necessities of life?

It is very necessary today, to acquire knowledge about

the root causes of environmental problems and also the short term
and long term consequences, so that we can understand our role.
in this process. We can seek answers to these questions through
the study of environment.
 23

It appears that environmental problems created by

development are not due to technology or need for development but
rather due to the lack of awareness about the consequences of
unlimited and unrestrained anti-environmental behavior.
Therefore, each action by an individual must be linked to its
environmental consequences in his/her mind so that one can
understand the difference between pro-environmental behavior and
anti-environmental actions.

As we are degrading the environment, we are actually harming

ourselves and our future generations.

This can happen only when educational process will

provide a meaning to what is taught in school and college level.
Providing appropriate meaning to the questions related to our
own environment is the first step towards pro-environmental
behavior.

 I will always care Mother Earth.

 I will use resources carefully.
 I will always work for the protection of environment.
 I will not carelessly throw away the items that are derived from
the natural resources.

Thus, Environmental education has a fundamental role to

play in motivating people to adopt environment friendly practices.
For issues concerning environment, active co-operation of
everyone is needed. Individuals collectively make a society and
movements which begin at grass root level affect ideologies and
policies of the countries as a whole more effectively than the
policies introduced from top downwards. Much improvement can be
achieved by individual lifestyle decisions.

Importance of environmental studies is increasing because

1. It create an awareness about the quality of environment,

both natural and human
2. It studies about functional links between environment,
economy and society
3. Keeps the track of emerging environmental issues, both
natural and human
4. Stresses the importance of measures that could be taken to
reduce and mitigate the environmental problems.
5. Motivate people to accept environment friendly lifestyle
6. Creates general awareness about the critical environmental
problems—their causes and consequences.
7. Stress the importance of measures that could be taken to
reduce and mitigate the environmental problems.
 24

The world today, is seeking answer for the most important

questi on – How to achieve the goal of sustainable
development?
Environmental education is one of the key elements that help
us to move towards this goal.

Check Your Progress

1. Explain the concept of sustainable development?

2. What do you understand by `unsustainable development'?
Give suitable examples.
3. Write in brief about need for sustainable development.
4. Justify the need of multi-disciplinary approach to study
`environment'
5. Evaluate the importance of `environmental studies'.

1.6 LET US SUM UP

Environment is a live dynamic system. Various ecosystems of

the environment are self regulating and self-sustaining. Services
offered by ecosystems are essential for human well-being.
However, the progress in human societies in terms of resource
development of present generations is resulting in negative impacts
on the supply of ecosystem services to future generations.

There are several commonly owned resources that we derive

from environment and all of us use them as a community. The water
that nature recycles, the air that we breathe, the forest and
grassland which maintain our climate and soil are all common
property resources .Use of these resources for progress is
beneficial to human societies but definitely not to environment as a
system. The water we drink, the air we breathe, food we eat is
badly polluted. Forests are disappearing. The green patches in the
city are being replaced by concrete buildings. Waste products are
being dumped indiscriminately. Water is too toxic to drink. The air
is unfit to breathe. Global warming has become a menacing issue.
The disturbance and destruction of environmental elements
caused by human societies will lead to many crisis situations and
disasters in the near future. The human race is at the brink of a
self-created disaster.

,Reducing the unsustainable use of resources and

controlling population growth are essential for the survival of
mankind on the earth surface. We must move towards sustainable
use of resources so that we can reduce the number and intensity
of environmental problems and to some extent protect life
supporting systems.
 25

Study of environment with a multi-disciplinary approach

help us to realize that sustainable use of resources is inevitable
for present. , and future generations and therefore, importance of
environmental Studies is ever increasing in the present day world.

1.7 GLOSSARY
Bio-degradation – oxidative breakdown of natural substances by
microbial activity.
Biome – A large community of plants and animals, characterized
by particular type of dominant vegetation and the associated
animals. Desertification – Process of desert formation
Ecology - The study of relationship between organisms and
environment
Food chain – a series of organisms arranged in a linear
manner with repeated eating and being eaten.
Food web -- complex network of interconnected food chains
Global warming -- Rise in temperature of earth due to abnormal
increase in green house gases.
Photosynthesis – the process in which green plants utilized
sunlight, water and carbon dioxide and prepare food.

1.8 SUGGESTIVE READING

1. Daniel Botkin and Edward Keller, 2000 Environmental

Science : Earth as a living Planet, John Wiley and Sons
2. S.P. Misra and S.N. Pandey, 2010 – Essential
Environmental Studies, Ane Books Pvt Ltd.
3. D. K. Asthana and Meera Asthana, 2007 – A Textbook of
Environmental Studies, S. Chand
4. P. G. Shinde and others, 2009 – A New Course in
Environmental Studies, Sheth Publisher
5. Erach Bharucha, 2005 – Textbook of Environmental Studies
for Undergraduate courses, University Press
6. William P. Cunningham and Mary Ann Cunningham, 2002
–Principles of Environmental Science: Inquiry and Applications

1.9 UNIT END EXERCISES

1. What is the structure and components of environment?
2. What sustains life on Earth?'
3. What is the nature of interaction between ecosystem with
 26

the society and economy?

4. Why do we have long list of environmental issues?
5. Why sustainable use of resources by the present generation
of human societies?
6. What is the importance of environmental studies in the
present day world?
7. Why do we need to protect the environment?
8. Define environment. What are the various components of
environment?
9. Comment on the services rendered by the ecosystems.
10. What are the consequences of unsustainable consumption?

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2
NATURAL RESOURCES

Unit Structure:
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Natural Resources
2.2.1defination And Meaning Of The Term 'Natural
Resource 2.2.2 Importance Of Natural Resources
2.2.3 Classification Of Natural Resources
2.3 Global Pattern Of Resource Development
2.3.1 Resource Rich Regions
2.3.2 Resource Poor Countries
2.3.3 Emerging Gap Between Rich And Poor
Regions 2.4 Let Us Sum Up
2.5 Glossary
2.6 Suggestive Reading
2.7 Unit End Exercises

2.0 OBJECTIVES

 To understand the value of natural resources

 To explain the similarities and differences between the natural
resources
 To identify the global inequalities

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Environment provides wide variety of biotic and abiotic

elements. These elements or resources are being used in the
human societies to satisfy basic and luxury needs. In other words,
it is the human intelligence that counts in the resource
development. Human beings are blessed with a brain which is far
superior to any other animal. They can translate intelligence into
skill and skills in technology. They are the producers, consumers
and distributers of the natural resources that are derived from the
ecosystems. They have proved their ability to modify the natural
ecosystems and developed man-engineered systems. They are
successful in processing natural resources to create a wide range
of cultural resources and vast landscapes of cultural environments
 28

for their comforts. These achievements are however related to the

cultural progress in the human societies. Knowledge, abilities,
monetary resources, skills and technology that determine the
levels of resource development are not uniformly developed in the
world. We are living in the world of haves and have-nots. Very
few live in luxury with wide variety of resources and many suffer
due to acute shortage. This global inequality is serious because
both haves and have-nots are the victims and agents of
environmental degradation.

2.2 NATURAL RESOURCES

Environment is a source of natural resources e.g. forest

for wood, river water for agriculture or hydroelectricity etc
and natural resources are the backbone of every economy.
Obviously, therefore, sustainability of economy depends upon
sustainable use of the resources of the environment.

Some of the resources such as air, water, land are easily

available whereas others such as minerals fossil fuels are extracted
by using special skills developed in the human societies. If
properly managed, natural resources are sufficient to sustain life
on earth. But ever increasing number of humans and greed are
resulting in the depletion of natural resources. It is a great threat
to mankind. Natural resources need to be consumed in a
sustainable manner and conserved for future generation.

2.2.1DEFINATION AND MEANING OF THE TERM 'NATURAL

RESOURCE

Any natural stuff or stock that exists in nature is a nature's

gift or endowment. Our environment provides large number of
gifts. Air, water, soil, minerals, solar energy etc are nature's gifts
to mankind. As and when these endowments are used in the
human societies, they are called natural resources. In other words,
Endowment turns into a resource when it satisfies human wants
e.g. river flowing in the forest is an endowment. The same
becomes a resource when river water is used for irrigation or
navigation or to generate electricity.
Anything that benefits man or anything that leads to human
welfare is a resource.

It is the utility of the good and its function to satisfy human wants
that make a substance a resource. If a thing is not useful it is not a
resource e.g land is a resource if it is useful to produce crops
essential for living. Similarly, water, minerals etc are resources as
they are useful and perform the function of satisfying human wants.
ENVIRONMENT ENDOWMENTS RESOURCES
 29

Endowments exists irrespective of their utility to man. They have

independent existence. They are not created by man. However,
endowments form the base of natural resources. Resources do not
have independent existence they are created as per the
requirements of the human societies. Therefore value of resources
change in the context of place and time, depending on technical
knowhow, cultural development and standard of living.


Resources are created through the interaction of nature, human
efforts and the cultural progress. In the production of steel, iron ore,
coal, lime stone, water etc. are derived from nature. Humans
provide labour — both physical and mental. The machinery used,
power generated and transport facilities are the creation of cultural
progress.

2.2.2 IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Resources are created in human societies and therefore, resource
value changes in the context of place and time. As cultural progress
takes place over a period of time human wants also change.
Change in wants therefore results in the change in the concept of
what constitute a resource. Rivers, in ancient time, were utilized for
limited purpose — domestic needs, irrigation and navigation but
today, rivers are multipurpose resources -- domestic needs,
irrigation, navigation, hydro-electricity, tourism, medium to carry
waste of industries and urban areas. This clearly indicates that
resources are not static but dynamic. With the cultural progress not
only new resources added but the same resources may become
more useful.

Importance of natural resources

1. satisfy our basic needs — food, clothing and shelter
2. form the base of primary and secondary activities
3. land as a resources is a platform for development of
economic activities and human settlements
4. resource development contributes to economic development of
the countries
5. Resources are indispensable to human survival and
progress of human societies.
 30

As resources are very useful, we attach some information

value to them. Resources help to produce goods so they have
economic value. Natural resources like forests, mountains etc. are
considered beautiful so they have aesthetic value. Gifts of nature
such as water also have a legal value because it is our right to
consume them. On the other hand, resources have an ethical
value as well because it is our moral duty to protect and conserve
them for the future generations.

2.2.3 CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

The natural resources can be classified on their chemical nature,
availability or abundance, area of occurrence, origin and utility etc.

i) Classification of Natural resources based on chemical

nature
1. Inorganic resources – air, water, rocks, mineral ores etc
2. Organic resources – plants, animals, micro-
organisms
3. Mixed resources – the natural resources which are
combinations of both organic and inorganic are called mixed
resources e.g. soil. Inorganic matter of the soil results from
weathering and disintegration of rocks and the organic
'component i.e. humus from the decomposition of plants and
animals.

ii) Natural resources based on the availability or

abundance
1. Inexhaustible resources – resources like solar
energy, air, water, wind, tides etc
2. Exhaustible resources – the resources once used are lost
forever are called exhaustible resources e.g. coal, mineral
oil, natural gas.

III) Natural resources based on their occurrence

i) Global resources – these resources are available to all
countries and have no boundaries e.g. sunlight, air
ii) International resources – these resources are shared by
more than one country e.g. river Brahmaputra shared by
Tibet, India and Bangladesh
iii) National resources – these resources are located within the
political boundary of a particular country.

IV) Natural resources based on their origin

 B i oti c - B i ot i c re sou rc es a re t hos e o b t a i ne d f rom the
biosphere. Forests and their products, animals, birds and their
products, fish and other marine organisms are important
examples. Minerals such as coal and petroleum are in this
category because they were formed by the decay of organic
matter.
 31

 Abiotic - Abiotic resources comprise of non-living things.

Examples include land, water, air and minerals such as gold,
iron, copper, silver etc.

V) On the basis of the stage of development

 Potential Resources - Potential resources are those that
exist in a region an d may be us ed in the f uture. For
example, mineral oil may exist in many parts of India having
sedimentary rocks but till the time it is actually drilled out and put
into use, it remains a potential resource.
 Actual Resources are those that have been surveyed, their
quantity and quality determined, and are being used in present
times. For example, petroleum and natural gas obtained from
the Bombay High Fields. The development of an actual
resource, such as wood processing depends upon the
technology available and the cost involved. That part of the
actual resource that can be developed profitably with available
technology is called a reserve.

VI) On the basis of renewability

Renewable Resources - Renewable resources are those that
can be replenished or reproduced easily. Some of them, like
sunlight, air, wind, etc., are continuously available and their
quantity is not affected by human consumption. Many renewable
resources can be depleted by human use, but may also be
replenished, thus maintaining a flow. Some of these, like
agricultural crops, take a short time for renewal; other's, like
water, take a comparatively longer time, while still others, like
forests, take even longer. If consumption of renewable resources
exceeds their rate of renewal they may become non-renewable.

Non-renewable Resources - Non-renewable resources are

formed over very long geological periods. Minerals and fossils are
included in this category. Since their rate of formation is extremely
slow, they cannot be replenished once they are depleted. Out of
these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them, but
coal and petroleum cannot be recycled.

Check Your Progress

a) What is the difference between `endowment' and 'resource'?
b) Explain the term `natural resource'. Give suitable examples.
c) Note down the classification of resources on the basis of stage
of development.
d) Evaluate the importance of natural resources.
e) Write short notes on:
i) Non-renewable resources
ii) Abiotic resources
 32

2.3 GLOBAL PATTERN OF RESOURCE

DEVELOPMENT

Evolution of human societies is not uniform in the world.

The number of resources, their nature and the scale of resource
development depends upon the knowledge and technology
developed in the human society and therefore the same thing may
function as a resource at some place and as a natural stock at
other place. While some capital rich countries are equipped with
technology and therefore they exploit as many resources as
possible. But many countries are poor in terms of both, capital and
technology. They are suffering due to scarcity of resources or
lack of access (due to poverty).Such global inequality has
developed over hundreds of years due to difference in cultural
progress and further extended by unfair patterns of trade between
advanced resource- rich countries and less developed resource-
poor countries.

2.3.1 RESOURCE RICH REGIONS

The countries, economically well developed,

equipped with scientific knowledge and sophisticated
technology, are rich in all types of resources (including
monetary and human resources) are called resource rich
countries. The term 'resource-rich' is used to describe countries
that have a high level of resource development. These are the
countries where population is less than the available resources.
USA -- the world's largest economy -- with just 4% of world's
population consumes about 25% of world's resources.

The high-income OECD member countries are resources

rich countries of the world. (OECD – Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development formed in 1961, includes free
market economies)
 33

Although the combined population of the OECD

represents only 18% of the world's population, they consume
80% of the world's resources. This is due to the pattern of
economic development that ensures that people go on consuming
even more than they actually need and produce high proportion
of pollutants and waste. They produce over 75% of the global
industrial waste and greenhouse gases.

These countries are rich in monetary resources –

capital and per capita income, they put in both capital and
human resource in improvement of scientific knowledge and
technology. They therefore need large quantity and high quality
of natural and cultural resources. Since all types of
resources are not available in their own environment they
are over-exploiting the natural resources of the developing
countries to grow larger economies. Consequently, they are
responsible for over-exploitation of natural resources of
their own environment and also of the developing countries.
Rich population of these countries consume wide variety of
products –domestic and foreign- and therefore resource-
rich countries produce enormous volumes of solid waste and
there is a serious problem of how to dispose of this waste (bio-
medical, e-waste) in environmentally safe manner.

2.3.2 RESOURCE POOR COUNTRIES

These are the countries located in Africa, Asia,
central and south America Latin America and the Caribbean,
Asia, and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and
Polynesia.( which have not achieved a significant degree of
industrialization and in most cases a medium to low standard
of living and they suffer due to widespread poverty). These
are the countries where population is excessively more than
the available resources and therefore problem of poverty
hunger and nutrition (Due to poverty people unable to afford
food and hence people go hungry).
 34

 Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less

than $2.50 a day.
 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world).
640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have
no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to
health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they
reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
The new poverty line is defined as living on the equivalent
of $1.25 a day. With that measure based on latest data
available (2005), 1.4 billion people live on or below that line.
Furthermore, almost half the world—over three billion
people—live on less than $2.50 a day and at least 80% of
humanity lives on less than $10 a day:
Poverty in these countries that affects the resource development is
multidimensional issue. The causes are many and
interrelated.. Some of them are listed below:
 Land rights and ownership
 Diversion of land use to non-productive use
 Increasing emphasis on export-oriented agriculture
 Inefficient agricultural practices
 War
 Famine
 Drought
 Over-fishing
 Poor crop yield
 Lack of democracy and rights
 Exploitative policy of producers
 Politics of poverty
 Aid grants from resource-rich countries but dwarfed
by the burden of debt

Life in the under-developed countries strives to

survive on a meager share, for the want of basic necessities
and in ignorance damage the very resource base on which
rests the life support systems. Thus World's poorest people
are both the victims and the agents of environmental
degradation.
 35


These countries depend on resource-rich countries
for foreign exchange which they earn through the export of
raw materials and other primary products. Moreover the
demand for these products is very high in the resource-rich
countries and therefore these countries are not only the
suppliers of natural resources to rich countries but also the
markets and also the dumping grounds for the waste
produced in these countries.

In 1970, the world's rich countries agreed to give

0.7% of their gross national income as official international
development aid, annually. Since that time, billions have
certainly been given each year, but rarely have the rich
nations actually met their promised target. The US is often the
largest donor in dollar terms, but ranks amongst the lowest in
terms of meeting the stated 0.7% target. Moreover, aid has
often come with a price of its own for the developing nations.
Common criticisms, for many years, of foreign aid, have
included the following:
 Aid is often wasted on conditions that the recipient must
use overpriced goods and services from donor countries
 Most aid does not actually go to those who need it the most.
 Aid amounts are dwarfed by rich country protectionism
that denies market access for poor country products
while rich nations use aid as a lever to open poor country
markets to their products.
 Large projects or massive grand strategies often fail to
help the vulnerable; money can often be embezzled
away.

2.3.3 EMERGING GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR REGIONS

There are many hypotheses about what may cause

international inequality. For example, poor countries may have
 36

been subjected in the past or present to exploitation, colonialism,

neocolonialism or imperialism.

Resource-rich countries, mainly of Europe, ruled over many

parts of the world and accumulated enormous wealth. Moreover,
they overexploited the natural resources of their colonies and
increased many socio-economic and environmental problems
in those countries.

Today, we live in the world of haves and have-nots; few live

in increasing luxury, while many others lack the basic necessities
for healthy, productive life. The throw away attitude and
luxurious lifestyle of the 'haves' not only increase their
consumption rate but also the rate of waste generation and
environmental degradation.

 1 % of the world population own 40 ()/0 of the global assets.

 The richest 2 % of the world population own more than 51 %
of the global assets and the richest 10 % own 85 `)/0 of the
global assets.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted
Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth
of the world's 7 richest people combined.
 50 % of the world population own less than 1 `)/0 of the global
assets.
 Some 2 to3.5 billion people have micronutrient deficiency
(deficiency of vitamins and minerals);
 Yet, some 1.2 billion suffer from obesity (excess of fats and salt,
often accompanied by deficiency of vitamins and minerals);
According to the UNDP Human Development Report (HDR)
2005'the richest 50 individuals in the world have a combined
income greater than that of the poorest 416 million. The 2.5
billion people living on less than $2 a day and 40% of the
world's population receive only 5% of Global income. while
54% of alobal income aoes to the richest 10%

The global inequality is so strong that about 20% of the

global population enjoys a life of wasteful luxuriance whereas
0
the later 80 ' live under conditions of utter poverty and scarcity.
In other words, the greater number of people in the most
populous developing countries, the smaller number in the
developed countries use more resources and energy than those
in the developing world.

The difference between Switzerland's per capita income of

$40,080 and Ethiopia's $100 is striking, to say the least. Indeed the
gap between the affluent and deprived economies in the
global economy is so great that if one were to add the per
capita GNP of 50 Least Development Countries (LDC), it does not
 37

exceed half of the per capita income of one of the developed

countries. In Kenya, 50.2% of the population lives below $1 a day
poverty line, while 78.1% below $2 a day. In Zambia, the
figures are even more dramatic. 84.6% live below $1 a day and
98.1% below $2.

The global economic disparity among nations is

accompanied by equally devastating inequality within the
nation-state. In 31 countries, less than 20% of the population
controls more than 50% of the national wealth. In Thailand, for
instance, 20% of the Thai population controls 52.7% of economic
resources. In Brazil and South Africa, the richest 20%
control 64. 2% and 64.8% respectively, while the richest 10%
control 47.8 and 45.9%. Even in impoverished countries such as
Kenya, Madagascar, and Senegal, the richest 20% have
disproportionate control over the economy that amounts to 50%,
52%, and 57.9% of national resources respectively.
Global Priority $[Link]
Consmetics in the United States 8
Ice cream in Europe 11
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Pet food in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan 35
Cigarettes in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780

Compare the above with the estimated cost to achieve

universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:

Global Priority $[Link]

Basic education for all 6
Water and sanitation for all 9
Reproductive health for all women 12
Basic health and nutrition 13

Source: The state of human development, United Nations Human

Development Report 1998. Chapter 1.p.37)

While the sources of the growing economic gap are

multifarious, policies and decisions made by developed
countries are one important and crucial source. For example,
 38

developed countries—particularly the G-7 countries—continue

to use tariff and non-tariff measures to bock import from
resource-poor countries. This is particularly so with regard
to products that originates in Africa and the Middle East.
Tariff average on textile fibers and garments produced in
African and Middle Eastern countries are four times higher
than those imposed on similar products from G-7 countries.

For globalization to bring about a stable global

economy and political cooperation, the G 7 7 in general, and
the United State in particular, must adopt m ore positive
trade policies toward developing countries. G-7 countries
should not insist on achieving free trade in the sense of
forcing developing economy to open their market to products
produced in by international capital, but must pursue a fair
trade policy that ensure mutual benefits for both developing
and developed courtiers.

Opportunities in richer countries drive talent away from

poorer countries, leading to brain drains. Brain drain has cost
the African continent over $4.1 billion in the employment of
150,000 expatriate professionals annually. Indian students
going abroad for their higher studies costs India a foreign
exchange outflow of $10 billion annually.

The world today is so interconnected that a flood of

consumer goods such as televisions, radios, bicycles, and
textiles into the United States, Europe, and Japan has helped
fuel the economic expansion of Asian tiger economies in
recent decades. In South Africa, some 300,000 textile workers
have lost their jobs due to the influx of Chinese goods.
,
It can be said that globalization is the door that
opens up an otherwise resource-poor country to the
international market. If a country has little material or
physical product harvested or mined from its own soil, large
corporations see an opportunity to take advantage of the
"export poverty" of such a nation. W here the majority of the
earliest occurrences of economic globalization are recorded
as being the expansion of businesses and corporate
growth, in many poorer nations globalization is actually the
result of the foreign businesses investing in the country to
take advantage of the lower wage rate. Most countries of
Europe and North America, which are economically and
technologically more advanced, not only exploited their own
resources rapidly but also the resources of the developing
countries to grow larger economies. So as development
progressed, the rich countries got richer and while poor nations
became poorer.
 39

This unequal distribution of wealth and access to land and

its resources at both nati onal and global level is a
serious environmental concern. There is a direct relation
between the economic development and resource exploitation
and the waste generated in the environment. Moreover, both
affluence of developed countries and the poverty of
underdeveloped countries are injurious to the life support systems
of our planet.

The amount of waste generated depends upon the

level of economic development of the countries. With
sophisticated technology, capital-rich advance countries extract
more resources and generate waste on a very large scale.


Differentiate between resource-rich and resource-poor countries.

2.4 LET US SUM UP

Natural resources are the endowments extracted from

nature and can be used directly or after processing to sustain
human societies. They are classified on the basis of their chemical
nature, availability or abundance, occurrence, origin etc.

They are created through the interaction between nature,

man and his cultural progress and therefore are not uniformly
developed in the world. The countries that are economically well
developed and therefore have an ability to produce large number
of resources are called resource rich countries while the rest where
poverty is widespread are called resource-poor countries.

Technologically advanced countries have developed large

number of resources and are enjoying luxurious lifestyle, at times at
the cost of resource-poor countries. They are not only exploiting
their own resources rapidly but also used the natural resources of
so called poor countries to grow even larger economies. This unequal
use of resources is not a healthy trend. The Earth cannot be expected
to indefinitely sustain the expanding level of utilization of resources.
 40

Added to this is the misuse of resources. It is unsustainable for life

support systems and consequently for the global economic system.
However, even the developed world has began to realize that their
lives being seriously affected by the environmental
consequences of development based on the economic growth
alone and this type of development do not add to the quality of life as
the environmental conditions are deteriorating.

The disparity or gap between the haves and have-nots is

becoming a serious issue both at national and international levels and
is made worse by the unsustainable development strategy.

We have to build a sustainable world – a world that should

last forever. There should be fair sharing of resources. Everyone
should get at least basic amenities – food, clothing and shelter – in
such a way that there should be no damage to the environment.
The resources if properl y managed, distributed and
utilized economically, are sufficient for all living beings.

2.5 GLOSSARY

Emerging and developing economies according to the

International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook Report,
October 2009.--- Afghanistan Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and
Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, The Bahamas, Bahrain Bangladesh,
Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi,
Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile,
China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Costa Rica, Cale d'Ivoire, Croatia, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada,
Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras,
Hungary, Indonesia, India, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan,
Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon,
Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Madagascar,
Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania,
Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro,
Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger,
Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New
Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania,
Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Samoa, Säo Tome and
Principe, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon
Islands, South Africa, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Saint Kitts and Nevis,
Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname,
Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste,
Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda,
Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu,
Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
 41

OECD -- As of 2010, the High-income OECD membership

includes -- Austria, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Hungary, Belgium,
Czech Republic, Iceland, Slovakia, Denmark, Ireland, Spain,
Finland, Italy, Sweden, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland,
Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, South Korea,
Canada, United States, Australia, New Zealand,

2.6 SUGGESTIVE READING

1. Erach Bharucha, 2005 – Textbook of Environmental Studies

for Undergraduate courses, University Press
2. S.P. Misra and S.N. Pandey, 2010 – Essential
Environmental Studies, Ane Books Pvt Ltd.
3. D. K. Asthana and Meera Asthana, 2007 – A Textbook of
Environmental Studies, S. Chand
4. Rashmi Desai,2010 – Environmental Studies, Vipul Prakashan

2.7 UNIT END EXERCISES

1. Which elements of environment are called natural

resources? Why?
2. Note down the various ways in which natural resources are
classified.
3. Differentiate between resource-rich and resource-poor
countries.
4. Comment on the resource production and consumption
in resource- rich countries.
5. Explain the problems faced by the resource-poor countries.
6. 'The gap between resource-rich and resource-poor countries
is widening.' Explain
7. Write short notes on
a) Potential resources
b) Human resource
c) Renewable resources
d) Global inequality in resource consumption







 42

3
DISTRIBUTION, UTILISATION AND
CONSERVATION OF WATER, FOREST
AND ENERGY RESOURCES

Unit Structure:
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Water Resource
3.2.1 Water Resource — Distribution Pattern
3.2.2 W ater Resources — Utilisation
3.2.3 Water Resources — Conservation
3.3 Forest Resources
3.3.1 Forest Resources Distribution Pattern
3.3.2 Forest Resources — Utilisation
3.3.3 Forest Resources — Conservation
3.4 Energy Resources
3.4.1 Energy Resources — Distribution And Utilisation
3.4.2 Sources Of Energy
3.4.3 Energy Resources — Conservation
3.5 Let Us Sum Up
3.6 Suggestive Reading
3.7 Unit End Exercises

3.0 OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the nature of important natural resources

mainly water, forest and energy
2. To evaluate their value in the human societies
3. To understand their present status in the world
4. To suggest measure to conserve these resources for their
sustainability

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Natural resources are getting depleted very fast. In the 20th

century, rapidly increasing population, culture of consumerism
and materialism increased the demand for wide variety of
resources. Secondly, sophistication of technology increased the
 43

rate and scale of exploitation of resources e.g. in the past, it could

take long hours just to cut down one tree; only using saws but
now within few minutes logs are piled up on the ground. With the
same rate of exploitation many resources ill be depleted or
reach to the stage of extinction. Therefore, car ful and rational use
of resources is necessary to assure sustainable production of
these resources in the nature. Over consumption, over
exploitation of resources is harmful not only to natural
ecosystems but also to the production sector of the human
societies.
Conservation is defined as careful and rational use of natural
resources and their preservation from reckless
exploitation.
 Reduce wastage of electricity, fuel and food.
 Encourage the use of environment friendly and renewable sources
of energy like solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy.
 Establish sanctuaries for endangered wildlife.
 Stop exploitation of areas rich in biodiversity.
 Encourage planting of trees.
 Reduce usage of plastic since it is not biodegradable.
 Stop overfishing.
 Encourage organic agriculture.
 Polluting industries should be closed.
 Discourage harmful genetic engineering.
 Recycle garbage.
 Aggressive family planning to limit human population.
 Elect leaders who work for the environment.
 Promote the development and use of environment friendly
technologies.

3.2 WATER RESOURCE

Water is a precious natural resource vital, for sustaining all

life on the earth. It is not uniformly distributed in time and space. Due
to its multiple benefits and the problems created by its
excesses, shortages and quality deterioration, water as a
resource requires special attention.

On a global scale, the hydrological cycle moves

enormous quantities of water in all the four spheres of
environment. Solar energy initiates water cycle. Evaporation from
surface water bodies like oceans, rivers and lakes and
transpiration from plants result in cloud formation. As and when
these moisture bearing clouds come across the cool air,
condensation takes place in the atmosphere and there occurs
rainfall or snowfall. Hydrological cycle controls the temporal and
spatial distribution of renewable freshwater.
 44

3.2.1 WATER RESOURCE — DISTRIBUTION PATTERN

Earth is called wet planet. But of the total volume of water

available on the earth, 97% is in vast oceans leaving only 3% as
fresh water of which slightly over two thirds is frozen in glaciers and
polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen water is mainly found as
groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or
in the air.

Water in the ocean — ocean contains 97% of water but the water
has high concentration of salts. Pacific Ocean is the deepest and
widest among all oceans followed by Atlantic and Indian Ocean.
Arctic Ocean surrounds North Pole and is completely frozen.

Water on the land surface — water in the rivers, streams, springs,

lakes and ponds are the sources of fresh water utilized in the
human societies. Water locked up in the glaciers is also an
important source because in areas where the glaciers melt in the
summer season they feed water to the rivers. E.g. rivers in North
India like Ganga, Yamuna that originate in Himalaya.

Fresh water is a renewable resource, yet the world's

supply of clean, fresh water is steadily decreasing. W ater
demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world and as
the world population continues to rise, so too does the water
demand.

Awareness of the global importance of preserving water for

ecosystem services has only recently emerged as, durin g the
20th century, more than half the world's wetlands have
been lost along with their valuable environmental services.

3.2.2 WATER RESOURCES — UTILISATION AGRICULTURAL

In some areas of the world, irrigation is necessary to grow

any crop at all, in other areas it permits more profitable crops to be
grown or e n h a n c e s c r o p y i e l d . I r r i g a t i o n m e t h o d s s u c h
a s overhead sprinkler irrigation are usually less expensive but are
also typically less efficient, because much of the water evaporates,
runs off or drains below the root zone. Other irrigation methods
considered to be more efficient include drip or trickle irrigation and
some types of sprinkler systems where the sprinklers are operated
near ground level. These types of systems, while more expensive,
usually offer greater potential to minimize runoff, drainage and
evaporation.

Aquaculture is a small but growing agricultural use of water.

Freshwater commercial fisheries may also be considered as
agricultural uses of water.
 45

As global populations grow, and as demand for food

increases in a world with a fixed water supply, there are efforts
underway to learn how to produce more food with less water. through
improvements in irrigati on m ethods and technologies,
agricultural wat er management, crop types, and water
monitoring.

Industrial
It is estimated that 22% of worldwide water use is industrial.
Major industrial users include power plants, which use water for
cooling or as a power source (i.e. hydroelectric plants), ore and oil
refineries, which use water in chemical processes, and
manufacturing plants, which use water as a solvent.

The portion of industrial water usage that is consumptive

varies widely, but as a whole is lower than agricultural use.

Water is used in power generation. Hydroelectricity is

electricity obtained from hydropower. Hydroelectric power comes
from water driving a water turbine connected to a generator.
Hydroelectricity is a low-cost, non-polluting, renewable energy
source. The energy is supplied by the sun. Heat from the sun
evaporates water, which condenses as rain in higher altitudes, from
where it flows down.

Very high pressure water guns are used for precise cutting. It
works very well, is relatively safe, and is not harmful to the
environment. It is also used in the cooling of machinery to prevent
over-heating, or prevent saw blades from [Link] is
also used in many industrial processes and machines, such as the
steam turbine and heat exchanger, in addition to its use as a
chemical solvent. Discharge of untreated water from industrial
uses is pollution. Pollution includes discharged solutes (chemical
pollution) and discharged coolant water (thermal pollution). Industry
requires pure water for many applications and utilizes a variety of
purification techniques both in water supply and discharge.

Household
It is estimated that 8% of worldwide water use is for
household purposes. These include drinking water, bathing,
cooking, sanitation, and gardening.

As the trend towards urbanization is accelerating, there has

been intensive use of water. Urbanization requires significant
investment in water infrastructure in order to deliver water to
individuals and to process the concentrations of wastewater – both
from individuals and from business.
 46

Recreation
Recreational water use is usually a very small but its
importance is growing due to various factors linked with
urbanization. With growing popularity of tourism, use of water for
recreation e.g. swimming clubs, water parks, waterfalls in rock
gardens, boating etc is gaining importance.

The total global water use has steadily increased

throughout recorded history. The trend observed in 20th century is
alarming. A quarter of world's population lacks adequate clean
drinking water & about half lack effective sanitation. In some
countries problem is access to clean water. In Mali, for example, 88%
of population lacks clean water; in Ethiopia, it is 94%. Rural people
have less access to clean water than urban people.

3.2.3 WATER RESOURCES – CONSERVATION

In 2000, the world population was 6.2 billion. The UN

estimates that by 2050 there will be an additional 3.5 billion
people with most of the growth in developing countries that already
suffer water stress.

Due to the expanding human population, competition for

water is growing such that many of the world's major aquifers are
becoming depleted. This is due both for direct human consumption as
well as agricultural irrigation by groundwater. Millions of pumps of
all sizes are currently extracting groundwater throughout the world.
Irrigation in dry areas such as northern China and India is supplied
by groundwater, and is being extracted at an unsustainable rate.
Cities that have experienced aquifer drops between 10 to 50
meters include Mexico City, Bangkok, Manila, Beijing, Chennai
and Shanghai.

Gradual reductions over time in the quality and/or quantity of

fresh water can add to the instability of a region by depleting the
health of a population, obstructing economic development, and
exacerbating larger conflicts.

Conflicts and tensions over water are most likely to arise

within national borders, in the downstream areas of dis t resse d
rive r b asi ns. Areas s uch a s t he l ower regi o ns of China's
Yellow River or the Chao Phraya River in Thailand, for example,
have already been experiencing water stress for several years.
Additionally, certain arid countries which rely heavily on water for
irrigation, such as China, India, Iran, and Pakistan, are particularly at
risk of water-related conflicts.
 47

Why Water is Scarce?

Increase in water requirements due to increase in
population
 Easily available sources of water tapped already
 Delay in project initiation time due to increasing social and
environmental concern
 Contamination of available water sources due to
increase in human activities
 Industrial development
 Human needs and desire for higher standards of living

Conservation of water is therefore, necessary. Nearly

5000 cubic km annual global fresh water use is extraordinarily
high as compared to past consumption and this indicates that
we are moving towards an era of serious water crisis.

Causes of water shortages include natural deficits,

over consumption by agriculture and industry and inadequate
funds for purifying and delivering good water. As population grows,
more people move into cities, and agriculture and industry compete
for increasingly scarce water supplies, water shortages are
expected to become even worse. The Unit6d Nation cautions
that, it, present trends continue, some 2/3rds of the world's
population win live in countries experiencing water shortages by
2025.

Some ancient Indian methods of water conservation

The Indus Valley Civilization, that flourished along the banks
of the river Indus and other parts of western and northern India
about 5,000 years ago, had one of the most sophisticated urban
water supply and sewage systems in the world. One of the oldest
water harvesting systems is found about 130 km from Pune
along Naneghat in the Western Ghats. A large number of tanks
were cut in the rocks to provide drinking water to tradesmen who
used to travel along this ancient trade route. Each fort in the area
had its own water harvesting and storage system in the form of
rock-cut cisterns, ponds, tanks and wells that are still in use today.
A large number of forts like Raigad had tanks that supplied
water. In ancient times, houses in parts of western Rajasthan
were built so that each had a rooftop water harvesting system.
Rainwater from these rooftops was directed into underground
tanks. This system can be seen even today in all the forts, palaces
and houses of the region. Underground baked earthen pipes and
tunnels to maintain the flow of water and to transport it to distant
places, are still functional at Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh,
Golkunda and Bijapur in Karnataka, and Aurangabad in
Maharashtra.
 48

Rainwater harvesting
In ,urban areas, the construction of houses, footpaths and
roads has left little exposed earth for water to soak in. In parts
of the rural areas of India, floodwater quickly flows to the rivers,
which then dry up soon after the rains stop. If this water can be
held back, it can seep into the ground and recharge the
groundwater supply.

This has become a very popular method of conserving

water especially in the urban areas. Rainwater harvesting
essentially means collecting rainwater on the roofs of building and
storing it underground for later use. Not only does this recharging
arrest groundwater depletion, it also raises the declining water
table and can help augment water supply. You can direct water
run-off from this surface to plants, trees or lawns or even to the
aquifer.

Rainwater harvesting and artificial recharging are becoming

very important issues. It is essential to stop the decline in
groundwater levels, arrest sea-water ingress, i.e. prevent sea-water
from moving landward, and conserve surface water run-off during
the rainy season.

Some of the benefits of rainwater harvesting are as follows:

 Increases water availability.
 Checks the declining water table
 It is environment friendly
 Improves the quality of groundwater through the dilution of
fluoride, nitrate, and salinity.
 Prevents soil erosion and flooding especially in urban areas

Once Cherrapunji was famous for the largest volume of

rainfall in the world, but today experiences acute water
shortages. This is mainly the result of extensive deforestation.
There has been extensive soil erosion and often, despite the
heavy rainfall and its location in the hills of Meghalaya, one can see
stretches of hillside devoid of trees and greenery. People have to
walk long distances to collect water.

Agriculture
Conservation of water in the agricultural sector is essential
since water is necessary for the growth of plants and crops. A
depleting water-table and a rise in salinity due to overuse of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides has made matters serious.
Various methods of water harvesting and recharging are being
applied all over the world to tackle the problem.
 49

In areas where rainfall is low and water is scarce, the local

people have used simple techniques that are suited to their
region and reduce the demand for water.

In India's arid and semi-arid areas, the 'tank' system is

traditionally the backbone of agricultural production. Tanks are
constructed either by bunding or by excavating the ground and
collecting rainwater. Rajasthan, located in the Great Indian
Desert, receives hardly any rainfall, but people have adapted to
the harsh conditions by collecting whatever rain falls. Large bunds
to create reservoirs known as khadin, dams called johads, tanks,
and other methods were applied to check water flow and
accumulate run-off. At the end of the monsoon season, water from
these structures was used to cultivate crops. Similar systems were
developed in other parts of the country. These are known by various
local names 3/4 jal talais in Uttar Pradesh, the haveli system in
Madhya Pradesh, ahar in Bihar, and so on.

Reducing water demand

Simple techniques can be used to reduce the demand for water.
Therefore, by improving the efficiency of water use, and by
reducing its loss due to evaporation, we can reduce water demand.
There are many effective ways to conserve water in and around
your home.
1. Put a plastic bottle or a plastic-bag weighted with pebbles and
filled with water in your toilet tank. It allows you to use less
water with each flush.
2. If you're taking a shower, don't waste cold water while waiting
for hot water to reach the shower head. Catch that water in a
container to use on your outside plants or to flush your toilet.
3. Only wash your clothes if you have a full load to do.
4. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth, washing your
face, shaving, etc.
5. Take shorter showers! This will save between 5 and 10 gallons
of water per minute.
6. Don't flush any type of garbage down the toilet. Every flush
uses around 7 gallons of water!
7. When washing dishes, use a full sink of warm water instead of
running the faucet continuously.
8. Check toilet for leaks.
9. Use water only when required while brushing your teeth,
shaving and washing clothes and utensils.
10. When washing dishes by hand, use the least amount of
detergent possible. This minimizes rinse water
needed.
11. Don't defrost frozen foods with running water.
 50

Ch e c k yo u r pro g r e s s :
a) What are the various sources of freshwater? Comment on
their utilization?
b) State the reasons for overutilization of water.
c) What are the various methods to conserve water in the rural
area?
d) Is it necessary to conserve water? Suggest measures. e)' Write
short notes on the following:
1. Rainwater harvesting
2. Freshwater on earth
3. Importance of water

3.3 FOREST RESOURCES

Forests contain about 90% of biomass and cover about

one- third of the land area of the earth. They not only produce
innumerable material goods, but also provide various
environmental services that are essential for life.

3.3.1 FOREST RESOURCES -- DISTRIBUTION PATTERN

Forest type Features Species Areas
Equatorial Dense Mahogany Ebony Congo basin of
rainforest or evergreen Rosewood Rubber Africa, Amazon
tropical hardwood forest Tall trees . basin of America
forest Large and thick
leaves
_ Deciduousforest
Monsoon forest India, Burma,
Teak, sal,
bamboo, Thailand,
northern
sandalwood
coastline of Australia

Temperate Deciduous Oak, Elm,

hardwood forest forest Magnolia, Western and
. poplar, central Europe,
olive Appalachian
mountains and north
plains in USA,
central China, Japan
and Australia

Temperate Coniferous Pine, spruce, Siberia, north

softwoodforestor forest cedar, hemlock
Taiga European Russia,
Norway, Sweden,
Finland, Canada
and North-
eastern
part of USA
 51

3.3.2 FOREST RESOURCES – UTILISATION

Forests are being utilized in the human societies to accrue
many benefits – economic and ecological. Forests provide many
important natural resources – from timber to paper to medicinal
plants. They purify the air we breathe, help sustain the quality and
availability of freshwater supplies, and regulate local and global
climate by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Yet
nearly 36 million acres of natural forest is lost each year. This rapid
forest loss is having devastating consequences for the
environment, and the wildlife and communities that depend on
forests for their survival.

Fuel wood is the major forest produce. It account for almost

half of all wood harvested worldwide. About 58% of total energy
used in Africa and about 42% in south-East Asia comes from fuel
wood.

The logs, the round wood and timber are used for construction of
houses, furniture, ship building, sports goods, toys etc. We also use
wood for making paper, plywood and other articles of industrial
importance. Developed countries produce less than half of
industrial wood but account for about 80% of its consumption.
Non-wood produce from the forest includes medicinal plants,
spices, resins, lac etc

Developments in human civilization are associated with removal of

forest cover to meet various requirements. After technological
revolution of 20th century, world's forest areas are shrinking
[Link] estimates that 4.6 million hectares of rainforest and 6.1
million hectares of moist deciduous forest were converted to other
land uses each year during the 1980s. Rainforest loss was
highest in Asia at 2.2 million hectares per year, followed closely by
Latin America and the Caribbean at 1.9 million hectares per year.

Causes of deforestation
1. Unprecedented growth of world's population – There is a
trend of conversion of forest land for agriculture and other
uses.
2. Demand for fuel wood is tremendously increasing in the poor
people of the developing countries. About 1.5 billion people
in the world depend on fuel wood for their energy
requirement.
3. Very high demand from industrial sector – excessive use of
wood for building construction, furniture, plywood, paper and
many other products demanded in the modern societies is
responsible for commercial logging that involves reckless
exploitation etc.
 52

4. Development projects – forest have under gone massive

destructions for various development projects such as dams,
river valley projects, reservoirs, hydroelectric project,
construction of highways road ways, railways, irrigation
cannels. Moreover much before construction of these
development projects, lot of fOrest land is cleared for
residence of there workers.
5. Overgrazing—animals trample the seedlings and cause
compaction of soil so that its water storing capacity is
decreased and run off capacity is increased the combine
effects leads to soil erosion and deforestation.
6. Quarrying and mining operations – they cause great damage
to vegetation to large areas due to mine dusts, transportation
of ORE and mine wastes.
7. Forest fires – either natural of man made forest fire is
unexpected or unregulated of vegetation spreading over
forest area

Forest. clegradation and fragmentation diminish biological diversity.

The removal of certain species, for instance, can affect the lifecycle
of others. Indeed, many plant and animal populations can't live
indefinitely in fragmented habitat.

3.3.3 FOREST RESOURCES — CONSERVATION

The Forest loss often results in habitat degradation, species
extinctions, disruption in natural water balance and an overall
compromise of the ecological integrity of the landscape and
therefore forest conservation is very necessary.

Methods of forest conservation

1. Afforestation It involves-extensive planting of trees to save
diminishing forest cover. Afforestation restores ecological
balance, maintains biodiversity, acts as catchments for soil,
conserves water, prevents floods, safe guards future of
tribals and leaves the forest resources for future generation.
2. Intensive plantation — it refers to raising the plants on the
available land form villager's field to community land, to road
railways sides etc i.e. on every available space. Such
programs will meet the need of timber, fuel, fodder, food,
medicine, etc
3. Social forestry — it is a new concept about multi disciplinary
activity that involves diverse land uses and different groups. It
requires political support. The aims of social forestry r to be
attuned through farm forestry rural forestry and urban
forestry. Farm forestry includes combining agriculture with
forestry to meet the requirement fuel wood, small timber and
extra in come to the farmer.
 53

Rural forestry involves raising tree crops on community

lands, panchayat lands along transport lines, tanks, ponds,
etc. Rural forestry requires mass scale involvement to rural
people it can encourage cottage industries such as silk,
honey, household furniture, agricultural implements, toys, etc.
Thus social forestry is of great help not only to increase forest
cover but also to bring in prosperity.
Urban forestry is the aesthetic development of urban areas
that involves ornamental plants and trees along the roads in
the parks and picnic spots. Green belts around cities are
also part of urban forestry.
4. Agro forestry — It involves variety of land uses where woody
species are grown in combination with crops either at the
same time or in rotation it results in production of fuel wood
timber fodder etc. and thus provide many sources of income
for the farmer.

Check your progress

1. Comment on the major types of forests of the world.
2. State the causes of deforestation

3.4 ENERGY RESOURCES

The term `energy' is the capacity to do work. Energy is an

essential input for the economic development and improvement
of quality of life. All terrestrial energy sources except
nuclear, geothermal and tidal are from current solar insolation
or from fossil remains of plant and animal life that relied directly
and indirectly upon sunlight, respectively.

Energy resources are basically divided as fuels and

power. Fuels, on burning, produce heat which can be
transformed into power. Wood, coal, mineral oil, natural gas,
alcohol, nuclear minerals like uranium, thorium are examples of
fuels. Utilization of the motive force of the source denote power
e.g. energy obtained from running water, winds, tides, geothermal
sources, solar radiation etc.

About 24% of the energy consumed gl obally, is

used for transportation, 40% for industries, 30% for
domestic and commercial purposes and the rest 6% for other
uses including agriculture.

Technologically advanced societies have become

increasingly dependent on external energy sources for
transportation, the production of many manufactured goods, and
the delivery of energy services. This energy allows people who can
afford the cost to live under otherwise unfavorable climatic
conditions through the use of heating, ventilation, and/or air
 54

conditioning. Level of use of external energy sources, however,

differs across societies.

3.4.1 ENERGY RESOURCES — DISTRIBUTION AND

UTILISATION

In many poorer countries biomass supplies more than 90%

of the energy used for heating and cooking whereas nuclear
power makes up nearly 20% of all electric power produced in
advance countries.

About 2 billion people, one third of the global population

living in developing countries, lack access to adequate energy
supply. Three billion people in the world depend on fuel wood,
coal, charcoal, dung and kerosene etc. for cooking and
heating. India with 16% of world's population, accounts for just
3% of the total energy consumption of which 1 /3 rd comes from
biomass. On the other hand, developed countries, with 25% of the
global population, account for 70% of commercial energy
consumption. USA with just 4.6% of world's population consumes
24% of the total commercial energy produced and is the largest
consumer of energy in the world. There is a wide disparity in
energy consumption in the world.

Following linkage diagram explains the energy intensive nature of

advanced countries.

3.4.2 SOURCES OF ENERGY

Broadly, energy sources can be classified as renewable and non-
renewable.
 55

The renewable energy sources are regenerated in natural

process so that they can be used indefinitely. These sources
cause limited or no environmental impact as compared to non-
renewable sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
Secondly, with the present level of technology, generation of
renewable energy is more expensive than non-renewable
sources.

Among the renewable sources most common and easily

accessible is solar energy. The other sources are hydro-
power, wind, geothermal, ocean wave and tidal energy. Non-
renewable sources include nuclear energy and fossil fuels i.e.
coal, crude oil and natural gas.

Non – renewable sources of energy

These sources are those natural resources which are
exhaustible and cannot be replaced once they are used. These are
available in limited amount and are replenished over a long
period. Fossil fuels – coal, crude oil and natural gas and nuclear
fuels are the nonrenewable energy sources. Moreover as the
industrial development in the world is totally dependent on fossil
fuels, they are being used for a very long time in the human
societies and therefore they are called conventional sources of
energy. They now provide about 85% of all commercial energy in
the world.
Fossil fuels are formed by the incomplete biological
decomposition of the remains of plants and animals which got
buried under the earth's crust millions of years ago. Since their
stock is limited and they take a long time to be formed, they need
to be used with great care.
Coal: With the present rate of consumption, the coal
reserves are likely to last during next 200 years and if the rate
increases by two percent , then it will last only for next 65 years. The
coal is mainly of three types: anthracite, bituminous and lignite.
Coal is largely used for thermal power, industries,
transportation and for domestic sector. Coal is dominant in the
production of electricity,

Distribution of coal reserves in the world

Europe 24%
Asia 24%
North and Central 23%
America
Former USSR 15%
Africa 7 %
Oceania 6%
South America 1°/0
 56

Mineral oil -- oil is the world's primary transportation fuel. It is

the lifeline of global economy. But the distribution is highly
localized. About 70% of the global petroleum reserves are in few
countries namely Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria,
Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Qatar, UAE and Venezuela. These oil rich
countries have formed 'Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) and increased the oil price. The price rise directly
affected transportation cost and lead to inflation in many countries.

Oil reserves
Saudi Arabia 25.3%
Iraq 9.5%
kuwait 9.5%
Iran' 9 %
UAE 8.8%
venezuela 7%
Mexico 4.9%
Former USSR 4.7%
USA 2.8%
Others 18.5%

Natural gas-- natural gas occurs in association with petroleum

in the uppermost part of an oil trap. It is composed of methane
with small amounts of propane and ethane. Liquidified Petroleum
Gas is used as domestic fuel for cooking. Compressed natural
gas is used as an alternative to petrol and diesel for transport of
vehicles.
Natural gas reserves
Former USSR 41%
Middle East 31%
Africa 7 %
Asia /Oceania 7 %
North &Central America 6%
South America 4%
Europe 4%

Natural gas use, most commonly for heating, is growing

quickly; however, while cleaner and less carbon intensive than coal
and oil, natural gas also emits significant amounts of carbon
dioxide.

Nuclear power -- The primary source for nuclear energy

generation, the uranium and thorium, are nonrenewable rare
elements. Their stock is very limited. USA and Canada are the
leading producers of uranium but it also occurs in Russia,
Germany, Spain, Sweden, South Africa, Australia etc. thorium
occurs in Brazil, Australia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka etc.
 57

Nuclear energy provides nearly a fifth of the world's

electricity. But concern over safe storage and disposal of
radioactive waste, along with the potential for accidents,
radiation contamination and exposure continues. This concern,
along with those opposed to nuclear energy, has blocked its
advancement as a practical and sustainable energy source.

As human consumption of energy continues to increase,

further research and development will be necessary to produce
alternative and/or renewable sources of energy that are readily
available, affordable, and less harmful to the environment than
conventional fossil fuels. While our dependence on energy is not
likely to decrease, it will be important to foster new innovations in
energy technologies with a larger focus on energ y
efficiency and conservation.

With the present rate of the energy use, the future supply
appears to be grim. With the approaching depletion of coal, oil
and natural gas the scientist were forced to developed new
sources of renewable energy besides the existing one.

We need to shift from non-renewable fossil fuels to the

new renewable sources that do not harm the environment.
These include sun, tide, wind and biomass. These are flexible
i.e. based on relatively simple technologies that are
accessible and understood by many people.

Renewable sources of energy

The efforts for the development of renewable sources of
energy involve the use of flow resources that are non-polluting and
freely available in the environment. These renewable sources
include water, winds, solar energy, tides, geothermal etc

The renewable sources – solar, wind geotherm al

and hydroelectricity – make up 4 to 5 % of commercial power
produced in the world. Hydro electricity has maximum share.

Renewable energy sources are more than the traditional

fossil fuels and in theory can easily supply the world's energy
needs. This sector is growing significantly since the last years
of the 20th century, Major investors in this field are Germany and
China, United States, Spain, Japan, and India..

Hydel power
Water power has been in use since the period of Roman
empire. Water falling from a height turns turbines at the bottom of
dams to generate electricity. This source is widely used in the
world. It accounts for nearly 25% of the world's electricity.
Countries leading in production and consumption of hydel power
 58

are Japan, USA, Russia followed by Canada, Norwa y, New

Zealand and Switzerland.

Wind power
Wind power is in use since Chinese and Persian civilization. It is
an abundant, non-polluting resource and causes minimal
environmental disruption. But harvesting wind energy is possible
only in areas that receive fairly continuous winds such as islands,
coastal areas and mountain pass and it requires expensive storage
during peak production times to offset non-windy periods. As the
world's conventional fuel prices rise, interest in wind energy is
growing rapidly. The world Meteorological Organization has
estimated that 20 million MW of wind power could commercially
,tapped worldwide.

Tidal power
Ocean tides produced by the gravitational force of sun and
moon contain enormous amount of energy. Tidal energy is
harnessed by the construction of a tidal barrage. During high
tide the sea water flows into reservoir of barrage and turns the
turbines which in turn produces electricity by rotating the
generators. During low tide, when the sea water stored in
barrage reservoir flows out into sea and again turns the turbines.
Major investors in tidal energy are Germany, USA, Denmark,
Spain and France. India is in the list of first ten

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)

The constant source of energy available in the ocean waters
can be tapped to produce electricity. OTEC can be used to
desalinate water also in mineral extraction. India possesses huge
potential of OTEC. The sites are situated off the Indian mainland
and near the islands of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar.

Solar energy
Among the renewable sources, the easily accessible and
most important is solar energy. About 99.8% of our energy
comes from solar radiation. It can be used for direct heating.
Alternatively, the heat can be converted into electricity.

One of the most promising technologies is direct electricity

generation by photovoltaic cells. Since solar energy is available
everywhere, photovoltaic collectors could provide clean, non-
polluting renewable energy, independent of central power grids
and fuel supply systems. But it consumes land and silicon used in the
production of SPV is polluting. Moreover, solar generation does not
produce electricity at night, which is a particular problem in high
northern and southern latitude countries; energy demand is
highest in winter, while availability of solar energy is lowest. This
however, can be overcome by buying power from countries
 59

closer to the equator during winter months. Globally, solar

generation is the fastest growing source of energy.

Japan, Europe, China, USA and India are the major

growing investors in solar energy. Advances in technology and
economies of scale, along with demand for solutions to global
warming, have led photovoltaic to become the most
sustainable source to replace nuclear and fossil fuels.

Biomass
Biomass fuels such as wood, peat, charcoal, manure,
contribute a b o u t 6 % o f c o m m e r c i a l e n e r g y . E l e c t r i c i t y
p r o d u c e d from biomass sources was estimated at 44 GW for
2005. Biomass e l e c t r i c i t y g e n e r a t i o n i n c r e a s e d b y o v e r
1 0 0 % i n Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.
In addition to direct combustion, biomass can be converted into
methane or ethanol. These are clean-burning easily storable and
transportable fuels. These alternative uses of biomass also allow
nutrients to be returned to the soil and help reduce our reliance
on expensive, energy consuming artificial fertilizers.

Biogas
Biogas is produced by anaerobic degradation of animal
waste and also sometimes plant waste, in the presence of water to
undergo biological breakdown of organic matter by bacteria. It is an
environmentally clean technology.

Biogas is a mixture of methane (50% to 60%), carbon

dioxide, hydrogen, nitrogen, hydrogen sulphide and the main
component methane. Biogas is a low cost fuel, clean, cheap and
non-polluting and therefore very useful for rural areas.

Geothermal energy
The natural heat from the interior of the earth can usefully
be converted into energy. This natural heat comes from the fission
of radioactive materials present in the rocks in the interior of the earth.
Presently, there are several geothermal plants in USA, New
Zealand, Russia, Japan and Mexico.

Alternate emerging energy sources for the future

Hydrogen energy -- Hydrogen is the most abundant element
in the universe and can be used in a wide variety of applications,
from portable devices and stationary sources to transportation
vehicles through the use of fuel cells, with the only byproducts
being water and heat. Yet, while it can be manufactured from
renewable energy sources, the majority of hydrogen is produced by
processing fossil fuels which emit pollutants in the process.
Hydrogen as a source of energy is advantageous because it is a
 60

clean fuel that can be produced from water (photolysis) and used
for wide range of applications.

Fuel cells
These are electrochemical devices that convert the
chemical energy of fuel directly and very efficiently into electricity and
heat in combination. The fuel cells are used for power generation,
vehicular application etc. Fuel cells powered buses are already in
operation in Canada and parts of USA.

Alcohol as a source of energy

The use of alcohol as a fuel for internal combustion engines,
either alone or in combination with other fuels, has been given
much attention mainly because of its economic and environmental
advantages over fossil fuels. Both ethane and methane are used
for this purpose. Fuel alcohol can be produced from variety of crops
such as sugarcane, sugar beet, maize, barley, potato, cassava,
sunflower, eucalyptus etc.

Gasohol, a mixture of ethanol and gasoline is a common fuel

used in Brazil and Zimbabwe for vehicles.

Methanol is produced by bacterial anaerobic digestion of organic

waste. It burns at low temperature than gasoline or diesel. It would
facilitate the replacement of bulky radiators by the sleek radiators
in the cars. Moreover, it is a clean non-polluting fuel.

Ethanol can be derived from corn, wheat, potato waste, cheese,

rice straw, urban waste, paper mill waste, sea weeds
sugarcane etc. pure ethanol burns more clearly and therefore
suitable for environmentally conscious transport schemes.
Brazil invests in ethanol production from sugar cane which is
now a significant part of the transportation fuel in that country

Energy plantations
Certain crops like sugarcane, sugar beet, aquatic weeds like
hyacinth and seaweeds, fast growing trees like cotton wood, poplar
and carbohydrate rich potatoes, cereals etc are grown as energy
plantations. Energy can be produced from them directly by
burning or getting them converted into das by fermentation.

Biodiesel
Bio-diesel production, based on the concept of using vegetable oil
as fuel, was adopted as early as 1895 when Rudolf Diesel
developed the first diesel engine to run on vegetable oil. France
is the leading country in the production of bio-diesel. In 1994,
Biodiesel Development Board came into existence in India. It is
estimated that India will be able to produce 280 metric tons of bio-
diesel by 2012 which will supplement about 41.14% of the total
demand of diesel consumption in the country. Planning
 61

commission of India has recommended two species Jatropha and

Karanj for biodiesel extraction and the commission has launched
biodiesel project in 200 districts in 18 states of India where
Jatropha will be cultivated.

Check your progress

1. Write an account of the growing energy needs in the world.
2. Differentiate between conventional and non-conventional
sources of energy.
3. Evaluate the importance of biomass as a source of energy
4. Short notes on
a) solar energy
b) biogas,
c) nuclear energy

3.4.3 ENERGY RESOURCES – CONSERVATION

With the advancing technology in the world and ever
increasing demands, the world is becoming more energy insecure
and the economy is threatened unless there are serious measures
that will be taken in the use of energy.

Energy conservation denotes practices that can help to

reduce the level of energy insecurity in the world.
 Denmark and Germany have started to make investments in
solar energy, despite their unfavorable geographic locations.
 Switzerland is planning to cut its energy consumption by more
than half to become a 2000-watt society by 2050 and
 United Kingdom is working towards a zero energy building
standard for all new housing by 2016.
 In 2005, the Swedish government announced the oil phase-out in
Sweden with the intention to become the first country to break
its dependence on fossil fuel by 2020.

One of the best ways to avoid energy shortages and to

relieve environmental and health effects of our current energy
technologies is simply to use less. Moreover, efficient and less energy
intensive industry, transportation and domestic practices can save
large amount of energy. Conservation offers many benefits both to
the society and environment.
 Turn off lights, television sets and computers when not in
use.
 Use stairs instead of elevators
 Use public transport, walk or ride a bicycle.
 Sustainable sources of energy
 Use compact fluorescent bulbs,
 62

 To reduce your energy consumption, set specific energy

reduction goals for example, commit to using 20% less per
month
 Buy energy saving products whereever needed
 Encourage family members to get in the habit of turning off
lights when they leave a room (taping small reminder notes to
light switches can help.
 Avoid the "phantom load". Appliances such as your TV, DVD
player, cell phone charger, etc. consume energy just by
being plugged in. Unplug them when not in use.
 Turn down your thermostat before going to bed. For every
degree you reduce it, you will save 5% on heating.
 Wash your clothes in cold water. It works just as well as
warm water, will keep colors from bleeding, and saves the
energy that would have gone to heating the water!
 Install Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs in your lamps. They use
1/4 the electricity of a normal bulb.
 Power down your computer when not in use. For desk tops,
turn off the monitor when you aren't using it.

3.5 LET US SUM UP

Energy resources are the backbone of every nation in the

world. Economic growth, trade, migration of labour, modern lifestyle
... all them need energy resources. At present, the entire world is
too dependent on the fossil fuels as major sources for energy.
But these are non-renewable sources. Once used, these are
lost forever. Therefore, scientists are keen on the
development of renewable sources of the flow category. It is not
only necessary to reduce pollution but also to .create a source of
energy that is sustainable.
At present the demand for energy is very high as compared
to the production and therefore rational and careful use of
energy resources is inevitable. We need to conserve energy and
for that purpose we must change our attitude and our lifestyle.
Change is difficult but not impossible. It calls for efforts at all
levels –individual, social and government—so that use of energy
can be rational and equitable.

3.6 SUGGESTIVE READING

1. S.P. Misra and S.N. Pandey, 2010 – E s s e n t i a l

Environmental Studies, Ane Books Pvt Ltd.
2. D. K. Asthana and Meera Asthana, 2007- A Textbook of
Environmental Studies, S. Chand
 63

3.7 UNIT END EXERCISES

1. What are the major causes of deforestation?

2. Give a brief account of the strategy you would adopt to
conserve energy.
3. Write in brief about the forest wealth of the world
4. Give the list of forest conservation methods.
5. Give an account of energy resources developed in the world.
6. Give the list of conventional sources of energy
7. Why do we need to conserve water?
8. Discuss briefly the various renewable energy sources.
9. What are the major differences between tropical and
temperate forest?
10. State the forest conservation measures.
[Link] short notes on :
a) Social forestry
b) Taiga forest
c) Bio gas
d) Water conservation

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4
POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENT
Unit Structure :

4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Technology — the concept
4.3 Man environment relationship
4.4 Man and the discourse of technology development 4.5 Effects
of technology to mankind
4.6 Population in the world in the historical period
4.7 Why did population grow?
4.8 Population growth in the world
4.9 Factors influencing on population growth & distribution

4.0 OBJECTIVES

Dear students, we should in a position understand the

relation between human being and the environment. Because
nature is the ultimate dais to perform our activities. In the last session
we have understood that --
In this session we are going to keep following as our objectives.
 Understanding the relati onship between man and
environment keep an eye on technology as his tool.
 To understand the population scenario in the world,
its distribution and causes.
 To view the expansion of human being as a resource and its
sphere beyond its existence.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

In the earlier unit we have tried to understand how is the

distribution of variety of resources in the world which leads to
develop the human being into a good resource.

However it is interesting to see the discourse of the

development of man in a human resource. The process is diverse
region as well as time wise. All our activities, our thinking and
philosophy are centred at man over the maximum discourse of
human civilisation. And hence, understanding the distribution of
 65

human race in the world over time and space is extremely

important. In this, unit we are going to see the same.

4.2 TECHNOLOGY — THE CONCEPT

The word "technology" means industrial science and is

usually associ ated with major activities such as
manufacturing, transportation and communication. Technology
has been, in fact, closely associated with the evolution of man
starting with tools, clothing, fire, shelter and various other basic
survival items. The co-evolution persists and, since basic science
is now very much a part of developing technologies, the term co-
evolution of science and society which is used at times very much
implies the co-evolution of both basic science and industrial
science with society.

Technologies significantly affect human as well as other

animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural
environments. The human species' use of technology began with
the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The
prehistoric discovery of the ability to control fire increased the
available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped
humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent
technological developments, including the printing press, the
telephone, and the Internet, and other possible mass
media have lessened ph ysical barriers to communication
and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale.

Human society in a theoretical way can be bifurcated into

science base and philosophy base. Development of technology is
a role of science base while inculcation of the capacity to
absorb the technology & translating it into wellbeing is a role of
philosophy base; in absence of which being a double edged
weapon it may result into excesses by few over many. And
hence, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes;
the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power
has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

Advances in technology are generally accompanied by

social changes as a consequence of changing economies and
ways of carrying out life's various activities. An important question
arises concerning how basic scientific discoveries eventually lead to
new technologies and what that may mean to the rational
support of basic research and the future of science and
technology in the developed and developing world.

Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a

number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop
more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and
 66

has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological

processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution,
and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its
environment. Various implementations of technology influence the
values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical
questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency
in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to
machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.

There are great uncertainties in the process that starts with

basic research and ends with an economically successful
technology. The successful discovery of a new development in
research that appears to have technological significance does not
ensure the economic success of technologies that may be based
on it.

The recent past is littered with examples of adventurous

goal-directed programmes of research and development which
have failed for intrinsic reasons or which, alternatively, have
been technically successful, but unusable for economic or other
reasons. Yet over a period of time man is tempted to glimpse
in the possibility of those programmes to apply to the mankind
and in many cases the process became successful.

Basically the technology is a pull for the demand human

base. The public gains much more than the economic value of
technology. It gains culture, comfort, convenience, security,
recreation, health and the extension of life. What monetary
value can be put on the triumphs of health over debilitating or
fatal disease? Those values are to be considered higher than the
purely economic savings. In short technology is characterized by
the quest for the answers.

Check Your Progress

1. Fill in the gaps:

a) Technology is associated with manufacturing.
b) Technology significantly affects _____ & _______ Species.
c) Human society theoretically bifurcated into ______ & ______
base.
d) Advance in technology is accompanied by ______ & _______
Changes.
e) Basically technology is a pull for _______.

4.3 MAN ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIP

In the earlier sessions we have seen that the environment is
an integrated system of all living and nonliving aspect around us. It has
shaped the evolution of mankind. As the environment changed,
 67

man did as well. By the rise of Homo erectus (our previous

species), mankind began to forever shape their environment, over
three and a half million years ago. During many of the ice age .
periods, the environment directly affected the livelihood and
future of humans which resulted in mankind altering the
environment through technology. Although at times the
environment and mankind were linked much more closely. There
was not simply an environmental change that resulted in a change
in man.

Technology is what has set mankind out from every other

animal on the planet. Our ability to create new tools has allowed
us to grow and evolve as a species. From simple stone tools for
cutting to the immense benefit of fire, man has been able to develop
and use technology to rise up on the food chain. The invention of
fire has altered the world with the intense impacts. It allowed the
mankind to prosper and grow in previously uninhabited areas.
Population has spread occupying new areas, new foods, new
animal associates.

And today the picture is altogether different .The actual

number of humans that live on this earth is the problem rather
than how we live on the earth. We should develop new processes
of growing, disposing, etc, to overcome our viral tendencies.
Overpopulation is becoming one of the most preeminent problems
facing human civilization. This complicated, pervasive issue is a
problem of the utmost importance for people of all races,
religions, and nationalities. The key to the survival of mankind
lies in its ability to alter their environment. It is most likely that we
would not have survived as a species if we were not able to shape
it to our will. Although in changing the environment we have started
a chain of events that may lead to future difficulties. The world
can only be altered for so long before it reaches its threshold and can
no longer accommodate anymore. We are drastically moving
towards that threshold without any care to what may happen.
Today, our planet provides for approximately 6.5 billion people,
with projections of around 10 billion by the year 2050. Two
billion of these are extremely poor, the poorest of which live in
absolute poverty and misery.

Increasing amounts of food, energy, water, and shelter are

required to fulfil the needs of human society. Much of our energy
is derived from the burning of fossil fuels releasing millions of
tons of toxins into the atmosphere. The amount of land
required for food production will grow increasingly larger,
while the amount of available land will grow increasingly smaller.

The affects of overpopulation on human society are

numerous. Suffering from a lack of resources, people are often
driven to war when they become too populated for their available
 68

resources. Ethnic and racial differences will grow increasingly

frequent and irresolvable. Increasing numbers in urban areas will
lower quality of life in cities around the world.

The complications of this complex issue are unlimited.

Factors such as poverty, food distribution, and government
corruption are all important aspects. No one will be unaffected by
the repercussions of an overpopulated world, unless we stop the
destruction and"corruption now. With our endless need of new
information, we should be able to develop unique process to end
these problems. I strongly believe that the actual number of
humans populating the earth is the problem rather than how
humans live on this earth.

Check Your Progress :

1. Which change are found in man with change in environment?
2. Which ability of man has helped him to separate him from other
animals?
3. How man grew by altering the environment?
4. How over population will affect human society?

4.4 MAN AND THE DISCOURSE OF TECHNOLOGY

DEVELOPMENT

Technology is a term with origins in the Greek word

`technologic'. Technology is often a consequence of science and
engineering. It was widely considered that technology is simply
"applicability of science' or the 'knowledge of the skilful and
practical'. Every technology starts from a human purpose, from
the intention to satisfy some human need or behaviour. Indeed,
technology is the manipulation of nature for human purpose. Thus
as the purpose changes over time we try to find out new way to
fulfil our purpose in a more cost-effective manner.

However, we must understand that manipulation of nature

will alter the whole structure in a different manner. If we say that
technology as the knowledge of the manipulation of nature
for human purposes, all practical or technical skills ultimately
derive from alterations or manipulation of nature. So, technology
manipulates nature for human purposes. Technology manipulates
nature. Man is a part of nature. By manipulating nature, man
manipulates himself. Thus, technology manipulates man,
influences, even regulate human behaviour, and in turn
compose societal behaviour, traditions and culture. Technology
is an entity that intervenes in the life of human beings in
multifaceted ways, directly or indirectly, trying to alter not only
his lifestyle but his own race too.
 69

This definition retains the notions of both knowledge and

practicality ,(human purposes) but adds the new concept of
manipulation of nature. This implies that all practical or technical
skills ultimately derive from alterations or manipulation of
nature. Technology depends on a base in the natural world
(Science) but extends the natural world through the
phenomenon of manipulation (Engineering). Since we want
to manipulate nature, the ability to predict what nature will do when
manipulated is most useful, indeed imperative. This is very
importance specifically when we try to define the structure of
man in the frame of nature through his activities and interactions
with nature.

Technology is a double edged sword. It intensely matters

who is using it and for what purpose. The usage of technology
starts from the human history about cave. Hunting tools made by
stone might be the first technology. After that we got fire also from
stone. Other technological advances was clothing and sheltering
from wood and leafs. The improvement from those technologies was
metal tools for hunting animal.

To modernize our daily life, science was deployed in a hard

manner' from the beginning. Meanwhile, humans were learning to
harness other forms of energy. The earliest known use of wind
power is the sailboat. The invention of the wheel revolutionized
activities as disparate as transportation, war, and the production of
pottery. Industrial revolution in England was the important mile-
stone in technology. From them that technology spread to the
whole world. And life became easier than before.

Steam engine was the first stage technology. By this engine

we got some speedy transport system. It saved our time in industry
also. Limited price, limited labour and limited production were the
status of first stage technology.

From the invention of electricity we entered into the second

stage of technology. The huge usage of electricity made a new
lighted world. Western countries were spreading such kind of
technology to the whole world. By this time people could
understand that to development of their countries technology is
must. Without it improvement is impossible. Electric technology gives
us fastest life. Without electricity modern life is unimaginable.

The third stage of technology was the era of understanding

and deploying atom; electron, proton. Technology gives us new
knowledge of the element of earth, and by those element scientist
tried to make something special, and the result is submarine.

21st century is the modern age of life. And we use

technology anytime, anywhere, every steps of life. This has
 70

observed the culmination of different facets of science like atom,

electricity telecommunication which has resulted into the widely
known field of information technology; the whole world is relying on.

Not in the field of material but in the field of life-sciences

too we have understood the minute parts of our body, its
processes and also the process of generation of life, which we
try to alter today under the name of biotechnology.

Check Your Progress

1. What is the meaning of the term technology?
2. How technology affects mankind?

4.5 EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY TO MANKIND

There is no escape from technology. In most cases this is

not a problem though. Many people respect and admire
technology because it is there to benefit them. Without the
technological advances we have had over the years, the world
would not be what it is today. What people don't understand
that technology can actually be a bad thing! In society today,
people are looking for more and more ways to be entertained, and all
it is doing is causing problems. People are doing less and less
thinking and more and more watching, listening, and playing, all
because of technology.
Forms of entertainment like the Internet, television and even
video games seem harmless to people, but they are really not. When
the Internet was first introduced, people never thought it would be
as big as it is today. The Internet is an easy to use technology that
can do just about anything. But what people don't understand is
that the Internet is not all good.

Although the Internet is a relatively new technology,

television has been around for about fifty years. There are many
problems with television though, mainly with the content of the shows.
Many of the shows on television portray violence, drugs, sexual
activity, and profanity. People who watch these shows see what the
actors and actresses are doing and then feel it is all right for
them to do the same things. If a kid is watching a show were one of
the actors or actresses use profanity, they will feel it is all right for
them to use the same language.
Much of the information posted on sites on the Internet is
merely opinions, not factual information. When people look at
this information, it looks and seems like trustful information, but
most of the time, it is not. People considered as those as factual
and considered those as an assumptions for their decision
making. Thus decisions made on false assumption go wrong
leading to psychological disturbance and mental stress. This
 71

suggests that if technology is not properly understood and

misused leads to troubles in life. If few do this perhaps other will
control it but when a major chunk of society will do it is beyond
control.
When television first came on the market about fifty years
ago, families had one television at the most in the household, and
most families only used the television for the news or for an
occasional show or two. Today, it is a rarity if you find only one
television in a household. Most families have numerous televisions
in their house and use it more and more for entertainment
purposes. People of all ages are addicted to television.

On average, people watch about thirty hours of television a week.

But the people who go beyond this mark are known to

society as 'sofa set potatoes'; These are the people who sit in front
of the television for hours on end, and will only get out of their seat to
get something to eat, drink or to go to the bathroom. Social
gatherings and even family communication is affected by the
amount of television people are watching. At the beginning, people
didn't know what they were going to do with a television, but now
the question is how people could survive without a television. What is
true about television at this span of time it is equally true in case of
internet. Under the discourse of surfing people are motionless for
hours having slow but steady impact on their health. In the recent
period, scientists have warned about the exposure to radio waves
through mobile phone. In short, technology is proved a curse due to
our mishandling.

The Internet and Television are probably the two biggest

technologies that are affecting people today. Video games though
are another technology that is affecting the individual, mainly
teenagers and kids. Much like television, video game problems
come with the content of the game. Many of the video games on
the market today are structured toward violence. The objective of
these games is to either beat your opponent up or kill your
opponent. What might be the development of mindset on the Kids
play these games, and much like television, see what the game is
portraying and feel it is all right to do the same things.

Whether it is the Internet, television, or even video games,

technological advancem ents have their advantages and
disadvantages. People never think that something that is said to be
so good can actually have a bad side to it. People get too caught
up in things sometimes that they forget what it is there for.
People have to learn to use technology the right way so they can
get the best out of it without overusing it.
 72

Check Your progress

1. How technology can affect mankind?
2. How the internet facility can cause threat to mankind?

4.6 POPULATION IN THE WORLD IN THE

HISTORICAL PERIOD

The world's population grew very slowly until about 1750.

There was a long period of stationary growth or no growth until 1000
B.C., when the world's population was approximately 300 million;
this was followed by a period of slow growth from 1000 B.C. to
approximately 1750, at which time global population was an
estimated 800 million. Till this time, the world's population was kept
in check by high death rates, which were due to the combined
effects of plagues, famines, unsanitary living conditions, and
general poverty as well as the local warfare. After 1750, the world's
population grew substantially; by 1950 it had tripled to around 2.5
billion. In this 200-year period, the doubling time was 122 years.
Growth from 1950 to 1985 was even more dramatic; by 1985, the
human population was 5 billion. World population had doubled in
thirty-five years. By 2000 global population was 6 billion and is
projected to be 9 billion in 2050.

Population growth did not become exponential until around

1750. Before that, high mortality counterbalanced the high fertility
needed by agrarian parents. Death rates were very high and life
expectancy was low; life expectancy at birth was in the range of
around thirty years until the middle of the eighteenth century. This
high mortality was a function of several factors, including poor
 73

nutrition, which led directly to deaths through starvation and

indirectly through increasing susceptibility to disease; epidemics;
and, quite possibly due to warfare. Not only in India but in the
remaining world also the search for new land and the expansion of
the old empires led to counter-balancing the increased population
due to early marriage and polygamy.

Starting in the middle of the eighteenth century, the mortality

rate began to decline in the West, the first place in the world where
the natural balance between births and deaths was altered by
humans. This decline in deaths occurred not because of major
medical breakthroughs (e.g., penicillin was first used only in the
1940s) but rather because of improvements in food availability,
housing, water cleanliness, personal hygiene, and public sanitation.
Later, in the twentieth century, medical advances, particularly
vaccinations against infectious diseases, accelerated mortality
decline.

One complicating question always arise is the pattern of

population growth. Did it rise to some level and then fluctuate
wildly in response to famines and changes in climate? Or did it
grow at a constant rate from one point to another? We cannot
know the answers to these questions. The date of humanity's
arrival on the planet is before 50,000 B.C. Since then variety
of factors,. processes which have resulted in to such fluctuating
patterns. Although paleontologists have produced a variety of
theories for the purposes of this exercise, it was assumed that
a constant growth rate applied to each period up to modern times.
Birth rates were set at 80 per 1,000 per year through 1 A.D. and
at 60 per 1,000 from 2 A.D. to 1750. Rates then declined to the
low 30s by the modern period.

This semi-scientific approach yields an estimate of about

106 billion births since the dawn of the human race. Clearly, the
period 8000 E.G. to 1 A.D. is a key to the magnitude of our
number, but, unfortunately, little is known about that era.

So the estimate here is that about 5.8 percent of all

people ever born are alive today. That's actually a fairly large
percentage when you think about it. In that period the land and the
aspects of nature were fairly available but today the quantity as well
as quality of the aspects of nature which are and will be
responsible for our survival are poor leading to scarcity of the
availability.
 74

Check Your Progress

1. Match the column.

A (Phases of population growth) B(Period)

1. Stationary Phase 1) Till 2050
2. Slow growth rate 2) Until 1000 B.C.
3. Substantial growth 3) 1950-1985
4. Dramatic growth 4) 1750-1950
5. Expected fast growth 5) Upto 1750

2. Fill in the gaps.

a) Population up to 1000 B.C. was _____ Million.

b) Estimated Population 1750 was _____ Million.
c) Increase in population after 1750 ____ Billion.
d) By 1985 population of world was ____ Billion.

4.7 WHY DID POPULATION GROW?

There were many effects that caused the population growth.

It has resulted into improvements in agriculture, hygiene, medical
care, people's health, the industrial revolution and young
marriage. These changes in industry, medicine and social lives
were the causes of the fall in death rate and the rise in the birth
rate and these two factors along with migration trend brings up the
population of a country.

In tropical countries due to warmer weather and

improvements in machinery as a result of assistance from
developed countries like seed supply, fertilisers and cross breeding
of animals; farmers produced more food for people. This was the
agricultural revolution. This then reduced the risk of starvation and
to some extent malnutrition. By improving people's diet the
death rate was reduced, helping the population to grow. In
country like India medical assistance has assured not only decline
in infant mortality but the reproduction period was also increased;
resulting into more children per mother; therefore increasing the
birth rate of the country. The vaccination process, has reduced the
risk of epidemies like small pox, plague, malaria and other likely
diseases.
 75

4.8 POPULATION GROWTH IN THE WORLD

We need to understand what is meant by population growth as it

is highlighted everywhere in the world as a major problem to the
development of the mankind.

Population growth suggests the change in the size of a

population. This may be positive as well as negative. In case of positive
change actual population increases while in negative change
population declines over time.

Population growth is measured in both absolute and relative

terms. Absolute growth is the difference in numbers between a
populations over time; for example, in 1950 the world's population
was 4 billion, and in 2000 it was 6 billion, a growth of 2 billion. Relative
growth is usually expressed as a rate or a percentage; for example,
in 2000 the rate of global population growth was 1.4 percent (or
14 per 1,000). For every 1,000 people in the world, 14 more are
being added per year.

Populations can grow at an exponential rate, just as

compound interest accumulates in a bank account. One way to
assess the growth potential of a population is to calculate it's
doubling time i.e. the number of years it will take for a population to
double in size, assuming the current rate of population growth
remains unchanged. This is done by applying the "Rule of
Seventy"; that is, seventy divided by the current population growth
rate (in percent per year). The 1.4 percent global population
growth rate in 2000 translates into a doubling time (if the growth rate
remains constant) of fifty-one years.

This helps in understanding in a simple manner that

smaller the doubling time, rapid is the population growth.

Check Your Progress

1. "Positive & negative population growth affects economic
growth" Explain.

4.9 FACTORS INFLUENCING ON POPULATION

GROWTH & DISTRIBUTION

Human population has increased dramatically over the last

few centuries. In 1830, more than 900 million people inhabited
Earth. As we are entered in twenty-first century, Earth's
population is nearly crossed six and half billion. At the same time,
extraordinarily large and dense clusters, of people are
growi ng. The geographically informed person must understand
that the growth, distribution, and movements of people on Earth's
 76

surface are the driving forces behind not only human events—
social, cultural, political, and economic—but also certain physical
events—largescale flooding, resource depletion, and ecological
breakdown.

Students need to develop an understanding of the

interaction of the human and envi ronmental factors that
help to explain the characteristics of human populations, as
well as their distribution and movements. The distribution and
density of Earth's population reflect the planet's topography, soils,
vegetation, and climate types (ecosystems); available resources;
and level of economic development. Population growth rates are
influenced by such factors as education (especially of women),
religion, and telecommunications, urbanization, and employment
opportunities. Mortality rates are influenced by the availability of
medical services, food, shelter, health services, and the overall age
and sex distribution of the population.

Another key population characteristic is growth, which may

be described in terms of fertility and mortalify, crude birth- and
death rates, natural increase and doubling time, and population
structure (age and sex distribution). These basic demographic
concepts help bring focus to the human factors that explain
population distributions and densities, growth patterns, and
population projections. Population pyramids, for example,
indicate the differential effects of past events, such as wars,
disease, famine, improved sanitation, and vaccination programs, on
birth- and death rates and gender. For example, a large proportion
zero to 15 years old suggests rapid population growth whereas a
large proportion 45 to 60 years old suggests a mature
population, which will soon require significant resources to
support the elderly specifically medical aid. Both predictions
could have significant geographic implications for a community;
for example, a young population could create a need for more
housing and schools, whereas an older population could create a
need for more retirement and medical facilities. Such
demographic analyses can be performed at all scales.

Almost every country is experiencing increased

urbanization. Across Earth peasant and pastoral life is giving way to
the more economically promising lure of life in cities, as people
seeking better jobs or more income move to areas where
opportunities are better. The majority of the world's people are
moving toward a way of life that only a minority of people
experienced less than a century ago. Population geographers
predict that Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Shanghai, Lagos, and
Mexico City will be the next century's most massive population
centres. However, people in some developed countries are
giving up the economic advantages of city life for the ease and
attractions of suburbs and small towns, especially those with
 77

access to employment in metropolitan areas. The distribution and

density of infrastructure is also responsible for such pattern. Even
in India population density in cities suggests this factor. People
from all over India are moving towards Mumbai crossing its
physical limits to bear those.

Migration is one of the most distinctive and visible

characteristics of human populations and it leads to significant
moulding of population distribution and character. It is a dynamic
process that is constantly changing Earth's physical & cultural
landscapes. It takes place at a variety of scales and in different
contexts. At international scale the flows of immigrants and
emigrants depicts this. At national scales inter-state flow or the
flows from rural to urban areas, which is also a principal cause of
urbanisation. Even at a local scale consider the continuous mobility of
college students, retirees, and tourists or the changes of address
influencing on transit patterns.

Here three types of migrations are to be considered. 1.

Voluntary and discretionary i.e. the search for a better place to
live, 2. Voluntary but unavoidable i.e. the search for a place to
live, [Link] and unavoidable i.e. the denial of the right to
choose a place to live.

In case of first two it indicates a comparative sound

conditions and only a pull factor towards a better living
expectations while in the last one severe political factor or the
unrecoverable environmental loss is indicated.

Thus we can come to the conclusion that population growth is

generally determined by
The size or numbers of the population.
The density and distribution of the population.
. The growth during recent times.
The current rate Of growth and movements..
The age structure of the population.
The balance between males and females.
The standard and ratio of literacy.

While the distribution in the world is influenced by two main set of

factors comprising :-

Socio environmental impact of increase in population

 Depletion of natural land as cities grow larger
 Drop in availability of natural resources
 Increase in poverty
 Unemployment
 Atmosphere hurt by burning fossil fuels
 Endangered animal species getting extinct
 78

 Creating pressure on limited natural recourses

 Increase in illiteracy rate
 Food scarcity
 Chronic fresh water shortage
 Disappearing open space
 Crowded housing
 Air pollution due to increase in traffic and industries
Physical Features which include Availability of water,
Topography & slope, Fertility of soil, Climatic conditions,
availability of vegetation and hospitable conditions for domestic
animals.
The Socio-cultural Factures include Agricultural
development, Available Power,

Access to Other Communities, Infrasb-uctural development,

Political ideology, Stability of the government, availability and
density of communication infrastructure and social custums and
beliefs.
Check Your Progress :
1. Name the factors causes population growth.
2. "Population growth changes with changes in physical
setting" comment.

4.10 LET US SUM UP

Human being is a very dynamic resource in the
environment population growth is causing threat to environment. The
changes in population growth is the outcome of increasing
birth-rate & decreasing death rate. But population is concerted in a
few areas which are favourable for human being to carry out
his economic activities smoothly. Hence population growth or
even decline in population has socio-economic implications. Which
even leads to uneconomical development and use of technology.
But to present technological development is creating problems to
environment.
4.11 UNIT END EXERCISE
1. Human presence is very significant & dynamic element in the
environment Discuss.
2. How the advancing communication medias affects human
being.
3. Explain the relationship between birth-rate & death rate in
population growth.
4. How population is distributed in the world? Which factors
influence on population growth.
5. Explain in detail the relationship between man & technology.

 79

5
CHALLENGES OF POPULATION
GROWTH, ENVIRONMENT AND
HUMAN HEALTH RELATION
Unit Structure:

5.0 Objective
5.1 Introduction distribution in the world
5.2 Population distribution in the world
5.3 What does carrying capacity mean?
5.4 HDI - the concept
5.5 Effect of Population on Environment
5.6 Impact of environment on human health
5.7 Patterns of human health & nutrition in India -case study
5.8 Let Us Sum Up
5.9 Unit End Exercise

5.0 OBJECTIVES

Hence in this chapter few objectives are framed as follows :

 Understand inequality in population distribution in world.
 Study the need for HDI development in India.
 To know about how increasing population creating threat to
environment quality.
 Understand the increasing human health problems due to
disturbance in environment.

5.1 INTRODUCTION

In the earlier chapter we have discussed about various

aspects of population change & the impacts of technology
generated by human being causing threat to our environment.
But environment has its own capacity to absorb the human
impacts. The increasing human impacts on environment are
backfiring on human being himself.

This is possible through understanding the human

potencies as a resource.
 80

5.2 POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN THE WORLD

Global population is growing at a phenomenal rate – It took

all of human history until 1830 for world population to reach one
billion. The second billion was achieved in 100 years, the third billion in
30years, the fourth billion in 15 years, and the fifth billion in only
12 years. Population is predicted to exceed 9 billion by 2050.

We're made very aware of the threats of a changing

climate, how rising sea levels could force millions out of their
homes, threaten food security and increase conflict, but rising
population can only make all of these effects worse. Larger
populations need more land for crops, reducing forest cover,
decreasing biodiversity and ecosystem services and actually
making climate change worse. This we understand as a result of
population more than required. Overpopulation is also at the root
of more immediate human problems – poverty, HIV/AIDS,
childhood illness, access to drinking water and the effectiveness
of vaccination programmes are all made. worse by being
overpopulated. Although, world is overpopulated in
general, it is not area specific. As per the estimates of 2009
world total population id 6.829 billion while the share of developed
countries is 1.2338, less developed countries is 5.596B and least
developed countries is 0.835B. at this rate by 2050 population
of the world will exceed 8.5 billion.

Most of the additional 2.3 billion people expected by 2050

will be concentrated in developing countries, whose population is
projected to rise from 5.6 billion in 2009 to 7.9 billion in 2050.
This increase will be composed of a gain of 1.2 billion people aged
15-59 and 1.1 billion of persons aged 60 or over. The number of
children under age 15 in developing countries is actually
expected to decrease slightly. In contrast, the population of the
more developed regions is expected to change minimally, from
1.23 billion in 2009 to 1.28 billion in 2050, and would have
declined to 1.15 billion were it not for the projected net
migration from developing to developed countries, which is
projected to average 2.4 million persons annually from 2009 to
2050.

Currently, the population of the less developed regions

is still young, with children under age 15 accounting for 30 per cent
of the population and young persons aged 15 to 24 accounting
for a further 19 per cent. In fact, the number of children and
young people in the less developed regions are at an all time
high (1.6 billion children and 1.0 billion young people), posing
a major challenge for their countries to provide education or
employment to large cohorts of children and young people in
the face of an unfolding economic and financial crisis. The
 81

situation in the least developed countries is even more pressing

because children under 15 constitute 40 per cent of their
population and young people account for a further 20 per cent.

In the more developed regions, children and young people

account for just 17 per cent and 13 per cent of the population,
respectively. Whereas the number of children is expected to
change little in the future, remaining close to 200 million, the
number of young people is projected to decrease from 163 million
currently to 134 million in 2050.

In both the more and the less developed regions, the

number of people in the main working ages, 25 to 59, is at an all
time high: 603 million and 2.4 billion, respectively Yet, while in
the more developed regions this number is expected to peak over
the next decade and decline thereafter, reaching 528 millions in 2050,
the corresponding population in the less developed regions
will continue to rise, increasing by nearly half a billion over the
following decade and reaching 3.6 billion in 2050. These trends
reinforce the urgency to support employment creation in developing
countries as part of any strategy to address the global economic
crisis that the world is currently experiencing.

For this scenario there's no quick fix for overpopulation, and

it's certainly not something we can solve in a single day, but
an awareness of the problems and opportunities can help us, and our
governments, make the right decision. Investments in women's
education, family planning, public health and other social
services can make a difference, and should not be allowed to
suffer because of the global financial crisis. Already, developing
nations are feeling the consequences of the financial crisis in the
west —the credit crunch has affected funding for HIV/AIDS
programmes in Africa; 90% of family planning in Uganda relies on
overseas funding and half of the funding for healthcare in Africa
comes from funding sources in America. A financial crisis in the west
risks becoming a humanitarian crisis in the developing world, this
will surely generate the long term impacts not only on population
trends but the human resource generation for very long term in
those countries. Fortunately in our country majority of the
projects are self sustained and the impact of crisis is very limited
reveals a real good news.

Check Your Progress :

1. Which problems are increasing due to over population?
2. Explain the population growth in developing countries.
3. Examines the state of population in more & less developed regions.
 82

5.3 WHAT DOES CARRYING CAPACITY MEAN?

Carrying capacity means how much the Earth can sustain in
terms of resource usage and population. It refers to the number of
individuals who can be supported in a given area within natural
resource limits, and without degrading the natural social,
cultural and economic environment for present and future
generations. It's the maximum number of consumer that can live
in a finite space, like the maximum number of deer that can live on
an island.

Sometimes the term is used in a number that can be

supported in a square mile given a certain type of environment.

Just take an example. A buffalo normally needs 1/2 acre of

land to graze every year. If we have 100 acres and there are enough
other resources you can say the hundred acres has a carrying
capacity of 200 buffalo. But if there is a drought the next year, there
won't be as much grass to eat so the same buffalo would need 1 acre
to live on. Then only 100 buffalo could live in the same area. The
carrying capacity for the area would go down.. In a similar
way the availability of grass can be increased by adding fertilizer in
the area. However, by this way there cannot be 500 buffalo can
graze. At the most those will be 300. Thus every space is having
the upper limit to provide the opportunities to the consumer. This
refers to carrying capacity.

Thus, the carrying capacity for any given area is not fixed. It can
be altered by improved technology, but mostly it is changed for the
worse by pressures which accompany a population increase. As
the environment is degraded, carrying capacity actually shrinks,
leaving the environment no longer able to support even the
number of people who could formerly have lived in the area on
a sustainable basis. No population can live beyond the environment's
carrying capacity for very long. Hence, we need to understand that
 83

if we consume the nature more, less from us will survive. We need

to control our needs.

5.4 HDI - THE CONCEPT

In the development of any country, the role of population

in inevitable. Population play the role of consumer of the materials,
products generated and the services generated as well as the role
of creator of all above. In the sustainability of any economy the
capabilities of population are not only to be surveyed and deliberate
but also to be planned in the expected manner for the goals of the
region in the medium and long-run. And hence, this need was
realize in the decade of 1990s which was solved by a process of
single number index. Only a single number would shift the
attention of policy-makers from concentration on economic to
human wellbeing. This was devised and launched by Pakistani
Economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990. Haq was sure that a simple
composite measure of human development was needed in order
to convince the public, academics, and policy-makers that they can
and should evaluate development not only by economic advances
but also improvements in human well-being.

The HDI combines three dimensions:

 Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and
longevity.
 Knowledge and education, as measured by the adult literacy

The Human development Index (HDI) - is a summary

composite index that measures a country’s average
achievements in three basic aspects of human development:
longevity, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
Longevity is measured by life expectancy at birth; knowledge is
measured by a combination of the adult literacy rate and the
combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment
ratio; and standard of living by GDP per capital.

rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary

secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (with one-third
weighting).
 Standard of living, as measured by the natural logarithm of
gross domestic product per capital at purchasing power
parity.

The Human Development Index has been criticised on a

number of grounds, including failure to include any ecological
considerations, focusing exclusively on national performance and
ranking, and not paying much attention to development from a
 84

global perspective. Secondly, the human development reports

have lost touch with their original vision and the index fails to
capture the essence of the world to seek the actual picture. The
index has also been criticized as outmoded and measuring
aspects of development that have already been studied
thoroughly world over. The index has further been criticised for
having an inappropriate treatment of income, lacking year-to-year
comparability, and assessing development differently in different
groups of countries.

Know your population world

 Two-thirds of Earth’s population lives within the mid
latitudes, and almost 90 percent of the world’s population
lives north of the equator.
 Around 90 percent of the world’s population is concentrated
on only 20 percent of the land surface. Therefore, a large
majority of Earth’s inhabitants live on and occupy a small
portion of Earth’s total habitable land area.
 There major population centers around the world include:
East Asia (China, the Koreas, and Japan); South Asia (India,
Pakistan, and Bangladesh); and contain over one billion
people: China and India. Since Earth’s population is sixth of
the Earth’s total human population. Each major world region
contained the following percentage of the Earth’s total
population in 1999:Africa (12.8%), Asia (60.8%), Europe
(12.2%), Latin America and the Caribbean (8.5%), North
America (5.1%). Oceania (0.5%).
 While low-lying areas are more preferable for the locations of
settlements, still a large portion of the Earth remains quite
uninhabited. The sparsely population regions include
northern and western North America, northern and central
Asia, and interior South America, interior Africa, and the
interior of Australia.
 Cities and urban regions have seen dramatic increases in
population over the last fifty years, with much growth
continuing at present and into the future. Currently the
Earth’s urban population is estimated to be around 3.5 billion
people.

5.4.1 HOW HDI INFLUENCE ON ECONOMY

Human development is very important in terms of living
conditions in any country. The society committed to improving
the life of its people must also be committed to full and equal
rights for all members of the country. The UN considers three
factors to calculate human development in a country. These
factors cover many aspects of a country, including social
 85

development in a country. Income, education, and healthy living

are considered to be the most important factors in human
development, which help to rid populations of poverty, and support
human rights. First, the improvement of lives is directly related to
tvoman rights. According to the 2000 UN Human Development
Report, a more developed country with more rights today, as
opposed to 1970, can expect a newborn to live 10 more years, adult
literacy cut in half, and infant mortality rates cut by over 40%. The
more freedom and rights a person has, the more opportunity, and
better chance for a good standard of living he possesses.

The rights to food, health, education and privacy were

fundamental building blocks of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. Humans, then, can realize what they are capable
of achieving. Similarly, a less developed country with less freedom,
demotivates people and takes away opportunity from somebody to
achieve their best. Moreover, national security, criminal justice, and
freedom ofspeech are other factors in human and social
development; without these, again, one cannot achieve their full
potential.

Second, the UN considers income as is a very important factor

in determining human development. Income determines some
human rights in a country, and general standards of living.
People in poverty are usually denied rights, which include civil,
political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Human rights are
directly related to human development. Discrimination against the
poor is generally ignoring or denying their freedom of expression.
Labour or communication rights, for example, may not be
agreeable for the poor, which could mean unacceptable terms.
Thus, the poor will become poorer, while the rich can thrive off of
their cheap labour. This creates a larger gap in income distribution
in a country. The larger the gap, the more unequal a country is.
Without basic labour rights or freedoms, citizens may not be able to
access social or economic rights. In addition to rights, a higher
income generally means higher standards of living. This includes
clean water and food, adequate shelter, good communications, and
a method for transportation. A less developed country lacks these,
while a higher developed country, with a higher human development
index, essentially contains all cf these.

Second, education is another important factor in

determining human development. Education determines the future of
a country. Without good education, children cannot make the country
progress and advance when they grow up. This would be the
reversal of human development. Generally, the less educated
people are, the less likely they will be able to understand
complicated job tasks. This includes standard information literacy.
Without knowing simple or complicated work or technology,
especially in today's world, a country will not progress. In addition,
 86

education can also be related to population growth or a lack of

resources. Poor education can mean a country has a very high
population growth rate. This is due to a lack of resources and
money. The poor usually tend to have many children, especially in
less developed countries. With a high growth rate, the demographic
transition will be harder to achieve. In addition, as the population
increases with youth and a lack of education, there will be more
poverty with the same amount of resources, if the government does
not increase public expenditures on education. It has been proven
that an increase of education creates a rise in a nation's GDP.
Third, healthy living or life expectancy is another factor used by the
UN to calculate the human development index. This factor deals with
living standards and possibly surrounding environment. Generally,
a country with more human rights and national security will have
citizens with higher life expectancies. A country in national calamity,
may it be natural like draught, famine or human like war, or one with
poor sanitation conditions is likely to have lower life expectancy.
Other factors of life expectancy are diseases, and a lack of
resources, including food. This means that the country's
government is not protecting them, or even helping to provide clean
and healthy living conditions. Protecting or providing the right to live
a clean and healthy life is essential. Without a long life
expectancy, in addition, humans cannot achieve many things.
This is somewhat linked to the education factor. Full education of a
human takes quite a long time, moreover, education is not a time
bound process. Conventional education may halt in short span of
time but to keep a good pace with techno-scientific
advancement, any member of national workforce, may it be
physical labourer, management practitioner or the engineering or
medical professional is inevitable. If the person's life
expectancy is not long after educational achievement, there is not
much he or she can achieve, especially with no experience. In
comparison to a country with much higher life expectancy, the
country will usually have a lower hum an development index.

Thus, the UN chooses three very important indicators for

human development because they are the simplest way of
calculating social development in a country. The more social
development, the more human rights the country tends to have.
In addition, equal human rights help all humans to achieve
anything to the best of their abilities. This tends to lower the
poverty rate and raise equality within a country. The more equal a
country is, the more developed, as the human development index
depicts.

5.4.2 HDI IN INDIA

After the process of rapid development in the world oriented
to computer revolution and communication expansion over the
last two decades economic growth has got a lot more attention
among policymakers, corporate, economists, and academics in
 87

India and across the world. Since 1991, when India has
accepted and executed liberalization, privatization, and
globalization policies, GDP growth rate has become a key
word. It has got disproportionate amount of attention from
policymakers and economists. It has been used excessively to
measure the success or failure of any policy. But after two
decades it has become clearly visible that GDP growth rate
alone cannot m easure the development of a nation. The
difference between growth and development too has become
clearer. The growth clearly indicate the conversion of goal
achievements into GDP or rise in income level, the
development is the indicator of the level of distribution of the
benefits in the political state almost equally among all, not only in
terms of mare money but its adaptation in terms of health, both
physical and mental, updating information and knowledge
pertaining to his field of action and the liberty and human rights
he or she observes in the state.

In spite of fast paced economic growth for last 10-20 years,

a large part of our population remains illiterate. A large part
of our population does not have the access to safe drinking water
and proper medical care. Highest number of malnourished children
belongs to our nation. Majority of our educated population still
possess the discriminative gender attitude, the rate of crime has
never shown a waning trend. These are some of the bitter realities
which GDP growth based measurement never reflects. All these
facts suggest the need of a more holistic approach to measure the
development and growth.

Human Development Index (HDI) is the best available

choice to measure the development. It measures the
development on the basis of income, education & knowledge,
and life expectancy at birth. It covers many aspects of
development rather than just income and hence offers better
insight to the development. This report proposes to use Human
Development Index (HDI) for measuring development.

In the HDI of 2007, India was ranked 128, now we are at 132.
The place of India in Human Development Index (HDI) is
progressively higher. Even if we considered eight major economies
of South Asia in the 2009 Human Development Report, show a
dismal record with all countries relegated to the third category of
medium development states with the global rankings falling in the
second half of the listings of 182 countries. Topping the ranking list
of the South Asian nations in 2007, the date for which
comprehensive data was available, was Maldives (95), followed by
Sri Lanka (102), Bhutan (132), India (134), Pakistan (141), Nepal
(144), Bangladesh (146) and Afghanistan (182).
 88

The worst aspect of the India's low HDI ranking was its
dismal record in even a core area like life expectancy. Life
expectancy at birth in India was only 63.4 years, which pushed it
down in the last but one category, just above Afghanistan where
the life expectancy was a dismal 43.6 years.

India's record on life expectancy is made worse by the low rates

of survival of young persons. The estimates show that the
probability of dying before the age of 40 is among the highest in
India, with 15.5% of the cohort loosing their lives. This is almost
three times the level of mortality in Sri Lanka where only 5.5% of the
population fails to cross the 40-age mark.

Hence, we can conclude that government need to fill up this

gap and should try to bring a uniform rate of growth throughout the
country instead of concentration over and area, region or state. The
need is to bring more useful projects and programmes and to
end up the old once.

Check Your Progress

1. Why the need for Human Development Index is felt?
2. What are the dimensions of HDI?
3. Why HDI has been criticized

5.5 EFFECT OF POPULATION ON ENVIRONMENT

The population of the world is slowly increasing. As this
happens, we need to take great caution in making sure we don't
harm the environment. If we don't be careful then it could lead to
disastrous effects for us and nature.

As cities grow larger and larger the natural land around

them is being turned into homes and office buildings. We need to
set up more parks inside cities to- allow for the large amount of
urbanization. These parks help to beautify the city while helping to
preserve our environment.

As we build these homes and cities we are using more

and more lumber and other natural resources for the buildings.
We need to limit how much quarrying is allowed in one area and
they need to be replanted instead of left bare. If you have ever
seen the aftermath of a quarry you would understand how it is a
scar to the earth.

When we use the trees in a rainforest or any forest we

should replant at least the same amount of trees that we took
out of it. Birds, squirrels, and other animals use these forests to
survive and gather food. Without this natural habitat they will slowly
begin to die off.
 89

Also alternative power sources should be researched

and used more heavily. As we burn more and more fossil fuels we
are hurting the atmosphere and slowly losing those valuable
resources. Learning how to expand our uses of solar, wind, and
hydro-electric energy will greatly help save the environment.

It may not seem like nature is being hurt any now. However,
as time goes on we will slowly begin to see a decline of animals
and may even see some species go extinct and if we don't
change the way we live we may soon outgrow nature herself.

Check Your Progress

1. How cities can able to preserve their environment?
2. What problems are generated due to excessive quarrying around
cities?
3. What is the need for alternative power Sources?

5.6 IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENT ON HUMAN

HEALTH

A clean and healthy environment is part and parcel of the

wealth and quality of life that we desire for ourselves now and
for our children in the future. People demand that the air they
breathe, the water they drink, and the food they eat is free of
pollution and contaminants; they want to live undisturbed by noise,
and they want to enjoy the beauty of the rural areas, unspoiled
clean coastlines and mountain areas. They also want a world
which will not be affected by the so called climatic change.

Healthy and balanced natural systems are essential for

supportirig life on this planet. Society relies on nature to provide
us with the resources for our survival: air, water, food, fibers,
medicines, and building materials. Children need to grow up aware
of the nature around them. As human beings we have a
responsibility to preserve the actual value of nature both for
ourselves and for future generations.

In recent decades, there has been a growing realization

that the quality of our air, water, soil, and food affect the quality of
our health and of our lives. This ranges from increased allergies,
respiratory disease, and cancers to the disorder of the body's
hormone and fertility systems, and premature death. In the recent
year the
 90

Socio environmental impact of increase in population

 Depletion of natural land as cities grow larger
 Drop in availability of natural resources
 Increase in poverty
 Unemployment
 Atmosphere hurt by burning fossil fuels
 Endangered animal species getting extinct
 Creating pressure on limited natural recourses
 Increase in illiteracy rate
 Food scarcity
 Chronic fresh water shortage
 Disappearing open space
 Crowded housing
 Air pollution due to increase in traffic and industries

functional diseases are declined because of the active medical and

sanitation system while because of our lifestyle the structural
diseases are rapidly increasing. This is easily proved in terms of the
cases of diabetes, blood disorders, and variety of syndromes. The
causes of our various environment-health problems are numerous

Woman Education - An answer

Education of women in multi-faceted with connections
affecting all areas of their lives. The availability of birth
control gives women the freedom to explore many avenues
including higher education and a professional life if they
chose it. An educated woman is empowered and might seek
fulfillment in her life besides the traditional role of wife and
mother. These roles do not have to be devalued because
she wants more out of life. On the contrary, it can make her
a better wife and mother because she feels valued and
productive.

Women in America have only been voting for a little over one
hundred years, and the climb into politics, the corporate
world, civil institutions, and just about every other area
where women have been deprived of equal status and
financial opportunity have been challenged. I have to
disagree with the idea that women will never be given
authority. And now is the time for young girls and women to
see they have choices, and they can be corporate CEOs,
professors, politicians, and even president.
 91

and include pollution from transport, agricultural activities, industrial

processes, domestic waste matter and waste management.
Not only human bodies but other animals and birds are also
affected by human activities.

Over years, different kinds of fertilizers and biocides & other

chemicals were used in agriculture to obtain the best crops.
Soil, much like every living creature needs vitamins, needs to
replenish its nutrients. These nutrients are found in healthy soil,
and it helps grow and protect the plants from insects, bugs, and
weed killers. These chemicals later reached to human bodies
though system of food-web. Human and other bodies have
reacted to these unidentified chemicals and as a result the
genetic change has occurred. Animals are having distorted
bodies, lead to different Harmon system which again affect
human body, e.g. mad cow disease. The pesticides and herbicides
used in agriculture are the holders of the toxins that cause
cancer. Studies in N. America stated that some breast milk
contains more than 200 toxins that are known to cause cancer.
Aerosols which we use widely in today's life is a collective name
of firm or liquid particles, which contaminate the air. Firm
components of aerosols, in some cases, are especially dangerous to
living creatures, because they are linked to the cause of specific
diseases. In the atmosphere, aerosol pollution is perceived as
smoke, fog, haze or fumes. Plenty of dust particles are also
formed during the industrial activity of many businesses and
people.

Even if it is decided to grow foods without pesticides it may

prove very difficult because the cropping system may
absorb the pesticides from the soil, or be exposed to them while
growing from the air or even during packing and transportation.

Check Your Progress

1. Why the nature has to be preserved?
2. Which problems are generating due to decreasing environmental
quality?
3. "The problem of agricultural land is increasing." Explain with
suitable examples.

5.7 PATTERNS OF HUMAN HEALTH &

NUTRITION IN INDIA- CASE STUDY

5.7.1 Tracking Health and Well-being in Goa's Mining Belt New

tools promote the sustainable development of mining
A strong mining sector can provide "good" jobs and generate
much needed revenue for cash-strapped governments. But it
can also ruin landscapes and transform communities. In the
Indian state of Goa, researchers supported by Canada's
 92

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) have

developed a series of tools to assess the trade-offs. The goal is to
ensure that the mining and mineral industry contributes equitably
to the well-being of local people.

The Indian state of Goa is better known for its beaches and as
a Mecca for backpackers than as the backbone of India's iron ore
industry. Yet, the mining belt that stretches across the middle of
this tiny state accounts for 60 percent of the nation's iron ore
exports. The contrast between the picture-perfect beaches of the
coast and the pockmarked landscape of the interior is stark. Open
pit mining operations have left an indelible mark on the region: hills
have been

Population density of the continents

 North America - 32 people per square mile
 South America - 73 people per square mile
 Europe - 134 people per square mile
 Asia - 203 people per square mile
 Africa - 65 people per square mile
 Australia - 6.4 people per square mile

flattened. forests razed. and fields blanketed in silt run-off from

waste sites and processing plants. Look beyond the fractured
landscape, however, and you will see that jobs have been created,
health and education standards have improved, and money spent
locally has brought a measure of material wealth.

Goa's story is one that has been repeated in mineral-rich regions

the world over where economic imperatives have pushed
environmental concerns aside. Where this story differs, though, is
in the steps being taken to change the narrative.

The search for balance

"Closing the mines because of their environmental impact is not an
option for Goa," says Dr Ligia Noronha of the Western Regional
Centre of the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI). "But there is a
need to bring about some balance between the economic gains
and the environmental losses to ensure greater sustainability for
the region and local communities.

"Finding ways to achieve that balance is the driving force behind

the research in which TERI is now engaged. "Mining is one of those
activities that really connects issues relating to people,
development, and the environment," says Dr Noronha. "But its
contribution -- negative and positive -- to health and well-being is
poorly understood. More important, it's not well communicated."
 93

As a result, local communities, governments, and mining

companies are often uncertain about their respective roles and
responsibilities in mining development, and they are unable to
act or participate effectively in decisions related to mining
activities. This is the information that Dr Noronha and the team
she leads have sought to provide. The team includes economists,
a biologist, a biochemist, an environmental geologist, a political
scientist, and a specialist in health and social research statistics.
They have developed a series of tools to measure the well-being of
local communities and the surrounding environment. "By allowing

Advantages of girl education

1. Economic Productivity
2. Social Development
3. Social and economic understanding
4. Intergenerational Education
5. Sustainability of Developmental Efforts

changes in well-being to be measured over time, these tools can

enable greater participation and conflict resolution. They can also
improve decision making," asserts Dr Noronha.

• Building local trust

"Early on, we understood that we needed a broad
perspective for understanding well-being and its determinants, as
well as a means of addressing the various realities of the people
living and working in mining areas," says Dr Noronha. "W e
chose an ecosystem approach because it places an equal
emphasis on concerns related to the environment, the economy,
and the community in assessing the significance of an
economic activity to human well-being. For us, it seemed the
best way to go."

The TERI team also recognized that the active

involvement of mining companies, state and local governments,
and villagers in mining communities would be critical to arriving
at workable solutions. "The mai:i challenge," says Dr Noronha,"
was convincing the groups that we did not have vested interests --
that we were not out to close mines, to do people out of jobs or
governments out of revenue, but to arrive at the shared
understanding of the trade-offs and possibilities. Fortunately, things
worked well and we received the full support of the local
communities, industry, and the government during this project."

To overcome early skepticism, the TERI team launched a

process they refer to as "multistakeholder issue
development." Mining company representatives, government
officials, and community members were involved in identifying and
 94

validating critical issues associated with mining, with developing

and testing tools, and in resolving problems that arose as the
project progressed. "The multistakeholder process was a central
feature of our work," says Dr Noronha. "It ensured that the issues
were acceptable to all the stakeholders, that it reflected their
priorities, and that the issues left out were less important than
those that were included."

The common set of core issues to emerge from this

process were:
 land: its availability for mining operations and issues of
compensation to farmers;
 environmental quality: concerns about the degradation of air,
water, lands, and forests;
 post-mine closure: issues of unemployment, income potential,
migration rates, alcoholism, and environmental cleanup;
 human and physical investment in the region: education,
basic amenities, rent-sharing with locals, training
opportunities, and health care facilities;
 social and community relations: nongovernmental
organizations' interference, political interference, media
under-reporting of problems, cosmetic attention to problems,
and consultation; and
 effective administration: rule enforcement, goals achieved, and
accountability.

Working from this core set of issues, the TERI

researchers developed three tools for measuring the impact of
mining activities and their effect on well-being: (1) a set of
environmental and social performance indicators to measure the
economic, environmental, and social costs of mining; (2) a
"quality of life" instrument to assess the well-being of people in
mining areas over time; and (3) an income-accounting tool to
gauge the long-term economic viability of mining activities.

5.7.2 Assessing change

The purpose of environmental and social performance
indicators is to measure trends. "Changes in indicators over time
can then point to what is happening in the mining region, whether
impacts are positive or negative, whether problems are growing
or decreasing, and whether or not current policies are achieving
desired goals," says Dr Noronha. "They can also point out
actions and areas of concern to the main stakeholders."

The TERI team developed indicators for each of the

stakeholder groups. For mining companies, for example, whether
wastewater was treated and tailings water was recycled served as
indicators of environmental performance. In villages, water levels
in wells and rivers served as indicators of environmental
 95

quality. Because monitoring was done by government agencies,

they also served as indicators of good environmental governance.

A pre-pilot test of the indicators was done with a few

companies and the Goa Mineral Exporters Association to see if
the language used was clear and to ensure that the indicators
had policy relevance. Where testing showed that data for
proposed indicators did not exist or would be difficult to obtain,
those indicators were dropped from the final set. Examples of
indicators that were dropped include the lowest wages paid by
worker category, the number of patents filed, and worker retraining
expenditures as a percentage of the total spent on all human
resource development. Other indicators, not captured in the first
round, were added: concerns of workers, for example, were
included because they were seen as important to the mining
companies, governments, and the communities in which the
workers lived. The revised list of indicators was then field-tested
and validated.

5.7.3 Monitoring quality of life

In developing the quality of life (QOL) instrument, the
TERI team worked with focus groups of 10 to 12 people who
represented a cross-section of the community and included
members of the three stakeholder groups. "The purpose of the
focus groups," says Dr Norohna, "was to get comments and views
on conditions that make life better or worse, and the conditions
and processes that canchange the life of local people and make it
more positive. They also helped with the initial testing to ensure that
the tool was valid and comprehensive."

Versions of the QOL tool were piloted in Goa and in

Mozambique to check for consistency and validity of results. The
tool was then refined on the basis of feedback from field studies.

In Goa, the QOL instrument will provide stakeholders

with a snapshot of how quality of life changes over time and at
different levels of economic activity depending on whether mining
is new to the area, well established, or in the processof closing
down. This panoramic picture of changes over time can "suggest
policies and promote improved industry and government
practices that will lead to improved health and well-being of
people," says Dr Noronha.

53.4 A mining ecosystem

The ecosystem defined by the TERI team includes 57
villages in the Goa mining belt that the researchers grouped into
four clusters. The clusters cover a continuum in the life span of
mining communities from those where mining operations are new
and very active to more mature sites that are closing down.
Environmental and social characteristics are often correlated to
 96

where the clusters lie along this continuum. Thus, literacy levels
and access to amenities, such as lighting, sanitation, water, and
cooking gas, were higher where mining was the most active.
These same areas also experienced the worst air quality as a
result of dust from mining and trucking operations. These
differences were significant for the research team. It meant that
the tools they developed would have to be sensitive enough to
discern these differences and allow for solutions tailored to the
local reality.

5.7.5 Promoting sustainable development

The role of mining in sustainable development is one issue
that decision makers and resource managers have wrestled with for
decades. With the development of their income-accounting tool, the
TERI researchers have attempted to show how mining activities,
which have a finite life span, can be integrated with social and
environmental concerns in a way that promotes long-term
community development.

The approach adopted by the TERI team places a

monetary value on the effects of mining, such as air and water
pollution, loss of forests, groundwater depletion, mineral resource
use, and reduced agricultural productivity. It also takes into
account the direct and indirect benefits to society. In the case of
forests, for example, this would include the economic benefits gained
from the generation of marketable products and the indirect
benefits from watershed protection and other services. These
environmental costs can beseen as an additional amount that
should be contributed by the mining company to finance
environmental rehabilitation using the "polluter pays" principle.

The team used similar accounting practices to place values

on the health and social costs of mining. To ensure the economic
viability of communities after the resource has been
exhausted, money would be set aside to finance human and
community development. This could help offset one of the main
problems associated with mine closures: the lack of skills and
resources for alternate economic development.

5.7.6 Promoting sustainable development

The role of mining in sustainable development is one issue
that decision makers and resource managers have wrestled with
for decades. With the development of their income-accounting tool,
the TERI researchers have attempted to show how mining
activities, which have a finite life span, can be integrated with social
and environmental concerns in a way that promotes long-
term community development.

The approach adopted by the TERI team places a

monetary value on the effects of mining, such as air and water
 97

pollution, loss of forests, groundwater depletion, mineral resource

use, and reduced agricultural productivity. It also takes into
account the direct and indirect benefits to society. In the case of
forests, for example, this would include the economic benefits gained
from the generation of marketable products and the indirect
benefits from watershed protection and other services. These
environmental costs can be seen as an additional amount that
should be contributed by the mining company to finance
environmental rehabilitation using the "polluter pays" principle.

The team used similar accounting practices to place values

on the health and social costs of mining. To ensure the economic
viability of communities after the resource has been exhausted,
money would be set aside to finance human and community
development. This could help offset one of the main problems
associated with mine closures: the lack of skills and resources
for alternate economic development.

5.7.7 Ecosystem Approaches to Hunian Health

Human health and well-being are intimately tied to the health
of the ecosystems that sustain life. Yet the potential for improving
healthby better managing the local environment is an avenue
rarely explored in mainstream health programing. Through its
Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health (Ecohealth) Program
Initiative, IDRC aims to identify the web of economic, social, and
environmental factors that influence human health. Communities can
then use this knowledge to better manage ecosystems and improve
the health of both people and the ecosystem.

Check Your Progress :

1. Reflect some facts of population in the world.
2. Why girls or women’s in the society has to be given education?

5.8 LET US SUM UP

In the world it is seen that population is concentrated in

the favorable areas or regions, that is why 2/3 of world's
population lives on just 7% of land surface. Even the pace of
economic growth differs among regions. The Human Development
Index is effective tool to measure the growth or development or
development of any country. In India the HDI is measure the growth
pattern. There is interdependence of both environment showing
total different pattern. There is interdependence of both
environment & population. The increasing population degrades
the environment, where as the degrading environment causing
threat to mankind. Now we have think is there any end to it?
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5.9 UNIT END EXERCISE :

1. W hat is the m eaning of the tern "Carrying Capacity"

of environment?
2. "HDI is considered as economic indicator of a country"
Discuss.
3. State the need for HDI Development in India.
4. Explain the relationship between increasing population &
degrading environment.

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6
FOOD PRODUCTION IN THE WORLD

Unit Structure

6.0 Introduction
6.1 Objectives
6.2 Food as a need & end
6.3 Food generating activities of man
6.4 Agriculture as an activity in the world
6.5 Perspective change in agriculture
6.6 Fishing as an activity in the world
6.7 Livestock rearing as an activity in the world
6.8 Let Us Sum Up
6.9 Unit End Exercises

6.0 OBJECTIVES
Thus, by studying this session you will be able to
 Understand the importance and availability of food in different
geographical areas of the world.
 Importance and means of food and nutrition to human life.
 Availability and management of alternative food in the world
 Importance of food security and food assurance in the world and
India.

6.1 INTRODUCTION

In the last sessions we have seen that population is one of

the major sphere of any economy and it influence not only the
economic sphere of man but the interaction of large quantity of
population with nature negatively influence the environment.
In this session we are going to study the process of survival
of man by way of food procurement processing search for new
food alternatives and in the failure of those the scarcity of food in
the world and India.
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6.2 FOOD AS A NEED & END

In the world, there are sharp differences in the body

weight patterns. In developed countries, like USA, Canada or
European countries, people have better access to food and other
factors of nutrition; while in developing countries like India,
Pakistan, chinaand other African countries fulfillment of daily food
itself is an assignment. In country like USA, the rate of obesity
and related deaths are sky rocket high. Americans are more
conscious regarding their health, daily exercise, and nutritional
habits. Although a small number have begun to incorporate
some sort of diet and exercise into their daily schedule the
majority still do not see this as a priority and that leads to
obesity; and there are hundreds of pills and drugs for obesity.
However they have their own set of side-effects on human body.
On the contrary, in the country like India we have variety of
materials used as food over a long period of time.

Conventionally although food grains like rice, wheat jawar or

beans are consumed over a period of time human race has
observed a shortage of food and hence turned to some um-
common material as food e.g. soft drinks, .

Nutrition is essential to human health. Good quality and

appropriate quantity nutrition can put a stop to many health problems,
including becoming overweight, developing weak bones, and
developing diabetes. All the foods that have all the important
nutrients will help your body grow. Human body prospers on
certdin nutrients that work together to promote growth and
development. There is no specific nutrient or group of nutrients
that is more important to a men's health well-being.

Nutrition is one of the science that examines the

relationship between food and health. Dieticians are health
professionals who specialize in this area of study, and are trained
to provide safe, evidence-based dietary advice and interventions.
Although these are the new ideas in the present era taking into
consideration of the contemporary health problems Nutrition science
which investigates metabolic and physiological responses of the
body to the food we take is one of the need for today. Many common
diseases and their symptoms can often be prevented or alleviated
with better nutrition. The science of nutrition attempts to
understand how and why specific dietary aspects influence
health. Nutrition is all about the study of food and how our bodies
use food as fuel for growth and daily activities.

Following are the major nutrients we intake through different

variety of food which sustain our body.
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1. Calcium: the richest mineral in the body, that helps in the

development of bone growth.
2. Protein: is another important nutrient in health diet.
3. Fiber: is needed for body for good nutrition and healthy growth
4. Antioxidant nutrients: are vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, and
the mineral selenium Antioxidant nutrients are known to help
immune system
5. Iron: is also very important to a child's diet. Your body
depends on iron to get bigger and stronger. Iron also helps in
brain development and function.

Our total daily calorie needs are the calories required to

MAINTAIN our weight. In order to LOSE weight, you need to
reduce your calorie intake. In order to GAIN weight you need to
increase your calorie intake. One pound of weight is equal to
3,500 calories. Thus, in order to lose one pound of weight, per
week, you should either consume 3,500 fewer calories, or
consume 1,500 fewer calories while burning an extra 2,000
calories in extra exercise. To gain one pound of weight, increase
your calorie intake by 3,500 calories etc.

We also need to understand the function of food we eat. We

need food to live. We cannot live without food beyond a short
period. Food is therefore necessary for all living beings.

Food performs the following four functions

1. Growth: Food is essential for growth. Without food a living
organism will stop growing. The living cells in our body multiply
after getting nourishment from the food we eat. Insufficient or a
wrong type of food does not help healthy growth.
2. Repair: Living organisms sometimes damage their parts
by accident. Constant work also causes wear and tear of the body
parts. If we get a wound or cut, it heals up after some time. If we
damage our skin due to some burn etc., it regains its shape in
due course. The body needs food for all these functions.
3. Energy: We spend our energy when we do work. That is
why after doing considerable work, we get tired. We then need
food and rest to regain the lost energy. If we do not get food,
we would become weak.
4. Protection from Diseases: We need to protect our body from
diseases and keep it healthy. For this, we need vitamins and
mineral salts in our food. Vitamins neither provide energy nor do
they repair or replace the worn-out parts. But they are essential for
our proper health.
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Check your progress

1. Why is food needed for our body?
2. What are the functions of food?
3. What are the most required nutrients to our body?
4. How conventional food is different from today's food?

6.3 FOOD GENERATING ACTIVITIES OF MAN

The collection or generation of food is the practice for last

about 40000 years in the world. In the past that group of
individuals we know today as aboriginals; may have started
with collection of fruits, flowers, nut etc along with hunting. In the
later period, activities fishing and animal rearing joined the series.
Clearing and leveling of land for the cultivation purpose is a time
segment not more than about five thousand years before
present. In that discourse man cleared the forests for agricultural
purposes and altered vegetation patterns. The increased
population and greater needs of food-producing societies
caused a more intensive exploitation of the earth's resources.
After the transition to agriculture, many new technologies were
developed, and artifacts were often made by processes that were
new to all or had been used only rarely in earlier times.

Conflict and warfare probably occurred within the early

agricultural societies as a result of the need of shifting
cultivators to find suitable land in the face of growing shortages
and competition as well as to keep population pressure down.
The transition to agriculture represents an important phase in the
development of the human population. Food production has
resulted in many advances, changes, and adaptations in the
evolution of human society. There are several thoughts that have
been proposed to explain the reasons for the origin of
domestication.

Increasing population in the world has put a severe pressure

on m ankind to search for alternative food. As a result, in
the contemporary time the urge for more land has intensified
the activity of survey and planning the land from natural land-cover
to certain land uses. The earlier areas of forest, stony waste,
grass lands are converted to day for cultivation or associated
activities like animal rearing, dairy processes. It is not about land
but the coastal water are also embanked to form artificial ponds
for aquaculture and mariculture. The geographical areas of
grass lands are converted to ranches for meat production as well
as generation of new breeds. Over a period of time agriculture has
achieved the status of industry in any countries and natural food is
replaced by 'junk food' and sometimes artificial food.
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Thus the need of food has resulted into

1. Change in the land cover by man
2. Sedentation of human communities
3. Development of new methods to generate more food
4. Development of alternative food
5. Trade of food
6. Politics of food.
Check your progress
1. How has man started cultivation?
2. What are the new trends in cultivation because of technology?
3. How is food linked to world activities?

6.4 AGRICULTURE AS AN ACTIVITY IN THE

WORLD

Science has brought about a revolution in every step of life.

Life will come to a standstill, if the fast moving means of transports
and the ear touching communicating gadgets are given away.
Without electricity our life will become extremely miserable.
World will be thrown into the grip of fatal epidemics. Indeed, the
achievements of science and technology are spread over all
spheres of life. Happiness, welfare and prosperity have become
synonymous with science.

Science has helped man to increase production in various

ways. Today industrially advanced countries in the world are
commanding the world in various manners. In our own country, there
are a large number of leading industries. Textiles industry, paper
industry, sugar industry, fertilizer industry are only a few such
important industries; majority of those are dependent on raw
material comes from rural areas.

Rapid industrialization has become the slogan of the day

to fulfil the needs of the rapidly growing population of the world.
That is why the late Prime Minister Nehru always emphasized the
need of promoting science and technology; followed by the slogan
of 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan by the Prime Minister Shastri.
W ithout development of science, the agro-industrial progress and
increased production can never be possible. Man would not have
been so well-dressed in the absence of textile industry; he would
not have been recovered fast in case of ailment without the fast
nutrition supplement. Today we have cloth enough not only to meet
our demand but also to spare for other countries. Similarly the
supply of food to other political areas possible when there is a
surplus in production. Division labour and specialisation has been
carried to its perfection and assurance. Not only has the production
of goods with the help of machines been made possible, but also
their distribution has been made world-wide. Today, we have
world markets to producer as well as to consume.
 104

Agriculture is the area that supports the above reality. The

material need to produce sugar, milk powder, fruit jam basically
comes from agriculture. When we estimate the capacity of land to
produce with the help of technology and soil sciences, we may
take the decision to produce not only for our requirement by also
to feed others i.e. for trade.

Agriculture is also very much indebted to science. Ever

increasing demand for food, due to the rapidly growing
population, could not have been met in the absence of science.
Extensive and intensive agriculture has been made possible with its
help. Improved means of irrigation, new machines like tractors,
chemical fertilizer, disease assistant varieties of seeds, are some
of its contributions to agriculture. Deserts have been converted
into greeneries of the world. In other important branches of
agriculture also e.g., stories of produce and its marketing, science is
not found lacking. Big plants have been erected, where farm
produce can be stored in a scientific way without any damage to
a single grain. Perishable agriculture products are taken to markets
in such a short time that they reach quite fresh.

In spite of all this contribution of science to agriculture,

critics of its use are not expected. However, people argue that land will
become useless and unproductive with the increased use of
chemical fertilizers; excessive use of water may result into water-
logged farmlands which is really speaking the fact. Yet for that the
blame does not go to the nature but to our irrational decisions
without understanding the system of nature and hurry in getting our
needs fulfilled of growing population. If we change that we need
to approve of mechanized farming i.e. the use of tractors and other
machines in agriculture. That will not upset the rural economy.
Bullock carts, which is a need in India is thrown out of use in
developed countries. Farmers have become indifferent to cows. In
short, rural life need to be clubbed with science in a rational manner
to get better fruits and not to just emotionally involved.

If we compare the advantages and disadvantages of science

in agriculture and industry, we will arrive at the conclusion that our
existence itself will be in peril, if we exclude the services of science
from these spheres. Indeed, if today is better fed and dressed it is
entirely due to the use of science in industry and agriculture.

The development and type of agriculture is dependent on the type

of environmental factors available.

Thus, following are the major types of cultivations in the world.

a. shifting cultivation
b. sedentary cultivation
c. subsistence cultivation
d. plantation farming
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e. intensive farming
f. extensive commercial cultivation
g. dry farming

In recent times man has clubbed certain other activities like

animal rearing, bee-keeping, poultry with agriculture to improve the
yield and increase the economic return. And hence new types of
cultivation are developed like
a) Silvi-flori-culture
b) Flori-apiculture
c)Horti-floriculture
d) Poultry-floriculture etc.

Check your progress

1. What are the factors determine type of agriculture?
2. What is the impact odd science on agricultural
development?
3. Understand the new trend in the practice of agriculture ?
4.. Why are other activities clubbed with the practice of
agriculture?

6.5 PERSPECTIVE CHANGE IN AGRICULTURE

Being the activity responsible for absorbing about 65% of

the manpower in the country and having about 35% GDP in the
economy it is necessary to perceive the sound track of
agriculture for the future. This can be coupled with certain
areas of the economy. Those are as below

Human health and nutrition

Inter-linkages between health, nutrition, agriculture is very
intense. It affects the ability of individuals, communities, and
nations to reach sustainability goals. These inter-linkages exist
within the context of multiple determinants that affect
population health and the food security, the quality and quantity
of nutrients people take not only after birth but even in pre-natal
state.

Decrease the incidence and prevalence of a range of

infectious diseases such as malaria, avian influenza, HIV/AIDS
and others, and chronic diseases, and decrease occupational
exposures, injuries and deaths.

Robust agricultural, public health, and Veterinary health

result into more cost-effectivity in case of economy stable food
prices and hence sound social condition putting limited stress
on law and order. Surveillance, monitoring, and response
systems can help identify the true burden of ill health and
 106

possible risks not only in food system of today but the potency of
economy of tomorrow.

Climate change
Climate change, which is taking place at a time of
increasing demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel, has the
potential to irreversibly damage the natural resource base on
which agriculture depends.
The relationship between climate change and agriculture
is a two-way street; agriculture contributes to climate change in
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several major ways and climate change in general adversely
affects agriculture.

In temperate regions moderate local increases in

temperature can have small beneficial impacts on crop yields; but
in tropical; areas, such moderate temperature increases are likely
to have negative yield effects. Some negative Impacts are already
visible in many parts of the world; additional warming will have
increasingly negative impacts in all regions. Water scarcity and
the timing of water availability will increasingly constrain
production. Climate change will require a new look at water
storage to cope with the impacts of more and extreme
precipitation, higher intra and inter-seasonal variations, and
increased rates of evapo-transpiration in all types of ecosystems.

Extreme climatic events like floods and droughts are increasing

and expected to amplify in frequency and severity and there are
likely to be significant consequences in all regions for food and
forestry production and food insecurity. There is a serious
potential for future conflicts over habitable land and natural resources
such as freshwater.

Climate change is affecting the distribution of plants,

invasive species, pests and disease vectors and the geographic
range and incidence of many human, animal and plant diseases is
likely to increase. That will severely influence on the future
agriculture.

So as to avoid the negative impacts of the application of

technology along with geometrically increasing dement for food
requires certain set of policies to inculcate. These include change in
land use approaches such as lower rates of agricultural
expansion into natural habitats; afforestation, deforestation,
increased efforts to avoid deforestation, agro-forestry, agro-
ecological systems, and restoration of underutilized or degraded
lands and rangelands and land use options such as carbon
sequestration in agricultural soils, reduction and more efficient use
of nitrogenous inputs; effective manure management and use of
feed that increases livestock digestive efficiency.
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Equity
For the greater equity, investm ents are required for
the development of context-specific technologies, and
expanded access of farmers and other rural people to
occupational, non-formal and formal education. An environment
in which formal science and technology and local and traditional
knowledge are seen as part of an integrated system can increase
equitable access to technologies for a broad range of producers and
natural resource mapagers. Incentives in science, universities and
research organizations are needed to foster different kinds of
partnerships between and among different stake-holders.

For the development of agriculture requires equitable access

to and use of natural resources like particularly land and water,
systems of incentives and rewards for multi-functionality, and
ecosystem services, and responding to the vulnerability of farming
and farm worker communities. Reform at the government level
include proper governance of public organization because they play
crucial role in improving community-level scientific literacy,
decentralization of technological opportunities, and the integration
of farmer concerns in research priority setting and the design of
farmer services. Improving equity requires synergy among
various development actors, including farmers, rural laborers,
banks, civil society organizations, commercial companies, and
public agencies. Stakeholder involvement is also crucial in
decisions about international property rights, infrastructure,
tariffs, and the internalization of social and environmental costs.

Investment
The sustainability and development in agriculture is
dependent on availability of investment in the agriculture.
Research in new varieties, development of infrastructure in
irrigation, fertilizer development, and transportation requires
money on large scale. In our country NABARD was developed in
1984 to fulfill these needs. Public-private partnerships for
improved commercialization of applied knowledge and
technologies will boost the market opportunities. This will provide
the activity a status of industry. In many developing countries, it
may be necessary to complement these investments with
increased and more targeted investments in rural infrastructure,
education and health.

Bio-energy
Rising costs of fossil fuels, energy security concerns, and
increased awareness of climate change and potentially positive
effects for economic development have led to considerable public
attention to bio-energy. Bio-energy includes traditional Bio-energy,
biomass to produce electricity, light and heat and first and next
generation liquid bio-fuels. The economics and the positive and
negative social and environmental externalities differ widely,
 108

depending on source of biomass, type of conversion technology

and local circumstances. That leads to diversion of food to the
area of energy generation. In the contemporary period world has
seen an enraged debate on this topic.

Millions of people in the developing countries are dependent

on traditional means of energy but the present trend may transfer
the food cultivation land to bio-energy generation.

Biotechnology
In the present context the role of biotechnology is pivotal in
the development of future food generation. It is not restricted only to
develop new varieties for cultivation but the analysis of the
convention varieties, mapping and documentation of biodiversity,
manipulation of living organisms and spans the large range of
activities from conventional techniques for fermentation and
plant and animal breeding to recent innovations in tissue
culture, irradiation, genomics and augment natural breeding.

Biotechnology has always been on the cutting edge of

change. Change is rapid, the domains involved are numerous, and
there is a significant lack of transparent communication among actors.
Hence assessm ent of modern biot echnology is lagging
behind development; information can be anecdotal and
contradictory, and uncertainty on benefits and harms is
unavoidable. There is a wide range of perspectives on the
environmental, human health and economic risks and benefits of
modern biotechnology; many of these risks are as yet
unknown. This will certainly influence on agro-marketing not
only within the country but at the global level and the agreement
in the world.

The application of modern biotechnology outside

containment, such as the use of genetically modified (GM) crops
is much more contentious.

These processes require new kinds of support for the

public to critically engage in assessments of the technical, social,
political, cultural, gender, legal, environmental and economic
impacts of modern biotechnology. Biotechnologies should be used
to maintain local expertise and resources so that the capacity
for further research resides within the local community. Such R&D
would put much needed emphasis onto participatory breeding
projects and agro-ecology.

Natural resource management

Natural resources, especially those of soil, water, plant and
animal diversity, vegetation cover, renewable energy sources, climate
and ecosystem services are fundamental for the structure and
 109

function of agricultural systems and for social and

environmental sustainability, in support of life on earth.

Earlier, global agricultural development was narrowly

focused on increased productivity rather than on a more holistic
integration of natural resources management (NRM) with food
and nutritional security. But today, a holistic, or systems-oriented
approach, is preferred because it can address the difficult issues
associated with the complexity of food and other production
systems as well as availability in different ecologies, locations and
cultures. And hence different methods as practiced in second and
third green revolution has become the core step of the agriculture
today.

Check your progress

1. Why are cultivation practices changing?
2 Highlight the factors influencing on farming practices. 3. What
are the major threats to quality of cultivation?

6.6 FISHING AS AN ACTIVITY IN THE WORLD

We have seen that the major food generation comes

from agriculture. However the capacity of land to produce food is
limited and this capacity cannot be over shoot. And hence
one such activity to generate food is fishing. In the past,
fishing as an economic and food generating activity was in
existence even before the practice of cultivation. But that was
limited only to coastal areas and the inland water bodies like rivers
and ponds.

Fisheries play an important role in socio-economic

development of the country, generating employment and income
and stimulating growth of new subsidiary industries. it is also a source
of cheap and nutritious source of food and an important foreign
exchange earner.

In the world fishing activity is concentrated in following

areas.

There are four important commercial fishing areas in the

world, which are all, located in the temperate region.

1. the North west Pacific-seas bordering central and northern

Japan, northern China, Korea and northeastern Russia;
2. the Northwest Atlantic coast of Newfoundland and New
England;
3. the Northeast Atlantic comprising shallow waters off the
European coast extending from the Barents Sea in the north to
the Bay of Biscay;
 110

4. the Northeast Pacific from Alaska to California.

1. Northwest Pacific: Japan occupies a strategic position

for fishing in this ground. The mixing of two currents, Kuro-shio,
warm waters with the cold waters of the Oya-shio favors the
vigorous growth of fish in the inter-island straits and seas and in
the nearby shallow waters.

The fisheries of Japan have an annual production of about 3

billion kilograms and marine products account for about 20-25 per
cent of the World's total output. The coasts of Japan, the Pacific
waters east of Japan and the Yellow and China seas and the
coasts of Korea and Karafuto and the margins of the Okhtosk
sea-are the areas of concentration of fishing. Japan has a total
coastline of 17000 miles. In the vast and extensive fishing
grounds, various types of fish, viz., cod, herring, salmon, mackerel,
trout, bonito, tuna and lobster, etc. are usually caught in large
numbers. Most of the catches are locally consumed.

Northwest Atlantic (The coasts of Newfoundland and New

England): The banks off the coasts of the New England and
Newfoundland constitute one of the most important fishing
grounds of the world. There are many submerged platforms in this
area. The continental shelf is very broad and has many banks.
Grand Banks, south-east of Newfoundland, with an area of 37,000
sq. miles: the Sable Island Bank, southeast of Nova Scotia, with an
area of about 7000 sq. miles; the Georges Banks, immediately east
of Cape Cod, with an area of 8500 sq. miles are the important
sources of fish particularly of cod and haddock. Besides cod and
haddock, other species like herring, mackerel, flounder are also
caught in this area. The maximum catches are made along the
coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. ST. John, Halifax,
Portland, Nova Scotia, Boston, and New York are the ports
through which fishing is largely done.

This area is a good breeding ground for fish as it is the meeting

place of the warm Gulf Stream- and cold Labrador Current. So it
abounds in organic food and plankton. Oysters, clams and
lobsters are also caught

3. North-east Atlantic (The coasts of North-west Europe):

The seas in this area are an important fishing ground in the
world. Britain, France, Holland and Norway are the four leading
nations participating in large-scale fishing. The location of the
Netherlands in the North Sea made it natural for the Dutch to
engage in fishing, especially for herring. The North Sea contains
submerged land and is shallow with many banks, viz., Dogger
Bank and Great Fisher Bank. Due to the influence of warm Gulf
Stream, the sea remains free from ice and available for fishing
all the year round. it is an important fishing ground of the world
 111

responsible for the production of 25 per cent of the whole world's

total production. The waters of this area are rich in plankton-the
basic food supply of fish.

The numerous water inlets (fiords) of Norway are ideal for

fishing. The Trondheim Fiord and Sogne Fiord are more than
100 miles long providing ample scope for fishing. Lofoten
inlands are noted for the production and export of cod liver oil. In
Britain, the fishing activity is concentrated on the eastern coasts
facing the North Sea. Grimsby is the greatest fishing port of the
world for the variety and value of fish landed. Cod, herring, halibut
and sardines form the main catch. Oysters are also caught.

2. Northeast Pacific (The western coasts of North America).

The area extends from Alaska to California and is noted for
salmon, pilchard and tuna fisheries. Halibut and other species
are also caught. The value of the catch in U.S.A exceeds 65 million
dollars annually. The Canadian catch was also of the same
value. California has developed fish canning. The important
canning items are tuna, sardines and mackerel. The deep water on
the continental shelf off Alaska and British Columbia are the best
halibut-fishing source of the world. Along with raw fish
consumption, fish canning is highly important activity in the
USA, Japan, Canada U.K, Netherlands and Germany.

Fresh-water fisheries are located in large lakes and river

systems near areas of dense population. The production of
fisheries of fresh-water is not so large like seawater fisheries. In most
cases, subsistence fishing is practiced in the fresh-water
whereas commercial fishing has developed in the seawater.
Fresh-Water fisheries of the Great Lakes. A well-organized
commercial fishing industry has developed on the shores of the Great
lakes. The most common species caught in the Lakes include lake
herring, trout, yellow pike, white fish yellow perch, blue pike and
carp.

Salmon fisheries of the Northern Pacific Rivers. Fishing

extends from Oregon to northern Japan through Washington, '
British Columbia, Alaska, Siberia and Sakhalin. Salmon of five
different species are caught in large numbers in the rivers with
the help of gill nets trawlers.

Coastal fisheries : The coastal fishing depends on density of

population of adjacent lands, available means of transport, the
number and location of shallow coastal indentations and the variety
of fish. Coastal fishing is discussed under two heads:
1. Low-latitude and middle-latitude coastal fisheries.
2. Open-sea fisheries or off-shore fishing.
 112

There are three important areas,

a. European North Atlantic from northern Spain to the White Sea
in northern Russia,
b. American North Atlantic from southern New England to northern
Labrador,
c. Asian Pacific from southern China to northern Kamchatka.

More than 3 million populations are engaged in fishing in

these waters. The importance of fishing in these areas is due
to both physical and economic factors

Physical factors :
a. The existence of banks in the shallow seas favors the growth of
fish.
b. Coastline. Long coastline with indentations provides bases for
fishing operations.
c. Depth and temperature of water. Depth and temperature of
waters affect directly the variety and abundance of fish,
which are in most cases found within a depth of 600 ft.
Mixing of waters of different temperatures favors the growth
of fish as plankton is plentiful there.
d. Cool climate. In colder regions fishing is developed as fish
preservation is easier.

In the world about 75% of the area is covered by

water. However, the effective utilization of the water as a source
of food generation is not carried out. In terms of fisheries, major
emphasis is oncoastal and inland fisheries. The role of ocean
fishing is only about 2% of the total fish catch. In India too the
scenario is not much different.

The introduction of mechanized boats and Deep Sea

fishing vessels has strategically shifted Indian fishing from
traditional to modern methods, with yields reaching six million
tonnes, slightly more than half of which from inland sources,
including aquaculture. The export earning is about 1.4 billion dollar.

In India, Fish production has increased more than fivefold

since independence. It rose from only 800,000 tons in 1950 to 4.1
million tons in the early 1990s. This was possible through extensive
and intensive inland fish farming, modernize coastal fisheries, and
encourage deep-sea fishing through joint ventures. That led to a
more than fourfold increase in coastal fish production to the tune of
2.4 million tons in 1990. The increase in inland fish production was
even eightfold from 1950 to in 1990 at about 1.7 million tons. The
value of fish and processed fish exports increased from less than 1
percent of the total value of exports in 1960 to 3.6 percent in 1993.
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The important marine fish in Indian waters are mackerel,

sardines, Bombay duck, shark, ray, perch, croaker, carangid, sole,
ribbonfish, whitebait, tuna, silverbelly, prawn, and cuttlefish.
The main freshwater fish are carp and catfish; the main
brackish-water fish are hilsa (a variety of shad), and mullet. Great
potential exists for expanding the nation's fishing industry. India's
exclusive economic zone, stretching 200 nautical miles into
the Indian Ocean, encompasses more than 2 million square
kilometers. Till 1980, only about 33 percent of that area was being
exploited. The potential annual catch from the area has been
estimated at 4.5 million tons. In addition to this marine zone, India
has about 1.4 million hectares of brackish water available for
aquaculture, of which only 60,000 hectares were being farmed in
the early 1990s; about 1.6 million hectares of freshwater lakes,
ponds, and swamps; and nearly 64,000 kilometers of rivers and
streams.

In 1990 there were 1.7 million full-time fishermen, 1.3

million part-time fishermen, and 2.3 million occasional
fishermen, many of whom worked as salt-makers, ferrymen, or
seamen, or operated boats for hire. In the early 1990s, the
fishing fleet consisted of 180,000 traditional craft powered by sails or
oars, 26,000 motorized traditional craft, and some 34,000
mechanized boats.

In India fisheries research and training institutions are

supported by central and state governments that deserve much
of the credit for the expansion and improvements in the Indian
fishing industry. Two major programs were implemented for the
development of fishing; establishing fish farmers' development
agencies and the National Programme of Fish Seed Development
that has led to encouragingly increased production. Apart from four
main fishingharbors--Kochi (Kerala), Madras (Tamil Nadu),
Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), and •oychowk in Calcutta
(W est Bengal), twenty-three minor fishing harbors and ninety-
five fish-landing centers are designated to provide landing and
berthing facilities to fishing craft.

India is one of the world's leading seafood exporting nations.

This achievement was largely a result of significant
advancements in India's freezing facilities since the 1960s,
advancements that enabled India's seafood products to meet
international standards. Frozen shrimp, a high-value item, has
become the dominant seafood export. Other significant export
items are frozen frog legs, frozen lobster tails, dried fish, and
shark fins, much of which is exported to seafood-loving Japan.
During the eighth plan, marine products were identified as having
major export potential.
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However, due to high concentration of population in the

coastal area domestic demand for fish is also high. Coastal
population survives predominantly on fish as a source of food.

Check your progress

1. Why is fishing the alternative food generating activity?
2. List the major fishing grounds in the world. 3. What are the
strong factors of Indian fishing?

6.7 LIVESTOCK REARING AS AN ACTIVITY IN

THE WORLD

Earlier we have seen that fish and other marine products

are considered as food in the world. Apart from that man has
exploited animals as a source of food. Ever since the creation of
mankind, the major thrust has been on the search for food for
existence. Thus, for human population, the nature provided a
continuous supply of food. Plants and animals were utilised by
man as foods during the prehistoric period. Subsequent
domestication of animals and evolution of crop raising activities
made animals farming as a subsidiary to agriculture. In western
countries, animal husbandry is even now referred to as 'Animal
Agriculture'. However, of late, dairy industry has shown the ability
to sustain itself as a profitable industry in many sphere over-
powering the traditional dominance exercised by agriculture. This
trend is witnessed all over the world.

Livestock production is growing very rapidly, which is

interpreted to be the result of the increasing demand for animal
products. Since 1960, global meat production has more
than trebled, milk production has nearly doubled and egg
production has increased by nearly four times. This is attributed
partly to the rise in population, as well as to the increase in
affluence in many countries due technology and research efforts. It is
expected that the global production and consumption of meat will
continue to rise, from 233 million metric tons (Mt) in the year 2000
to 300 million Mt in 2020, as will that of milk, from 568 to 700
million Mt over the same period. Egg production will also increase
further by 30%.

There has been a great rise in the production of livestock

products and this is expected to continue in the future. This is
particularly the case in developing countries. The greatest
increase is in the production of poultry and pigs, as well as eggs
and milk. However, this overall increase obscures the fact that the
increased supply is restricted to certain countries and regions,
and is not occurring in the poorer African countries.
Consumption of livestock based food is declining in these
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countries, from an already low level, as population increases.

Although there is over consumption of meat in developed regions,
there is clearly a need to promote the development of
livestock production and the consumption of livestock based food
in many developing countries, to improve physical and mental
health and fitness. Livestock production can make good use of
resources, some of which would otherwise not be used, and
contributes high quality protein and im portant
micronutrients to the human diet.

Globally cow is the most preferred animal for the

purpose of milching. About 80% of the total; milk in the world is
procured from cow. However along with cow buffalo, goat, camel
etc. are also exploited for the milching purpose.

In the milk production USA id the largest cow milk producer

in the world accounting for 14.9% of world production. The top
milk procuring countries are India, USA, China, Russian
Federation, Germany, Brazil, France, New Zealand, UK, Poland
etc.

In terms of milk consumption as fluid milk and processed

products per person varies widely from highs in Europe and North
America to lows in Asia. However, as the various regions of the
world become more integrated through travel and migration, these
trends are changing, a factor which needs to be considered by
product developers and marketers of milk and milk products in
various countries of the world.

Even within regions such as Europe, the custom of

milk consumption has varied greatly. Consider for example the
high consumption of fluid milk in countries like Finland, Norway and
Sweden compared to France and Italy where cheeses have
tended to dominate milk consumption. When you also
consider the climates of these regions, it would appear that the
culture of producing more stable products like cheese in hotter
climates as a means of preservation is evident.

The contribution of dairy animal is widely recognised. Our

country is blessed with vast dairy resource. Dairy farming involves a
group of interaction of many factors that influence production &
reproduction, environment and management. Dairy cooperatives
cover about 60,000 villages all over India and only 12 to 14 per cent of
total milk production is canalized through organised sector. India
has become the world's largest milk producer but its share in
the world milk trade is very limited.

Dairying in India is by large in the hands of small or

marginal landholders and agriculture laborers. Eighty per cent
farm families in India possess cattle and/or buffalo. Cooperative
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dairying has changed the life-style of farm family. Livestock

keeping is a subsidiary activity to agriculture over long time but
now become the major enterprise economically and the crop
production are becoming dependent on dairying. Dairying
which was once a subsidiary enterprise, to agriculture; Milk
production at cooperative level in villages is more powerful entities
generating a better picture in dairy field. However, the value addition
in case of milk in India is comparatively poor due to distance factor
and the density of infrastructure.

While in case of meat production, in India, where precious

national parks are already under threat from illegal cattle-
grazing, is the world's eighth largest producer of meat. Despite
the sacred place cows occupy in Hindu culture, and despite the
importance of buffaloes in agricultural work, India continues to
churn out an annual 4.9 million tones of meat. Statistics compiled
by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
show that the total number of animals slaughtered for meat in
India nearly doubled from 66,299,600 in 1980 to 106,239,000
in 2000. In a world increasingly facing scarcity with regard to basic
human requirements, as evidenced all too clearly in last year's
global food shortages, increasing meat production looks to be
progressively unsustainable. This suggests the development of the
cultural traits.

Rearing animals for human consumption is a grain-

intensive process. Expert suggests that the populations of India
and China begin to consume more meat, an increasingly greater
strain will be placed on grain supplies, exacerbating world
hunger. A survey suggest that If all the grain currently fed to
livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people,
the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800
million.

Check your progress

1. State the advantages of milk as food?
2. Understand the progress of Indian dairy activity.
3. List the limitations of Indian livestock rearing activity.

6.8 LET US SUM UP

Thus in this unit we have seen that every human being

requires food not only in terms of quality but in certain ratio of
nutrition. And hence man has started his survival activities from
forest collection to hunting, fishing and finally cultivation. Over a
period of time he has started clubbing different activities to get
more yields.
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In the complexity of civilization he has started facing

number of problems in the practice of the activity. Application of
technology without understanding the nature was a reason in
disguise. After understanding that mere cultivation is not
appropriate to fulfill needs he has started alternative food like fishing
animal rearing in a serious manner applying technology in the area.
The purpose for all is to provide secured, quality food.

However this became the backbreaking task which we are going

to see in the next session.

6.9 UNIT END EXERCISE

1. Why is food necessary for man?
2. Explain the impacts of inappropriate food on human body.
3. Elaborate the functions of food on human body.
4. Explain the discourse of agricultural development in the world.
5. What id the impact of industrialization on agriculture.
6. Explain future trend in agricultural development.
7. Elaborate major fishing grounds in the world
8. Why is fishing having more scope in the world as an food
generating activity?
9. Elucidate the growth of dairy activity in India.
10. Explain major threats to agriculture in the world.

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7
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FOOD TRADE, WORLD HUNGER &

FOOD SECURITY
Unit Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Food rich & food poor areas in the world
7.3 Does food have a shortfall in the world
7.4 Indian scenario
7.5 What are the causes of hunger?
7.6 Green Revolution - the earlier answer for food security
7.7 Trade of food in the world
7.8 Food trade & world strategies
7.9 The concept of food security
7.10 Patterns of global hunger
7.11 Solutions to hunger – global & Indian scenario
7.12 Food security in India
7.13 Let Us Sum Up
7.14 Unit End Exercises

7.0 OBJECTIVES

Hence, after learning this unit you will be able to understand

 Major demand and supply areas of food in the world
 Why is availability of food a problem
 How the prospects of the country i s bleak in case of
food insecurity
 The status of India in terms of food certainty

7.1 INTRODUCTION

In the earlier session we have seen that food is the

essentiality of man and in different regions of the world food is
grown. There is no country in the world where food is either
not grown or cannot be grown. However, every individual in
the world is happy form the food he or she gets. This
discrepancy we are going to understand in this unit.
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7.2 FOOD RICH & FOOD POOR AREAS IN THE

WORLD

In the earlier session we have seen that food is the

most necessity for human being. With the growing population in
the world, need for food also increased. However, the factors
required for food generation are not unlimited. The potency of
these factors cannot grow with the rate of population growth. "

Being an economic activity, agriculture also an

influenced by human civilization. Methods utilized to cultivate
determine the crops to be cultivated, the area covered by the
crop, the return from the crop, the bargaining capacity of the
crop in the local as well as distant market is determined by the
technology.

Availability of food in the world is a result of many factors.

However, majority of those are oriented to geographical and
climatic factors. Agriculture is one of the activities which are
predominantly dependant on nature. Factors like climate, soil,
availability of water influence on agricultural development and
growth.

In absence or the shortage of food, population faces the

hunger situation. This leads to malnutrition or the under nutrition.

The hunger in the world has certain facets like fuel shortage,
of fuel, fiber, and the rift between people in both political as well as
social. Development of profit oriented activity has changed the
economic equations in the world. The land which was under food
crops earlier is now economically exploited as an asset.

According to United Nations estimates that close to 1

billion suffer from chronic hunger. But this number, which is
only a crude estimate, leaves out those suffering from vitamin and
nutrient deficiencies and other forms of malnutrition. The total
number of food insecure people who are malnourished or lacking
critical nutrients is probably closer to 3 billion—about half of
humanity. The severity of this situation is made clear by the
United Nations estimate of over a year ago that approximately
18,000 children die daily as a direct or indirect consequence of
malnutrition. Longer-term crisis of agriculture and food that has
already left billions hungry and malnourished. In the recent time
2008 was considered as a hunger year in the world.

And hence, availability of food in terms. of generation as well

as consumption is unique scenario in the world which we will
observe as below. In simple terms it can be called as hungry world.
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Check your progress

1. What are the factors determine food availability?
2. S t a t e t h e h u n g e r s i t u a t i o n i n t h e w o r l d ?
3. What is the role of agriculture in food generation?

7.3 DOES FOOD HAVE A SHORTF ALL IN THE

WORLD?

World hunger refers to the multitudes of people presently

facing the risk of an insufficient (quantity) or inadequate (quality) food
supply, something known as food insecurity. This problem has led
to detriments from the insidious, such as stunted growth and a
greater risk of contracting disease, to the obvious, namely
starvation and death.

The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations

(UN) reports that daily, over 800 million people go hungry while
the Hunger Site says that every 3.2 seconds, someone in the
world dies of hunger. Most of the world's hungry (over
40%) are concentrated in China and India, with the rest found mostly
in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America . And even
developed nations such as the USA and Britain have millions of
hungry people within their borders.

The situation is so dreadful in the world that protests may

erupt anywhere today, any time, and rich countries aren't
immune, including America and the European countries. In the
world millions of people are either undernourished or m al-
nourished. Unprecedented wealth gap between rich and poor, a
dying middle class, and growing millions in extreme poverty. The
process of economic fluctuations like recession are also
responsible for it.

The prices of necessary food grains in the world are

increasing at the rapid rate. The grains like wheat soya been,
corns are very high. Under conditions of duress, hunger is the
clearest symptom, it's rising, and current food inflation threatens
to spiral it out of control if nothing is done to address it. It's the
highest in decade of 2001-10.

World agriculture produces enough food calories in the

form of seeds, milk, meat and other vegetarian as well as animal
forms to meet the energy needs of the entire nearly 6 billion plus
people who are alive today. Increased production based on
advances in seed, water, and environmental technologies,
and their wi der dissemination especially in developing countries,
have removed insufficient production as a cause of food shortage
for the world as a whole. Global agriculture tries to keep pace
with population growth, and world food security concept also
 121

safeguards the consumption by flow of food materials in case of

disastrous production failure. But overemphasis on production
of calories may jeopardize the production of other protein- or
micronutrient-rich foods that also enter into the calculus of global
food security or shortage which are really a production as well as
distribution issues.

Vegetarian diets are typical in a wide range in developing

countries being having the advantage of climatic diversity, but
worldwide the demand for meat is growing. Diets in industrialized
countries differ widely with respect to their composition; however
emphasize on the animal products. Food shortage of the future,
calculated on the basis of total future demand for grain
consumed directly or in the form of animal foods, will be
conditioned by whether peoples adopting richer diets follow the
path of European or North American region. In that case the cost
of food increases as the grain-tolivestock ratios, are very high
as part of animal feed. Non-animal food is the legacy of oriental
people who are becoming a market for . the animal food from the
western world. In a feedlot, it takes two kilos (kilograms) of grain
to produce one kilo of chicken or fish, four kilos to produce one
kilo of pork, and seven to produce one kilo of beef. Some
suggest the ratios may be even higher: 3:1, 6:1, and 16:1. It
means that much more population can be fed on the grains by
changing the food habits.

Food shortage also coincides with adequate calorie

production where the foods consumed are deficient in
protein or micronutrients. Diets may be adequate in quantity but
not quality. There are three most common micronutrient
deficiencies in the world; those of iron, iodine, and vitamin A.
Such deficiencies are most common in vegetarian or near-
vegetarian diets that lack variety, both because such diets tend
to be consumed by people who lack resources to acquire greater
variety and because some nutrients are more abundant in animal
foods.

That means food shortage is a function of

 Decline in the yield of the crop perhaps oriented to agro-
climatic circumstances.
 Distribution of the food in the region
 Shortage of food oriented to natural or human disasters
 Food habits &
 Cost factor of the food.

The year 2008 is considered as the world hunger year as

the availability of food in the world declined . global food prices rose
by 83%. As of March 2008, average world wheat prices were
130% above their level a year earlier, soya prices were 87%
higher, rice had climbed 74%, and maize was up 31%. However, it
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a point of debate that whether it is a matter of shortage of food or

the price rise. To understand the situation following factors were
found responsible for the food crisis.
 Droughts in major wheat-producing countries in 2005-06
 Low grain reserves in many countries
 High oil prices influencing transport and other food
supply programmes
 A doubling of per-capita meat consumption in some
developing countries and the diversion of grains for the
purpose.
 Diversion of 5% of the world's cereals to agro-fuels and
biofuels.

World hunger facts

 More than 15 million people die each year from starvation
and malnutrition-related diseases.
 Of those, three-fourths are children under the age of five.
 In the time it takes to read this page article, another 150
people may die of malnutrition-related diseases or
starvation.
 Worldwide, 800 million people will go to bed hungry
tonight.
 More than 1 billion people worldwide suffering from food
shortages -- and more than 24,000 people die every day
from hunger-related causes

Check your progress

1. What contribute to food shortage?
2. Why is vegetarian diet useful?

7.4 INDIAN SCENARIO

The status of hunger in India is equally bad. This is

specifically oriented to two factors; decline in productivity because
of climatic fluctuations and improper distribution of food
particularly in remote areas of India.

According to the 2008 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 66

out of 88 nations of developing countries and countries in
transition. India has more hungry people than any other
country in the world because of our highly bulged population.

India State Hunger Index in 2008, Madhya Pradesh has the

most severe level of hunger in the country, followed by Jharkhand
and Bihar. Punjab and Kerala scored the best on the Index.
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In India we have variety of food options due to diversity of

climate and biodiversity. Although agriculture is backbone other
food generating activities like forestry collects like flowers nuts,
fruits, tubers as food, fishing, livestock rearing for flesh and
milk and poultry rearing are practiced hand in hand.

Agriculture and allied sector contributes 24% of the total

GDP and provide employment to around 67% Indian population.
The development in the agricultural field is surely oriented to the
technological development in India. Yield of food-grain in India
increased from 644 k.g. per hectare in 1966-67 to 1636 k.g. per
hectare in 2000-2001. This registered an impressive increase by
around two and half times. However, this was mainly brought
about by a more than 12 fold increase in the consumption of
chemical fertilizers (from 1.1 million ton to 13.56 million tons) during the
same period. Not only fertilizers but pesticides, mechanization and
other inputs have a sizable role in the develcpment of
agriculture. Change in cropping from food grain orientation to cash
crops is the result of the same.

In the world poorest countries poor people starve more than

some few. This is particularly due to uneven distribution of not only
food but the opportunities. It is not necessary that people should get
food available to their nearby shops or the public distribution
shops (ration shops) but it is equally important that they should
have capacity to purchase the food from such shops. In the tribal
areas of India food from ration shops is not consumed, remain
unsold; the root cause lies here.

After achieving independence about fifty years ago India

was having very poor status on the front of food production as
well as food distribution system. However, in last about 60 years
India had an excellent success in the generation of food. India is
often considered to be one of the great success stories in
tackling the food problem; the belief in success has to be
scrutinized in the light of the grim reality that we can observe. The
story has two sides, accomplishments as well as the setback.

First, pre-independence India had a stagnating agriculture,

and this has been firmly replaced by an imposing expansion of
the production possibilities in Indian agriculture, through innovative
departures. The technological limits have been widely expanded.
What holds up Indian food? Consumption today is not any
operational inability to produce more food, but a far reaching
failure to make the poor of the country able to afford enough food.
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India - Hunger Facts

 Hunger remains the No.1 cause of death in the world.
Aids, Cancer etc. follow.
 There are 820 million chronically hungry people in the
world.
 1/3rd of the world’s hungry live in India.
 836 million Indians survive on less than Rs.20 (less than
half-a-dollar) a day.
 Over 20 crore Indians will sleep hungry tonight.
 10 million people die every year of chronic hunger and
hunger-related diseases. Only eight percent are the
victims of hunger caused by high-profile earthquakes,
floods, droughts and wars.
 India has 212 million undemourished people - only
marginally below the 215 million estimated for 1990-92.
 99% of the 1000 Adivasi households from 40 villages in
the two states, who comprised the total sample,
experienced chronic hunger (unable to get two square
meals, or at least one square meal and one poor/partial
meal, on even one day in the week prior to the survey).
Almost as many (24.1 per cent) had lived in conditions of
semi-starvation during the previous month.
 Over 7000 Indians die of hunger every day.
 Over 25 lakh Indians die of hunger every year.
 Despite substantial improvement in health since
independence and a growth rate of 8 percent in recent
years, under-nutrition remains a silent emergency in India,
with almost 50 percent of Indian children underweight and
more than 70 percent of the women and children with
serious nutritional deficiencies as anemia.
 The 1998-99 Indian survey shows 57 percent of the
children age 0 - 3 years to be either severely or
moderately stunted and/or underweight.
 During 2006-2007, malnutriation contributed to seven
million Indian children dying, nearly two million before the
age of one.
 30% newborn are of low birth weight, 56% of married
women are anaemic and 79% of children age 6-35 months
are anaemic.
 The number of hungry people in India is always more than
the number of people below official poverty line (while
around 37% of rural households were below the poverty
line in 1993-94, 80% of households suffered under
nutrition).
Sources:
Un World Food Programme
Un World Health Organization: Global Database on Child
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Growth and Malnutrition, 2006

Un Food and agriculture Organization: SOFI 2006 Report
National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector
(India)
National Family Health Survey 2005-A-06 (NFHS-3) (India)
Central for Environment and Food Security (India)
Rural 21 (India)
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Secondly, the famines which were so common before
independence were substantial famines that so plagued India until
independence has been effectively eliminated. However, the
endemic hunger that blights the lives of hundreds of millions of
people in this country could not ditched over long period of time.

Not only just availability of food but the availability of quality

food is 'yet beyond the grasp of Indian citizen. Chronicall y
undernourishment affects more than half of all adult women
result into suffering from anemia. What is sometimes called
"protein-energy malnutrition" - are nearly twice as high in India
compare to desert part of Africa.

Hunger is a problem of not only poor income, but the food

prices which is a result of people's ability to buy food, and thus
affect the food entitlements they effectively enjoy.
It is also crucial to use the means of specialized food that
particularly helps poor children, such as more extensive use of
feeding in the school. This will not only increase the incentive of
children to go to school, but also actually make them healthier and
less undernourished.

Health care particularly in the early part of life (pre-natal as

well as early childhood) is a very crucial factor in the development
of poor health. Lack of basic and effective education also
contributes to undernourishment, because knowledge and
communication pertaining to nutritive and quality food in time are
important, but also because the need to secure jobs and incomes
are influenced by the level of education, and not the quality of life.
When a child does not consume appropriate food the impact is a
very long term. We are losing not only the healthy labour force but the
prospective professional manpower in the country.

One of the solutions for such grim situation is to search for

the alternate sources. On the front of alternative food in India
domestic meat production is estimated at 1 lakh million tonnes, while
fish production is projected at 72.5 lakh tones but processing levels
of these are taken into consideration, then they have been stagnant
between two and four per cent. This is specifically because 70 per
cent of the meat and poultry production in the country is primarily in
the unorganized sector. The area faces Poor post-harvest
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equipment, inadequate processing technology, storage facility, bad

infrastructural facilities such as irregular power supply, high inland
transportation costs and lack of cold chain resulted in loss of more
than 25 per cent of meat, poultry and fish production. However, it is
a fact that we export 50 per cent of the fish production to the
ASEAN region.

Check your progress

1. Why was green revolution a need in India?
2. What are the long term impacts of poor quality food on health?

7.5 WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF HUNGER?

Hunger being the universality in the world is having variety of

causes. following are some important one.

a) Poverty is the principal cause of hunger.

World Bank has estimated that there were an estimated 982
million poor people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a
day or less. This compares to the later FAO estimate of 1.02 billion
undernourished people in the world. Extreme poverty is an
alarming problem in the world's developing regions although the
income levels in the world are enhanced. Progress in poverty
reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially, East Asia,
with the major improvement occurring in China. In Sub-Saharan
Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased.
The statement that 'poverty is the principal cause of hunger' is,
though correct, unsatisfying.

b) Harmful economic systems are the principal cause

of poverty and hunger.
Another important underlying cause of poverty and hunger
is the ordinary operation of the economic and political systems in
the world. Essentially control over resources and income is based
on military, political and economic power that typically ends up in
the hands of a few, who live well, while those at the bottom
barely survive, if they do. This control is not isolated in manner but
it is a nexus. Even India has observed it in late 1960s when USA
has provided food to starved India under PL-480 with political
conditions.

c) Conflict as a cause of hunger and poverty.

Even after practicing thousands of warfare and two world
wars and a long cold war, socio-political clashes in the world are
leaving lakhs of refugees. By the end of 2008, the total number of
refugees under UNHCR's mandate exceeded 10 million. The
number of conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs)
reached some 26 million worldwide at the end of the year.
Estimating exact figures on the number of stateless people is
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always difficult but, what is observed through it is, and anguishing

for those involved conflict is less important as poverty and its
causes as a cause of hunger.

d) Hunger is also a cause of poverty.

This is one of the vicious cycle that by causing poor
health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger
can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people's ability
to work and learn. Possibilities of opportunities and prospects
become bleak due to poor general and techno-scientific literacy and
better health.

e) Climate change
Climate change is increasingly viewed as a current and
future cause of hunger and poverty. Increasing drought,
famines & flooding, and changing climatic patterns requiring a
change in crops and farming practices.

Will lead to shortage of food and food prospects. It

estimated that Climate change, global warming and the effect on
poor people such as Global warming causes 300,000 deaths a
year. Today it may be a matter of food which can be transported
over a distance but in future there is a possibility that water too
will be matter of security. Or food shortages may bring down
civilization?

7.4.1 Progress in reducing the number of hungry people.

One im portant m easure to re duce hunger is to
decline the population affected by the hunger. In 2209
the num ber of undernourished people were 1.02 billion. If this
can be reduced to half by way of distribution and availability of
food it will become an example to the world as a milestone
particularly in the area of Asia, and in Latin America and the
Caribbean.

7.5.2 Micronutrients
In developing countries availability of food amon the
masses is comparatively of sub-standard quality. Availability of
micro-nutrients particularly vitamins and minerals, which are
important for health. 1 out of 3 people in developing countries are
affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies, according to the
World Health Organization. Three, perhaps the most important
in terms of health consequences for poor people in developing
countries, are:

Vitamin A Vitamin A deficiency can cause night

blindness and reduces the body's resistance to disease. In
children Vitamin A deficiency can also cause growth
retardation. Between 100 and 140 million children are vitamin
 128

A deficient. An estimated 250,000 to 500 000 vitamin A-

deficient children become blind every year, half of them dying
within 12 months of losing their sight.

IRON
Iron deficiency is a principal cause of anemia. Two billion
people—over 30 percent of the world's population—are
anemic, mainly due to iron deficiency, and, in developing
countries, frequently exacerbated by malaria and worm
infections. For children, health consequences include premature
birth, low birth weight, infections, and elevated risk of death.
Later, physical and cognitive development are im paired,
resulting in lowered school performance. For pregnant
women, anemia contributes to 20 percent of all maternal
deaths according to W orld Health Organization.

IODINE
Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) jeopardize children's
mental health– often their very lives. Serious iodine deficiency
during pregnancy may result in stillbirths, abortions and congenital
abnormalities such as cretinism, a grave, irreversible form of mental
retardation that affects people living in iodine-deficient areas of
Africa and Asia. Iodine deficiency also causes mental impairment
that lowers intellectual prowess at home, at school, and at work.
Iodine deficiency affects over 740 million people, 13 percent of the
world's population. Fifty million people have some degree of mental
impairment caused by Iodine deficiency.

Evidently, the two main causes of world hunger - disaster

and poverty are unlikely to fade away on their own because the
former is simply a fact of living on earth while the latter is a deep-
rooted, self-propagating cycle. At the same time, while the main
solutions to these problems, namely early-warning systems and
foreign aid might help to reduce the problem of world hunger to
some extent, the manifold economic and political complications
that surround the giving of aid makes this unlikely to be a quick fix.
Perhaps someday world hunger will be successfully eliminated
since this is by no means impossible, but sadly this does not
seem likely to happen within the next few decades. New
technology is [Link] at the doorstep but recognizing optimum
technology becomes the task as it itself may generate future
problems. Thousands of acres of land became saline and water
logged in the areas of the command area of Indira Gandhi
national canal in Rajasthan in late 1980s support this fact.
And hence elimination of hunger is a multi-faceted task where the
stakeholders are government and people both.

Check your progress

1. List the causes of hunger?
2. Understand the association between poverty & hunger.
 129

7.6 GREEN REVOLUTION - THE EARLIER ANSWER

FOR FOOD SECURITY

Green Revolution means revolutionary change in

agriculture in order to make a massive production in terms of food
as well as raw materials. The beginnings of the Green
Revolution are often attributed to Norman Borlaug, an American
scientist interested in agriculture. In the 1940s, he began to conduct
a research in Mexico and developed new disease resistance
high-yield varieties of wheat. By combining Borlaug's wheat
varieties with new mechanized agricultural technologies, Mexico
was able to produce more wheat than was needed by its own
citizens, leading to the capacity of export which was far from
reality earlier. After the success of the Green Revolution in Mexico,
its technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s. The
United States for instance, imported about half of its wheat in the
1940s but after using Green Revolution technologies, it became
self-sufficient in the 1950s and became an exporter by the 1960s.

Green revolution was introduced in 1966 in India which in

the then period was starving state. The Government of India has
started this revolution in collaboration with the State Governments
and with cooperation of the common Indian farmers, through
the local organisations like village Panchayat and Zilla Parishad.
Green revolution is effected through high-yielding varieties of seed,
natural and chemical fertilizer, good irrigation system, soil
conservation, soil-test, rotation of crops, enough insecticides,
mechanization of farming through power tillers, motor, tractors,
water-pumps, electricity, large holdings, co-operative farming and
educating and enlightening the farmers.

High yielding varieties of seeds result into a large output of

grains. The Government of India brought highly productive seeds
from other countries and tested them on our soil. Some of these
kinds showed very good results. In the later period government
founded some research centres where the scientists have
discovered many kinds of high-breed (Cross-breed) seeds which
can yield bumper crops.

Along with seeds the programme requires good quality

fertilizers which were availed through imports in the earlier phase
and later through development of fertilizer industry. Another
important requirement was irrigation infrastructure. Government has
already constructed number of dams on the rivers like Mahanadi,
Damodar and Vakranangal. Many more dams are under
construction yet. Other technologies like testing of soil and efforts
to increase the productivity of soil, rotation cropping system in
the low fertility areas, use of insecticides and introduction of
cooperative farming has resulted into a positive change. The world
 130

has seen satisfactory impacts in the area of agriculture and thus the
availability of food.

Since fertilizers are largely what made the Green

Revolution possible, they forever changed agricultural practices
because the high yield varieties developed during this time cannot
grow successfully without the help of fertilizers.

Irrigation also played a large role in the Green Revolution and

this forever changed the areas where various crops can be grown.
For instance before the Green Revolution, agriculture was
severely limited to areas with a significant amount of rainfall, but
by using irrigation, water can be stored and sent to drier areas,
putting more land into agricultural production - thus increasing
nationwide crop yields.

In addition, the development of high yield varieties meant

that only a few species of say, rice started being grown. In India for
example there were about 30,000 rice varieties prior to the
Green Revolution, today there are around ten - all the most
productive types. By having this increased crop homogeneity
though the types were more prone to disease and pests because
there were not enough varieties to fight them off. In order to protect
these few varieties then, pesticide use grew as well.

Finally, the use of Green Revolution technologies

exponentially increased the amount of food production
worldwide. Places like India and China that once feared famine
have not experienced it since implementing the use of IR8 rice and
other food varieties.

Over a period of time it was observed that green revolution

being a package is not universally applicable particularly in the
areas both in India and world where the related infrastructure
like irrigation, fuel, machinery, fertilizers, insecticides is a scarcity.

And thus, region wise certain modification in the package

having a common aim of higher yield, and sustenance of activity
were developed. These were known as programmes of second
green revolution. In which, agro-allied activities were
clubbed to agriculture and new programmes like flori-
apiculture, silviculture-goat farming-rice cultivation were
framed and found more successful than the earlier package.

In the contemporary period the sphere of bio-technology

has provided a magic-stick through which eliminations of
limitations of the species is possible and thus totally new species
only with the benefits are practiced today. Further development
like cloning process perhaps will bring more certainty of food
 131

material vegetal as well as animal to the mankind and his pet and
drafts.

Check your progress

1. What is the meaning of green revolution?
2. Why was it failed in India?

7.7 TRADE OF FOOD IN THE WORLD

Food aid is hard to summarize briefly due to many

related issues, but in general it is about providing food and
related assistance to tackle hunger, either in emergency
situations, or to help with deeper, longer term hunger
alleviation and achieve food security in the areas where people do
not have to live in hunger or in fear of starvation.

With the level of technology and capabilities in the world

today, one could assum e that solving world hunger should
be eas y. Unfortunately it is not a technical issue as much as it
is a political and economic issue.

The areas of food generation in the world and the

demand points are having certain relationship

1. The areas which are bread-baskets in the world are mainly low
density population countries. Moreover, although the annual
frequency of food generation in these countries is poor due to
limited consumption the surplus is comparatively high.
2. The surplus in these countries is properly maintained,
categorized and secured as a matter of trade article.
3. As food is one of the trade materials, it also becomes a part of
trade strategic of the country.

In case of the demand point regions which are either predominantly

under-developed or developing depict certain appearances.
1. They are high population countries with seasonal demand.
2. Some of these countries are the exporters of food depicting
inadequate trade plans.
3. The infrastructure in these countries to tackle the scarcity
situation is limited, buffer stock is either poor or not properly
maintained.
4. The wastage of food at crop-site and also at storage-site is
sizable.
 132

5. In terms of other demands their bargaining power is limited and

hence, they become either the bait of the victim of expansion
strategies of the supply country.

Major food suppliers in the world are United States,

Australia, Canada, the European Union, Argentina, Uruguay
Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other members of the Russian
Federation in case of wheat. Major Rice exporters are Thailand,
Vietnam, India Pakistan, and USA while rice importers are
Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and
Saudi Arabia Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iraq and
the Philippines and some of the African countries. Major
importers of wheat are Islamic republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia.
Indonesia, Afghanistan, India, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Mexico
Brazil etc.

Following are some of the important types of food aid in the

world. However they are categorized on the basis of aid provided
by developing countries.

Program Food Aid

Is a form of "in-kind aid" whereby food is grown in the donor
country for distribution or sale abroad. This is typically a
government to government transfer. Rather than being free food as
such, recipient countries typically purchase the food with money
borrowed at lower than market rates.

Relief, or Emergency Food Aid

This is typically for emergency situations, such in cases of
war, natural disasters, etc, where food is distributed for free.
However, as number of countries facing some forms of chronic
food insecurity have also become permanent recipients of this
form of aid.

Project Food Aid

This is food aid delivered as part of a specific project related
to promoting agricultural or economic development, nutrition and
food security, such as food for work and school feeding programs.

Program Food Aid, or in-kind food aid, makes up the majority

of aid for the USA. Relief aid used to be a minor form of aid until
the 1990s when it shifted to being the dominant factor, signifying
both the increase in emergencies, and after the end of the Cold
War where food aid as a political tool. Similar to relief aid, project
food aid is typically distributed by the World Food Programme
(WFP), Non-governmental organizations (NG0s), and occasionally
by government institutions.
 133

There are certain problems observed with food aid in the world
those are as below
 It is a donor-driven system
 It promotes domestic interests of donor countries
 It is a foreign policy tool
 International institutions are driven by exporters
 Development is not necessarily the objective

Check your progress

1. Why only some countries have food surplus?

7.8 FOOD TRADE & WORLD STRATEGIES

Today USA is the largest producer and exporter of food

in the world. Thus food is considered as power today.
Developed countries are having the benefit of more yields on one
side and the availability of low population density and demand on
another side that leads to surplus of food. Being very poor in food
production and heavy demand for food in the market, developing
countries become the bait of the developed countries. This is
called as 'doctrine of food as power' in the world.

There are efforts today to develop the cartel of food

exporting countries as in case of petroleum exporting
countries. Such organization may control food export, raw
materials and resource movements, agricultural reforms. In the
pre-industrial times and in the period of early industrial period the
access to food was not a problem mainly oriented to more mortality
rate as well as the overall yield of the agricultural land was high
due to organic farming but after green revolution the picture was
changed and along with the introduction of technology demand
for food is also increased. Certain areas in the world which are
having the benefit of limited domestic demand exploit this
opportunity to export their surplus. However, this relationship is
not simple as expected. These countries are all developed and
grassland countries. The tradepolicies of these countries are
oriented to the process to control resources and ever-dynamic
neo-imperialism in the world specifically over developing and
underdeveloped countries. This leads to various trends in food aid,
technological support, migration of industrial bases, general aid and
loans from developed countries to developing countries. From the
receiver side it is a combine effect of population growth,
agricultural productivity, energy prices, water scarcity, and climate
change suggesting things won't improve any time soon.

Recently, the UN rapporteur argued that "we have enough

food" and that hunger is not the result of food being produced
in inefficient conditions, as claimed by the majority of scientists,
think-tanks and the agri-food industry.
 134

Political and ethnic clashes in the world partially induced by

the warhead manufacturers also compel the countries to divert their
resources land water, money and capital as to tackle war like
situation. This reduces the agricultural production and gain food
exporters have their cake.

More than thirty million people die of malnutrition and

starvation every year, while large industrial farms export ever
more strawberries and cut flowers to affluent consumers. Excessive
meat production, again largely for the affluent, requires massive
amounts of feed grains that might otherwise sustain poor families.
Giant agribusiness, chemical and restaurant companies like Cargill,
Monsanto and McDonalds dominate the world's food chain, building
a global dependence on unhealthy and genetically dangerous
products. These companies are racing to secure patents on every
plant and living organism and their intensive advertising seeks to
persuade the world's consumers to eat more and more sweets,
snacks, burgers, and soft drinks.

Thus, food scarcity, food supply and trade strategies

are all monitored today and not the natural one.

Check your progress

1. What is the role of food as weapon?
2. List the thing demanded from developing countries in return of
food?

7.9 THE CONCEPT OF FOOD SECURITY

After understanding the grim situation of the availability of

food we need to understand the concept of food security which
provides the solution to this problem.

What is food security? A simple definition has been given

by the World Bank (1986) - food security is access by all
people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.
This implies individual access in all seasons and all years not
just for survival but for active participation in society.

In the World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as

existing "when all people at all times have access to sufficient,
safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life". Commonly,
the concept of food security is defined as including both physical
and economic access to food that meets people's dietary needs
as well as their food preferences. But food security is a
complex sustainable development issue, linked to health
through malnutrition, but also to sustainable economic
development, environment, and trade. There is a great deal of
debate around food security. If we fail to maintain above there has
 135

been food insecurity. Food insecurity exists when all people, at all
times, do not have physical and economic access to the sufficient,
safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life.

Food security has three major dimensions:

 AVAILABILITY of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate
quality, supplied through domestic production or imports;
 ACCESS by households and individuals to adequate
resources to acquire appropriate foods for a nutritious diet; and
 UTILIZATION of food through adequate diet, water,
sanitation, and health care.

On defining food security have been summarized by Maxwell

the American economist in 1998 as identifying livelihood security as
a necessary and often sufficient condition for food security and
focuses on the long term viability of the household as a productive
and reproductive unit.

There should be the quality of the food availability rather

than just the quantity where the emphasis is more on subjective
assessment. A country and people are food secure when their
food system operates in such a way as to remove the fear that
there will not be enough to eat. In particular, food security will be
achieved when the poor and vulnerable, particularly women and
children and those living in marginal areas, can have the assured
adequate food they want.

Today food security is not only a physical concept of

availability of food but it is having physical, social, economic and
Environmental access facets.

Since early 1970s, when majority f the world developing

countries have gained their independence and tried to become
independent economic and sovereign entities roughly 5 phases of
food security can be observed.

1. 1974-1980: global food security - the world food crisis was

evident from famines in Africa, doubling of international grain prices
and large grain imports by the Soviet Union. FAO set up a
committee on World Food Security and a World Food Council were
established to monitor world food availability.

2. 1981-1985: food entitlement and structural adjustment -

questions of poverty and access featured since it was clear that
production on its own did not assure consumption, and people
needed access to food. This era coincided with structural
adjustment activities where poverty reduction and basic needs were
subordinate to debt management, macro-economic stability, etc.
 136

3. 1986-1990: the golden age - the 1984/5 African famine and the
drawbacks of the social costs of structural adjustment changed the
perceptions of food security which rose up in the international
agenda.

4. 1990-1996: poverty emphasis, not food security - poverty

reduction was brought back to the front of the development stage
and displaced food security; many donors abandoned or
downgraded food security. Famines were seen to be far more
associated with war and with drought e.g. Southern Africa in 1992,
which appeared to be managed reasonably efficiently. Thus the
problem was not seen as a food security issue as it is but
rather one of managing food supplies in complex political
emergencies characterized by social and policy breakdown.

5. 1996-: the concept of sustenance – where another rise in food

prices and renewed concern about the ability of the world to feed
itself. It is a debate now that the agenda shift back to Malthusian
concerns of the 1970s with a focus on food production, often in high
potential areas or will the concern with consumption and access be
sustained?

Perhaps this will forward the concept of global citizenship

through which all members of the earth will be treated equally and
will have non-discriminative access to the needs of survival and
growth. Which further require the better understanding of the
platform i.e. nature on which our survival and growth activities are
based.

Some of the following factors are the associate filed

although not directly influencing on food assurance in the region
but in the long run those influence on food availability and the
quality.
1. Soil degradation
2. Water resources
3. Biotechnology
4. Yield decline and associated actions by government and
public.
5. Pesticides/pests
6. Urbanization
7. Nutrition and Micronutrients
8. Feed/cereals for animal/meat production
9. Fertilizer use
10. Women and intra-household resources
11. Food processing and safety
12. Poverty alleviation programmes in the region
13. Role of traditional foods
14. Energy use in agriculture
15. Perennial versus annual crops and Land Reports
 137

Check your progress

1. List the dimensions of food security?
2. W hat is the m eaning of food security? 3. List the
factors responsible for food security?
7.10 PATTERNS OF GLOBAL HUNGER

World hunger is not new. At present, 850 million people –

13% of the world's population – are chronically hungry.

Hunger situation in which a human being does not have to

live in hunger or fear starvation. According to the 1996 World
Food Summit, food security exists when every person has physical
and economic access at all times to healthy and nutritious food in
sufficient quantity to cover the needs of their daily ration and food
preferences in order to live a healthy and active life. As a concept it
can be applied at many levels: global, national, household and
individual. World-wide around 852 million men, women and children
are frequently hungry due to extreme poverty; while up to 2 billion
people lack food security due to varying degrees of poverty

The number of under-fed people has steadily climbed over

the past decade. Now, the World Food Programme estimates that
the crisis has driven another 100 million people into hunger,
including even urban middle class people in developing countries.
Although hunger cannot be catagorised in patterns as it is always
depict an impact of variety of factors like poverty, draught, poor
distribution in a varying degree, it can be crudely highlighted into
following assemblages.

a) Poverty oriented
Food consumption levels reflect on poverty, families that
don't suffer from chronic hunger are the ones with financial
resources, while the ones that suffer most are the ones without any
financial resources and are also that part of the population that
will be affected most in case of food shortages or famine. On this
basis food insecurity can be further sub-categorized either as
chronic or transitory. Chronic food insecurity translates into a high
degree of vulnerability to famine and hunger, ensuring food
security presupposes elimination of that vulnerability. Chronic
hunger is not famine, it is similar to under nourishment and is related
to poverty, it exists mainly in poor countries.

b) Draught famine oriented

A major cause of hunger in aridity oriented African
nations is famine. Famine occurs frequently in arid and semi-arid
regions and was responsible for 2 million lives alone in 1985.
Every year since then, it has caused the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of people. Famines usually follow droughts which
 138

experts say can be prevented. How3ver, because of military

campaigns, civil wars and political unrest, the impact of weather
related factors such as drought are heightened. Following the
famine in 1985, an African country, Ethiopia experienced civil war for
11 years. Farmers had to leave their farms, crops were destroyed
and many peasants starved.

c) Social insecurity oriented

Political instability which result in to social insecurity both
in combination affect on the availability of food in the region.
Instability in association with the ethnic rivalry particularly in
underdeveloped region not only generates the hurdle in
availability of food, its transport but many times food stock is
purposely destroyed to overcome the opposite ethnic group.

Check your progress

1. Why is food security a complex situation?
2. What is chronic food security?

7.11 SOLUTIONS TO HUNGER - GLOBAL & INDIAN

SCENARIO

In the above sections we have seen that hunger although exists

universally, we need to find a comprehensive- way outs for the
assurance of food.

Other possible solutions include the following

i) Urban farming :-
A revival of urban farming, with residents growing food on
rooftops and public lands. Such schemes already account for the
half the amount of vegetables eaten in cities like Havana, Cuba.
In many other areas of the world courtyard farming, roof top
cultivation is widely practiced, yet, these are the sporadic efforts and
restricts to developed regions.

ii) Boosting agricultural science and technology :-

Rising agricultural productivity drives economic growth.
Improved agricultural technology is a key component for boosting
productivity. This includes support to agricultural research and
support to the application of improved technologies and practices.
Yet another possibility to solving world hunger would be genetic
engineering, which promises to increases crop yields per unit
area of farmland and also enable crops to grow in conditions
unsuitable for normal crop varieties. High tech-farming methods
such as hydroponics and aero-ponics also point to possible
solutions to producing food in an ever more crowded and urban
masses.
 139

iii) Market opportunities :-

Developing domestic market and international trade
opportunities. Expanding farmers' commercial opportunities is
critical for ensuring adequate returns. This includes improving
domestic markets and international trade opportunities. Beyond
which development of direct association between farmers and
the consumers will give more return to farmers, assure good
quality commodities to consumers and reduce the malpractices
by trades.

iv) Improving policy frameworks :-

Only with sound policies in place can domestic and foreign
private investment and development assistance catalyze growth by
helping people solve the problems that all too often keep them
poor and food-insecure.

v) Securing property rights and access to finance :-

Asset distribution shapes broad-based progress
because it determines the impact of the economic benefits.
Asset distribution also contributes to empowerment, hence
participation and ownership, by the larger proportion of the
rural population who are the generators of food.

vi) Protecting the vulnerable :-

Conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms and democracy
and governance based on principles of accountability and
transparency in public institutions and the rule of law are basic
to reducing vulnerability in the short term and eliminate conditions
that create vulnerability over the long term.

vii) Enhancing human capital :-

Better education and improved health contribute to
greater scientific capacity, more productive labour force in
farming, and better decision-makers over a range of economic
and noneconomic activities. Regular technological update to
farmers will not only increase the yield but also enhance the
bargaining power of their produce.

viii) Enhancing the purchasing power :-

The problem of food security comes mainly from the slow
growth of purchasing power of the people in the rain-fed eco-
systems. Efforts must be made to help them by developing drought
resistant seeds, cost-effective dry-land farming techniques. A
major challenge to food security comes from dietary diversification
of the poor. If cereal pricing is left to the market forces,
government playing the facilitating role, land will be released from
rice and wheat cultivation to meet the growing demand for non-
cereal crops such as oilseeds, fruits and vegetables in accordance
with diet diversification.
 140

ix) Organic farming :-

Organic farming is one of the eco-friendly activity. In that
process the balance of nature is always maintained. Hence
because of higher yield, improved soil fertility and prevention of soil
erosion, minisation of the cost of pesticides and fertilizers the
return are more and also for the longer time and of good nutritive
quality.

x) Cooperative farming :-
This will increase the area of the farm because of short term or
long term consolidation process. That will induce large scale
production and thus procurement cost will reduce and food will be
cheaper.

xi) PDS :-
The present food crisis is due to lack of proper distribution
and the trading system impeding free flow of food. Even increase
in agricultural productivity also one of the solution for this
problem. This should be based on integrating inputs and outputs-
the supply of high yielding varieties of seeds, fertilizers, and
irrigation, 'supported by credit alongside remunerative output
prices.

At the movement the problem is the problem of

distribution of existing comfortable level of supply. However with
increasing population combined with low agricultural productivity.
Therefore we should do efforts to increase productivity and re-
correct the distribution problems.

xii) Halting farming to NA land :-

In the process of urbanization and industrialization large
quantity of agricultural land becomes non-agricultural in nature.
Sometimes, this is replaced by marginal land for farming. It
reduces yield and reduce the sustainability of the activity. Hence,
use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose should be
discouraged.

Check your progress

1. List the measures to eliminate food scarcity?
2. How can industrialization lead to food scarcity?

7.12 FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

India after the independence of 1947, was to face

number of hardships. Both economic as well as politico-strategic
front. It was the exploitative colony over about one and half
century for the British and thus on the fronts of resource
development for her own people very less efforts were
 141

contributed. On another hand, epidemies, fluctuations of

monsoon resulting into shortage of food grains, poor availability of
water particularly in off-season was prominent. Moreover, we were
to respond to three war-fares immediately after the independence.
On this line the, the efforts taken by the scientists were highly
appreciable when around 1070s India achieved self-sufficiency in
terms of food. Yet, the ever-expanding population has posed
severe problem towards the availability of food in India

In India food security can be viewed as four phased concept.

1. During 1940to /60s - food security was only considered in terms
of physical availability
2. 1970s - economic access to food was considered equally
important in which every individual must be able to purchase
food. This was through fair price shops.
3. 1980s - food security must be considered at the level of the
individual and not merely of the household as within a
household women and girl children tend to be undernourished
4. 1990s - ii is recognized that that micronutrients in addition to
environmental hygiene and safe drinking water are important as
a part of food security.

Food security remained a major developmental objective

in India since the beginning of planning era. India achieved self-
sufficiency in food grains in the 1970's and has sustained it since
then. But the achievement of food grain security at the national
level did not percolate down to households and the level of
chronic food scarcity is observed almost every year. Over 225
million Indians remain chronically under nourished. In 2000-01,
about half of the rural children below five years of age suffered from
malnutrition and 40% of adults suffered from chronic energy
deficiency. Such a high volume waste of human resources should
be a cause for concern. It is not only a problem of today but the
same population becomes the pillar of economy over the period.
In recent time, there has been a shift in policy focus towards
household level food security and per capita food energy intake is
taken as a measure of food security. The government has been
implementing a wide range of nutrition intervention programmes for
achieving food security at the household and individual levels. The
Public Distribution System (PDS) supplies food items, such as food
grains, edible oil and sugar, at administered prices through fair
price shops. There have been a range of food-for-work and other
wage employment programmes. Another approach adopted by the
government is to target women and children directly; this includes
mid-day meal programme for school going children and
supplementary nutrition and external .input liker folic acid tablets
programme for children and women.
 142

Accordi ng to Nati onal Sample Survey, per capita

cereal consumption has been declining since early 1970's
although a significant rise in per capita cereal production.
This can be attributed to changes in consumer tastes, from food
to non-food items and, within food group, from coarse to fine
cereals. The decline in cereal consumption has been greater in
rural areas, where the improvement in rural infrastructure has
made other food and non-food items available to rural households.

The reality is that the lower one-third of the population

has not shown any improvement in cereal and calorie intake in the
rural as well as urban areas despite a significant increase in their per
capita expenditure. Their per capita calorie intake is approximately
1600 to 1700 calories which is short of the required. Food
distribution within the family is also inequitable in the rural
households and the pre-school children get much less than their
physiological needs as compared to adult males and females. Even
in case of female, irrespective of their status of working as a laborer
or the household get less nutrients, both in terms of quality
and quantity. Micronutrient deficiency is common among
people. Diets of about 80% of the rural population contain less
than half of the normal requirement of vitamins. The vitamins A
deficiency leads to preventable blindness. Iron deficiency is
widely prevalent among pregnant women. This results in a high
incidence of low birth weight children, which in turn contributes to
malnutrition for a child and anemia for mother.

The most important challenge is to increase the energy

intake of the bottom 30% of the population and at the same time
facilitate diet diversification to meet micronutrient deficiency. The
food gapcan be met from the existing food grain stocks in the
medium term and by increasing their purchasing power in the long
run through increasing job opportunities. The micronutrient
deficiency can be rectified through supplementary nutrition and
supply of fortified food. There is also a need to improve the
efficiency of the various food schemes initiated by the
government and make it more available and free of corruption
and urban bias.

The scenario of insecurity of food can be viewed through following:-

a. Clear objectives
Food security happens when all people at all times have
access to enough food that should affordable, safe and healthy,
culturally acceptable , meets specific dietary needs, obtained in a
dignified manner and produced in ways that are environmentally
sound. We must have the clear thought in this regard. Our country
being one of the largest in terms of geographical area, population
biodiversity and potentiality in terms of world super power should
have clear policy about the population and its health for the future.
 143

b. Supply Side picture of Food Insecurity in India

According to the data published by the government of India
and the Food Corporation of India, total production of food grain
was 230.78 million tons in 2007-08 and in recent year it is 229.85
million tones. There is just 0.93 million tons of food grain
production decreased than earlier year. That rises the quarry
whether just 0.004% decline in can generate the severe
situation? During 2007-08 to 2008-09 rice production increased
from 96.69 to 99.37 million tones, wheat production is declined
from 78.57 to 77.63 million tones, coarse cereals production
decreased from just 40.76 to 38.67 million tones, cereals
production is decreased from 216.02 to 215.67 million tones
and production of pulses is near about stable it is changed from
14.76 to 14.18 million tons in same year. Has it really deteriorated food
security?

In the same year population growth is near about hardly

1.10 percent and net growth of population may be 0.50 to 0.75
percent. It was not a great burden on economy because alternative
food production like fish fruit, vegetables and milk increased
during the period.

c. Trade Practice Analysis of Food grain Market

Supply side analysis of the food market being stable;
Indians are facing a problem of low availability of food grain in
the market and its higher prices. This has happened in the retail
market due to the speculative practice of the traders. According to
the supply department of the government of Indian and the
government of Maharashtra most of traders are keeping illegal
stock of food grain and pulses. They are doing such for only
profit motive and ignore the morality. Hence, we can say that it is
not only natural problem but also manmade. In another word
we can say that "Hunger created by nature but supported by
traders".

d. the complex hurdle

To bring situation to the normalcy, there is need of strong
control over the food market in India. In developing countries like
India, the root causes of food insecurity include, poverty, corruption,
national policies that do not prom ote equal access to food
for all, environmental degradation, barriers to trade, insufficient
agricultural development, population growth, low levels of
education, social and gender inequality, poor health status,
cultural insensitivity, and natural disasters. Implementation of
proper mannered and accurate public distribution system is a
major solution to overcome the problem of speculation by the
private traders.
 144

e. PDS in poor state.

Another important fact is the objectives of the Public
Distribution System-PDS are good but it was failed to accomplish
that objective due to the corruption. PDS is better way to tackle
the problem of food speculation by private traders. If the
government will succeed in the motive of PDS, the intensity of food
insecurity problem will be reduced in future. However, the cruel
reality is that despite this huge food production, a huge buffer
stock and an extensive network of PDS, millions of people are
yet hungry and hunger death is immediate mile stone for them.
This scene is repetitive every year at different places.

Thus in spite of our adequate qualitative as well as qualitative

achievement in the field of agriculture we are yet to assure
ourselves about the food for tomorrow.

Check your progress

1. Understand the role of corruption in food scarcity?
2. How PDSs induce food assurance?
3. What is the role of traders in food scarcity?

7.13 LET US SUM UP

In this session we have learnt that global inequality of

availability of resources has resulted into unequal distribution of
food. Hence, there are food rich and food poor areas. This leads
to shortage of food in the world.
Even in India, there are enormous efforts to overcome the
shortage of food by way of adopted packages like green revolution
and later development of indigenous methods.
When this scarcity is not fulfilled it results in to hunger,
starvation, and malnutrition and under nutrition and finally the
death.
To assure the availability of food we need food security
and that can be achieved by various method.

7.14 UNIT END EXERCISE

1. Explain food rich and food poor countries.
2. What is meant by food security?
3. Elaborate the measures to eliminate food scarcity.
4. Explain the stand of India on the front of food security.
5. Elaborate the role of general population on food security


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8
SECONDARY AND TERTIARY SECTORS
Unit Structure
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Bases of Spatial interaction.
8.1.1 Complementarity
8.1.2 Transferability
8.1.3. Intervening Opportunity
8.2 Importance of Transportation in Trade & Commerce
8.3 Modes of Transportation
8.4 Selection of Different Modes of Transportation
8.5 Communication
8.5.1 Types of Telecommunication
8.5.2 Time & Space Convergence
8.6 Changing Nature of Manufacturing and Services in
Developed & Developing Countries
8.7 Let Us Sum Up
8.8 Unit End Exercise

8.0 OBJECTIVES

After going through this chapter you will be able to :

 Understand how industries and trade is expanding to achieve
regional growth.
 Know about expanding role of transportation.
 Understand the criterias applicable to select the mode of
transportation.
 Know about how the means of communication are increasing
to bring the world more closer.
 Understand the changing structure of manufacturing activities
in developed & developing countries

8.1 BASES OF SPATIAL INTERACTION

Earth's Surface is not even. There are hilly areas as well as

plain regions. Population density is more in the plain regions.
Similarly the products which are required by the population are
derived from different areas as they are produced in different
regions. Hence there are regions of production or regions of supply
 146

and also the regions of consumption or regions of demand. The

interaction among these two types of regions is known as spatial
interaction.


Spatial interaction between any two places depends upon
following three major concepts.
[Link]
[Link]
3. Intervening Opportunity

8.1.1 Complementarity

Natural has created Man as well as women.

When boy or girl become mature they are attracted to each
other. They have specific requirements which are fulfilled by each
other hence they are complementary to each other.

Similarly different regions have different requirements. If the

requirements of one region are fulfilled by the other region then
these two regions are termed as Complementary to each other.
Mumbai is one of the major metropolitan city of India & is called as
"Economic Capital" of India. Mumbai offers various types of jobs.
People from surrounding region are dependent on Mumbai for
these jobs & Mumbai is dependent on these people of the
surrounding region. Hence we can say that Mumbai and its
surrounding regions are complementary to each other. Apples are
produced in Himachal Pradesh in large quantity. Hence it can be
called as region of surplus. Mumbai has large population & hence
demand for apple is more in Mumbai. This can be called as region
of deficit. Hence we can say that both these regions are
complementary to each other.

8.1.2 Transferability
Transport & Communication networks help to transfer
people, material or goods and information from one place to
another. Without proper transferability interaction between two
regions is difficult.
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8.1.3 Intervening Opportunity

Spatial interaction between two places is affected by the
presence of intervening opportunity. E.g. Interaction between
Himachal Pradesh and Mumbai with respect to the trade of apple
can be adversely affected if there is demand for apples from
Delhi. As Delhi is more closer to Himachal Pradesh than Mumbai &
hence transportation cost will be less if apples are transported
from Himachal Pradesh to Delhi. So the trade between
Himachal Pradesh & Mumbai will decrease. In this example "Delhi"
is an example of intervening opportunity.


Role of Transport and Telecommunication Technology Time &
Space Convergence —

Transportation is an important link between producer and consumer

in any economic activity.



Due to regional specialisation of economic activities
and technological development the role of transport has become
more important. Earth's surface is not even, similarly the climatic
conditions aslo vary from one place to another and hence different
types of products are produced in different regions. e.g. Tea is
grown mainly in the tropical belt due to worm climatic conditions,
but it is consumed more in U.K. & other European countries.

Various modes of transportation are used in the world. The

carrying capacity and speed of these modes have increased over a
period of time. Due to bulk carrying capacity the transportation cost
per unit has reduced considerably. Hence all types of products
even perishable products are transported over longer distance to
the various parts of the world.
 148

`Transport' is considered as one of the indicator of

development of a country. More developed countries have dense
network of transport than the less developed countries.

Check your Progress:-

1. Explain the concept of spatial interaction.

2. Match the column.

A B
1) Mumbai - Himachal Pradesh 1) Transferability
2) Mumbai - Delhi, Himachal 2) Spatial interaction
Pradesh
3) Use of railway for trade 3) Complementarity’s
4) Intervening opportunity

3. Write short notes on

a) Complementarity’s
b) Intervening opportunity

8.2 IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPORTATION IN TRADE

& COMMERCE

1. Transportation promotes trade

Trade both wholesale and retail - requires transportation, as
it is connecting link between producer to wholesaler and
from wholesaler to retailer & finally to consumer.


Efficient means of transportation promotes trade & development of
the region.

2. Regional Specialization
It is more economical to produce products suitable to any
particular regions. e.g. Tea being plantation crops as grown in
 149

warm tropical belt. Transportation helps in distribution of products

in the world & hence promotes regional specialization.

3. Employment opportunities
Various modes of transportation requires large amount of
skilled and unskilled man power & hence development of
transportation leads to increase in employment opportunity in
transportation & other related fields.

4. Large scale production

It is always economical to have large scale production of
any product. But at the same time it is also essential to distribute these
products at proper destination within specific time limit. This has
become possible due to large scale development of transportation
network.

5. Mobility of labour
Migration of skilled & unskilled labour has increased
tremendously due to development in transportation. e.g. Many nurses
and skilled workers in the Gulf countries are from Kerala state
in India. Similarly the silicon valley has greater percentage of
Indians.

6. Time Utility
Transportation time is very crucial for perishable products &
these can be transported to markets in fresh condition from far off
places due to efficient means of transportation.
Time factor is also very crucial at the time of disasters, emergency
or wars when the supply of material within the specific time is very
important.

7. Place Utility
Multi - National corporations (MNC) require huge space to
start their processing plants in the underdeveloped or developing
countries. These corporations select remote barren areas for
eraction of heir processing plant, as such areas are vacant & are
cheaper. Development of transportation network in this region
changes the place utility & it becomes more valuable.

Check your Progress :-

1. Explain any four (4) importance of transport in the
development of trade & Commerce.
2. Give reasons for
a) Why it is said that transport adds place & time utility.
b) Importance of transport is increasing in today's world.

8.3 MODES OF TRANSPORTATION

Roads and waterways were only means of transportation
in the past. Today we have roads to air transport, thanks to
 150

the technological developments in the field of transportation.

Various modes of transportation are as follows.

A. Land Transportation
1. Road Transportation
2. R a i l T r a n s p o r t a t i o n
3. Pipeline Transportation

B. Water Transportation
1. Ocean ship routes.
2. Inland waterways.

C. Air Transportation

8.4 SELECTION OF DIFFERENT MODES OF

TRANSPORTATION

Each type of Transportation has som e advantages

and disadvantages. Depending on the type of product, its
nature, its cost etc. particular type of mode of transportation is
selected. Following points are considered for the selection of
different modes of transportation.

1. Transportation Cost
Transportation cost per unit is less for ocean Transportation
& it is very high for air Transportation. Generally non-perishable,
bulky commodities are Transported through ocean ship routes.

Rail transport is used to carry raw material, bulky products,

nonperishable goods within the country. Road and air
Transportation is used to carry raw material, bulky products, non-
perishable goods within the country. Road and air transport is
used to carry perishable, and more valuable goods. Pipeline is
used for the transportation of water, oil, natural gas etc.

2. Speed
Speed is a crucial factor in the transportation of perishable or
more important products. Road transportation is f aster
than rail transportation for shorter distance as it provides door
to door service. Rail transportation is faster than road
transportation for longer distances. Perishable products like
flowers are transported world over by air Transport.

3. Convenience
It is one of the important factor while selecting the mode
of transport. e.g. river in Russia are frozen during winter season
and hence are not useful as means of transportation. In such cases
land Transport or air transport becomes more convenient.
 151

4. Climatic Variation
Air of water transport are more affected by climatic
variation e.g. snowfall, fog, extreme low lemp. etc.
Land transportation i.e. road - is also affected by the development
of dense fog, snow fall or heavy rain fall.

5. Risk in Transportation
Precious goods are Transported by air, Breakable goods are
Transported with proper care generall y through road
Transportation.

6. Accessibility
Accessibility is less in hilly & Mountainous areas. Human
labour or animals are used in such areas for Transportation. Air
Transport is also used in such areas in the case of emergency.

Check your Progress :-

1. How transport cost decides the selection of mode of transport?
2. Which different factors has to be considered to select the
mode of transportation.

8.5 COMMUNICATION

Communication means exchange of information through

message. This can be done through speaking, writing or by other
methods. Communication can be classified as (1) personal
communication - e.g. Post, Telegraph, Telephone or mobile and
(2) Mass Communication - e.g. Newspapers, Magazines, Radio,
T.V. and satellite communication.
Communication is an essential part of own life. Modern trade
& development is impossible without effective communication.
Satellites help worldwide broadcasting of radio and T.V. Signals. All
barriers / Constraints of time and space are eliminated by effective
means of communication. Revolution in tele - communication has
given rise to new terms like- `Global Village' `Information Super
Highway' and `Third transport revolution' etc.
8.5.1 Types of Telecommunication
1. Postal services
Postal service in India developed during the colonial period. Prior
to that birds or messengers were. used by the kings for sending
messages.
2. Telegraph Service
Speedy communication started due to development of Telegraph.
3. Telex
Telex is teleprinter machine used by the postal department. Typed
message can be transferred quickly with the help of telex.
 152

4. Telephone
It is very important in personal communication. Distance barrier
between two persons is removed instantly in telephonic
communication.
5. Fax
Fax Machine is a printer attached to telephone. It reproduces a
copy of any information send through fax machine from other place.
Exact copy of important documents can be send to other places
through `Fax'.
6. Mobile Phones
Mobile phones or cell phones have become an essential & integral
part of our body. It is used by different purposes. It is very effective
means of personal communication.
7. Conference Phone
These phones can be used for conducting conferences where with
the help of telephone 2 or more people can have conversation. Lot
of time is saved and hence these are useful for small business
meetings.
8. Radio
Radio plays an important role in our social & personal life. It is very
useful & effective means of mass communication. Warnings about
weather condition, cyclones, heavy rainfall, sea condition etc. can
be given instantly through radio. It is used for creating mass
awareness during wars, emergencies, epidemics, riots etc.
Commercial advertisements on radio promote sells of various
products.

9. Television
Mass communication became more effective, attractive due to
development of television. It plays same role as radio but being
visual it is far more effective & interesting in providing information
e.g. chanels like National Geographic, Animal planet provide
information about various parts of the world. Tele - learning has
become possible due to T.V. It is a popular medium for advertising.

10. Video – conference

It is also called as tele conference where people can talk and at the
same time see each other as if they are in front of them. It is
possible to show sample products, maps, graphs or charts in this
type of conference & it saves lot of time & money of the people.

11. Satellite Communication

India is one of the leading country in satellite communication. There
are various types of satellite Geo-stationary Satellites send
information of the same region as they rotate along with the earth at
the same speed.
Satellite play a revolutionary role in the field of communication.
 153

12. Computers
The present age is called as age of computers. They are used
everywhere in homes, shops, offices, schools, colleges, banks,
railway stations, airports etc. They store and transfer data more
accurately & effectively.

a) E-mail - or Electronic - Mail is service provided through

computer. One can contact any person in the world or send
message to him or her through E-mail. It plays an important role in
business world as well as personal communication.

b) Internet - This is also an additional service which we get through

computers. Internet provide us detail information about any topic
which is required by us. Internet is also very popular in the
commercial world for advertising & sell of products.

Check your Progress :-

1. Explain the types of communication.
2. How computer technology is helping to bring world more close.
3. Explain the concept of global village.

8.5.2 Time & Space convergence

Due to the developm ent of various means of
effective communication the earth has become smaller as
people in far off regions can contact each other irrespective of the
physical barriers & political boundaries hence the entire world, has
become a Global village. Due to modern means of communication.

8.6 CHANGING NATURE OF MANUFACTURING AND

SERVICES IN DEVELOPED & DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES.
Countries in Europe, N. America, Japan & Australia are known
as developed countries. Due to industrial & scientific revolution in
these countries mass production of various products started in
these countries. Colonisation done by the European countries
provided raw materials to their industries at the homeland. These
countries could sell their products in their colonies and they got the
advantage of headstart, so these countries prospered more than
the other countries. Manufacturing was not much developed in the
underdeveloped & developing countries.

Today situation is just reversed. Due to rapid technical

change, scientific & technological development in the developing
countries, shrinking economic distance, new forms of industrial
organisation & widespread policy liberalisation have promoted large
scale industrialisation in the developing as well as
underdeveloped countries.
 154

Multi - National corporations (MNC) dominate industries

in the world. Though most of the MNC have their origin in Europe
an countries, they prefer to develop manufacturing industries in the
developing countries due to liberisation policy of the government.
As government provides lands, water, electricity, labour and other
facilities to the MNC in developing Countries.

Labour cost, land cost, material cost is more in developed

countries. Environmental restrictions are more harsh in the
developed countries & hence MNC's prefer developing & -
underdeveloped countries for their industrial expansion.

Hazardous industries are shifted from developed countries to

developing & underdeveloped countries. MNC's shift old out dated
machinery, old technology to these countries so that they can run
the industry at minimum cost and can earn maximum profit. Various
types of household products like T.V. Washing machines,
computers, cars are produced in developing & newly industrialised
countries.

8.7 LET US SUM UP

In present world the need for transport and communication is

increasing. Hence different modes of transportation and the
means of communication are even advancing. In todays globalised
world transportation and communication has brought the countries.
of the world very close to each other. Hence these two has
became the basic indicators of economic development in
developed & developing world.

8.8 UNIT END EXERCISE

1. With suitable diagrams, explain the term spational

interaction & its concepts.
2. Discuss in detail, the importance of transportation
in expanding commerce & trade.
3. Explain in detail, the changes taking place in the types of
communication.
4. Differentiate the nature of manufacturing & services in
developed and developing countries.


 155

9
TOURISM
Unit Structure
9.0 Objective
9.1 Tourism - Introduction
9.2 New types of tourism.
9.2.1 Eco Tourism
9.2.2 Agro - Tourism
9.2.3 Medical — Tourism
9.2.4 Adventure Tourism
9.2.5 Sports Tourism
9.2.6 Sex Tourism
9.3 Challenges Before India
9.4 ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TOURISM
9.5 SOCIO - CULTURAL IMPACT OF TOURISM
9.5.1 Positive Impact
9.5.2 Negative Impact
9.6 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF TOURISM
9.7 Let Us Sum Up
9.8 Unit End Exercise

9.0 OBJECTIVE

 Understand the increasing need for tourism activity.

 Know about the factors to generate tourism world wide.
 To discuss the changes taking place from traditional tourism to
new forms of tourism.
 To understand the positive & negative sides of Tourism with
special examples from India.

9.1 TOURISM — INTRODUCTION

Tourism is one of the important economic activity. Traders
traveled from one place to another in the past; but this travel was
a part of their business. Due to the development of industries in
Europe, people worked in the unhealthy, congested atmosphere
& hence there was a need for rest & relaxation. So tourism
developed in 18th century in U.K. The concept of mass tourism
 156

developed due to development of transport & communication. Today

tourism has become an important business & it also helps countries
to earn valuable foreign exchange & to help economy of that
country.

Tourism definition :-
1. "Tourism is the totality of the relationship & phenomenon
arising from the places where they normally live & work & their
activities during the stay at these destinations & it includes
movement for all purposes as well as day visits or excursions."
 Hunzlker & Krapt (Swis Professors, 1942)

2. "Tourism is the sum total of the operation, mainly of an

economic nature, which directly relates to the entry, stay &
movement of foreigners inside & outside a certain country or
region."
 Hermann V. Schullnd (Austrian economist)

Common Characteristics of Tourism

1. Tourism is a temporary phenomenon
2. There is no time limit for tourism, it may be of a day visit or a
stay of two months also.
3. Tourist is a strangerto tourist place.
4. It is a movement outside home environment.

Factors affecting the development of tourism

Popular sites of tourism normally have following
factors.
1. Places of natural beauty e.g. Beaches, Hills, Forest etc.
2. Places of Historical importance.
3. Places having cultural heritage.
4. Accessibility
5. Good weather condition.
6. Shopping facilities.
7. Health related aspects
8. Accommodation facility
9. Entertainment facilities.
10. Transportation facilities.

Check your Progress

1. Define the term Tourism
2. Why the tourism activity is increasing in present world.
3. Discuss the characteristics of tourism.
4. Explain in detail, which factors India Posses to develop
tourism.
 157

9.2 NEW TYPES OF TOURISM

Tourism is a rapidly developing tertiary economic activity,
which has become essential as it supports economy of many
countries. The concept of tourism has changed over the period of
time. Many new ideas, specialisation etc. are introduced in tourism
which is termed as New Tourism e.g. Eco tourism, Agro tourism,
Medical Tourism Adventure tourism, sports tourism & Sex tourism
etc.
Environmental protection has become essential to sustain the
activity of tourism & hence more emphasis is given on protection of
the environment in New tourism.

9.2.1 Eco tourism

Eco-tourism is tourism & recreation that is both nature based and
sustainable.

International ecotourism society defines eco-tourism as

"responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment
and sustains the well being of local people."

Protection & conservation -of environment depends upon the

behaviour of the tourists.

Guidelines for tourists for the Protection of Environment

1. Do not distroy plants, trees.
2. Maintain silence. Avoid noise pollution.
3. Do not disturb animals, birds, fish or even insects.
4. Keep sources of water clean
5. Avoid Camp-Fire i.e. burning of wood.
6. Dispose off the biodegradable & non- biodegradable wastes at
proper places.

Ecotourism helps local people by supporting their economy &

environment.

Ecotourism protects biodiversity & helps in the conservation of the

environment. Ecotourism helps to percolate idea of environmental
protection through environmental education.

Green hotels i.e. hotels which take care of the environment &
create less pollution, conserve resources are known as Green
hotels or 'Ecotels' e.g. 'Orchid' 'hotel' of Shri Vitthal Kamat at
Mumbai.

Check your Progress

1) Fill in the Following.
a) Tourism is _________ activity
b) Eco tourism is of __________.
 158

c) Eco tourism is _______ & ________ based.

d) Local people gets benefit to earn income & protect their
environment through _________.
2) Write note on Eco tourism with its guide lines.
3) Write are the benefits of Eco-tourism.

9.2.2 Agro - Tourism

Tourism related to agriculture is termed as Agro-Tourism.
This is a new concept & certainly helps to promote sustainable
development of tourism & protection of environment.

The idea of agro-tourism is to organise tour in agricultural

areas to observe growth of plants, agricultural operations & to
enjoy life in the rural areas. Due to rapid urbanisation &
industrialisation, people migrate to urban areas. Population of major
metropolitan, cities like Mumbai is ever increasing. Life in
congested urban area has become more miserable. Agro-
tourism provides welcome change by providing natural,
unpolluted & calm environment to the tourist & hence there is lot
of scope to develop agro-tourism near metropolitan cities like
Mumbai.

Agro-tourism is popular in the countries like Italy, Spain,

Australia etc. In India it is practiced in the tea & coffee plantation
areas.

In Maharashtra farmers of Baramati formed, a group called

'Maya, Agro' to develop agro-tourism near sahyadri hill ranges.
This includes waterfalls, forest, temples, forts, boating & rural food.

India has tremendous protential for the development of agro -

tourism.

Check your progress

1. What is Agro tourism? Why it is getting importance in present
day?
2. Why India has a wide scope for Agro tourism?
Explain with examples.
9.2.3 Medical — Tourism
It is a combination of medical treatment & tourism Medical charges
are very high in the more developed counties but are less in less
developed or developing countries & hence people from developed
countries travel to developing country like India to take
advantage of low-cost health care & super specialised hospitals.
Kerala is famous for Ayurvedic treatment. Yoga has become
popular in the western countries. Kerla, Goa, Maharashtra
(Aurangabad, Mumbai, yipshana Centre at lgatpuri, Urali
Kanchan etc.) are important centres of medical tourism in India.
 159

9.2.4 Adventure tourism

It includes travel to remote, exotic areas, dense forests,
rock climbing, mountaineering, water rafting, visit to underground
caves, river crossing, gliding etc. India has tremendous
physical variation &- hence there is lot of scope for adventure
tourism in India.
9.2.5 Sports tourism
Due to olympic games sports tourism is becoming an
important economic activity. Cricket, football are the popular
games which attract tourist from all over the world.

9.2.6 Sex tourism

Sex is a basic instinct of man. South-East Asian,
Counties like Thailand have become famous for sex tourism.
Young children both boys & girls are exploited due to sex tourism.
It is difficult to control these & other illigal activities related to sex
tourism.

Check your Progress

1. What is medical tourism? Give some examples from your
general reading.
2. Why adventure tourism is getting importance?
3. How sere tourism is harmful to the society?

9.3 CHALLENGES BEFORE INDIA

Mughal emporar had described Kashmir in India, as

heaven on the earth. Indeed India is a unique country having
tremendous physical of cultural variations. Highest mountain in
the world is to the north of India. This region receives snowfall &
enjoys temperate climatic condition. Southern part of India is in the
tropical belt & has higher temperature. Similarly East India
receives highest rainfall in the world while Thar desert is to the
west of India. India is a diffusion of various cultures & religions & we
are proud of own cultural heritage.

Hence India has tremendous, potential for the

development of tourism. Unfortunately the share of India in
world tourism is very less. There are many reason's for this
situation. Such as -

1) In Indian culture our guest (i.e. Tourist) is considered as

god (Athithi Deo Bhava) but rarely tourist get this treatment?
Generally tourist is considered as `Bakara' and is exploited by
taxi drivers, traders & other people related to tourist industry. It is
necessary to change this attitude.

2) Lack of cleanliness is another problem found at many

 160

places, Even the important tourist places are sporiled by the

tourist & their dirty habits.

3) `Terrorism' has created problems in many parts of India & hence

spoiled the image of India. This certainly affects adversely on the
development of tourism in India.
These are some of the challenges before us it is our duty to try our
level best to overcome these problems.

Check your Progress

1. Match the Column.

A B
1. Karshmir 1. Gujrat, Rajasthan.
2. Himalian ranges 2. Cultural heritage
3. Thar desert 3. Heaven on earth.
4. Cherapunji 4. Sonwfall & beautiful scenary.
5. India 5. Highest Rainfall in the world.

2. Which challenges India is facing in the growth of Tourism?

3. “Can India able to develop it’s tourism to get economic
befit?” Express your views.

9.4 ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TOURISM

a) Positive impact
1) Employment - Tourism provides many job opportunities to
unskilled as well as skilled personals. These employments are in
transport, hotel, food industry & craft industry.

2) Invisible export - Tourism is considered as invisible export as

it provides valuable foreign exchange to the host country. When
tourist visit any country they spend money on food, travel,
purchase of various items & accommodation facilities. This money
percolates into society and hence indirectly government gets its
benefit as invisible export.

3) Generation of national income - Development of tourism

promotes investment in various sectors like infrastractural facilities,
construction of accommodation facilities.

4) Development of region - Economically backward regions can

develop due to tourist activities. It also enhances the standard of
living of the local population.
 161

b) Negative impact -
1) Increase in imports - Tourists demand products of international
standards of reputed companies. Underdeveloped countries are
compelled to import these products as the local products are of low
quality or are not preferred by the tourists.

2) Seasonal job opportunities - Certain hill stations attract

tourists in a particular season & hence the local people get
seasonal job opportunities.

3) Rise in the prices of the products - Tourists are prepared to

pay higher prices for the products & hence generally products are
costly at the hill stations. This creates problems for the local people.

9.5 SOCIO - CULTURAL IMPACT OF TOURISM

9.5.1 Positive impact -
1) Incentive to Local craft & culture - Due to tourist activities
traditional / local craft is revived . Local craftsmen develop new
ideas to attract tourists.

2) Preservation of historic Monuments - Certain building of

historical importance are treated as cultural heritage or Heritage
buildings are protected and preserved as national treasure.

3) World Peace - When tourist visit other countries they

understand their culture & they clear their mis - Concepts about
that culture. This promotes international understanding & hence
can bring peace in the world.

9.5.2 Negative impact

1) Spread of AIDS - Sex tourism enhances spread of AIDS

through prostitution. There is no cure for AIDS & hence this is a
major adverse effect of tourism.

2) Cultural shock - When tourist form advanced countries visit

underdeveloped countries, they wear modern or fashionable
dresses & this can be a cultural shock to the people from traditional
culture. e.g. Hippies on the beaches of Goa were the foreign
tourist & they moved on the beach without any type of dress on their
body.

3) Increase in the crimes - Tourism also promotes various types

of Crime, Tourists are robbed by the local people or some times
local people are exploited by the tourists.
 162

9.6 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF TOURISM

a) Positive impact
1) Development of Agro - Tourism - Many Potential spots are
developed as agro-tourism sites e.g. strawberry tourism developed
near panchgani - Mahabaleshwar hill area.

2) Development of santuaries - Forested areas are developed

into santuaries, to attract tourist & to develop tourism. More
attention is given to such forested areas by the government
authorities. Forests are reserved or protected.

b) Negative impacts -
1) Loss of biodiversity - Increase in tourist activities leads to the
development of infrastructural facilities, accomodation facilities
etc. & unfortunately this affects the vegetation of that area which
ultimately leads to the loss of biodiversity.

2) Increase in pollution - Air, water, land & noise pollution

increases due to Tourism.

3) Environmental degradation
Various types of products & resources, food items etc. required by
tourists are exploited from the environment and hence development
of tourism generally leads to the environmental degradation.

9.7 LET US SUM UP

Tourism is an ever growing economic activity world wide.

Through this activity the developing countries can able to
maintain their deficit in the balance of payment. This is possible
only when the Tourism activity will be carried out in
environmental friendly manner. And by using maximum local
resources like labour. Tourism general large scare employment to
local people By concentrating on positive side & overcoming the
negative then impacts of tourism, if all the developing &
underdeveloped countries will tap their potentialities then Tourism
activity will be boon for achieving faster economic growth.

9.8 UNIT END EXERCISE

1. Explain the concept of tourism with it's characterstics.

2. Discuss in detail the new forms of tourism.
3. What are the challonges India is facing in the growth of tourism.
4. Explain positive & Negetive impact to tourism.


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10
NATURAL DISASTERS

Unit Structure
10.0 Objective
10.1 Concept of Natural & Man Made Disasters.
10.2 Natural Disasters
10.2.1 Consequences of the Earthquake
10.2.2 Earthquake Safety Rules
10.2.3 Tsunami
10.2.4 Tsunami Safety Rules
10.3 Cyclone
10.4 Floods
10.5 Droughts
10.6 Let Us Sum Up
10.7 Unit End Exercise

10.0 OBJECTIVE

 Understand the basic difference between Natural and Man

made Disasters.
 To know the cause & some concepts associated with Natural
Disasters.
 Study the consequences of Natural Disasters & Pre
cautionary means are to be adopted.

10.1 CONCEPT OF DISASTER NATURAL'S% MAN-

MADE

`Disaster' is a situation which develops due to natural or man-made

activities. Generally there is a large scale loss of property or
human life. It is a grave occurrence having severe impact on the
society. There is large scale disruption of infrastructure. Disasters
have socio - economic, psychological, political & cultural impact on
the society. Disasters are classified as.
 164

a) Natural Disasters - These develop due to natural causes

e.g. earthquake, tsunami, cyclone, flood & drought.. Heat
waves, landslides, forest fire etc. are considered as minor natural
disasters.

b) Man - made Disasters - These develop due to human error

or failure of system operated by man.
Man-made disasters can be sociological or technological. E.g.
Criminal acts, riots, stampeds, war etc. are the examples of
sociological man made disasters. While transport accidents,
industrial accidents, fire, oil spills or leakage of poisonous gas
are the examples of technological man-made disasters.

Check your Progress

1. Fill in the gaps
a) Disasters develops due to_________ & ________ activities.
b) Tsunami is an example of --------------- disaster.
c) Bhopal gas tragedy is an excellent example of ----------------
disaster.
d) Recent gas leackage froM prot Trust is___________
2. Explain the concept of "Disaster" and its typs.

10.2 NATURAL DISASTERS

Earthquake & Tsunami -

Earth + quake (Shake) is a sudden movement of the earth's
surface. This is generally caused by the movement of the earth's
tectonic plates. I.e. Earth's surface is composed of many tectonic
plants. These are not stable. The gradual movement of these
plants in different directions builds up stress & beyond a certain
limit it produces sudden jerk of the surface.

The violent vibrations developed on the earth's surface are

called as earthquake.

Focus of the earthquake is the place in the interior of earth where

the earthquake originates. This is a place from which the earth
quake waves spread in different directions.
 165


Epicenter - It is a point on the earth's surface immediately above
the focus.

Earthquake waves are called as seismic waves. These are of

different types.

a) Primary waves - These are the initial waves, they travel

in straight line & are able to pass through the liquid core of the
earth.

b) Secondary waves - These are 'S' shaped & hence their

movement is more complicated than the primary waves. These
waves are absorbed in the liquid core of the earth.

c) Surface waves or love waves - These are more complicated &

hence are not able to travel much. These are found near
equicentre. These waves cause maximum damage.
The magnitude of earthquake is measured in Richter scale.
`Seismograph' is used for this measurement.

10.2.1 Consequences of the earthquake

a) Constructive consequences -
1) Due to movement of earth's crust, underground mineral
resources are brought to the surface & hence new mining areas
develop.
2) Rivers change their courses & provide fertile agricultural land.
3) Waterfalls & springs develop at new places.
4) Submergence of coastal areas is responsible for the
development of ports & harbours.
5) New lakes are formed
6) Hot springs emerge at new locations.
 166

Destructive consequences -

1) Earthquake causes landslides in the hilly areas.

2) Rivers change their courses & hence fertile & populated areas
are submerged.
3) River courses are blocked, leading to floods in the near by
areas.
4) Buildings, bridges, Collapse & there is damage to property on a
large scale.
5) Transport & Communication lines are disturbed / destroyed. C)
Many people die or become handicapped.
7) `Tsunami' develop due to earthquake & are responsible for the
heavy loss of property.

10.2.2 Earthquake safety rules.

During the earthquake -

1) Don't panic. The motion is frightening but, unless it shakes
something down on top of you, it is harmless. Keep calm &
aware of the situation.
2) If it catches you indoor, stay indoors. Take cover under a desk,
table, bench, or in doorways, halls & against inside walls. Stay
away from glass.
3) Don't use candles, matches or other open flames either during
or after the tremor. Douse all fires.
4) If the earthquake catches you outside, move away from
buildings & utility wires. Once in open ground, stay there until
the shaking stops.
5) Don't run through or near buildings. The greatest danger from
falling debris is just outside doorways & close to outer walls.
6) If you are in a moving car, stop as quickly as possible & stay
inside the car.

After the shaking -

1) Check your utilities, but do not turn them on. Earthquake may
have cracked water, gas & electrical conduits.
2) If you smell gas, open windows & shut off the main valve.
3) If water mains are damaged, shut off the supply at the main
valve.
4) If electrical wiring is shorting out, close the switch at the main
meter box.
5) If electrical wiring is shorting out, close the switch at the main
meter box.
6) Turn on your radio or television to get the latest emergency
bulletions.
 167

7) Stay off the telephone except to report an emergency.

8) Don't go sight - seeing.
9) Stay out of severely damaged buildings. Aftershocks can shake
them down.

Check your progress

1. Fill in the gaps.

a) Earthquake is generally cause by movement of earth’s ______.
b) The place where actually earthquake orginates in known as
______.
c) The point above the focus is known as ______.
d) Seismic wages are nothing but _______.
e) Primary waves of earthquake travel in ______ through ______
core.
f) The unit of measuring earthquake is ______ Discuss.
2. Discuss some Indian examples of earthquake.
3. What are the constructive & destructive consequences of
earthquake.

10.2.3 Tsunami -
Tsunami is a Japanese word which means harbour wave (Tsu-
harbour & nami= waves)

These are huge destructive ocean waves generated by

earthquake or other major movement of the earth's crust. When the
earthquake occurs at the bottom of ocean / sea, tremendous
amount of energy is released. As the depth of ocean water is
more the energy spreads in different directions. W hen the
Tsunami wave approaches coast the depth of water
becomes less hence the energy within Tsunami wave is utilised
to increase height of this wave which increases to 100 ft or 35 m.

Tsunami waves travel at the speed of 150 kms. per hour Large
scale destruction occurs at the coastal areas affected by Tsunami.

In 1883 an eruption of volcano at krakatao produced

Tsunami which killed about 36,000 people.

In 2004 nearly 2.5 lakh people in India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra & Other
Indonesian islands died due to Tsunami.

10.2.4 Tsunami Safety Rules -

1) A strong earthquake felt in a low-lying coastal area is a natural
warning of possible, immediate danger. Keep calm & move
to higher ground; away from the coast.
2) Tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of waves. Stay out
 168

of danger areas until an 'all-clear' is issued by competent

authority.
3) Approaching tsunamis are sometimes heralded by a
noticeable rise or fall of coastal water. This is nature's
Tsunami warning & should be heeded.
4) A small Tsunami at one beach can be a giant few kilometers
away. Don't let the modest size of one make you lose
respect for all.
5) Never go down to the beach to watch for a tsunami. When
you can see the wave you are too close of escape it.
6) Stay tuned to your radio or television station during a tsunami
emergency.

Check your Progress

1. Match the Column :
A B
1. Earth quake generated waves 1. 100 ft or 35 m.
2. The general height of Tsunami 2. 150 kms / hour.
waves
3. The speed of Tsunami waves 3. Tsunami

2. Which safety rules has to be adopted during Tsunami.

10.3 CYCLONE

Cyclones is a low-pressure system in the atmosphere. It

develops near to the earth's surface at the lower part of the
atmosphere. When the earth's surface is heated, air near to the
earth's surface is also heated. It expands, it's density becomes
less & hence it raises in the upward direction. In order to fill this
partial vaccum caused due to displacement of air, air from the
surrounding region is dragged at the low pressure area formed
in the centre. This wind, which is moving towards the centre is
deflected due to rotation of the earth. Hence the direction of
wind in the cyclone is anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere &
clockwise in the southern hemisphere. The velocity of wind in
cyclone is about 40-50 kms per hour.
 169


The Centre of the cyclone is termed as eye of the cyclone.
Cyclones cause lot of destruction along the coastal area. i.e. loss
of human life, destruction of buildings, infrastructure, plants, crops
etc.

Cyclones are known by different names in different parts of the
world.
a) Willy willy in Austrclia
b) Harricanes in USA
c) Typhoons in china, Japan
d) Cyclones in India & S.E. Asia.

Most of the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal & Arabian Sea
develop during post monsoon (Oct. Nov.) Season & pre-monsoon
(April-May) Season.

Check your Progress

1. How cyclones are forming?

10.4 FLOODS

Floods generally occur near to the river valleys, Where in the

lower course of river the larger area is filled with water due to
increase in the amount of river water. This can cause due to
excessive rainfall or snowfall. Due to rapid melting of snow, this
melt water is added to the river. Due to landslide the course of
river is blocked & hence the river water spreads in the near by area
causing flood.

Floods also develop in the urban areas. The urban area has tar
or cement roads & hence rain water does not percolate into
ground, Solid waste products are accumulated in the drainage
 170

system in urban area, they block the drainage & hence

rain water accumulates on the road.

Floods are also caused due to deforestation & soil erosion. Effects of
flood
1) Destruction of homes, bridges & other property
2) Loss of human life & other living organisms.
3) Loss of crops.
4) Economy of the area / country is affected.
5) Marshy areas develop due to flood.
6) Contamination of fresh drinking water.
7) Spread of epidemics like Cholera Maleria & other diseases
related to infected water.

Check your Progress

1. Where & how the flood occure.
2. What are the effects of floods.

10.5 DROUGHTS

It is a condition of dryness due to low rainfall or lack of

rainfall over long period of time. Drought is normally associated
with semi-arid or arid areas, but it can occur in other areas if
the monsoonal rainfall is delayed.
Droughts affect human population as water is one of the
prime need of man. It affects crops, industries & economy of the
region. Droughts are common in arid & semi-arid area (Sahel) of
Africa & Asia.

Causes of drought-
1) Delayed rainfall - especially monsoonal rainfall in Asian
countries produce drought condition.
2) Deforestation -Trees help in conservation & storage of water.
Removal of trees create serious environmental problem.
3) Over exploitation of water - Much of our fresh water is
below the earth's surface. i.e. Underground water. Farmers
over-exploit this underground water using electric pumps &
hence the water table moves to greater depth creating
shortage of water.
4) Overgrazing - Vegetation is lost due to overgrazing & the area
becomes barren. Such condition leads to drought condition.

10.6 LET US SUM UP

When any situation develops suddenly & creates heavy

natural & human loss is always considered as disaster. It is been
commonly seen that natural disasters are occurring due to
 171

some natural causes, but in todays world the natural disasters are
indirectly connected to human activities. As population is
increasing the human impact on natural setting of earth is leading
increase in the occurrence of natural disasters. Earthquake,
Tqunami, floods, droughts, cyclones are creating large scale
distruction about the natural disasters, can able to reduce the
loss of human life upto certain extent.

10.7 UNIT END EXERCISE :

1. What is Disaster? How it is Classified.

2. Explain in detail the causes & consequences.
3. Explain the consequences of following -
a) Tsunami b) Droughts c) Cyclones
4. "Every year North east India receives flood" discuss.



 172

11
MAN MADE DISASTERS
Unit Structure :-
11.0 Objective
11.1 Man Made Disasters
11.1.1 Civil Unrest & Terrorism Causes
11.1.2 Nuclear Accidents
11.1.3 Oil Spill And Leakage
11.1.4 Industrial Accidents
11.2 Disaster Management
11.2.1 Disaster Management Cycle
11.2.2 Pre-Disaster Management
11.2.3 Management during The Disaster
11.2.4 Post Disaster Management
11.3 Role Of Technology In Disaster Management
11.3.1 GIS
11.3.2 Remote Sensing
11.4 Let Us Sum Up
11.5 Unit End Exercise

11.0 OBJECTIVE

 Understand the meaning & magnitude of man-made disaster.

 To know the pre & post disaster management techniques.
 Use of advance techniques to manage disasters.

11.1. MAN-MADE DISASTERS

A Disaster for which man is responsible is termed as man-

made disaster. There are various types of man-made disasters.
Some of them are as follows.
1. Civil unrest & Terrorism
2. Explosions
3. Fires
4. Nuclear disaster
5. Industrial accidents
6. Maritime disasters
7. Railway disasters
8. Air crashes
9. Space Disasters.
 173

11.1.1 Civil Unrest & Terrorism Causes

1. When people support a particular ideology they try to kill
persons or groups opposing their ideology or they feel that
killing people of other ideology is a religious deed.
2. Civil unrest can occur if the people are suppressed or deprived
of their rights.
3. Unemployment & misleading statements of the leaders are also
causes of civil unrest.

CONSEQUENCES
1. Large scale loss of human Life
2. Massive destruction of public property.
3. Wastage of resources & pollution.
4. Development of bitter feeling among two groups.
5. Psychological shock.

Selected Major Civil unrests

Year Event Place

189 B.C. Insurrections Egypt

1770 Boston Massacre Boston
1895-1922 Armenian Massacres Armenia Turkey
1900 Boxer Rebellion China
1919 Amritsar Massacre India
1984 Riot between Sikhs & Hindus Amritsar - India
1989 Massacre in Tiananmen Square China
1993 Hindu Musliom riots Bombay - India

Check your Progress :-

1. With examples explain the meaning of the term man-made
disaster?
2. Which types of problems are generated due to civil unrest &
terrorism in society?
3. What are the reasons to generate civil unrest?

11.1.2 Nuclear Accidents

Invention of atomic reactions provided man a tremendous source of
energy. Nuclear energy can be used for destructive purporses like
Atom bombs. – which was dropped on Hiroshima during the second
world war. But at the same time it can be used for the constructive
purposed like production of electricity. Nuclear energy has
tremendous capacity as it is estimated that only one ton of
uranicum produces energy equivalent to five million tones of coal.
 174

Causes of Nuclear Accidents

The field of nuclear energy is still in infant stage and hence most of
the accidents in this field occur due to human negligence. i.e.
reactor accidents. Atomic reactor controlles the fission process
but if there is leakage then large quantities of readioactive material
is released & it spreads over a large area.

Smetimes the radioactive material is stolen & it is transported

without taking much care. In such cases the radiation spreads &
affects human life.

Consequences of Nuclear Accidents

Radiation released by the radioactive materials like uranium,
thorium & radium is absorbed thorium & radium is absorbed by the
plants, animals & people through food chain, & it's effect remains
for many years, from one generation to another. Depending on
intensity of radiation people die on the spot or they suffer due to
diseases like cancer, thyroid, cataract, various physical & mental
disorders – anemia, loss of hair, skin diseases, reproductive
failure & abnormalities, mental retardness etc. e.g. chernobill
disaster.

Check Your Progress :-

1. Fill in the gaps :-
a) The first nuclear bomb dropped at in ------------------ & ------------
Japan.
b) Nuclear accidents generate large amount of -------------------------
material.
c) Nuclear energy is used basically for production of nuclear -------
& ------------------
d) Nuclear energy is product by 2 methods---------------& --------------
2. What are the causes & consequerees of nuclear accidents.
3. With reference to case study give answer the following :-
a) Chernobyl nuclear power plant is at ------------------------
b) On April 26, 1986 this disaster happed due to -----------------------
c) Nearly ----------------Channels ripped off.
d) How many people have been shifted ----------- & ------------ died.
e) People suffering from Thyroid are -----------.

11.1.3 OIL SPILL AND LEAKAGE
The density of oil is less than the density of water and
hence oil flots on water Oil is a bulky commodity and it is either
transported through pipe lines, trains or tankers on land & huge oil
supertanker ships carry oil in bulk quantity from the areas of
production to the areas of demand or consumption.
 175

Causes of Oil Spills

1. Accidents of supertankers, which carry oil from one country to
another.
2. Leakage or accidents of oil tankers or tains.
3. Leakage during loading or unloading of oil.
4. Servicing, cleaning or reparing of ships in dry dock.
5. Leakage from various engines & machines using oil.
6. Leakage from underground tanks.

Consequences of Oil Spill

1) Hazardous to marine organisms •- As oil spreads on the
surface of water the supply of oxygen to marine organisms is
affected – many fish die, Corals & other marine organisms are
also affected.
2) It disturbs the marine elosystem.
3) It reduces demand for seafood in the market.
4) Oil spilled on land percolates through soil & enters under-
ground water. It pollutes rivers & underground , supply of
water.

Check your Progress :-

1. What are the sources of oil spills or leakages.
2. How oil spilling creates threats to water bodies.

11.1.4 Industrial Accidents

Development in science & technology was responsible for the
industrial revolution. The industrial processes are becoming more
complicated and more hazardous due to modern scientific &
technological developments in the industrial sectors – mainly in
chemical, transportation, agricultural & mining industries.

Causes of Industrial Accidents

1. Unsafe working conditions: In order to reduce the production
cost & to earn more profit many workers are compelled to work in
unsafe conditions & compact work places.
2. Untrained & unskilled workers doing skill jobs as they are not
aware of safety conditions & hazardous chemicals,
machine operations etc. they become responsible for
the accidents.
3. Illigal storage of hazardous products in unsafe conditions.
4. Natural forces like cyclone, earthquake can also create serious
problems in the industries leading to accidents.

Consequences of Industrial Accidents

[Link] of human life & other organisms.
[Link] of the environment.
[Link] effect on eco system.
[Link] of Property.
 176

Check your Progress :-

[Link] is industrial man made disaster.
[Link] are the cause of Industrial disaster.
3. What are the consequence of Industrial accidents? Suggest
some solutions to overcome it.

Chernobyl Nnclear Disaster (Case Strudy)

The worst recorded nuclear accident in history, that of
the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, USSR on April 26,
1986, was the result of human error in conducting a test of the
system.

On April 26th, 1986 at 1.23 a.m. the nuclear reactor blew.

Three explosions tore through the reactor, blowing off its top,
sending its 1000 ton steel cover plate rocketing into the air &
ripping off the tops of all 1,661 channels,

Which were attached to the cover plate & contained nuclear

fuel. Flames Continued to shoot over 1000 ft. into the air. This
continued for days & nights. The effects of radiation of this
nuclear accident were observed in Swden, Poland, & other
European countries. More than 94,000 people were shifted from;
the affected area. More than. 300 people died, about 1,50,000
people are suftering from some type of thyroid illness due to this
accident.

11.2 DISASTER MANAGEMENT

The impact of disaster can be minimized with the help of

'Disaster Management' This helps in reducing severity of the
disaster & trains people to face the disaster, to predict
disasters as well as rehabilitation of people.

11.2.1 DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE

Disaster management cycle has three major sub-units.
1. Pre-disaster management
2. Management during the disaster
3. Post – disaster Management

11.2.2 Pre-Disaster Management
It includes forecasting of disaster, the arrangements for
relief rescue, use of strategies to reduce the extent of disaster.

`Prevention is better than cure' is the basis of pre-

disaster management activities.

Information about the various types of disasters & the

ways of reducing their impacts is given through various
 177

communication mediums as Newspapers, Radio, T.V., Internet

etc. Training of people helps to reduce the impact of disasters.

11.2.3 Management During the Disaster

When disaster occurs in any area, its information is given to

other areas through communication system. Urgent medical
treatment is required, Resque & relief teams start their operations.
The success of disaster management at this stage depends upon
trained & experienced persons, effective communication & transport
system.

It is necessary to provide alternate temporary arrangement

for the people who have lost their houses. Similarly they also
require food, water and medical aid if necessary.

11.2.4 Post Disaster Management

It includes preventive measures like afforestation,
construction of wall or canal, removal of rocks, mud or loose material
on the slope, development of settlements etc.
Many houses & buildings collapse during disaster &
hence rehabilitation programmes becomes necessary.
Normally government & non-government organization take
initiative in such programmes.

11.3 ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN DISASTER

MANAGEMENT

The impact of disaster can be reduced due to use of

technology at various levels. e.g. advancements in tele-
communication, information technology, remote sensing, GIS etc.
are very useful. Developments in transportation construction
technology, medicine are very wonderful & play a crucial role in
disaster management.

11.3.1 GIS
GIS or Geographical Information system is a Computer
programme (software) which is very useful in storage of various
types of data & using that date for scientific management, decision
making etc.

GIS provides quick & effective solutions to various problems

which emerge due to disasters.

GIS can be used to study the cause of disasters & is useful tool
for Government or Non Government organizations working in the
area of disaster managements.
 178

11.3.2 Remote Sensing

India is one of the leading countries in t he field of
satellite communication & remote sensing. The data cf
various features found on the surface of the earth is captured by
satellite & is send to the base station where it is analysed &
interpreted by the experts.

GIS & rem ote sensing techniques are very useful in

the management of various disasters likes floods, drought,
earthquakes & landslides.

11.4 LET US SUM UP:

At present the man-made disasters are equally increasing

as the natural disasters. Certain man made disasters can even
able to divide the human minds which is equally haronful for the
growth of a country. The man-made disasters can be brought
under control. The recent railway accidents at Thane, near Mumbai
(Collapsing of water pipe line on train) & at W-Bangal (between
uttarbarga Express & Vananchal Express.) These railway
disasters would have been avoided with proper management and
use of advance technology.

11.5 UNIT END EXERCISE :

1. What is man-made disaster? Explain any two of them in detail.

2. How does the disaster management cycle workers.
3. What is the role of technology in minimizing & reducing the
disasters.
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12
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
AND ISSUES
Unit Structure
12.0 Objectives
12.1 Introduction
12.2 What is environmental problem?
12.3 Why environmental problems today
12.4 What is environmental concern?
12.5 Major environmental concerns today
12.6 Major environmental problems in the world their causes &
impacts
12.6.1 Global Warming and Climate Change
12.6.2 Depletion of Ozone Layer
12.6.3 Pollution
12.6.4 Deforestation
12.6.5 Extinction of Species
12.6.6 Loss of Natural Resources
12.6.7 Population Explosion
12.6.8 Genetically Modified Foods
12.6.9 Movement of Hazardous Waste
12.6.10 Loss of Biodiversity
12.6.11 Acid Rain
12.6.12 Crz Violation
12.6.13 Disposal of Solid Waste
12.7 India Environmental Status Their Causes & Impacts
12.7.1 Deforestation
12.7.2 Pollution
12.7.3 Desertification
12.8 Let Us Sum Up
12.9 Unit End Exercise

12.0 OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be:

 Understanding what is environmental problem and how is it
different from environmental concern.
 180

 Understanding major environmental problems in the world

and in our country and its causation.

12.1 INTRODUCTION

The are many environmental issues of concern in the

whole world such as overgrazing, deforestation, air
pollution, water pollution, and threats to endangered species.
In this unit we will focus on Environmental concerns and issues.

12.2 WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM ?

Environment, what is the space occupied by number of

objects and the aspects we observe in our surrounding. That is
what we have learnt in the first unit of the syllabus. In simple words
it is the nature with which we deal with for our whole life. Our
technologies, practice of scientific advancements are always on
the dais of the nature.

But with an ever increasing pace, the human population, of

the so called civilised nations, has put material things above the
beauty, magnificence and survival of the Earth. W e have
linked our civilization with the material gains; with the process of
proving the supremacy of human being over nature. And that too,
without understanding the processes in the nature.

Water has been polluted and trees cut down in an endless

lust for timber or new farming land. Precious topsoil that took
thousands of years to make, blows away in the wind and is
replaced with bad experiences and the materials to which
mankind has never have been exposed. The clean air has been
filled with dirt, filth and danger. Plants and animals that have
evolved in patient process have been subjected to genetic
engineering often across the species simply in the name of
profit. In short, mankind had sought total control over the
environment and with potentially disastrous results.

Already there are many signs of the horrors that lie ahead
if we do not do something soon to stop this destructive trend.
Landslides and floods caused by dramatic changes in the
topography of the land; awful viruses such as Ebola and AIDS
emerge from the rain forests, where they had dwelt harmless to
mankind for so long, as the forests are obliterated. Those that
can stop this seem not to listen and nor to care because to do so
would mean an end to the carefree, money-grubbing life they
seem, to like so much. The politicians and corporate executives
would have to forego their wasteful and scintillating lifestyles and
they are not about to let that happen.
 181

We are rapidly approaching the point from where probably

there is no return. Soon, there will be real danger of an oxygen deficit
as the internal combustion engine uses more and more of the
life sustaining gas and production falls as an increasing
number of trees disappear. Water, vital for life, will be more and
more polluted and undrinkable; new diseases will launch upon
society and more people will be stricken with the horrific illness that
come as a direct result of the over use of chemicals in agriculture,
food production and in so many industrial processes.

Each and every one of us must take a degree of

responsibility for the threat under which we now live. We are the
consumer and it is to satisfy our insatiable appetites that many
of these things occur. Of course, some of us do try to live a lifestyle
that pays heed to the environment but, often thanks to the
marketing men, too many take the easy way and help to
exacerbate an already critical situation.

What can the individual do to stop and, ultimately

reverse the trend? Surprisingly, you might think, quite a lot and
without making too much additional effort. Most of the extra
effort will go into stopping to think before making buying decisions
or before throwing things away.

What we have seen so far do we think it a problem and if

so, this is the environmental problem. Our nature is the deposit
we have receive from our earlier generation which we are
supposed to handover to next generation with some good
addition. But in reality we are handing over the rotten stuff to our
next generations. Are not we deceiving them? It we feel this
is a problem then it is environmental problem.

Of the present 6.5+ billion people, over 800 million

are malnourished, yet we have farmed all the most productive soils
and caused one third of croplands to be eroded away. At
least one billion people depend on fish for their main source of
animal protein, yet their fisheries are mostly declining through over-
exploitation. We consume or otherwise appropriate two fifths of all
net plant growth, yet there will soon be half as many people again,
many of them demanding more plant products than today.

Check Your Progress

1. List down the environmental problems in the world?
2. Why we have to think of protecting our own environment?
3. How layman can able to protect his own environment?
4. How environmental problem affects human health?
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12.3 WHY ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS TODAY

This is a long-termed asked question that why
environmental problems are more discusses today only where
those in the past were? For this question valid the answer/s are
to be understood in the logical manner.

Environmental problems are stated with humanity. A

presence of nature was even before humanity. But the nature
was considered as superior to the mankind. Particularly after
industrial revolutionwhich is coincidently the start of technology,
was the breaking stage of dichotomy between the man and nature
for superiority. Since then, the one way tussle between man &
nature resulting into rapid loss to nature and slow but stable kickback
from nature has stated.

CAUSES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

a) Population the main cause

In the process of expanding environmental problems the
root cause, not to be forgotten is the population. Increasing
population put forth the demand for variety of materials from the
nature. The over exploitation of minerals, fertility for growing food
grains, wood and fodder, water, animals are all oriented to
human demand. Malthus has already postulated that the way
population increases nature's material does not. However, that
was and even today is over-sighted resulting into rapid demand for
materials and services. Surprisingly man has not understood that
generation of human resources which is a part of conversion of
human population are not in pace with the increasing demand.
Shortage of human resources in the area of education, law & order,
defense, research, health and technology suggest this.

b) Poor understanding about the intricacy of natural

processes In the process of exploiting nature we have forgotten to
understand composition and intricacy of nature. And in case of
understanding the learning were not put to practice. We know that
deforestation is bad but as we have not stopped the
deforestation along the hill slopes nature has given us late but
stable blow of landslides. That has happened in different areas of
konkan as well as hillocks in Mumbai city claiming hundreds of lives
in every rainy season.

c) Communication & transportation increase access to

opportunities
The technology has provided us means of communication
and transportation. We are using those for economic growth; but
there are less efforts to deploy it for understanding & practice of
nature. A farmer communicate with market to understand the price
 183

and procurements of the crop but never make an attempt to deploy

communication means to know the nature-friendly and innovative
methods of maintaining soil fertility or water retentivity of soil.
This is not necessarily a story of semi-literate rural area but the
technocratic and trechno-savy urban residents are using and losing
more time and electric power on life-style chatting than
understanding the innovative method of electricity saving in routine
life.

d) Misuse of technology in nature's exploitation

Use of technology is inevitable in interaction with nature.
This is one of the indicators of civilization. But technology has to
be cost-effective. Cost are considered as only economic in nature,
othercosts like psychological, geographical, climatological are
neglected ,_ in the process of decision making & interaction with the
nature. Our myopic approach towards nature is responsible for
the aggravation of problems. When machine provides easier way
to cut a tree, number of machines is deployed to cut hundreds of
trees a day. Its long-term, staggered impact we come to know in
terms of decline in water table and uncertain rainfall only after five
to ten years. Or, the salinisation of soil takes three to five years
of incompetent agricultural process but the rehabilitation of the
same soil required twelve to fifteen year of duration.

Hence deployment of pragmatic, rational but the

optimum technology at least here onwards may detain further
deterioration of nature.

e) Improper economic practices

Economic activities are the collective impact of human
response to nature and his needs and methodical thinking. However,
in last two hundreds of years his thinking and decision making was
not proved rational. Emphasis on economic growth neglecting
nature, stress on progress than development led to cut throat
competition and minimization of only economic cost. Strategic and
political groups, using technology as a weapon to capture
resources in different areas of the under different versions of
imperialism led to exploitation of materials, naturals, and even
own brotherhood of mankind.

t) More accessibility more loss

W ith the advances of technology, we have seen
that communication and transportation advanced. Satellite
technology has enhanced the human vision beneath the surface
also. This led to more accessibility to nature. When satellite
indicate high density shawls of fish in deep ocean, marine
technology does not waste time in searching for the fish and
increasing the time and fuel cost. That captures all fish mercilessly.
No chance for few to run away to reproduce for the next and further
years. Fish draught is not the guest to us we have invited it. So
 184

is the case of minerals. Thin mineral beds are not acceptable

because satellite can detect thick saving survey cost of money and
time and yield us more minerals.

Check Your Progress

1. Explain the causes for environmental problems (At least 3)
2. Fill in the gaps :-
a) Environmental problems began with----------------.
b) There is dichotomy between -------------- for ------------------
Superiority.
c) ----------------- Postulated the way of population increase
d) Konkan Railway has created -------------- problems, which is
a frequent phenomina during monsoon season.
e) Technology has to be -------------- other wise it is add to
environmental problems.
f) Use of technology is the indicator of
3. If technology is misused, then which cost man has to pay?

12.4 WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN?

Environmental concern is the awareness of a person about
the environmental problems, his or her support attempts for
solving them or the level of his or her willingness for contributing
such attempts. We have seen in various sessions that
environmental problem are generated in different areas of the
world. Those may differ in intensity, area of coverage and the
temporal impact. However, the loss to nature, sufferings to
mankind continue to happen in a similar manner in all area of the
world.

These problems are previewed by some people or

visionaries in the society. They react in the form of awareness,
writes-up or the agitations. General people may not understand for
the same. After experiencing the response of the nature to human
activities, people accept that perhaps in future, it will be a
problem to the humanity (you may remember the problem of flood
aggravated by the plastic bags i n Mumbai or the people died
by landslide due to deforestation). Only after the painful
experience people accept the path suggested by the visionaries.
Yet, the level of a person's environmental concern has a direct
and strong influence on recycling, energy saving,
environmentally friendly product purchase or travel type
selections.

These concerns possess the capacity to generate the

problems. None of the problem of the environment has developed
over-night. Environment being a closed system take very long time
 185

to react because of its carrying capacity. When carrying capacity

is over-exceed slowly generate into a problem.

12.5 MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS TODAY

Following are some of the important concerns in the world.

 Rapid use of renewable resources resulting into demand for
fuels.
 Reduction of bio-diversity, decline in forest areas due to
expansion of agriculture and settlements
 Escalating use of energy due to luxurious life and
consumerism.
 Use of unplanned urban infrastructure particularly in coastal
areas resulting into stress on fragile coastal ecosystem
 Global warming due to high level of emission of green house
gases.
Use of chemicals for economic development leading to
health risks, environmental contamination, problem of
disposal of the chemical materials.
 Degradation of resources, acidification, climatic variability,
loss of biomass & bio-productivity
Increase in equality which is a goal for every economy but
unfortunately responsible for expanding consumerism.
 Growth of poverty and hunger in spite of increase in agricultural
growth.
 Unsustainable development.

Check Your Progress

1. Explain the term Environmental concern.
2. What are the environmental Concerns today.

12.6 MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN

THE WORLD THEIR CAUSES & IMPACTS

As we head into a every new year, the main news is that

we face an enormous problems for which one major stake holder
we ensure is nature. We call it environmental crisis. The worse
news is that that sphere is growing bigger at a rate faster than
earlier. The worst news of all is that if we continue with our
present lifestyles, economies, etc., we shall not recover from
the debacle for at least 50 years, and more like 500 years in the
case of global warming. The better news is that the final disaster
has not overtaken us yet. The best news is that it need never
overtake us at all, provided we move smartly and immediately to
change our lifestyles, our economies, etc. The supremely best
news is that if we shift to another track for our lifestyles, our
economies, etc., we shall surely find we prefer it to our present
track. In many ways it will be more enjoyable, less hectic, more
 186

fulfilling all round--and it will often put money into our pockets.
However, it needs a little, optimum and collective thinking;
moreover a rational consistency in our activities and interactions
with the nature.

In absence or the partial practice of which so far certain

responses to our activities from nature arises which can be seen as
below.

12.6.1 Global Warming and Climate Change

Global warming is one of the major issues we are being
faced with. The term signifies an increase in the atmospheric
temperature near the earth's surface, which is caused by various
reasons. Scientists are of the opinion that a rise in the carbon
dioxide levels will further aggravate the situation. The greenhouse
effect causes the earth's heat to be trapped in the atmosphere,
which results in the increase in temperature. Global warming has
thus caused a change in the climate of the earth, causing
temperatures to rise. This in turn has an effect on various
species dependant on the basic laws of nature. A change in the
same makes survival a difficult issue. A warmer earth also causes
changes in the rainfall patterns and thus affects humans, plants and
animals as well.

At different platforms environmentalists expressed their

concerns that if the Gangotri glacier which provides water to river
Ganges in the perennial form, kept melting at its current rate, the
river Ganges would soon dry up. River Ganges is the holy river of
India, which has served as a lifeline for centuries for millions of
people on its banks. Rivers have played an important role in
the survival of mankind, and many of them are fed by glaciers.
Global warming which refers to the increase in the temperatures of
the earth due to release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and
methane from industries and vehicles. This phenomenon is causing
the glaciers to melt at an alarming rate. Not just the Gangotri, but
even the polar ice caps are melting at a faster rate than they can
form. The result is increase in the sea level, and it poses a
danger of submergence of the low lying areas. Some of the areas
that may go under the sea if the sea levels kept increasing include
Bangladesh, parts of Africa and even major cities like London and
New York. The island state like Maldives has already given the
SOS to the united nation about the concern because it has lost some
of its land due to the problem.

12.6.2 Depletion of Ozone Layer

The stratosphere comprises the layer of ozone at the height
of approximately 16 to 22 miles that protects us from the harmful
ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. Exposure to these layers causes
skin cancer and cataracts. However, the ozone layer filters out the
dangerous UV rays from sunlight as it enters the earth's
 187

atmosphere. The cholofluorocarbons (CFCs) that are man-made

chemicals are released in the atmosphere through CFC containing
aerosols, refrigeration equipment, foam and as byproducts of
certain industrial processes. As these chemicals are released,
they rise up into the atmosphere and break down the ozone
molecules that form the ozone layer. This leads to conversion of
Ozone to oxygen and due to decline in ozone density ozone hole is
formed. Ozone hole in the Antarctic stratosphere is causing great
concern to environmentalists all over the world. Not only are the
depleting ozone layer harmful to human beings, but the UV rays
can destroy variety of organic life on the earth surface. Minor
animals and plants like bacteria & fungi will disappear from the
earth surface because of high temperature. Researchers are even
predicting that excess level of UV rays could lead to the death of
the phytoplanktons that are an important component of the food
web of the oceans.

12.6.3 Pollution
Industrialization is one of the mile-stone in human progress
and civilisation. However, with industries have come a host of
toxic gases that are being released into the atmosphere. The
industries release gallons of liquid waste into the seas and rivers.
Some of the effluents percolate Flown to the reach the ground water
and polluteit to the extent that it can't be used by human beings for
drinking or cooking. Besides adding to air pollution, the
innumerable vehicles running on the roads add to noise
pollution that has lead to increase in stress, anxiety and problems
related to hearing and breathing.. Pollution of water has led to the
decrease in a number of large number aquatic life forms.
Migratory birds are forced to change their course due to
pollution or change in weather. Respiratory diseases in human
beings is another price that we are paying for polluting the
environment.

Pollution is something that we face on an everyday basis;

probably this is something we may even be immune in our fast
paced lives. Air pollution and noise pollution are increasing at an
alarming rate today. Air pollution occurs with the addition of
harmful chemicals into the earth's atmosphere. The main
pollutants that cause the same are carbon monoxide, CFCs,
nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. Water pollution is caused
when wastes are released into the water that contaminates
the same. Soil can even be contaminated due to various
industrial activities. Noise pollution is also a current environmental
issue that causes harm in various ways.

12.6.4 Deforestation
Expanding population, industrialization and need of land for
development activities in the expanding cities has led man to cut
down forests mercilessly. Not only are the forests home to a large
 188

number of animals, trees are also an important component of the

water cycle. The roots of plants hold the soil together and
prevent soil erosion. The global forest cover has shrunk to half its
area in the last 11,000 years. During the period between 1990
and 2000 itself, the yearly loss of natural forests 16 million
hectares. Deforestation at such alarming rate has been a cause of
constant worries for environmentalists the world over. The land
which is recovered from deforestation for various purposes
becomes vulnerable in short span of time due to flood, landslides
and other natural calamities.

12.6.5 Extinction of Species

Over long period of time man is killing animals for
variety of purposes like food, skin, safety and entertainment right
since the time he acquired the skill of hunting. Although in
those times hunting was the means for survival, human beings
continued to kill animals even after he had learned to cultivate
crops. The relentless hunting by human beings, sometimes for
the hide of a cheetah or the tusks of the elephants, or simply to
cook the tasty shark fin soup, has wiped out the existence a large
number of animals in just a century. Besides hunting, human
activities like environmental pollution and deforestation has led to
the extinction of a large number of animals and plants due to loss
of habitat. Recent studies have shown that in North America, 37
animal species have becomeextinct in the last 50 years due to
human activities. Loss of habitat led to the extinction of the Bali
subspecies of tiger.

Thus, years of thoughtless exploitation of nature by

man has resulted in the effects of scars on our face now. The
truth, that in the bid to improve our lives, we have put our own
survival to stake, has finally hit us hard. Now as more and more
studies and researches are being carried out to understand how
humans affect the environment, an increasing number of people
are awakening to the fact that the well-being of the environment
and survival are intricately woven into each other.

12.6.6 Loss of Natural Resources

With the increase in population, one can see the loss of
natural resources. This is caused due to various human
activities. There are many reasons that cause loss of natural
resources. This in turn affects the ecosystems. Activities such as
overfishing have even caused many species to be on the brink of
extinction. Forests are being cleared to meet the rising
demands for the need of paper, wood or even for land. Mining
and the burning of fossil fuels have led to further depletion of
resources.
 189

12.6.7 Population explosion

The world's population has increased dramatically in the
past century. The growth has been primarily related to
dramatic increases in life expectancy and reduced infant mortality
because of advancements in health and sanitation field. Here two
trends are clearly visible. In developed countries family strength is
restricted to one or two children only while in developing
economies fertility index is very high resulted into explosion of
population for not only to that economy but also to the whole
world.

The environmental consequences of maintaining the world's

high population level are significant. In terms of providing the basic
necessities of life, the present high level of global human
population is not qualitatively sustainable. So far, world agricultural
output has outpaced th" world's population increase even though
many of the world's agricultural regions remain poorly developed.
The global water supplies are severely challenged in some
regions, better 'water management and delivery may effectively
solve this problem.

The major potential environmental impact of present and

future high global population levels is associated with the
needs and consequences of poorly regulated economic
development. Carbon dioxide emissions which are a result of
rapid energy need and transport expansion are
disproportionately high in developing countries. The destruction
of global rain forests is related to both population pressures and
poorly regulated agro-economic motivations. We need to believe
that an environmental catastrophe inevitable unless there is an
immediate drastic reduction in population growth levels, while,
the environmental damage caused by high population/ fast
developing economic sphere may degenerate the quality of
forthcoming opportunities from these regions. Increase in income
level without the expenditure priorities result into unproductive
expenditure on luxuries and consumerism further put forth the
demand for resources leading to shortage of food, energy,
transport means, fuel, water and consumables.

12.6.8 Genetically Modified Foods

The technological growth put forth the solution for the
global hunger in terms of genetically modified crops. This is due
to the advances in biochemical science leading to immediate
introduction of food varieties that are "genetically engineered". By
modifying DNA characteristics, scientists have successfully
incorporated into plants both input traits designed for the
convenience of growers, processors and marketers and output
traits aimed at providing direct nutritional and food quality benefits
to consumers. Input traits include pest and disease resistance,
 190

herbicide resistance, and other techniques designed to increase

crop yield. Because of more predictable yields, these products
have quickly gained quick acceptance among American growers.
Over 80% of American soybeans and nearly 50% of American corn
is presently based on genetically engineered products.
Globally, the percentage of acreage devoted to these crops
continues to climb.

Some environmentalists argue that the dangers posed by

GM foods involve the possibility that the food will produce a
protein that is toxic or allergenic to some or all human beings,
the nature and potency of that protein's toxicity or allergenicity,
and the magnitude of dietary exposure to that protein. Genetic
modifications designed to enhance input or output traits might
incorporate proteins that induce allergenic responses in some
sensitive people. Supporters of genetically modified crops
respond that there are actually some current health benefits from
these products and more can be developed. In majority of the
developed countries there are restrictions in the consumption of
the GM food, incidentally all are the exporters of food.

Check Your Progress

1. Why environmental problems are increasing in the phase of
modernization?
2. Quote the reasons for ozone layer depletion?
3. Why industries to be blamed for creation of pollution?
4. How deforestation causes various environmental problems?
5. "Extinction of species can disturb the natural food chain"
Comment.

12.6.9 Movement of Hazardous waste

First thing you must know is what is solid and hazardous
waste is and how is it distributed and moving in the world. Solid
Waste is any material that is discarded because it has served its
purpose or is no longer useful.

Most of it coming from mining, oil and natural gas,

agriculture, sewage, and plants that produce the things that we need
in our everyday life. However, the reaming waste comes from
municipal solid waste. Sometimes you might even hear
someone call municipal sold waste "garbage." Which come from our
homes and business in and around our neighborhood. Improper
disposal of municipal waste can create unsanitary conditions, and
these conditions in turn can lead to pollution of the environment and
to outbreaks of vector-borne disease i.e. diseases spread by
rodents and insects. In the world, the United States produces 33%
of the world's solid waste.

With Hazardous waste is any waste material that, when

improperly handled, can cause substantial harm to human health
 191

and safety or to the environment. The United Sates produces 75% of

the world's hazardous waste. Over the last 100 years the amount of
hazardous waste has increased.
There are two ways to reduce the solid and hazardous
waste that we create everyday. One option is high waste
approach which views waste as inescapable product of economical
growth. High waste approach consists of burning, burying, or
shipping the waste to other states or countries. The next option would
be a low waste approach that would consist of recycling,
composting, reusing, or not using it in the first place. Solid and
hazardous waste could be eliminated by reduction, reuse,
recycling, and redesign. We can also consume less by deciding
how much a product is really needed. Redesigning
manufacturing processes to use less material, energy and
generating less pollution, and waste. Develop products that are easy
to reuse, repair, remanufacture, compost, or recycle. As well as,
designing product that will last longer than currents ones.
Furthermore eliminating or reducing unnecessary packing (taking
things that can't be recycled etc.) In addition by implementing more
taxes to reduce waste, and use the revenues to reduce taxes on
income and national wealth.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What it 'garbage' where it generates?
2. What is difference between hazardous waste & solid
waste?
3. Which are the ways to be implemental to reduce the waste
formation?

12.6.10 Loss of Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given
ecosystem, biome, or on the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often
used as a measure of the health of biological systems. The
biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of
distinct biological species. The year 2010 has been declared as
the International Year of Biodiversity.

Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, but is

consistently rich in the tropics and in specific localized regions, it is
less rich in polar regions where fewer species are found.

Rapid environmental modifications typically cause extinction

of the species in which due to unacceptable circumstance species
are eliminated from the earth surface. Of all species that have
existed on Earth, 99.9 percent are now extinct. Today there is
concern that the period since the emergence of humans is part
of a mass reduction in biodiversity, caused primarily by the
impact humans are having on the environment, particularly the
destruction of plant and animal habitats.
 192

12.6.11 Acid Rain

Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is
unusually acidic. It has harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals,
and infastructure. Acid rain is mostly caused by human emissions
of sulfur and nitrogen compounds which react with the atmospheric
water to produce acids. In recent years, many governments have
introduced laws to reduce these emissions.

"Acid rain" is a popular term referring to the deposition of wet

(rain, snow, sleet, fog and cloudwater, dew) and dry (acidifying
particles and gases) acidic components. The extra acidity in rain
comes from the reaction of primary air pollutants, primarily sulfur
oxides and nitrogen oxides, with water in the air to form strong
acids (like sulfuric and nitric acid). The main sources of these
pollutants are industrial power-generating plants and vehicles.

The acidity of the soil in measured in term of pH value. The

pH of fertile soil ranges between 6.4 to 9.6. if the soil is having
value beyond these values they are called acidic or alkaline
respectively.

Effects of Acid Rain

The most important effects are: damage to freshwater
aquatic life, damage of vegetation and damage to buildings and
material.

a) Damage to aquatic life: - The main impact of fresh water

acidification is a reduction in diversity and populations of fresh
water species. The soil organisms are killed in acid rain where
soilshave limited capacity to maintain the fertility. Acid rain
releases metals particularly aluminium from the soil, which can
build up in lake water to levels that are toxic to fish and other
organisms. A decline in fish and amphibian population will affect
the food chain of birds and mammals that depend on them for food.

b) Damage to Trees and Plants

For some years there has been concern about the apparent
deterioration of trees and other vegetation. It is not easy to
establish the cause of damage: pollution, drought, frost, pests and
forest management methods can all affect tree health. SO2 has a
direct toxic effect on trees and in industrial areas where SO2 levels
are very high, extensive areas of forest have been damaged or
iestroyed.

Acid deposition may combine with other factors to affect tree

health; for instance by making trees more susceptible to attack by
pests, or by acidifying soils which may cause loss of essential
nutrients such as magnesium, thus impairing tree growth.
Nitrogen and sulphur are both plant nutrients and deposition can
upset the balance of natural plant communities by encouraging
 193

the growth of other plant species. Secondary pollutants like

ozone are also known to exacerbate the effects of acid
deposition.

c) Damage to Buildings and Materials

All historic buildings suffer damage and decay with time.
Natural weathering causes some of this but there is no doubt
that air pollution, particularly S02, also plays an important part.
SO2 penetrated porous stones such as limestone and marble and
is converted to calcium sulphate, which causes gradual
crumbling. Most building damage happens in urban areas where
there are many SO2 emitters (domestic chimneys, factories and
intensive transport system). The introduction of the Clean Air Acts
and the replacement of thermal power plants by other forms of
energy has not generated a change particularly in developing world
as the demand for fossile fuel is large and immediate.

12.6.12 CRZ violation

The sensitive environment of the coastal line has been
affected due to the unrestrained developmental activities since the
past two decades. Hence, in many areas of the world the
administration has but restrictions on development of economic
establishments and activities in coastal areas. This is called as
Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notifications.

In India, The union government has so far incorporated 25

amendments to the Notification and the present amendment is the
26th one. The main objective of this amendment is to save the

7,500 km long coastal line of the state from further danger. Though
the union government has banned industrial activities close by the
shores (within 500 mts) on the coastal belt, the same had been
neglected by the state governments. The state government
agencies which ought to have initiated stern action against violators
of CRZ rules, have remained inactive. This being the case, the
question naturally arises as to what purpose would another
amendment to the notification serve.

The CRZ had sought to regularise the population and

commercial pressure on the active playzone of the sea waves.
The coast was divided in to four zones, the first the islands and
estuaries which are to be left alone except for national security
measures, the second was 200 metres from the shore which
should be free fcr the waves, the third and fourth measuring up to 500
metres were marked "no development" zone. The CRZ, considering
the population pressure along the coast, had conceded that the
fisherfolks' shelter and settlements in the "no development zone"
may be allowed to exist if they are built long before the CRZ came
in to existence.
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The states which have violated the CRZ rules to the

maximum are Kerala and Goa(due to tourism temptation?). The two
state governments which had permitted raising of hotels and
resorts on beaches have contributed the maximum towards
disturbing ecological balance. These states are even defending
their acts by saying it were the presence of resorts in beaches
that have helped in development of tourism in their states.

The rules of CRZ notification have banned any industrial

activity or construction of houses within a 500 meter radius from
the shore line. But, not even a single state government has
implemented this rule effectively. Instead, in some states one can see
a number of industries as well as luxurious resorts on beaches.
Some of these resorts are even owned by social & political elites.

Check Your Progress

1. Define the term CRZ.
2. How the zonation of CRZ is done.
3. "CRZ" violation can create distruction Discuss.

12.6.13 Disposal of Solid waste

The problem of solid waste is a growing concern for
developing as 'well as developed parts of the world. It includes
agricultural refuse, domestic waste, industrial waste, chemical and
hazardous waste. There are four major sources of solid waste.
a. agricultural
b. mining
c. municipal & household
d. industrial.

Disposal of the solid waste is always a major concern to

all economies. Till the moment waste does not become a problem
generating source like odors, infectious bacteria, directly impact on
animal or human body, it is always neglected in every economy.
After the generation of such problems the processes of disposal are
started.

Disposal of solid waste, it is likely that the waste is never

thought of again. But in majority of the times disposal is
understood as 'throwing away'. Unfortunately, throwing waste
"away" does not mean that it just vanishes. There are both
environmental and financial impacts of solid waste disposal.
Disposing of less waste by implementing various waste reductions
and recycling efforts can help ease environmental impacts in
our community as well as provide real cost savings. We need to
understand that waste is a wasted resource. The more waste that
is disposed of, the greater the cost to your bottom line and the
environment.
 195

Some of the waste disposal methods are

a. Landfills in which it is dumped in the remote aeas in near
future the attepta to extract products like methane gas.
b. Compost, in which biodegradable waste is decomposed
naturally by bacteria and that can be used as manure.
c. Burning that eliminate the source of infectious organisms in
case like medical waste.
d. Recycling which is particularly possible in rubber, metals,
plastic materials etc. where the material is reused in
economy and the processing cost is also reduced.

Check Your Progress

1. Why developing countries are facing the major problem of
solid waste disposal?
2. W hat are the major sources of solid waste generation?
3. Which methods are generally adopted for solid waste
Disposal?

12.7 INDIA ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS THEIR

CAUSES & IMPACTS

India's main environmental concern is its growing

population, which is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by the
year 2050. In order to feed so large a population, more
groundwater will be needed to irrigate crops, increasing the
risk of poor soil quality due to salinization (increased salt levels).
More artificial fertilizer will likely be applied to crop fields, posing
threats to drinking water. The demand for meat has increased
with greater levels of prosperity, resulting in overgrazing and
increasing wasteland. The demand for fuel wood has grown with
rural populations, leading to the loss of trees and forests. To
decrease reliance on fuel wood, the government has promoted
the use of biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide
produced by decomposing organic matter) for cooking fuel.

Expanding agrarian population has also affected wildlife.

Farmers and herders have encroached on national park and other
wildlife sanctuary land, and the spread of cultivation has limited
the range of animals such as tigers and elephants outside of
parks as well. Poaching is also a problem. Up to 10 percent of
India's flora—about 1,300 species—are critically endangered,
mainly because of the population-related pressures of
deforestation and agriculture. Wetlands cover about 18 percent of
the land, but most of them are under rice-paddy cultivation. To help
combat these problems, the Indian government has enacted strong
laws for forest conservation, wetland preservation, and w:!dlife
protection. The Ministry of Environment and Forests was
established in 1985.
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There are many environmental problems in India, such

as overgrazing, deforestation, air pollution, water pollution, and
threats to endangered species which are growing rapidly. We will
try to understand some of those. The increasing economic
development and a rapidly growing population that has taken the
country from 300 million people in 1947 to more than one billion
people today is putting a strain on the environment, infrastructure,
and the country's natural resources. Industrial pollution, soil
erosion, deforestation, rapid industrialization, urbanization, and
land degradation are all worsening problems.

Overexploitation of the country's resources be it land or

water and the industrialization process has resulted
environmental degradation of resources. Environmental pollution is
one of the most serious problems facing humanity and other life
forms on our planet today. Some of these issues highlight the
conflict between capital-intensive development projects and local
interests

With India's population at more than 1.2 billion people

and counting, plus internal economic migration to urban areas from
the countryside, the country's cities are bursting at the seams.
Housing shortages, electricity and water cuts, traffic congestion,
pollution and a lack of basic services are the reality for millions.

There are polluting social practices which have done the

damage most to river Ganga. People consign dead bodies to river
Ganga, with a belief that the departed soul will be salvaged, go to
heaven. Pollution of Ganges consumes crorers of rupees every
year but without touching the root cause behind. Government
sponsors the river pollution on a massive scale. There are
bathing festivals on certain occasions when millions of people
flock to the river to have a holy dip. Much more resources have
been spent in organizing these festivals than in cleaning the river.

Population growth is the most important factor in increasing

environmental destruction. India's population grows by 1,815
people per hour. Though India launched a family planning program
long back, but this has failed to have any impact. The literate,
educated and financially well-off people have voluntarily adopted
small family norm. But the majorities who are poor, illiterate and
uneducated don't even think about family planning. Government
started forced sterilizations in 1975 which led to the fall of the then
government.

It's being predicted that soon we'll overtake China in

population size. The present range of efforts in this area suggest
that it will take about 2050 to stabilise the Indian population i.e.
the growth rate of population will be 1 percent per annum.
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12.7.1 Deforestation
India is witnessing a rising demand for forest-based
products. This is causing deforestation and encroachment into
forest protected areas, which leads to a severe loss of natural
resources.

It is estimated that total industrial roundwood consumption in

India could exceed 70 million m 3 per year by the end of the
decade (350,000 large shipping containers), while domestic
supply would fall short of this figure by an estimated 14 million
m 3. As the nation will have to depend heavily on imports to meet
this growing demand, there is fearthat this could result in loss of high
conservation value forests and biodiversity elsewhere.

12.7.2 Pollution
India has a severe air pollution problem generated by
industrial effluents and vehicle emissions. Water-treatment facilities
have not kept pace with the increase in urban populations, and
pollution of rivers and groundwater is a significant and worsening
problem. Another major problem is toxic waste, generated by
industry and deposited in rivers and oceans and on low-lying land
within factory boundaries. The large number of small industrial
workshops makes it difficult to enforce laws against industrial
waste with existing or planted forests. India has had tremendous
success with species conservation. World-renowned programs
include Project Tiger, which has established nine special tiger
reserves, and the Crocodile Breeding and Management Project.
Many nongovernmental organizations are working for the causes.

Check Your Progress

1. Fill in the gaps:
a) Rootcause of India’s Environmental problem is its _____.
b) India’s population will increase to _____ billion by the year
______.
c) India’s _____ species are citically endangered mainly
because of ______.
d) _____ of resources created environmental pollution.
e) The expected population growth rate for India is _____ y. per
annum.
2. Which environmental problems India is facing at present.

12.7.3 Desertification
Desertification is a global phenomenon of land degradation,
which reduces the natural potential of the ecosystems and has a
direct impact on people in terms of vulnerability to food shortages
and natural disasters, depletion of natural resources and
deterioration of the environment. Half the land in India is
now affected by desertification and this impairs the ability of land
to support life. It is particularly devastating because of its self-
reinforcing nature.
 198

The causes of desertification are extensive cultivation of one

crop, use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, shifting cultivation
without adequate period of recovery, industrial and mining activities,
overgrazing, logging and illegal felling, forest fires and
unsustainable water management. Even though India's land
area is only 2.4 percent of the world's total land area, it supports
16.67 percent of the world's population and 18 percent of its
livestock. These pressures alone play a major role in promoting
desertification. As the human and animal population increases,
these stresses will become greater and the demand on natural
resources will increase leading to permanent loss of vegetation and
plant species. This may also lead to the conversion of large areas
into wastelands and to the frequent occurrence of natural disasters.
Vegetation plays an essential role in protecting the soil, especially
trees and shrubs, because their long life and capacity to develop
powerful root systems assure protection against soil erosion. Their
disappearance can considerably increase the vulnerability of the
land to turn into a wasteland.

The solutions for such problems although suggested by

many environmentalists in the world that is not the new thing to
Indians. Our conventional thoughts suggested by Gandhiji
about conservation are based on some of his basic principles like
nonviolence, simple living in harmony with nature. He was critical of
western consumerism and materialism. He was of the opinion that
the modern western civilization which equated consumerist
lifestyle , and abundance with development was self-destructive in
nature.

Gandhi said Earth has enough to satisfy the needs of all the
people, but not for satisfying the greed of some people. Gandhi also
emphasized to keep in view the future generations before using up
natural resources by the present generation.

Check Your Progress

1. What is Desertification?
2. Which are the basic cause for Desertification? 3. Suggest
some solutions to overcome this problem?

12.8 LET US SUM UP

Thus in this unit we have comprehended that although the

world is facing variety of problems majority of those is a result of
our poor understanding of nature as a system and irrational
activities.

We may perceive that these activities may result into a

problem in future. This perception by a mass from society can be
called as concern.
 199

Environmental problem is always evolve slowly but in a

steady manner. Nature always responds to human activities. If we
neglect those signals by nature, the response will be in a massive
manner. Technology which is an inevitable part of human civilization,
evolve continuously as a response to our needs. In many
cases we wrongly execute technology and harm the nature. The
combine results of all are of envi ronm ental problems.
Those are deforestation, ozone depletion, increase in global
temperature, population growth, loss of biodiversity, CRZ violation,
desertification etc.

The solution for many of these problems lies in change in

our own approach and life-style. Our conventional lifestyle which
use to emphasis on using nature while giving due respect to it,
consume what ever is required and minimization of population
growth will ensure that nature will endlessly provide the support to
human existence. In absence of which there will be debacle like
global warmth and extinction of organic life from the earth surface.

12.9 UNIT END EXERCISE

1. How does environmental problem arise?

2. Explain the process of global warming.
3. How is population growth responsible for degradation?
4. What is meant by genetically modifies food? controversy.
5. Elaborate the state of india's environment.
6. Why is biodiversity necessary in the nature?
7. Elaborate major environmental concerns.
8. Explain for the prominence of contemporary environmental
problems.

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13
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ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS
Unit Structure:
13.0 Introduction
13.1 Objectives
13.2 Environmental movement — the concept
13.3 Perspective of environmental movements in the world
13.4 Major environmental movements in the world
13.5 Environmental movements in India
13.6 Role of media and public in environmental protection
13.7 Towards a better environment — our role
13.8 Let us sum up
13.9 Unit end exercise

13.0 INTRODUCTION

In earlier units we have seen that at a global level there is

variety of environmental problems and most of those are
developed due to human negligence of the nature. Once man
has detected that problems are responsible for the poor growth of
his development project in contemporary period or in the future, he
develops the agitation.

The insecurity leads to mobilization of population and the

opinion towards the elimination of the problem or to curtail it. This
leads to environmental movement.

13.1 OBJECTIVES

After reading this unit, you may be able to

 understand the environmental movement possesses multiple
facets
 Comprehend the geographical and temporal aspects of
environmental movements.
 Human being plays a duel role of generator of the problem
as well as a reformer to reduce the intensity of the problem.
 201

13.2 ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT - THE CONCEPT

Environmental movement is a term often used for any

social or political movement directed towards the preservation,
restoration, or enhancement of the natural environment. It
includes the conservation of nature and green politics, is a
diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing
environmental issues in any region.

The term emphasize on Environmentalists appeal for

the sustainable management of resources and long-term
existence of the good quality environment through changes in
public policy and individual behavior.

Most environmental movements have similar value

systems and moral codes, and cite common heroes and moral
examples for their purposes, although they often diverge in details
such as emphasis, priorities, means of action, and specific
goals; this is always according to the regional diversities.

Environmental movements are among the most vibrant,

diverse, and powerful social movements occurring across all
areas of the world. They range from government lobbies raising
campaign funds to save the local and regional areas; to the
conflict and mass interest group in the mountains to coastal
regions of the different countries; to small landholders and
indigenous peoples in India who refuse to leave their villages like
the people threatened by the flood waters of the Narmada River as
it rises due to its damming.

There is no one global environmental movement; rather,

there are many, in number as well as in their orientation and the
areas of interests. Majority of the movements in the third world
tend to be oriented around issues of human health, shelter, food
security, and survival; while those of the developed world-for
example, the United States, England, Germany, and Australia -
can afford to focus on post-materialist issues such as wilderness
concerns and animal rights environmental balance etc. The
consequences of these campaigns are as wide-ranging as their
motives and methods.

The start of the environmental movement is always at

the grassroots level as it is oriented to certain problem. Environmental
movements in two different regions although oriented to a particular
single problem are not always united in its goals. Because there
happens to be a diversity of natural parameters, responding
spheres from the government and moreover it encompasses private
citizens, professionals, religious devotees, politicians, and in some
cases extremists. However, it has its recognition of humanity as a
 202

participant in and not enemy of ecosystems, the movement is

centered on ecology, health, and human rights.

13. 3 PERSPECTIVE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS

IN THE WORLD

The roots of the modern environmental movement can be

traced to attempts in nineteenth-century Europe and North
America to expose the costs of environmental negligence,
notably disease, as well as widespread air and water pollution,
but only after the Second World War did a wider awareness begin
to emerge.

During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, several events

illustrated the magnitude of environmental damage caused by
humans.

In 1954, the 23 man crew of the Japanese fishing vessel

Lucky Dragon 5 was exposed to radioactive fallout from a hydrogen
bomb test at Bikini Atoll. The publication of the book Silent
Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson drew attention to the impact of
chemicals on the natural environment. In 1967, the oil tanker Torrey
Canyon went aground off the southwest coast of England, and in
1969 oil spilled from an offshore well in California's Santa
Barbara Channel. In 1971, the conclusion of a law suit in Japan
drew international attention to the effects of decades of mercury
poisoning on the people of Minamata.

At the same time, emerging-scientific research drew new

attention to existing and hypothetical threats to the
environment and humanity.

Among them was P. R. Ehrlich, whose book The Population

Bomb (1968) revived concerns about the impact of exponential
population growth. Biologist Barry Commoner generated a
debate about growth, affluence and "flawed technology."
Additionally, an association of scientists and political leaders
known as the Club of Rome published their report The Limits to
Growth in 1972, and drew attention to the growing pressure on
natural resources from human activities.

Meanwhile, technological accomplishments such as

nuclear proliferation and photos of the Earth from outer space
provided both new insights and new reasons for concern over
Earth's seemingly small and unique place in the universe.

In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human

Environment was held in Stockholm, and for the first time
united the representatives of multiple governments in
 203

discussion relating to the state of the global environment. This

conference led directly to the creation of government
environmental agencies and the UN Environment Program. The
United States also passed new legislation such as the Clean
Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and
the National Environmental Policy Act- the foundations for current
environmental standards.

By the mid-1970s anti-nuclear activism had moved beyond

local protests and politics to gain a wider appeal and influence.
Although 'it lacked a single coordinating organization the anti-
nuclear movement's efforts gained a great deal of attention. After
the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, many mass
demonstrations took place in USA. The largest one was held in
New York City in September 1979 and involved two hundred
thousand people; speeches were given by Jane Fonda and Ralph
Nader.

Since the 1970s, public awareness, environmental sciences,

ecology, and technology have advanced to include modern focus
points like ozone depletion, global climate change, acid rain, and
the potentially harmful genetically modified organisms (GM0s).

13.4 MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS IN THE

WORLD
Modern Environmentalism was based on the spread of
an ecological consciousness that viewed the natural world
as a biological and geological system that is an interacting
whole. Ecologists emphasized human responsibility for the impact
of their daily living on a wider natural world, fearing that human
disruption of tne earth's ecosystem threatened the survival of the
planet. The spread of ecological consciousness from the scientific
world to the general public was reflected in popular metaphors of
the planet as Spaceship Earth or Mother Earth. An ecological
consciousness was evident even in works of popular culture.

By the end of the 1980s, the environmental movement had

increasingly come to focus its attention on global issues that
could only be resolved through international diplomacy. Issues
such as global warming, acid rain, ozone depletion, biodiversity,
marine mammals, and rain forests could not be dealt with merely
on the national level. As residents in the world's largest economy,
and consequently the world's largest polluter, consumer of energy,
and generator of waste, American environmentalists felt a special
responsibility to ensure their country's participation in international
agreements to protect the earth.
 204

Environmentalists were an important part of an

"antiglobalization" coalition that coalesced at the end of the 1990s.
It argued that the expansion of the global economy was occurring
without proper environmental and labor standards in place. In 1999,
globalization critics gained international attention by taking to the
streets of Seattle to protest a meeting of the World Trade
Organization.

Following are the some Environmental Organisations

working for environmental protection
 African Wildlife Foundation works to conserve the
wild animals of Africa and the land they inhabit.
 The Alliance for Justice is a national association
of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's,
children's and consumer advocacy organizations
 The American Council for an Energy-Efficient
Economy (ACEEE) is dedicated to advancing energy
efficiency as a means of promoting both economic
prosperity and environmental protection.
 The Center for a Livable Future promotes policies to
protect health, the environment and sustainable living.
 Clean Water Netw ork is an alliance of over 1000
organizations working to protect our nation's water
resources.
 Conservation International promotes biodiversity
conservation in endangered ecosystems worldwide.
 CREST provides information about energy efficiency,
renewable energy and sustainable technology information
and connections.
 Defenders of Wildlife works to protect wild animals and
plants in their natural communities.
 Earth First! Works to protect wilderness through radical
means.
 Earth Island Institute provides organizational support in
developing projects to protect the global environment.
 Earth Share manages workplace giving campaigns for its
member charities.
 Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund strives to protect people
and natural resources by enforcing and strengthening
environmental laws (formerly the Sierra Club Legal Defense
Fund).
 Earthwatch sponsors scientific field research to improve
understanding of the planet and its inhabitants.
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 Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC)

provides multidisciplinary research and development of
innovative energy and environmental technologies for the
protection of air, water and soil.
 Environmental Defense combines science, economics, and
law to find economically sustainable solutions to
environmental problems.
 Environmental Literacy Council offers links to
environmental resources on the web.
 Environmental Working Group provides the public with
locally relevant information on the environment.
 Friends of the Earth USA focuses on the underlying social
and economic causes of environmental problems.
 Greenpeace uses non-violent, creative confrontation to
expose global environmental problems and force solutions.
 League of Conservation Voters is a bipartisan group working
to educate voters and win elections on behalf of the environment.
 National Audubon Society works through advocacy, policy,
science, litigation, sanctuary management, grassroots
outreach and education to protect birds and their habitats.
 National Coalition for Marine Conservation is dedicated to
conserving ocean fish, preventing over fishing, reducing
by catch and protecting habitat.
 National Environmental Trust is a non-partisan
organization dedicated to educating the American public on
contemporary environmental issues.
 National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) is
dedicated to protecting, preserving and enhancing the U.S.
National Park System.
 National Religious Partnership for the Environment
seeks to integrate commitment to global sustainability and
environmental justice into all aspects of religious life.
 National Wildlife Federation unites indivi duals,
organizations, businesses and government to protect nature
and wildlife.
 Natural Resources Defense Council protects the
environment and human health through advocacy, litigation,
research and education. (And publishes this website!)
 The Nature Conservancy preserves habitats and species
by buying the lands and waters they need to survive.
 Nuclear Control Institute monitors nuclear activities
worldwide and pursues strategies to reverse the growth of
 206

nuclear arms.
 Oceana works to protect and restore the world's oceans
through advocacy, science, law and public education.
 Public Agenda provides information on issues ranging from
abortion to welfare.
 Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) is an association
of watchdog organizations dedicated to safeguarding the
public interest and protecting the environment.
 Rainforest Action Network protects rainforests through
education, grassroots organizing and non-violent direct
action.
 Rainforest Alliance promotes research and education to
conserve tropical rainforests.
 Scenic America protects scenic roads, prevents billboards
from trashing our highways and helps people create more
attractive communities.
 Sierra Club promotes environmental conservation by
influencing public policy – legislative, administrative, legal,
and el44ctoral.
 Suciety of Environmental Journalists is a membership
group of print and broadcast journalists as well as educators
and students. SEJ's purpose is to enable journalists to better
inform the public about critical issues concerning the
environment.
 Southern Environmental Law Center is the onl y
environmental organization dedicated solely to protecting the
natural resoures of the southeastern United States.
 Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance works to protect the
magnificent canyon country and unspoiled public lands
surrounding Utah's prized national parks.
 Union of Concerned Scientists is dedicated to advancing
responsible public policies in areas where science and
technology play a critical role.
 The Wilderness Society protects wild places in the United
States through public education, policy work and litigation.
 Wildlife Conservation Society, headquartered at New York
City's Bronx Zoo, works to save wildlife and wild lands
throughout the world.
 The Woods Hole Research Center addresses environmental
issues through scientific research and education.
 World Resources Institute helps governments and private
organizations cope with environmental, resource and
 207

development challenges of global significance.

 World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) seeks to reverse
degradation of the environment by promoting biodiversity
and sustainabilit y, while minimizing pollution and
consumption.
 World Wildlife Fund (U.S.) dedicated to protecting the world's
wildlife and wild lands.

13.5 ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS IN INDIA

DURING the past twenty years people in various regions of

India have formed nonvi olent acti on movements to protect
their environm ent, their livelihood, and their ways of life.
These environmental movements have emerged from the
Himalayan regions of Uttar Pradesh to the tropical forests of Kerala
and from Gujarat to Tripura in response to projects that threaten to
dislocate people and to affect their basic human rights to land,
water, and ecological stability of life-support systems. They
share certain features, such as democratic values and
decentralized decision making, with social movem ents
operating i n India. The environmental movements are slowly
progressing toward defining a model of development to replace the
current resource-intensive one that has created severe ecological
instability (Centre for Science and Environment 1982, 190).
Similar grassroots environmental movements are emerging in
Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Throughout Asia and the Pacific citizenry organizations are working
in innovative ways to reclaim their environment.

Even with limited resources the environmental movements

have initiated a new political struggle for safeguarding the interests
of the poor and the marginalized, among whom are women, tribal
groups, and peasants. Among the main environmental
movements are Chipko Andolan and Save the Bhagirathi and Stop
Tehri project committee in Uttar Pradesh; Save the Narmada
Movement (Narmada Bachao Andolan) in Madhya Pradesh and
Gujarat; youth organizations and tribal people in the
Gandhamardan Hills whose survival is directly threatened by
development of bauxite deposits; the opposition to the Baliapal and
Bhogarai test range in Orissa, the Appiko Movement in the
Western Ghats; groups opposing the Kaiga nuclear power plant
in Karnataka; the campaign against the Silent Valley project; the
Rural Women's Advancement Society (Gramin Mahila Shramik
Unnayam Samiti), formed to reclaim waste land in Bankura district;
and the opposition to the Gumti Dam in Tripura.

In addition, there are local movements against deforestation,

waterlogging, salinization, and desertification in the command
 208

areas of dams on the Kosi, Gandak, and Tungabhadra rivers and in

the canal-irrigated areas of Punjab and Haryana. Local movements
like Pani Chetna, Pani Panchyat, and Mukti Sangharsh
advocate ecological principles for water use. A movement in the
small fishing communities against ecological destruction exits along
the coasts of India.

These environmental movements are an expression of the

socioecological effects of narrowly conceived development
based on short-term criteria of exploitation.

The movements are revealing how the resource-intensive

demands of development have built-in ecological destruction and
economic deprivation. The members have activated micro-action
plans to safeguard natural processes and to provide the macro-
concept for ecological development at the national and regional
levels. In the rest of this article I focus on the Chipko movement in
the Himalaya, Save the Narmada Movement in central India, and
the Silent Valley Project in Kerala as case studies of the nonviolent
direct-action environmental movements of grassroots origin in
India.

Some of the elite movements in India are listed below

CHIPKO MOVEMENT : It was started in 1973 is the Chamoli

district of Uttranchal, Chipko movement was against
deforestation. Sunderlal Bahueguna , Gauri devi & Chandi Prasad
Bhatt were prominent leaders of this movement.

 BISHNOI MOVEMENT :
it was started in 400 years ago by a Sage known as Sombaji. In
Rajasthan, a large number of trees are still worshiped by
devotees. People resisted the cutting of such tree & advocated
movement against deforestation.

 NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN:

it is a movement against building multi-purpose dam over
Narmada river which will ultimately result in flood & water
logging in large area covered by about 1,00,000 people. The
movement is led by Medha Potekar, Baba Amte & Arundhati
Roy.

 SILENT VALLEY MOVEMENT :

it was a movement against a hydro-electric project on the
river Kuthipuzha, atributory at Preiyar river. In fact, the project site is
covered by evergreen forest which is a home of many rare
species of plants & fauna which m any be destroyed by
submergence.
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 BALIYAPAL MOVEMENT :
It is a movement against testing of missiles on the land
of Baliyal villagers which may lead to interfertitlity of soil.

 THE PLCHIMADA STRUGGLE:

The struggle against the multi-national Coca-Cola factory at
Plachimada of Perumatty Panchayat in Chittoor Taluk of
Palakkad district, Kerala has shown unique consistency and
perseverance . It has attracted considerable amount of
international media attention and thus being projected as a
symbolic model of resistance against multi-national colonization.
As a result, similar struggles against Coca-Cola and the
exploitation of scarce groundwater resources for its sake, is
gaining momentum in Sivaganga in Tamilnadu and in Orissa.

13.6 ROLE OF MEDIA AND PUBLIC IN

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Information is power and those who have a hold over the

valuable relevant information and the expertise on how to impart
it to the right audiences have an immensely important tool in their
hands.

The relation between media and its role in imparting

environmental education and awareness to its audiences stands as
a testimony to how powerful can the impact of information be
Media and its various channels are important in their role of
spreading awareness and information on the various aspects of
environmental education, & protection. Having a strong readership
and viewership, the various channels of media are the perfect
medium to spread the message about the environment. The role of
media in environmental education can be well gauged from the fact
that almost all of the major business houses, political groups and
social organizations use special promotional clips and
programmes to promote the message of environmental education
through this medium. Whether it is print media, electronic mode or
the web, messages and educational documentaries regarding
environmental education abound on each of the mediums, clearly
laying out the role of media in environmental protection and
conservation for the onlooker.

Media also book and highlight the ili-practices that might be

carried out by individuals or organizations. By giving adequate
publicity to the defaulters' actions and the steps taken against them
or penalties charged therein, the authorities can manage to set a
good example for others who might default at some other time.
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The role of media in environmental protection is also

reflected in its ability to spread awareness regarding the
government's rules, regulations. The public in general remains
quite unaware of any new legislation or order declared by the
government unless it is broadcast well on the various popular
channels of media which are watched by millions across the globe.
Similarly, the role of media in environmental awareness is
also extremely helpful for a common man who can simply use
this medium to air his/her grievance regarding the matter to even
share important tips or guidelines for environmental protection
through the various channels of media. Today not only physical
media but the virtual media too is very alert about the
environmental conservation and protection. In fact this is the most
rapid mode to diffuse the information about the need of that specific
time.

Around the world millions of young as well as adult people

are becoming involved locally, nationally and globally through new
programs and infrastructure with the cause of development and its
related issues. At the local level, numerous programs are being
established to provide education, leadership training, and
opportunities for youth to serve as resources to their
communities. At the national level, a growing number of countries
are establishing policies and programs which support on-going
service by youth through service and conservation corps,
volunteer-based learning reform in the schools, and stipend service.
At the international level, foundations, multi-lateral donors, and
associations have begun to focus on how to stimulate greater
support for methodologies which promote positive youth
development and youth volunteering. Youth can not only work for
the purpose but they can also become catalyst for the rapid
environmental movement. This is proved in many countries
including India. They developed innovative modes not only to
propagate the information but also fight with complete enthusiasm
for the environment.

Despite the powerful communication potential of our

technological age, most information is fragmented, thus limiting the
possibility of organizing strategies for scaling up youth volunteering
or sharing effective practices within countries and across borders.
The lack of information limits the public awareness as to the
importance of investing in and supporting programs that
involve youth in volunteerism in many countries.

Most of our youth in our country are living in poverty or

the scarcities of life. They are out of school or without access to
formal education. Oftentimes, basic services hardly reach
them. They have limited means of earning a living; much more
participate in decision-making activities. This situation leads them
to become vulnerable to the socio-economic and ecological
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conditions- of the environment. The role of the youth in

environmental protection is not being recognized by most sectors
of society. However, some of the social elite individually or with the
help of non-governmental organizations systematize the youth to
give right direction in their sustainability with the nature.

13.7 TOWARDS A BETTER ENVIRONMENT — OUR

ROLE

With an ever increasing pace, the human population, of

the so called ivilized nations, has put material things above the beauty,
magnificence and survival of the Earth. It is observed that money
and power more important than, our naturals like the wonder of
cool, fresh and clean spring water.

Water has been polluted and trees cut down in an endless

tempo for timber or new pasture land. Precious topsoil that took
millennia to make, blows away in the wind and is replaced with
poisons to which mankind should never have been exposed. The
crisp, clean air has been filled with dirt, filth and danger. Plants and
animals that have evolved in patient process, have been subjected to
genetic engineering often across the species simply in the name of
profit. In short, mankind had sought total control over the
environment and with potentially disastrous results.

Already there are many signs of the horrors that lie ahead
if we do not do something soon to stop this destructive trend.
Landslides and floods caused by dramatic changes in the
topography of the land; awful viruses such as Ebola and AIDS
emerge from the rain forests, where they had dwelt harmless to
mankind for so long, as the forests are obliterated. Those that
can stop this seem not to listen and nor to care because to do so
would mean an end to the carefree, money-grubbing life they seem
to like so much. The politicians and corporate executives would
have to forego their wasteful and orgiastic lifestyles and they are
not about to let that happen.

We are rapidly approaching the point of no return. Soon,

there will be real danger of an oxygen deficit as the internal
combustion engine uses more and more of the life sustaining
gas and production falls as an increasing number of trees
disappear. Water, vital for life, will be more and more polluted and
undrinkable; new diseases will launch upon society and more
people will be stricken with the horrific illness that come as a direct
result of the over use of chemicals in agriculture, food
production and in so many industrial processes.

Each and every one of us must take a degree of

responsibility for the threat under which we now live. W e
 212

are the consumer and it is to satisfy our insatiable appetites

that many of these things occur. Of course, some of us do try
to live a lifestyle that pays heed to the environment but, often
thanks to the marketing men, too many take the easy way and
help to exacerbate an already critical situation.
What can the individual do to stop and, ultimately
reverse the trend? Surprisingly, you might think, quite a lot and
without making too much additional effort. Most of the extra
effort will go into stopping t.) think before making buying decisions
or before throwing things away.

The ideas that follow are just a few of the easy-to-do things
that, individually, are small but, collectively will have a major
impact and make a big difference. Remember, this is not just an
exercise in simple conservation. It is an attempt to save the
world from extinction and render it safe and welcoming for our
children, our children's children and generations yet to come.

We have two simple alternatives. A world that is lush and

green, air fresh and life bringing, water clean and sustaining. A
land where children are born and grow without the fear of terrible
disease or starvation, a place where Man works and lives in
harmony with nature. Or a land incapable of sustaining life,
mutated and grossly deformed plants, animals and humans and
one that is about to drop over the edge to infinite extinction.

How can we help to save the nature? Yes, we can follow some
of the following guidelines.

1. Always think carefully before buying. The purchase should

avoid Wasteful, unnecessary and virtually indestructible materials. The
packaging can be a major threat to your environment. Take care
that the package material is not harmful to you, your children
and the environment. Avoid, indeed refuse, products that are
made with genetically modified organisms.

2. Buy some strong bags made of durable material that can

be used over and over again. Do not pick up dozens of plastic
bags. Plastic does not biodegrade easily and stays in landfills
for decades and releases toxins into the soil. Paper can be more
easily recycled than plastic.

3. Avoid using toxic chemicals and discourage the use by others.

Those toxins are long lasting and can be absorbed through the
skin. Toxins are available in spraying pesticides, herbicides and
fungicides, mosquito killers and may lead to deterioration of our
body and also cancer.

4. Eat organically grown fruit and vegetables and must be

fresh, free of chemicals. Avoid food prepared from genetically
 213

modified crop or organism. Research has shown that growing the

organic way is not significantly more costly than other methods

5. Think carefully about the things you can recycle or you

can replace with re-useable items like computer printers
have refillable cartridges, pen refills, metal washable plates and
other lots of unbreakable and long lasting alternatives.

6. Look more to Nature for the prevention and cure of some of

those common illnesses. There are lots of natural remedies in
the market and your family doctor will advise those. Carry them
and be happy; those -are without bad side effects, and anti-
biotic.

One major thing that needs to be done and in which

everyone can play a part is to ensure that the representatives we
elect do indeed represents us. At present, it is well understood that
their priorities are their paymasters or labour unions, their party
and, finally, if there is time you the voter. That is not the right
order of priority. Appeal them for nature protection. Appeal them to
ensure that your fears, views and opinions are represented
fairly. Can there be anything more important than the survival of
the planet upon which we live?

13.8 LET US SUM UP

Thus, in this unit we have seen that environmental

movements emerged throughout the world at different points of
time. However, all were the result of some problem faced by
the people and reflected through the literature by the social elite.

Moreover, it is our role as a citizen of the country to

understand in time as an issue and to participate in the
protection of the environment.

13.9 UNIT END EXERCISE

1. What is meant by environmental movement?

2. Why are environmental movements necessary in the world?
Explain with examples.
3. Write a note on environmental movements in the world.
4. Explain the role media need to play in the environmental
movement.
5. How can we reduce the stress on environment?



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14
ENVIRONMENTAL ANAGEMENTS
Unit Structure
14.0 Objective
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Need for Environment Management
14.3 Environmental Impact Assessment - need & functioning
14.4 Environmental Audit / Statement
14.5 ISO - Features & importance
14.6 ISO 14000
14.7 ISO 16000
14.8 Role of Technology in Environment Management
14.9 Use of advanced techniques like GLS, GPS, and Remote
Sensing
14.10 Carbon Credit, Carbon Trade & Carbon Bank
11.11 Let us sum up
14.12 Glossary
14.13 Unit End Exercises

14.0 OBJECTIVES

After going through this chapter you will be able to :

1. Need for conservation of environment for mankind.
2. Understand the methods of environment management like
EIA, Environmental Statement, ISO 14000, ISO 16000 etc.
Know the use of information technology in the field of
environmental management.
3. Understand the use of GIS, Remote sensing and GPS to
control environmental degradation.
4. Understand the concept of carbon Trading to protect our
mother earth.
5. India's attempts to reduce carbon emission.

14.1 INTRODUCTION

Environment plays an important role in the quality of human life

and healthy living. It also supports economic development.
Sustainable development is the need of the hour. Some of the
environmental problems we are facing today at global level are
 215

global warming, green house effects, ozone depletion, acid rains,

marine pollution, over-exploitation of resources etc. on one hand
and on the other hand, rapid growth in population, industrial
revolution, development in science and technology are responsible
for deterioration of the environment. Man has to manage the entire
happening. First we must understand, What is management? and
why do we need environmental management?

14.2 NEED FOR ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT

Let us first discuss the meaning of the word management.

"Management is a distinct process consisting of
planning, organising, activating and controlling, performed to
determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of people and
resources. Management is a series / chain of functions,
directed at the efficient, effective and enriching utilisation of
resources in pursuit of organising goals." - George R. Terry.

The main "aim of environmental management" is the

conservation of environment for mankind's sake. It is made up of
appropriate approaches and strategies adopted by individuals,
communities nation and international bodies to protect and
preserves the environment.

The degradation of the environment poses a serious

threat to humanity in the present and raises doubtful question
about its future. In traditional economies people used to produce
locally and consume goods locally Globalisation and urbanisation
with all its plus point has added to many more problems. Human
activity has strained natural function to such an extent that it is
becoming hazardous to other species on the planet.

14.2.1 Objectives of Environmental Management

There is a strong relationship between man and his
environment. Environment is been more exploited for their own
interests and benefits in the name of economic development.
Production and consumption on such a large scale leads to the
harmful impacts on the environment. There is a conflict like
situation between means and end on the path of progress.

a) The prime objective of environmental management is to chalk

out sustainable roadmap of progress. It enlightens on
management aspects of mankind’s interaction with the
environment.
b) It suggest strategies in preserving biodiversity and supports of
the ecosystem.
c) Monitoring exploitation of natural resources, their rational and
efficient utilization.
 216

d) Protecting and safeguarding the environemtn through

prevention and controls methods.
e) Encouraging environmentally sound and environment friendly
technologies.
f) Suggesting suitable environmental laws and their effective and
purposeful implementation.

Check your Progress :-

1. 'Environmental Mongered is the need of preset day." Explain.

14.3 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA)

The objective of EIA is to declare a National policy to

encourage man-environment relationship, which in turn
protects natural resources and helps in mentioning ecological
system to sustain man's life on this planet.

EIA and environmental Audit or statement. are two terms

coined in U.S.A. under National Environmental policy Act in 1970.
In India EIA implemental in early 1980's EIA is mandatory to all
the existing as well as upcoming projects. If any project _needs
modernisation, then also it has to undergo a process of EIA. EIA
report is prepared to help environmentally sound development of
the project in its surrounding region. EIA has to be submitted to
Department of Environment for scrutiny by committee & afterword
the members visits to site if necessary & then only project is
sanctioned or rejected.

EIA study consists of literature, research & field work and

impact assessment is done with the help of mathematical &
statistical techniques.

14.3.1 Steps used to prepare ER Report :

Step - I : Finalisation of project site.
Step - II : Study the area in detail which is within the periphery of
10 to 15 km from the project site.
Step - III : Study of major features of the area within 30 to 50 km.
radius from the project site.
Step - IV : Preparation of land use map showing details of use of
land for various purposes around the site.
Step - V : Study of geological structure of surrounding region, so
that potentialities of rocks, soils, the forest cover can be
checked & how much will be the environmental impact
on ecology can be assessed.
Step - VI : Study about water availability, its quality & uses.
 217

Step - VII : Study the impact of the project on the population, their
normal living & income earnings & soon.

There are many more, such parameters under which any

project is assessed. Thus EIA is not just a document but acts as a
tool for any establishment to prove their sustainable
Development Programme.

Check your Progress :-

1. What is EIA? Explain the steps taken for EIA report.

14.4 ENVIRNMENTAL STATEMENT

It is newly coined term for Environmental Audit, this term

is changed to Environmental Statement; by ministry of environment
& forest, New Delhi. In the initial Stage like financial audit, the idea of
environmental audit was initiated & made compulsory for all
industries to submit Environmental Audit Report. Industries
needs to submit a report regarding the way the production activities
lead to deterioration of the environment & also has to assess or
quantify how much is the cost involved.

14.4.1 Benefits of Environmental Statement :

 It is a management tool to verify environmentally positive &
negative sides or Profit and loss.
 It can avoid the complaints raised against any company
regarding creation of environmental problems.
 It helps a company in identifying its advantages from past &
present actions done by them. So that they can able to
continue its activities or even can able to modify it.
 It can help to adopt more ecofriendl y & cost effective
technologies. So that environment will be protected.
 The great benefit of environment statement is that it protect any
company from negative publicity against them.

Check your Progress :-

1. What benefits company gets through environmental statement?

14.5 ISO : INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

ORGANISATION :

ISO derived from a Greek wood 'ISOS' meaning 'EQUAL' It is

the international organisation for standardisation founded on 23rd
Feb. 1947. So ISO forms equal standards for all industrial &
commercial firms world wide.
 218

Such standards are required as they make an enormous &

positive contribution to most aspects of our lives. Standards
ensure desirable characteristics of products & services such as
quality, a environmental friendliness, safety, reliability, efficiency,
interchangeability & act an economical cost. Therefore ISO enables a
consensus to be reached on solution that meets both the
requirements of business & the broader needs of society.
14.5.1 Important features of ISO :
 Its head quarter is in GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
 It is a non-governmental organisation world wide.
 It sets standards, which becomes law at national level.
At present it has 159 members
 English, French & Russian are the official languages used.
 In Practice ISO acts as a consortium with strong links to
governments of different countries.
 ISO establish product standards under Quality system
Standards (QSS) Which has organised the manufacturing
activity in a systematic manner.

The first standard developed by this organisation related to

quality assurance is ISO 9000.

The certification by this organisation becomes one of the major

marketing tool, through which the customers all over the world
can be assured for the products quality.

In series of ISO 9000, now ISO 14000 for controlling

environmental problems & ISO 16000 related to indoor quality
monitoring are also in use.

Check your Progress :-

1. What are the important features of ISO

14.6 ISO 14000

This concept of the system standards is not being applied to

control environmental problems created by any industrial activity
but also the standards for control systems have developed by ISO
under the series. ISO 14000 in December 1996. It is now possible
for any industrial unit to design its Environmental. Management
System (EMS).

It gives benefit of waste minimisation & conservation of

energy & helps in optimum utilisation of resources so that the
 219

product will become cost effective & increases the profit of

business activity.

ISO 14001 : 2004 is a standard of EMS to be adopted by

any business activity. The aim of the standard is to
reduce environmental problems created by any business, so that
there will be reduction in pollution & even waste generation. The
recent version of ISO 14001 was released in 2004 which is again
related toiquality management.
ISO 14000 helps any business activity in following ways
 To control & even identify the environment problems;
generated by its products manufacturing & services provided.
 Adopt a systematic approach to set environmental targets or
goals which can be easil y achieved & repeatedl y
demonstrated
 Continue the Environmental Protection policy (EPP) to earn
carbon credits.
 It provides a framework for a holistic & strategic approach to
the organization's EPP, plans & actions.
 Effective EMS has established a common reference for
communicating the environmental management issues
between organizations & their customers, the public etc.
 ISO 1400 : 2004 is a tool that can be used to meet internal &
external objectives of any business all over the world.
Internally it helps the management to continue their business
with environmental standards & assures employees that
they are working for an Environmentally Responsible
Organisation.

Externally, it provides assurance about environmental

sound activities, as they get certification from an independent
certification body working at international level.

Like ISO 14000 : 2004, there are many more certification

standards are available up to 14063. e.g. — ISO 1404 : 2004
Provides guidelines on the elements of an Environmental
Management System, while. ISO 14063 deals with Environment
Communication guidelines & examples.

14.7 ISO 16000

ISO 16000 is framed mainly for Indoor Pollution Monitoring

(IPM). It deals with significance of where the pollution exist &
offers suggestions on how to develop a suitable sampling
strategy; So that there will be more reliability & reproducibility
 220

of various products to reduce indoor pollution even at our own

homes.

Need for ISO 16000 Standard

At present Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) is found
at low level in the atmosphere. It occurs every where in air
inside the houses & even at out door places like our work places.
There are many measuring procedures for atmospheric VOCs
which includes a gas detector tube & any kind of fixed or portable
instrumental method. VOCs are emitted as gases from certain
solids or liquids. It includes variety of chemicals which creates
short as well as long term health effects. There are some other
pollutants found in air around us, such as Radon (Creates
lung cancer), Carbon monoxides, (can lead to nausea,
unconsciousness, & even death), Asbestos fibers (There are
microscopic fibers. The long time exposure to such fibers leads.
to even lung cancer.)

In developing counties percentage of indoor air pollution

is 'Maximum as compared to developed nations. It is mainly
because of burring of wood, cow dung, crop left out, charcoal for
cooking & heating purposes. The high levels of such particulate
matters has caused 1.5 to 2 millions deaths so far.

At present in countries like Europe, U.S.A. are having more

reliable & reproducible VOC emission. Chambers testing which
are helping to monitor the air quality & reduce the air pollution
inside the house, outdoor & even at workplaces.

Conclusion : The new draft harmonized environment

standards on emission of regulated dangerous substances into
indoor air has used existing experience from emission testing.

14.8 ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN ENVIRONMENTAL

MANAGEMENT

Information technology (IT) has tremendous potential in the

field of environmental education, economics, politics or
culture. Development of internet facilities, world wide web,
geographical information system (GIS) and information through
satellites has generated a wealth of up-to-date information on
various aspect of the environment. Technology in the form of
Geographic Information System (GIS), Global position system
(GPS) and Remote sensing have a key role to play in
environmental management.

Satellite imageries provide us actual information about

various physical and biological resources and also to some
extent about their state of degradation in a digital form through
 221

remote sensing. We are able to gather digital information on

environmental aspect like water logging, desertification,
deforestation, urban sprawl, river and canal network, mineral and
energy reserves and so on.

14.9 WHAT IS GIS?

Geographical Information System (GIS) has proved to be a
very effective tool in environmental management. "GIS is a Technique
of superimposing various thematic maps using digital data on a
large number of inter-related or interdependent aspects." Several
useful softwares have been developed for working in the field of
GIS. Different thematic maps containing digital information on a
number of aspects like water resources, soil type, forest land,
cropland or grassland etc. are superimposed in a layered form in
computer using softwares.

"GIS is computer system that can hold and use data

describing places on the Earth's surface." Another definition gives
more idea of what GIS can do as well as what they are, "GIS is a set of
tools for collecting, storing, retrieving at will, transforming and
displaying spatial data from the real world for set of purposes." The
Department of Environment define GIS as a system for computing,
storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analysing and
displaying data which is spatially related to the Earth.

A GIS helps you to answer questions and solve problems by

looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily
shared. GIS technology can be integrated into any enterprises
information system framework.

14.9 USES OF GIS :

a) Banking : Financial analyst employ GIS for targeting their

markets by visualizing service needs. Companies including
metropolitan Life and Bank rely on GIS software to help them
improve operational excellence and profitability.
b) Insurance : Many insurance companies have made GIS a
central component of their business, using it to visualize,
analyze, and distribute risk. Insurance Companies use GIS
software for portfolio risk management.
c) Retail Business : Business maintain information about sales,
customers, inventory, demographic profiles, and mailing lists, all
of which have geographic locations. Therefore, business
managers, marketing strategists, financial analyst, and
professional planners increasingly rely on GIS to organise,
analyze, and present their business data. eg. Smaller
 222

companies, such as ultra Marine kayaking of Santacruz,

California, find GIS useful and cost-effective for creating
accurate and attractive maps for promotional materials.
d) Vegetation : GIS is ideal for mapping and inventorying
vegetation across landscape and to better understand
threatened and endangered species inventories for scientific
and managerial applications. Vegetation map is used to
estimate forestry species stocks and monitor land clearing and
subsistence agriculture.
e) Agriculture : GIS provides the analytical capabilities that form
the hub of a successful precision agriculture system. GIS
let farmers perform site specific spatial analyses of agronomic
data. A farmer uses GIS to forecast crop yields and
determine fertilizer spread.
f) Forestry : GIS is used as a key component in managing its
timber resources and maintaining sustainable forest
management. GIS is also used for applications as drivers as
land valuation, timber market analysis, harvest route
planning and landscape visualization.
g) Mining : Terrain and ore body modeling, exploration,
drilling, mine planning, reclamation and rehabilitation are
important digital mapping elements in mining. The Kaiser
Jamaica Bauxite Company creates GIS based mine planning
and operations applications.
h) Oil and Gas : Where to drill, route a pipe line, or build a
refinery are all questions that rely heavily on an
understanding of geography. Chevron relies on GIS for
resources analysis.
In short, a GIS gives you the power to integrate information from
different sources, visualize simulations of post
implementation scenario, solve complex, spatial problems,
present ideas and consider alternative solution as well as,
create meaningful thematic maps like never before.

Check your Progress :

1. What is GIS?
2. How the GIS is used in various fields?

14.9.2 Remote Sensing

In simplest terms, a satellite can be defined as a space-
borne remote sensing platform. Instead of cameras, the satellites
carry sensors that records the signature of the ground in the
form of digital numbers. These digital numbers can be used to
produce the most important remote sensing product of
satellites imagery Imagery is a printed version of the digital data
supplied by a satellite to the ground control station and it shows
the details of the ground by means of colours and tones.
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Generally, the imageries do not show the ground objects like

a photographs and the colours used in imageries do not conform
to the ground objects. This is primarily due to the facts that
colours that one sees are formed by the reflected electromagnetic
radiation only in the visible band and the imageries are
prepared by recording the signature of the ground objects on
the basis of invisible energy reflected by them. Hence the
imageries have false colours and they are often referred to as
FCCs (False Colour Composites)

Observations of the Earth from space is usually termed as

remote sensing and satellite used for the purpose are known as
remote sensing satellites. These satellites are usually deployed, in
what is known as sun synchronous polar orbit at height of 800 to
1000 km. It is called a polar orbit because it passes over both
the polar regions of the Earth in a North-South direction.

Data from India Remote Sensing Satellite finds

application in various areas of resources, survey and
management under the National Natural Resources Management
System (NNRMs).

Important areas of application where remote sensing data

serve useful purpose as under

1) Preharvest crop acreage and production estimation of

major crops, covering major parts of the country are being provided
to the Department of Agriculture.
2) Drought monitoring and assessment based on vegetation
condition, drought reports are being generated at the district level
for ten drought - prone states.
3) Flood risk zone mapping and flood damage assessment is being
carried out for all major river basins. This information is being
provided to Flood Control -Boards, Control water commission and
State Irrigation Departments toward taking up flood control or relief
measures.
4) Hydro-geomorphologic maps for locating underground
water resources for drilling wells. These maps are being used by
the Ministry of Rural Development, State public Health Engineering
Department and State Groundwater Departments toward drinking -
water resources.
5) Irrigation command area status monitoring in Uttar Pradesh,
Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. This information is provided to
Ministry of water Resources toward optimising the use of water for
irrigation.
6) Land use and land cover mapping has been carried out for all the
states. The data has been provided to planning commission
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towards agro-climate based regional planning.

7) Urban planning - In urban planning many new application is
carried out with the help of satellite data. This helps to study urban
sprawl, structural plans for cities, guide maps for cities like Delhi,
possible routes for express highway and townships are carried out.
8) Survey based on remote sensing data is used for forest
mapping to monitor forest cover changes by the forest Survey of
India.
9) Environmental Impact analysis - satellite remote sensing
data has been used to assess the impact of mining, thermal
power station, industries and urbanisation on the
environment. Khudremukh iron mining, chemical industries in
Karnataka, mining in Goa, and thermal power station in Madhya
Pradesh are assessed through remote sensing.
10) Coastal Studies : Coastal Zone Maps for the entire country
gives information on the status of wetlands estuaries, as well as in
identify prospective sites for aquaculture.

14.9.3 Global Positioning System (G. P.S.)

The Global Positioning System (G.P.S.) is a Satellite
based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites
placed in the orbit by the U.S. Defense. G.P.S. work in any
weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours day. It is
specially designed to determine its location anywhere on the earth.

The Global Positioning System (G.P.S.) is a US Spaced

based navigation system that provides reliable positioning,
navigation and timing services to civilian users on a continuous
worldwide basis-freely available to all. For anyone with a GPS
receiver, the system will provide location and time.

The GPS is made up of three parts (a) Satellites orbiting

the earth. (b) Control and monitoring stations on the earth. and (c) the
GPS receivers owned by the users. Each GPS receiver provides
three dimensional location. (latitude, longitude and altitude) plus
time. Individuals can use GPS handsets that are readily available
through commercial retailers. With the help of GPS receivers, users
can accurately locate where they are and easily navigate to where
they want to go, whether walking, driving, flying or boating. GPS
has become a mainstay of transportation system worldwide
providing navigation for aviation, ground and maritime operations.
Disaster reliefs and emergency services depend upon GPS for
location and timing.

Satellites and ground-based receivers transmit similarly coded

radio signals, so that the time delay between transmission and
receipt of the signals gives the distance between satellite and the
receiver. If a receiver can pick up signals from three or four
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satellites trigonometry is used to calculate the location and height

of the receiver. A GPS user will see a position 'fix' displayed
on the receiver. GPS is finding a wide range of applications,
varying from navigation to mapping and surveying.

Application of GPS
Recent developm ent in portabl e computing and
mobile communications have opened up to a whole new era of
application for GPS. GPS satellite are in medium earth orbit,
transmitting signals allowing GPS receivers to determine the
receiver's location, speed and direction.

GPS has a variety of application on land, at sea and in the

air. The most common airborne applications, is navigation by
general aviation and commercial aircraft. At sea GPS is used for
navigation by recreational boaters, commercial fisherman and
professional mariners.

Land based application are more diverse. The scientific

community uses GPS for its precision timing capability and
position eg. In military GPS allows the accurate targeting of
various military weapons, i ncluding cruise missiles and
precision gui ded ammunitions. Surveyors use GPS for cost
saving by reducing set up time at the survey site and provides
accuracy. In the field of agriculture GSP is very useful for controlled
traffic and row crop operations and during spraying.

Recreational uses GPS for number of their activities like

hikers, hunters, snowmobilers, mountain bikers, bicyclist,
skydiving etc. GPS is now commonly used in automobiles. More
sophisticated system that shows your position on a street map are
also available. This system helps the driver to keep track of his
positicn I location and suggest the best route to follow to reach a
designated location.

Everyday activities such as banking, mobile phone geologist,

GIS, emergency and location-based services, marketing and others
performed their work more efficiently safely, economically and
accurately using the free and open GPS signals.

Thus, the Remote sensing, GIS, GPS, plays key role in

resource mapping, environmental conservation, environmental
management, planning and Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA)
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14.10 CARBAN TRADING, CARBAN CREDIT AND

CARBON BANK.

Carbon Trading is a commercial activity that has came

into existence after Kyoto Protocol in 1997. It is a tool protect
our mother earth. The harmful Greenhouse Gases like carbon dioxide
& monoxide, methane nitrous oxide, hydrofluoric carbon etc. are
emitted. From various industries & other units has increased all
over the world. Hence the concept of carbon Trading, carbon credit
has came into existence. It is related to an incentives given to those
industries or business units who emit less amount of such. GHGs &
penalizing those units who are emitting excess amount of GHGs.
So that in future overall percentage of carbon in the atmosphere will
reduce and thereby the problem of global warning can be brought
under control.

14.10.1 Kyote Protocol :

UNO (United National Organisation) has taken an initiative

to fix some quota for each country in the world to emit carbon.
This decision was taken at Kyoto in Japan. This Kyoto protocol
was signed on 11th December 1997 and came into force from 16th
December 2005.
The Kyoto protocol aims to tackle global warming
problem by setting a target levels for nations to reduce GHGs
emission worldwide. Under the protocol initial target is to reduce
GHGs. emission to 6.2% below the level of 1990 as a base year, within
the commitment period of 2008-2012. The protocol covered
174 countries globally.

14.10.2 Carbon Credit :

Carbon credit as defined by Kyoto protocol is "one metric
tonne of carbon emitted by burning of fossil fuels." The other GHGs
are converted into equivalent tonnes of Co2 which is considered as
the standard of trading.

The central authority has fixed the limit of the amount of

GHGs that can be emitted into the atmosphere. This limit or quota
is a credit allotted to all countries.

14.10.3 Illustration of carbon credit and carbon Debit :-

According to Kyoto protocol all the countries has to reduce
carbon emission by 5.2% than the standard year 1990. Suppose all
the countries are allowed to emit 1000 units of carbon &
equivalent GHGs. If a developing country can able to reduce.
Carbon emission as 5.2% that is upto 948 units and a
developed country can not able to reduce, but it's Carbon
emission has increased to 1052 units. Then in such case a
developed country will be having 52 units of debit balance in its
 227

pollution accounts. Now the developing country can able to

transfer it 52 units carbon balance into a developed countries
debit balance. And hence overall percentage of carbon emitted
by both the countries will be balanced to 2000 units.

This transfer of carbon units from developing to developed

country will be done for some monetary consideration (6 to 12
Euro / tonne of Co2) as decided by world bank hence it is referred
as carbon and Trading.

At present many companies are investing in wind mills,

Biodiesel, Biogas, solar energy & such other alternative non-
polluting sources of energy and trying to reduce Co2 emission to
earn carbon credits. Almost all industrialized countries are huge
buyers of carbon credit and all developing countries, which has
less industrial development at present are suppliers of carbon
credit. Japan is the largest buyer of carbon credit. Where as
countries like India, Brazil are amongst the largest suppliers of
Carbon credit.

Check your Progress :-

1. What is carbon credit? How is calculated?

14.10.4 Carbon Trading and Carbon Bank :

Carbon Trading gives the platform where the buyers &
sellers of Carbon do their trade with credit and/or debit of polluting
accounts with carbon Bank in Briton, Europe & in Indian metro
cities.

Under the clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of Kyoto

protocol the trading of polluting gases credit & debit exchanges
are necessary. For such exchanges the Banks have been
established. These banks has entered in this upcoming
business of exchanging carbon at international level are
known as Carbon Banks.

Many companies in India are row doing a new form of

trading business, which is related to polluting gases. Usually,
banks come into the picture in this kind of trading as they keep
the records of debit & credit of polluting accounts.

The volume of carbon trade is increasing at a faster rate.

According to estimates made by the world Bank's Carbon Finance
Unit, the volume of carbon trade had shown 240% increase in
2005-2006 over the previous years. The world Bank has launched
Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) in 1999. This has brought together
the least -developed countries to earn maximum benefit from
the carbon market and more developed countries to penalize
them for their more carbon emission and force such countries to
use more ecofriendly technologies.
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14.10.5 Prices of Carbon Trading :

Prices of carbon credit trading vary in the range of Euro six
to Euro 12 per tonnes of Coe. An estimate suggests that in
2004, 107 million tonnes of Got was exchanged through it
worldwide. Between 2005-2007, the world Bank Group financed
more than $ 1.5 billion worth of GHG emitting from oil, gas & coal
projects.

Moran Stanley has created carbon bank to assist clients. It

relies on the monitoring standards of the Greenhouse Gas protocol
Initiative used by European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme.
Further the carbon bank will provide clients with carbon Zero
certificates. For each tonne of Carbon dioxide emission saved by
the company in the developing world, it earns a certificate from UN,
which is called " Certified Emissions Reduction" (CER).
There are several other banks who are also transacting
carbon credits such as Barclay bank is in UK, Bank of America -
Merrill Lynch city, Deutsche Bank, Fortis Bank of Motherlands,
Goldman scachs, Nvnwa & society general are all participating in
the carbon Market.

Check your Progress :-

1. Explain the role of carbon bank in carbon trading. 14.10.6

Natural Carbon Banks :

Carbon emission from deforestation, by burning fossil
fuels, changes in land use & other human activities are
increasing. But the earth's ability of soak up or fix the carbon is
decreasing. As everybody knows trees / Plants absorbs maximum
carbon from atmosphere. Hence reforestation is a way to restore
the carbon balance.

If the quick growing native trees be planted and such types

of trees should not be logged or burned, then the carbon will be
fixed within the wood itself. Thus the plants or vegetation will act as
a natural carbon bank.

Secondly, it has been proved by US scientist that soil is

excellent Carbon Bank. USA Department of Agriculture Scientists
have developed the first national estimate of how much carbon US
farms & grazing land soils are currently storing. It has accounted
to 20 million Metric tonnes of Carbon per year. This estimate shows
that soils are carbon bank or sink that keep more carbon dioxide
out of the atmosphere.

Check your Progress :-

1. Write note on natural carbon banks.
 229

14.10.7 Attempts of India to earn Carbon Credit.

Carbon Trading has given wide opportunities to Indian
Companies to earn Certified Emissions Reduction (CER)
certificate for one tonne of carbon emission reduction, by adopting
energy saving technologies several Indian companies are adopting
clean Development Mechanism (CDM) programmes, which will give
them CER in return. Such companies are Chennai petroleum,
Jaypee Associates, Gujrat Fluro chemicals etc.

In India recently, MCE (Multi Commodity Exchange)

has announced carbon trading Exchange with license agreement
from Chicago Climate exchange (CCE). Like the usual stock
exchange, carbon credits have all spot transactions, forward
settlement & options of trading. On the pattern of Morgan Stanley
Carbon Bank, the carbon banks can be setup in Indian metro
cities.

Even at state and individual levels many attempts are

been made has India is earning. 4.64 lakh carbon credit. eg.

1) DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) has already claimed over

40,000 carbon credits for using innovative breaking system that
generates electricity, thereby reducing travelling cost.
2) Gadhia Solar, a company has listed its solar cooking systems for
claiming carbon credits.
3) The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has projects for generating
power from landfill sites at Ghaziapur & Bhalswa which is giving
1.5 lakh carbon credits every year to them.
4)Maharashtra Government has proposed new Carbon Credit
Policy (CCP). It will penalize industries who are cutting trees
and will help farmers to earn, from their plantations. The
Industries has to "adopt" the green zones developed by
farmers so that farmers will even get sufficient source of
Income.

14.10 LET US SUM UP

The Present world is undergoing through

tremendous environmental changes, which are harmful to all
living organisms. The root cause for these changes is increasing
human activities. Hence it is our dut y to find out som e
solutions to reduce environmental. Problems and even control it
through the use of different modern technologies like GIS, GPS
Remote sensing and fixing some equal standards at international
level. IT is also necessarily to give incentives to those countries
who are using environmental friendly technology to reduce the
environmental problems. The concept of carbon trading is gaining
 230

importance and some developing countries are earning foreign

exchange to balance their balance of payment.

14.12 GLOSSARY

EIA : Environmental Impact Assessment.

ISO : International Standards Organisation.
QSS : Quality System Standards.
EMS : Environmental Management Systems
IPM : Indoor Pollution Monitoring.
VOCs : Volatile organic compounds.
GIS : Geographic Information Systems.
GPS : Global positioning systems
RS : Remote Sensing
Co2 : Carbon dioxide
GHGs : Green House Gases
CDM : Clean Development Mechanism.
CER : Certified Emission Reduction
PCF : Prototype Carbon Fund
CCP : Carbon Credit Policy.

14.13 UNIT END EXERCISES

1 What is ISO? Explain its features.

2 Explain the role of ISO 14000 in monitory environment &
business.
3 Briefly explain the concept of carbon trade and role of Kyoto
Protocol in it.
4 What is the Role of Carbon Bank in Carbon trading in the
world.
5 Explain the role of technology with reference to GIS & GPS in
environmental management.
6 Write short notes on the following.
a) Environmental Impact Assessment
b) Environment statement.
c) ISO 16000
d) Uses of Remote Sensing in environmental management.
e) Carbon Credit.
f) Natural carbon Bank.
g) India - a largest carbon credit seller.
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