Environmental degradation

Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.[1][citation needed] Environmental degradation is one of the Ten Threats officially cautioned by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines environmental degradation as The reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives, and needs.[2] Environmental degradation is of many types. When natural habitats are destroyed or natural resources are depleted, environment is degraded. Environmental Change and Human Health, a special section of World Resources 1998-99 in this report describes how preventable illnesses and premature deaths are still occurring in very large numbers. If vast improvements are made in human health, millions of people will be living longer, healthier lives than ever before. In these poorest regions of the world an estimated 11 million children, or about one in five, will not live to see their fifth birthday, primarily because of environment-related diseases. Child mortality is larger than the combined populations of Norway and Switzerland, and mostly due to malaria, acute respiratory infections or diarrhea illnesses that are largely preventable.

Water Deterioration
One major component of environmental degradation is the depletion of the resource of fresh water on Earth. Approximately only 2.5% of all of the water on Earth is fresh water, with the rest being salt water. 70% of the fresh water is frozen in ice caps located on Antarctica and Greenland, so only 30% of the 2.5% of fresh water is available for consumption.[3] Fresh water is an exceptionally important resource, since life on Earth is ultimately dependent on it. Water transports nutrients and chemicals within the biosphere to all forms of life, sustains both plants and animals, and molds the surface of the Earth with transportation and deposition of materials.[4] The current top three uses of fresh water account for 95% of its consumption; approximately 85% is used for irrigation of farmland, golf courses, and parks, 6% is used for domestic purposes such as indoor bathing uses and outdoor garden and lawn use, and 4% is used for industrial purposes such as processing, washing, and cooling in manufacturing centers.[5] It is estimated that one in three people over the entire globe are already facing water shortages, almost one-fifth of the worlds population live in areas of physical water scarcity, and almost one quarter of the worlds population live in a developing country that lacks the necessary infrastructure to use water from available rivers and aquifers. Water scarcity is an increasing problem due to many foreseen issues in the future, including population growth, increased urbanization, higher standards of living, and climate change.[3]
[edit] Climate Change and Temperature

Climate change affects the Earths water supply in a large number of ways. It is predicted that the mean global temperature will rise in the coming years due to a number of forces affecting the climate, the amount of atmospheric CO2 will rise, and both of these will influence water resources; evaporation depends strongly on temperature and moisture availability, which can ultimately affect the amount of water available to replenish groundwater supplies. Transpiration from plants can be affected by a rise in atmospheric CO2 , which can decrease their use of water, but can also raise their use of water from possible increases of leaf area. Temperature increase can decrease the length of the snow season in the winter and increase the intensity of snowmelt in warmer seasons, leading to peak runoff of snowmelt earlier in the season, affecting soil moisture, flood and drought risks, and storage capacities depending on the area.[6] Warmer winter temperatures cause a decrease in snowpack, which can result in diminished water resources during the summer. This is especially important at mid-latitudes and in mountain regions that depend on glacial runoff to replenish their river systems and groundwater supplies, making these areas increasingly vulnerable to water shortages over time; an increase in temperature will initially result in a rapid rise in water melting from glaciers in the summer, followed by a retreat in glaciers and a decrease in the melt and consequently the water supply every year as the size of these glaciers get smaller and smaller.[3]

Thermal expansion of water and increased melting of oceanic glaciers from an increase in temperature gives way to a rise in sea level, which can affect the fresh water supply of coastal areas as well; as river mouths and deltas with higher salinity get pushed further inland, an intrusion of saltwater results in an increase of salinity in reservoirs and aquifers.[5] Sea-level rise may also consequently be caused by a depletion of groundwater,[7] as climate change can affect the hydrologic cycle in a number of ways. Uneven distributions of increased temperatures and increased precipitation around the globe results in water surpluses and deficits[6], but a global decrease in groundwater suggests a rise in sea level, even after meltwater and thermal expansion were accounted for,[7] which can provide a positive feedback to the problems sea-level rise causes to fresh-water supply. A rise in air temperature results in a rise in water temperature, which is also very significant in water degradation, as the water would become more susceptible to bacterial growth. An increase in water temperature can also affect ecosystems greatly because of a species sensitivity to temperature, and also by inducing changes in a body of waters self-purification system from decreased amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water due to rises in temperature.[3]
[edit] Climate Change and Precipitation

A rise in global temperatures is also predicted to correlate with an increase in global precipitation, but because of increased runoff, floods, increased rates of soil erosion, and mass movement of land, a decline in water quality is probable, while water will carry more nutrients, it will also carry more contaminants.[3] While most of the attention about climate change is directed towards global warming and greenhouse effect, some of the most severe effects of climate change are likely to be from changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, and soil moisture. It is generally expected that, on average, global precipitation will increase, with some areas receiving increases and some decreases. Climate models show that while some regions should expect an increase in precipitation,[6] such as in the tropics and higher latitudes, other areas are expected to see a decrease, such as in the subtropics; this will ultimately cause a latitudinal variation in water distribution.[3] The areas receiving more precipitation are also expected to receive this increase during their winter and actually become drier during their summer,[6] creating even more of a variation of precipitation distribution. Naturally, the distribution of precipitation across the planet is very uneven, causing constant variations in water availability in respective locations. Changes in precipitation affect the timing and magnitude of floods and droughts, shift runoff processes, and alter groundwater recharge rates. Vegetation patterns and growth rates will be directly affected by shifts in precipitation amount and distribution, which will in turn affect agriculture as well as natural ecosystems. Decreased precipitation will deprive areas of water, causing water tables to fall and reservoirs and wetlands, rivers, and lakes to empty,[6] and possibly an increase in evaporation and evapotranspiration, depending on the accompanied rise in temperature.[5] Groundwater reserves will be depleted, and the remaining water has a greater chance of being of poor quality from saline or contaminants on the land surface[3].
[edit] Population Growth

The available fresh water being affected by climate is also being stretched across an ever-increasing global population. It is estimated that almost a quarter of the global population is living in an area that is using more than 20% of their renewable water supply; water use will rise with population while the water is also being aggravated by decreases in streamflow and groundwater caused by climate change. Even though some areas may see an increase in freshwater supply from an uneven distribution of precipitation increase, an increased use of water supply is expected.[8] An increased population means increased withdrawals from the water supply for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses, the largest of these being agriculture,[9] believed to be the major non-climate driver of environmental change and water deterioration. The next 50 years will likely be the last period of rapid agricultural expansion, but the larger and wealthier population over this time will demand more agriculture.[10] Population increase over the last two decades, at least in the United States, has also been accompanied by a shift to an increase in urban areas from rural areas,[11] which concentrates the demand for water into certain areas, and puts stress on the fresh water supply from industrial and human contaminants.[3] Urbanization causes overcrowding and increasingly unsanitary living conditions, especially in developing countries, which in turn exposes an increasingly number of people to disease. About 79% of the worlds population is in developing

countries, which lack access to sanitary water and sewer systems, giving rises to disease and deaths from contaminated water and increased numbers of disease-carrying insects.[12]
[edit] Agriculture

Agriculture is dependent on available soil moisture, which is directly affected by climate dynamics, with precipitation being the input in this system and various processes being the output, such as evapotranspiration, surface runoff, drainage, and percolation into groundwater. Changes in climate, especially the changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration predicted by climate models, will directly affect soil moisture, surface runoff, and groundwater recharge. In areas with decreasing precipitation as predicted by the climate models, soil moisture may be substantially reduced.[6] With this in mind, agriculture in most areas needs irrigation already, which depletes fresh water supplies both by the physical use of the water and the degradation agriculture causes to the water. Irrigation increases salt and nutrient content in areas that wouldnt normally be affected, and damages streams and rivers from damming and removal of water. Fertilizer enters both human and livestock waste streams that eventually enter groundwater, while nitrogen, phosphorus, and other chemicals from fertilizer can acidify both soils and water. Certain agricultural demands may increase more than others with an increasingly wealthier global population, and meat is one commodity expected to double global food demand by 2050,[10] which directly affects the global supply of fresh water. Cows need water to drink, more if the temperature is high and humidity is low, and more if the production system the cow is in is extensive, since finding food takes more effort. Water is needed in processing of the meat, and also in the production of feed for the livestock. Manure can contaminate bodies of freshwater, and slaughterhouses, depending on how well they are managed, contribute waste such as blood, fat, hair, and other bodily contents to supplies of fresh water.[13] The transfer of water from agricultural to urban and suburban use raises concerns about agricultural sustainability, rural socioeconomic decline, food security, an increased carbon footprint from imported food, and decreased foreign trade balance.[9] The depletion of fresh water, as applied to more specific and populated areas, increases fresh water scarcity among the population and also makes populations susceptible to economic, social, and political conflict in a number of ways; rising sea levels forces migration[disambiguation needed ] from coastal areas to other areas farther inland, pushing populations closer together breaching borders and other geographical patterns, and agricultural surpluses and deficits from the availability of water induce trade problems and economies of certain areas.[8]
[edit] Water Management

The issue of the depletion of fresh water can be met by increased efforts in water management.[4] While water management systems are often flexible, adaptation to new hydrologic conditions may be very costly.[6] Preventative approaches are necessary to avoid high costs of inefficiency and the need for rehabilitation of water supplies,[4] and innovations to decrease overall demand may be important in planning water sustainability.[9] Water supply systems, as they exist now, were based on the assumptions of the current climate, and built to accommodate existing river flows and flood frequencies. Reservoirs are operated based on past hydrologic records, and irrigation systems on historical temperature, water availability, and crop water requirements; these may not be a reliable guide to the future. Re-examining engineering designs, operations, optimizations, and planning, as well as re-evaluating legal, technical, and economic approaches to manage water resources are very important for the future of water management in response to water degradation. Another approach is water privatization; despite its economic and cultural impacts, service quality and overall quality of the water can be more easily controlled and distributed. Rationality and sustainability is appropriate, and requires limits to overexploitation and pollution, and efforts in conservation[4].

How environmental degradation harms humanity

A new report reveals the boomerang effect of direct assaults on nature, as infectious diseases wing back to plague the people responsible, says Geoffrey Lean.
Do felling forests, slaughtering wildlife, cramming animals into inhuman factory farms, and the general trashing of the natural world make you sick? There's growing evidence that environmental degradation increases the spread of killer diseases and causes new ones.

Indeed, a report concludes that it poses "the greatest public health challenge of the 21st century." As we approach the end of the first decade, things are already bad. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former directorgeneral of the World Heath Organisation, writing the report's preface, says: "Environment-related illnesses kill the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of children every 30 minutes." Most of this toll arises from well-known if largely ignored causes, such as polluted drinking water and smoke-filled houses in poor third world villages and slums. But the report, Global Environmental Change; the Threat to Human Health, also examines a much more recently investigated phenomenon: the boomerang effect of direct assaults on nature, as infectious diseases wing back to plague the people responsible. Published by two blue-chip, Washington-based bodies the Worldwatch Institute and the United Nations Foundation and written by Dr Samuel Myers, a practising physician who teaches at Harvard, the report concludes that, "more often than not, disruption of historical land cover", such as through deforestation and intensive agriculture, "seems to boost the risk of disease exposure". Take malaria, which sickens half a billion people every year and kills a million, mainly children. In the Peruvian Amazon, bites from mosquitos that carry the disease are 300 times as common in deforested areas as where forest has been left intact; similar effects have been found in Africa. This happens partly because cutting down trees produces bigger areas of forest edge, prime mosquito habitat, around the remaining stands, and partly because the cleared areas are hotter, without their shade, enabling the insects to live longer and breed faster. More indirectly, using artificial fertilisers on farms in Belize's hills increased the disease in the lowlands: the nutrients, washing down the rivers, created denser vegetation a better breeding habitat downstream. Then there's schistosomiasis, infecting some 200 million people worldwide, second only to malaria in its devastating effect. An upsurge of the disease in Cameroon was traced to deforestation, because a snail harbouring the parasitic worm that causes it flourished in the cleared habitats. Another big outbreak was spurred on by overfishing in Lake Malawi, depleting the fish that ate a similar snail. And sleeping sickness spread in parts of West Africa because coffee and cacao plantations, which replaced natural forest, provided ideal habitats for the tsetse fly. Hunting and eating wild animals causes another range of diseases. In Central Africa, about three million tons of "bushmeat" is consumed each year. Ebola outbreaks have been traced to the practice and so has the simian foamy virus, caught from "the blood or body fluid of non-human primates". This, the report goes on, adds further support to the "already compelling hypothesis" that the HIV/Aids epidemic originated in "a mutated simian virus contracted through bushmeat hunting". Factory farming, where diseases brew among the tightly packed animals, is thought to have played a part in starting the swine flu pandemic; meanwhile, the wholescale use of antibiotics to try to prevent infections sweeping through the hemmed-in herds has caused a proliferation of bacteria resistant to the drugs, an increasing threat to human health. In all, says the report, three quarters of new infectious diseases affecting people have originated in animals. Global warming is almost certain to make things worse. Many disease-bearing insects flourish better and become more active as temperatures increase. Historically, malaria was also prevalent in temperate Europe, North America and Asia, before being eradicated by the middle of the last century, partly thanks to pesticides. But the disease has risen with the thermometer in the East African highlands. And, as the mosquito breeds in water, the shifting rainfall patterns that accompany climate change will spread the disease to new areas where people are less immune. Cholera and the algal blooms that make shellfish poisonous also increase with temperature. More carbon dioxide produces more pollen to plague allergy sufferers. "The epidemiological implications of climate change on disease patterns will be profound," concluded The Lancet in May. And, of course, the disruptions it will cause to harvests and water supplies will affect the health of hundreds of millions. Of course, humanity has increasingly beaten back disease over the last centuries, even as it has subjugated the natural world. But nature now seems to be biting back, showing a sick environment to be an unhealthy place to live.

Causes of Environmental Degradation

The primary cause of environmental degradation is human disturbance. The degree of the environmental impact varies with the cause, the habitat, and the plants and animals that inhabit it.

Habitat Fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation carries long term environmental impacts, some of which can destroy entire ecosystems. An ecosystem is a distinct unit and includes all the living and non-living elements that reside within it. Plants and animals are obvious members, but it will also include other components on which they rely on such as streams, lakes, and soils. Habitats become fragmented when development breaks up solid stretches of land. Examples include roads which may cut through forests or even trails which wind through prairies. While it may not sound all bad on the surface, there are serious consequences. The largest of these consequences are initially felt by specific plant and animal communities, most of which are specialized for their bioregion or require large areas of land to retain a healthy genetic heritage.

Area Sensitive Animals

Some wildlife species require large stretches of land in order to meet all of their needs for food, habitat, and other resources. These animals are called area sensitive. When the environment is fragmented, the large patches of habitat no longer exist. It becomes more difficult for the wildlife to get the resources they to survive, possibly becoming threatened or endangered. The environment suffers without the animals that play their role in the food web.

Aggressive Plant Life

A more critical result of habitat fragmentation is land disturbance. Many weedy plant species, such as garlic mustard and purple loosestrife, are both opportunistic and invasive. A breach in the habitat gives them an opportunity to take hold. These aggressive plants can take over an environment, displacing the native flora. The result is habitat with a single dominant plant which doesn't provide adequate food resources for all the wildlife. Entire ecosystems are threatened with extinction, according to the National Resources Defense Council. Some weeds are so invasive and aggressive that they are declared noxious by the federal or state governments to prevent them from destroying unspoiled areas. The cultivation or even the sale of noxious weeds is prohibited by law.

Human Sources of Environmental Deterioration

Humans and their activities are a major source of environmental degradation.

Water and Air Pollution

Water and air pollution are unfortunately the common causes of environmental degradation. Pollution introduces contaminants into the environment that can maim or even kill plant and animal species. The two often go hand in hand.

Acid Rain

Acid rain occurs when sulfur dioxide from coal plant emissions combines with moisture present in the air. A chemical reaction creates this acid precipitation. Acid rain can acidify and pollute lakes and streams. It causes similar effects to the soil. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), if enough acid rain falls in a given environment, it can acidify the water or soil to a point where no life can be sustained. Plants die off. The animals that depend upon them disappear. The condition of the environment deteriorates.

Agricultural Runoff
Agricultural runoff is a deadly source of pollutants which can degrade environments, so much so that the EPA identifies agriculture as the primary source of water pollution. Surface water washes over the soil and into lakes and streams. When it does so, it carries the fertilizers and pesticides used on the farm lands into water resources. Introducing poisons into waterways will have dire consequences. Fertilizers, whether or not they are organic, carry equal risks. Fertilizers containing large amounts of phosphorus can cause explosions of algae in lakes. As the algae die, bacteria start to breakdown the organic material. It soon develops into a situation where bacteria are using up the available dissolved oxygen in the water. Plants, fish, and other organisms begin to die off. The water becomes acidic. Like acid rain, lakes become dead zones with conditions so toxic that neither plants nor animals can live in these environments.

Urban Development
According to many noted ecologists, including those at Cornell University, urban development is one of the primary causes of environmental degradation. As populations increased, so did the need for land for homes and farms. Wetlands were drained. Prairies were plowed over. Today, less than 50 percent of the nation's wetlands still exist, according to the North Carolina State University Water Quality Group. National Geographic states that only five percent of the native prairie remains. Environmental degradation is one of most urgent of environmental issues. Depending upon the damage, some environments may never recover. The plants and animals that inhabited these places will be lost forever. In order to reduce any future impacts, city planners, industry, and resource managers must consider the long term effects of development on the environment. With sound planning, future environmental degradation can be prevented.

Natural Causes
While environmental degradation is most commonly associated with the activities of humans, the fact is that environments are also constantly changing over time. With or without the impact of human activities, some ecosystems degrade over time to the point where they cannot support the life that is "meant" to live there. Things like landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and wildfires can completely decimate local plant and animal communities to the point where they can no longer function. This can either come about through physical destruction via natural disaster, or by the long-term degradation of resources by the introduction of an invasive alien species to a new habitat. The latter often occurs after hurricanes, when lizards and insects are washed across small stretches of water to foreign environments. Sometimes, the environment cannot keep up with the new species, and degradation can occur.

Understanding Degradation

There are a number of reasons that ecosystems degrade over time. While it may not always be the fault of humans, humans still need to recognize the extent to which they rely on the resources that the natural world provides. In this sense, environmental responsibility and stewardship are very much a matter of selfpreservation, and are an integral part of healthy resource management practices.