Environmental Problems Today Are Extremely

¶ … Environmental problems today are extremely serious, and although the world's focus is on the more severe of these problems and attempts are being made everywhere, all over the world, to solve these problems at least to a certain degree, the issue has not been given the importance that it deserves, and everywhere there are environmental problems that have been caused because of the negligence and inattention of man.

Some of the problems are global warming, a phenomenon that has been occurring in all parts of the world, ozone depletion, which is another serious environmental problem, and no less important is the problem of biodiversity loss and climate changes. While in developed countries the problems related to the environment may be caused by industrialization and the increase in consumption and production that this causes.

When industrialization takes place in developing countries, what happens is that the resulting environmental problems become worse, and this is because of the lack of good regulation and also enforcement, and also because of poor management. Some of these problems are air pollution, water pollution, road accidents, the inadequate disposal of toxic and extremely hazardous wastes, noise pollution, and also human induced disasters.

While most of the same problems do exist in developed countries, like for example, there is air pollution, but it is efficiently managed in such a way that there is no danger to the lives of the citizens of the country. When air pollution occurs in developing countries as a direct result of the combustion of fossil fuels caused by increased traffic, mismanagement results in concentrations of these pollutants, and this in turn results in the serious health problems faced by those citizens.

In a similar manner, water pollution in an underdeveloped or developing country is not given enough importance by the government and the other agencies that are responsible, and this results in the pollution damaging large water bodies. This is because of the fact that both the industry as well as the settlements are located close to the water body, and the pollution from the industry as well as form the settlements is emptied into the water, and this gives rise to serious health problems.

Noise pollution can lead to loss of hearing, and also to increase stress, and as a result of this stress, severe health problems. Since it is now recognized that 'good health' does not only mean the 'absence of disease', it ha become vitally important to face the environmental problems of today and deal with them with urgency and immediacy.

(Environmental Problems in Third World Cities) The Table below shows the facts about the levels of energy that are required by the developing nations of the world, and the effects of this need for energy and the result that such energy demands have on the supply of energy, and the eventual affect on the environment in terms of severe and serious air pollution: Regional Shares of World Energy Consumption, 1999 and 2020 Energy: Supply and Demand) Today, with all the resources available to man, he is intent on doing more and more harm to his own Earth, and with those resources and tools, he is catching all the fish in a pond so that there are no fish left, he is breaking down mountains in search of mines till there are no mines left, he is changing the face of deserts and making them into gardens, he is making gardens into deserts, and with all the power at his disposal, he is in fact changing the entire face of the Earth in such a way that only he would benefit, without a thought for the future generations of man.

This has to be stopped immediately if the Plant Earth were to survive for the next years. In other words, man has the power with him to be able to change the world environment, but he lacks the sufficient knowledge to be able to do so wisely, without inflicting irreparable and irreversible damage on the Planet Earth.

(Problems in the World Environment) If the region of South Asia were taken into consideration, for example, this region is one that is being faced with the most serious environmental problems of the world. Some of these include 'acid rain', deforestation, soil degradation, siltation, toxic and hazardous wastes, marine pollution, air pollution, and severe climate changes. Let us bring the issue of air pollution into focus.

As the demand for energy rises in direct proportion to the rise in the population of the region, there is a surge in the energy demand and an inescapable dependence on coal, and therefore in the output. The consequence as a direct result of this demand is that the air pollution in the region has been seeing a very significant increase.

The growth in the industrial activity in the region, as well as the increase in the traffic, and in the production of energy has also had the same damaging effect. (Environmental security in South Asia) The production of coal, for example, results in 'fly ash', which, in combination with the increasing usage of coal, has resulted in the pollution of the air that these people breathe to such an extent that their basic health becomes affected.

It has been estimated that there is about 35 to 40 million tons of fly ash being generated by various thermal power plants each and every year in India. Out of this huge amount of fly ash, a mere 2% to 3% is being recycled, and the rest ends up in the air, thus polluting the air to a great extent. In the year 1990, it was found that the acid loads in the regions of India and Bangladesh were at a much higher level than the permissible excess critical level.

When coal is burnt, it naturally pollutes the atmosphere, and worse, the pollution tends to spread over large areas, and this means that this directly causes acid deposits both near the areas where the coal is burnt, as well as in the general surrounding areas, and also in a wider area from where the coal was originally burnt.

Recently, a study was conducted to assess the air pollution near the Indian Ocean, and it was discovered that the air near the Indian Ocean demonstrated the presence of small particles of pollutants, known as 'aerosols'. Aerosol is generally composed of fly ash, soot, various forms of sulfates and nitrates, and also some organic particles and mineral dust, all of which was found to be suspended and hanging over the Indian Ocean in a cloud of pollution.

What made the situation even worse is the fact that the fly ash and the pollution resulting from coal generally covers large and vast areas, much away from the original site where the coal is burnt, and this meant that a large part of the Indian Ocean, including parts of the Arabian Sea, and also a large part of the Bay of Bengal were being adversely affected by this cloud of fly ash and other pollutants in the atmosphere.

The study further indicated that the impact of this type of pollution would be felt in the long-term, when air pollution would eventually affect the very climate of the region because of the impact of the pollution on the very hydrological cycle of the region.

(Environmental security in South Asia) It can be stated that the majority of the population of the region of South Asia are being faced with a serious increase in the pollution of the air in the area, which is almost of unacceptable levels in developed countries. The air pollution may be comprised of small particles in the air, or any other type of pollution like for example, fly ash.

Urban air pollution is stated to cause more than 250,000 deaths each and every year, and the figures will keep rising if some action were not taken at the earliest. Some more of the populations of the region suffer from deadly respiratory ailments, and it is sometimes extremely difficult to treat these people because of the fact that the very air that they are being forced to breathe is polluted. Air pollution, especially urban, is in fact the cause of more than five times as many deaths that malaria causes.

(South Asia Urban Air Quality Management) Often, it is the urban poor people who are the most susceptible to the diseases caused by air pollution, and this may be because of the fact that these people utilize biomass-based fuels for their cooking and heating purposes. In most cases, their condition is exacerbated by the fact that they are the most malnourished group of people in these regions, and when they are malnourished, they are more prone to disease than others who are well fed.

Unless the root cause of air pollution is tackled, there can be no quick and fast solution to the problem. The Government, is, however, doing its mite towards the solution of the problem of air pollution in the South Asian regions. In India, the government is attempting to bring the focus of attention on the presence of fine dust particles as well as the presence of fly ash in the air, and this attempt is being carried out by a series of mitigation measures.

The need of the day is to take certain practical steps that would succeed in tackling the problem to some extent, and it is towards this goal that the Government of India has been trying to offer institutional aid along with human capital wherever necessary, in lieu of the severe financial constraints that the region faces.

However, the fact remains that the various policy options being considered have been evolved over a long period of time, and when the need is urgent, this does not give any immediate relief to the suffering people of the region. Therefore the general opinion of the people as well as of the policy makers is that the immediate adoption of the 'best available technology' to offer aid to these people and also to try to combat the severe air pollution present here is a must.

This, and only this, they state, is the way in which to fight the steadily worsening air pollution of the region, and therefore bring relief to the people. However, there are dissenters, who state that unless the standards were to be phased out over several years, and the standards forced upon stringently over a period of time, there would be no impact on the escalating air pollution in the region.

What is very evident is that the Government of India has been concentrating its concerted efforts to fight air pollution on the control of the pollution arising from road traffic, and although it is a fact that this is indeed an important element in the air pollution controlling strategies being attempted by the government, this may not be the primary issue to address.

This also means that studies would not be undertaken on the various other existing forms of air pollution, and also that air emissions from other sources would be completely ignored and pushed into the background.

(South Asia Urban Air Quality Management) This may not be completely true all over the South Asian region, and it has been noticed that in recent years, the primary focus of the government, the civil society, as well as of the several industries of South Asia has been on fighting the affects of air pollution on the people of the same region.

The cities and the countries of South Asia differ in the levels of air pollution, in the levels of urbanization, and the number of people who are exposed to the harmful pollutants in the atmosphere. The fiscal regime of the region, the amount of fuel that is used, the infrastructure of the supply of this fuel, and the availability of the fuel, all plays an important role in determining the amount of resources needed to tackle the issue of air pollution within the region.

Perhaps this is the reason that various South Asian governments have adopted different paths and also different strategies to tackle this important problem. India is one country that leads the others in its methods of handling the problem, and the reason for this may be that it has the highest amount of air pollution in comparison with other countries, and this in turn may be due to heavy vehicular usage in the region.

(Tackling Air Pollution in South Asia) The health benefits that would arise if the problem were to be tackled immediately are enormous. Not only would the general health of the population become infinitely better, but also the other ill effects of air pollution, like for example, poor visibility, damage to crops and to other forms of vegetation, and green gas emissions would all be avoided.

However, it would not be sufficient if only local forces contributed towards the tackling of air pollution; the involvement of outside agencies is also a must. In this case, the WHO, or the World Health Organization has been actively involved in the issue, and is ready with the proper guidelines and necessary procedures as well as financial resources to handle the problem.

The size of the airborne particles being of utmost importance in the extent of air pollution, the WHO has conducted studies on the subject, and has released the relevant data. The European and the U.S.

standards for the numerical guidelines for particulate matter are often taken into consideration too, but the fact is that the Indian standards for the evaluation for 'respirable suspended particulate matter' or what is known as 'RSPM' is of sufficient standard, and this is the method of evaluation most often used by the South Asian region in its study and thee development of the solution to the existing air pollution in the region.

The Table below illustrates the Indian RSPM: The Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter Country: PM 10, 24-Hr Avg. PM 10, Anl Avg. PM 2.5, 24-Hr Avg. PM 2.5, Anl Avg. USA EU India The 24-hour time limit that has been specified under the table for USA is in reference to the 98 percentile, the EU Standard is to have achieved by January of 2005, and the three numbers under India are for its RSPM and refer to industrial / residential / sensitive areas respectively.

(Tackling Air Pollution in South Asia) Although there is intense interest in environmental issues and the resultant ill effects of all types of pollution and other types of environmental problems, and there has been a large amount of recognition of the global impact that economic development would have on the environment, it is still a fact that the citizen's awareness of food safety issues and other forms of problems have combined to make trade and the environment inter-related and a major source of disagreements and arguments.

This is the issue that has become the primary focus of multinational talks and also in important environmental issue debates. The main argument is that the U.S.A. And other rich countries must use their own trade policies to force the developing countries of the world to not only lower the levels of pollution within their countries, but also give more importance to preserving their natural heritage.

In the long-term, perhaps this would work better than anything else in lowering the pollution in the environment, and also preserving the rich vegetation and animal life that still exists on this Plant Earth. (Trade and the Environment) Deforestation is another important environmental issue that needs to be addressed immediately. What are the causes of deforestation? The main causes are man and the impact that he leaves on the forests because of his indifference or his negligence or his unawareness, or a combination of all three.

Some of the other causes like forest fire, diseases and forest-induced stress are all natural causes, but the fact is that they all result from man's actions like for example, land clearance for the purpose of making more buildings for the burgeoning population, overgrazing of the cattle, cutting of trees for the purpose of using the wood for building, and timbre and logging habits. These root causes for deforestation have in fact caused extremely serious damages to forests all over South Asia, including India.

Generally, the persons who want to clear the land for their own purposes cause fires, and sometimes, the fire may rage out of control. (Deforestation: South Asia Needs to Act) In most South Asian countries, there is a clear lack of the policies and the standards that are needed in order to have a sustained development of forests and their resources.

This is because of the fact that when deforestation does occur in an unplanned and unorganized manner, the result is wastage of precious natural resources, as well as a loss of timber and other wood, and the impact is felt in the economy of the country. In addition, deforestation also brings about severe hardships and difficulties for those people who are dependent on the forests or even live in them.

Agricultural productivity is severely curtailed on account of deforestation, and in certain very sensitive areas, the springs or other water bodies located near or around the forests may dry up. When the water resources start to deplete, this means that not only will the plant growth in the areas be severely affected, but the wildlife in the area suffers too. The eventual result may be that the forest area would turn into a veritable desert.

The process of deforestation would reduce the very fertility of the soil, and this means that there will be less fertile land for agriculture, and this in turn would mean that there would be less food being grown.

Aside form all these adverse effects of deforestation, there are a few more important results of the phenomenon, and these are that it would eventually cause the richness of wildlife species to decline, there would also be an erosion of genetic diversity, stock density would be lost, and timbre crops would be greatly reduced in value. The forests are declining at a rapid arte, for example, in the SAARC areas, which had about 77 million hectares of forest area, of which 62% is natural forests, is degrading at an alarming rate.

Statistics reveal that South Asia managed to lose more than 7.5 million hectares of natural forest from 1990 to 1995, and in Pakistan, and in Nepal, the rates are even more alarming. (Deforestation: South Asia Needs to Act) Deforestation is closely linked to the population of the area where it is taking place.

The Figure below shows this fact clearly: Factors of deforestation in a subsistence agriculture setting This figure shows the important causes of deforestation in the South Asian regions, namely, the need for cultivable land that is ever present in these areas, the impact of the collection of fuel wood for the purpose of cooking that most of the people in these areas indulge in, and the phenomenon of over grazing in these forests.

(the Causes of Tropical Deforestation) It has often been quoted that 'deforestation' is the inevitable and unavoidable result of the new modern social as well as economic policies that are being executed today, in the name of progress and of development. It was in the year 1989 that a petition was presented to the then President of the United Nations Secretary General, Perez de Cuellar, asking the UN to start taking immediate action to stop the present deforestation taking place all over the world.

The petition was in fact signed by more then three million concerned people, and this is testimony to the fact that it is time that the government started to formulate better and more stringent policies and laws that would effectively prevent deforestation, thereby saving the Planet Earth. Some groups such as the 'World Rainforest Movement' have been campaigning for action, and with the involvement and commitment of such international groups, maybe there is still a chance to save the forests that are being depleted and ruined by man's greed.

However, to refer back to the petition that had been signed by three million people form all over the world, that particular petition was completely ignored, and a General assembly to discuss that matter was never called.

The reason may be that by doing so, the UN would have had to question the very foundations of its group, and maybe they lacked the courage to do so, and the solutions that were offered to combat the impact of deforestation have in themselves been nothing more than an expression of the value system that had been the causative factor of the problem in the first place.

(the Causes of Tropical Deforestation) Therefore, it can be said that any solutions offered by anybody, which do not address the main underlying issues, would not be met with any success; in fact, in some cases, the existing situation has been made worse by this type of 'solution offering'.

This means that realistic solutions must be found to tackle the problem, and these must be based on the basic realization that deforestation in South Asia generally involves the partial or complete disempowerment of traditional landowners, and whatever may happen; their rights must be given the adequate amount of respect. For example, one of the solutions offered by the governments of these regions is that of 'sustainable commercial logging'.

This means that the deforestation that is being caused by the timber industry can find a solution in the support of sustainable timber extraction. This approach assumes that rainforests can actually be utilized as a sustainable base for the timbre business, which is a totally wrong assumption, because of the fact that it has resulted in more rather than less deforestation.

As stated by the 'International Tropical Timber Organization', or the ITTO, attempts that are being made by the government to take up sustained forest development for the purpose of sustaining the timber industry is nothing but 'negligible', and in the long-term, this type of solution would not have any impact at all.

In addition, it has been noticed time and again that the timber industry is completely corrupt, and although it is a fact that the government is trying its best, there can be no escaping the rampant corruption within the timber industry. The Tropical Forest Action plan was one of the first efforts made by an international group to find solutions to the problem of deforestation.

However, this solution too was based on the false assumption that over population and poverty are the two main causative factors of deforestation; the group also stated that deforestation was occurring due to too little government action and interference. Therefore, the solution, they said, was for the government to bring all the forests under their jurisdiction. This was, of course, an untenable solution, and the actual problem was left unsolved.

(Stopping Tropical Deforestation) The United Nations Environmental Program has tried to find a viable solution to the problem of deforestation in South Asia, and this is what it states: the Program has started the 'Convention on Biological Diversity', which offers certain efforts to prevent and to cope with deforestation, thus protecting and safeguarding the biological diversity of the Earth.

Until today, the Convention has succeeded in protecting more than 30,000 of the world's most endangered species of animals, and with the European Union that belongs to the United Nations putting in their share of efforts to tackle the problem, there is hope that there will be some sort of real solution to the problem of deforestation.

In addition, if there was adequate governmental support, awareness of the problem, and financial as well as global aid, then it may be possible that deforestation would come to an end one day, thus saving all God's wonderful creatures and also saving the diversity of the globe. (Deforestation: United Nations Environmental Program) It is today acknowledged and recognized that the involvement of national as well as international agencies have made the people of the South.