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Student Publications
Author: Jorge Arrone
Title: Sustainable Development
and Environmental Issues
Area:
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Introduction
This assignment will be composed by
two parts. In part 1 I will discuss
the concepts of the
physical environment, the major
environmental problems facing the
world today and the need
for environmental education. In this
first part of my assignment, I will
discuss particularly our
natural or physical environment and
take a brief look at global
environmental problems that
face the world and the Mozambican
community today.
In part 2, I will discuss the
aspects related with the value
systems, legislation and global
economics. In this second part I
will also look more closely at the
relationship between the
social and physical environment.
Part 1 - What is the environment?
Simply put, the environment means
our surroundings. At the most basic
level, it refers to our
home, our community, our workplace
and our world. The term environment
also refers to all
the living and non-living things
that affect the life of an
individual organism or population.
The environment includes natural
and social surroundings and
conditions.
The natural or physical
environment
The natural or physical environment
supports all life on earth and has
four parts:
1. atmosphere � a mixture of
gases surrounding the earth, for
example oxygen (O2) and
carbon dioxide (CO2)
2. hydrosphere � the water on
or below the surface of the earth,
for example lakes, seas,
rivers and underground streams
3. lithosphere � the hard,
rigid upper curst of the earth, for
example rocks, minerals, soil,
fossil fuel
4. biosphere � the zone where
life exists, for example plants,
insects, animals and of
course people. The biosphere
consists of the lower part of the
atmosphere, the
hydrosphere and the upper part of
the lithosphere. It is approximately
2 kilometers
thick.
An ecosystem
The natural environment operates as
an ecosystem. An ecosystem is
a usually a usually a
natural, functional unit. In it,
livings things such as vegetation,
animals, micro-organisms and,
of course people co-exist and
interact with the non-living things
such as air, water, soil and
minerals to form a stable and
self-sustaining system. The
interactions are based on the
exchange of materials and energy.
An ecosystem is not always naturally
formed. It can sometime be
artificially created. An
artificial ecosystem can be a
village, a city or even a spaceship.
A few years ago, in many
countries, people could even buy a
terrarium: a large glass jar with a
closed ecosystem of
plants, insects, soil, air and water
existing inside.
The interaction of living and
non-living things within an
ecosystem involves the flow of
energy, the cycling of matter and
the regulation of populations of
organisms. I will discuss
these processes below.
The flow of energy
All life forms require energy to
maintain their bodies and perform
their activities. The primary
source of energy is light from the
sun. Plants capture and store light
energy, and turn it into
chemical energy (carbohydrates,
sugars, proteins, waxes and oils)
through a process called
photosynthesis. Plants are eaten by
animals, which are in turn eaten by
other animals.
3
Food chain
Energy moves trough an ecosystem via
food chains. The energy is
converted into living tissue
and used in activity; some energy is
lost from the system through heat
and respiration.
There may be several levels in a
food chain:
green plants are known as
producers because they
manufacture their own food from
carbon dioxide, water, minerals and
sunlight through a process called
photosynthesis;
herbivores are known as primary
consumers as they eat plants
(seeds, leaves, grass,
fruit, etc.)
carnivores that eat herbivores are
known as secondary consumers
(and carnivores that
eat other carnivores are known as
tertiary consumers);
bacteria and fungi are known as
decomposers. They break down waste
material, and
dead plant and animal tissue into
humus and minerals (which are
essential for plant
growth);
small animals or detritus feeders
are known as scavengers and
they feed on
decomposing materials (detritus).
Between one to twenty percent of the
energy in plants is passed from
plants to herbivores.
Similarly, approximately one to
twenty of the energy which is
transferred to herbivores is
passed on to carnivores.
Some energy is transferred to
bacteria and fungi as they decompose
the excreta and dead tissue
of herbivores and carnivores, while
other small animals such as worms
gain energy by eating
the decomposed material.
The flow of energy is not a cycle
process. Energy is not returned to
its source. Instead, it flows
through the ecosystem in a straight
line or through a linear process.
The cycling of matter
Matter consists of many elements and
molecules that make up gases,
vitamins, proteins,
minerals and other nutrients of
life. The total amount of matter in
the world is constant and
cycles through both living (plants
and animals) and non-living
materials (air, water, rock, etc.).
The cycling of matter is driven by
the sun and facilitated by the flow
of energy.
When decomposers release minerals
that returned to the soil and air,
the roots of absorb the
minerals from the soil. Thus, the
nutrients are eventually returned to
the plants, and the cycle
continues. There are various forms
and rates of cycling of matter.
The nitrogen cycle
An important example is the nitrogen
cycle. Nitrogen is one of the major
elements required for
plant and animal growth. One of the
main gases in air, it is transformed
into a soluble form by
bacteria living in soil or water.
Plants use this form of nitrogen to
make protein, which then re-
enters the soil as the plant matter
dies and decays. Animals obtain
nitrogen by eating plant
material or other animals, and
release nitrogen in their excreta
and when their bodies decay.
The nitrogen is then returned to the
atmosphere as a gas by the action of
bacteria � thus
completing the cycle. (Earth
user's to Permaculture, by
Rosemary Morrow, Kangaroo Press,
Austria, 1993).
When rain falls on the land, some of
it quickly evaporates back into the
atmosphere. There is
constant evaporation from stream,
lakes, the oceans and the bodies of
plants and animals. The
energy for most of this evaporation
comes either directly or indirectly
from the sun.
O the rest, some is absorbed by
plants or is drunk by animals. Some
runs off the surface of the
land into streams and lakes and some
percolate down through the soil to
accumulate as ground
water. The water in streams and
lakes, as well as the surface ground
water, eventually find its
way to the ocean.
4
The endless cycling of water �
precipitation as rain, snow and
hail, its return atmosphere
through evaporation, its subsequent
return to the earth as rain �
maintains the various sources
of fresh water necessary for life on
land. The water cycle also plays a
major part in modifying
temperatures and in transporting
many chemical nutrients through
ecosystems.
This cycling process points to an
important characteristic of
ecosystems, that is inter-
dependence. The organisms and the
non-living things are also
inter-dependent. Thus, when an
ecosystem has become established
properly, each life from is finely
balanced in relation to
those living and non-living forms
that relate to it; those living and
non-living things from
which it receives sustenance or
shelter.
To an extent, these relationships
also exist between ecosystems, at
the point where one
ecosystem meets another. However,
the interchanges of energy and
materials between
ecosystems are usually less complex
than those within ecosystems.
Population regulation
Population regulation is an
important aspect of a balanced
ecosystem. Predators are nature's
way of regulating population or
controlling the number of any given
organism in an
ecosystem. For example, ducks eat
snails. Ducks are predators of
snails, or perhaps one of
several predators.
It is important to note that:
predators play an important role in
controlling the rate at which
organisms multiply,
and in maintaining the balance of
nature;
when we destroy the predators of an
organism, this can lead to the
organism
multiplying rapidly � a population
explosion. This may result in damage
to the
environment and/or depletion in the
numbers of the animals or plants
that organism
feeds on.
In a well-functioning ecosystem,
numbers are in balance. For example,
by feeding on
producers, herbivores control the
population of plants. Similar
control takes place at each level
of the ecosystem, with carnivores
controlling populations of
herbivores and detritus feeders
controlling the level of organic
wastes.
Without nature's system of control,
populations would grow beyond the
capacity of their
environment to support them.
An overview of environmental
problems
With Industrial Revolution, humans
became capable of dramatically
changing the face of the
earth, the nature of its atmosphere,
and the quality of its water. Today,
because of rapidly
increasing human populations and
advancing technology, ever-growing
demands on the
environment are causing a continuing
and accelerating decline in the
quality of the
environment and its ability to
sustain life.
We are faced with many threats to
our environment. All of these
problems are of concern to
young people; a degraded environment
is a threat to their future
survival.
The greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a term used
to describe the role the atmosphere
plays in warming the
earth's surface. Short-wave solar
radiation passes through the
atmosphere and is absorbed by
the earth's surface. Much of this
radiation is then re-emitted at
infrared wavelengths, but it is
reflected back by gases such as
carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide, halocarbons, and
ozone in the atmosphere. These are
often referred to as greenhouse
gases because the
atmosphere acts in a similar way to
a greenhouse. In balanced
quantities, these gases function
to maintain the earth's relatively
warm temperature.
This is why the earth is warm enough
to support life on its surface.
However, this heating
effect is at the root of the
theories concerning global warming.
5
Global warming
Global warming refers an increase in
the earth's temperature. This
increase is due to the use of
fossil fuels (wood, coal, oil,
petrol, etc) and other industrial
processes which have led to a
build-up of greenhouse gases
(carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide, and
chlorofluorocarbons) in the
atmosphere.
Since the late 1980s, we known that
carbon dioxide (CO2) helps to stop
the sun's infrared
radiation from escaping into space.
However, the question today is
whether the increasing
levels of CO2 in the atmosphere over
the last century will lead to higher
global temperatures.
A significant global warming of the
atmosphere would have profound
environmental effects. It
would speed the melting of polar ice
caps, raise sea levels, change the
climate regionally and
globally, latter natural vegetation,
and affect crop production. These
changes would, in turn,
have an enormous impact on human
civilization. Since 1850 there has
been an average
increase in global temperature of
about 1�C (1.8�F). Some scientists
have predicted that rising
levels of CO2 and other greenhouse
gases will cause temperature to
continue to rise, with
estimates ranging from 2� to 6� C
(4� to 11�F) by the middle of 21st
century.
However, other scientists who
research climate effects and trends
dispute the theories of
global warming, and attribute most
recent rise to normal temperature
fluctuations. This is one
reason why legislation restricting
the emission of greenhouse gases has
been slow.
Acid rain
Acid rain is also associated with
the burning of fossil fuels. Acid
deposition is caused by the
emission of sulfur dioxide and
nitrous oxides into the air from
power plants and motor
vehicles. These chemicals interact
with sunlight, moisture, and
oxidants to produce sulfuric
and nitric acids, which are carried
with the atmospheric circulation and
come to earth in
rainfall and snowfall, commonly
referred to as acid rain, and as dry
deposits in the form of dry
particles and atmospheric gases.
Acid rain is a major global problem.
The acidity of some precipitation in
the Northern
America and Europe is equivalent to
that of vinegar. Acid rain corrodes
metals, weathers stone
buildings and monuments, injures and
kills vegetation, and acidifies
lakes, streams and soils.
Lake acidification has killed some
fish populations and can slow forest
growth.
Ozone destruction
In the 1970S and 1980S, scientists
began to find that human activity
was having a determinant
effect on the global ozone layer,
a region of the atmosphere that
protects the earth from the
sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.
Without this gaseous layer, which is
about 40 km (about
25 mi) thick, no life could survive
on the planet.
Studies showed that ozone layer was
being damaged by the increasing use
of industrial
chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) which are used in
refrigeration, air conditioning,
cleaning solvents, packing
materials, and aerosol sprays. When
CFCs are released into the
atmosphere, they rise and are broken
down by sunlight. The chlorine that
is released reacts
with and destroys ozone molecules.
For this reason, the use of CFCs in
aerosols has been
banned in many countries.
It was initially thought that the
ozone layer was being reduced
gradually all over the globe. In
1985, however, further research
revealed a growing ozone hole
concentrated above Antarctica;
50 percent or more of the zone above
this area of the earth was being
depleted seasonally
(beginning each October). Later, a
hole was discovered above the Artic.
A thinning of the ozone layer
exposes life on earth to excessive
UV radiation, which can
increase skin cancer and cataracts,
reduce immune system responses,
interfere with the
photosynthetic process of plants,
and affect the growth of oceanic
phytoplankton.
Because of the growing threat of
these dangerous environmental
effects, many nations are
working toward eliminating the
manufacture and use of CFCs at least
by the year 2000.
However, CFCs can remain in the
atmosphere for more than 100 years,
so ozone destruction
will continue to pose a threat for
decades to come.
6
Synthetic pesticides
Extensive use of synthetic
pesticides derived from chlorinated
hydrocarbons to combat insect
pests has had disastrous
environmental side effects. These
organochlorine pesticides are highly
persistent and resist biological
degradation. Relatively insoluble in
water, they cling to plant
issues and accumulate in soils, the
bottom mud of streams and ponds, and
the atmosphere.
Once volatilized, the pesticides are
distributed worldwide, contaminating
wilderness areas far
removed from agricultural regions,
and even the Antarctic and Arctic
zones.
Although these synthetic chemicals
are not found in nature, they
nevertheless enter the food
chain. These pesticides are either
taken in by plant eaters or absorbed
directly through the skin
by such aquatic organisms as fish
and various invertebrates. The
pesticide is further
concentrated as it passes from
herbivores to carnivores. It becomes
highly concentrated in the
tissues of animals at the end of the
food chain, such as the peregrine
falcon, bald eagle, and
osprey. Chlorinated hydrocarbons
interfere in the calcium metabolism
of birds, causing
thinning of eggs shell and
subsequent reproductive failure. As
a result, some large predatory
and fish-eating birds have brought
close to extinction. Because of the
dangers of pesticides to
wildlife and to humans, and because
insects have acquired resistance to
them, the use of
halogenated hydrocarbons such as DDT
is declining rapidly in the Western
World, although
large quantities are still shipped
to developing countries.
Radiation
Although atmospheric testing of
nuclear weapons has been banned by
most countries,
eliminating a large source of
radioactive fallout, nuclear
radiation still remains an
environmental problem. Power plants
always release some amount of
radioactive waste into
the air and water, but the main
danger is the possibility of nuclear
accidents, in which massive
amounts of radiation are released
into the environment as happened at
Chernobyl, Ukraine, in
1986. In fact, since the break up of
the Union of the Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR), the
world has learned that contamination
of that region from nuclear
accidents and nuclear wastes
is far more extensive than had been
realized.
A great problem facing the nuclear
industry is the storage of nuclear
wastes, which remain
toxic for 700 to 1 million years,
depending on the type. Safe storage
for geological periods of
time is problematical; meanwhile
nuclear wastes accumulate,
threatening the integrity of the
environment.
Loss of wild lands
Loss of forests and remaining wild
lands, even in those areas once
considered relatively safe
from exploitation, is increasing at
an alarming rate. Insatiable demands
for energy are forcing
the development of artic regions for
oil and gas and threatening the
delicate ecological balance
of tundra ecosystems and their
wildlife. Tropical forests,
especially in Southeast Asia and the
Amazon River Basin, are being
destroyed for timber, conversion to
crop and grazing lands,
pine plantations, and settlements.
It was estimated at one point in
1980Sthat such forest lands were
being cleared at the rate of
20 hectares (nearly 50 acres) a
minute; another estimate put the
rate more than 200,000 sq km
(more than 78,000 sq mi) a year. In
1993, satellite data provided a rate
of about 15,000 sq km
(about 5800 mi) a year in the Amazon
Basin area alone.
This tropical deforestation could
result in the extinction of as many
as750, 000 species, which
would mean the loss of a
multiplicity of products: food,
fibres, medical drugs, dyes, gums,
and
resins. In addition, the expansion
of croplands and grazing areas for
domestic livestock in
Africa, and illegal trade in
wildlife and wildlife products,
could mean the end of Africa's large
mammals.
Soil erosion
Soil erosion is accelerating on
every continent and is degrading
one-fifth to one-third of the
cropland of the world, posing a
significant threat to the food
supply. For example, erosion is
undermining the productivity of
approximately 34 percent of all
cropland in the United States.
In the developing countries,
increasing needs for food and
firewood have resulted in the
deforestation and cultivation of
steep slopes, causing severe
erosion. Adding to the problem is
the loss of prime cropland to
industry, dams, urban sprawl, and
highways; the United States
7
alone has lost 1.1 million hectors
(2.7 million acres) of farmland to
non-farm uses. Soil
erosion and the loss of cropland and
forests also reduce the
moisture-holding capacity of soils
and add sediments to streams, lakes,
and reservoirs.
Demands on water and air
The erosion problems described above
are aggravating a growing world
water problem. Most
water problems are in the semiarid
and coastal regions of the world.
Expanding human
populations need irrigation systems
and water for industry; this is so
depleting underground
aquifers that salt water is
intruding into them along coastal
areas of United States, Israel,
Syria, and the Arabian Gulf states.
In inland areas, porous rocks and
sediments are compacting
when drained of water, causing
surface subsidence problems.
The world is also experiencing a
steady decline in water quality and
availability. About 75
percent of the world's rural
population and 20 percent of its
urban population have no ready
access to uncontaminated water. In
many regions, water supplies are
contaminated with toxic
chemicals and nitrates. Waterborne
disease debilitates one-third of
humanity and kills 10
million people a year.
During the 1980s and early 1990s,
the United States improved air
quality by reducing
particulate matter and toxic
chemicals, such as lead, but
emissions of sulfur dioxide and
nitrous oxides, which cause acid
deposition, still remain. Massive
air pollution occurs over
much of Eastern Europe and the
former USSR. (Microsoft Encarta
1994, Microsoft
Corporation � 1994, Funk & Wagnall's
Corporation).
Environmental education
If we are to use the environment
wisely and protect it, we all need
environmental education.
This part of my assignment aims to
give the background knowledge needed
to understand the
environment, and the environmental
problems that the communities are
facing in the two
district of Morrumbene and Maxixe
today. It also aims to provide the
material that can be used
to start an education program for
the civil society in the above
mentioned communities to raise
their awareness of the environment.
A basic program in environmental
awareness provides a sound
foundation for communities to
participate in projects that address
environmental problems.
Inter-connectivity
There is a familiar saying: No
man is an island. In fact, our
earth can be viewed as a whole,
where everything is connected to
everything else. According to
Meadows (1992) in Beyond
the Limits, with every breath
we inhale, a part of environment
becomes a part of us. When we
exhale, a part of us becomes part of
the environment. There is a direct
connection between the
air we breathe and our lungs or more
generally, our human health. As
humans, we are
connected to all the cycles � water,
carbon, nitrogen, oxygen etc.
Our link to the environment can be
seen as a system. Two important
characteristics of a
system are that:
each part has a function to play;
each part is connected to another
one;
Therefore, thinking of our
connection to the environment in
systemic terms is important. It
reinforces the point that each
component of a system has a special
function to carry out
and that each component is connected
to another component.
Interfering with, or disrupting, any
part of the environment will
seriously affect the
functioning of the whole system. For
example, imagine the effects of
polluting the water
on which all living things depend
for their life, or the effects of
polluting the air.
8
Sacredness
This concept refers to the fact that
as part of our spiritual
relationship with the biosphere,
there are instances when we must
value nature for its own sake or
when we should not
attempt to attach a commercial or
materialistic value to it.
Many indigenous people, such as
those from Amazon and Australian
aborigines, view
their relationship with nature as
that of a car-taker. This belief
meant that they were able to
live as part of a relatively
balanced ecosystem, without
dominating or over-exploiting it.
For our own well being, we could
learn from them to value, consider
sacred, beautiful
healthy and safe environment. While
our survival depends on exploiting
other species, we
need not use them successfully. We
could learn from observing how
predators behave with
they prey.
They do not destroy their supplies.
They use only what they need. As a
result, the
population of animals on which they
prey can replenish itself.
At the individual level, we must ask
ourselves some important questions
about the way we
behave toward nature. Among these
are:
Is my action morally right?
Will what I do jeopardize the
lives of future generation?
Non-renewable resources
When we talk about sustainable
development, we need to be aware of
the concept of
renewable and non-renewable
resources. Continued exploitation or
destruction of resources
that can not be replaced is not
sustainable.
For example, a 200-year-old
rainforest tree that is cut down for
firewood or building materials
may be considered non-renewable
resources because of the time it
would take to replace it.
However, planting timbers that are
fast growing may considered
renewable, because they are
grown for a specific reason such as
for building materials, and they are
often replaced after
harvest so that there is an on-going
supply.
Sources of energy
The sun is a renewable energy source
whereas oil and coal are
non-renewable sources of
energy. For this reason, people who
are interested in sustainable
development must look at
alternative sources of energy, such
as hydro, solar and wind generated
electricity, for heating,
domestic, agricultural and
industrial power. Energy sources
that are alternatives to the burning
of fossil fuels not only save our
non-renewable resources, but also
they are much kinder to the
environment. One of the biggest
consumers of non-renewable energy is
fuel for transport.
Many of the everyday things we use
or consume come from far away, even
other countries.
Sustainable Development and
Environmental Issues � What causes
Environmental
Problems?
In this part of my assignment I will
discuss the relationship between the
social and physical
environment. I will define the
social environment and examine those
aspects of it that can
affect the physical environment:
Value systems
Legislation, and
Global economics.
I will also consider what concerns
communities as I examine some of the
issues that were
raised at a world youth environment
meeting, Juventud (youth)�92
held in San Jos�, Costa
Rica.
9
The social environment
The social environment consists of
systems that groups of people have
organized to satisfy
their needs. The social environment
includes all skills, all man-made
structures, all means of
agricultural and industrial
production, all tools, all means of
transport and communication and
all social activities. Therefore,
when we speak of the social
environment, we generally think of
such things as families, religion
and values, law, education,
economics and politics.
Whatever happens in our social
environment affects the physical
environment, but this is not a
one-way relationship. Without the
natural environment, human beings
would not exist. As I
have already mentioned before,
people have had a dramatic affect on
the environment.
Conversely, our now degraded
environment can no longer support
the economic development
that we desire. Indeed, if we don
not start to consider environment,
as we plan our
development activities, the survival
of future generations will be
threatened.
Now I will try to examine the manner
in which some of our social systems
affect the
environment.
Value systems and environment
Because of their traditional values
systems, some societies do not
destroy or deplete the
resources in their natural
environment. The people in these
societies live more or less in
harmony with their environment, as a
part of their ecosystem. Some
indigenous societies, for
example the North American and
Amazonian Indians and Australian
aborigines, held the
belief that their did not own the
land, but that they had to protect
it. Some groups in India
believed that the trees in the
forest were gods. As a result, they
protected al trees.
Other societies do not hold the same
beliefs about their natural
environment. People in these
societies tend to see the living and
non-living elements in their
environment as resources to be
used rather than protected. They may
be unconcerned about their
environment. This lack of
concern, embodied in the value
system of the society, will probably
lead to environmental
damage. Many people living in
cities, for example, may simply be
too far removed from
nature to understand and value it.
They may not even be aware that
their lifestyle degrades the
environment.
In extreme cases, this lack of
concern may be symptomatic of deep
sociological problems
within a society. For example, Edwin
Small, writing in the April/May,
1994 issue of journeys
suggests that a drug addict....
who has come to the stage were
doesn't care about himself,
could hardly care less about
proper disposal of garbage or
depleting the ozone layer.
The value system of a society also
dictates attitudes to such things as
birth control, which in
turn affects population growth.
Legislation and the environment
The environment is also affected by
the existence or non-existence of
appropriate legislation,
the quality of existing laws and the
extent to which they are enforced.
If there are no laws to protect
the environment, degradation is
likely to occur. For
example, the Indian River in
Dominica, a Caribbean Island was
affected by pollution and
erosion caused by tour boat
operators and their passengers. This
problem was attributed to the
absence of regulations governing
tourism activities along the river
(OECS, 1993).
If laws exist, but they are week
or not enforced, degradation is also
likely to occur. In
such a situation, the physical
environment is more likely to be
greatly affected by large
economic projects. Weak legislation
and governmental emphasis on
economic growth, without
regard for the environment, opens
the flood-gates to developers which
may result in severe
damage to the environment. Such
damage is even more likely when the
enforcement of laws
and the management of the economy
depend on very rich, powerful and
greedy people.
Following the Kyoto Conference in
December 1997, an article appeared
in the New Scientist,
January 1998 that further
illustrates the difficulty in
creating or enforcing laws to
protect the
environment when the economic
interests of the rich and powerful
are at stake. Even when
global agreements area reached,
loopholes can undermine their
implementation.
10
Conversely, if laws were
effective and enforced, protection
of the environment is likely to
result. For example, the St.
Kitts Turtle Ordinance, which was
established in 1948 to regulate
the harvest of sea turtles, was
effective only in those communities
which revealed the
identities of fishermen who were
found catching turtles illegally.
(Caribbean conservation
News, Issue 1, 1995, p.14)
Global economics and the
environment
In the beginning of my assignment I
have discussed the main sociological
theories. I also
discussed a little about the nature
of power, human conflict over
resources and global
capitalism. I am going to discuss
these areas again in relation to the
environment.
Capitalism
Capitalism is no longer controlled
by individuals or even governments,
but by global stock and
bond markets, and the main concern
of those markets is to increase
profits. As a result, they
focus only on the economic value of
goods and services. Moreover,
because of the rapidity
with which information is
transmitted by the new electronic
communications, markets react to
changes in global conditions with
amazing speed. For example, there
were a couple of
occurrences which illustrate the
nature of the stock and bond
markets:
1. The American Wall Street stock
exchange experienced its largest
single one day loss
over because of two developments.
The first was a major crisis in the
Hong Kong stock
market. The second was a statement
by an American financial
administrator about
interest rates;
2. The economies of Japan and South
Korea were facing potential collapse
because of a
banking crisis, when their real
underlying economies were very
strong. This threatened
financial systems globally.
The stock and bond markets have a
purely financial view and exert far
reaching influence.
These two characteristics combine
allowing them dominate global
economic strategies.
However, strategies that only
consider a narrow, financial focus
have led to the environmental
degradation we face today. The
stress is on the economic value of
goods and services rather
than on the environmental damage
which is caused in our efforts to
produce those goods and
services.
Third word debt
Another important fact about global
economic system is that it causes a
great imbalance in the
distribution of wealth and has led
to what is known as third world
debt. Many developing
countries are poor and become
indebted to rich countries in an
effort to improve their
economies. In most cases, poor
countries have found themselves in a
cycle of indebtedness.
Because their economies are weak,
they must continue to borrow money
to keep them
running. However, they can only
obtain new loans if they continue to
pay off their existing
loans. When caught in this
situation, what do poor countries
do? They overexploit their natural
resources to meet their debt
repayments. For example, in the late
1980s, Burma used over half
its export earnings to pay off its
debts. Its second largest export was
hardwood. Thus, its trees
were cut down to pay off its debts.
In fact, throughout the world, one
million acres of tropical
forest are cut down every week. As a
result, by the late 1980s, Latin
America had lost 37% of
its original tropical forests, Asia
42% and Africa 52%.
Imbalance of wealth within
countries
Imbalance in the distribution of
wealth is also evident within
countries. This, too, contributes
to environmental degradation. In
countries were the wealth generated
does not benefit a large
proportion of the population, poor
people may be forced to plunder
their environment to
survive.
What concerns the communities?
At a world youth environmental
meeting, Juventud (Youth) �92,
held in Costa Rica (in which I
participated), young people from all
over the world discussed their
concerns about the
environment. The issues raised at
that meeting included:
11
Poverty and environment
External debt
Population growth
Natural resources degradation.
Poverty and the environment
The World Commission on Environment
and Development (1987) observed that
our world has
more hungry people today than ever
before in human history. For
example, in 1980, 340
million people in 87 countries
lacked enough calories to prevent
stunted growth and serious
health risks. Moreover, in 1984,
differences in annual per capita
income at the international
level ranged from $190 in low income
countries (other than China and
India) to 11,430 in
industrialized market economies.
In developing, the majority of
people have very low standards of
living. This is often
manifested in the form of low
incomes, inadequate housing, poor
health, limited or no
education, high infant mortality,
low life and work expectancy, and a
general sense of
hopelessness and despair.
In India, for example, about 30% of
the population fall bellow the
generally accepted poverty
line. (The poverty line is the level
of income necessities of life). This
level of poverty is
manifested in the state of the
nation's health � for example
malnutrition remains a serious
problem. It has been estimated that
about 40% of the population below
the poverty line are
landless, agricultural labors, urban
slum dwellers and remote tribal
communities.
Globally, the increase in poverty
has come about because of the
unequal distribution of land
and other assets, rapid increase in
population and low living standards,
among other things.
Poverty as an environmental
pollutant
Poverty lessens people's capacity to
use natural resources rationally.
Therefore, poverty
intensifies the pressure on
environment. Poor people, who are
unable to meet their needs, are
forced to exploit natural resources
for income, or for their own use. In
countries with large
populations of poor people, this can
be devastating to the environment.
For example forests
area exploited for food and fuel,
pastures for fodder, and ponds and
rivers for water. Poverty is
therefore a stumbling block to
sustainable development. Most
leaders of developed countries
agree that developing countries need
assistance in an effort to lessen
the impact of poverty on
environment, however, the
exploitation of poor countries
continues.
In India, because of poverty and
population pressure, only 35% of
urban households and 18%
of rural households have access to
tap water. This means that, all
other rural residents are
forced to overuse the water
resources, which include wells,
rivers and ponds. This practice has
resulted in water contamination.
In addition, urban populations have
reverted to the growing use of
rivers in an effort to dispose
of untreated sewage and industrial
effluent. Consequently, there has
been an increase in water
borne diseases as well as overall
health risks.
The rural poor also gather biofuel
(wood, crop residue and animal dung)
from the local
environment and put themselves a
risk of diseases associated with
using such fuel for cooking
activities. In this case, women and
children are at the high risk.
What can young people do?
1. In the spirit of the current GATT
agreement on the terms of trade,
lobby international
and government institutions to
encourage economic growth that will,
in turn, provide
employment in your country. Growth
can be attained if industrialized
countries reduce
trade barriers against goods from
developing countries. The reduction
of tariffs on
agricultural produce would be
especially beneficial;
12
2. Your national youth division,
with support from your national
government, can create
special financial initiatives that
will provide seed money and training
for youth to
become self-employed so that they
can generate their own income.
The bottom line is that the poor in
societies have become both the
agents and victims of
environmental degradation, although
not the cause. The cause seems to
lie with international
trade agreements, the free market
approach to development and external
debt.
External debt
At Juventud �92, young people
expressed their fears and concerns
about:
1. the causes and impact of external
debt;
2. their dissatisfaction with the
approach of developed countries to
development. That
approach includes using financial
institutions such as the World Bank
and giving
priority to transnational companies
and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) which
have contributed, in part, to the
depletion of the resources of
developing countries.
At the Juventud meeting, it was
observed that the heaviest burden in
international economic
adjustments has been carried by the
world's poorest people in Latin
America, the Caribbean,
Africa and Asia.
Causes of external debt
The young people at Juventud �92
felt that a combination of factors
has contributed to the
rapidly growing debt that confronts
many developing countries:
gaining political independence
without corresponding economic
independence;
local autocrats;
corruption;
the poor management of developing
economies;
flawed development strategies;
the fact that poor counties are
encouraged to imitate the free
market development
model of industrialized nations.
How the free market model
contributes to the debt problem
First, the free market model
contributes to the debt problem
because it forces poor countries to
focus on short-term, export-oriented
production for the global market.
This has caused
accelerated extraction of raw
materials from developing countries.
Ultimately, this leads to the
depletion of natural resources and,
in many cases, a reduction of income
earning capacity of
the affected countries.
Secondly, the focus on the export of
raw materials has contributed to the
gap between rich and
poor nations. Developing countries
export their raw materials at
relatively chap prices and
import costly manufactured goods
from the industrialized nations.
Thus, there is a continuing
and growing imbalance in income
between developed and developing
countries.
Effects of external debt on the
environment
What are the main consequences of
huge external debts?
1. The rapid exploitation and
depletion of natural resources
This gives rise to chemical
pollution, large scale mineral and
forest exploitation,
the establishment of hydroelectric
dams and, ultimately, environmental
degradation.
13
2. A level of exploitation which
can cause irreversible environmental
damage
This occurs because there is
marginalization of large sectors of
the population. In order to
ensure their short term survival,
many of these people must
over-exploit their natural
surroundings.
3. Disregard for conservation
Planners of development projects
tend to ignore environmental
planning and conservation.
4. Economic adjustments
These result in high unemployment
rates among youth, budget cuts in
the social sectors of
education and health care and, as a
result, human suffering.
Loss of control to multinational
corporations
In addition to increasing the debt
burden and degrading the
environment, present development
approaches have caused many poor
countries to lose control of their
natural resources to
multinational corporations.
Quite often, developing countries do
not possess the financial and other
resources needed to
exploit their own natural resources.
As a result, multinational
corporations, which do possess
the necessary finances, purchase the
right to do so. They then become
owners of a large
percentage of the forest and other
resources in developing countries.
In many cases, the
accelerated extraction of natural
resources, which the free market
model demands, has led to
increase ownership of developing
countries by foreign multinational
companies.
In the pursuit of sustainable
development, developing countries
must find alternative
development models.
What can young people do?
1. lobby for debt forgiveness;
2. Begin a research and discuss
among themselves the possibility of
creating alternative
models of development which take
into consideration the cultural,
social, economic
and political values and nurtures
the environment while delivering
economic benefits
to the people.
Population growth
One of the factors that add to the
problem of poverty, external debt
and their effect on the
environment is that poor countries
tend to have large, rapidly growing
populations of people
who are competing for limited
resources. In this part of my
assignment, I will take a brief look
at the mechanisms of population
growth, and the history of human
population growth in
developed and developing countries
and how this affects the
environment.
The factors that limit the growth of
populations are referred to as
environmental resistance.
The maximum number of an organism
that an environment can support is
called carrying
capacity.
Environmental resistance
If a population of animals in the
wild has plenty of food, shelter,
and fertile mates, its numbers
will increase rapidly until
overcrowding causes competition for
food and space. An
overcrowded population is more
susceptible to a reduction in
fertility and attacks by predators,
as well as disease and parasites.
These factors which limit population
growth are referred to as
environmental resistance.
Human populations are different from
wild populations in that humans have
learnt to protect
themselves from predators, diseases,
bad weather, and other factors that
tend to limit the
growth of wild populations.
Carrying capacity
As environmental resistance builds
up, growth rate slows down because
birth rate decreases
and death rate increases. Animals
may also migrate to other areas. As
the population reaches
14
the maximum number that the
environment can support, it is said
to have reached its carrying
capacity for that species.
Human population trends
Until the late eighteenth century
the world's human population grew
slowly because the death
and birth rates were almost equal.
The child mortality rate was high
and adult life expectancy
short because of disease and poor
nutrition.
From the beginning of the nineteenth
the population began to grow faster
mainly due to
improved agricultural methods which
led to better food supplies. In many
places, houses were
built with piped, fresh water, and
efficient sewage disposal. Advances
in medicine greatly
reduced death from diseases such as
diphtheria and cholera. When
conditions became
crowded, there were still countries
with ample space to which they could
migrate.
From about 1940s, different trends
started to evolve in developed and
developing countries.
Trends in developed countries
In developed countries, such as
Britain, the US and most European
countries, population
growth is slowing down. With greater
mechanization in agriculture and
industry, fewer people
are needed to produce food and other
goods, and large families are no
longer needed to ensure
survival. The average family has two
children.
In some countries, due to the use of
birth control, the population is
almost stable, or may even
be declining. People are living
longer and having fewer children,
with the result that there are
fewer young people and more old
people.
Trends in developing countries
In developing countries such as
those in Africa and Asia, the death
rate has dramatically
declined. This is due to better
health care and access to medicine
for diseases such as malaria
and yellow fever. However, these
countries still have a very high
birth rate. This is largely due
to the cultural need to have
children to guarantee survival as an
older adult.
Approximately 80% of the world's
population lives in poorer,
developing countries. The
growth rate in these countries is
much faster than in developed
countries. It is estimated that it
will double in the next few years.
This will put an immense strain on
countries that are already
finding it difficult to support
their people.
The only long-term answer is
population control, but family
planning programs have been
relatively ineffective without
improved education.
Exponential growth
Populations have capacity to grow
exponentially. That is, the
population grows by geometric
progression, for example
1:3:9:27:81. The number added to a
growing population is a function
of the quantity already there.
The table that I am presenting below
a simple illustration of what the
world faces today. The
human population growth rate has
been exponential, taking less and
less time to double. At
present the population will double
every thirty-five years and is
estimated to be over 6,000
million by the year 2,000. This
table illustrates the exponential
growth of human population.
Year
Global Population (millions)
Approximate doubling rate
6,000 BC
6-10
Every 1,700 years
1,000 BC
70
Birth of Christ
150
Every 1,000 years
1,600 AD
500
1,800 AD
900
Every 100 years
1,900 AD
1600
1,970 AD
3600
Every 35 years
2,000 AD
6000
15
Consumerism
Over-exploitation of resources no
only occurs to satisfy the basis
needs of people in countries
with large populations, but also too
satisfy the consumerism of the elite
in richer countries.
It estimated that 80% of the world's
resources are consumed by 20% of the
world's
population. In fact, free market
development models and multinational
companies promote
consumerism by the wealthy, with
little concern for the rest of
humanity. They contribute
significantly to environmental
degradation, thereby jeopardizing
the future for generations to
come.
Through intelligent management,
human beings can live simple and
balance lives and give
back to the ecosystem as much as
they take from it. Subsistence
farming communities have
done this for centuries.
A minority of people in the
upper-income countries enjoys a high
standard of living and
consumes a great amount of available
energy, food, water, mineral and
other resources. One of
the recommendations for dealing with
this problem is for people to lessen
their consumption
patterns, change their style of
living and learn to do more with
less.
Over exploitation of environmental
resources can come about because of,
among other things,
overpopulation or the desire to
maintain unsustainable life-styles.
People planning
development activities need to be
very sensitive to issues related to
carrying capacity, and
global, economic inequalities.
National resource degradation
One of the most devastating forms of
natural resource degradation is
deforestation. Combined
with air and water pollution caused
by industrial waste, deforestation
compounds the problem
of ozone depletion and global
warming. It results in erosion, the
loss of topsoil so necessary to
agriculture, and has many other
environmental harmful effects.
It is, however, an issue that young
people can become involved with
directly, and it can be
rewarding because every tree that is
planted is a positive action.
Deforestation
15% of the earth's land surface was
originally covered in tropical
rainforests, but at present
less than half of it is left. The
depletion of these forests is due to
widespread destruction which
has been caused by commercial
logging, among other things. The
best estimates based on a
survey by the Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) of United Nations
suggested that
some 11.4 million hectares of
tropical forests are being felled
each year.
Youth from various regions of the
world have expressed their growing
concerns about the
devastating effects of
deforestation.
These include:
1. loss of natural homes/habitats;
2. loss of forest species and
biodiversity;
3. loss of soil;
4. a direct loss of livelihoods.
This situation mainly affects the
vulnerable (women, youth
and children) in developing
countries. Research has shown that
the poor in developing
countries often supplement their
income with locally available
natural resources. Thus,
a depletion of tropical forest
resources may ultimately threaten
the continued survival
of poor families.
Main causes of deforestation
The main causes of deforestation
are:
16
commercial logging;
farming to survive;
cattle ranching.
Commercial logging
It is thought that the timber
industry is directly responsible for
approximately 40% of the
tropical rainforest destruction.
The worst affected areas are in West
Africa and South East Asia. However,
the industry is
now making rapid inroads into the
forests of Central Africa and
Amazonia. Logging
companies, such as those in Amazon
region, build access roads into
pristine rainforests to
extract timber.
Forests of the Pacific are also
affected. In fact, has been reported
that, because of commercial
logging operations, most countries
of the Pacific region are
experiencing great losses in their
indigenous culture which depends on
their relationship with the forests.
Farming to survive
Millions of poor people have
basically no alternative but to
destroy tropical rainforests in
order to survive. Once the land is
cleared, poor families will settle
in and begin to farm
according to the traditional
practice of slash and burn
agriculture. In slash and burn
agriculture, the forests are cut and
burnt, and then crops are planted.
However, the burning
process causes the soil to become
infertile within two to three years.
Thus, at the end of that
period, the farmers abandon the
lands and clear another patch of
forest in an effort to keep
producing food for their families.
Sometimes farmers are forced away
from their homes by wealthy
landowners, large
development projects, population
pressures or poverty. Eyre (1989)
recorded in The
Caribbean Environment: Trends
Towards Degradation and Strategies
for their Reversal that
the demand for agricultural land has
been so great that the steepest of
mountainside plots have
been titled. This has resulted in
complete removal of virgin forest.
Cattle farming
A beef cattle farming is one of the
main causes of deforestation,
especially the rainforests in
Central America and Amazonia. For
example, in Amazonia, it has been
estimated that
approximately US$8 million worth of
timber has been destroyed to create
pastures for beef
cattle.
The vast herds that are grazed are
not used to feed the local
populations. Instead, they are
regarded to provide cheap meet
exports which are mainly consumed in
affluent countries.
Thus, this aspect of deforestation
is largely linked to consumerism.
Protecting the world's forest
Protecting the world's tropical
forests is critical since, as
indicated by UNEP, the forests
fulfill several vital functions.
Here are a few of those functions:
1. Forests provide rural populations
with many of their subsistence
needs, including fuel
wood, charcoal, building materials,
fodder, fruit, nuts, honey medicines
and dynes;
2. Forests are critically
important for topsoil and water
conservation. Specially, they
prevent the soil from being washed
away by the agents of erosion,
protect the
watersheds, provide shade and
shelter from winds, prevent floods
and landslides and
retain water. Forests also increase
the fertility of soil.
3. Forests harbor vast, but
so far little known and documented,
genetic storehouses. For
example, according to the WWF Winter
issue of 1994/1995, in a 2,500 acre
patch of
tropical forest, you could find
1,500 species of flowering plants
including 750 kinds of
trees. These include strains for
crops, medicines and industrial
chemicals;
17
4. Forests fix carbon
dioxide. In other words, the trees
in forests use and store carbon
dioxide (CO2), one of the greenhouse
gases, thereby stabilizing the
global climate.
They also produce oxygen.
5. Forests are an important
source of industrial products
including poles, plywood,
veneers, paper and boards, gums,
resins and soils.
The causes of the upland
migration
I am now going to discuss the causes
of upland migration:
A downturn in the economic
environment;
Limited access to land;
Widespread poverty;
Government resettlement programs;
Timber policies:
A downturn in the economic
environment
In the 1980s, the Philippines
experienced a downturn in the
economic environment, as did
many countries. During the 1970s,
the predominant flow of immigrants
was towards the cities.
Manila was the most popular
destination because of the city's
employment opportunities and
the government's aggressive program
against illegal forest occupants in
1976.
However, during the 1980s, the
migration pattern changed.
Employment opportunities in
Manila reduced sharply and, as a
result, migration to the upland
increased. What caused the
shift in the pattern of migration?
The Philippine government
experienced an economic crisis which
was triggered off by:
Its domestic economic policy;
Excessive bank landing;
Changes in the international market
which led to the collapse of the
sugar industry in
the Western Visaya islands.
Limited access to land
The arable lowlands were fully
cultivated by the mid-1970s and
growing numbers of people
had their access to agricultural
land limited. One of the reasons for
this problem was the
inequitable distribution of land. In
1980, only 3,4% of the farms
occupied 26% of agricultural
land, often the country's most
productive.
The rapid population growth and the
land distribution combined to bring
about a large increase
in the number of landless farm
workers in the agricultural labor
force grew from 40 to 56%.
Over 60% of landless workers were
employed on sugar and coconut farms
at less than
subsistence wages.
Widespread poverty
In the Philippines, particularly in
the rural areas, there exists
widespread poverty. In 1985,
about 28% of the population had
incomes below the subsistence level;
about two thirds of
those people lived in rural areas.
Government's resettlement
programs
To deal in part, with the population
growth and migration problem, the
Philippines
government established resettlement
schemes. These efforts brought about
200,000 families
into upland areas in the 1960s and
1970s. However, road building and
other support programs
18
attracted many more resettlement
migrants to the upland areas. Thus,
eventually 1.3 million
migrants occupied forest land that
had become accessible trough the
resettlement programs.
Timber policies
The government's timber policies
contributed to the upland migration.
Timber licenses were awarded for a
period of 25 years. This was well
short of the time needed
for forests to regenerate. Thus,
timber operators logged forests and
then left to find new areas
for their logging operations. The
result was the establishment of a
network of roads and logged
land.
Timber activities contributed to
upland migration because migrants
provided a source of cheap
labor for logging activities.
Moreover, the logged land was much
easier to clear for cultivation
and was farmed by migrants. Because
of these factors, by 195, 62% of the
upland population
resided in timber concession areas.
The environmental impact of the
upland migration
As a result of the upland migration:
1. forest cover declined from 50% of
the national territory in 1970 to
less than 21% in
1987;
2. cultivated uplands increased
significantly;
3. soil erosion was estimated at
about 122 to 210 tons per hectare
annually for newly
established pasture, compared with
two tons per hectare for land under
forest cover;
4. many upland sites had a
population density of 300 per square
kilometer in the 1980s.
These sites also suffered a high
rate of deforestation and soil loss
due, in part, to
greater demand for fuel wood.
What can communities do to
protect forests?
1. Support local organizations
concerned with protecting forests
and planting trees;
2. Plant a tree whenever an
opportunity arises;
3. Lobby their government and local
authorities to protect the forests
in their countries;
4. Become involved in the various
awareness campaigns and spread the
word about the
need to protect the earth's forests.
References and bibliography:
Adds, J et al (1997), The
Organism and Environment. Thomas
Nelson.
Melbourne, Australia.
Asimov, Dr I. (1978), Asimov's
guide to Science 2. Penguin
books Ltd.
England.
B.S. Beckett (1986), Biology � A
modern introduction, GCSE
edition.
Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Caribbean Conservation Association,
Caribbean Conservation News,
Issue # 1, 1955, Barbados.
Chinnery, L. et al (1992), CXC
Biology. Cambridge University
Press,
London.
Commonwealth Secretariat,
Commonwealth Currents, June/July
1992,
London.
Marval, Journeys, Issue 5, April/May
1994, Barbados.
Meadows, D.H. et al (1992),
Beyond the Limits. Earthscan,
London.
19
Herbert Altrichter, Peter Posch and
Bridget Somekh (1993), Teachers
Investigate Their
Work: an introduction to the
methods of action research.
Rutledge, London.
Organization of Eastern Caribbean
States (1993), Environmental and
Coastal
Resources Project (Encore),
1993 Annual Report.
Organization of Eastern Caribbean
States (1993), Environmental and
Coastal
Resources Project (Encore),
1992 Annual Report.
Morrow, Rosemary (1993), Earth's
User's Guide to Permaculture,
Kangaroo Press, Pty
Ltd, Australia.
Commonwealth Secretariat;
Commonwealth Currents,
October/November 2002,
London.
Global Warning � Europe Turns the
Heat on Clinton in The Times,
October, 1997.
World resources Institute (1994),
World Resources: A Guide to the
Global
Environment, Oxford University
Press.
Todaro, Michael P. (1989),
Economic Development in the Third
World, 4th Edition.
London, New York.
20
ATLANTIC INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
AIU
A New Age for Distance Learning
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jorge Arrone, Student ID #.
UD335BMN8078; Assignment 4 �Phase II
(Courses from my CURRICULUM
PROPOSAL) �
Working With People in Their
Communities
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