UNIT-5
Social Issues and the Environment
Rivers originate in streams that flow down mountains and hill slopes. A group of small streams flows down hillsides to meet larger streams in the valley which forms the tributaries of major rivers. The management of a single unit of land with its water drainage system is called watershed management. It is a technique that has several components. This includes soil and water management and developing vegetative cover. The natural drainage pattern of a watershed unit if managed appropriately can bring about local prosperity by a year-round abundance of water that improves the quality of human life in the area.
As it provides water throughout the year, this improves health in the community, as clean water becomes available. Watershed management enhances the growth of crops and even makes it possible to grow more than one crop in a year in dry areas.
Watershed management begins by taking control over a degraded site through local participation. People must appreciate the need to improve the availability of water both in quantity and quality for their area. Once this is adequately demonstrated, the community begins to understand the project, people begin to work together in the activities that lead to good watershed management.
The first technical step is to take appropriate soil conservation measures. This is done by constructing a series of long trenches and mounds along the contours of the hill to hold the rainwater and allow it to percolate into the ground. This ensures that underground stores of water are fully recharged. This is enhanced by allowing grasses and shrubs to grow and by planting trees (mainly local species) that hold the soil and prevents it from being washed away in the monsoon. Local grass cover can however only increase if free grazing of domestic animals is prevented by stall feeding.
The next measure is to make ‘Nala’ plugs in the streams so that the water is held in the stream and does not rush down the hillside. In selected sites, several small check dams are built which together hold back larger amounts of water. All these measures constitute sound watershed management. It improves the water table and keeps the streams and Nalas flowing throughout the year.
Environmental ethics deals with issues related to the rights of individuals that are fundamental to life and well-being. This concerns not only the needs of each person today but also those who will come after us. It also deals with the rights of other living creatures that inhabit our earth.
Resource consumption patterns and the need for their equitable utilization:
Environmental ethics deals with issues that are related to how we utilize and distribute resources in a just world, there has to be a more equitable sharing of resources than we encounter at present. The just distribution of resources has global, national, and local concerns that we need to address. There are rich and poor nations. There are rich and poor communities in every country. And there are rich and poor families. In this era of modern economic development, the disparity between the haves and have-nots is widening.
Our human environments in the urban, rural, and wilderness sectors, use natural resources that shift from the wilderness (forests, grasslands, wetlands, etc.) to the rural sector, and from there to the urban sector. Wealth also shifts in the same direction. This unequal distribution of wealth and access to land and its resources is a serious environmental concern. An equitable sharing of resources forms the basis of sustainable development for urban, rural, and wilderness dwelling communities. As the political power base is in the urban centres, this itself leads to inequalities and a subsequent loss of sustainability in resource management in the rural and even more so for forest-dwelling people
A report emphasizing India’s environmental problems that were caused by the excessive consumption patterns of the rich that left the poor poorer was published in1985. It brought forth a set of 8 propositions that are of great relevance to the ethical issues that are related to environmental concerns. These include:
1. Environmental destruction is largely caused by the consumption of the rich.
2. The worst sufferers of environmental destruction are the poor.
3. Even where nature is being ‘recreated’, as in afforestation, it is being transformed away from the needs of the poor and towards those of the rich.
4. Even among the poor, the worst sufferers are the marginalized cultures and occupations, and most of all, women.
5. There cannot be proper economic and social development without a holistic understanding of society and nature.
6. If we care for the poor, we cannot allow the Gross Nature Product to be destroyed any further. Conserving and recreating nature has become our highest priority.
7. Gross Nature Product will be enhanced only if we can arrest and reverse the growing alienation between the people and the common property resources. In this, we will have to learn a lot from our traditional cultures.
8. It is inadequate to talk only of sustainable rural development, as the World Conservation Strategy does. We cannot save the rural environment or rural people dependent on it unless we can bring about sustainable urban development.
Most sections of society do not feel the direct effects of degradation of the environment till it is too late. Those who suffer most are the poor, especially rural women, and tribal people who are dependent on forests. Traditional fishermen who are dependent on streams and rivers, and coastal people who fish and catch crustacea, are seriously affected by the degradation of aquatic ecosystems. Fuelwood gatherers from different types of forests and pastoralists who are dependent on common grazing lands suffer when their resources are depleted. Several marginalized sectors of society are most affected by deforestation, or the loss of grassland tracts, or the deterioration of perennial water sources. All these effects can be linked to unsustainable increasing pressures on land and natural resources
The well to do educated urban dweller consumes much larger quantities of resources and energy, than the traditional rural individual. Urban dwellers who are far removed from the source of natural resources that sustain their lives thus require exposure to a well-designed environment education program to appreciate these issues. While the rural people have a deep insight on the need for sustainable use of natural resources and know about methods of conservation, there are however several newer environmental concerns that are frequently outside their sphere of life experiences. Their traditional knowledge of environmental concerns cannot be expected to bring about an understanding of issues such as global warming, or problems created by pollution, pesticides, etc. These people thus require a different pattern of environmental education that is related to their gaps in information. With the rapidly changing rural scenario, the development that is thrust on unsuspecting rural communities needs to be addressed through locale-specific environment awareness programs designed specifically for rural school children and adults. This must also use their local traditional knowledge systems as a base on which modern concepts can be built, rather than by fostering concepts that are completely alien to their knowledge systems.
Common property resources in India once included vast stretches of forests, grazing lands, and aquatic ecosystems. When the British found that they were unable to get enough wood for shipbuilding and other uses they converted forest areas into Government ‘Reserved Forests’ for their use to grow timber trees. This alienated local people from having a stake in preserving these resources. This in turn led to large-scale losses in forest cover and the creation of wasteland. In the past, in traditional villages that were managed by local panchayats, there were well-defined rules about managing grazing lands, collecting forest resources, protecting sacred groves, etc. that supported conservation. There was a more or less equitable distribution that was controlled by traditional mechanisms to prevent misuse of common property resources. Any infringement was quickly dealt with by the panchayat and the offender was punished. Common property resources were thus locally protected by communities. As land-use patterns changed, these mechanisms were lost and unsustainable practices evolved, frequently as a result of an inadequately planned development strategy.
Equity – Disparity in the Northern and Southern countries
Environmental ethics are concerned with, who owns resources and how they are distributed. This can be looked upon at different levels. At the global level, it deals with the great North-South divide between the rich industrialized nations of North America and Europe, as against the needs of developing countries of the South such as in South and Southeast Asia and South America. People living in economically advanced nations use greater amounts of resources and energy per individual and also waste more resources. This is at the cost of poor people who are resource dependant and live-in developing nations.
The economically advanced West has exploited their natural resources to such an extent that they have exhausted them nearly everywhere. They now buy their resources from resource-rich but economically deprived nations at a low cost. This depletes the developing nations of natural resources on which their poor depend for their livelihood.
Changing this unfair economic practice to a more just and fair way of managing trade would require new thinking on the part of people who live in the super-rich countries.
Urban-rural equity issues
The common property of rural communities has increasingly been used to supply the needs of the urban sector. The land itself that was once held as a common property resource of villages is being taken over by the urban and industrial sectors as it expands. The rural sector not only supplies food but also a part of the energy needs (mainly fuelwood) to most towns and cities in India, at a pittance. As a result, the commons of the rural sector are being depleted of their resources. Thus, while the cities get richer, the rural sector, especially the landless, gets poorer. The urban rich must appreciate where their resources are derived from and be willing to pay a fair price for using them.
The need for Gender Equity
All over India, especially in the rural sector, women work on whole longer hours than s men. The life of a woman is enmeshed in an inextricable cycle of poverty. In attempting to eke out a living from their environment, they must constantly collect fuelwood for their homes and sell it to nearby urban areas. They laboriously collect fodder for their cattle. They have to trudge several kilometres to reach a reasonably clean water source. And finally, must cook meals in a smoky unhealthy atmosphere on crop waste or other inefficient sources of energy. All this can take 10 to 12 hours a day of very hard work, every day of the year. There is thus the question of who should control the environmental resources of a rural community. Unfortunately, it is the men who play a decisive role in managing the village commons and its resources whereas it should be the local women whose lives are deeply linked with the utilization and conservation patterns of natural resources, who should be decision-makers at the local level. Unfortunately, women have not been given an equal opportunity to develop and better their lot. This begins with the lack of attention given to girls whose education is always given less attention than the boys in the family.
The great divide between women and men is most apparent in communities that live near forests and have by tradition made the woman play a greater role than men in the collection of natural resources. Women fetch water, collect fuelwood, fruit, medicinal products, etc. day in and day out, while the men work only sporadically in the fields. This disparity in the lives of women and men has also led to lower access to education and health care for girl children. This has deep implications for the rate of utilization of natural resources and their conservation. Rural women who are intimately connected to resources appreciate the value of conserving natural resources more deeply than men. Thus, several environmental movements such as Chipko have been more strongly supported by local women folk rather than men.
Preserving resources for future generations:
Can we use up all the resources of the world, leaving nothing for our future generations? This ethical issue must be considered when we use resources unsustainably. If we overuse and misuse resources and energy from fossil fuels, our future generations would find survival much more difficult. A critical concern is to preserve species and natural undisturbed ecosystems that are linked with bioresources, which must be protected for the use of future generations. Our generation does not own the world’s resources to do whatever we please with them. Just as our ancestors have left resources for us, we must leave them behind for our future generations. These unborn people have a right to these resources. We only hold the world as trustees so that future generations can also survive.
Our current development strategies have led to environmental resources being overused and misused by our present generation, without a thought for the needs of future unborn generations. We need to appreciate that the next generation and those that will come later also have a right to the earth’s natural resources. As they are not here today to exercise their rights, it is our generation’s responsibility to appreciate the needs of future generations. We have no right to destroy their claim to the use of the earth’s resources just because of the accident of being born before them. Development strategies have not looked at the sustainable levels at which we can use resources so that the rights of future generations are protected. We are not given the earth so that we can use up its resources. It is given to us to hold in trust so that future generations are given their just share of the earth’s resources.
The rights of animals:
Can man, a single species, use and severely exploit the earth’s resources which we share with billions of other plant and animal species? Within our world, there are a variety of living beings. The plants and animals that share the earth with us, too, have a right to live and share our earth’s resources and living space. We have no right to push a species that has taken millions of years to evolve towards extinction. Not only do wild and domesticated animals have a right to life, but have the right to a dignified existence. Cruelty to an animal is no different ethically from cruelty to another human being.
Human beings are one small cog in the wheel of life on earth. We frequently forget that man has learned to exploit nature and other species well beyond what we should use justifiably. Every plant and animal have a right to life as a part of our earth’s community of living things. While nature by itself has natural prey-predator relationships, left to itself, nature maintains a balance in each ecosystem. While evolution has developed a system whereby species become extinct and new ones evolve to fill the world’s ecosystems with new plant and animal species, it is man alone that has been responsible for the recent rapid decline in the number of species on earth. Much more important man is now reducing the abundance levels of so many species that soon we will in all probability create a major extinction spasm on earth that will seriously endanger the existence of mankind. Thus, endangering the existence of wild plants and animals and bringing them close to the brink of extinction is not only unfair to a species but also to the future generation of people who may find them of great use. Quite apart from the use of these species, there is a strong ethical basis for the rights of animals and plants to exist on earth. Every individual, human or animal, that is living has feelings and emotions. Cruelty to animals is a crime that must be regarded seriously and action must be taken against offenders. Animals have a right to a dignified existence, and their life, well-being, and liberty must be respected. While dominating the animal world due to his superior intelligence, man cannot remain unfeeling to the right to life and well-being of other species. There is a growing awareness of animal rights in our country and cruelty to animals is being increasingly regarded as a criminal offense.
The ethical basis of environment education and awareness:
Perhaps the most important concern is related to creating an ethos that will support a sustainable lifestyle in society. This brings us to the need for environmental education. The Honorary Supreme Court of our country has thus ordered that every young individual at school and college level be exposed to a course on the environment. It is not to create only an awareness of environmental issues, but also to bring about pro-environmental action. Among the variety of tools that can bring home the ethical issues of the environment, no solution is as powerful as real-life experiences in nature. Creating a love for nature brings about strong pro-environmental action. Our current educational processes at the school and college level are being reoriented to bring this about.
Two aspects are closely connected with ethical issues that are related to our environment. These are based on valuing nature and appreciating the beauty of nature and treasuring the magnificence of the wilderness.
Valuing nature as a resource: A value system that is based on environmental concern must become a part of the thinking that we as responsible citizens of our country and our earth need to bring into our own daily lives. For our ancestors, Nature was considered to be like a mother. This has been essentially forgotten. In ancient India, forests were considered sacred. We now know that forests clean up our air, and act like a sponge that can hold water for the dry season. Many species were not only valued, but also venerated.
In today’s world where many of us are far removed from nature, we need to remind ourselves that everything we use, if traced back to its source, has come from nature. We depend on an intact unpolluted world that is based on nature’s goods and services. No life is possible without this. If we as citizens begin to again respect Nature and all its varied species forming a complex web of life, and appreciate Nature’s functions and services, it will continue to support our lives. If we disrespect nature one cannot expect her to continue to support our well-being. Nature’s resources that we all use and depend on can only be optimized if they are equitably shared by all of us. If the disparity is too great it can only result in anarchy. The ‘have not’s’ cannot be expected to remain in abject poverty, making a bare minimum living from the meagre resources they can get, while the ‘haves’, who are already rich become richer through unsustainable consumer-oriented, short-term economic development strategies. Bringing back an ethic for nature conservation requires environment education and conservation awareness. The best way to do so is to expose young people not only to our dependence on natural resources from the wilderness but by bringing about an appreciation of the beauty and wondrous aspects of nature.
Climate change:
The average temperature in many regions has been increasing in recent decades. The global average surface temperature has increased by 0.6° + 0.2° C over the last century. Globally, 1998 was the warmest year, and the 1990s the warmest decade on record. Many countries have experienced increases in rainfall, particularly in the countries situated in the mid to high latitudes.
In some regions, such as parts of Asia and Africa, the frequency and intensity of droughts have been observed to increase in recent decades. Episodes of El Niño, which creates great storms, have been more frequent, persistent, and intense since the mid-1970s compared with the previous 100 years. All these are signs that the earth is sick. Its climate is changing, making it more difficult for mankind to survive. The earth is losing its ability to balance itself due to the imbalances created by human activities.
Projections of future climate change are derived from a series of experiments made by computer-based global climate models. These are worked out on estimates of aspects such as future population growth and energy use. Climatologists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have reviewed the results of several experiments to estimate changes in climate in this century. These studies have shown that soon, the global mean surface temperature will rise by 1.4° to 5.8°C. Warming will be greatest over land areas, and at high latitudes. The projected rate of warming is greater than has occurred in the last 10,000 years. The frequency of weather extremes is likely to increase leading to floods or drought.
Human societies will be seriously affected by extremes of climate such as droughts and floods. A changing climate would bring about changes in the frequency and/or intensity of these extremes. This is a major concern for human health. To a large extent, public health depends on safe drinking water, sufficient food, secure shelter, and good social conditions. All these factors are affected by climate change. Freshwater supplies may be seriously affected, reducing the availability of clean water for drinking and washing during drought as well as floods. Water can be contaminated and sewage systems may be damaged. The risk of spread of infectious diseases such as diarrhoeal diseases will increase. Food production will be seriously reduced in vulnerable regions directly and also indirectly through an increase in pests and plant or animal diseases. The local reduction in food production would lead to starvation and malnutrition with long-term health consequences, especially for children. Food and water shortages may lead to conflicts in vulnerable regions, with serious implications for public health.
Climate change-related impacts on human health could lead to the displacement of a large number of people, creating environmental refugees and lead to further health issues. Climate changes may affect the distribution of vector species (ex. mosquitoes) which in turn will increase the spread of diseases, such as malaria and filariasis, to new areas that lack a strong public health infrastructure. The seasonal transmission and distribution of many diseases that are transmitted by mosquitoes (dengue, yellow fever) and by ticks (Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis) may spread due to climate change. new and unexpected ones.
Strategies aimed at reducing potential health impacts of anticipated climate changes should include monitoring of infectious diseases and disease vectors to detect early changes in the incidence of diseases and the geographical distribution of vectors; environmental management measures to reduce risk; disaster preparedness for floods or droughts; and their health-related consequences. It will be necessary to create early warning systems and education for epidemic preparedness. Improved water and air pollution control will become increasingly essential for human health. Public education will have to be directed at changes in personal behaviour. Training of researchers and health professionals must become an essential part of the world becoming more responsible towards the expected outcome of Global Climate Change (GCC).
Global warming:
About 75% of the solar energy reaching the Earth is absorbed on the earth’s surface which increases its temperature. The rest of the heat radiates back to the atmosphere. Some of the heat is trapped by greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide. As carbon dioxide is released by various human activities, it is rapidly increasing. This is causing global warming.
The average surface temperature is about 15°C. This is about 33°C higher than it would be in the absence of the greenhouse effect. Without such gases, most of the Earth’s surface would be frozen with a mean air temperature of -18°C.
Human activities during the last few decades of industrialization and population growth have polluted the atmosphere to the extent that it has begun to seriously affect the climate. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 31% since pre-industrial times, causing more heat to be trapped in the lower atmosphere. There is evidence to show that carbon levels are still increasing. Many countries have signed a convention to reduce greenhouse gases under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. Current international agreements are however not still effective to prevent the significant changes in climate and a rise in sea
levels.
Acid rain:
When fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas are burned, chemicals like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are produced. These chemicals react with water and other chemicals in the air to form sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and other harmful pollutants like sulfates and nitrates. These acid pollutants spread upwards into the atmosphere, and are carried by air currents, to finally return to the ground in the form of acid rain, fog, or snow. The corrosive nature of acid rain causes many forms of environmental damage. Acid pollutants also occur as dry particles and gases, which when washed from the ground by rain, add to the acids in the rain to form a more corrosive solution. This is called acid deposition.
Damage from acid rain is widespread in North America, Europe, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. In the US coal-burning power plants contribute to about 70% of sulfur dioxide. In Canada oil refining, metal smelting and other industrial activities account for 61% of sulfur dioxide pollution. Motor vehicle exhaust fumes are the main source of nitrogen oxides. The acids in acid rain chemically react with any object they come in contact with. Acids react with other chemicals by giving up hydrogen atoms. Effects:
Acid rain is known to cause widespread environmental damage.
1. Acid rain dissolves and washes away nutrients in the soil which are needed by plants. It can also dissolve naturally occurring toxic substances like aluminium and mercury, freeing them to pollute water or poison plants.
2. Acid rain indirectly affects plants by removing nutrients from the soil in which they grow. It affects trees more directly by creating holes in the waxy coating of leaves, causing brown dead spots that affect the plant’s photosynthesis. Such trees are also more vulnerable to insect infestations, drought, and cold. Spruce and fir forests at higher elevations seem to be most at risk. Farm crops are less affected by acid rain than forests.
3. Acid rain that falls or flows as groundwater to reach rivers, lakes, and wetlands, causes the water in them to become acidic. This affects plant and animal life in aquatic ecosystems.
4. Acid rain also has far-reaching effects on wildlife. By adversely affecting one species, the entire food chain is disrupted, ultimately endangering the entire ecosystem. Different aquatic species can tolerate different levels of acidity. For instance, clams and mayflies have high mortality when the water has a pH of 6.0, while frogs can tolerate more acidic water, although, with the decline in the supply of mayflies, frog populations may also decline. Land animals that are dependent on aquatic organisms are also affected.
5. Acid rain and dry acid deposition damages buildings, automobiles, and other structures made of stone or metal. The acid corrodes the materials causing extensive damage and ruins historic buildings. For instance, the Parthenon in Greece and the Taj Mahal in India have been affected by acid rain.
6. Although surface water polluted by acid rain does not directly harm people, the toxic substances leached from soil can pollute the water supply. Fish caught in these waters may be harmful for human consumption. Acid, along with other chemicals in the air, produces urban smog, which causes respiratory problems.
Solutions: The best way to stop the formation of acid rain is to reduce the emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. This can be achieved by using less energy from fossil fuels in power plants, vehicles, and industry. Switching to cleaner-burning fuels is also a way out. For instance, using natural gas which is cleaner than coal, using coal with lower sulphur content, and developing more efficient vehicles. If the pollutants have already been formed by burning fossil fuels, they can be prevented from entering the atmosphere by using scrubbers in smokestacks in industry. These spray a mixture of water and limestone into the polluting gases, recapturing the sulphur.
In catalytic converters, the gases are passed over metal coated beads that convert harmful chemicals into less harmful ones. These are used in cars to reduce the effects of exhaust fumes on the atmosphere. Once acid rain has affected soil, powdered limestone can be added to the soil by a process known as liming to neutralize the acidity of the soil.
Ozone layer depletion:
Ozone is formed by the action of sunlight on oxygen. It forms a layer 20 to 50kms above the surface of the earth. This action takes place naturally in the atmosphere but is very slow. Ozone is a highly poisonous gas with a strong odour. It is a form of oxygen that has three atoms in each molecule. It is considered a pollutant at ground level and constitutes a health hazard by causing respiratory ailments like asthma and bronchitis. It also causes harm to vegetation and leads to a deterioration of certain materials like plastic and rubber. Ozone in the upper atmosphere, however, is vital to all life as it protects the earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. The ozone layer in the upper atmosphere absorbs the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, preventing it from reaching the earth’s surface.
This layer in the atmosphere protects life on earth from the dangerous UV radiation from the sun. In the 1970s, scientists discovered that chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, which were used as refrigerants and aerosol spray propellants, posed a threat to the ozone layer. The CFC molecules are virtually indestructible until they reach the stratosphere, where UV radiation breaks them down to release chlorine atoms. The chlorine atoms react with ozone molecules which break down into oxygen molecules, which do not absorb UV radiations. Since the early 1980s, scientists detected a thinning of the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica. This phenomenon is now being detected in other places as well including Australia. Although the use of CFCs has been reduced and now banned in most countries, other chemicals and industrial compounds such as bromine, halocarbons, and nitrous oxides from fertilizers may also attack the ozone layer.
The destruction of the ozone layer is seen to cause increased cases of skin cancer and cataracts. It also causes damage to certain crops and plankton, thus affecting nature's food chains and food webs. This in turn causes an increase in carbon dioxide due to the decrease in vegetation.
With the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, a treaty for the protection of the ozone layer, the use of CFCs was to be banned by the year 2000. After 2000, the ozone layer is expected to recover slowly for about 50 years.
A disaster refers to sudden serious disruption of the normal functioning of a society, involving large damages to life, property, and environment, beyond its ability to cope with its resources. It can be natural or man-made.
A natural disaster is a natural process or phenomenon that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage. Ex. agricultural diseases & pests, damaging winds, drought and water shortage, earthquakes, emergency diseases (pandemic influenza), extreme heat, floods and flash floods, hail, hurricanes and tropical storms, landslides & debris flow, thunderstorms and lightning, tornadoes, tsunamis, wildfire, etc.
Man-made disaster: Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological hazards E.g., hazardous materials, power service disruption & blackout, nuclear blast, radiological emergencies, chemical threat and biological weapons, cyber-attacks, war, etc.
Some disasters can result from the combination of both Natural and Man-made causes. These are called complex emergencies.
Disaster Management refers to managing disaster response in the country. India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on the account of its unique geo-climatic conditions. About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities; over 40 million hectares is prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to cyclones and 69% of the area.
Floods
Floods occur when land that is usually dry is submerged by large amounts of water. Sudden submergence or inundation of land area with water is called a flood. The occurrence of floods can be due to both natural and human causes.
Anthropogenic causes of floods include:
- Clearing of forests: Lack of vegetation cover to hold the soil together on slopes causes erosion and deposition in river beds making them shallow, flooding occurs when these rivers overflow. Also, bare slopes increase surface runoff and the volume of water flowing into the rivers.
- Urban development: The clearing of land for the development of residential, commercial, and industrial complexes has rapidly increased built-up areas. These concrete pavements and roads prevent infiltration of rainwater into the ground coupled with lack of vegetation cover to intercept the rainwater results in increased runoff flowing into the rivers resulting in flooding.
- Improper farming and other land-use practices: The combination of the absence of forest cover on one hand, and inappropriate farming and land-use practices on the other have aggravated the flood devastation. There are hardly any forests left in the catchment area of the rivers. It is a well-known fact that forest areas are characterized by high infiltration capacity.
- Enhanced greenhouse effect: Various human activities resulting in the increased greenhouse effect and causing global warming are leading to various climate changes such as higher rainfall in a short duration, melting of more ice, etc. All these have led to increased incidences of floods.
Natural causes of floods:
1. Excessive rainfall: Floods occur when rainwater is unable to seep into the ground quickly enough or rivers overflow their banks because river channels cannot contain excess water. It is common in tropical areas.
2. Storm Surges: It occurs when strong winds raise the waves in the ocean to exceptionally high levels, causing them to crash into the coast and flood the land. It is common in coastal areas with low-lying relief.
3. Melting Snow: Melting of snow in spring releases a large amount of water into the rivers, causing them to overflow their banks. It is common in places with a cool temperate climate.
4. Global Atmospheric processes: Abnormal weather phenomenon such as El Nino (warming of surface ocean waters at South-eastern part of Pacific Ocean).
5. Earthquakes: Earthquakes can bring about landslides or trigger tsunamis. When landslides occur, loosened soil, rocks, mud debris, etc. may be deposited in rivers causing overflowing of these rivers. Tsunamis triggered by strong undersea earthquakes can flood and devastate coastal settlements.
Impact of floods:
1. Loss of life: Floods mostly strike people unprepared, leading to loss of lives in drowning. Along with livestock and other life forms. The impact is higher in flood plain areas that are densely populated.
2. Damage to infrastructure and property: Flood causes huge losses to homes, roads, power supply, and other infrastructure.
3. Spread of Diseases: After flood water recedes, shallow stagnant water may cover areas over a considerable period. This may result in an outbreak of water-borne diseases. Moreover, homeless flood victims are housed in temporary shelters that are mostly overcrowded and with poor sanitation conditions which may turn the situation worse.
4. Loss of natural habitat: Trees, vegetation, and other natural habitats may get destroyed leading to loss of biodiversity.
Mitigation of floods
Floods can be mitigated by structural, water control, and non-structural measures such as:
Structural methods include building dams, reservoirs, and retarding basins, channel management, and embankments.
Water control methods: include increasing forest and vegetation cover, watershed management, floodproofing, and catchment modifications. Schemes of drainage and flood protection.
Non-structural methods: flood forecasting, flood warning, and emergency preparedness systems, flood insurance, public information and education, and flood relief.
Earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor, or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth, with the sudden release of energy in the form of seismic waves on the surface of the earth. The point inside the crust where the pressure is released is called the focus. The point on the Earth's surface above the focus is called the epicentre. When an earthquake occurs beneath the sea it causes a tsunami. The study of earthquakes is called seismology and the instrument used to measure seismic waves is called a seismometer or seismograph. The magnitude of an earthquake is measured by the Richter scale and intensity by Mercalli scale.
Causes of earthquake: According to the theory of plate tectonics, Earth is composed of many individual plates that move and interact, constantly changing and reshaping Earth's outer layer. Plates do not always move smoothly against each other and sometimes get stuck. This builds up pressure. When this pressure is eventually released, an earthquake tends to occur. Volcanoes and earthquakes both result from the movement of tectonic plates. Volcanoes, tides can also trigger seismicity. Underground nuclear testing and dams can also cause seismic waves.
Effects:
1) Soil Liquefaction: Due to earthquakes granular material (such as sand) temporarily loses its strength and transforms from a solid to a liquid (Soil liquefaction). This causes rigid structures, like buildings and bridges, to tilt or sink into the liquefied deposits.
2) Landslides and avalanches: Earthquakes can produce slope instability leading to landslides and avalanches.
3) Tsunamis: When earthquakes occur undersea it causes a tsunami. Most destructive tsunamis are caused by earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 or more.
4) Floods: These are secondary effects of earthquakes, as they may occur if dams are damaged.
5) Fires: Earthquakes can cause fires by damaging electrical power or gas lines.
6) Destabilization: It destabilizes the ecological and social structure of a nation. Essential services also got disrupted.
7) Loss of life and property: An earthquake may cause injury and loss of life, general property damage, and collapse or destabilization of buildings. The aftermath may bring disease, lack of necessities, mental consequences such as panic attacks and depression to survivors, etc.
Management and mitigation methods:
Earthquakes cannot be stopped or predicted accurately but certain management techniques could be followed to minimize their effect:
1) Construction of buildings that can tolerate earthquakes. This can be done by:
a) By keeping weak spots in the building to absorb vibrations.
b) To keep pads or floats beneath buildings.
c) Wooden house to be preferred in an earthquake-prone area.
2) Soil testing should be done so that the stability of the building is assured.
3) Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes.
4) Preparedness and safe building construction can reduce the extent of damage and loss.
5) Establishment of GPS station in the earthquake-prone region to assess future crustal movements
Landslides
A landslide/landslip is primarily a combination of several geological processes that include earth movements like extensive slope failure, rocks falling, and debris flow under the action of gravity. Landslides occur when gravitational and other types of shear stresses within a slope exceed the shear strength (resistance to shearing) of the materials that form the slope.
Causes
Extensive Rainfall: Prolonged and heavy intensity rainfall triggers landslide. If rain duration and pore pressure are high, moderate rainfall can also trigger a landslide. A universal landslide survey held in 2003 revealed that 90% of the landslides that occurred were activated by heavy rainfall.
Melting of Snow: In several cold mountain places, during snowmelt, the water produced infiltrates into the earth. These increases pore water pressures, causing the initiation of the landslide process.
Rivers: Rivers can damage the slopes, particularly during the floods triggering a landslide. Seismic Shaking and volcanic eruption: They cause slope failure triggering a landslide.
Deforestation: Roots of plants hold soil particles firmly thereby avoiding soil erosion. But the removal of vegetation makes rocks prone to landslides.
Geology: Type of rock or soil such as coarse particles have low cohesive strength making it vulnerable to a landslide.
Developmental activities: Excavation for minerals, tunnels, etc. and road construction can, too, trigger landslide.
Effects:
Landslides block streams with debris and stones, leading to overflowing. It disrupts vehicular movement, damages vegetation, roads, communication networks, and buildings. It also results in accidents. Overall, it acts as a risk to life. Ex. A massive landslide in 2017 in Himachal Pradesh has killed at least 46 people and injured several others.
Management and mitigation methods:
1) Afforestation: It consolidates the slope thus checking slope instability. Degraded areas should be afforested and existing patches should be preserved.
2) Wired stone blocks: Stone ridge is strapped with wire mesh to protect against landslides.
3) Retaining wall: Construction of concrete retaining walls to prevent slippage from a slope.
4) Landslide hazard zonation mapping: Zonation mapping will help in preventing settlements in the hazard-prone area and also developing and continuously updating the inventory of landslide incidences affecting a country.
5) Surface drainage: Draining of surface and subsurface rivers to allow smooth flow of water.
6) Landslide Warning Techniques: Sensors have been developed which are used for landslide warning and detection Early warning systems can disseminate information to masses on time, thereby saving many lives.
7) Managing of catchment: Excess water in catchment areas should be stored to reduce the effect of flash floods, this will also recharge the groundwater level in areas prone to landslide in India.
8) Public awareness: An aware and vigilant community can reduce the impact of impending landslides.
Cyclones
Cyclone refers to any spinning storm that rotates around a low-pressure centre. The low-pressure centre is also referred to as the 'eye' of the storm. It is accompanied by powerful winds blowing anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. They are known by different names in different countries. Typhoons in the northwest Pacific Ocean, hurricanes in the North Atlantic Ocean and the northeast and south Pacific Ocean, Tropical cyclones in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southeast and southwest Indian ocean. Willy Willy in Australia Baguio in China Sea, Taifu in Japan, and Tornado in South America.
Formation of cyclone
When warm (above 26 °C), moist air over the ocean rises upward, it causes an area of low air pressure below. Air from surrounding areas with higher air pressure pushes into the low-pressure area. Then this new cool air becomes warm and moist and rises too and this cycle continues. As the warm, moist air rises and cools the water in the air forms clouds. The Coriolis effect made by the Earth's rotation causes the winds to rotate. As the storm system rotates faster and faster, an eye forms in the center. It has little rain or wind. The eyewall maximum rain and the strongest winds. When the winds in the rotating storm reach 39 mph, the storm is called a tropical storm. And when the wind speeds reach 74 mph, the storm is officially a tropical cyclone, hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone based on the storm location Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land, because they are no longer being fed by the energy from the warm ocean waters. However, they travel far inland, bringing heavy rain and wind before dying out completely. Cyclone may last from days to a week.
Indian cyclones:
The 7517 km long coastline of India is the world's most cyclone-affected stretch. Around 8% of the total land area in India is prone to cyclones. West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, and Kerala are the most cyclone-affected states of India. Ex Cyclone Phailin originated in Vietnam in October 2013. This cyclone-affected Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh. A total of 1,34,426 people were eventually evacuated. Power and communication lines went down across many districts. Besides economic losses, Odisha recorded casualties of 44 people.
Effects:
Cyclones bring destruction to life and property. It is characterized by heavy rains and strong winds.
1) Storm surge: It is an abnormal rise of sea level near the coast caused by a severe tropical cyclone resulting in the inundation of low-lying areas of coastal regions. It drowns human beings and live-stock, erodes beaches and embankments, destroys vegetation, and reduces soil fertility.
2) Floods: Heavy and continued rains due to cyclones may cause floods and submergence of low-lying areas resulting in loss of life and property. Floods and coastal inundation pollute drinking water sources causing an eruption of epidemics.
3) Strong winds: Very strong winds may damage infrastructure, dwellings, communication systems, trees, etc. vandalizing life and property. It affects the normal functioning of life.
4) Crop: It damages crops, which could lead to inflation.
5) Decline in tourists: Tourists will not come to a cyclone-affected area, thereby affecting the livelihood of people.
6) Storm churn: By churning up cold water, tropical cyclones tend to leave a cold wake behind them that can depress ocean temperature and thus, stifling trailing storm.
7) Psychological impact: Disaster of any kind has long-lasting fear on the minds of the masses. They have witnessed a large number of deaths, collapse of infrastructure, cries, pains, and many sorrows.
Management and Mitigation of Cyclones
1) Coastal plantation: Forests act as a buffer zone against cyclones. Cyclones travel unchecked in absence of a forest. The degraded forest land must be planted as the plantation will act as a green wall/windbreak for cyclones and water flow reduction in storm surges. Mangrove forests shall be managed.
2) Effective weather Monitoring: Cyclones can be predicted several days’ before. So, effective weather monitoring and forecast can help in minimizing the losses due to cyclones. Warning messages should be simple and reach in time to the masses.
3) Land Use control: Land use should be such that minimum critical activities are carried out in vulnerable areas. Buildings should be water and wind-resistant. Retrofitting of the older buildings should be mandatory. There should be the maintenance of river embankments. Communication lines should be drawn underground. Construction of strong halls in vulnerable areas.
4) Coastal Regulation Zone norms: They should be strictly enforced.
5) Insurance cover: Comprehensive state insurance cover needs to be provided for persons, their properties, and cattle.
6) Preparedness: Coastal areas should have adequate preparedness against cyclones. Wide roads for quick evacuation, disaster-resilient buildings, shelter houses, etc.
7) Awareness: Focused awareness activities are required to increase public awareness of storm surge, flooding, and rainfall related to a cyclone.
IMPACT OF DISASTERS ON ENVIRONMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT
Disaster are recognised as the most important factor to under development. However, underdevelopment being the main cause of disaster, it has to be noted that if the responses of disaster is mishandled, many years of improvement can be exhausted and set back any further progress. Disasters can change the pattern of migration, pattern in agriculture and settlement patterns. Basic family structure, work habits and diets are also affected, however if disaster management is well planned development oriented, a disaster can give a chance to accelerate the pace of development. Constructive changes can then be made.
All disaster-related activities are divided in-to distinct time periods.
Phases of Disaster Response (Natural Disasters)
The Preparatory Phase. The preparatory phase includes activities like development of procedures, inventories of resources, legislature, and establishment of response plans, these are broadly divided into prevention, mitigation and preparedness.
Warning Phase. By carefully observing the events, indicators can be monitored and incidents such as when, where, and what magnitude the event may take place can be estimated. This is known as prediction of forecasting; therefore, warnings are possible for earthquakes droughts, famines etc.
Emergency Phase this is a very important phase, which includes, search and rescue, emergency, first aid, emergency medical assistance, emergency communication restoration and transportation networks. Sometimes, it also necessitates evacuation from areas still prone to further disaster events and provision of temporary shelter, food, and water.
Rehabilitation (Or Transitional) Phase. During this phase, people return to work and repair the infrastructure, damaged buildings and critical facilities and other actions are also taken to help communities return to normal
Self-reliance should be practised by people and emergency relief measures should be halted.
Reconstruction Phase. During this period people reconstruct housing and other community facilities, and agriculture returns to normal. The actual time span is often very difficult to define.
The Disaster management cycle includes the constant measures taken by the governments, business and civil plans to reduce the impact of disasters that occur and also the immediate action that is followed after a disaster, and also steps are taken to recover after a disaster has occurred. Suitable steps taken at all points in the cycle leads to more preparedness, better warnings and reduce the vulnerability or prevent the disaster to occur in the next cycle, the complete disaster management cycle includes, includes the shaping of public policies and plans that either modify the causes of disasters or mitigate their effects on people, property, and infrastructure.
Once a disaster occurs, the disaster cycle is used by the emergency managers, the Disaster cycle consists of steps that’s contains plans and responses to disasters. Every step in the disaster cycle connects to the part of the ongoing cycle of emergency management’s emergency management, from locals to national and international levels use the disaster cycle.
The first step of the disaster cycle is to prepare carefully for the disaster, before the disaster could occur, the emergency manger will plan various disaster which could occur within the area of responsibility.
The second stage in the disaster cycle is response. Prior to the disaster, notices and warnings are issued and measures are taken to vacate the places of shelters are provided and all the necessary equipment is placed ready.
After the immediate response phase of the disaster cycle has been completed, the disaster turns toward recovery, focusing on the longer-term response to the disaster. During this process, the official s is involved in cleanup and rebuilding.in the recovery phase the incidents and the recovery processes are collected and shared in the community
The mitigation phase of the disaster cycle is almost concurrent with the recovery phase. The main aim of the mitigation phase is to stop the occurrence of the same disaster again and also the damages caused by it.
Finally, all the lessons learnt from the various process of disaster like the response, recovery, and mitigation phases and the emergency manager and government officials return to the preparedness phase and revise their plans and their understanding of the material and human resources needs for a particular disaster in their community.
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India, as a country has various geographical locations and geological formations, and therefore is prone to high disaster. the problem in the country is more aggravated by the northern long coastline, snow-clad high peaks, high mountain ranges, the perennial rivers. India, has the need to support around 16% of the total population and has only 2% of total geographical area, resulting in an enormous amount of pressure on the natural resources, which directly or indirectly lead to the occurrence of disasters, namely floods, droughts, landslides, earthquakes, etc.
India has faced a number of disasters, ranging from flood, earthquakes, cyclones, tsunami, drought, landslides. A few recent disasters faced by India include Uttar Kasha earthquake in UP in 1991, Later earthquake in Maharashtra in 1993, Chama earthquake in Gujarat, super cyclone in Orissa in 1999, Buhl earthquake in Gujarat in 2001, Tsunami in 2004 and Mumbai-Gujarat flood in 2005. Besides, India has a bad experience of technology-related tragedy in the form of gas tragedy in Bhopal in 1984. India also faced the problem of Plague in Gujarat.
India has set-up a disaster management unit in the centre called the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA - http://www.ndmindia.nic.in/) under the ministry of home affairs, where several disasters are handled by different units. The website lists a central contact for information regarding any disaster in the country.
Key Takeaway
- A disaster refers to sudden serious disruption of the normal functioning of a society, involving large damages to life, property, and environment, beyond its ability to cope with its resources. It can be natural or man-made. Disaster Management refers to managing disaster response in the country. Watershed management begins by taking control over a degraded site through local participation.
- Earth’s climate is changing, making it more difficult for mankind to survive. The earth is losing its ability to balance itself due to the imbalances created by human activities. Human societies will be seriously affected by extremes of climate such as droughts and floods.
- Climate change has huge impacts such as global warming, ozone layer depletion, acid rain, nuclear accidents, etc.
- The Environmental Disaster management plays an important role in preparing for the disaster both nationally and globally.
Reference:
1. A.K. De, Environmental Chemistry, Wiley Eastern Ltd.
2. E.P. Odum, Fundamentals of Ecology, W.B. Sunders Co., USA.
3. M.N. Rao and A.K. Datta, Waste Water Treatment, Oxford and IBK Publications.
4. Benny Joseph, Environmental Studies, Tata McGraw Hill, 2005.
5. V.K. Sharma, Disaster Management, National Centre for Disaster Management, IIPE,1999.
