essay on threats to environment

Per Capita Water Availability Today and in 2025, Selected Countries

Algeria

750

380

Burundi

660

280

Cape Verde

500

220

Comoros

2040

790

Djibouti

750

270

Egypt

1070

620

Ethiopia

2360

980

Kenya

590

190

Lesotho

2220

930

Libya

160

60

Morocco

1200

680

Nigeria

2660

1000

Rwanda

880

350

Somalia

1510

610

South Africa

1420

790

Tanzania

2780

900

Tunisia

530

330

Barbados

170

170

Haiti

1690

960

Peru

1790

980

Cyprus

1290

1000

Iran

2080

960

Israel

470

310

Jordan

260

80

Kuwait

< 10

<10

Lebanon

1600

960

Oman

1330

470

Qatar

50

20

Saudi Arabia

160

50

Singapore

220

190

United Arab Emirates

190

110

Yemen (both)

240

80

Malta

80

80

Note: Water use of 500 m3 per person per year might suffice in a semi-arid society with extremely sophisticated water management.
Source: Reprinted from Gleick (1992). Computed from UN population data and estimates; water availability data from WRI (1990). Courtesy of Cambridge University Press.

withdrawals has the objective of increasing the productive use of water by increasing the efficiency of meeting needs and allocating water wisely among different uses. 69 Several other strategies that hold promise for better integrated water use and planning recognize the interconnected nature of sectors and activities of humans and life support systems. Strategies for watershed management go beyond the typical framework of hydrology and engineering to consider water resources in the context of interacting physical, biological, and chemical systems that control water cycling and use at a landscape scale. These strategies take into account land use, water quality, and ecosystem processes and protection, as well as urban and economic requirements. Local examples of watershed management abound. On larger scales, work on the Chesapeake Bay and the Columbia Basin 70 provides particularly insightful treatments of the challenges and opportunities for sustainability and adaptive management.

Regional water planning also takes a watershed perspective and seeks an explicit allocation of watershed resources to a mix of water applications, including withdrawals for agriculture, industry, and urban use, and in-stream activities such as waste assimilation, ecosystem and species maintenance and preservation, and recreation. For regional water planning to work, major changes in the way water is valued, allocated, and managed will be required. Regional planning must look seriously at such issues as restructuring agriculture for more efficient use of water, dramatically reducing outdoor urban water use, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas, increasing recycling, and determining and providing environmental water requirements (e.g., for protection of wetlands, fisheries, and endangered species). A number of studies have shown that water is chronically overused because it is underpriced. 71 Pricing policies that reflect the cost of water for particular uses at particular times and that encourage more efficient use and adaptation of conservation, reuse, and recycling approaches will be crucial. Meeting some of these objectives may be exceedingly difficult in poor regions. Changes in approaches to water-related regulation, education, laws, markets, and information dissemination also will be necessary. In addition, heightened efforts to diffuse available technology to all regions without access to appropriate technology are necessary, as are training and institutional arrangements that make their use possible.

Atmosphere and Climate

Changes in atmospheric chemical composition and chemistry also reflect the activities of multiple human endeavors, as well as natural processes. The cumulative and interactive consequences of gas emissions associated with industry, fossil fuel consumption, and agriculture are

linked via atmospheric circulation and chemistry, and the influence of those chemical and physical interactions is felt from regional to global scales. Lessons from the past tell us that we cannot solve urban air pollution problems without evaluating the multiple gases from multiple sources that together regulate air chemistry and pollution. In the case of urban smog in the United States, for example, a decade or more of regulation of hydrocarbons emissions from industrial processes failed to improve air quality; recognition and regulation of the nitrogen oxides emitted from automobiles is now seen as an additional critical factor in controlling pollution. 72 Moreover, while we once thought of smog and tropospheric ozone production as an urban-scale phenomenon, it is now clear that it can be regional in scale. For example, studies in the southeastern United States have indicated that urban emissions of hydrocarbons (volatile organic compounds, VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO x ), in conjunction with nitrogen oxide emissions from the agricultural sector and hydrocarbon emissions from natural forests, combine to affect regional-scale pollution events (Figure 4.3). 73 Such broad-scale pollutant levels may feed back to reduce agricultural productivity 74 as well as combine to impair human health and the health of natural ecosystems.

Atmospheric changes that were once characterized as local to regional in scale have now been recognized for their role in global atmospheric and climatic change. Sulfur aerosols emitted from a variety of combustion processes are a source of acid deposition and have been under regulation for the last 30 years. Only recently has it been shown that those aerosols that form regionally may have resulted in an increase in earth's reflectance sufficient to offset some of the effects of greenhouse gas increases. 75 Similarly, burning associated with land use changes such as deforestation or agriculture, alone or in combination with industrial air pollution, can have tremendous impacts on the health of people and ecosystems. Fires associated with tropical deforestation and burning for agricultural purposes emit carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur gases into the atmosphere, where they undergo chemical reactions and lead to the production of tropospheric ozone and acidic precipitation. Consequently, high-ozone episodes and acid rain are experienced by people and ecosystems in areas far removed from urban activity. 76

The interaction of multiple atmospheric changes also holds surprises for the regional and global system. For example, the deposition of compounds of nitrogen, a regional change produced by intensive agricultural and combustion processes, 77 may interact with elevated atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, a global-scale change, to affect the ecological and biological responses of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Models suggest that increased nitrogen deposition in North America and Europe may increase the ability of forests to absorb carbon dioxide, 78 although a measurement

Figure 4.3 The evaluation of the effectiveness of VOC-based and NO x -based strategies for ozone pollution abatement is confounded by the potential significant contribution of VOC and NO x emissions from biogenic and other natural sources. In the figure, I-VOC and I-NO x is used to denote industrial VOC and NO x , respectively, and B-VOC and B-NO x is used to denote biogenic VOC and NO x , respectively. Source: Chamedies and Cowling (1995). Courtesy of North Carolina State University.

has not confirmed this. There is reason to doubt that this effect, if it occurs, would continue indefinitely. Long-term nitrogen deposition resulting from human activities is likely to damage vegetation, thereby decreasing its carbon uptake. Moreover, nitrogen deposition may also increase the emissions of other greenhouse gases. 79

Integrated Strategies for the Atmospheric Environment

As for water resources, managing for air quality and for the atmospheric environment requires a different strategy than societies have seen in the past decades. An approach is needed that accounts for the multiple

sources of materials released to the atmosphere, the natural and human-influenced processing of those materials, and the multiple and interacting effects on exposed systems. In the case of the atmosphere, the scale at which this integrated management must take place ranges from the urban airshed to the globe. New strategies must be developed to evaluate the understanding of factors driving air pollution and integrated solutions to air pollution, such as tropospheric ozone, at regional to continental scales. Consortia of local, state, and national and international agencies, industries, and scientists will have to come together to develop research and management programs with longer time horizons and greater spatial domains.

Efforts to improve regional air quality are now under way in the United States and Europe. Scientifically based implementation strategies that control emissions across large regions are being developed for areas of the United States. 80 Similarly, the European Community, in its Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, has developed integrated approaches to controlling sulfur and nitrogen emissions on the basis of both the location of sources and the sensitivity of deposition sites. 81

Global-scale atmospheric changes also require integrated solutions. Many activities (e.g., energy use, agriculture) cause concomitant changes in the atmosphere at local, regional, and global scales, and the tradeoffs and conflicts among alternative strategies must be evaluated across all scales. For example, the burning of natural gas (about 90 percent of which is methane), as opposed to other fossil fuels, has been encouraged because of its higher energy yield per molecule of CO 2 released in combustion and its lesser impact on regional air quality. On the other hand, methane is a very effective greenhouse gas (about 20 times as potent as CO 2 per molecule), so inadvertent emissions of methane used in energy production could offset benefits from reducing CO 2 emissions. Thus, as gas usage increases worldwide, loss rates from gas field drilling and from wellheads must be decreased along with losses from gas distribution lines. Another global methane source, rice paddies, are strongest emitters when fresh organic matter such as post-harvest stubble is plowed into the paddy soil. 82 Burning the rice stubble is an historical alternative to placing the rice stubble in the soil. Yet some areas such as Sacramento, California, in efforts to prevent regional air pollution, are requiring the stubble to be plowed back into the soil, thereby potentially increasing methane emissions in the following growing season. Thus, a balance is needed between decreasing pollution sources and increasing other environmental effects through responsive technological fixes—for example, balancing the risks of local air pollution against greenhouse forcing of global climate change.

Species and Ecosystems

A third area in which interactions and cumulative effects are exceedingly important is the biological component of the earth system. The welfare of species and ecosystems in a rapidly developing world is of critical importance in meeting the normative goals of a sustainability transition. These resources provide many of the goods and services needed to sustain human life—goods such as timber, forage, fuels, pharmaceuticals, precursors to industrial products, and services such as recycling of water and chemicals, mitigation of floods, pollination of crops, and cleansing of the atmosphere. Beyond the importance of these goods and services, the diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems is valued intrinsically, and loss of biological diversity is of major concern because it is irreversible. 83

The major forces or stresses on biological diversity and ecosystem functioning under our scenarios for the transition are likely to be simply an intensification of trends already seen today (see Chapters 2 and 3), with significant and mostly negative effects on the functioning of ecosystems. 84 Some appraisals of possible increases in agricultural productivity suggest that significant land areas could be returned to natural or more varied ecosystems. 85 Nevertheless, as the human population grows, land conversion for agriculture, extractive uses, and urban settlements exert tremendous influence on biological diversity and on the ability of ecosystems to act as biogeochemical buffers and water suppliers (as noted in Chapter 2). Increased use of biofuels could place even more pressure on land use. Atmospheric and water pollution due to industrial and agricultural activities can have effects on species and ecosystems as significant as they have on human health, and the resulting alterations in the functioning of ecosystems can also feed back to affect human well-being. For example, industrial, agricultural, and urban pollution that leads to eutrophication of estuaries can lead to the production of toxic algal blooms and fish kills, thus affecting industry and human health. Climate and atmospheric changes that result from industrial and agricultural activities will affect ecosystems in multiple and interacting ways. Some changes may have seemingly positive effects on ecosystems; for example, plant ''fertilization" due to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere may lead to enhanced growth and carbon storage in some ecosystems and thus serve as a negative feedback to atmospheric and climate change, at least in the short term. Ultimately, however, climate and atmospheric changes will alter the structure and composition of ecosystems and the services they provide in unpredictable ways. 86

To the degree that our actual development paths involve ever-increasing pressures on natural ecosystems, the goals of a transition to sustainability cannot be met. One of the major threats to ecosystem

goods and services is the lack of understanding about how specific ecosystem functions and services may change with ecosystem transformations and about the options for reducing those functional changes. A second threat is a lack of knowledge about, or incorrect valuation of, ecosystems' worth to society. Effective strategies for sustaining species and ecosystems will have to address both of these issues.

Integrated Strategies for Sustaining Species and Ecosystems

Many of the opportunities discussed above in the areas of energy, water, agriculture, industry, urban systems, and human health are ultimately opportunities for sustaining biological resources and the services they provide. For example, numerous opportunities exist for combining management for sustainable forestry and sustainable agriculture with management for biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. 87 Management of agricultural landscapes to optimize for natural pollinators and natural predators of agricultural pests will at the same time conserve species and ecosystems, because in doing so patches of diverse natural vegetation adjacent to agricultural systems are maintained. 88 Management of regions to maximize water supply and water quality for urban systems can at the same time conserve and sustain the natural systems that provide watershed services. Improvements in efficiency of water and chemical use in agricultural systems (thereby reducing the demands on and losses from these systems) will sustain the quality of down-wind and downstream ecosystems at the same time they protect human health. 89 Opportunities to restore degraded lands have direct relevance to sustainable agriculture and forestry as well as to natural ecosystems.

The focus of preservation efforts is shifting from management of single species to that of multiple species and their interactions with each other and their physical environments. This expansion of the scope of preservation also greatly increases the complexity of the choices to be made both scientifically and in the way that human activities are considered and reshaped. Integrated conservation plans that can simultaneously preserve ecosystems and their species while fostering carefully planned regional economic development illustrate integrated management in which human societies and "nature" are both winners. To take advantage of these and other opportunities, institutions and policies that allow designating regional or landscape-level prescriptions for land use and that enable evaluating and maintaining them over long time scales are likely to be necessary. Development decisions that protect and take advantage of the services natural ecosystems provide will help strengthen prospects for achieving a sustainability transition and therefore should be encouraged.

Integrated Approaches in a Place-Based Context

This chapter has illustrated the strong linkages and interactions that exist between resources and human activities across many different issues, sectors, and scales. Efforts to reach the goals we have sketched for a transition to sustainability cannot be expected to succeed if they are pursued within narrow disciplinary or sectoral frameworks that ignore these interactions. Rather, many of the greatest opportunities identified here for navigating that transition are integrative in defining the problems and seeking the solutions.

As a result of this review of the environmental challenges and opportunities facing a sustainability transition, the Board believes that the most significant threats to it are likely to be the cumulative, interactive consequences of activities across a number of sectors. Society and its decision makers must recognize that agricultural, urban, industrial, and ecosystem processes interact with each other and must be evaluated as an integrated system. This conclusion is shared by other groups that have addressed analogous questions over a period extending back several years, but has been achieving renewed emphasis in recent years. 90

Recognizing the importance of interactions among environmental problems, and of the need for integrated approaches to understand and manage these interactions, still leaves open some questions of appropriate spatial scale. In one sense, the answer is simple: because interactions occur at all scales, integrative research and management are needed at all scales. This is certainly correct as far as it goes. But it is not a particularly helpful observation in improving existing research and management systems. As a step toward developing such guidance, the Board drew on the history of efforts to develop and sustain improvements in agricultural productivity around the world. A major lesson of that experience has been the "location specific" character of useful knowledge and know-how that involves biological and social systems. In the agricultural realm, efforts simply to transfer understanding or technologies created in one part of the world across scales or places have generally not succeeded. Instead, as summarized by a major restrospective sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation—

The location-specific nature of biological technology meant that the prototype technologies developed at the international centers could become available to producers in the wide range of agroclimate regions and social and economic environments in which the commodities were being produced only if the capacity to modify, adapt, and reinvent the technology was available. It became clear that the challenge of constructing a global agricultural research system capable of sustaining growth in agricultural production required the development of research

capacity for each commodity of economic significance in each agroclimatic region. 91

This Board's work suggests that the insights from experience with agricultural production systems have general applicability to the challenges of navigating a transition to sustainability. As the examples covered in the preceding section of this chapter suggest, many of the most successful integrated analyses of challenges to sustainability have focused on specific places. Like the earlier agricultural efforts, they have prospered to the extent that they have been able to integrate general principles and knowledge of global relationships with specific understanding of local environmental circumstances and social institutions. There is no magic scale for such effective integrations—they have ranged from the planetary work on ozone depletion, through continental assessments of acid rain and regional efforts to restore the Columbia Basin, to highly localized efforts to design sustainability strategies for particular communities. What effective integrative analyses do seem to have in common is the ability to take seriously questions of scale and linkages, and to shape research, development, and management strategies to discover the conceptualizations of "place" most relevant to the problem at hand. To emphasize our beliefs that attention to scale matters in efforts to promote a sustainability transition, but that no particular scale has a "natural" rightness for all the challenges likely to be faced, we have chosen to highlight here the need for "place-based" integrative analysis. As suggested in the Chapter 1 review of the progress towards sustainability reported at the 1997 Special Session of the UN General Assembly, selected leaders in government, industry, and advocacy groups have begun to recognize the need for such integrated, place-based assessments of the challenges and opportunities for a transition to sustainability. In Chapters 5 and 6, we turn to a consideration of the indicators, research, and institutions needed to realize the potential of these analyses.

This analysis shows that progress has been made toward identifying environmental hazards and toward a greater understanding of the challenges in each of the sectors identified 10 years ago by the Brundtland Commission. It has also identified some of the difficulties in overcoming these hazards, and the opportunities to address them. What has become evident in the past decade is the overwhelming degree to which there is increasing interaction among the sectors, and the degree to which the consequences of these interactions are cumulative, sometimes nonlinear, and subject to critical thresholds. Therefore, we conclude that most of

the individual environmental problems that have occupied most of the world's attention to date are unlikely in themselves to prevent substantial progress in a transition toward sustainability over the next two generations. Over longer time periods, unmitigated expansion of even these individual problems could certainly pose serious threats to people and the planet's life support systems. Even more troubling in the medium term, however, are the environmental threats arising from multiple, cumulative, and interactive stresses, driven by a variety of human activities. These stresses or syndromes, which result in severe environmental degradation, can be difficult to untangle from one another, and complex to manage. Though often aggravated by global changes, they are shaped by the physical, ecological, and social interactions at particular places, that is locales or regions. Developing an integrated and place-based understanding of such threats and the options for dealing with them is a central challenge for promoting a transition toward sustainability.

References and Bibliography

Aber, J.D., A. Magill, S.G. McNulty, R.D. Boone, K.J. Nadelhoffer, M. Downs, and R. Hallett. 1995. Forest biogeochemistry and primary production altered by nitrogen saturation. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 85, no. 3: 1665–1670.

Aber, J.D., K.J. Nadelhoffer, P. Steudler, and J.M. Melillo. 1989. Nitrogen saturation in northern forest ecosystems. BioScience 39: 378–386.

Allen, D.T., and N. Behmanesh. 1994. Wastes as raw materials. In The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems . National Academy of Engineering, B.R. Allenby, D.J. Richards, eds. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Allen, D.T., and R. Jain. 1992. Special issue on industrial waste generation and management. Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Materials 9, no. 1: 1–111.

Andreae, M.O. 1993. The influence of tropical biomass burning on climate and the atmospheric environment. In Biogeochemistry of global change: Radiatively active trace gases , ed. R.S. Oremland, 113-150. New York: Chapman and Hall.

Ausubel, J.H. 1996. Can technology spare the earth? American Scientist 84: 166–178.

Bell, David E., William C. Clark, and Vernon W. Ruttan. 1994. Global research systems for sustainable development: agriculture, health and environment. In Agriculture, environment and health: Sustainable development in the 21 st Century, ed. Vernon W. Ruttan, 358–379. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Bender, William H. 1997. How much food will we need in the 21 st Century? Environment 39, no. 2: 6–14.

Berry, Brian J.L. 1990. Urbanization. In The earth as transformed by human action , ed. B.L. Turner II. W.C. Clark, R.W. Kates, J.F. Richards, J.T. Matthews, and W.B. Meyer. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Bongaarts, J. 1994. Population policy options in the developing world. Science 263: 771–776.

Bos, E., M.T. Vu, A. Levin, and R. Bulatao. World population projections 1992-93 Edition . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Published for the World Bank.

Botsford, L.W., J.C. Castilla, and C.H. Peterson. 1997. The management of fisheries and marine ecosystems. Science 277: 509–515.

Brundtland Commission. See WCED, 1987.

Cassman, K.G., D.C. Olk, and A. Dobermann. 1997. Scientific evidence of yield and productivity declines in irrigated rice systems of tropical Asia. International Rice Commission Newsletter 46: 7–18.

Chameides, W.L., and E.B. Cowling. 1995. The state of southern oxidants study: Policy-relevant findings in ozone pollution research 1988–1994 . Raleigh: North Carolina State University.

Chameides, W.L., P.S. Kasighatla, J. Yienger, and H. Levy II. 1994. Growth of continental scale metro-agro-plexes, regional ozone pollution, and world food production. Science 264, no. 5155: 74-77.

Chapin, F.S., B.H. Walker, R.J. Hobbs, et al. 1997. Biotic controls over the functioning of ecosystems. Science 277, no. 5325: 500–504.

Chichilnisky, G., and J. Heal. 1998. Economic returns from the biosphere. Nature 391, no. 6668: 629.

Clark, William C. 1985. Scales of climate impacts. Climate Change 7: 5–27.

Clark and Patt. 1997. Working paper for the NRC Board on Sustainable Development

Conway, Gordon. 1997. The doubly green revolution: Food for all in the twenty-first century . London: Penguin Books.

Costanza, R., and J. Greer. 1998. The Chesapeake Bay and its watershed: A model for sustainable ecosystem management? Chap. 18 in Ecosystem Health , eds. D. Rapport et al., 261-302. Oxford: Blackwell Science, Ltd.

Covich, A.P. 1993. Water and ecosystems. In Water in crisis: A guide to the world's fresh water resources, ed. P.H. Gleick. New York: Oxford University Press.

Crosson, P. 1995. Soil-erosion estimates and costs. Science 269, no. 5223: 461–464.

DIVERSITAS. 1998. About DIVERSITAS. http://www.Imcp.jussieu.fr/icsu/DIVERSITAS/index.html .

Daily, G.C., ed. 1997. Nature's services: Societal dependence on natural ecosystems . Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Daily, G.C., P. Dasgupta, B. Bolin, P. Crosson, J. du Guerny, P. Ehrlich, C. Folke, A.M. Jansson, B.O. Jansson, N. Kautsky, A. Kinzig, S. Levin, K.G. Mäler, P. Pinstrup-Andersen, D. Siniscalco, and B. Walker. 1998. Food production, population growth, and the environment. Science 281: 1291–1292.

EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 1987. Unfinished business: A comparative assessment of environmental problems . Washington, D.C.: EPA.

———. 1990. Characterization of municipal solid waste in the United States, 1970–2000 . EPA/530-SW-89-015A. Washington, D.C.: EPA.

Earth System Sciences Committee, NASA Advisory Council. 1988. Earth system science: A closer view . Washington, D.C.: NASA.

Edwards, C.A., R. Lal, P. Madden, R.H. Miller, G. House. 1990. Sustainable agricultural systems . Delray Beach, Florida: St. Lucie Press.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 1994. Review of the state of world marine fishery resources . FAO Technical Paper 335. Rome: United Nations.

———. 1997. Review of the state of world's forests . Rome: United Nations.

Fredricksen, H. D. 1996. Water crisis in developing world: Misconceptions about solutions. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 122, no. 2: 79–87.

Galloway, J.N., W.H. Schlesinger, H. Levy, A. Michaels, and J.L. Schnoor. 1995. Nitrogen fixation: Anthropogenic enhancement-environmental response. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 9, no. 2: 235–252.

Gleick, P.H. 1992. Effects of climate change on shared fresh water resources. In Confronting climate change: Risks, implications and responses, ed. Irving M. Mintzer. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

———. 1993. Water in the 21st Century. In Water in crisis: A guide to the world's fresh water resources , ed. P.H. Gleick. New York: Oxford University Press.

———. 1998. The world's water 1998–1999: Biennial report on freshwater resources . Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Goulder, Lawrence H., and Donald Kennedy. 1997. Valuing ecosystem services: Philosophical bases and empirical methods. In Nature's Services: Societal dependence on natural ecosystems , ed. Gretchen C. Daily. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Graedel, T.E. and P.J. Crutzen. 1993. Atmospheric change: An earth system perspective . New York: W.H. Freeman and Co.

Heal, G.M. 1998. Valuing the future: Economic theory and sustainability . New York: Columbia University Press.

Holdgate, Martin W., Mohammed Kassas, and Gilbert F. White, eds. 1982. The world environment 1972–1982: A report by the United Nations Environment Programme . Dublin: Tycooly International Publishers.

Holling, C.S., ed. 1978. Adaptive environmental assessment and management . Chichester, UK: John Wiley.

Hornung, M., and R.A. Skeffington, eds. 1993. Critical loads: Concept and applications: Proceedings of a conference held on 12–14 February 1992 in Grange-over-Sands under the auspices of the British Ecological Society Industrial Ecology Group and the Natural Environment Research Council, and partly sponsored by the National Power/PowerGen Joint Environmental Programme . Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Symposium no. 28. London: HMSO Publications Centre.

Houghton, J.T., L.G. Meira Filho, J. Bruce, H. Lee, B.A. Callander, E. Haites, N. Harris, and K. Maskell. 1994. Climate change 1994: Radiative forcing of climate change . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Published for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Houghton, J.T., L.G. Meira Filho, B.A. Callander, N. Harris, A. Kattenberg, and K. Maskell. 1996. Climate change 1995: The science of climate change . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Published for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme). 1994. The IGBP in action: The work plan 1994–1998 . Stockholm: IGBP.

IHDP (International Human Dimensions Program). 1998. About IHDP . http://ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de/IHDP/about.html.

———. 1995. Climate change 1994: Radiative forcing of climate change and an evaluation of the IPCC IS92 emission scenarios . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 1996. See Houghton et al. 1996.

Kates, R.W., and W.C. Clark. 1996. Environmental surprise: Expecting the unexpected? Environment 58, no. 2: 6–11, 28–34.

Kates, R.W., B.L. Turner II, and W.C. Clark. 1990. The great transformation. In The earth as transformed by human action , eds. B.L. Turner, W.C. Clark, R.W. Kates, J.F. Richards, J.T. Matthews, and W.B. Meyer. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Kendall, H.W., R. Beachy, T. Eisner, F. Gould, R. Herdt, P.H. Raven, J.S. Schell, and M.S. Swaminathan. 1997. Bioengineering of crops: Report of the World Bank Panel on Transgenic Crops. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.

Lawton, J.H., and R.M. May. 1995. Extinction rates . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lee, K.N. 1993. Compass and gyroscope: Integrating science and politics for the environment . Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Matson, P.A., W.H. McDowell, A.R. Townsend, and P.M. Vitousek. 1999. The globalization of nitrogen deposition: ecosystem consequences in tropical environments. Biogeochemistry 46: 67–83.

Matson, P.A., W.J. Parton, A.G. Power, and M.J. Swift. 1997. Agricultural intensification and ecosystem properties. Science 277: 504–509.

Mitchell, David L., and W. Michael Hanemann. 1994. Setting urban water rates for efficiency and conservation: A discussion of issues: A report for the California Urban Water Conservation Council . Sacramento, CA: The Council.

NAE (National Academy of Engineering). 1990. Energy production, consumption, and consequences . J.L. Helm, ed. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1994a. The greening of industrial ecosystems . B.R. Allenby and D.J. Richards, eds. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1994b. Technological trajectories and the human environment . J.H. Ausubel and H.D. Langford, eds. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1997. Environmentally significant consumption: Research directions . Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change. Eds. Paul Stern, Thomas Dietz, Venon Ruttan, Robert Socolow, and James Sweeney. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

NRC (National Research Council). 1988. Air quality, environment, and energy . Transportation Research Board. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1990. Fuels to drive our future . Committee on Production Technologies for Liquid Transportation Fuels. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1991a. Rethinking the ozone problem in urban and regional air pollution . Committee on Tropospheric Ozone Formation and Measurement. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———.1991b. Toward sustainability: A plan for collaborative research on agriculture and natural resources management . Panel for Collaborative Research Support for AID's Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1992a. Plant biology research and training in the 21 st century. Committee on Examination of Plant Science Research Programs in the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———.1992b. Toward sustainability: An addendum on integrated pest management as a component of sustainability research . Subpanel on Integrated Pest Management for the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Program of the US Agency for International Development. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1994. The role of terrestrial ecosystems in global change: A plan for action . Board on Global Change. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1995. Mexico City's water supply: Improving the outlook for sustainability . The Joint Academies Committee on the Mexico City Water Supply. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and society in the Pacific Northwest . Committee on Protection and Management of Pacific Northwest Anadromous Salmonids. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1997a. Environmentally significant consumption: Research directions . Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change. P.C. Stern, T. Dietz, V.W. Ruttan, R.H. Socolow, and J.L. Sweeney, eds. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1997b. Toward a sustainable future: Addressing the long-term effects of motor vehicle transportation on climate and ecology . Committee for a Study of Transportation and a Sustainable Environment. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1998a. Global environmental change: Research pathways for the next decade . Committee on Global Change Research. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1998b. Research priorities for airborne particulate matter: I. Immediate priorities and a long range research portfolio . Committee on Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1999a. Sustaining marine fisheries . Committee on Ecosystem Management for Sustainable Marine Fisheries. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

———. 1999b. Hormonally Active Agents in the Environment . Committee on Hormonally Active Agents in the Environment. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Nabhan, G., and S. L. Buchmann. 1997. Services provided by pollinators. Chap. 8 in Nature's services: Societal dependence on natural ecosystems , ed. G.C. Daily. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Nash, L. 1993. Water quality and health. In Water in crisis: A guide to the world's fresh water resources , ed. P.H. Gleick. New York: Oxford University Press.

Naylor, R.L., and P.R. Ehrlich. 1997. Natural pest control services and agriculture. In Nature's services: Societal dependence on natural ecosystems , ed. G.C. Daily. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Noble, I.R., and R. Dirzo. 1997. Forests as human-dominated ecosystems. Science 277: 522–525.

Norberg-Bohm, V., W.C. Clark, B. Bakshi, J. Berkenkamp, S.A. Bishko, M.D. Koehler, J.A. Marrs, C.P. Nielsen, and A. Sagar. 1992. International comparisons of environmental hazards: development and evaluation of a method for linking environmental data with the strategic debate management priorities for risk management . Cambridge, MA: Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Nriagu, J.O. 1979. Global inventory of natural and anthropogenic emissions of trade metals into the atmosphere. Nature 279: 409–411.

Nriagu, J.O. 1996. History of global metal pollution. Science 272, no. 5259: 223–224.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development). 1997. OECD environmental data compedium 1997 . Paris: OECD.

Odum, Howard T. 1994. Ecological and general systems: An introduction to systems ecology . Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado.

PCAST (President's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology). 1999. Powerful partnerships: The federal role in international cooperation on energy innovation . Washington, D.C.: PCAST.

———. 1997. Federal energy research and development for the challenges of the twenty-first century . Washington, D.C.: PCAST.

———. 1998. Teaming with life: Investing in science to understand and use America's living capital . Washington, D.C.: PCAST.

Pauly, D., and V. Christensen. 1995. Primary production required to sustain global fisheries. Nature 374, no. 6519: 255–257.

Pimentel, D., and C.A. Edwards. 1982. Pesticides and Ecosystems. Bioscience 32, no. 7: 595.

Pinstrup-Andersen, P., and R. Pandya-Lorch. 1996. Food for all in 2020; Can the world be fed without damaging the environment? Environmental Conservation 23, no. 3: 226–234.

Pinstrup-Anderson, P., R. Pandya-Lorch, and M.W. Rosegrant. 1997. The world food situation: Recent developments, emerging issues, and long-term prospects . Washington: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Postel, S. 1992. Last oasis: Facing water scarcity . New York: W.W. Norton and Co.

———. 1993. Water and agriculture. In Water in crisis: A guide to the world's fresh water resources , ed. P.H. Gleick. New York: Oxford University Press.

Postel, S.L., G.C. Daily, and P. Ehrlich. 1996. Human appropriation of renewable freshwater. Science 271: 785–788.

Postel, S.L., and S. Carpenter. 1997. Freshwater ecosystem services. In Nature's services , ed. G.C. Daily. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Raskin, P., M. Chadwick, T. Jackson, and G. Leach. 1996. The transition toward sustainability: Beyond conventional development . Stockholm: Stockholm Environmental Institute.

Richards, D.J., B.R. Allenby, and R.A. Frosch. 1994. The greening of industrial ecosystems: Overview and perspective. In The greening of industrial ecosystems , NAE, eds. B.R. Allenby and D.J. Richards. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Risch, S.J., D. Pimentel, and H. Grover. 1986. Corn monoculture versus old field: Effects of low levels of insecticides. Ecology 67, no. 2: 505.

Rodhe, H., and R. Herrera. 1988. Acidification in tropical countries . Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) Series, 36. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Ruttan, Vernon W. 1994. Challenges to agricultural research in the 21 st century. In Agriculture, environment, and health: sustainable development in the 21 st century, ed. Vernon W. Ruttan. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

———. 1996. Population growth, environmental change and technical innovation: Implications for sustainable growth in agricultural production. In The impact of population growth on well-being in developing countries , eds. Dennis A. Ahlburg, Allen C. Kelly, and Karen Oppenheim Mason. Berlin: Springer.

Schimel, D.S. 1994. Terrestrial ecosystems and the carbon cycle. Global Change Biology 1:77–91.

Schultz, Theodore W. 1964. Transforming traditional agriculture . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Socolow, R., C. Andrews, F. Berkhout, and V. Thomas, eds. 1994. Industrial ecology and global change . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Smith, R.A., R.B. Alexander, and K.J. Lanfear. 1992. National water summary 1990–91. Stream water quality in the conterminous United States—Status and trends of selected indicators during the 1980s . USGS Water Supply Paper 2400. Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey.

Strong, Maurice, Chair, System Review Panel. 1998. The third system review of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) . Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.

Swedish Secretariat on Acid Rain. 1996. Acid News 5 . Göteborg, Sweden: Int. Försurningssekretariatet.

Thies and T. Tscharntke. 1999. Landscape structure and biological control in agroecosystems. Science 285:893–895.

Townsend, A.R., B.H. Braswell, E.A. Holland, and J.E. Penner. 1996. Spatial and temporal patterns in terrestrial carbon storage due to deposition of fossil fuel nitrogen. Ecological Applications 6, no. 3: 806–814.

Turner, B.L., W.C. Clark, R.W. Kates, J.F. Richards, J.T. Matthews, and W.B. Meyer, eds. 1990. The Earth as transformed by human action: Global and regional changes in the biosphere over the past 300 years . New York: Cambridge University Press.

UN (United Nations). 1995. World urbanization prospects: The 1994 revision . New York: United Nations.

UNEP (UN Environment Programme), NASA (US National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and The World Bank. 1998. Protecting our planet, securing our future . Nairobi: UNEP.

Vitousek, P.M. 1994. Beyond global warming: Ecology and global change. Ecology 75:1861–1876.

Vitousek, P.M., H.A. Mooney, J. Lubchenco, and J.M. Melillo. 1997. Human domination of earth's ecosystems. Science 277: 494–499.

WBGU (German Advisory Council on Global Change). 1993-1997. World in transition: The research challenge . Annual report. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. (Also available through the Council's home page at http://www.awi-bremmerhaven.de/WBGU. )

WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development). 1987. Our common future . New York: Oxford University Press.

WHO (World Health Organization). 1997. Health and environment in sustainable development: Five years after the Earth Summit . Geneva: WHO.

WHO (World Health Organization) and UNEP (United Nations Environment Program). 1992. Urban air pollution in megacities of the world . Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publications.

WRI (World Resources Institute). 1996. World resources 1996–1997: A guide to the global environment: The urban environment . A joint publication by the World Resources Institute, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, and the World Bank. New York: Oxford University Press.

———. 1998. World resources 1998–1999: A guide to the global environment: Environmental change and human health . A joint publication by the World Resources Institute, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, and the World Bank. New York: Oxford University Press.

Waggoner, P.E. 1994. How much land can ten billion people spare for nature? Ames, Iowa: Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.

Watt, K.E.F. 1966. Systems analysis in ecology . New York: Academic Press.

Weyant, J., O. Davidson, H. Dowlatabadi, J. Edmonds, M. Grubb, E.A. Parson, R. Richels, J. Rotmans, P.R. Shukla, R.S.J. Tol, W. Cline, and S. Fankhauser. 1996. Integrated assessment of climate change: An overview and comparison of approaches and results. Chap. 10 of Climate change 1995 , ed. James P. Bruce, Hoesung Lee, and Erik F. Haites. Contribution of Working Group III to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Published for the IPCC.

Woomer, P.L., and M.J. Swift. 1994. The biological management of tropical soil fertility . Chichester, UK: Wiley.

World Bank. 1992. World development report 1992: Development and the environment . New York: Oxford University Press. World Bank. 1998. Environmental Matters . Annual review, Fall 1998. The World Bank Group.

XEROX Corporation. 1997. Environment, Health and Safety Program Report. Xerox corporation company document. Stamford, CT: Xerox Corporation.

Yagi, K., and K. Minami. 1990. Effect of organic matter application on methane emissions from paddy fields. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 36: 599–610.

1 Possible large social, economic, or political threats such as war, terrorism, crime, financial collapse, or substance abuse are not part of this analysis. In part, this is because of the configuration and expertise of the board, but more so because of the absence of the kind of thinking and studies of such social threats that makes possible the comparative ranking and analysis of environmental threats that we undertake in this chapter.

2 Kates and Clark (1996).

3 Norberg-Bohm et al. (1992).

4 Researchers developing the list, Norberg-Bohm et al. (1992); UNEP program on The World's Environment , Holdgate et al. (1982); EPA program on Unfinished Business , EPA (1987).

5 Norberg-Bohm et al. (1992) list modified by Clark and Patt (1997).

6 Scored hazards approach by Clark and Patt (1997).

7 WCED (1987).

8 Bongaarts (1984).

10 NRC (1999b).

11 WRI (1996).

12 Personal communication with Thomas Buettner, United Nations.

13 World Bank (1992); WRI (1996).

14 NRC (1991a, 1997b).

15 WRI (1998).

16 WHO and UNEP (1992).

17 World Bank (1992).

19 The condominial sewerage system, which is used in northeast Brazil, has a shorter grid and shallower feeder sewers running through backyards, resulting in shallower connections to the main pipes, lower construction costs (20 to 30 percent lower than for conventional systems), and less pipe.

20 NRC (1995).

21 Berry (1990); UN (1996).

22 Bender (1997); Ruttan (1996); Daily et al. (1998); see Chapter 3.

23 Pinstrup-Anderson et al. (1997).

24 NRC (1991b); Pinstrup-Anderson and Pandya-Lorch (1996); Ruttan (1996); Strong (1998).

25 NRC (1991b); Ruttan (1996); Cassman et al. (1997).

26 Postal et al. (1996).

27 Matson et al. (1997); NRC (1991b).

28 Chameides et al. (1994).

29 Naylor and Ehrlich (1997); NRC (1991b).

30 NRC (1991b), (1992b); Ruttan (1996).

31 See Strong (1998).

32 Kendall et al. (1997); Conway (1997).

33 Matson et al. (1997); NRC (1991b, 1992b); Woomer and Swift (1994).

34 Postel (1992, 1993).

35 NRC (1992a).

36 NAE (1997).

37 NAE (1994a); NRC (1997a).

38 Industrial waste, Allen and Jain (1992); municipal solid wastes, EPA (1990).

39 Raskin et al. (1996).

40 E.g., selling the cleaning of the factory or office (''selling the factory") as opposed to selling cleaning products and tools.

41 Xerox (1997).

42 Product recycling, NAE (1994b); industrial ecology, NAE (1994a,b), and Socolow et al. (1994).

43 NAE (1994b).

44 NRC (1990,1991a).

45 NRC (1990,1998b).

46 PCAST (1997).

47 PCAST (1997,1999).

48 Daily (1997).

49 PCAST (1998).

50 Vitousek et al. (1997).

51 FAO (1997); Noble and Dirzo (1997).

52 Mangrove ecosystems, WRI (1996); oceans, Pauly and Christensen (1995).

53 Vitousek et al. (1997).

54 FAO (1994); NRC (1999a).

55 Botsford et al. (1997).

56 Lawton and May (1995); PCAST (1998).

57 E.g., Chichilnisky and Heal (1998).

58 Nabhan and Buchmann (1997).

59 Noble and Dirzo (1997); Vitousek et al. (1997); Matson et al. (1997).

60 See, e.g., IGBP (1994); IHDP (1998); DIVERSITAS (1998); and the NRC's "Pathways" report [NRC (1998a)].

61 UNEP et al. (1998); World Bank (1998).

62 Vitousek et al. (1997).

63 Schimel (1994); IPCC (1996); NRC (1994).

64 NRC (1998a).

65 Gleick (1992).

66 Gleick (1998).

67 Nash (1993).

68 Smith et al. (1992).

69 Gleick (1998).

70 Chesapeake Bay, e.g., Costanza and Greer (1998); Columbia Basin, e.g., Lee (1993), and NRC (1996).

71 E.g., Mitchell and Hanemann (1994).

72 NRC (1991a).

73 Chameides and Cowling (1995).

74 Chameides et al. (1994).

75 IPCC (1995).

76 Graedel and Crutzen (1993); Andreae (1993); Rodhe and Herrera (1988).

77 Galloway et al. (1995); Vitousek et al. (1997).

78 Schimel (1994); Townsend et al. (1996).

79 Aber et al. (1989); Aber et al. (1995); Matson et al. (1999).

80 Chameides and Cowling (1995).

81 Hornung and Skeffington (1993).

82 Yagi and Minami (1990).

83 NRC (1992a).

84 Vitousek et al. (1997); Chapin et al. (1997).

85 Ausubel (1996); Waggoner (1994).

86 See chapter 2 NRC (1998a).

87 Daily (1997).

88 Risch et al. (1986); Pimental and Edwards (1982); Matson et al. (1997); Thies and Tscharntke (1999).

89 Matson et al. (1997); Crosson (1995).

90 Several decades, e.g., Odum (1994), Watt (1966), and Holling (1978); recent years, e.g., the World in Transition reports of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU 1993–1997); see also Chapter 6, Box 6.1.

91 Bell et al. (1994), p. 362; see also Schultz (1964).

World human population is expected to reach upwards of 9 billion by 2050 and then level off over the next half-century. How can the transition to a stabilizing population also be a transition to sustainability? How can science and technology help to ensure that human needs are met while the planet's environment is nurtured and restored?

Our Common Journey examines these momentous questions to draw strategic connections between scientific research, technological development, and societies' efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable improvements in human well being. The book argues that societies should approach sustainable development not as a destination but as an ongoing, adaptive learning process. Speaking to the next two generations, it proposes a strategy for using scientific and technical knowledge to better inform future action in the areas of fertility reduction, urban systems, agricultural production, energy and materials use, ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation, and suggests an approach for building a new research agenda for sustainability science.

Our Common Journey documents large-scale historical currents of social and environmental change and reviews methods for "what if" analysis of possible future development pathways and their implications for sustainability. The book also identifies the greatest threats to sustainability—in areas such as human settlements, agriculture, industry, and energy—and explores the most promising opportunities for circumventing or mitigating these threats. It goes on to discuss what indicators of change, from children's birth-weights to atmosphere chemistry, will be most useful in monitoring a transition to sustainability.

READ FREE ONLINE

Welcome to OpenBook!

You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

Show this book's table of contents , where you can jump to any chapter by name.

...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

Switch between the Original Pages , where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter .

Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

View our suggested citation for this chapter.

Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

Get Email Updates

Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free ? Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released.

Environmental Concerns in the Modern World Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

There are many environmental concerns faced by human race. These concerns are defined as the environmental problems that directly or indirectly affect human beings. There is need therefore to work on these environmental problems with an aim of reducing their impacts. Climate change is one of the major concern facing human beings globally.

Ozone layer depletion and loss of biodiversity have also negatively affected human race thus calling for strategies to combat these environmental issues. Other environmental concerns are in reverence to land degradation, pollution among others. The following discussion is inclusive of the first three concerns.

Ozone layer depletion occurring at the stratosphere which contains the ozone gas, has led to direct ultra-violet rays reaching the earth surface. Oxygen molecules present in the stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet waves which are harmful.

The depletion of ozone layer occurs when the gas is broken down by increased chlorine compounds in the atmosphere which are man-made and also the bromine compounds. The direct reach of ultraviolet (UV) rays to human beings has increased diseases such skin cancer and eye problems.

There has also been an increase in infectious diseases. Ultra violet rays also causes drying up plants which are the major primary source of food to humans (Díez & Dwivedi, 2008). UV rays affect the aquatic life such as fish which are also source of food to human beings.

Climate change is the change in temperatures either by increase or decrease. The increase of temperature which has led to global warming is the major concern facing human beings on climate change.

Anthropogenic activities are however the major cause of climate change on global warming out of increased deforestation by the increasing population, increased release of fossil fuel and the green house gases such as chlorofluorocarbons which increases green house effect.

The further implications to human beings is the increase in sea levels which causes flooding thus loss of human lives, displacements and loss of properties. There is also decrease in water resources due to changes in evaporation thus lowering the agricultural output. Human beings are then faced by food shortages leading to hunger, nutritional diseases, and deaths.

Loss of biodiversity which is the decrease of species in ecosystems is also among the major concern faced by human race. Human beings are the major cause of loss of biodiversity through habitat destruction such as clearing of forest cover, burning of bush which kills the active micro organisms in the soil, and dumping of wastes in water resources which endanger aquatic life.

Biodiversity promotes better lives to human beings such as: ecosystem services through climate stability a role played by trees, soil formation by micro-organisms.

Loss of biodiversity is also inclusive of decrease of biological resources to human like plants which are source of food and medicines. Sociological benefits are also lost as the biodiversity is used by humans for education, recreation, and cultural values (Díez & Dwivedi, 2008).

In conclusion, human beings are the major contributors of the environmental issues which have raised the concerns. There is however natural factors which have lead to environmental concerns but their impact is too minimal compared to those caused by human beings. Human race is therefore faced with the challenge of reducing the environmental issues.

On climate change, there is need to practice reforestation, use electric, solar and wind energy to replace the fossil fuels thus reducing the green house effect. On ozone layer depletion just like climate change, there is need to reduce the release of carbons such as chlorofluorocarbons.

It is also important for humans to protect the existing species like reducing the dumping of untreated waste in water resources and clearing of forest at the same time opting for better farming methods other than burning (Rourke, 2008).

Díez, J., & Dwivedi, P. (2008). Global Environmental Challenges: Perspectives from the South. New York: Broadview Press.

Rourke, J. T. (2008). International Politics on the World Stage. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

• Physical Features of the Earth and Forces in Motion
• Tropical Rain Forest: What Threats This Ecosystem?
• What we can do to protect Ozone layer
• Ozone Holes, Their Causes, Effects and Reduction
• Acid Rain and Ozone Pollution
• Water Quality Issues in Developing Countries
• Comparison of Secondary and Tertiary Waste Water Management
• A Discussion of Air Pollution & Related Health Implications on the Community
• Effects of the Columbia River Dams on Salmon Population
• The Effects of the US Army Corp Engineers Lock and Dam System on Recreation
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, May 21). Environmental Concerns in the Modern World. https://ivypanda.com/essays/environmental-concerns/

"Environmental Concerns in the Modern World." IvyPanda , 21 May 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/environmental-concerns/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Environmental Concerns in the Modern World'. 21 May.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Environmental Concerns in the Modern World." May 21, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/environmental-concerns/.

1. IvyPanda . "Environmental Concerns in the Modern World." May 21, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/environmental-concerns/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Environmental Concerns in the Modern World." May 21, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/environmental-concerns/.

Threats to the Global Environment

Introduction.

The environment is our surround, and its safety depends on how we treat it. There are several ways the environment has been damaged in the 21 st  century: climate change, biodiversity loss, water and air pollution, natural disasters including droughts and high temperatures, and the drain of natural resources. The world has noticed the changes and is taking measures to ensure the environment is protected, including planting trees, using less paper, and using renewable energy sources. In the united states project, the two projects that I will discuss are the use of fossil fuels as an energy source and globalization. Fossil fuels are made from decomposing animals and plants. These fuels are found in the earth’s crust and are made of hydrogen and carbon and can be turned into energy. When these fuels are burned, they release huge amounts of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere leading to global warming. When introduced to the air, the nitrogen oxides lead to acid rain. The major sources of nitrogen oxide emissions are cars and trucks, ships and airplanes, large industrial operations, and coal-fired power plants. The best solutions for businesses that reduce the release of these gases into the air include managing and reducing emissions, buying renewable energy, and increasing energy efficiency. Individuals using cars and trucks should minimize miles and conserve energy (Johnsson et al., 2019).

Globalization is defined as the increase in the flow of goods, capital, services, and ideas across international boundaries. Globalization has brought a lot of change to the world and greatly affected the global environment. Some positive effects include less international aggression and increased international cooperation. To the environment, it has impacted and not in a positive way, including increased transportation of goods, economic specialization, decreased biodiversity, and increased awareness. In terms of increased transport of goods, the environment has been affected by increased emissions, invasive species, and the destruction of habitats. Also, overspecialization leads to environmental issues that involve habitat loss, overuse of resources, and deforestation. Globalization, according to research, cannot be stopped but can be improved. Between 200 and 2010, trade only accounted for 20% of net manufacturing losses in the United States. The world should provide better education, career training, and less rigid labor markets to avoid teh pressures of globalization (Chen et al., 2021). The paper’s main aim is to discuss the two issues chosen that affect the environment and identify the factors that make them serious risks. Then analyze ways in which humans have contributed to the aggravation of the two threats to the environment and suggest ways the global community can take to prevent worse effects of the threats to the environment.

Fossil Fuels

Factors that make fossil fuels a threat to the environment.

When buried carbon-based organisms that died long ago decompose, they form fossil fuels. The carbon-rich deposits are extracted from the organisms and burned to produce energy. Fossil fuel is non-renewable energy that makes up 80% of the world’s energy. The types of fossil fuels are coal, gas, and oil. Burning of these fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, lead, and particulate matter. Airborne nitrogen pollution affects not only the air we breathe but also the water and land we walk on. Nitrogen is the most abundant component of air and is used by both animals and plants. Sources of power from human activities such as industrial wastes, agriculture, electric power generation, transportation, and upset the natural balance of nitrogen in the atmosphere. Nitrogen oxides, when released into the atmosphere, contribute to the formation of acid rain and smog. Research from the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) shows that emissions from these fuels are the main cause of global warming. Studies from 2018 show that 80% of global emissions of carbon dioxide came from fossil fuels. Coals, as fossil fuels, are the dirtiest of them all and are responsible for a 0.3C to 1C increase in global temperatures. Natural gas is referred to as the cleaner fossil fuel, but it accounts for 20% of global carbon emissions. Oil releases around a third of the world’s carbon emissions. In recent years, there have been spillages that affect the ocean ecosystem (Johnsson et al., 2019).

Fossil fuels cause air pollution, water pollution, and climate change. Climate is affected when carbon dioxide emitted during the burning of fuels causes global warming. The more CO2 released, the more heat is trapped on earth through the greenhouse effect. The increase in temperatures leads to deforestation, droughts, scarcity of food sources, and a rise in sea levels. Water pollution occurs when sulfur dioxide dissolves into water and creates sulfuric acid, which produces acid water leading to the acidification of freshwater bodies such as lakes and oceans, which are habitats for many water animals. Air pollution happens when carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide, and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. The effects of these gases released into the air include cancer, respiratory disease, and cardiovascular disease. People prone to these effects are pregnant women, children, and the elderly (Ueckerdt et al., 2021).

How humans have contributed to aggravating the threat

Humans have also contributed to the effects of fossil fuels on the environment. When fossil fuels are retrieved from the ground, they leave the ground open, threatening human safety. The process also leaves open holes, which result in soil erosion and contamination of soil, surface water, and groundwater. Also, sometimes the extraction of fossil fuels happens in areas that had trees before. Humans are the ones who direct the whole process meaning that they promote deforestation so that the extraction can occur. During the burning of fossil fuels to release toxic gases, the process is directed by humans meaning that they directly contribute to the production of the gases that produce acid rain and affect the respiratory system of humans (Erickson et al., 2018).

Measures to mitigate worse effects of the threat

One way to mitigate the use of fossil fuels is adapting the use of renewable sources such as solar energy, hydroelectricity, and wind power. Transitioning to clean energy significantly reduces emissions that negatively affect the environment. Nuclear emissions and renewable energy do not produce s emissions and are recommended worldwide to slow the effects of climate change. Businesses are recommended to manage and reduce emissions by preparing annual greenhouse gas inventories and setting targets to reduce the emissions. Also, businesses are required to increase energy efficiency to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. They should develop and implement an effective corporate energy management program that allows them to manage the energy they use to manage other business aspects. Businesses are aloe recommended to buy renewable energy to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that impact the environment negatively (Wood & Roelich, 2019).

Individuals are required to minimize miles since driving cars produces large amounts of nitrogen oxide emissions. Drivers are advised to consolidate driving trips and take public transport when possible to help cut down air pollution. Through the conservation of energy methods, such as buying equipment that uses less electricity, such as heaters, refrigerators, and air conditioners, individuals are able to minimize airborne nutrient pollution. Another way to mitigate the use of fossil fuels is by taking part in carbon offsetting programs which are designed to reduce the carbon produced from activities such as burning fossil fuels. An example is when taking a flight to a place, one can buy the carbon offset credits that support projects that reduce the amount of carbon in the air (Erickson et al., 2018).

Cite This Work

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

Related Essays

The need to develop sound food conservation strategies, should we encourage veganism in society, reducing emissions of carbon, surfside condo collapse: unraveling the tragedy and embracing safety measures, birds in southern ontario, disaster in 2022, popular essay topics.

• American Dream
• Artificial Intelligence
• Black Lives Matter
• Bullying Essay
• Career Goals Essay
• Causes of the Civil War
• Child Abusing
• Civil Rights Movement
• Community Service
• Cultural Identity
• Cyber Bullying
• Death Penalty
• Depression Essay
• Domestic Violence
• Freedom of Speech
• Global Warming
• Gun Control
• Human Trafficking
• I Believe Essay
• Immigration
• Importance of Education
• Israel and Palestine Conflict
• Leadership Essay
• Legalizing Marijuanas
• Mental Health
• National Honor Society
• Police Brutality
• Pollution Essay
• Racism Essay
• Romeo and Juliet
• Same Sex Marriages
• Social Media
• The Great Gatsby
• The Yellow Wallpaper
• Time Management
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Violent Video Games
• What Makes You Unique
• Why I Want to Be a Nurse
• Send us an e-mail

• Security Council

Climate Change ‘Biggest Threat Modern Humans Have Ever Faced’, World-Renowned Naturalist Tells Security Council, Calls for Greater Global Cooperation

Climate change is a “crisis multiplier” that has profound implications for international peace and stability, Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council today, amid calls for deep partnerships within and beyond the United Nations system to blunt its acute effects on food security, natural resources and migration patterns fuelling tensions across countries and regions.

Throughout the morning, the Council’s high-level open debate on climate and security heard from a range of influential voices, including naturalist David Attenborough, who called climate change “the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced”.  In video remarks telecast at the outset, he warned that concentrations of carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere have not been equalled for millions of years.

“If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security,” he said:  food production, access to fresh water, habitable ambient temperature and ocean food chains.  The poorest — those with the least security — are certain to suffer.  “Our duty right now is surely to do all we can to help those in the most immediate danger.”

While the world will never return to the stable climate that gave birth to civilization, he said that, if Governments attending the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in November recognize climate change as a global security threat, “we may yet act proportionately — and in time”.

Climate change can only be dealt with by unparalleled levels of global cooperation, he said.  It will compel countries to question economic models, invent new industries and recognize the moral responsibility that wealthy nations have to the rest of the world, placing a value on nature that “goes far beyond money”.  He challenged the international community to finally create a stable, healthy world where resources are equally shared and where — for the first time in history — people “come to know what it feels like to be secure”.

Mr. Guterres echoed those calls, describing the climate emergency as “the defining issue of our time”.  Noting that the last decade was the hottest in human history, he said wildfires, cyclones, floods and droughts are now the new normal.  “These shocks not only damage the environment on which we depend, they also weaken our political, economic and social systems,” he said.

Indeed, where climate change dries up rivers, reduces harvests, destroys critical infrastructure and displaces communities, it exacerbates the risks of conflict, he said.  A study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that 8 of the 10 countries hosting the largest multilateral peace operations in 2018 were in areas highly exposed to climate change.

The impact is greatest where fragility and conflict have weakened coping mechanisms, he said, where people depend on natural capital for their livelihoods and where women — who bear the greatest burden of the climate emergency — do not enjoy equal rights.  He highlighted examples in Afghanistan, where reduced harvests have pushed people into poverty, leaving them susceptible to recruitment by armed groups, and across West Africa and the Sahel, where changes in grazing patterns have fostered conflict between pastoralists and farmers.  In some Pacific small island nations, entire communities have been forced to relocate.

“The forced movement of larger numbers of people around the world will clearly increase the potential for conflict and insecurity,” he observed.  He called for greater efforts to address climate‑related security risks, starting with a focus on prevention, and creating a global coalition committed to achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century.  The United Nations is asking companies, cities and financial institutions to prepare credible decarbonization plans.

In addition, immediate actions are needed to protect countries from increasingly frequent and severe climate effects.  He urged donors and multilateral and national development banks to increase the share of adaptation and resilience finance to at least 50 per cent of their climate finance support.  Developed countries, too, must keep their pledge to channel $100 billion annually to the global South.  “They have already missed the deadline of 2020,” he acknowledged.

Above all, he called for embracing a concept of security that places people at its centre, stressing that COVID-19 has laid bare the devastation that non‑traditional security threats can cause on a global scale.  In all such efforts, it will be essential to build on the strengths of the Security Council, Peacebuilding Commission, international financial institutions, regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, academia and others.

Issuing a call to action, Nisreen Elsaim, Chair of the Youth Organization on Climate Change and the United Nations Youth Advisory Group, said young people around the globe are watching the Security Council as it grapples with climate change.  Each of the organ’s four meetings on the issue — in 2007, 2011, 2018 and 2019 — have referenced serious climate-related security risks in Somalia, Darfur, West Africa and the Sahel, Mali and the Lake Chad Basin.  “Science has forecasted many more countries will join this list if we did not take the right measures now, and if we did not start adaptation specially in Africa,” she said, adding that, in her country, “we are living in continuous insecurity due to many factors that put Sudan on the top of the list when it comes to climate vulnerability”.

She recalled that, in a 2018 Council resolution on Sudan, members recognized the adverse effects of climate change, ecological changes and natural hazards on the situation in Darfur, focusing specifically on drought, desertification, land degradation and food insecurity.  “Human survival, in a situation of resources degradation, hunger, poverty and uncontrolled climate migration, will make conflict an inevitable result,” she said.  Moreover, climate-related emergencies cause major disruptions in access to health, life-saving sexual and reproductive health services, and result in loss of livelihoods and drive displacement and migration.  They also increase the risk of gender-based violence and harmful practices and force young people to flee in search of a decent life.

Welcoming the Council’s recent deployment of a new special political mission, the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS), she said it has a historic opportunity to speak to the root causes of the conflict.  Climate change and youth participation is mentioned twice in the Mission’s mandate, and climate change challenges are included in the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement.  Emphasizing that young people must be part of the solution, she declared:  “We are the present, we have the future, let’s not repeat previous generations’ lapse.”

In the ensuing dialogue, Heads of State and Government, along with ministers and other senior officials described national actions to attenuate the negative impact of climate change and offered their views on the related security risks.  Some pressed the Council to broaden its thinking about non-traditional security threats.  Several — including leaders from Kenya and Niger — stressed that the link between climate and conflict could not be more evident, while others explored the ability of Governments to meet people’s basic needs, and still others cast doubt on the assertion that the relationship between climate and conflict is causal, instead pointing to political and economic factors that are known to drive tensions.

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Council President for February, speaking in his national capacity, said the Council, while imperfect, has been willing to lead the way in confronting threats to international security.  “That is exactly what climate change represents,” he said, acknowledging that, while there are some who disagree, these cynics “could not be more wrong”.  While the causes of climate change may not sit within the Council’s traditional purview, its effects most certainly do.  He asked delegates to consider the young man forced onto the road when his once‑fertile home becomes a desert — one of the 16 million people displaced by weather-related disasters each year — who becomes easy prey for violent extremists, or the girl who drops out of school because her daily search for water takes her away from her family — and into the sights of the human traffickers.

“If such scenes were triggered by the actions of some despotic warlord or internecine conflict, few would question this Council’s right to act or its duty to do so,” he assured.  “This is not a subject from which we should shy away.”  The world must move from 51 billion metric tons of greenhouse‑gas emissions each year to net zero, so that the increase in global temperatures remains within manageable levels.  For its part, the United Kingdom Parliament passed a law committing to net zero by 2050, he said, drawing attention to his pledge that the nation would slash emissions by 68 per cent by 2030.  He urged the Council to act, “because climate change is a geopolitical issue every bit as much as an environmental one”, stressing that, if it is to succeed in maintaining peace and security worldwide, it must galvanize and support the United Nations family of agencies into a swift and effective response.

Kaïs Saïed, President of Tunisia , agreed with Ms. Elsaim that the world must listen to youth on climate change.  More broadly, humans — and not money — must be placed at the centre of the issue.  Voicing support for the Secretary-General’s 2021 priorities, especially his efforts to galvanize Member States to confront the multiple impacts of climate change, he described it as ironic that humans are, at the same time, the phenomenon’s drivers and its greatest victims.  “It is no one’s right to […] to commit all of humanity to death,” he stressed, noting that Council resolution 2532 (2020) confirmed that insecurity can be driven by a multitude of factors, not just armed conflict.  One such driver is the deepening poverty and resource scarcity resulting from a changing climate, particularly in Africa.  Climate factors often prolong conflict and create conditions conducive to deprivation, exclusion, terrorism and organized crime.

Calling on the Council to adopt a new, more comprehensive approach and for sufficient resources for all specialized agencies related to climate change, he underlined the need for early warning systems and better prevention strategies.  Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent crises have once again revealed the need for States to strengthen their solidarity, he emphasized the need for prompt action while stressing that the burden borne by States must be differentiated based on their degree of responsibility for causing the crisis.  Moreover, mitigation cannot be at the expense of developing countries, he said.

Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya , said that new approaches to investment by the public and private sector need to reach the countries and regions worst hit by climate change.  Persistent droughts, constant sea‑level rise and increasingly frequent extreme weather patterns are reversing economic growth and development gains achieved over decades.  The result is increased fragility to instability and armed conflict that then come to the attention of this Security Council.  The implementation of the Council’s mandate to maintain global peace and security will only get more difficult with time if climate change remains on its present course.  Rather than wait for a future tipping point, we must redouble the efforts to direct all the resources and multilateral frameworks of our rules-based international order to mitigate the effects of climate change.  While the bulk of this work is happening outside the Council, no body with such a strong mandate should step aside from this challenge.

The climate-security nexus is already impacting Africa.  “Listen to us Africans when we tell you that the link is clear, its impact tangible and the need for solutions urgent,” he said.  Making recommendations, he said that the Council must do more when crafting mandates for conflict resolution and post-conflict resolution to ensure they dovetail with the efforts to deploy climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.  In this regard, he applauded Council resolutions 2349 (2017) and 2502 (2019), respectively on Lake Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that have integrated measures to address the impact of climate change.  The 15-member organ can also act strongly against illicit financial outflows, illicit resource exploitation, terrorism financing and money‑laundering in the most fragile regions in Africa.  Doing so immediately boosts the resources available to Governments to undertake climate change mitigation and offer the public services and goods needed to consolidate and protect peace.

Brigi Rafini, Prime Minister of Niger , agreed that the impact of climate change on peace and security is increasingly evident, stressing that water scarcity exacerbated by climate change could see gross domestic product (GDP) in the Sahel fall by 6 per cent and hunger increase 20 per cent by 2050.  Climate change has increased competition for diminished land and water resources, ramping up tensions between livestock owners and others.  He underscored the collective responsibility to tackle this existential challenge, stressing that “climate change and land degradation are no longer purely environmental matters”.  Rather, they are part of a broader view that links environmental goals with those for economic and social development, and the pursuit of international peace and stability.

“We need to consider climate change as a threat to peace and security,” he said, urging the Council to shore up its understanding of impact on security and to systematically consider climate change in its resolutions pertaining to specific country and regional contexts.  In such efforts, it should rely on the advisory role of the Peacebuilding Commission, and the Informal Expert Group on Climate and Security, co-chaired by Niger and Ireland.  The appointment of a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Climate and Security likewise will raise the profile of this dimension within the Council’s work.

Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Prime Minister of Viet Nam , said the Earth’s recent calamities have placed great burdens on the political and socioeconomic life of many countries, causing unemployment and poverty, creating instability and exacerbating current conflicts.  Against that backdrop, the Council should galvanize the international community’s collective efforts with an approach that is balanced between traditional and non-traditional security challenges.  That includes addressing the root causes of conflicts such as poverty, inequality, power politics and unilateral interference and coercion.

Calling for strict adherence to the Charter of the United Nations and international law, he said the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement on climate change must guide the way, and greater resources are needed to support developing countries, least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked countries.  The Council should also enhance its early warning capacity, bolster its mediation and conflict prevention roles, work more closely with regional organizations and fully respect States’ sovereignty and national ownership.  Noting that Viet Nam is among the six countries most severely affected by climate change, he outlined various national efforts to address the challenge while requesting more international assistance.

Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway , emphasized that climate change is redefining the global security landscape.  “We must rethink and adapt the Council’s approaches to peacebuilding and sustaining peace in three ways,” she said.  First, the Council needs better information on climate-related security risks.  International research networks and the informal expert group will be important in that regard.  Norway has helped establish a Nordic-Baltic expert network.  Second, the Council should discuss climate risks in specific country contexts, based on country reporting and briefings.  The United Nations must be at the forefront of preventive diplomacy.  To achieve sustainable solutions, peace diplomacy must be climate-sensitive, and climate action must be conflict‑sensitive.  Third, it is imperative to strengthen partnerships within and beyond the United Nations system, including with affected States and regional organizations.  The active participation of diverse groups, including women and youth, is also vital.

The national security communities in many countries have understood the security risks posed by climate change, she continued.  While climate change can lead to hard security challenges, there are no hard security solutions.  The first line of defence is ambitious climate action.  It must begin with the full implementation of the Paris Agreement and 2030 Agenda.  Climate action depends on multilateral cooperation.  By shouldering a common responsibility to counter climate change, the Council will be better prepared to maintain international peace and stability.

Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines , emphasizing that the Council has a responsibility to address the consequences of climate change, said a failure to do so would be, in part, “an abdication of our duty”.  It is time for the organ to seriously consider drafting a resolution on the matter and to map out a coherent approach, aiming for a working consensus.  Affirming UNFCCC’s role as the primary body for dealing with climate change and the Paris Agreement as a major part of the rules-based international system, he said the Council should play its role without encroaching on the work of UNFCCC’s inclusive decision-making body.  It should also engage with the Peacebuilding Commission and the General Assembly on climate and security risks that touch on issues of humanitarian support, sustainable development, health pandemics, peace and security.

Stressing that the first step to prevent or contain climate-security risks is for the major, and historical, emitters to fulfil — and indeed exceed — the commitments made in the Paris Agreement, he underlined the principle of common but differentiated responsibility.  Climate change is an existential threat that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable, especially small island developing States such as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.  “It has become distressingly commonplace for an entire year’s [gross domestic product] to be washed away by a hurricane overnight, even as we are hindered by a lack of a sufficient inclusion, on favourable terms, into the global financial architecture,” he said.  Citing the many natural hazards in Haiti, in particular, he also drew attention to the Sahel region and the battle for dwindling resources.  However, no country is immune to such human-made challenges and all must stand in solidarity, with the Council paying close attention to climate change as it crafts its mandates, he said.

Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia , said 7 of the 10 countries most vulnerable and least prepared to deal with climate change host a United Nations peacekeeping operation or a special political mission — a fact the Council cannot ignore.  She expressed support for the statement to be delivered by Germany’s Foreign Minister on behalf of like-minded countries pointing the way forward for the Council, stressing that “we need to acknowledge that the climate emergency can pose a danger to peace — and we must make it a part of our security policy planning and discussions here”.  She pressed the Council to “do more” to fully

aspects of its work, noting that the Secretary-General must receive a mandate to collect data and coordinate policy to this aim.

Among other efforts, she said that Estonia cooperates with small island States and least developed countries in green technology solutions and know-how transfer.  The Government also recently launched the Data for the Environment Alliance, a coalition of State and non-State actors that will support the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in developing a global environmental data strategy by 2025.

Simon Coveney, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence of Ireland , said that climate change has many complex impacts, not least on international peace and security, the very business of this Council.  Climate change is already causing upheaval, affecting peace and security and the stability of societies.  Pointing out that the relationship between climate and security works in complex ways, he said political instability undermines efforts to build climate resilience, and the impact of climactic shocks is compounded when institutions are strained.  Ireland is proud to join the Weathering Risk Project to help guide action at the Security Council and beyond, and is keen to understand better not just how climate change contributes to insecurity but how climate action can build peace.  Ireland chairs the Informal Expert Group of Member States on this topic, together with Niger, also partnering with Nauru and Germany, as Chairs of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security.

Ireland’s core message today is that the inclusion of climate in Council discussions and actions will strengthen conflict prevention and support peacebuilding efforts.  Stressing the need to ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and youth in decision-making processes related to climate issues and the management of natural resources, he declared:  “But, in listening to and understanding the concerns and insights of future generations, we cannot abrogate our responsibility to provide leadership today”.

Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mexico , said the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that international peace and security can no longer be viewed through a single lens, but must also consider multiple drivers of insecurity.  Food insecurity, water scarcity and droughts — all exacerbated by climate change — have reached severe levels in several regions of the world.  Pledging Mexico’s support to the next Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Glasgow, later in 2021, he said climate change requires a comprehensive global response with a focus on ecosystem preservations.  Mexico recently submitted its own national plan in that arena, which is coupled with a focus on prevention and adaptation, as well as efforts to reduce inequality and strengthen communities.  Stressing that all efforts must be taken in line with the 2030 Agenda, he welcomed the Council’s creation of an informal group to monitor the links between climate and peace and security as a timely measure.  Underlining the importance of ensuring sustainable peacebuilding and protecting livelihoods, he agreed with the Secretary-General that post-pandemic recovery efforts are an opportunity to “build back better” and build more egalitarian, adaptable societies.

Emmanuel Macron, President of France , said protecting the environment has, in recent years, meant recognizing climate change as a peace and security issue.  Of the 20 countries most affected by conflict in the world, 12 are also severely impacted by climate change, he said, spotlighting the impacts of desertification, the increase in forced migration and agricultural challenges — all of which have resulted in such fallout as the advent of climate refugees and growing conflicts over land and water.  Endorsing the initiative to address such matters under the auspices of the Council, he echoed calls for the appointment of a United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Security, as well as for an annual Secretary-General’s report with relevant recommendations.

Recognizing that the effects of climate change are unfairly distributed worldwide, he recalled his recent call for France’s contribution to the Green Climate Fund to be increased to one third of its total.  France strongly supports the creation of a “Great Green Wall” in Africa, which aims to restore 250 million hectares of land for agriculture, create 10 million green new jobs and sequester carbon.  He also pledged France’s commitment to accelerating the preservation of biodiversity, while calling for strengthened dialogue between the African Union and the United Nations on climate and security.  Turning to the Pacific, where many nations are struggling to implement mitigation measures, he called for additional international support and an easing of geopolitical tensions across the region.

Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change of  India , recalled the global democratic effort to take climate action in a nationally determined manner, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities.  He cautioned the Council against building a parallel climate track where such principles are “brushed aside”.  Noting that there is no common, widely accepted methodology for assessing the links between climate change, conflict and fragility, he said fragility and climate impact are highly context‑specific.  In fragile contexts, where Governments struggle to provide basic services, emergency conditions are largely driven by political violence disrupting harvests and aid supplies, rather than by climate factors alone.  “A complete picture of climate vulnerability only emerges with an assessment of the State’s capacity to be the primary responder to interrelated environmental, social, economic and security dynamics,” he said.  While climate change does not directly cause violent conflict, its interaction with other social, political and economic factors can exacerbate conflict drivers.  He called for the building of robust governance structures at local, national and regional levels to address climate‑ and fragility-related risks, pressing donor countries to provide greater financial, technological and capacity-building assistance to help fragile States enact adaption and mitigation strategies.

John F. Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate of the United States , thanked European and other countries for their leadership on climate change during what he described as the United States “inexcusable absence” from the debate over the past four years.  Though climate change is indeed an existential threat, the world has yet to adequately respond to it.  Noting that the question of climate change is no longer one for debate, he declared:  “The evidence, the science, is screaming at us.”  Many of the world’s regions most impacted by climate change are also projected to become future conflict hotspots.  Therefore, the issue must feature in all of the Council’s work and reporting.  Emphasizing that President Joseph R. Biden understands that “we do not have a moment to waste”, he cited his new coordinated, whole-of-Government approach which aims to elevate the issue and put the United States on the path to sustainability that can never be reversed by any future President or demagogue.

Addressing climate change will require every country to step up and boost their level of ambition, he said, noting that the world’s largest carbon emitters bear the greatest responsibility.  First and foremost will be the need to reduce the use of coal globally.  “Inaction comes with a far higher price tag than action,” he said, stressing that, not since the industrial revolution has there been such potential to build back better in every part of the globe.  Just by doing nothing, humanity will march forward in what is tantamount to a mutual suicide pact, he warned, spotlighting the importance of the climate summit to be hosted by President Biden in the coming weeks, as well as the Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC to be held in Glasgow later in 2021.  The United States will also work with like-minded countries in the Council, he said, urging Member States to begin treating climate change as the security crisis that it is.

Xie Zhenhua, Special Envoy for Climate Change of China , said that, even as global climate governance enters a new and crucial phase, the spread of COVID-19 poses serious threats to the global response.  Given the differences in historical responsibility and development levels between States, he underscored the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and urged developed nations to lead the way.  In building back after the pandemic, countries should respect nature, protect biodiversity, champion green lifestyles and “avoid old paths of giving without taking” from the Earth.  In that context, he described climate change as a development issue, urging the international community to support developing nations, least developed countries and small island developing States in implementing mitigation and adaptation measures.

“We need to stay committed to multilateralism,” he stressed, underlining the importance of UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement as the main channels for those critical discussions.  Any role to be played by the Security Council on climate change must fall under its purview, he added.  Outlining China’s commitment to fulfilling its responsibilities under the Paris Agreement, he spotlighted its recently announced plan to have national CO 2 emissions peak before 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality prior to 2060.  He also pointed out that the country’s forest cover has been rising steadily for many years, that it leads the world in green power generation and that it tops the list of clean energy patents registered.

The representative of the Russian Federation agreed that addressing climate change requires a global approach that is coordinated, targeted at reducing emissions and implementing effective adaptation measures, especially through UNFCCC.  Noting that the Council has discussed climate change on several occasions, he said the issue is often presented as a fundamental threat to stability and as a root cause of problems, particularly in Africa, with warnings about the increasing risks of conflict.  While he agreed that climate change can exacerbate conflict, he questioned whether it is the root cause of violence.  “There are serious doubts,” he said.  The connection between climate and conflict can be examined only in certain countries and regions.  Discussing it in the global context is not relevant.  “Not all conflicts are threats to international peace and security,” he explained.  In addition, considering climate as a root cause of security issues distracts from the true root causes, and thus, hinders solutions.  Political and socioeconomic factors, which have a greater influence on conflict risk, cannot be ignored, he said, pointing out that COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities within and between countries and sparked an uptick in hunger — including in countries that were already in conflict.  He urged donors to address the problem of “green protectionism”, seen in their refusal to exchange technology that would allow others to adapt.   While discussing climate issues in the Council is seen as beneficial, the “real work” of improving coordination of international activities would be better accomplished in the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and UNFCC.  Conflicts — in and of themselves — reduce the ability of States to adapt to climate change, he said, explaining that the increased security risks in the Sahel are, in fact, caused by countries pursuing regime change in Libya.

Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of Malawi , speaking for the least developed countries, said building resilience to mitigate the security risks associated with climate change must begin with reflections on COVID-19, as Governments have relegated many other priorities in the quest to fight the virus.  Describing the impact of the nexus between climate change and security is “indiscriminate and consequential”, he said water scarcity, desertification and cyclones all foster competition for resources, and in the process, turn people into climate refugees.  Least developed countries bear the brunt of these phenomena, despite that their emissions are 30 times lower than those of high‑income countries.  Stressing that recovery from the coronavirus must be aligned with efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, he pressed developed countries to approach the 2021 UNFCC meeting with more ambition than in years past, as their current commitments to cut emissions remain “woefully inadequate”.  They must fulfil their pledges to provide $100 billion in climate financing annually, answer the call to earmark 50 per cent of financing in the Green Climate Fund for adaptation, especially in least developed countries, and to meaningfully transfer climate‑friendly technologies to help least developed countries accelerate their green development efforts.

Gaston Alphonso Browne, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Corporate Governance of Antigua and Barbuda , spoke on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, declaring:  “Make no mistake […] climate change’s existential threat to our own survival is not a future consideration, but a current reality.”  For the past 30 years, the Alliance has been the single most consistent advocate on climate, he said, highlighting the often-overlooked threats faced by small island developing States.  He urged the international community to simultaneously plan and operationalize a system to address inevitable loss and damage which uproot peace and security of small island developing States.  Equitable solutions are needed to systematically address difficult issues, such as climate change displacement, including the treatment of climate refugees, and loss of territory. For the past three decades, small island and low-lying States have been sounding the alarm, sending the SOS distress signal.  They are losing their territories, populations, resources and very existence due to climate change.  The Secretary-General recently stated:  “Without nature’s help, we will not thrive or even survive[…] For too long, we have been waging a senseless and suicidal war on nature.”  Sadly, small island developing States continue to be the front line for this war.  “Our appeal for the Council is to take this threat very seriously before it is too late,” he said.

Heiko Maas, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany , speaking for the Group of Friends of Climate and Security, said those countries are united by the common belief that climate change is the fundamental challenge of our time.  The poorest and most vulnerable are suffering the most, with entire islands at risk of disappearing.  “We are putting their future, their safety and their well‑being at risk if we don’t act,” he stressed, calling for concerted efforts by the United Nations in making climate change its top priority.  Agreeing with other speakers that the issue has major implications for peace and security, he said it therefore belongs firmly on the Council’s agenda.  In July 2020, the Nauru delegation presented the organ with a plan of action, including calling for the appointment of a Special Envoy on Climate and Security; regular reporting to the Council; climate‑sensitive peacebuilding; and more cooperation with civil society, regional and national actors on climate-related security risks.  Now, it is time for the Council to adopt a strong resolution reflecting each of those points, he said.

Facebook Twitter Email Print LinkedIn

• Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
• Climate Change
• Policy & Economics
• Biodiversity
• Conservation

Get focused newsletters especially designed to be concise and easy to digest

• ESSENTIAL BRIEFING 3 times weekly
• TOP STORY ROUNDUP Once a week
• MONTHLY OVERVIEW Once a month
• Enter your email *
• Comments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

15 Biggest Environmental Problems of 2024

While the climate crisis has many factors that play a role in the exacerbation of the environment, some warrant more attention than others. Here are some of the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime, from deforestation and biodiversity loss to food waste and fast fashion.

1. Global Warming From Fossil Fuels

2023 was the hottest year on record , with global average temperatures at 1.46C above pre-industrial levels and 0.13C higher than the eleven-month average for 2016, currently the warmest calendar year on record. The year was marked by six record-breaking months and two record-breaking seasons.

What’s more, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels have never been so high . After being consistently around 280 parts per million (ppm) for almost 6,000 years of human civilisation, CO2 levels in the atmosphere are now well above 420 ppm, more than double what they were before the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Rick Spinrad, the steady annual increase is a “direct result of human activity,” mainly from the burning of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity generation but also from cement manufacturing, deforestation , and  agriculture .

This is undoubtedly one of the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime: as greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth, they trap the sun’s heat, leading to global warming.

Increased emissions of greenhouse gases have led to a rapid and steady increase in global temperatures, which in turn is  causing catastrophic events all over the world – from Australia and the US experiencing some of the most devastating bushfire seasons ever recorded, locusts swarming across parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, decimating crops, and a heatwave in Antarctica that saw temperatures rise above 20C for the first time. S cientists are constantly warning that the planet has crossed a series of tipping points that could have catastrophic consequences, such as  advancing permafrost melt in Arctic regions, the Greenland ice sheet melting at an unprecedented rate, accelerating sixth mass extinction , and increasing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest , just to name a few.

The climate crisis is causing tropical storms and other weather events such as hurricanes, heatwaves and flooding to be more intense and frequent than seen before. However, even if all greenhouse gas emissions were halted immediately, global temperatures would continue to rise in the coming years. That is why it is absolutely imperative that we start now to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, invest in renewable energy sources, and phase our fossil fuels as fast as possible.

You might also like: The Tipping Points of Climate Change: How Will Our World Change?

2. Poor Governance

According to economists like Nicholas Stern, the climate crisis is a result of multiple market failures .

Economists and environmentalists have urged policymakers for years to increase the price of activities that emit greenhouse gases (one of our biggest environmental problems), the lack of which constitutes the largest market failure, for example through carbon taxes, which will stimulate innovations in low-carbon technologies.

To cut emissions quickly and effectively enough, governments must not only massively increase funding for green innovation to bring down the costs of low-carbon energy sources, but they also need to adopt a range of other policies that address each of the other market failures. 

A national carbon tax is currently implemented in 27 countries around the world , including various countries in the EU, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Ukraine and Argentina. However, according to the 2019 OECD Tax Energy Use report, current tax structures are not adequately aligned with the pollution profile of energy sources. For example, the OECD suggests that carbon taxes are not harsh enough on coal production, although it has proved to be effective for the electricity industry. A carbon tax has been effectively implemented in Sweden ; the carbon tax is U$127 per tonne and has reduced emissions by 25% since 1995, while its economy has expanded 75% in the same time period. 

Further, organisations such as the United Nations are not fit to deal with the climate crisis: it was assembled to prevent another world war and is not fit for purpose. Anyway, members of the UN are not mandated to comply with any suggestions or recommendations made by the organisation. For example, the Paris Agreement , a historic deal within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), says that countries need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly so that global temperature rise is below 2C by 2100, and ideally under 1.5C. But signing on to it is voluntary, and there are no real repercussions for non-compliance. Further, the issue of equity remains a contentious issue whereby developing countries are allowed to emit more in order to develop to the point where they can develop technologies to emit less, and it allows some countries, such as China, to exploit this. 

3. Food Waste

A third of the food intended for human consumption – around 1.3 billion tons – is wasted or lost. This is enough to feed 3 billion people. Food waste and loss account for approximately one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions annually ; if it was a country, food waste would be the third-largest emitter  of greenhouse gases, behind China and the US. 

Food waste and loss occurs at different stages in developing and developed countries; in developing countries, 40% of food waste occurs at the post-harvest and processing levels, while in developed countries, 40% of food waste occurs at the retail and consumer levels. 

At the retail level, a shocking amount of food is wasted because of aesthetic reasons; in fact, in the US, more than 50% of all produce thrown away in the US is done so because it is deemed to be “too ugly” to be sold to consumers- this amounts to about 60 million tons of fruits and vegetables. This leads to food insecurity , another one of the biggest environmental problems on the list. 

You might also like: How Does Food Waste Affect the Environment?

4. Biodiversity Loss

The past 50 years have seen a rapid growth of human consumption, population, global trade and urbanisation, resulting in humanity using more of the Earth’s resources than it can replenish naturally. 

A 2020 WWF report found that the population sizes of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians have experienced a decline of an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016. The report attributes this biodiversity loss to a variety of factors, but mainly land-use change, particularly the conversion of habitats, like forests, grasslands and mangroves, into agricultural systems. Animals such as pangolins, sharks and seahorses are significantly affected by the illegal wildlife trade, and pangolins are critically endangered because of it. 

More broadly, a recent analysis has found that the sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating. More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years; the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. The scientists say that without the human destruction of nature, this rate of loss would have taken thousands of years. 

In Antarctica, climate change-triggered melting of sea ice is taking a heavy toll on emperor penguins and could wipe out entire populations by as early as 2100 , according to 2023 research.

You might also like: The Remarkable Benefits of Biodiversity

5. Plastic Pollution

In 1950, the world produced more than 2 million tons of plastic per year . By 2015, this annual production swelled to 419 million tons and exacerbating plastic waste in the environment. 

A report by science journal, Nature, determined that currently, roughly 14 million tons of plastic make their way into the oceans every year, harming wildlife habitats and the animals that live in them. The research found that if no action is taken, the plastic crisis will grow to 29 million metric tons per year by 2040. If we include microplastics into this, the cumulative amount of plastic in the ocean could reach 600 million tons by 2040.

Shockingly, National Geographic found that 91% of all plastic that has ever been made is not recycled, representing not only one of the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime, but another massive market failure. Considering that plastic takes 400 years to decompose, it will be many generations until it ceases to exist. There’s no telling what the irreversible effects of plastic pollution will have on the environment in the long run. 

You might also like: 8 Shocking Plastic Pollution Statistics to Know About

6. Deforestation

Every hour, forests the size of 300 football fields are cut down. By the year 2030, the planet might have only 10% of its forests; if deforestation isn’t stopped, they could all be gone in less than 100 years. 

The three countries experiencing the highest levels of deforestation are Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest – spanning 6.9 million square kilometres (2.72 million square miles) and covering around 40% of the South American continent – is also one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems and is home to about three million species of plants and animals . Despite efforts to protect forest land, legal deforestation is still rampant, and about one-third of global tropical deforestation occurs in Brazil’s Amazon forest, amounting to 1.5 million hectares each year . 

Agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, another one of the biggest environmental problems appearing on this list. Land is cleared to raise livestock or to plant other crops that are sold, such as sugar cane and palm oil . Besides for carbon sequestration, forests help to prevent soil erosion, because the tree roots bind the soil and prevent it from washing away, which also prevents landslides. 

You might also like: 10 Deforestation Facts You Should Know About

7. Air Pollution 

One of the biggest environmental problems today is outdoor air pollution .

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that an estimated 4.2 to 7 million people die from air pollution worldwide every year and that nine out of 10 people breathe air that contains high levels of pollutants. In Africa, 258,000 people died as a result of outdoor air pollution in 2017, up from 164,000 in 1990, according to UNICEF . Causes of air pollution mostly comes from industrial sources and motor vehicles, as well as emissions from burning biomass and poor air quality due to dust storms. 

According to a 2023 study, air pollution in South Asia – one of the most polluted areas in the world – cuts life expectancy by about 5 years . The study blames a series of factors, including a lack of adequate infrastructure and funding for the high levels of pollution in some countries. Most countries in Asia and Africa, which together contribute about 92.7% of life years lost globally due to air pollution, lack key air quality standards needed to develop adequate policies. Moreover, just 6.8% and 3.7% of governments in the two continents, respectively, provide their citizens with fully open-air quality data.

In Europe, a recent report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) showed that more than half a million people living in the European Union died from health issues directly linked to toxic pollutants exposure in 2021.

More on the topic: Less Than 1% of Global Land Area Has Safe Air Pollution Levels: Study

8. Melting Ice Caps and Sea Level Rise

The climate crisis is warming the Arctic more than twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet. Today, sea levels are rising more than twice as quickly as they did for most of the 20th century as a result of increasing temperatures on Earth. Seas are now rising an average of 3.2 mm per year globally and they will continue to grow up to about 0.7 metres by the end of this century. In the Arctic, the Greenland Ice Sheet poses the greatest risk for sea levels because melting land ice is the main cause of rising sea levels.

Representing arguably the biggest of the environmental problems, this is made all the more concerning considering that last year’s summer triggered the loss of 60 billion tons of ice from Greenland, enough to raise global sea levels by 2.2mm in just two months . According to satellite data, the Greenland ice sheet lost a record amount of ice in 2019: an average of a million tons per minute throughout the year, one of the biggest environmental problems that has cascading effects. If the entire Greenland ice sheet melts, sea level would rise by six metres .

Meanwhile, the Antarctic continent contributes about 1 millimetre per year to sea level rise, which is one-third of the annual global increase. According to 2023 data, the continent has lost approximately 7.5 trillion tons of ice since 1997 . Additionally, the last fully intact ice shelf in Canada in the Arctic recently collapsed, having lost about 80 square kilometres – or 40% – of its area over a two-day period in late July, according to the Canadian Ice Service .  

Sea level rise will have a devastating impact on those living in coastal regions: according to research and advocacy group Climate Central, sea level rise this century could flood coastal areas that are now home to 340 million to 480 million people , forcing them to migrate to safer areas and contributing to overpopulation and strain of resources in the areas they migrate to. Bangkok (Thailand), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Manila (Philippines), and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) are among the cities most at risk of sea level rise and flooding.

You might also like: Two-Thirds of World’s Glaciers Set to Disappear by 2100 Under Current Global Warming Scenario

9. Ocean Acidification

Global temperature rise has not only affected the surface, but it is the main cause of ocean acidification . Our oceans absorb about 30% of carbon dioxide that is released into the Earth’s atmosphere. As higher concentrations of carbon emissions are released thanks to human activities such as burning fossil fuels as well as effects of global climate change such as increased rates of wildfires, so do the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed back into the sea. 

The smallest change in the pH scale can have a significant impact on the acidity of the ocean. Ocean acidification has devastating impacts on marine ecosystems and species, its food webs, and provoke irreversible changes in habitat quality . Once pH levels reach too low, marine organisms such as oysters, their shells and skeleton could even start to dissolve. 

However, one of the biggest environmental problems from ocean acidification is coral bleaching and subsequent coral reef loss . This is a phenomenon that occurs when rising ocean temperatures disrupt the symbiotic relationship between the reefs and algae that lives within it, driving away the algae and causing coral reefs to lose their natural vibrant colours. Some scientists have estimated coral reefs are at risk of being completely wiped by 2050. Higher acidity in the ocean would obstruct coral reef systems’ ability to rebuild their exoskeletons and recover from these coral bleaching events. 

Some studies have also found that ocean acidification can be linked as one of the effects of plastic pollution in the ocean. The accumulating bacteria and microorganisms derived from plastic garbage dumped in the ocean to damage marine ecosystems and contribute towards coral bleaching.

10. Agriculture 

Studies have shown that the global food system is responsible for up to one-third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, of which 30% comes from livestock and fisheries. Crop production releases greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide through the use of fertilisers . 

60% of the world’s agricultural area is dedicated to cattle ranching , although it only makes up 24% of global meat consumption. 

Agriculture not only covers a vast amount of land, but it also consumes a vast amount of freshwater, another one of the biggest environmental problems on this list. While arable lands and grazing pastures cover one-third of Earth’s land surfaces , they consume three-quarters of the world’s limited freshwater resources.

Scientists and environmentalists have continuously warned that we need to rethink our current food system; switching to a more plant-based diet would dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the conventional agriculture industry. 

You might also like: The Future of Farming: Can We Feed the World Without Destroying It?

11. Food and Water Insecurity

Rising temperatures and unsustainable farming practices have resulted in increasing water and food insecurity.

Globally, more than 68 billion tonnes of top-soil is eroded every year at a rate 100 times faster than it can naturally be replenished. Laden with biocides and fertiliser, the soil ends up in waterways where it contaminates drinking water and protected areas downstream. 

Furthermore, exposed and lifeless soil is more vulnerable to wind and water erosion due to lack of root and mycelium systems that hold it together. A key contributor to soil erosion is over-tilling: although it increases productivity in the short-term by mixing in surface nutrients (e.g. fertiliser), tilling is physically destructive to the soil’s structure and in the long-term leads to soil compaction, loss of fertility and surface crust formation that worsens topsoil erosion.

With the global population expected to reach 9 billion people by mid-century, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) projects that global food demand may increase by 70% by 2050 . Around the world, more than 820 million people do not get enough to eat. 

The UN secretary-general António Guterres says, “Unless immediate action is taken, it is increasingly clear that there is an impending global food security emergency that could have long term impacts on hundreds of millions of adults and children.” He urged for countries to rethink their food systems and encouraged more sustainable farming practices. 

In terms of water security, only 3% of the world’s water is freshwater , and two-thirds of that is tucked away in frozen glaciers or otherwise unavailable for our use. As a result, some 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year. By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. 

You might also like: Global Food Security: Why It Matters in 2023

12. Fast Fashion and Textile Waste

The global demand for fashion and clothing has risen at an unprecedented rate that the fashion industry now accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions, becoming one of the biggest environmental problems of our time. Fashion alone produces more greenhouse gas emissions than both the aviation and shipping sectors combined , and nearly 20% of global wastewater, or around 93 billion cubic metres from textile dyeing, according to the UN Environment Programme.

What’s more, the world at least generated an estimated 92 million tonnes of textiles waste every year and that number is expected to soar up to 134 million tonnes a year by 2030. Discarded clothing and textile waste, most of which is non-biodegradable, ends up in landfills, while microplastics from clothing materials such as polyester, nylon, polyamide, acrylic and other synthetic materials, is leeched into soil and nearby water sources. Monumental amounts of clothing textile are also dumped in less developed countries as seen with Chile’s Atacama , the driest desert in the world, where at least 39,000 tonnes of textile waste from other nations are left there to rot.

This rapidly growing issue is only exacerbated by the ever-expanding fast fashion business model, in which companies relies on cheap and speedy production of low quality clothing to meet the latest and newest trends. While the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action sees signatory fashion and textile companies to commit to achieving net zero emission by 2050, a majority of businesses around the world have yet to address their roles in climate change.

While these are some of the biggest environmental problems plaguing our planet, there are many more that have not been mentioned, including overfishing, urban sprawl, toxic superfund sites and land use changes. While there are many facets that need to be considered in formulating a response to the crisis, they must be coordinated, practical and far-reaching enough to make enough of a difference. 

You might also like: Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact

13. Overfishing

Over three billion people around the world rely on fish as their primary source of protein. About 12% of the world relies upon fisheries in some form or another, with 90% of these being small-scale fishermen – think a small crew in a boat, not a ship, using small nets or even rods and reels and lures not too different from the kind you probably use . Of the 18.9 million fishermen in the world, 90% of them fall under the latter category.

Most people consume approximately twice as much food as they did 50 years ago and there are four times as many people on earth as there were at the close of the 1960s. This is one driver of the 30% of commercially fished waters being classified as being ‘overfished’. This means that the stock of available fishing waters is being depleted faster than it can be replaced.

Overfishing comes with detrimental effects on the environment, including increased algae in the water, destruction of fishing communities, ocean littering as well as extremely high rates of biodiversity loss.

As part of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 14) , the UN and FAO are working towards maintaining the proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels. This, however, requires much stricter regulations of the world’s oceans than the ones already in place. In July 2022, the WTO banned fishing subsidies to reduce global overfishing in a historic deal. Indeed, subsidies for fuel, fishing gear, and building new vessels, only incentivise overfishing and represent thus a huge problem. 

You might also like: 7 Solutions to Overfishing We Need Right Now

14. Cobalt Mining

Cobalt is quickly becoming the defining example of the mineral conundrum at the heart of the renewable energy transition . As a key component of battery materials that power electric vehicles (EVs), cobalt is facing a sustained surge in demand as decarbonisation efforts progress. The  world’s largest cobalt supplier is the Democratic Republic of Congo  (DRC), where it is estimated that up to a fifth of the production is produced through artisanal miners.

Cobalt mining , however, is associated with  dangerous workers’ exploitation and other serious environmental and social issues. The environmental costs of cobalt mining activities are also substantial. Southern regions of the DRC are not only home to cobalt and copper, but also large amounts of uranium. In mining regions, scientists have made note of high radioactivity levels. In addition, mineral mining, similar to other industrial mining efforts, often produces pollution that leaches into neighbouring rivers and water sources. Dust from pulverised rock is known to cause breathing problems for local communities as well.

15. Soil Degradation

Organic matter is a crucial component of soil as it allows it to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Plants absorb CO2 from the air naturally and effectively through photosynthesis and part of this carbon is stored in the soil as  soil organic carbon (SOC). Healthy soil has a minimum of 3-6% organic matter. However, almost everywhere in the world, the content is much lower than that.

According to the United Nations, about 40% of the planet’s soil is degraded . Soil degradation refers to the loss of organic matter, changes in its structural condition and/or decline in soil fertility and it is often the result of human activities, such as traditional farming practices including the use of toxic chemicals and pollutants. If business as usual continued through 2050, experts project additional degradation of an area almost the size of South America. But there is more to it. If we do not change our reckless practices and step up to preserve soil health, food security for billions of people around the world will be irreversibly compromised, with an estimated 40% less food  expected to be produced in 20 years’ time despite the world’s population projected to reach 9.3 billion people.

Featured image by Earth.Org Photographer Roy Mangersnes

How can I contribute to a more sustainable planet?

• 🗳️ Vote for Climate Action: Exercise your democratic rights by supporting candidates and policies that prioritize climate change mitigation and environmental protection. Stay informed with Earth.Org’s election coverage .
• 👣 Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: Make conscious choices to reduce your carbon footprint . Opt for renewable energy sources, conserve energy at home, use public transportation or carpool, and embrace sustainable practices like recycling and composting.
• 💰 Support Environmental Organizations: Join forces with organizations like Earth.Org and its NGO partners , dedicated to educating the public on environmental issues and solutions, supporting conservation efforts, holding those responsible accountable, and advocating for effective environmental solutions. Your support can amplify their efforts and drive positive change.
• 🌱 Embrace Sustainable Habits: Make sustainable choices in your everyday life. Reduce single-use plastics, choose eco-friendly products, prioritize a plant-based diet and reduce meat consumption, and opt for sustainable fashion and transportation. Small changes can have a big impact.
• 💬 Be Vocal, Engage and Educate Others: Spread awareness about the climate crisis and the importance of environmental stewardship. Engage in conversations, share information, and inspire others to take action. Together, we can create a global movement for a sustainable future.
• 🪧 Stand with Climate Activists: Show your support for activists on the frontlines of climate action . Attend peaceful protests, rallies, and marches, or join online campaigns to raise awareness and demand policy changes. By amplifying their voices, you contribute to building a stronger movement for climate justice and a sustainable future .

For more actionable steps, visit our ‘ What Can I do? ‘ page.

This story is funded by readers like you

Our non-profit newsroom provides climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Your one-off or monthly donations play a crucial role in supporting our operations, expanding our reach, and maintaining our editorial independence.

About EO | Mission Statement | Impact & Reach | Write for us

4 Biggest Environmental Issues in the Philippines in 2024

Water Shortage: Causes and Effects

What Are the Countries Most Prepared for Climate Change?

Hand-picked stories weekly or monthly. We promise, no spam!

• Email This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Boost this article By donating us $100, $50 or subscribe to Boosting $10/month – we can get this article and others in front of tens of thousands of specially targeted readers. This targeted Boosting – helps us to reach wider audiences – aiming to convince the unconvinced, to inform the uninformed, to enlighten the dogmatic.

• Essay Topic Generator
• Essay Grader
• Reference Finder
• AI Outline Generator
• Paragraph Expander
• Essay Expander
• Literature Review Generator
• Thesis Generator
• Text Editing Tools
• AI Rewording Tool
• AI Sentence Rewriter
• AI Article Spinner
• AI Grammar Checker
• Spell Checker
• PDF Spell Check
• Paragraph Checker
• Free AI Essay Writer
• Paraphraser
• Grammar Checker
• Citation Generator
• Plagiarism Checker
• AI Detector
• AI Essay Checker
• Proofreading Service
• Editing Service
• AI Writing Guides
• AI Detection Guides
• Citation Guides
• Grammar Guides
• Paraphrasing Guides
• Plagiarism Guides
• Summary Writing Guides
• STEM Guides
• Humanities Guides
• Language Learning Guides
• Coding Guides
• Top Lists and Recommendations
• AI Detectors
• AI Writing Services
• Coding Homework Help
• Citation Generators
• Editing Websites
• Essay Writing Websites
• Language Learning Websites
• Math Solvers
• Paraphrasers
• Plagiarism Checkers
• Reference Finders
• Spell Checkers
• Summarizers
• Tutoring Websites
• Essay Checkers
• Essay Topic Finders

Most Popular

13 days ago

Anxiety Among Students: What Do Teachers Think About It?

How to write a character analysis essay, how to write a biography essay, apu students get flexible on-campus working hours and other benefits, dorm overbooking and transitional housing: problems colleges are trying to solve, critical threats to the global environment essay sample, example.

The global environment

The global environment is facing critical threats that are rapidly becoming more apparent with each passing day. These threats are causing serious damage to the planet’s ecosystems, natural resources, and the health of the people who inhabit it. These threats are caused by a variety of factors, including climate change, pollution, deforestation, and overpopulation. In this essay, we will delve into the critical threats to the global environment and the measures that can be taken to mitigate them.

Climate change is one of the most significant threats to the global environment. The rise in global temperatures caused by the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is causing severe consequences, such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and more frequent and intense natural disasters. These effects have far-reaching consequences for the environment, affecting the world’s ecosystems, agriculture, and water supply. The increase in global temperatures is also impacting the health of people, causing heat waves, respiratory problems, and other health issues.

Another critical threat to the global environment is pollution. Pollution is caused by a range of factors, including industrial waste, agricultural runoff, and transportation emissions. The impact of pollution on the environment is significant, causing harm to the air, water, and soil. This pollution can have severe consequences for the health of people, causing respiratory problems, cancer, and other health issues.

Deforestation is another significant threat to the global environment. Deforestation is caused by the clearing of forests for agriculture, logging, and urban development. This removal of forests is causing a loss of habitat for wildlife, soil erosion, and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Deforestation is also contributing to the rise in global temperatures, as trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Overpopulation is also a critical threat to the global environment. The growth in the world’s population is putting a strain on the planet’s natural resources, such as land, water, and food. The demand for these resources is causing the depletion of natural resources, leading to issues such as droughts, famine, and conflicts over resources.

To mitigate these critical threats to the global environment, there are several measures that can be taken. These include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, investing in renewable energy sources, reducing pollution, promoting sustainable land use practices, and promoting family planning and reproductive health services to reduce population growth.

In conclusion, the global environment is facing critical threats that require urgent action to be taken. Climate change, pollution, deforestation, and overpopulation are all causing severe damage to the planet’s ecosystem and the health of the people who inhabit it. To mitigate these risks, we must take measures to reduce our impact on the environment, promote sustainable practices, and reduce our population growth. Only by taking urgent action can we protect our planet and ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.

You can find more Essay Topics in our weekly digest based on the real market data and research from A*Help.

Q: What are critical threats to the global environment?

A: Critical threats to the global environment refer to issues that negatively impact the earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity. Examples include climate change, deforestation, pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction.

Q: How does climate change impact the global environment?

A: Climate change has numerous negative impacts on the environment, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity, and changes to ecosystems and habitats. It also contributes to the melting of glaciers and ice caps, which can lead to flooding.

Q: What can individuals do to help prevent critical threats to the global environment?

A: Individuals can take simple steps to reduce their environmental impact, such as using public transportation, conserving water, reducing energy consumption, and recycling. Supporting environmentally-friendly businesses and advocating for sustainable practices can also make a difference.

Q: What are the consequences of deforestation?

A: Deforestation can lead to soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and changes to the local climate. It can also contribute to global climate change by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Q: How does overfishing impact the global environment?

A: Overfishing can lead to the depletion of fish populations and disrupt entire ecosystems. It can also impact the livelihoods of fishermen and coastal communities that depend on fishing for their income.

Q: How can governments and organizations address critical threats to the global environment?

A: Governments and organizations can take steps to address critical threats to the global environment by implementing policies and regulations that promote sustainability and conservation. This can include investing in renewable energy, protecting natural habitats, and promoting sustainable agriculture and forestry practices. Collaboration between governments, organizations, and individuals is also essential.

Follow us on Reddit for more insights and updates.

Comments (1)

Welcome to A*Help comments!

We’re all about debate and discussion at A*Help.

We value the diverse opinions of users, so you may find points of view that you don’t agree with. And that’s cool. However, there are certain things we’re not OK with: attempts to manipulate our data in any way, for example, or the posting of discriminative, offensive, hateful, or disparaging material.

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

it is comforting to read your articale and hope we will succeed in the upcoming exam

More from 5 Paragraph Essay Examples and Samples

Influence of greek roots in english learning. essay sample and references, what are the objectives of tourism essay sample and references.

Nov 27 2023

Rationalism vs Empiricism

Remember Me

What is your profession ? Student Teacher Writer Other

Forgotten Password?

Username or Email

Human, economic, environmental toll of climate change on the rise: WMO

Facebook Twitter Print Email

The relentless advance of climate change brought more drought, flooding and heatwaves to communities around the world last year, compounding threats to people’s lives and livelihoods, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) said on Friday.

WMO latest State of the Global Climate report shows that the last eight years were the eight warmest on record , and that sea level rise and ocean warming hit new highs . Record levels of greenhouse gases caused “planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere”.

World Meteorological Organization April 21, 2023

The organization says its report, released ahead of this year’s Mother Earth Day , echoes UN Secretary-General António Guterres ’ call for “ deeper, faster emissions cuts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius”, as well as “ massively scaled-up investments in adaptation and resilience, particularly for the most vulnerable countries and communities who have done the least to cause the crisis”.

WMO Secretary-General, Prof. Petteri Taalas, said that amid rising greenhouse gas emissions and a changing climate, “populations worldwide continue to be gravely impacted by extreme weather and climate events ”. He stressed that last year, “continuous drought in East Africa, record breaking rainfall in Pakistan and record-breaking heatwaves in China and Europe affected tens of millions, drove food insecurity, boosted mass migration, and cost billions of dollars in loss and damage.”

WMO highlights the importance of investing in climate monitoring and early warning systems to help mitigate the humanitarian impacts of extreme weather. The report also points out that today, improved technology makes the transition to renewable energy “cheaper and more accessible than ever” .

Warmest years on record

The State of the Global Climate report complements the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Sixth Assessment report released a month ago, which includes data up to 2020.

WMO’s new figures show that global temperatures have continued to rise, making the years 2015 to 2022 the eight warmest ever since regular tracking started in 1850. WMO notes that this was despite three consecutive years of a cooling La Niña climate pattern.

WMO says concentrations of the three main greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere – carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – reached record highs in 2021, which is the latest year for which consolidated data is available , and that there are indications of a continued increase in 2022.

Indicators ‘off the charts’

According to the report, “melting of glaciers and sea level rise - which again reached record levels in 2022 - will continue to up to thousands of years ”. WMO further highlights that “Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European glaciers was, literally, off the charts”.

Sea level rise, which threatens the existence of coastal communities and sometimes entire countries, has been fuelled not only by melting glaciers and ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica, but also by the expansion of the volume of oceans due to heat. WMO notes that ocean warming has been “particularly high in the past two decades”.

Deadly consequences

The report examines the many socio-economic impacts of extreme weather, which have wreaked havoc in the lives of the most vulnerable around the world . Five consecutive years of drought in East Africa, in conjunction with other factors such as armed conflict, have brought devastating food insecurity to 20 million people across the region.

Extensive flooding in Pakistan caused by severe rainfall in July and August last year killed over 1,700 people, while some 33 million were affected. WMO highlights that total damage and economic losses were assessed at $30 billion, and that by October 2022, around 8 million people had been internally displaced by the floods.

The report also notes that in addition to putting scores of people on the move, throughout the year, hazardous climate and weather-related events “worsened conditions” for many of the 95 million people already living in displacement .

Threat to ecosystems

Environmental impacts of climate change are another focus of the report, which highlights a shift in recurring events in nature, “such as when trees blossom, or birds migrate”. The flowering of cherry trees in Japan has been tracked since the ninth century, and in 2021 the date of the event was the earliest recorded in 1,200 years .

As a result of such shifts, entire ecosystems can be upended . WMO notes that spring arrival times of over a hundred European migratory bird species over five decades “show increasing levels of mismatch to other spring events”, such as the moment when trees produce leaves and insects take flight, which are important for bird survival.

The report says these mismatches “are likely to have contributed to population decline in some migrant species , particularly those wintering in sub-Saharan Africa”, and to the ongoing destruction of biodiversity.

Ending the ‘war on nature’

In his message on Earth Day, UN chief Mr. Guterres warned that “ biodiversity is collapsing as one million species teeter on the brink of extinction ”, and called on the world to end its “relentless and senseless wars on nature”, insisting that “we have the tools, the knowledge, and the solutions” to address climate change.

Last month, Mr. Guterres convened an Advisory Panel of top UN agency officials, private sector and civil society leaders, to help fast track a global initiative aiming to protect all countries through life-saving early warning systems by 2027. Stepped up coordinated action was announced, initially in 30 countries particularly vulnerable to extreme weather, including Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries.

Early Warnings for All

WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas said on Friday that some one hundred countries currently do not have adequate weather services in place, and that the UN Early Warnings for All Initiative “ aims to fill the existing capacity gap to ensure that every person on earth is covered by early warning services”.

Mr. Taalas explained that “achieving this ambitious task requires improvement of observation networks, investments in early warning, hydrological and climate service capacities.” He also stressed the effectiveness of collaboration among UN agencies in addressing humanitarian impacts of climate events, especially in reducing mortality and economic losses. 

• extreme weather
• climate action

Talk to our experts

1800-120-456-456

• Environmental Issue Essay

Essay on Environmental Issue

Environment is the surrounding of an Organism. This Environment in which an Organism lives is made up of various components like Air, Water, Land, etc. These components are found in fixed proportions to create a Harmonious Balance in the Environment for the Organism to live in. Any kind of undesirable and wanted change in the proportions of these components can be termed as Pollution. This Issue is increasing with every passing year. It is an Issue that troubles Economically, Physically and Socially. The Environmental problem that is worsening with each day needs to be addressed so that its harmful effects on Humans as well as the planet can be redressed. 

Environmental Issue

Our green world is now in Jeopardy. Humans depleted Natural Resources by polluting Water, Soil, and Air. We must tackle the challenges we have created by opening our eyes. The Environment has been profoundly impacted by Industrial Growth. People emit more Pollution for more convenience. Human actions have an impact on the Environment, both directly and indirectly. As a result, there is a symbiotic link between a creature and its surroundings. Let’s discuss some major Issues our Environment Issues which our Environment is facing nowadays:

Global Warming:

Foremost symptom of natural imbalance is Global Warming. When Greenhouse Gasses accumulate and cause the temperature to rise, we see the Greenhouse effect. It has an impact on the rising of the World Ocean level and the melting of Arctic ice. According to specialists, coastal countries and certain islands could be overwhelmed by water over several decades.

Increasing Population:

People require greater space and resources as their population grows, in order to meet all of their food and housing needs. To make room for pastures and agricultural fields, people began cutting down trees. Forests serve as the Earth's main lungs and the primary habitat for a wide range of animals, birds, and insects. Deforestation and Human activities have put a lot of forest species in Jeopardy.

Ozone Layer Depletion:

Depletion of the Ozone layer is a complex Issue that Humanity is grappling with. The Ozone layer absorbs UV radiation, which is damaging to Humans. Increased Ozone hole numbers result in more intense solar radiation and a rise in skin cancer.

Deforestation: 

Plants and trees are essential components of Human life. Everyone benefits from trees because they give air, food, and medicines. Forests are being cut down to meet rising demand. During the summer, natural wildfires are common. To maximize profit, people take down trees in an unethical manner.

Climate change is occurring at a faster rate than it was a century ago. The weather change has an impact on industrial advancement. Climate change has resulted in disastrous hurricanes, floods, and droughts. In recent years, many countries have been hit by a slew of natural disasters.

Polluted Environments can cause a variety of illnesses. Many species of flora and wildlife that are important to flora are threatened with extinction. Nature preserves balance, and all Organisms' feeding habits are linked in a food chain, as we all know. In areas with petroleum refineries, chemicals, iron and steel, non-metal products, pulp and paper manufacturers, and textile industries, the problem of industrial Pollution is often severe.

Causes of Environmental Issue

With the rise of the industries and the migration of people from villages to cities in search of employment, there has been a regular increase in the problem of proper housing and unhygienic conditions of living. These reasons have given rise in factors for Pollution. Environmental Pollution is of five basic types namely; Air, Water, Soil and Noise Pollution.

Air Pollution:  

Air Pollution is a major Issue in today’s world. The smoke pouring out of factory chimneys and automobiles pollute the air that we breathe in. Gasses like Carbon dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and Sulphur Dioxide are emitted which mix with air and cause great harm to the Human body, Flora and Fauna. The dry farm waste, dry grass, leaves and coal used as domestic fuels in our villages also produce harmful Gasses. Acid rain occurs due to excess Sulphur Dioxide in the Air. 

Water Pollution:  

Water Pollution is one of the most serious Environmental Issues. The waste products from the growing industries and sewage water are not treated properly before disposing into rivers and other water bodies, thus creating Pollution. Agricultural processes with excess fertilizers and pesticides also pollute the water bodies.

Soil or Land Pollution:  

The next source of Environmental Pollution is soil. Waste materials such as plastics, polythene, bottles, etc. cause land Pollution and render soil infertile. Moreover, dumping of dead bodies of men and animals, washing of clothes and utensils add to this Issue. It is a very dangerous aspect of Environment since it affects the fertility and food production of the area and the country.

Noise Pollution:  

This Issue is a very subtle form of Pollution. All Human activities contribute to noise Pollution to a large extent. Horns of the vehicles, loud speakers, music system, industrial activities contribute towards this Issue.

Problems like Ozone depletion, Global Warming, Greenhouse effect, change in climatic and weather conditions, melting of glaciers etc. are some more Issues in the Environment.

How to Minimize Environmental Issues?

To minimize this Issue, preventive measures need to be taken.

Principle of 3R’s:  

To save the Environment, use the principle of 3 R’s; Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. 

Reuse products again and again. Instead of throwing away things after one use, find a way to use them again.  Reduce the amount of waste products generated. 

Recycle:  

Paper, plastics, glass and electronic items can be processed into new products while using fewer natural resources and lesser energy.

To prevent and control measures of air Pollution including better-designed equipment and smokeless fuels should be used in homes and industries. 

More and more trees should be planted to balance the ecosystem and control Greenhouse effects.

Noise Pollution can be minimized by better designing and proper maintenance of vehicles. Industrial noise can be reduced by sound proofing equipment like generators, etc. 

To control soil Pollution, usage of plastic bags must be stopped. Sewage should be treated properly before using it as fertilizers and as landfills.  

Several measures can be adopted to control water Pollution. Some of them are that the water requirement can be minimized by altering the techniques involved. Water should be reused with treatment. The quantity of water waste discharged should be reduced. 

People, unfortunately, forget that we are a part of nature. We must live in harmony with nature and take care of it. We need to rethink how we consume natural resources. People must be aware that the natural world is on the verge of collapse. People must recognise that they are not the primary users of the Environment and construct Environmentally suitable homes. We must consider future generations and what will be left behind after we are gone. People come up with remedies to Environmental Issues. We recycle trash, develop electric automobiles, reduce air, water, and soil Pollution, and restore land erosion by planting new trees. But it is not enough; people must drastically alter their lifestyles until nature takes the last drastic measures.

Saving our planet from these Environmental Issues is the responsibility of every individual. If preventive measures are not taken then our future generation will have to face major repercussions. Government is also taking steps to create public awareness. Every individual should be involved in helping to reduce and control Pollution.

FAQs on Environmental Issue Essay

1. What are the Major Environmental Issues?

The major environmental issues are environmental degradation, climate change, global warming, and greenhouse effects.

2. What is the Best Way to Control Greenhouse Effect?

Afforestation is the best way to control greenhouse effect.

3. What is the Principle of 3Rs?

The principle of 3Rs is Reuse, Reduce and Recycle.

4. How do you Minimize Soil Pollution?

Stopping the use of plastics can minimize soil Pollution.

• Essay On Environment

Environment Essay

500+ words essay on environment.

Every year, on the 5th of June, we all celebrate World Environment Day. All living beings and non-living beings present on the Earth represent the environment. Plants, creatures, water, air, and other living things exist in our environment. Our environment gets influenced by climatic interaction, geomorphic measures, and hydrologic measures. The life of humans and animals is entirely dependent on climate. Our environment supports life on Earth. Everything we inhale, feel, and energy comes from the environment. The environment is considered a cover that helps sustain life on Earth. Among all the planets, it is our planet Earth that supports life.

Importance of Environment

Everyday, we get to hear about threats to the environment. Our environment includes everything from the forests to the oceans, which impacts our everyday life. It can be deforestation, pollution, soil erosion, etc., which needs to be addressed seriously.

1. Livelihoods of People depend on the Environment

Billions of people depend on the environment for their livelihood. For example, over 1.5 billion people depend on forests for food, medicine, shelter and more. Farmers turn to the woods when their crops fail. Almost two billion people earn a living from agriculture, and the other three billion people are on the ocean.

2. Environment Strength Food Security

Many negative consequences are encountered due to biodiversity loss, but weakened food security is extensive. If we lose our precious animals and plant species, we become more vulnerable to pests and diseases. Due to this, our health is at a greater risk of related illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. So, we should protect our oceans and forests to ensure food for every human being.

3. Trees Clean the Air

Pollution is a crucial issue, and every year, 7 million people die due to pollution. Polluted air impacts our health and lifespans, including behavioural problems, developmental delays, and diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The trees work as a filter to remove air pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide while releasing oxygen.

Benefits of the Environment

Our environment provides us with enormous benefits which we can’t repay in our entire life span. The environment includes animals, water, trees, forest and air. Trees and forests filter the air and take in harmful gases, and plants purify the water, maintain natural balance and many others.

The environment keeps a regular check on its functioning as it helps regulate the vital systems essential for the ecosystem. It also helps in maintaining culture and quality of life on Earth. The environment regulates natural cycles that occur daily. These natural cycles balance living things and the environment. If we disturb these natural cycles, it will ultimately affect humans and other living beings.

For thousands of years, the environment helped humans, animals, and plants flourish and grow. It also provides us with fertile land, air, livestock, water and essential things for survival.

Cause of Environmental Degradation

Human activities are the primary cause of environmental degradation because most humans somehow harm the environment. The activities of humans that cause ecological degradation are pollution, defective environmental policies, chemicals, greenhouse gases, global warming, ozone depletion, etc.

Due to the industrial revolution and population explosion, the demand for environmental resources has increased, but their supply has become limited due to overuse and misuse. Some vital resources have been exhausted due to the extensive and intensive use of renewable and non-renewable resources. Our environment is also disturbed by the extinction of resources and the rapidly rising population.

The waste generated by the developed world is beyond the absorptive capacity of the environment. So, the development process resulted in environmental pollution, water, and the atmosphere, ultimately harming the water and air quality. It has also resulted in an increased incidence of respiratory and water-borne diseases.

To conclude, we can say that it is the environment that is keeping us alive. Without the blanket of the environment, we won’t survive.

Moreover, the environment’s contribution to life cannot be repaid. Besides, what the environment has done for us, we only have damaged and degraded it.

From our BYJU’S website, students can also access CBSE Essays related to different topics. It will help students to get good marks in their exams.

Frequently Asked Questions on Environment Essay

How can we protect the environment around us.

The first step is to change our mindset and stop littering public places. Take steps to reduce plastic usage as it is one of the biggest threats to our environment. Remember the slogan ‘Reduce, reuse and recycle’ and take a bold step towards protecting the environment. At all costs, avoid pollution of water, soil, and air.

How does the proper maintenance of the environment help human beings?

Human beings derive most of their daily needs from the environment. Moreover, environmental pollution can lead to increased risk of diseases, illness.

What are the main reasons for environmental pollution?

Over-usage of environmental and natural resources, reduction in environmental protection, destruction of natural resources are the main reasons for environmental pollution.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Request OTP on Voice Call

Post My Comment

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Register with byju's & watch live videos.

September 11, 2024

‘Forever’ Pesticides Threaten Worse Environmental Harms Than DDT

A looming and poorly regulated PFAS threat comes from these chemicals’ common use in pesticides on farms nationwide

By Nathan Donley & Kyla Bennett

GomezDavid/Getty Images

When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended most uses of the notorious pesticide DDT back in 1972, it wasn’t just because of the poison’s then suspected links to cancer and serious reproductive effects in humans. Evidence also suggested that the chemical would bioaccumulate in living things and persist in the environment for centuries, threatening the health of our children, our children’s children and beyond—a disturbing reality confirmed by recent research .

Now, more than 50 years later, a growing body of research reveals the EPA is failing to fully address a similar, and potentially even greater, multigenerational chemical threat: the skyrocketing presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), aptly dubbed “ forever chemicals ,” in millions of gallons of pesticide products that are widely used across the U.S. PFAS contain chemical bonds that are extremely hard to break, making them difficult to get rid of once they are released into the world. PFAS contamination has been documented in hundreds of species of wildlife from the far reaches of the Arctic to the tropics in the Pacific Ocean. Very low concentrations of many PFAS have been linked to certain cancers, delays in childhood development and immune system dysfunction in humans. Earlier this year the EPA set drinking water regulations for six PFAS, with permissible levels in the excruciatingly minuscule “parts per trillion” range.When PFAS are present in pesticide products, many of which are sprayed on food crops and run off into nearby waterways, people can be exposed by eating contaminated food and drinking contaminated water.

In a newly published study , we and our colleagues from several environmental watchdog groups identified troubling gaps in the EPA’s pesticide approval process that have resulted in the agency failing to fully assess the harms from the growing number of these forever chemicals added to many pesticides. The implications of that glaring lapse could not be more dire. The gaps in pesticide safety oversight—including waiving immunotoxicity studies for pesticide active ingredients, not fully accounting for the partial transformation of pesticides into different chemicals over time and failing to assess the cumulative toxicity of PFAS pesticide use—must be rectified moving forward.

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing . By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Around one billion pounds of pesticide products are used each year across hundreds of millions of acres of U.S. farmland, making pesticides some of the nation’s most widely distributed pollutants. Simply put, if the goal was to spread forever chemicals as broadly as possible across the nation, there would likely be no more efficient way of doing so than putting them in pesticides.

Our study found that 14 percent of all conventional active ingredients in pesticides are PFAS. Worse yet, the long-lived chemicals comprise 30 percent of pesticide active ingredients approved in just the past 10 years, meaning that pesticide contamination with PFAS is trending upward and will likely increase in the coming years.

Although PFAS are known to leach from plastic storage containers into pesticides, contamination is more often the result of pesticide ingredients that are forever chemicals in their own right. PFAS pesticide ingredients and their “degradates”—what they turn into after partially breaking down—can stick around for decades or centuries and are incredibly potent. But the more potent and persistent the poison, the more likely it is to cause collateral damage.

The trend is clear: pesticide manufacturers are increasingly in the business of making “forever pesticides.” According to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, the nation annually uses 23 million to 35 million pounds of pesticide ingredients that are PFAS .

Yet what happens to those increasing loads of forever chemicals once they are sprayed on fields is not well understood. The little we do know is extremely troubling: although only about 20 percent of PFAS pesticides have been monitored in U.S. waterways, federal regulators have found nearly all of them in rivers and streams across the nation.

The increasing “PFASification” of pesticides and the resulting environmental contamination are partly the result of regulations that seek to mitigate immediate toxicity concerns without fully accounting for the length of time a chemical will persist in the environment or for the effects of its degradates.

Many researchers now believe that beyond a substance’s overt toxicities, its persistence alone should be a basis for its regulation, because any release of the substance into the environment will likely be irreversible. And as our understanding of PFAS toxicity grows over time, we have found these chemicals are often more harmful than previously thought.

Right now, with summer coming to an end in the U.S., many farmers have already applied pesticides to try to suppress weeds, insects or fungi. That means tens of millions of pounds of forever chemicals were added to the environment this year alone and will remain there, in one form or another, for the birth of your grandchildren’s grandchildren and generations thereafter.

It’s hard to imagine a more frightening indictment of the chemical-intensive agriculture that has been allowed to evolve in this country. But farmers are not the problem here. By not accounting for effects that will be realized decades or even centuries from now, EPA regulators are enabling this type of harmful agriculture.

The only reason the EPA was able to ban incredibly persistent chemicals such as DDT and PCBs in the 1970s was because the agency acknowledged their long-term harm to society and the environment and faced, full-on, the difficult task of navigating the political challenges inherent in banning any widely used pesticide product.

The agency tasked with the job of protecting our health and the environment must pivot and fully embrace its duty to reverse the fast-emerging threat posed by PFAS.

If the EPA fails to face this challenge, it will be responsible for burdening generations to come with increases in deadly, chronic diseases and toxic cleanup responsibilities that will, quite literally, last forever.

This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Essay: To fix climate anxiety (and also climate change), we first have to fix individualism

• Copy Link URL Copied!

How do you cope? I feel the sorrow, the quiet plea for guidance every time someone asks me this question. As an environmental reporter dedicated to helping people make sense of climate change, I know I should have answers. But the truth is, it took me until now to face my own grief.

My heart keeps breaking whenever I meet yet another child struggling with asthma amid orange, smoke-filled skies. I, too, am reeling from the whiplash of extreme drought and extreme rain , and I’m still haunted by the thought of a mother having to call each of her daughters to say goodbye as the homes around her cave to fire.

Each year, as I reflect on my own reporting on the floods that keep getting worse and the toxic pollution building up in all forms of life , I find myself questioning whether I could ever justify bringing my own children into this world. I agonize over the amount of plastic we can’t avoid using and mourn the monarch butterflies that have vanished. With each new heat record shattered, and each new report declaring a code red for humanity , I can’t help but feel like we’re just counting down the days to our own extinction.

In the face of sea level rise, can we reimagine California’s vanishing coastline?

“Climate anxiety” is the term we now use to describe these feelings, but I must confess, I was perplexed when I first heard these words a few years ago. Anger, frustration, helplessness, exhaustion — these are the emotions I come across more often when getting to know the communities bracing for, or recovering from, the devastation of what they’ve long considered home.

Then a college student asked me about climate anxiety. It came up again on social media, and again in personal essays and polls. This paralyzing dread was suddenly the talk of the town — but it has also, very noticeably, remained absent in some circles.

All this has led me to wonder: What, exactly, is climate anxiety? And how should we cope? At first blush, this anxiety seems rooted in a fear that we’ll never go back to normal, that the future we were once promised is now gone. But who this “normal” is even for (and what we’re actually afraid of losing) speaks to a much more complicated question:

Is this anxiety pointing to a deeper responsibility that we all must face — and ultimately, is this anxiety something we can transcend?

For Jade Sasser, whose research on climate emotions has been grounded by her own experiences as a Black woman, these questions sharpened into focus during a research-methods seminar that she was teaching early last year at UC Riverside.

The class — all female, many from low-income immigrant communities — had been a fairly quiet group all quarter, so Sasser was surprised when the room completely erupted after she broached what she thought would be an academic, somewhat dispassionate discussion about climate change and the future.

Every student was suddenly talking, even yelling, over one another. Thought after thought tumbled out as they shared that not only does the future feel bleak when it comes to the job market, the housing crisis and whether their generation will ever be able to “settle down with kids” — but all this is many times worse when you’re not white, not documented and not born into a college-educated family.

How can they feel hopeful about the future, they asked, when, on top of everything already stacked against them, they also have to worry about wildfires, extreme heat and air pollution getting out of control?

‘It’s almost shameful to want to have children’

‘Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question’ asks: With American society feeling more socially and politically polarized than ever, is it right to bring another person into the world?

“It was literally a collective meltdown unlike anything I had ever experienced,” said Sasser, whose podcast and book, “ Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question, ” were largely inspired by her students that day. “I understood in that moment that you cannot assume someone does not also experience anxiety simply because their way of talking about it may not be the same as yours.”

It doesn’t help, she added, that many people don’t realize what they’re feeling is climate anxiety because the way we talk about it tends to center the experiences of white and more privileged people — people who have been insulated from oppression and have rarely (until now) had to worry about the safety of their own future.

“For a lot of people, climate anxiety looks a certain way: It looks very scared, it looks very sad, and it looks like a person who is ready, willing and able to talk about it,” Sasser said. “But for those who are experiencing many compounding forms of vulnerability at the same time, you can’t just pick out one part of it and say, ‘Oh, this is what’s causing me to feel this way.’”

A brave first step is to acknowledge privilege — and to support, and perhaps even learn, from those who have had to be resilient long before climate change became so overwhelming.

“For me, this work is a matter of survival,” said Kevin J. Patel, who grew up in South L.A. and has been fighting for climate justice since he was 11. He was contemplative, nodding, when I shared what I learned from Sasser, and he gently added that one privilege many communities don’t have is the ability to turn it off. Not everyone can go on a vacation or take a day to recharge, he said. Even having the time to talk about your sadness can be a luxury.

Feeling climate anxiety? These books offer glimmers of hope — and much-needed wisdom

Patel learned at a young age that not all communities get the same level of care. Growing up with hazy air, in a neighborhood hemmed in by the 10 and 110 freeways, Patel almost collapsed one day in front of his sixth-grade class when his heart suddenly started pounding at more than 300 beats per minute.

His parents, farmers from Gujarat, India, rushed Patel to the emergency room and held his hand while everyone around him thought he was dying. After months of hospital visits and procedures, doctors determined that he had developed a severe heart condition in large part due to the smog.

‘For me, this work is a matter of survival.’

— Kevin J. Patel

As he learned to live with an irregular heartbeat, he found joy in his family’s tiny garden and marveled at all the ladybugs that gathered on the tulsi, a special type of basil. He taught his classmates that food came from the ground, not the grocery store, and together, they went on to form an environmental club.

Today, Patel speaks with the hardened wisdom of someone who has experienced much more than the typical 23-year-old. He’s constantly doing something — whether it’s supporting a neighbor, getting water bottle refill stations installed at his school, or turning the idea of a Los Angeles County Youth Climate Commission into reality. For years, he has guided other marginalized youth through OneUpAction , a grassroots environmental group that he built from the ground up.

Even if he doesn’t call it anxiety, he admits he sometimes has trouble focusing, and there’s a tenseness in his body that can be hard to shake off. But he’s usually able to turn it around by talking to his friends or elders, or by reciting his favorite proverb:

They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.

“It’s not about what I need, it’s about what my community needs,” he said. “There is joy in caring for one another. There is joy in coming together to fight for a future that we believe in.”

When talking about climate anxiety, it’s important to differentiate whether you’re assessing these emotions as a mental health condition, or as a cultural phenomenon.

Let’s start with mental health: Polls show climate anxiety is on the rise and that people all around the world are losing sleep over climate change. Organizations like the Climate-Aware Therapist Directory and the American Psychiatric Assn. have put together an increasing number of guides and resources to help more people understand how climate change has affected our emotional well-being.

Poll shows Californians’ climate anxiety is on the rise

Just knowing that climate change is getting worse can trigger serious psychological responses. And the shock and trauma are all the more great if you’ve already had to live through the kinds of disasters that keep the rest of us up at night.

It’s also important to note that social media has magnified our sense of doom. What you see on social media tends to be a particularly intense and cherry-picked version of reality, but studies show that’s exactly how the vast majority of young people are getting their information about climate change: online rather than in school.

But you can’t treat climate anxiety like other forms of anxiety, and here’s where the cultural politics come in: The only way to make climate anxiety go away is to make climate change go away, and given the fraught and deeply systemic underpinnings of climate change, we must also consider this context when it comes to our climate emotions. How we feel is just as much a product of the narratives that have shaped the way we perceive and respond to the world.

“Climate anxiety can’t be limited to just a clinical setting — we have to take it out of the therapy room and look at it through a lens of privilege, and power, and the economic, historical and social structures that are at the root of the problem,” said Sarah Jaquette Ray, whose book “ A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety ” is a call to arms to think more expansively about our despair. “Treating a person’s climate anxiety without challenging these systems only addresses the symptoms, not the causes... and if white or more privileged emotions get the most airtime, and if we don’t see how climate is intersecting with all these other problems, that can result in a greater silencing of the people most impacted.”

Ray, an environmental humanist who chairs the environmental studies program at Cal Poly Humboldt, also emphasized that our distress can actually be a catalyst for much-needed change. These emotions are meant to shake us out of complacency, to sound the alarm to the very real crisis before us. But if we don’t openly talk about climate anxiety as something that is not only normal but also expected, we run the risk of further individualizing the problem. We already have a tendency to shut down and feel alone in our sorrows, which traps us into thinking only about ourselves.

“One huge reason why climate anxiety feels so awful is this feeling of not being able to do anything about it,” Ray said. “But if you actually saw yourself as part of a collective, as interconnected with all these other movements doing meaningful things, you wouldn’t be feeling this despair and loneliness.”

The trick to fixing climate anxiety is to fix individualism, she said. Start small, tap into what you’re already good at, join something bigger than yourself.

And by fixing individualism, as many young activists like Patel have already figured out, we just might have a better shot at fixing climate change.

Let us consider, for a moment, how the words that we use can also limit the way we think about our vulnerability and despair.

Something as simple as the “climate” in “climate anxiety” and how we define “environment” can unintentionally reinforce who we center in the conversation.

“In Nigeria, what we call our environment — it’s not just trees and mountains — it’s also about our food, our jobs, the biodiversity that gives us the life support that we need to thrive every day. That’s what we call our environment; it’s about our people,” said Jennifer Uchendu, who founded SustyVibes , a youth-led sustainability group based in her home country, as well as the Eco-Anxiety in Africa Project , which seeks to validate the emotions and experiences of communities often overlooked in climate conversations. “So if people are being oppressed by the system, it is still linked to our idea of the environment.”

Many of Uchendu’s elders have expressed a lifetime of feeling frustrated and powerless, for example, but she said they didn’t immediately connect these feelings to climate change because “climate anxiety” sounded to them like a new and elite phenomenon.

Editorial: California can make climate polluters pay for the mess they have made of Earth

We hear so often today that climate change is the existential crisis of our time, but that dismisses the trauma and violence to all the people who have been fighting to survive for centuries. Colonization, greed and exploitation are inseparable from climate change, Uchendu said, but we miss these connections when we consider our emotions only through a Western lens.

For Jessa Calderon, a Chumash and Tongva songwriter, these disconnects are ever-present in the concrete-hardened rivers snaking through Los Angeles, and the sour taste of industrialization often singeing the air. In her darkest moments, her heart hurts wondering if her son, Honor, will grow up to know clean water.

Her voice cracked as she recalled a brown bear that had been struck dead on the freeway near the Cajon Pass. As she watched strangers gawk at the limp body and share videos online, she wished she had been able to put the bear to rest and sing him into the spirit world.

“If we don’t see them as our people, then we have no hope for ourselves as a people, because we’re showing that we care about nothing more than ourselves,” she said. “And if we care about nothing more than ourselves, then we’re going to continue to devastate each other and the land.”

It is not too late to turn your climate anxiety into climate empathy. Acknowledging the emotional toll on people beyond yourself can be an opportunity to listen and support one another. Embracing our feelings — and then finding others who also want to turn their fear into action — can be the missing spark to much-needed social and environmental healing.

There is also wisdom to be learned in the songs and traditions of past movements, when people banded together — for civil rights, for women’s suffrage — and found ways to keep hope alive against all odds. And the more we look to the young people still caring for their elders in Nigeria, and to our Indigenous neighbors who continue to sing and love and tend to every living being, the better we might also comprehend the resilience required of all of us in the warming years ahead.

Opinion: Here are the places that could become too hot for humans due to climate change

So how should we cope? For Patel, living with his irregular but unwavering heartbeat, he finds strength in the words of adrienne maree brown, who famously wrote in “ Emergent Strategy ” that in the same way our lives are shaped today by our ancestors, we ourselves are future ancestors. Calderon, who similarly taught her son to leave this Earth better with every passing generation, confided to me that on the days when the sorrow feels too great, she sneaks off to plant native manzanita seeds in neighborhoods stripped of plants and trees.

As I’m reminded of all the love we can still sow for the future, I think of Phoenix Armenta, a longtime climate justice organizer in Oakland who has inspired numerous people, including myself, to take heart in all the times we actually got it right. (Remember acid rain? It was a huge problem, but collective action inspired multiple countries to join forces in the 1980s, and we did what needed to be done.)

“Imagine what kind of world you actually want to live in and start working to make that happen,” said Armenta, who recently made the switch to government planning to help more communities find their voice and determine their own visions for the future.

To grieve the world as we know it is to miss out on opportunities to transform our world for the better. To believe we have nothing left to hope for is a self-fulfilling void. We must find the courage to care, to change, to reimagine the systems that got us into such a devastating crisis in the first place — and we must allow ourselves to dream.

“But it can’t just be my dream, or your dream. It has to be our collective dream,” Armenta said. “I’ve known for a very long time that I can’t save the world, but we can save the world together.”

More to Read

Comic: Emerging from environmental dissociation

Sept. 11, 2024

Our climate change challenge

Sept. 9, 2024

Rosanna Xia is an environment reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she specializes in stories about the coast and ocean. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for explanatory reporting, and her award-winning book, “ California Against the Sea ,” has been praised as a poetic and mind-expanding exploration of what we stand to lose in the face of rising water.

More From the Los Angeles Times

World & Nation

Brazil’s Lula pledges to finish paving road that experts say could worsen Amazon deforestation

Climate & Environment

Three more California dairy herds infected with H5N1 bird flu

‘Again?’: From blizzards to fires, mountain folk adapt to a life of chaos

Hurricane Francine makes landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm

• Español (Spanish)
• Français (French)
• Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
• Brasil (Portuguese)
• India (English)
• हिंदी (Hindi)
• Feature Stories
• Explore All
• Subscribe page
• Submissions
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Advertising
• Wild Madagascar
• Selva tropicales
• Mongabay.org
• Tropical Forest Network

Why is violence against environmental defenders getting worse? Five things to know

Share this article

If you liked this story, share it with other people.

• Global Witness’s latest annual report shows that at least 196 people were killed last year defending the environment, up from 177 killed in 2022.
• Latin America is still the most violent region for defenders, with 166 killed in 2023. But other regions have been showing worrying trends, as well.
• The report calls for better data collection and transparency, which could help identify who is being targeted with violence and how.

In January 2023, two men mysteriously disappear after speaking out against pollution from a controversial iron ore mine in Michoacán, Mexico.

The following March, climate change protesters in Austria and Germany are beaten and pepper sprayed , and some have their homes raided by law enforcement.

In September, a pair of youth environmental advocates are abducted by armed men and interrogated for days about their work fighting construction of a new airport in the Philippines.

All across the world, environmental defenders continue to experience censorship, threats, physical attacks, kidnappings, disappearances and even death because of their work fighting climate change, deforestation, pollution and other environmental issues.

Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, more than 1,500 environmental defenders have been killed for their work, according to Global Witness, a human rights and environmental NGO. The figures for 2023 look like more of the same. At least 196 people were killed last year defending the environment, up from 177 in 2022. And those figures are considered a low-end estimate.

Global Witness has been tracking violence against environmental defenders since 2012, revealing an often-overlooked problem in many parts of the world where local communities are the last line of defense against major drivers of ecological destruction.

“Murder continues to be a common strategy for silencing defenders and is unquestionably the most brutal,” Global Witness’s report for 2023 said. “But … lethal attacks often occur alongside wider retaliations against defenders who are being targeted by government, business and other non-state actors with violence, intimidation, smear campaigns and criminalization. This is happening in every region of the world and in almost every sector.”

Trends in violence continue to evolve, and each region faces its own unique challenges, from organized crime and corruption to granting land rights and regulating the private sector. Below, Mongabay breaks down five important takeaways from the 2023 data.

1. Latin America is still the most violent region for defenders, by far

At least 166 environmental defenders were killed in Latin America last year, or around 85% of the world total.

Colombia was the deadliest country for defenders for the second year in a row, with 79 reported killings, or 40% of all cases. Most of the violence took place in departments like Cauca, Nariño and Putumayo , where mining, logging and cattle ranching are intertwined with armed conflicts and drug trafficking. More than half of the killings are believed to be connected to organized crime groups, although the report noted that exact causes are often difficult to confirm.

Wide-ranging rural reforms and peace building with armed groups have been a key part of Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s platform since he took office in 2022. But negotiations with the National Liberation Army, a guerrilla group, have dragged on longer than expected, and rural communities have paid the price. At least 31 of the defenders killed in Colombia last year were Indigenous people and six were from Afro-descendant communities.

“Despite the effort and political will, the wait on the ground has become much longer than desired and the slow pace of decisions and bureaucracy doesn’t match the speed at which the war is advancing in almost all departments of the country,” Somos Defensores, a Colombian NGO, said in an annual report . “While the civilian population waits for some progress in terms of guarantees and peace, the risks continue to increase, as does the number of lives taken by violence.”

Brazil and Mexico had the two next highest rates of killings last year, with 25 and 18 respectively. However, those numbers were down from 2022. In both countries, the violence stemmed from opposition to mining and logging, as well as land conflicts.

Over the past decade, Central America has quietly emerged as one of the most dangerous places to defend the environment. At least 36 defenders were killed there in 2023, representing a fifth of all cases, even though the region is home to less than 1% of the global population. Of those, 18 defenders have been killed in Honduras, which has the highest rate of killings per capita of any country.

Organized crime in countries like Guatemala and Honduras, combined with authoritarian crackdowns by the government in Nicaragua, may explain why the numbers are so high. Even Panama saw four people die during national protests last year, an unusual occurrence for a country that has had only one other reported defender death since 2012.

2. Several other regions of the world show worrying trends as well

While no region is more dangerous for defenders than Latin America, other parts of the world still reported high rates of violence against protesters, journalists and activists.

In the Philippines, at least 17 defenders died for their work last year, bringing the country’s total to 468 since 2012. Forced disappearances, in which someone is kidnapped or jailed by the state without sharing their whereabouts, often indefinitely, have become increasingly common since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of a former dictator, took office in June 2022, the report said. Last year, there were at least seven cases.

Other Asian countries where defenders were slain last year include India and Indonesia, with five and three killings respectively. Across Africa, four defenders were killed last year, bringing the total to 116 since 2012. Most of them, at a count of 74, have been park rangers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where poachers and armed groups continue to be active .

3. Private industry is a main driver of the violence. But governments play a role too.

Much of the violence last year stemmed from communities’ opposition to infrastructure development, and to logging and mining operations run by private companies with permits granted by the government. Global Witness confirmed that five deaths were also connected to the fishing industry, two to hydropower, and four to agribusiness.

Companies are supposed to carry out environmental impact studies before breaking ground while also consulting with residents about how a project will affect their lives. Just as importantly, governments are supposed to ensure companies comply with those regulations. But in numerous cases across the globe, companies and governments appear to be not just failing to meet those standards but actively avoiding them, the report said.

“The breach of these fundamental rights by governments and companies in pursuit of profit is not just minor collateral damage,” said Nonhle Mbuthuma, founder of the Amadiba Crisis Committee in South Africa. “Their actions have life-changing consequences for us all.”

Out of all industry sectors, mining was the deadliest last year. At least 25 defenders were killed opposing mining operations, according to the report, the overwhelming majority of them in Asia and Latin America.

Around 40% of all mining-related killings since 2012 have taken place in Asia, where numerous countries are racing to extract minerals like nickel, tin and bauxite to supply the clean-energy revolution.

In Mexico, nearly half of all killings of defenders involved mining operations, largely in the Pacific states of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán, where deposits of silver and other precious metals have attracted international mining companies as well as cartels and other organized crime groups. The country has also seen several forced disappearances tied to mining, the report said.

4. The U.S., U.K. and EU are turning up the heat on environmental defenders

They might not have high rates of slain defenders like other parts of the world, but the U.S., U.K. and EU have spent the last several years introducing ways to crack down on people protesting in defense of the environment.

In the U.S., more than 20 states have passed laws that aim to protect “critical infrastructure” from protesters who obstruct roads, power plants and pipelines. Protesters face heavy fines for trespassing as well as felony charges that could land them in jail for years, the report said.

Europe has introduced similar laws, including the U.K.’s Public Order Act, which gives law enforcement more power to break up protests that block traffic or interfere with other infrastructure. Its Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act of 2022 allows law enforcement to more strictly prevent protesters from “intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance,” such as making too much noise.

All of this has helped create a culture of criminalization of environmental defenders, the report said. In Germany, officials have raided homes and held activists in preventative detention before protests could even be held. Many media outlets and government agencies vilify protest movements.

“Toxic narratives are being spun and damaging labels pinned on campaigners the world over, disrupting the effective functioning of civil society,” the report said. “Defenders are being classified as climate extremists, and considered terrorist threats, amid increases in prosecutions, police brutality and judicial intimidation.”

5. The tools already exist to address violence against environmental defenders. Officials just need to use them.

In one sense, the solution to protecting environmental defenders is a simple one: Enforce the laws that recognize defenders and provide them access to justice when their rights are threatened. There are already a long list of international legal mechanisms at governments’ disposal, including the Convention on Access to Information, the Aarhus Convention, the Escazú Agreement, the U.N. Special Rapporteur procedures, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

But implementation has been slow — and often easier said than done.

Global Witness said laws need to be based on a deep understanding of the challenges faced by defenders on the ground, which is why it’s so important to beef up data collection and transparency, identifying which demographics are being targeted and how.

The private sector has to carry out similar monitoring, it said, while establishing a clear “red line” for when an operation must be suspended or shut down. Businesses should have a zero-tolerance policy toward violence.

“To protect defenders, we need countries to systematically document attacks and reprisals,” the report said. “New and better data on these attacks and their causes would enable governments to improve existing laws and mechanisms.”

Banner image: Photos of human rights lawyer Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca, who disappeared last year in Mexico. Phot by Luis Rojas via Global Witness.

See related from this reporter:

Activists ask for help combatting violence against Nicaragua’s Indigenous communities

FEEDBACK:  Use this form  to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.

To wipe or to wash? That is the question

Toilet paper: Environmentally impactful, but alternatives are rolling out

Rolling towards circularity? Tracking the trace of tires

Getting the bread: What’s the environmental impact of wheat?

Consumed traces the life cycle of a variety of common consumer products from their origins, across supply chains, and waste streams. The circular economy is an attempt to lessen the pace and impact of consumption through efforts to reduce demand for raw materials by recycling wastes, improve the reusability/durability of products to limit pollution, and […]

Free and open access to credible information

Latest articles.

Extreme drought pushes Amazon’s main rivers to lowest-ever levels

Cambodian carbon credit project hit by rights abuse claims is reinstated

How the Zai farming technique is transforming soil fertility in North Cameroon

In Nepal, conservation battles head to Supreme Court amid civil society silence

Bangkok turns to urban forests to beat worsening floods

Lack of research as contaminated Yaqui River poses health risks

Bats & bees help ni-Vanuatu predict storms — but will climate change interfere?

you're currently offline

The Straits Times

• International
• Print Edition
• news with benefits
• SPH Rewards
• STClassifieds
• Berita Harian
• Hardwarezone
• Shin Min Daily News
• Tamil Murasu
• The Business Times
• The New Paper
• Lianhe Zaobao
• Advertise with us

Koalas, other wildlife under threat as forests in Australia cleared for cattle

SYDNEY – Large-scale deforestation in Australia – mainly for cattle farming – has prompted calls for tougher oversight and incentives for farmers who protect forests, amid concerns about the dire toll on the environment and on threatened species like koalas.

Despite the country backing a United Nations commitment in 2021 to end deforestation by 2030, land clearing is still continuing on a massive scale, especially in eastern Australia.

In the five years to 2023, Australia lost 4.8 million hectares of tree cover, according to the Global Forest Watch website. This was the world’s seventh-largest loss of tree cover, behind Russia, which lost 28.9 million hectares; Canada, which lost 18.9 million hectares; Brazil, which lost 18 million hectares; and the US, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. 

The north-eastern state of Queensland alone recorded clearing of 323,676ha – more than four times the size of Singapore – in the 12 months to June 30, 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.

In New South Wales (NSW), one of the country’s other major offenders, 26,735ha of woodland was cleared in 2021, according to data for the most recent year available.

Such land clearing is damaging and destroying habitats of native species and harming local ecosystems.

Loss of habitat contributed to a decision by the federal government in 2022 to declare koalas an endangered species, and has led to about 100 million animals each year dying or being seriously harmed in NSW and Queensland, according to a study in July commissioned by Greenpeace.

Professor Martine Maron, an expert on biodiversity and conservation science from the University of Queensland, told The Straits Times that laws in Australia were failing to prevent deforestation.

Hundreds of thousands of hectares of regrown forest are cleared each year in Queensland, she said, as well as tens of thousands of hectares of old-growth forest. And, “once it is gone, you can’t get it back”.

“Habitat destruction is the current biggest threat to biodiversity in Australia,” she said. “Clearing vegetation affects soil structure and soil erosion and the water quality in the Great Barrier Reef. Loss of tree cover affects regional rainfall and makes drought worse.”

She noted: “There is a whole suite of environmental impacts that occur from the clearing of native vegetation.”

Deforestation is largely governed by state laws, but state governments are often caught between the need to support the farming sector and protecting the environment.

A study by a University of Queensland researcher published on Aug 20 found that 75 per cent of deforestation cases were allowed to proceed without state assessment under a range of exemptions, such as clearing forests that had been previously cut and were regrowing.

Environmental groups have been pushing major supermarket chains and other large buyers of beef in Australia to stop selling products from deforested farms. Woolworths, one of the country’s two main supermarket chains, announced on Aug 28 that it will make the change from Dec 30.

But farmers in Queensland have objected to reports of widespread land clearing, with some beef producers saying deforestation should be defined only as clearing forests grown before 1990, the year in which the state and federal authorities introduced major vegetation management reforms. 

Mr Michael Guerin, the head of AgForce, an association that represents Queensland’s farmers, said that Australia has diverse bioregions and should not adopt a single definition of land clearing, noting that clearing trees in some regions can assist wildlife.

He said the amount and type of land clearing should depend on the specific region’s environmental needs.

“Most of the land clearing in Queensland is not problematic,” he said. “Our challenge to those who seek to vilify us is to think about what is required in each bioregion... If you have one definition, you won’t provide the best environmental outcomes.”

Australia is a major producer of beef and was the world’s second-biggest supplier in 2023 after Brazil, accounting for 14 per cent of global exports.

In the year to June 30, Australia exported A$14.7 billion (S$12.8 billion) worth of beef, including A$3.4 billion to the US, A$2.7 billion to China, A$2.3 billion to Japan and A$2.1 billion to South Korea, and almost A$1 billion to Indonesia, according to a report released by Rural Bank on Sept 10.

Australia had 27.8 million beef cattle as at June 30, 2023, of which 13.2 million were in Queensland and 5.9 million in NSW.

Prof Maron said she believed Queensland and other governments should offer incentives for farmers to protect and maintain forests – such as tax relief or stewardship payments – rather than relying only on regulations that are failing to prevent clearing.

Much of the clearing is captured by satellite after it has occurred.

“We need to see incentives where there are benefits and rewarding of landholders, so it is not just about regulation and punishment, but it is also about rewards,” Prof Maron said.

Australia has one of the worst records of species extinction, accounting for about 35 per cent of the world’s recorded mammal extinctions.

The federal government is seeking to create an environmental protection agency that could have increased powers to enforce environmental laws. The government hopes to pass legislation enabling the agency before the next election, due in May 2025.

Environmental groups have called for the authorities to close loopholes that allow landholders to remove forest from land that has been previously cleared.

Mr Glenn Walker, the head of nature at Greenpeace, said that Australia has “one of the worst rates of deforestation in the world”.

“The rate of hectares bulldozed is on a global scale,” he said.

“Despite attempts at state level to tighten regulations, there remain significant loopholes that mean it continues.”

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

• Deforestation

Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards

Spin the wheel now

RFK Jr. Made His Mark As An Environmental Lawyer. Now He’s All In On MAGA.

Senior Reporter, HuffPost

As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke about the spiritual connection he feels toward the natural world and humankind’s duty to protect it, Tucker Carlson was left visibly starstruck.

“That is where we sense the divine. God talks to us through the fishes, the birds, the leaves. They’re all words from our creator,” Kennedy told Carlson in an Aug. 26 interview . “That is why we preserve nature.”

“Yes!” Carlson agreed, emphatically.

“It’s not because of the quantity of carbon,” Kennedy added, condemning the environmental movement’s focus on planet-warming carbon emissions.

“I feel what you said so deeply I can hardly even express it,” Carlson marveled.

Kennedy, who worked for decades as an environmental attorney, fancies himself as an “ old-school environmentalist ” — apparently one who thinks that humans can somehow safeguard the environment while ignoring carbon pollution, the 13,000-pound elephant in the room that is wreaking havoc on all the nature that Kennedy purports to care about so deeply.

Numerous former colleagues in the environmental movement have come forward to condemn Kennedy, arguing he lost his way long ago and forfeited any claim to the title of environmentalist. After suspending his own presidential campaign last month, Kennedy became a surrogate for Republican nominee Donald Trump , who has repeatedly dismissed climate change as a “hoax” and as president dismantled dozens of environmental rules and regulations to the benefit of corporate polluters.

Dan Reicher, a senior researcher at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for Environment, worked with Kennedy at the Natural Resources Defense Council in the late-1980s and early 1990s. The man he knew then, whom he called a “strong advocate who spoke his mind on environmental protection” and with whom he bonded over a shared passion for kayaking, is not the same man today.

Kennedy got his start in the environmental movement as a volunteer at NRDC, which fulfilled a community service requirement of his probation stemming from a heroin possession charge in 1983, as a recent New Yorker profile detailed. Later he was hired as an attorney at Riverkeeper, where he helped lead the organization’s fight against companies polluting the Hudson River in New York. Over his long career in environmental law and advocacy, Kennedy battled against oil and mining giants, the military, factory farms and pesticide manufacturers, and Canadian and Chilean dam projects.

“That Bobby is gone,” Reicher said, and his environmental advocacy has been replaced with “unhinged craziness.”

“Just look at his anti-vaccine crusade, his anti-government rhetoric and his current work with some of the strongest climate denialists we know in this country,” he said. “It’s hard to see how you can square his case that he’s pursuing environmental protection when he’s aligned himself with one of the strongest anti-environment leaders this country has ever seen.”

Reicher joined dozens of other former NRDC colleagues in signing onto an open letter in April calling for Kennedy to drop his independent presidential bid. The letter, titled “Earth to RFK, Jr” and which the NRDC’s political action arm ran as ads in several swing state newspapers, condemned Kennedy’s record of “spinning anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, denying science, and putting lives at risk.”

Reicher sees Kennedy as having adopted “a narrow, boutique view of environmental protection” that ignores the biggest environmental crisis the world faces.

“He’ll wax eloquent about these kind of narrow issues in the broader environmental protection sphere but never get around to even acknowledging, to say nothing of pushing harder to address, the existential threat of climate change,” he said.

Kennedy’s press team did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

Five siblings called his endorsement of Trump “a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.”

For a clear view of Kennedy’s fall from environmental grace, look no further than his interview with Carlson, when Kennedy condemned environmentalists for adopting what he calls a “carbon orthodoxy,” the idea that everything is measured by its carbon footprint.

“When we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,” he said. “It’s not about quantifying stuff. That’s what the devil does; he quantifies everything. That is what he wants us doing — put a number on it. And the reason we’re preserving these things is because we love our children. It’s because nature enriches us, it enriches us economically, spiritually, culturally and historically. It connects us to those ten thousand generations of human beings that were here before there were laptops.”

What Kennedy conveniently failed to mention or grapple with is the fact that climate change is devastating communities the world over, with economic damages forecast to reach $38 trillion annually by the middle of this century. For many, confronting the threat is both a spiritual and cultural endeavor.

Kennedy went on to attack the modern environmental movement with several falsehoods.

He declared that “offshore wind is exterminating the whales,” parroting the evidence-free talking point of some of the nation’s most hard-line organizations denying climate change.

He said the environmental movement “no longer talks about toxics anymore, they don’t care about it, they don’t care that we’re mass-poisoning our children.” Every major environmental organization has a toxics program.

👀 Tucker Carlson to RFK Jr — both men nearly moved to tears. “I hope what you just said is chopped up and put all over every social media platform in the world!” Well here it is. What Kennedy said in the BEST 12 mins of Tucker… maybe ever. Stunning. LFG. #MAHA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/vLXrxpzcvF — Indy Cat 2000 (@TheFinalBot1) August 27, 2024

John Walke, the director of NRDC’s clean air program, said in a post to X (formerly Twitter) that Kennedy has “absolutely no idea what he is talking about,” noting that the environmental nonprofit has multiple staff working exclusively on toxic chemicals.

“I’ve worked on reducing toxic air pollution for 24 years. Hell I testified NEXT TO Bobby in Congress about toxics,” Walke wrote. “His bid to advance himself & rehabilite [sic] Trump — ignoring, forgetting all the correct & harsh criticisms he directed at Trump’s anti-environmentalism — now means demonizing environmentalists with lies, trafficking in conspiracies.”

Kennedy argues America’s national climate policy should be “restoring soils,” not curbing carbon emissions — which, ironically, are contributing to the degradation of soils around the globe. In other words, a fix-it-after-it’s-a-problem approach.

“If you want to make Americans fight each other, talk about carbon,” Kennedy told Carlson. “If you want to bring Americans together, talk about habitat protection.”

Kennedy’s entrance into the Make America Great Again movement has given rise to a similar slogan meant to boil down what Kennedy brings to the table: Make America Healthy Again. But in backing Trump, Kennedy is teaming up with someone with a well-documented and abysmal environmental and public health record. The Trump administration worked to weaken safeguards for nearly 35 million acres , a number that the left-leaning Center for American Progress said earned Trump the title of the most “anti-nature” president in U.S. history. In January 2021, The New York Times compiled a list of more than 100 environmental rollbacks under Trump, including rules meant to safeguard air, water and wildlife habitat, as well as prevent exposure to toxic chemicals.

In a meeting with oil and gas executives earlier this year, Trump vowed to fulfill the fossil fuel industry’s wish list and undo President Joe Biden ’s climate and green energy policies if they donated $1 billion to his reelection campaign. It is the very sort of corporate capture of government that Kennedy decries at every turn.

Kennedy expects to be able to influence a future Trump administration on environmental issues.

“I have found to my surprise that many people on the Trump team, including President Trump himself, care about the same environmental issues I do,” Kennedy wrote in a post to X late last month. “Furthermore, these issues can help to unify our nation ― because almost everyone wants clean air, water, food, and soil. Almost everyone values thriving ecosystems and wildlife. Environment was a unifying issue in the 1960s, supported by Democrats and Republicans alike. I am committed to reviving that consensus in the next Trump administration.”

I am an old-school environmentalist -- a lover and protector of nature. The Democrats obsess about counting CO2, while neglecting urgent issues such as the chemicals in our food, soil, and water. Ironically, many carbon-motivated environmental policies actually harm the… — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 29, 2024

Reicher said Kennedy is grasping at “dangerous” straws and expects his embrace of Trump will end in failure.

“Any possibility that Kennedy will green up Trump is about as likely as the former president taking down the border wall,” he said. “I just don’t see how it all adds up for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — if he has a shred of environmental protection left in his brain. And it may well be that he doesn’t.”

“You just think, ‘Why has he been welcomed by Trump?’” Reicher added. “It’s not because of Bobby’s early, strong environmental credentials but his now much later craziness on things environmental.”

Reicher and others date Kennedy’s departure from the environmental movement to the early 2000s, when he began to embrace conspiracies about vaccines and autism — a torch he continues to carry — and became a prominent figure in the fight against a proposed offshore wind farm near Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

But Brett Hartl, government affairs director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s political arm, points to a fiasco Kennedy set in motion at Riverkeeper in 2000. That year, Kennedy, then Riverkeeper’s lead attorney, hired William Wegner , a convicted smuggler of wild bird eggs, to help the organization monitor New York City’s compliance with environmental rules. Eight of Riverkeeper’s board members resigned in protest.

Ever since that incident, Hartl, who grew up along the Hudson River, has viewed Kennedy as a foe and told HuffPost he’s “been baffled by the comments of other environmental advocates that can’t believe what has happened to him.”

Support Free Journalism

Consider supporting HuffPost starting at $2 to help us provide free, quality journalism that puts people first.

Can't afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.

Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. We hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.

Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.

“RFK has been twisted for decades, nothing is new, people just tolerated his untethered and bizarre beliefs because his last name was Kennedy,” Hartl said in an email. “In my view, RFK Jr is an environmental criminal and an environmental villain.”

In a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month, Hartl called on federal officials to investigate an incident in the 1990s when Kennedy, according to his daughter, cut the head of a dead, beached whale off using a chainsaw, strapped the head to the hood of his minivan and drove it home to Mount Kisco, New York. “Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” his daughter, Kick Kennedy, told Town & Country magazine in 2012.

The disturbing and graphic whale story resurfaced just a few weeks after Kennedy made national headlines for admitting to dumping the carcass of a bear cub in New York’s Central Park in 2014 and just one day before he told Carlson about how whales and other wildlife were the foundation of his environmental work.

“I got into the environment because I wanted this connection to the fishes and the birds and the wildlife and the whales,” he told the right-wing host and Trump ally.

“Most of us got into this because of the whales.”

From Our Partner

More in politics.

Thai tourism sector urged to brace for the worst

Chinese actress Zhao Lusi files defamation lawsuit over appearance criticism

Hanoi records widespread flooding in wake of typhoon Yagi

Hong Kong actress Rosamund Kwan unveils $19M home

Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi confused by Vincent Lindon's kiss at Venice Film Festival

South Korean actor Hyun Bin praises actress wife Son Ye Jin, expresses gratitude for her support

Hanoians confront worst flooding in 20 years as Red River reaches critical levels

Tet holiday should be 7 days long so Vietnamese people can take a breather

Cat Ba tourist island ravaged by typhoon Yagi

Vietnam's tourism icons in ruins in wake of typhoon Yagi

Northern vietnam faces widespread landslide threats as typhoon yagi deaths rise.

Yagi, the strongest storm to hit the East Sea in three decades, made landfall on Vietnam's northern coast Saturday afternoon. The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting reported that typhoon has unleashed torrential rains across the region, with some areas recording over 300 mm of rainfall between 8 a.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday. Hoa Binh and Son La saw rainfall as high as 430-440 mm.

Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Quang Ninh on Saturday afternoon with winds reaching 166 kph.

As of Monday, the storm has claimed at least 65 lives and left 39 others missing across northern Vietnam, mostly due to flash floods and landslides after it passed, according to the Department of Dyke Management and Natural Disaster Prevention under the agriculture ministry.

Forecasts indicate that the northwest region, including Sa Pa tourist city , will experience the heaviest rainfall, ranging from 100-200 mm and potentially exceeding 400 mm by Monday. The northeast, including Ha Long Bay, is expected to receive 20-50 mm, with some areas surpassing 100 mm. The mountainous northeast will see 60-120 mm of rain, with some places experiencing over 250 mm.

Saturated soil from heavy rains has heightened the risk of landslides. The meteorological agency has issued warnings for landslides in 17 out of 25 northern provinces.

Early Sunday, a landslide in Tan Minh Commune, Da Bac District of Hoa Binh, resulted in the deaths of four family members when debris collapsed onto their home. In Sa Pa, a landslide engulfed a residential area, burying 26 people and killing six of them.

Typhoon Yagi, which intensified into a super typhoon last Thursday with winds reaching 201 kph, has caused significant devastation to northern Vietnam. Over 8,010 houses were damaged, and 25 fishing boats sunk in Quang Ninh. More than 1,100 fish farming cages were either submerged or washed away.

The storm has also caused widespread disruption to power and telecommunications. Provinces including Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Hai Duong, and Hanoi have experienced outages due to damage to 133 transmission lines. As of Sunday evening, many areas in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong remained without electricity.

In agriculture, nearly 110,000 hectares of rice fields have been flooded. The hardest-hit areas include Hai Phong (7,000 hectares), Thai Binh (29,000 hectares), Hung Yen (12,110 hectares), and Hai Duong (18,500 hectares). Additionally, 17,920 hectares of vegetables and 6,900 hectares of fruit trees have been damaged.

• Tắt chia sẻ