Environmental degradation occurs when resource use exceeds replenishment rates. Common resources like air and oceans face overuse without clear ownership. This "tragedy of the commons" depletes resources. Key drivers of degradation are population growth, poverty, urbanization, industry and inefficient markets. Degradation increases poverty by reducing resources the poor rely on. Water resources especially face challenges from overuse and pollution. Deforestation damages habitats, biodiversity and the climate. Urgent action is needed to conserve resources through better management, policies and individual behavior changes.

1. Ecology andEcology and
Environmental DegradationEnvironmental Degradation
Prof. D. K. Paul
P. G. Dept. of Zoology
Patna University, Patna, Bihar
and
Chiranjeev Kumar
M. Sc., Environment Management, FRI, Dehradun

2. Environmental degradation occurs
when the use rate exceeds the
replacement rate.

3. Environmental DegradationEnvironmental Degradation
• Resources owned by none,
but available to all users free
of charge
• May convert potentially
renewable resources into
nonrenewable resources
• Tragedy of the Commons
Common Property Resources

4. Who owns these resources?
• Property rights give ownership to all
resources on the property.
• Common property or free-access resources
are those resources that are not owned but
available for use by everyone.
– For example: the air, the ocean

5. Tragedy of the Commons
• The over-use of a natural resource as a
result of unclear property rights. If
ownership of a resource is not established,
everyone has an incentive to take as much
of it as possible, quickly depleting the
resource.
– A typical example is the decline in the fish
population resulting from over-fishing of the
ocean.

6. Our ‘Commons’ are in Danger
• Atmosphere
• Climatic Factor
• Ozone layer
• Water resources, including ground aquifers
• Forests
• Soil
• The oceans, coral reefs and their bounty
• National parks and wetlands
• Nonrenewable natural resources
– Fossil fuels, mineral ores, topsoil…..

7. Causes of Environmental Degradation
Social Factors
Economical Factors
Institutional Factors
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8. Social Factors are
Population
Poverty
Urbanization
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9. Economic Factors are
Growing transport activities
Expansion of chemical based industry
The manufacturing technology adopted by most of the
industries which generally is based on intensive resource and
energy use
Non-existent or poorly functioning markets for environmental
services
Market distortions created by price controls and subsidies
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10. Institutional Factors are
Lack of awareness and infrastructure
makes implementation of most of the
laws relating to environment, extremely
difficult and ineffective.
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11. Environmental degradation increases poverty
√ Environmental degradation reduces the stock of
natural capital and poor are disproportionately
affected.
√ Environmental degradation increases vulnerability
(e.g. soil erosion….decreased yields, deforestation…
flooding).
√ Pollution increases morbidity and mortality (e.g.
exposure to pesticides, contaminated water, indoor air
pollution)
√ Deforestation and over-pumping increase the cost of
basic goods such as firewood and drinking water.

12. Water Resource Degradation

13. Water Resource Limits
• In 1950, people
used half of
accessible water
• Are now
dependent on
dams
• Pollution loses
33% of potential
water

14. • Since the 1950s, global demand for water
has tripled.
• Groundwater quantity and quality are
declining due to over-pumping, runoff from
fertilizers and pesticides, and leaking of
industrial waste.
• Half a billion people live in countries defined
as water-stressed or water-scarce;
• By 2025, that figure is expected to surge to
between 2.4 billion and 3.4 billion.
- UNFPA

15. Disappearing water…
In many parts of
India and China,
ground water is
depleting at the
rate of 1.5
meters per year

16. Available Drinking waterAvailable Drinking water
Less than 1% of
the total water
on the Earth

17. Every Three minutes…
(CSE Survey)
Every three minutes,
a child in India dies
of diarrhea arising
out of contaminated
water

18. To Save Natural Treasure: Water
• Important step for solutions to issues of
water and environmental conservation is to
change people's attitudes and habits
• Conserve water because it is right thing to
do!.
• What you can do to conserve water?
• Use only as much water as you require.
• Close the taps well after use. While
brushing or other use, do not leave the tap
running, open it only when you require it.

19. • To check that there are no leaking
taps.
• Do not leave the taps running while
washing dishes and clothes.
• Water in which the vegetables &
fruits have been washed - use to
water the flowers & plants.
• Re-use water as much as possible

20. Poverty need not be a source of
resource degradation
• The non-poor are the main source of degradation
(big logging companies, livestock operations, over-
consumption).
• Traditional technologies are conservation friendly
(agro-ecology, agroforestry).
• The poor can adopt win-win technologies that raise
incomes and increase conservation: ecoagriculture,
ecotourism.
• Cooperation/collective action in the management of
Common Property Resources.
• The poor can be environmental activists (Chipko
movement in India, Chico Mendes rubber tappers in
Brazil).
• Markets for environmental services induce
conservation by the poor: through ecotourism.

21. Impact on the Environment
• Increasing affluence and population is
damaging Earth’s essential ecology
• For everyone to live at today’s US footprint
would require 3 planet Earths

22. • Major increases are occurring in
human population and affluence.
• Major stresses result in our
society, natural environment and
ecology.

23. Deforestation
• Deforestation has not only resulted in
irreversible damage to the natural
habitat of many wildlife species, but
has also resulted in loss of biodiversity
and increase in aridity.

24. Deforestation changes to world
geography
• It is a major contributor to:
– Global Warming
– Emission of greenhouse gases
– Global climate change
– Reduced net oxygen levels
– Biosphere instability
– And others

25. Statistics of Deforestation
• More than 12 million hectares of forest land is lost
to urbanization or allied activities each year. This
has resulted in a rapid global decline in some
regions. For example:
– In Nigeria 81% of its original forest cover is now
permanently lost.
– The forests of Central America are down by two-thirds
lowlands, since 1950.
– Countries like India, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand,
Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Sri Lanka, the
Congo and Ghana have lost much more than 50% of
their rainforest cover.
– United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization or UNFAO

26. Impact
• Deforestation affects the water cycle
• Reduces soil quality and results in soil
erosion and flooding
• The land's capacity to hold ground water
shrinks with the depleting forest cover
• The absence of trees leads to increase
salinity in the soil cover and thus, affects
the agricultural activity

27. • Deforestation destroys genetic
variations and results in a
permanent loss of various rare
plant, animal and insect species
• Damage to forests, believe it or
not, affects every citizen's living
standard

28. To prevent deforestation:
• Wildlife sanctuaries: not only save
the wild animals, but also save the
woods and trees.
• Water management: improper
water management causes the
deforestation. This should be
controlled.
Deforestation should be controlled

29. • Commercial forest plantation
• Use recycled items
• Farming practices
• Become an advocate: learn how
the person can spread the word.
• Support conservative organization:
support the organization through
work, devotion, time etc.

30. Biodiversity is in Danger
• Biodiversity is essential to life on Earth
and holds untold treasures for the
future
• Recovery times from the great
extinctions took 10’s of millions of
years

31. • “Accumulation of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, is
tied to rising and extreme change in
temperatures, and more severe storms.
• The sea level has risen an estimated 10-20
centimetres, largely as a result of melting
ice masses and the expansion of oceans
linked to regional and global warming.
• Small island nations and low-lying cities
and farming areas face severe flooding.”
-UNFDP

32. “Over the last half century, land
degradation has reduced cropland
by an estimated 13 percent and
pasture by 4 percent.”
- UNFPA

33. “Three quarters of the world’s fish
stocks are now fished at or beyond
sustainable limits. Industrial fleets
have fished out at least 90 per cent
of large ocean predators in the last
50 years.”
- UNFPA

34. The activist is not the man who
says the river is dirty. The
activist is the man who cleans up
the river
~ ROSS PEROT

35. Thank You