Environmental degradation and destruction are caused by several interrelated factors: Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters due to global warming. Rising temperatures and sea levels threaten coastal communities and ecosystems. Overpopulation puts increasing pressure on natural resources. As populations grow, more land is needed for housing, agriculture, and waste disposal, degrading the environment. Demand for food and other goods also rises. Globalization contributes to environmental problems through pollution from increased transportation of goods worldwide. Companies exploit resources unsustainably, degrading lands and ecosystems. Oil spills from shipping accidents severely damage marine environments. Ecosystems are often harmed indirectly by these other factors. Species loss and

1. ENVIRONMENTAL DEGREDATION AND DESTRUCTION Product of climate change, hazard events, exploitation of resources, the activities of governments and companies individual actions may also produce the same effects on small scale and only become significant when combined

2. CLIMATE CHANGE Increase in natural disasters due to global warming and this links to globalisation. The increase in transportation methods and products being sold over the world has increase the production of harmful gases in to the environment, adding to the deteriorating ozone layer. Fires and deforestation destroy large areas of forests and can be linked to both ecosystems and population increase. Ecosystems can be severely threatened and food chains can be damaged by these fires and with increasing temperatures the fires are becoming more frequent. Population can also be linked to forest fires as with more people in the area more space is needed, sometimes resulting in the deliberate burning of areas (such as the slash and burn method used in rainforests). E.g. Bush fires in Australia. Melting of ice caps in polar regions is of large concern with environmental destruction, as not only are the polar regions themselves being harmed, but also places where they are close to sea level. The rise in sea level due to melting ice caps means that many places will go underwater, including capitals of countries; with capitals going under there will be a problem with globalisation (many HQ’s are based in capitals). Over population is another problem as when the area goes under more people tend to suffer if the area is densely populated.

3. POPULATION Overpopulation is a major cause of environmental degradation An increase in people means more space is needed for the people to live and possible work on, so previously green areas are being used up. As well as more space being needed there is also an increase in demand for services: Rubbish tips- many un-biodegradable products are placed in these tips and will be around for many centuries, harming wildlife and damaging the immediate surrounding environment. Clean water- water has to be taken out of reservoirs and aquifers are being used, with water being taken out of these places certain areas are suffering from lack of water, and places above the aquifers are beginning to subside, causing many environmental problems. Food- larger areas for growing food are needed meaning areas which were previously untouched have had to be used for farming and production of packaged foods. As well as this monoculture is evolving reducing the environmental quality of the area, and allowing pests to thrive. Pesticides- the increase in population means that farmers want their crops to grow successfully and increase yield, meaning pesticide/herbicide and other forms of chemical control are on the increase. One such environmental problem of this increase is eutrophication of water systems (this also links to ecosystems).

4. GLOBALISATION Globalisation like population has a large impact on the environmental degradation and destruction. To begin with global companies tend to locate factories in areas where labour is cheaper and resources more readily available as they haven’t been previously exploited. However as the company moves in they drain the resources and put the environment under pressure, the reason many of these places end up with barren land is due to the unsustainable abstraction of resource. A major problem with globalisation is the pollution caused by the transport of products and people all over the world; increased wastage of resources and increased disposal of un-biodegradable products. Land, sea and air are all affected by this and the steady rise over the past few decades has led to serious environmental problems. An increase in occurrences such as oil spills from large freight ships is of concern due to its damage to unique environments such as coral reefs (it also harms animal and plant life not just in the surrounding area) (E.g. 1989 Exxon Valdez, Alaska)

5. ECOSYSTEMS Ecosystems tend not to lead directly to environmental degradation and destruction but are sometimes indirectly linked and harmed by the effects. For example a rainforest ecosystem does not itself damage the environment but because of the qualities that it possesses damage is incurred, such as unique environmental features leading to more tourists, large availability of wood, large spaces (with some modification) can be used for many purposes. Mainly ecosystems tend to be at the receiving end of damage to environments as the species of plant or animal that live in the ecosystem tend to be killed or forced to move to new areas. This movement however does cause problems to the areas where they move to as the environment is unable to cope with the new species, which sometimes causes other species to go into extinction (e.g. grey squirrel introduction into red squirrel habitat) Another problem is caused by private collectors of artefacts from these ecosystems (such as animal and plant collectors) who take species out of their natural environment and cause their niche to become unfilled (and this could cause damage to the entire environment due to it affecting abiotic and biotic factors influencing the environment).