2. ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION
Environmental degradation is a result of-
the dynamic inter play of socio-economic, institutional and
technological activities.
Environmental changes may be driven by-
economic growth, population growth, urbanization,
intensification of agriculture, rising energy use and transportation.
Poverty still remains a problem at the root of several environmental
problems.
4. SOCIAL FACTORS-
Population-
• major source of environmental degradation when it
exceeds the threshold limits of the support systems.
• India supports 17 per cent of the world population on
just 2.4 per cent of world land area.
Poverty-
• Poverty is said to be both cause and effect of
environmental degradation.
• Inequality may foster unsustainability
5. SOCIAL FACTORS-
C O N T. …
Urbanization-
• Lack of opportunities for gainful employment in villages.
• Mega cities are emerging and urban slums are expanding.
• rapid and unplanned expansion of cities has resulted in
degradation of urban environment.
• Growing trend in deterioration of air and water quality,
generation of wastes, the proliferation of slums and
undesirable land use changes
6. Environmental degradation is the result of market failure.
is a particular case of consumption or production
externalities reflected by divergence between private and
social costs problems
Transport activities have a wide variety of effects on the
environment
ECONOMIC FACTORS-
7. Port and harbour projects mainly impact on sensitive coastal eco
systems
level and pattern of economic development also affect the nature of
environmental
Direct impacts of agricultural development on the environment
Intensive agriculture and irrigation contribute to land degradation
particularly salination, alkalization and water logging.
ECONOMIC FACTORS-
C O N T. …
8. Lack effective coordination amongst various Ministries
or Institutions regarding integration of environmental
concerns
Lack of trained personnel and comprehensive database
delay many projects.
EIA studies and the effective implementation of the EIA
process have improved over the years
Institutional Factors-
9.
10. The rapid population growth of cities has exacerbated
this trend and increased the stakes.
The increasing pace of urbanisation has finally forced us
to recognise that established practices and dominant
values for planning and development in cities have lead
to an accumulation of inequality, marginalisation and
disaster risk over time.
CO-EVOLUTION OF
URBANIZATION & RISK
11. There are well over a billion people now living in
poverty in urban slums, facing new kinds of
vulnerabilities as a result.
urban areas in developing countries are facing
dramatically escalating risks. This is well illustrated
by three examples drawn from the 2010 Red Cross
World Disasters Report-
12. In Dhaka, almost 30% of the 14 million people live in slums
along the water’s edge, exposing them to severe flood risks.
Moreover, the Stanford-based earthquake disaster risk
index lists Dhaka as one of the 20 cities in the world most
vulnerable to earthquakes.
Mumbai in India is the fourth largest city in the world with
20 million people, of whom some 6.7 million are slum
dwellers (WHO). Mumbai is one of the top 10 most
vulnerable cities in terms of floods, storms and earthquakes
and is the most vulnerable city in the world in terms of total
population exposed to coastal flood hazard.
13. 40% of the land area of Jakarta, Indonesia is
below sea-level. As a result, its 10 million
inhabitants are at risk of flash floods, particularly
along the 13 river systems which pass through the
city. The high population density, averaging
14,000 people per square kilometre, a significant
portion of whom are slum-dwellers, increases the
potential of a disaster to cause serious harm.
14. In the developing world, cities with over 1 million
people jumped six fold between 1950 and 1995
80% of the world's urban residents will be in
developing countries by the year 2025
Most of the future urban growth take place in small
and medium-sized urban centres
Rapid Urbanization Increase
Disaster Risk
15. This growth threatens to make cities
unsustainable ...
30-60% of people in the largest cities of the developing world live in
densely populated squatter settlements.
Demand for land in cities has led to use of unsuitable terrain
(floodplains, unstable slopes, reclaimed land) prone to natural hazards.
Urban development increases the flood risk by disrupting natural
drainage channels.
Increasing numbers of industrial complexes and hazardous materials
concentrated in urban areas cities at risk:
16. The number of people affected by disasters has been
growing 6% each year since 1960. Of these victims, 90%
have been affected by natural disasters, many in urban
areas.
Poor people everywhere are most at risk. For example,
the 1976 Guatemala earthquake is known as a "poor-
quake" because nearly all of the victims in Guatemala
City were in slum areas near ravines
Make more people vulnerable to
disasters ...
