SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3

Definition of sustainable development ...................................................................................... 3

Identification of human impacts on environment ...................................................................... 4

Identification of changes in environment from human activities .............................................. 5

Analysis of human interactions with environment .................................................................... 7

Conclusions on significance of human and environment interaction ........................................ 9

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 11

Reference list ........................................................................................................................... 12

Introduction

According to Pearce, Barbier and Markandya (2013) in simple terms sustainability is the

process of conducting economic development without depleting all natural resources that is

using the resources in logical way to preserve the resource for future generations. However

overuse of scarce resources, high level of pollution, negative effects of green house gas are

some of the situations which are threatening the global sustainability. The current report

focuses on evaluating the meaning of sustainable development and identifies the human

impacts on the environment. Further the report will also highlight the changes that have taken

place due to these human activities.

Definition of sustainable development

As per the definition provided by the Sustainable Development Commission, 2011, the term

sustainable development is the process of meeting the needs of the present generation along

with preservation of the resources for the future generations so that the future generations are

also able to meet their needs. Reid (2013) argued that high focus on sustainable development

for preservation of the resources for the future generations may sometimes lead to depriving

the present generations. Moreover, Warburton (2013) stated that sustainable development can

also be termed as the process of maintaining a balance between the human needs that leads to

the improvement of the lifestyles of the humans in the present scenario. Thus it can be stated

the sustainable development assures economic growth along with protection of the

environment and preservation of resources. As per the definition provided by the World

Commission on Environment and development, sustainable development can be termed as

the process of achieving both economic and social development in a planned manner that

does not exhaust the natural resources of the country.

Identification of human impacts on environment

Human impact or scientifically known as the anthropogenic impact on environment includes

the effect of the human activities on biophysical activities, environments and biodiversity.

The following human impacts can be evaluated on the environment:

Population growth: According to Ghimire and Pimbert (2013) one of the reasons behind

environmental degradation is the rising human population. With progress in the medical

science, the global death rate has been reduced and hence the increment in pollution is

effecting the environment. With increase in population the accumulation of man-made wastes

are also increasing which is non transformable in nature and is thus effecting the aesthetics of

the environment. Trenberth et al. (2014) stated that with increase in population requirement

for food and shelter are also increasing and hence trees and water bodies are being cleared in

order to build shelter. Further the extraction of non renewable resources and consumption of

high levels of food, grains and minerals are also threatening the future supply of these

products. Furthermore heavy industrialisation resulting from the need of employment

generation is also hindering the environment sustainability.

Use of non renewable fuels: Non renewable fuels or commonly known as the fossil fuels are

limited in nature, thus the excessive use of these energy sources leads to depletion of the

energy sources. However Martens (2014) stated that excessive use of fossil fuels like coal,

natural gas, nuclear energy etc leads to occurrences of high pollution and global warming.

Pollution: Lelieveld et al. (2015) stated that growing rate of pollution is a common difficulty

that is faced globally. Some of the man-made pollutions include, air pollution, noise

pollution, soil, radioactive ad thermal pollution. As per the reports of WHO, around 98% of

the cities within low and medium income countries have recorded high levels of air, water

and soil pollution.

Unsustainable farming: Hanna and Oliva (2015) stated that in developing countries where

the farmers do not have sufficient amount of monetary fund’s to improve the agricultural

machines and replace old and dead trees with new plantation, the farmers generally start

using new piece of land for the same farming process. This initiative leads to loss of potential

agricultural lands leading to unsustainable farming practices. The lack of effective taxation

policies, subsidies to farmers and pricing policies made by the government are the major

reasons behind the development of unsustainable farming strategies.

Biodiversity loss: With increment in human population levels, alteration of lands and water

bodies to constructional lands are resulting in biodiversity loss. Further Newby et al. (2015)

commented that illegal wildlife trade is also responsible for the loss of habitat. The irrational

behaviour of the humans in illegally trading the rare animals and species by transporting them

from its place of origination to other places, may sometimes lead to death of the species.

Population and over consumptions are also acting as the causes behind the high biodiversity

loss.

Identification of changes in environment from human activities

The following changes have been indentified in relation to the potential damages that are

caused by the human activities on the environment.

Global warming: Global warming majorly caused by the high level of pollution changes the

climate and the temperature of the environment. McKinnon et al. (2015) stated that some of

the major environmental changes that have been noticed as an after effect of global warming

includes melting of ice glaciers, increase in temperature levels, delay in monsoon arrivals,

high rates of droughts, high frequencies of hurricanes, rise in the sea levels, shortage of food

grains, occurrences of frequent wildfires and sever health risks.

Eutrophication: Due to water pollution, the other significant change that can be noted is the

occurrence of the process of Eutrophication. Mowforth and Munt (2015) stated that in

eutrophication the water bodies are enriched with additional and excess amount of fertilizers

which contains high amounts of nitrates and phosphates that in turn initiates the development

of algae formation on the water surface. The eutrophication process results in formation of

bad smelling water bodies, reduces the number of harvestable fish resources, reduces the

level of oxygen in the water thereby killing water bodies and decreases the rate of water

transparency.

Acidification: Further occurrence of ocean acidification is also a part of water pollution

change. The high rates of carbon dioxide when mixed with the salty ocean water tends to

produce carbonic acid which makes the surface water of the ocean acidic in nature and leads

to shell growth in the marine animals. Further, Severo et al. (2015) commented that

acidification also reduces the reproductive rate of majority of the fishes thereby depleting the

marine resources.

Damage to ozone layer: The increasing rate of air pollution and the high rates of green house

gas emissions have been a major concern for the scientists since these human pollution

phenomenon are causing potential damage to the protective ozone layer in the earth’s

atmospheric layer (Lam and Lai 2015). The mixture of the Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and

other halogenated ozone depleting substances (ODS) are majorly responsible for the

reduction of the amount of Ozone in the stratosphere. Lam and Lai (2015) stated that high

rates of CFCs generated from the man made green houses will lead to harm caused by the UV

rays if the Ozone rays are completely destroyed.

Analysis of human interactions with environment

Newby et al. (2015) stated that from the time the term “global warming” has been used for

denoting the rising temperature of the earth, there has been substantial amount of debate over

the realistic existence of the concept of global warming. As per the reports of the National

Geography, a thermometer record kept for about a century shows that the overall temperature

of the earth has raised by around 1 degree Fahrenheit for over the period.

Figure 1: Temperature increasing trend for future years

(Source: Nationalgeographic.com 2017)

In the midst of the high negative effects of global warming, there has always been a debate

about the percentage of contribution of the humans in causing Global warming. As a report

present in The Guardian, around 97% of the Nasa scientists have confirmed the fact that

global warming has been majorly caused by negative human interaction with environment

(Nuccitelli 2017). The scientist at Nasa has been arguing the fact that humans have been

responsible for global warming since 1950, however a minority of 4% have provided

evidences suggesting the fact that humans are actually half responsible for global warming

and the other half of the responsibility should be attributed to the natural environment.
Mowforth and Munt (2015) stated that if only the CO2 emission levels are considered as a

major cause behind the global warming then it will look like humans are the major factor

responsible for the situation. However in order to assess the global warming three major

cycles should be considered namely the natural cycle, natural variation cycle and

Milankovitch cycle. As per these cycles natural variation in the temperature after a prolonged

time period will occur despite any human interventions. Martens (2014) stated that as per the

natural cycle, after prolonged period of warm temperature naturally prolonged period of cold

temperature will arise and the cycle will move on. Hence it is not rational to indicate that

100% human interaction is the cause behind global warming.

Similarly the climate changes occurring from the global warming are also being questioned

by different scientists. As per the reports of The Independent, 2016 has been recorded as the

hottest year thrice in a row where the global temperature was around 1.1 degrees Celsius

above the pre industrial level. Severo et al. (2015) stated occurrences of climate changing

phenomenon like melting of glaciers causing floods, late monsoons causing drought,

disappearances of islands due to increment in sea levels and destruction of underwater and

territorial animals due to diverse temperatures confirms the fact that the climate is changing

drastically. Trenberth et al. (2014) stated that even in this case the extent of human

intervention has been judge by different environmentalists.

As per the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change, Co2 emissions caused

by human activities are the major reason behind the climate changes. However the

Environment and public works Committee have argued that around 200years ago the amount

of CO2 was higher in comparison to the current amounts. Thus only Co2 emission cannot be

the sole reason behind the climate changes (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,

2014). Further reports of US National Climate Assessment shows that excessive burning of

coals, oil, gas and forests have increased the level of air pollution. Further the satellites
measuring the output level of sun confirms that there has been no increase in the heat level of

the sun in the past 10 years. Thus it can be concluded that man made activities are changing

the climate.

Warburton (2013) stated that even if for sake of argument it can be assumed that CO2 levels

are not solely responsible for environmental degradation, however it can be suitably stated

without any debate that water pollution causing eutrophication is primarily a man made

activity. Human activities including throwing of wastes in water bodies, using water bodies

as outlets for factory wastes, usage of water bodies for cleaning and cooking purposes etc,

has significantly contributed to the development of eutrophication. As per the reports of the

WHO, around 90% of the domestic wastes thrown by the humans in the water bodies contain

Nitrates and phosphates which are responsible for formation of algae.

Ocean acidification is also caused by the human interaction. Reid (2013) stated that

deforestation; high levels of fossil fuel consumption, emissions from the power plants and

cars are the major contributing reasons behind the cause of acidification. Hanna and Oliva

(2015) stated that another important aspect can be highlighted showing the high rates of

decreasing trend in biodiversity. As per the National Geographic surveys, the current

extinction rates of different rare species have been reaching to around 1000 times compared

to past extinction rates. Over population resulting in over consumption, forest and habitat

clearance and genetic dislocation are some of the reasons behind the biodiversity loss

resulting from human activity.

Conclusions on significance of human and environment interaction

Newby et al. (2015) stated that if the environmental degradation continues at the same pace

along with the high global warming, within next 20 years, the earth will be deprive of all

natural resources and most of the marine bodies along with vegetation will be destroyed. For
instance, the growing rate of eutrophication will result in loss of harvestable fish resources

that will eventually results in lack of marine foods. Further the unsustainable farming

practices will result in loss of potential agricultural lands which will hinder the growth and

production of food grains in future. As per the reports of The Guardian, the economic

changes can help in repairing the climate change. Due to the financial crisis which started in

2007, the government has been force to implement different subsidies on the policies and use

of the minerals and fossil fuels. Thus some of the prominent policies like the emissions

trading schemes, Carbon allowance prices etc, has helped in restricting the use of the harmful

Carbon dioxide by the humans. Warburton (2013) stated that the emissions trading scheme

states that excess of the mentioned CO2 level emissions will be charged. This initiative will

help in reducing the amount of CO2 emissions and will in turn help in protecting the climate.

Further in order to control the electricity consumption, the countries are also increasing the

per unit price of electricity which will help them to significantly control the consumption of

electricity and thereby help in climate change (the Guardian 2017).

Furthermore, Lelieveld et al. (2015) commented that before it is too late, the official

organizations are trying to incorporate different schemes and strategies that will significantly

contribute to the management of the climatic change factors. The Scottish Environment

Protection Agency (SEPA) which was established in 2011 has taken the initiative of Zero

waste Scotland (ZWS) which is a strategy to reduce the waste amount in different parts of

Scotland. The scheme aims in generating awareness among the citizens of Scotland on the

amount of waste that is being produced and the awareness on the total concept of different

types of waste. Further the scheme also focuses on developing benchmark along with the

local authorities for the reduction and control of wastes (www.sepa.org.uk 2017).

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is also formed as an operating agency of

the United Nations that helps in coordinating the environmental activities by implementing
different environmentally sound policies and practices. The activity under this regulatory

body covers the aspects of environmental governance, green climate establishment, issues for

resolving the atmospheric pollutions etc. Thus with the help of these human interventions in

the present scenario it has been possible to reduce the proximity of global warming and also

reduce the problems of climate change to a large extent.

Conclusion

The discussion on the sustainability and human interaction with environment shows that

human interaction will environment are the major reasons behind the global warming and the

climate change issues. Throughout the discussion there has been a generation of debate

regarding the extent of human involvement in the deterioration of the environment. However

there have been instances that have been projected by the Nasa and other organizations that

confirms the fact that even natural cycles are also responsible for the climate changes. Further

the initiatives taken presently by the different organizations and the scientists shows that the

rate of environmental degradation has been reduced and if this initiatives are continued then

further reduction will be possible.

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