Six Major Environmental Problems in Asia

Urban Excess
Urbanization is a population shift from rural to urban areas, and the ways in which society
adapts to the change.[1] It predominantly results in the physical growth of urban areas, be it
horizontal or vertical. The United Nations projected that half of the world's populationwould live in
urban areas at the end of 2008.[2] It is predicted that by 2050 about 64% of the developing
world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized.[3]
Urbanization is relevant to a range of disciplines,
including geography, sociology, economics, urban planning, and public health. The phenomenon
has been closely linked to modernization, industrialization, and the sociological process
of rationalization. Urbanization can be seen as a specific condition at a set time (e.g. the
proportion of total population or area in cities or towns) or as an increase in that condition over
time. So urbanization can be quantified either in terms of, say, the level of urban development
relative to the overall population, or as the rate at which the urban proportion of the population is
increasing.
Urbanization is not merely a modern phenomenon, but a rapid and historic transformation of
human social roots on a global scale, whereby predominantly rural culture is being rapidly
replaced by predominantly urban culture. The first major change in settlement patterns was the
accumulation of hunter-gatherers into villages many thousand years ago. Village culture is
characterized by common bloodlines, intimate relationships, and communal behavior whereas
urban culture is characterized by distant bloodlines, unfamiliar relations, and competitive
behavior. This unprecedented movement of people is forecast to continue and intensify in the
next few decades, mushrooming cities to sizes unthinkable only a century ago. Today, in Asia
the urban agglomerations
of Dhaka, Karachi,Jakarta, Mumbai, Delhi, Manila, Seoul and Beijing are each already home to
over 20 million people, while the Pearl River Delta, Shanghai-Suzhou and Tokyo are forecast to
approach or exceed 40 million people each within the coming decade. Outside Asia, Mexico
City, Sao Paulo, New York City, Lagos and Cairo are fast approaching being, or are already,
home to over 20 million people.

CAUSES
Urbanization occurs as individual, commercial, social and governmental efforts reduce time and
expense in commuting and transportation and improve opportunities for jobs, education, housing,
and transportation. Living in cities permits the advantages of the opportunities of proximity,

diversity, and marketplace competition. However, the advantages of urbanization are weighed
against alienation issues, stress, increased daily life costs, and negative social aspects that
result from mass marginalization. Suburbanization, which is happening in the cities of the largest
developing countries, was sold and seen as an attempt to balance these negative aspects of
urban life while still allowing access to the large extent of shared resources.
Cities are known to be places where money, services, wealth and opportunities are centralized.
Many rural inhabitants come to the city for reasons of seeking fortunes and social mobility.
Businesses, which provide jobs and exchange capital are more concentrated in urban areas.
Whether the source is trade or tourism, it is also through the ports or banking systems that
foreign money flows into a country, commonly located in cities.
Economic opportunities are just one reason people move into cities, though they do not go to
fully explain why urbanization rates have exploded only recently in places like China and
India. Rural flight is a contributing factor to urbanization. In rural areas, often on small family
farms or collective farms in villages, it has traditionally been difficult to access manufactured
goods, though overall quality of lifeis very subjective, and may certainly surpass that of the city.
Farm living has always been susceptible to unpredictable environmental conditions, and in times
of drought, flood orpestilence, survival may become extremely problematic.

In INDIA
Urbanisation in India was mainly caused after independence, due to adoption of mixed system
of economy by the country which gave rise to the development of private sector. Urbanisation is
taking place at a faster rate in India. Population residing in urban areas in India, according to
1901 census, was 11.4%.[1] This count increased to 28.53% according to 2001 census, and
crossing 30% as per 2011 census, standing at 31.16%.[2][3] According to a survey by UN State of
the World Population report in 2007, by 2030, 40.76% of country's population is expected to
reside in urban areas.[4] As per World Bank, India, along with China,Indonesia, Nigeria and
the United States, will lead the world's urban population surge by 2050.[2]
Mumbai saw large scale rural-urban migration in the 21st century.[see main] Mumbai accommodates
12.5 million people, and is the largest metropolis by population in India, followed by Delhi with 11
million inhabitants. Witnessing the fastest rate of urbanisation in the world, as per 2011 census,
Delhi's population rose by 4.1%, Mumbai's by 3.1% and Kolkata's by 2% as per 2011 census
compared to 2001 census. Estimated population, at the current rate of growth, by year 2015,
Mumbai stands at 25 million, Delhiand Kolkata at 16 million
each, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad at 10 million.[5]

The main causes of urbanisation in India are:

Expansion in government services, as a result of the Second World War

Migration of people during the partition of India[9][13][14]

The Industrial Revolution[15]

Eleventh five year plan that aimed at urbanisation for the economic development of India[16]

Economic opportunities are just one reason people move into cities

Infrastructure facilities in the urban areas[17]

Growth of private sector after 1990 .[18]

CONSEQUENCES OF URBANISATION
Rapid rise in urban population, in India, is leading to many problems like increasing slums,
decrease in standard of living in urban areas, also causing environmental damage.[19]
The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century caused countries like United States and England to
become superpower nations but the present condition is worsening. India's urban growth rate is
2.07% which seems to be significant compared to Rwanda with 7.6%. India has around 300
million people living in metropolitan areas.[20] This has greatly caused slum problems, with so
many people over crowding cities and forcing people to live in unsafe conditions which also
includes illegal buildings. Water lines,roads and electricity are lacking which is causing fall of
living standards. It is also adding to the problem of all types of pollution.[21]
Urbanisation also results in a disparity in the market, owing to the large demands of the growing
population and the primary sector struggling to cope with them.[22]

DEFORESTATION
Deforestation, clearance or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land
is thereafter converted to a non-forest use.[1] Examples of deforestation include conversion of
forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use.
The term deforestation can be misused when applied to describe a tree harvesting method in
which all trees in an area are removed (clear cutting). However in temperate climates, this
method is in conformance with sustainable forestry practices, and correctly described
as regeneration harvest.[2] In temperate mesic climates, natural regeneration of forest stands
often will not occur in the absence of disturbance, whether natural or
anthropogenic.[3] Furthermore, biodiversity after regeneration harvest often mimics that found
after natural disturbance, including biodiversity loss after naturally occurring rainforest
destruction.[4][5]
Deforestation occurs for many reasons: trees are cut down to be used or sold as fuel (sometimes
in the form of charcoal) or timber, while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock, plantations
of commodities and settlements. The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has
resulted in damage to habitat, biodiversity loss and aridity. It has adverse impacts
onbiosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforestation has also been used in war to
deprive the enemy of cover for its forces and also vital resources. Modern examples of this were
the use of Agent Orange by the British military in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency and the
United States military in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Among countries with a per
capita GDP of at least US$4,600, net deforestation rates have ceased to increase. Deforested
regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland.
Disregard or ignorance of intrinsic value, lack of ascribed value, lax forest management and
deficient environmental laws are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large
scale. In many countries, deforestation, both naturally occurring and human induced, is an
ongoing issue. Deforestation causes extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification,
and displacement of populations as observed by current conditions and in the past through the
fossil record.[4] More than half of all plant and land animal species in the world live in tropical
forests

CONTROL
Reducing emissions
Main article: Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
Main international organizations including the United Nations and the World Bank, have begun to
develop programs aimed at curbing deforestation. The blanket term Reducing Emissions from

Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) describes these sorts of programs, which use
direct monetary or other incentives to encourage developing countries to limit and/or roll back
deforestation. Funding has been an issue, but at the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties-15 (COP-15) in Copenhagen in December 2009,
an accord was reached with a collective commitment by developed countries for new and
additional resources, including forestry and investments through international institutions, that will
approach USD 30 billion for the period 20102012.[139] Significant work is underway on tools for
use in monitoring developing country adherence to their agreed REDD targets. These tools,
which rely on remote forest monitoring using satellite imagery and other data sources, include
theCenter for Global Development's FORMA (Forest Monitoring for Action) initiative [140] and
the Group on Earth Observations' Forest Carbon Tracking Portal.[141] Methodological guidance for
forest monitoring was also emphasized at COP-15.[142] The environmental organization Avoided
Deforestation Partners leads the campaign for development of REDD through funding from the
U.S. government.[143] In 2014, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and
partners launched Open Foris - a set of open-source software tools that assist countries in
gathering, producing and disseminating information on the state of forest resources.[144] The tools
support the inventory lifecycle, from needs assessment, design, planning, field data collection
and management, estimation analysis, and dissemination. Remote sensing image processing
tools are included, as well as tools for international reporting for Reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and MRV[clarification needed] and FAO's Global Forest
Resource Assessments.
In evaluating implications of overall emissions reductions, countries of greatest concern are
those categorized as High Forest Cover with High Rates of Deforestation (HFHD) and Low
Forest Cover with High Rates of Deforestation (LFHD). Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Burma,
Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti,
Honduras, Indonesia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua,
Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Togo,
Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zimbabwe are listed as having Low Forest Cover with
High Rates of Deforestation (LFHD). Brazil, Cambodia, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea,
Equatorial Guinea, Malaysia, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Venezuela, Zambia are listed as
High Forest Cover with High Rates of Deforestation (HFHD).[145]
Payments for conserving forests
In Bolivia, deforestation in upper river basins has caused environmental problems, including soil
erosion and declining water quality. An innovative project to try and remedy this situation involves
landholders in upstream areas being paid by downstream water users to conserve forests. The
landholders receive US$20 to conserve the trees, avoid polluting livestock practices, and
enhance the biodiversity and forest carbon on their land. They also receive US$30, which
purchases a beehive, to compensate for conservation for two hectares of water-sustaining forest
for five years. Honey revenue per hectare of forest is US$5 per year, so within five years, the
landholder has sold US$50 of honey.[146] The project is being conducted by Fundacin Natura

Bolivia and Rare Conservation, with support from the Climate & Development Knowledge
Network.

Farming
New methods are being developed to farm more intensively, such as highyield hybrid crops, greenhouse, autonomous building gardens, and hydroponics. These methods
are often dependent on chemical inputs to maintain necessary yields. In cyclic agriculture, cattle
are grazed on farm land that is resting and rejuvenating. Cyclic agriculture actually increases the
fertility of the soil. Intensive farming can also decrease soil nutrients by consuming at an
accelerated rate the trace minerals needed for crop growth.[citation needed]The most promising
approach, however, is the concept of food forests in permaculture, which consists of agroforestal
systems carefully designed to mimic natural forests, with an emphasis on plant and animal
species of interest for food, timber and other uses. These systems have low dependence
on fossil fuels and agro-chemicals, are highly self-maintaining, highly productive, and with strong
positive impact on soil and water quality, and biodiversity.

Monitoring deforestation
There are multiple methods that are appropriate and reliable for reducing and monitoring
deforestation. One method is the visual interpretation of aerial photos or satellite imagery that is
labor-intensive but does not require high-level training in computer image processing or
extensive computational resources.[76] Another method includes hot-spot analysis (that is,
locations of rapid change) using expert opinion or coarse resolution satellite data to identify
locations for detailed digital analysis with high resolution satellite images.[76] Deforestation is
typically assessed by quantifying the amount of area deforested, measured at the present time.
From an environmental point of view, quantifying the damage and its possible consequences is a
more important task, while conservation efforts are more focused on forested land protection and
development of land-use alternatives to avoid continued deforestation.[76] Deforestation rate and
total area deforested, have been widely used for monitoring deforestation in many regions,
including the Brazilian Amazon deforestation monitoring by INPE.[45]

Forest management
Efforts to stop or slow deforestation have been attempted for many centuries because it has long
been known that deforestation can cause environmental damage sufficient in some cases to
cause societies to collapse. In Tonga, paramount rulers developed policies designed to prevent
conflicts between short-term gains from converting forest to farmland and long-term problems
forest loss would cause,[147] while during the 17th and 18th centuries in Tokugawa, Japan,[148] the
shoguns developed a highly sophisticated system of long-term planning to stop and even reverse
deforestation of the preceding centuries through substituting timber by other products and more
efficient use of land that had been farmed for many centuries. In 16th-century Germany,
landowners also developed silviculture to deal with the problem of deforestation. However, these
policies tend to be limited to environments with good rainfall, no dry season and very
young soils (through volcanism or glaciation). This is because on older and less fertile soils trees

grow too slowly for silviculture to be economic, whilst in areas with a strong dry season there is
always a risk of forest fires destroying a tree crop before it matures.
In the areas where "slash-and-burn" is practiced, switching to "slash-and-char" would prevent the
rapid deforestation and subsequent degradation of soils. The biochar thus created, given back to
the soil, is not only a durable carbon sequestration method, but it also is an extremely
beneficial amendment to the soil. Mixed with biomass it brings the creation of terra preta, one of
the richest soils on the planet and the only one known to regenerate itself.
Sustainable practices

Reforestation
Main article: Reforestation
In many parts of the world, especially in East Asian countries, reforestation and afforestation are
increasing the area of forested lands.[153] The amount of woodland has increased in 22 of the
world's 50 most forested nations. Asia as a whole gained 1 million hectares of forest between
2000 and 2005. Tropical forest in El Salvador expanded more than 20% between 1992 and
2001. Based on these trends, one study projects that global forest will increase by 10%an area
the size of Indiaby 2050.[154]
In the People's Republic of China, where large scale destruction of forests has occurred, the
government has in the past required that every able-bodied citizen between the ages of 11 and
60 plant three to five trees per year or do the equivalent amount of work in other forest services.
The government claims that at least 1 billion trees have been planted in China every year since
1982. This is no longer required today, but March 12 of every year in China is the Planting
Holiday. Also, it has introduced the Green Wall of Chinaproject, which aims to halt the expansion
of the Gobi desert through the planting of trees. However, due to the large percentage of trees
dying off after planting (up to 75%), the project is not very successful.[citation needed] There has been a
47-million-hectare increase in forest area in China since the 1970s.[154] The total number of trees
amounted to be about 35 billion and 4.55% of China's land mass increased in forest coverage.
The forest coverage was 12% two decades ago and now is 16.55%.[155]
An ambitious proposal for China is the Aerially Delivered Re-forestation and Erosion Control
System and the proposed Sahara Forest Project coupled with the Seawater Greenhouse.
In Western countries, increasing consumer demand for wood products that have been produced
and harvested in a sustainable manner is causing forest landowners and forest industries to
become increasingly accountable for their forest management and timber harvesting practices.
The Arbor Day Foundation's Rain Forest Rescue program is a charity that helps to prevent
deforestation. The charity uses donated money to buy up and preserve rainforest land before
the lumber companies can buy it. The Arbor Day Foundation then protects the land from
deforestation. This also locks in the way of life of the primitive tribes living on the forest land.
Organizations such as Community Forestry International, Cool Earth, The Nature
Conservancy, World Wide Fund for Nature, Conservation International, African Conservation

Foundation and Greenpeace also focus on preserving forest habitats. Greenpeace in particular
has also mapped out the forests that are still intact[156] and published this information on the
internet.[157] World Resources Institute in turn has made a simpler thematic map[158] showing the
amount of forests present just before the age of man (8000 years ago) and the current (reduced)
levels of forest.[159] These maps mark the amount of afforestation required to repair the damage
caused by people.

Forest plantations
To meet the world's demand for wood, it has been suggested by forestry writers Botkins
and Sedjo that high-yielding forest plantations are suitable. It has been calculated that
plantations yielding 10 cubic meters per hectare annually could supply all the timber required for
international trade on 5% of the world's existing forestland. By contrast, natural forests produce
about 12 cubic meters per hectare; therefore, 510 times more forestland would be required to
meet demand. Forester Chad Oliver has suggested a forest mosaic with high-yield forest lands
interspersed with conservation land.[160]
In the country of Senegal, on the western coast of Africa, a movement headed by youths has
helped to plant over 6 million mangrove trees. The trees will protect local villages from storm
damages and will provide a habitat for local wildlife. The project started in 2008, and already the
Senegalese government has been asked to establish rules and regulations that would protect the
new mangrove forests

EFFECTS
Atmospheric

Illegal slash and burn practice inMadagascar, 2010

Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.[27][28][29][30][31]

Deforestation is a contributor to global warming,[32][33] and is often cited as one of the major
causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect. Tropical deforestation is responsible for
approximately 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions.[34] According to the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change deforestation, mainly in tropical areas, could account for up to onethird of total anthropogenic carbon dioxideemissions.[35] But recent calculations suggest that

carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

(excluding peatlandemissions) contribute about 12% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide
emissions with a range from 6 to 17%.[36] Deforestation causes carbon dioxide to linger in the
atmosphere. As carbon dioxide accrues, it produces a layer in the atmosphere that traps
radiation from the sun. The radiation converts to heat which causes global warming, which is
better known as the greenhouse effect.[37] Plants removecarbon in the form of carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere during the process of photosynthesis, but release some carbon
dioxide back into the atmosphere during normal respiration. Only when actively growing can a
tree or forest remove carbon, by storing it in plant tissues. Both the decay and burning of wood
releases much of this stored carbon back to the atmosphere. In order for forests to take up
carbon, there must be a net accumulation of wood. One way is for the wood to be harvested and
turned into long-lived products, with new young trees replacing them.[38]Deforestation may also
cause carbon stores held in soil to be released. Forests can be either sinks or sources
depending upon environmental circumstances. Mature forests alternate between being net sinks
and net sources of carbon dioxide (see carbon dioxide sink and carbon cycle).
In deforested areas, the land heats up faster and reaches a higher temperature, leading to
localized upward motions that enhance the formation of clouds and ultimately produce more
rainfall.[39] However, according to the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, the models used to
investigate remote responses to tropical deforestation showed a broad but mild temperature
increase all through the tropical atmosphere. The model predicted <0.2 C warming for upper air
at 700 mb and 500 mb. However, the model shows no significant changes in other areas besides
the Tropics. Though the model showed no significant changes to the climate in areas other than
the Tropics, this may not be the case since the model has possible errors and the results are
never absolutely definite.[40]

Fires on Borneo and Sumatra, 2006. People use slash-and-burndeforestation to clear land for agriculture.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries
has emerged as a new potential to complement ongoing climate policies. The idea consists in
providing financial compensations for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation".[41]
Rainforests are widely believed by laymen to contribute a significant amount of the world's
oxygen,[42] although it is now accepted by scientists that rainforests contribute little net oxygen to
the atmosphere and deforestation has only a minor effect on atmospheric oxygen

levels.[43][44] However, the incineration and burning of forest plants to clear land releases large
amounts of CO2, which contributes to global warming.[33] Scientists also state that tropical
deforestation releases 1.5 billion tons of carbon each year into the atmosphere.[45]

Hydrological
The water cycle is also affected by deforestation. Trees extract groundwater through their roots
and release it into the atmosphere. When part of a forest is removed, the trees no longer
transpire this water, resulting in a much drier climate. Deforestation reduces the content of water
in the soil and groundwater as well as atmospheric moisture. The dry soil leads to lower water
intake for the trees to extract.[46]Deforestation reduces soil cohesion, so that erosion, flooding
and landslides ensue.[47][48]
Shrinking forest cover lessens the landscape's capacity to intercept, retain
and transpire precipitation. Instead of trapping precipitation, which then percolates to
groundwater systems, deforested areas become sources of surface water runoff, which moves
much faster than subsurface flows. That quicker transport of surface water can translate intoflash
flooding and more localized floods than would occur with the forest cover. Deforestation also
contributes to decreased evapotranspiration, which lessens atmospheric moisture which in some
cases affects precipitation levels downwind from the deforested area, as water is not recycled to
downwind forests, but is lost in runoff and returns directly to the oceans. According to one study,
in deforested north and northwest China, the average annual precipitation decreased by one
third between the 1950s and the 1980s.[citation needed]
Trees, and plants in general, affect the water cycle significantly:

their canopies intercept a proportion of precipitation, which is then evaporated back to the
atmosphere (canopy interception);

their litter, stems and trunks slow down surface runoff;

their roots create macropores large conduits in the soil that increase infiltration of water;

they contribute to terrestrial evaporation and reduce soil moisture via transpiration;

their litter and other organic residue change soil properties that affect the capacity of soil to
store water.

their leaves control the humidity of the atmosphere by transpiring. 99% of the water
absorbed by the roots moves up to the leaves and is transpired.[49]

As a result, the presence or absence of trees can change the quantity of water on the surface, in
the soil or groundwater, or in the atmosphere. This in turn changes erosion rates and the
availability of water for either ecosystem functions or human services.
The forest may have little impact on flooding in the case of large rainfall events, which overwhelm
the storage capacity of forest soil if the soils are at or close to saturation.
Tropical rainforests produce about 30% of our planet's fresh water.[42]

Soil

Deforestation for the use of clay in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The hill depicted is Morro da Covanca,
in Jacarepagu

Undisturbed forests have a very low rate of soil loss, approximately 2 metric tons per square
kilometer (6 short tons per square mile).[citation needed] Deforestation generally increases rates of
soil erosion, by increasing the amount ofrunoff and reducing the protection of the soil from tree
litter. This can be an advantage in excessively leached tropical rain forest soils. Forestry
operations themselves also increase erosion through the development of roads and the use of
mechanized equipment.
China's Loess Plateau was cleared of forest millennia ago. Since then it has been eroding,
creating dramatic incised valleys, and providing the sediment that gives the Yellow River its
yellow color and that causes the flooding of the river in the lower reaches (hence the river's
nickname 'China's sorrow').
Removal of trees does not always increase erosion rates. In certain regions of southwest US,
shrubs and trees have been encroaching on grassland. The trees themselves enhance the loss
of grass between tree canopies. The bare intercanopy areas become highly erodible. The US
Forest Service, in Bandelier National Monument for example, is studying how to restore the
former ecosystem, and reduce erosion, by removing the trees.
Tree roots bind soil together, and if the soil is sufficiently shallow they act to keep the soil in place
by also binding with underlying bedrock. Tree removal on steep slopes with shallow soil thus
increases the risk of landslides, which can threaten people living nearby.

Biodiversity
Deforestation on a human scale results in decline in biodiversity,[50] and on a natural global scale
is known to cause the extinction of many species.[4] The removal or destruction of areas of forest
cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity.[51] Forests support
biodiversity, providing habitat for wildlife;[52] moreover, forests fostermedicinal
conservation.[53] With forest biotopes being irreplaceable source of new drugs (such as taxol),
deforestation can destroy genetic variations (such as crop resistance) irretrievably.[54]

Illegal logging in Madagascar. In 2009, the vast majority of the illegally obtained rosewood was exported toChina.

Since the tropical rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on Earth[55][56] and about 80% of
the world's known biodiversity could be found in tropical rainforests,[57][58] removal or destruction of
significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded[59] environment with reduced
biodiversity.[4][60] A study in Rondnia, Brazil, has shown that deforestation also removes the
microbial community which is involved in the recycling of nutrients, the production of clean water
and the removal of pollutants.[61]
It has been estimated that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day
due to rainforest deforestation, which equates to 50,000 species a year.[62] Others state that
tropical rainforest deforestation is contributing to the ongoing Holocene mass extinction.[63][64] The
known extinction rates from deforestation rates are very low, approximately 1 species per year
from mammals and birds which extrapolates to approximately 23,000 species per year for all
species. Predictions have been made that more than 40% of the animal and plant
species in Southeast Asia could be wiped out in the 21st century.[65] Such predictions were called
into question by 1995 data that show that within regions of Southeast Asia much of the original
forest has been converted to monospecific plantations, but that potentially endangered species
are few and tree flora remains widespread and stable.[66]
Scientific understanding of the process of extinction is insufficient to accurately make predictions
about the impact of deforestation on biodiversity.[67] Most predictions of forestry related
biodiversity loss are based on species-area models, with an underlying assumption that as the
forest declines species diversity will decline similarly.[68] However, many such models have been
proven to be wrong and loss of habitat does not necessarily lead to large scale loss of
species.[68] Species-area models are known to overpredict the number of species known to be
threatened in areas where actual deforestation is ongoing, and greatly overpredict the number of
threatened species that are widespread.[66]
A recent study of the Brazilian Amazon predicts that despite a lack of extinctions thus far, up to
90 percent of predicted extinctions will finally occur in the next 40 years

OVERFISHING
Overfishing is a form of overexploitation in which fish stocks are depleted to unacceptable
levels, regardless of water body size. Resource depletion, low biological growth rates, and
critically low biomass levels (e.g. by critical depensation growth properties) result from
overfishing. For example, overfishing of sharks has led to the upset of entire marine
ecosystems.[1]
The ability of a fishery to recover from overfishing depends on whether the ecosystem's
conditions are suitable for the recovery. Dramatic changes in species composition can result in
an ecosystem shift, where other equilibrium energy flows involve species compositions different
from those that had been present before the depletion of the original fish stock. For example,
once trout have been overfished, carp might take over in a way that makes it impossible for the
trout to re-establish a breeding population.

Consequences

Atlantic cod stocks were severely overfished in the 1970s and 1980s, leading to their abrupt collapse in 1992

According to a 2008 UN report, the world's fishing fleets are losing US$50 billion each year
through depleted stocks and poorfisheries management. The report, produced jointly by
the World Bank and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), asserts that half the
world's fishing fleet could be scrapped with no change in catch. In addition, the biomass of
global fish stocks have been allowed to run down to the point where it is no longer possible to
catch the amount of fish that could be caught.[13] Increased incidence of schistosomiasis in Africa
has been linked to declines of fish species that eat the snails carrying the disease-causing
parasites.[14] Massive growth of jellyfish populations threaten fish stocks, as they compete with
fish for food, eat fish eggs, and poison or swarm fish, and can survive in oxygen depleted
environments where fish cannot; they wreak massive havoc on commercial fisheries. Overfishing

eliminates a major jellyfish competitor and predator exacerbating the jellyfish population
explosion

CONTROL
Mitigation
With present and forecast world population levels it is not possible to solve the overfishing
issue;[citation needed] however, there are mitigation measures that can save selected fisheries and
forestall the collapse of others.
In order to meet the problems of overfishing, a precautionary approach and Harvest Control Rule
(HCR) management principles have been introduced in the main fisheries around the world. The
Traffic Light colour convention introduces sets of rules based on predefined critical values, which
could be adjusted as more information is gained.

Government regulation
See also: Fisheries management
See also: Fisheries law
Many regulatory measures are available for controlling overfishing. These measures include
fishing quotas, bag limits, licencing, closed seasons, size limits and the creation ofmarine
reserves and other marine protected areas.
A model of the interaction between fish and fishers showed that when an area is closed to
fishers, but there are no catch regulations such as individual transferable quotas, fish catches are
temporarily increased but overall fish biomass is reduced, resulting in the opposite outcome from
the one desired for fisheries.[25] Thus, a displacement of the fleet from one locality to another will
generally have little effect if the same quota is taken. As a result, management measures such
as temporary closures or establishing a marine protected area of fishing areas are ineffective
when not combined with individual fishing quotas. An inherent problem with quotas is that fish
populations vary from year to year. A study has found that fish populations rise dramatically after
stormy years due to more nutrients reaching the surface and therefore greater primary
production.[26] To fish sustainably, quotas need to be changed each year to account for fish
population.
Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) are fishery rationalization instruments defined under
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act as limited access permits to
harvest quantities of fish. Fisheries scientists decide the optimal amount of fish (total allowable
catch) to be harvested in a certain fishery. The decision considers carrying capacity,
regeneration rates and future values. Under ITQs, members of a fishery are granted rights to a
percentage of the total allowable catch that can be harvested each year. These quotas can be

fished, bought, sold, or leased allowing for the least cost vessels to be used. ITQs are used
in New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Canada, and theUnited States. Only three ITQ programs
have been implemented in the United States due to a moratorium supported by Ted Stevens.
In 2008, a large-scale study of fisheries that used ITQs compared to ones that didn't provided
strong evidence that ITQs can help to prevent collapses and restore fisheries that appear to be in
decline.[27][28][29][30]
China bans fishing in the South China Sea for a period each year.[31]

Removal of subsidies
Several scientists have called for an end to subsidies paid to deep sea fisheries. In international
waters beyond the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zones of coastal countries, many
fisheries are unregulated, and fishing fleets plunder the depths with state-of-the-art technology.
In a few hours, massive nets weighing up to 15 tons, dragged along the bottom by deep-water
trawlers, can destroy deep-sea corals and sponge beds that have taken centuries or millennia to
grow. The trawlers can target orange roughy,grenadiers, or sharks. These fish are usually longlived and late maturing, and their populations take decades, even centuries to recover.[32]
Fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly and economist Ussif Rashid Sumaila have examined subsidies
paid to bottom trawl fleets around the world. They found that US$152 million per year are paid to
deep-sea fisheries. Without these subsidies, global deep-sea fisheries would operate at a loss of
$50 million a year. A great deal of the subsidies paid to deep-sea trawlers is to subsidize the
large amount of fuel required to travel beyond the 200-mile limit and drag weighted nets.[32]
"There is surely a better way for governments to spend money than by paying subsidies to a fleet
that burns 1.1 billion litres of fuel annually to maintain paltry catches of old growth fish from highly
vulnerable stocks, while destroying their habitat in the process" Pauly.[32]
"Eliminating global subsidies would render these fleets economically unviable and would relieve
tremendous pressure on over-fishing and vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems" Sumaila.[32]

Minimising fishing impact

Fishing techniques may altered to minimise by-catch or harm to the environment, for example by
using larger net sizes, to avoid capture of small fish, or by promptly returning by-catch to the
water.

Artificial stocking
Where fishing results in capture of fish at a greater rate than they can breed, it may be possible
to restock fish populations, usually with captive bred juveniles. This method is especially effective
in inland waters where

INDIA CONDITION
The appetite for fish is exceeding our oceans ecological limits. Marine ecologists and scientists
across the world think that overfishing is the biggest threat to marine ecosystems today.

The modern fishing industry is dominated by fishing vessels that out-match nature's ability to
replenish fish. Giant ships using state-of-the-art fish-finding sonar can pinpoint schools of fish
quickly and accurately. These ships are like giant floating factories with fish processing and
packing plants, huge freezing systems and powerful engines to drag enormous fishing gear
through the ocean. Simply put: the fish don't stand a chance.
Populations of top predators are disappearing at a frightening rate. Ninety percent of the large fish
such as tuna, swordfish, marlin, cod, halibut, skate, and flounder have been fished out since large
scale industrial fishing began in the 1950s. Their depletion can cause a shift in entire oceans
ecosystem where commercially valuable fish are replaced by smaller, plankton-feeding fish. These
changes endanger the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems and hence the livelihoods of
those dependent on them.
Indias seas are the spawning and breeding grounds of large varieties of fish species. At least 3.5
million people in approximately 4000 fishing villages situated along the Indian coastline earn a
living from marine fisheries. However, fisheries resources in several parts of the country are under
severe stress.
By offering a variety of subsidies and incentives, governments at the centre and state level have
allowed too many mechanised boats to operate, resulting in too many boats chasing too few fish.
With overall fish catches showing a tendency to plateau and the share of the artisanal fishing
sector falling, measures to restrict fleet capacity and sustain fish stocks are essential.
This can be done by empowering the fisher community to co-manage marine resources. The
current regulations and enforcements need to be strengthened by getting more fishermen
involved. The enforcement agencies also need the space and flexibility to accommodate and
incorporate the use of science for fisheries management. Any strategy dealing with the
management of marine resources, including fisheries, needs to use an ecosystem approach,
which considers the entire ecosystem and all the species inhabiting them.
On the positive side, exploitation of distant waters in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is
believed to be much lower, though there are efforts from government and industry to increase
exploitation. Protection and conservation measures in the EEZ need to be implemented before
exploitation levels increase.

GLOBAL WARMING
Global warming is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of Earth's climate
system.[2] Since 1971, 90% of the increased energy has been stored in the oceans, mostly in the
0 to 700m region.[3] Despite the oceans' dominant role in energy storage, the term "global
warming" is also used to refer to increases in average temperature of the air and sea at Earth's
surface.[4] Since the early 20th century, the global air and sea surface temperature has increased
about 0.8 C (1.4 F), with about two-thirds of the increase occurring since 1980.[5] Each of the
last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth's surface than any preceding
decade since 1850.[6]
Scientific understanding of the cause of global warming has been increasing. In its fourth
assessment (AR4 2007) of the relevant scientific literature, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) reported that scientists were more than 90% certain that most of global
warming was being caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gasesproduced
by human activities (anthropogenic).[7][8][9] In 2010 that finding was recognized by the national
science academies of all major industrialized nations

EFFECTS
The effects of global warming on the Indian subcontinent vary from the submergence of lowlying islands and coastal lands to the melting of glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, threatening
the volumetric flow rate of many of the most important rivers of India and South Asia. In India,
such effects are projected to impact millions of lives. As a result of ongoing climate change,
the climate of India has become increasingly volatile over the past several decades; this trend is
expected to continue.
Elevated carbon dioxide emissions from industries, factories, vehicles etc. have contributed to
the greenhouse effect, causing warmer weather that lasted long after the atmospheric shroud of
dust and aerosols had cleared. Further climatic changes 20 million years ago, long after India
had crashed into the Laurasian landmass, were severe enough to cause the extinction of many
endemic Indian forms.[1]The formation of the Himalayas resulted in blockage of frigid Central
Asian air, preventing it from reaching India; this made its climate significantly warmer and more
tropical in character than it would otherwise have been

AWARENESS

Indian media can contribute to increased awareness of climate change and related issues. A
qualitative analysis of some mainstream Indian newspapers (particularly opinion and editorial
pieces) during the release of the IPCC 4th Assessment Report and during the Nobel Peace Prize
win by Al Gore and the IPCC found that Indian media strongly pursue the frame of scientific
certainty in their coverage of climate change. This is in contrast to the scepticism displayed by
American newspapers at the time. Alongside, Indian media highlight frames of energy challenge,
social progress, public accountability and looming disaster. This sort of coverage finds parallels
in European media narratives as well and helps build a transnational, globalised discourse on
climate change. [21] Another study has found that the media in India are divided along the lines of
a north-south, risk-responsibility discourse. [22] However, much more research is required to
analyse Indian media's role in shaping public perceptions on climate change.
Tribal people in India's remote northeast plan to [23] honour former U.S. Vice President Al
Gore with an award for promoting awareness on climate change that they say will have a
devastating impact on their homeland.
Meghalaya- meaning 'Abode of the Clouds' in Hindiis home to the towns
of Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, which are credited with being the wettest places in the world due
to their high rainfall. But scientists state that global climate change is causing these areas to
experience an increasingly sparse and erratic rainfall pattern and a lengthened dry
season,[24] affecting the livelihoods of thousands of villagers who cultivate paddy and maize.
Some areas are also facing water shortages.
People are becoming aware of ills of global warming. Taking initiative on their own people from
Sangamner, Maharashtra (near Shirdi) have started a campaign of planting trees known as
Dandakaranya- The Green Movement. It was started by visionary & ace freedom fighter the late
Shri Bhausaheb Thorat in the year 2005. To date, they have sowed more than 12 million seeds &
planted half a million plants.
According to data from 2009 India is the world's third biggest emitter of CO2 after China and the
United States - pushing Russia into fourth place

AIR POLLUTION
Air pollution is the introduction of particulates, biological molecules, or other harmful materials
into the Earth's atmosphere, possibly causing disease, death to humans, damage to other living
organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment.
The atmosphere is a complex natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on
planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletiondue to air pollution has been recognized as a threat
to human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems.
Indoor air pollution and urban air quality are listed as two of the worlds worst toxic pollution
problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World's Worst Polluted Places report.[1] According to
the 2014 WHO report, air pollution in 2012 caused the deaths of around 7 million people
worldwide

INDIA
Air pollution in India is quite a serious issue with the major sources being fuelwood and biomass
burning, fuel adulteration, vehicle emission and traffic congestion.[1][2] In autumn and winter
months, large scale crop residue burning in agriculture fields - a low cost alternative to
mechanical tilling - is a major source of smoke, smog and particulate pollution.[3][4][5] India has a
low per capita emissions of greenhouse gases but the country as a whole is the third largest after
China and the United States.[6] A 2013 study on non-smokers has found that Indians have 30%
lower lung function compared to Europeans.[7]
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was passed in 1981 to regulate air pollution and
there have been some measurable improvements. However, the 2013 Environmental
Performance Index ranked India 155 out of 178 countries

Emissions standards[edit]
Main article: Bharat Stage emission standards
Many two wheel, three wheel and four wheel vehicles lacked catalytic converters. Increases in
vehicle emissions were among the highest in the world.[21] The refining of oil and supply of fuel
was owned, regulated and run by the government; the fuel quality was lax.
In 2005, India adopted emission standard of Bharat Stage IV for vehicles, which is equivalent
to Euro IVEuropean standards for vehicle emissions. Nevertheless, the old pre-2005 vehicles,
and even pre-1992 vehicles are still on Indian streets.

Greenhouse gas emissions[edit]

India was the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2009 at 1.65 Gt per year, after China (6.9
Gt per year) and the United States (5.2 Gt per year). With 17 percent of world population, India
contributed some 5 percent of human-sourced carbon dioxide emission; compared to China's 24
percent share. On per capita basis, India emitted about 1.4 tons of carbon dioxide per person, in
comparison to the United States' 17 tons per person, and a world average of 5.3 tons per
person.[6][25]
About 65 percent of India's carbon dioxide emissions in 2009 was from heating, domestic uses
and power sector. About 9 percent of India's emissions were from transportation (cars, trains,
two wheelers, airplanes, others). India's coal-fired, oil-fired and natural gas-fired thermal power
plants are inefficient and offer significant potential for CO2 emission reduction through better
technology. Compared to the average emissions from coal-fired, oil-fired and natural gas-fired
thermal power plants in European Union (EU-27) countries, India's thermal power plants emit 50
to 120 percent more CO2 per kWh produced.[6] This is in significant part to inefficient thermal
power plants installed in India prior to its economic liberalization in the 1990s.
Between 1990 and 2009, India's carbon dioxide emissions per GDP purchasing power parity
basis have decreased by over 10 percent, a trend similar to China. Meanwhile, between 1990
and 2009, Russia's carbon dioxide emissions per GDP purchasing power parity basis have
increased by 40 percent. India has one of the better records in the world, of an economy that is
growing efficiently on CO2 emissions basis. In other words, over the last 20 years, India has
reduced CO2 emissions with each unit of GDP increase.[6] Per Copenhagen Accord, India aims to
further reduce emissions intensity of its growing GDP by 20 to 25 percent before 2020, with
technology transfer and international cooperation. Nevertheless, it is expected, that like China,
India's absolute carbon dioxide emissions will rise in years ahead, even as International Energy
Agency's Annex I countries expect their absolute CO2 emissions to drop.
A significant source of greenhouse gas emissions from India is from black
carbon, NOx, methane and other air pollutants. These pollutants are emitted in large quantities in
India every day from incomplete and inefficient combustion of biomass (fuel wood, crop waste
and cattle dung). A majority of Indian population lacks access to clean burning fuels, and uses
biomass combustion as cooking fuel. India's poorly managed solid wastes, inadequate sewage
treatment plants, water pollution and agriculture are other sources of greenhouse gas
emissions.[9][26]
NASA's Lau has proposed that as the aerosol particles rise on the warm, convecting air, they
produce more rain over northern India and the Himalayan foothill, which further warms the
atmosphere and fuels a "heat pump" that draws yet more warm air to the region. This
phenomenon, Lau believes, changes the timing and intensity of the monsoon, effectively
transferring heat from the low-lying lands over the subcontinent to the atmosphere over the
Tibetan Plateau, which in turn warms the high-altitude land surface and hastens glacial retreat.

His modeling shows that aerosolsparticularly black carbon and dustlikely cause as much of
the glacial retreat in the region as greenhouse gases via this "heat pump" effect

Health costs of air pollution[edit]

Exposure to particulate matter for a long time can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular
diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer and heart attacks. The Global burden of
disease study for 2010, published in 2013, had found that outdoor air pollution was the fifthlargest killer in India and around 620,000 early deaths occurred from air pollution-related
diseases in 2010.[28] According to a WHO study, 13 of the 20 most-polluted cities in the world are
in India; however, the accuracy and methodology of the WHO study was questioned by the
Government of India led by Manmohan Singh.

LIMITED SAFE WATER SUPPLY

Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water
usage within a region. It already affects every continent and around 2.8 billion people around the
world at least one month out of every year. More than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean
drinking water.[1]
Water scarcity involves water stress, water shortage or deficits, and water crisis. While the
concept of water stress is relatively new, it is the difficulty of obtaining sources of fresh water for
use during a period of time and may result in further depletion and deterioration of available
water resources.[2] Water shortages may be caused by climate change, such as altered weather
patterns including droughts or floods, increased pollution, and increased human demand and
overuse of water.[3] A water crisis is a situation where the available potable, unpolluted water
within a region is less than that region's demand.[4] Water scarcity is being driven by two
converging phenomena: growing freshwater use and depletion of usable freshwater resources.[5]
Water scarcity can be a result of two mechanisms: physical (absolute) water
scarcity and economic water scarcity, where physical water scarcity is a result of inadequate
natural water resources to supply a region's demand, and economic water scarcity is a result of
poor management of the sufficient available water resources. According to the United Nations
Development Programme, the latter is found more often to be the cause of countries or regions
experiencing water scarcity, as most countries or regions have enough water to meet household,
industrial, agricultural, and environmental needs, but lack the means to provide it in an
accessible manner.[6]
The reduction of water scarcity is a goal of many countries and governments. The UN recognizes
the importance of reducing the number of people without sustainable access to clean water and
sanitation. TheMillennium Development Goals within the United Nations Millennium
Declaration state that by 2015 they resolve to "halve the proportion of people who are unable to
reach or to afford safe drinking water.

Causes of water crisis[edit]

There are several principal manifestations of the water crisis.

Inadequate access to safe drinking water for about 884 million people[15]

Inadequate access to water for sanitation and waste disposal for 2.5 billion people[16]

Groundwater overdrafting (excessive use) leading to diminished agricultural yields[17]

Overuse and pollution of water resources harming biodiversity

Regional conflicts over scarce water resources sometimes resulting in warfare

Effect on Animals[edit]
The acute water shortage prevailing in the forest areas of Tamil Nadu's districts
of Madurai and Dindigul has led the Indian gaurs found in the forest of the region, to death as
they come in search of water and end up dead by falling into the wells.[2]

Counter measures[edit]

Community led initiatives[edit]

With support from government and UNICEF, villagers in Palve Budruk, located in the droughtprone Parner Block in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, developed a catchment plan covering
1,400 hectors thats over 80% of the land available. The system has three check dams, 20
canal bunds, two small percolation tanks linked to the main tank and 19 village ponds. Water
stored in the percolation tank, is strictly meant for domestic use only. Piped water is supplied for
an hour a day in the morning, during which time families fill up water for drinking and cooking[3]

Government led initiatives[edit]

SIS Seoul International School is Fundraising to bring water to India, and can be found in South
Korea, or siskorea.org

Raising awareness[edit]
The Canadian start-up Decode Global has developed the mobile game Get Water!, a game for
social change focusing on the water scarcity in India and the effect it has on girls' education. The
game's primary goal is to raise awareness of the water crisis, by educating children as well as
adult gamers. To put more focus on children'd learning, the company has published a 6-part
lesson plan for 4-6 grade teachers, available for download as a pdf from the game's website.

Exploitation of Ground water[edit]

The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA)has notified 82 areas (Districts,Blocks, Mandals,
Talukas, Municipalities) for regulation of ground water development.[4] In these areas, installation
of new ground water abstraction structures is not permitted without prior specific approval of the
Authority / Authorized officer. Moreover, proposals for setting up/expansion of ground water
based industries including bottled water manufacturing units are forwarded by State Pollution
Control Boards and Bureau of Indian Standards to CGWA for seeking No Objection Certificate
(NOC) for ground water withdrawal. NOC is not accorded to such industries including bottled
water manufacturing units proposed to be located in areas notified by the Authority. In nonnotified areas, NOC is issued with mandatory pre-conditions of adoption of rain water harvesting
system, monitoring of ground water abstraction as well as monitoring of ground water level and
quality etc. by the industry. For enforcement of the regulatory directions issued under Section 5
of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,concerned Deputy Commissioners/ District Collectors
have been authorized to take necessary action in case of violations of directives of CGWA in the
notified areas.

Rainwater harvesting - Rain water is accumulated and used for ground water recharge. This
increases the ground water availability.[5]

Farm pond - Farm ponds are constructed near the farming field. The rain water which runs
off the ground are collected by these ponds. These ponds helps agriculture in dry lands.[6][7]