B.

A 4th semester
Paper-4016
Environmental geography and
disaster management
BIO-DEPLETION
• Relentless pursuit of economic growth coupled with climate
change has brought an unprecedented one million species at the
doorstep of extinction. This is the finding of a landmark UN
report (known as the Global Assessment) on the damage done by
modern civilisation to the natural world. The report compiled by
145 expert authors from 50 countries is based on the review of
about 15,000 scientific and government sources. Also, the report
is the first comprehensive look in 15 years at the state of planet’s
biodiversity.
• Biodiversity-It refers to all the varieties of life that can be found
on Earth (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) as well as to
the communities that they form and the habitats in which they
live.
• It can be understood at three levels:
• Species diversity refers to the variety of different species (plants,
animals,fungi and microorganisms) such as palm trees, elephants or
bacteria.
• Genetic diversity corresponds to the variety of genes contained in
plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms. It occurs within a species
as well as between species. For example, poodles, German shepherds
and golden retrievers are all dogs, but they all look different.
• Ecosystem diversity refers to all the different habitats - or places -
that exist, like tropical or temperate forests, hot and cold deserts,
wetlands, rivers, mountains, coral reefs, etc. Each ecosystem
corresponds to a series of complex relationships between biotic
(living) components such as plants and animals and abiotic (non-
living) components which include sunlight, air, water, minerals and
• Key Findings from the UN Report
• More than half a million species on land have insufficient habitat for long
term survival and are likely to become extinct. An average of 25% of
animals and plants are now threatened.
• Global trends in insect population are not known but rapid decline in some
locations have been documented.
• Forests have been cleared at astonishing rates especially in tropical areas.
Between 1980 and 2000, 100 million hectares of tropical forests were lost.
• Urban areas have more than doubled since 1992.
• Soils are being degraded as never before reducing the productivity of 23%
of the land surface of the earth.
• More than a third of the world’s land surface and nearly 75% of world’s
freshwater resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production.
Biodiversity is being depleted by the loss of habitat, fragmentation of
habitat, over exploitation of resources, human sponsored ecosystems,
climatic changes, pollution invasive exotic spices, diseases, shifting
cultivation, poaching of wild life etc.
Environmental Problems
Plastic Waste
• About 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the sea every year. At this rate,
world will face a future with more plastic in the ocean than fish by the
year 2050.
• Plastic is manufactured from the elements and chemicals derived from
petroleum substances which is the reason behind it producing toxic effects
through various chemical reactions from the initial production to its use
and finally as a trash.
• Plastic waste not only affects a sea life but also the sea salt.
• Plastic flows into seas from sewers, construction activities, fishing, shipping etc.
• Waste management is easy if at individual level, one resorts to 3Rs : Reduce, Reuse
and Recycle
Microplastics
• Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long, which aquatic
life and birds mistake for food.
• Microplastic includes microbeads that are used in cosmetics and personal care
products, industrial scrubbers which are used for aggressive blast cleaning,
microfibers used in textiles and virgin resin pellets used in plastic manufacturing
processes.
• High level of microplastics are found in the Pacific, Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.
Climate Change
• Climate change is another environmental problem that has surfaced in the last couple
of decades.
• It happens due to the pollution of the atmosphere by greenhouse gases and other
contaminants.
• It affects the fundamental requirements for remaining healthy i.e. air, drinking water,
food and shelter.
• Global warming, that happens due to changes in climate, has observable effects on the
environment such as shrinking glaciers, earlier break up of ice on rivers and lakes,
increased droughts, extreme weather etc.
Deforestation
• It has been estimated that around half of the world’s mature forests have been cleared by
humans.
• Forests are an essential part of the global ecosystem and the biosphere. They help to
regulate climate, protect soils from erosion and provide habitat to vast number of plants
and animal species.
Land Degradation
• It is a problem in virtually every terrestrial ecosystem that is reducing the welfare of more
than three billion people.
• A recent assessment has found that only a quarter of land on earth is substantively free of
the impacts of human activities and this is projected to decline to just one-tenth by 2050.
• The ongoing degradation has many impacts on species, the quality of habitats and the
functioning of ecosystems.
Overpopulation
• It is one of the crucial current environment problems.
• Population explosion in less developed and developing countries is draining the
already scarce resources.
• Recent analysis have revealed that even if the destruction of natural resources ends
now, it would take 5-7 mn years for the natural world to recover.
Light Pollution
• The inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light, known as light pollution has
serious environmental consequences for humans and wildlife.
• It washes the star light in the night sky, interferes with astronomical research,
disrupts ecosystem, has adverse health effects and wastes energy.
• Excessive artificial light leads to adverse behavioural changes in insect and animal
population. Artificial light confuses an animal’s natural body cycle, thus also
affecting its immune system.
• Light pollution can be tackled by switching off the lights when and where ever
necessary.
Effects of loss of biodiversity are:
• The loss of biodiversity leads to depletion of genetic diversity.
• The loss of both genetic and ecosystem diversities result in a loss of
cultural diversity.
• The alteration of the habitat results in mass extinction of particularly
the endemic species.
• The loss of a species can have deleterious effects on the remaining
species in an ecosystem which lead to breakdown of biodiversity.
• Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where
food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water
is in irregular or short supply.
• The loss of plant species also means the loss of unknown economic
potential, as extinct plants can hardly be harvested for food crops,
fibers, medicines, and other products that forests, especially rainforests,
provide.
• Thus biodiversity conservation has become important.
• The biodiversity conservation methodology is divided as In-situ and Ex-situ.
In-situ methods of conservation of biodiversity
• The in-situ strategy emphasizes protection of total ecosystems. The in-situ
approach includes protection of a group of typical ecosystems through a network
of protected areas.
a) Protected areas:
• These are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and
maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural
resources. These are managed through legal or other effective means. Examples of
protected areas are National Parks, and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
• Some of the main benefits of protected areas are: (1) maintaining viable
populations of all native species and subspecies; (2) maintaining the number and
distribution of communities and habitats, and conserving the genetic diversity of
all the present species; (3) preventing human-caused introductions of alien species;
and (4) making it possible for species/habitats to shift in response to environmental
b) Biosphere reserves:
• Biosphere reserves are internationally recognized, nominated by national governments
and remain under sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located.
• Biosphere reserves are organized into 3 interrelated zones:
Core Areas: These areas are securely protected sites for conserving biological diversity,
monitoring minimally disturbed ecosystems, and undertaking non-destructive research and
other low-impact uses (such as education).
Buffer Zones: These areas must be clearly identified, and usually surround or adjoin the
Core Areas. Buffer Zones may be used for cooperative activities compatible with sound
ecological practices, including environmental education, recreation, ecotourism and
applied and basic research.
Transition, or Cooperation, Zones: These areas may contain towns, farms, fisheries, and
other human activities and are the areas where local communities, management agencies,
scientists, non-governmental organizations, cultural groups, economic interests, and other
stakeholders work together to manage and sustainably develop the area’s resources.
c) National parks:
• A national park is a reserve of natural or semi-natural land, declared or owned by a
government, which is restricted from most development and is set aside for human recreation
and environmental protection. Visitors are allowed to enter, under special conditions, for
inspirational, educative, cultural, and recreative purposes.
d) Wildlife sanctuaries:
• An area, usually in natural condition, which is reserved (set aside) by a governmental or
private agency for the protection of particular species of animals during part or all of the
year. An area designated for the protection of wild animals, within which hunting and fishing
is either prohibited or strictly controlled. It is maintained by the state government.
e) Sacred forests and sacred lakes:
• A traditional strategy for the protection of biodiversity has been in practice in India and some
other Asian countries in the form of sacred forests. These are forest patches of varying
dimensions protected by tribal communities due to religious sanctity accorded to these forest
patches. In India sacred forests are located in several parts, e.g. Karnataka, Maharashtra,
Kerala, Meghalaya, etc., and are serving as refugia for a number of rare, endangered and
endemic taxa. Similarly, several water bodies (e.g. Khecheopalri Lake in Sikkim) have been
declared sacred by the people leading to protection of aquatic flora and fauna.
Ex-situ methods of conservation of biodiversity
• Ex-situ conservation is the preservation of components of biological diversity
outside their natural habitats. This involves conservation of genetic resources,
as well as wild and cultivated or species, and draws on a diverse body of
techniques and facilities. Some of these include:
a) Botanic Gardens
• Botanic gardens can be defined as “public gardens which maintain collections
of live plants mainly for study, scientific research, conservation and education.
• Botanic gardens are able
• to rehabilitate indigenous and threatened species and restore them to protected
portions of their former habitats;
• to exploit commercially those species which are plentiful; and
• to promote wildlife education to a broad range of target groups such as
politicians, school and college students, and communities living in and around
wildlife areas.
b) Translocations
• Sometimes conservation of faunal species involves or necessitates translocation of
animals. This means the movement of individuals from its natural habitat, or from
captivity, to another habitat. Translocations are carried out in connection with
introductions or reintroductions, and should be handled with extreme caution.
These operations are carried out often with support from international captive breeding
programs and receive the cooperation of zoos, aquaria, etc.
c) Seed bank
• The preservation of plant germplasm in seedbanks, (or genebanks), is one of the
techniques of ex-situ conservation of plant species.
Storing germplasm in seedbanks is both inexpensive and space efficient. It allows
preservation of large populations with little genetic erosion. Seedbanks also offer good
sources of plant material for biological research, and avoid disturbance or damage of
natural populations.
f) Reintroduction
• Reintroduction of an animal or plant into the habitat from where it has become extinct is
another form of ex situ conservation. For example, the Gangetic gharial has been
reintroduced in the rivers of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where it had
become extinct.
Species based programmes for conservation of biodiversity
• The species based conservation programmes in India are:
a) Project Tiger
• Tigers are terminal consumers in the ecological food pyramid, and
their conservation results in the conservation of all trophic levels in
an ecosystem.
• Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Government of
India which was launched on the 1st of April, 1973 for in-situ
conservation of wild tigers in designated tiger reserves.
• The project aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers
in their natural habitats and also to protect them from extinction,
and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage
forever represented as close as possible the diversity
of ecosystems across the tiger’s distribution in the country.
b) Project Elephant
• Elephant was launched in February, 1992 to assist states having free ranging populations
of wild elephants to ensure long-term survival of identified viable populations of elephants
in their natural habitats. The project is being implemented in twelve states viz. Andhra
Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland,
Orissa, Tamil Nadu Uttaranchal and West Bengal.
c) Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project
• The Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project is an effort to save the Asiatic lion
from extinction in the wild. The last wild population in the Gir Forest region of the Indian
state of Gujarat is threatened by epidemics, natural disasters and anthropogenic factors.
The project aims to establish a second independent population of Asiatic Lions at the Kuno
Wildlife Sanctuary in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
d) Snow Leopard Project
• Snow leopards live in the mountain regions of central Asia. In India their geographical
cover encompasses a large part of the Western Himalaya including the states of Himachal
Pradesh, J&K and Uttarakhand with a sizable population in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal
Pradesh in Eastern Himalaya. They are found at high elevations of 3000-4500 meters
(9800 ft to 14800 ft.), and even higher in the Himalayas
• Keeping this in view, WWF-India initiated the project, “snow leopard
conservation: An initiative”, in the states of Uttarakhand (UK) and
some of the areas of Himachal Pradesh (HP) to conserve biodiversity
with community participation
• Source
-Environmental Geography,Savindra Singh
-Environmental Geography,R.C Chandna
-wikipedia
-britannica.com