Environmental management

Environmental
Management
Topic 2 A-level Human Geography

Content
1. Sustainable energy supplies
2. Management of Energy Supply
3. Environmental Degradation
4. Management of Degraded Environment

Non-renewable Energy
• Finite sources of energy, as they are used the
supply that remains reduced
• Can become completely exhausted
• Fossil fuels and nuclear fuels

Renewable Energy
• Energy sources that can be used over
and over again
• Sources are sustainable and causes
little to no harm to the environment
• Hydro-electric Power, biomass, wind,
solar, geothermal, tidal, wave power

Energy Sources and the World
• The key input to the global economic
growth
• Positive correlation between
availability of energy and growth of a
nation
• Also positive correlation between
economic level and energy
consumption
• Helps a country industrialize
• Efficient utilization of natural resources

Energy Sources and the World
• Employment opportunities comes with
industrialization
• Expansion of national infrastructures
• Economic self sufficiency for nations
• Energy use has been the main
contributor to global warming
• Issues of energy security has arose in
dependent nations
• Energy inadequacy has the potential to
cause conflicts

Energy Crisis
• A significant shortage/ bottleneck in
the supply of energy resources to an
economy
• Has occurred in many parts of the
world to dire social and economic
effects
• Energy poverty has presented itself as a
major obstacle to national
development
• In developing countries, fuel poverty
still threaten the economically
marginalized during harsh winter

Energy Mix
• The group of different primary energy
sources from which secondary energy
for direct use is produced
• For current, the energy mix of the
world indicates great reliance on non-
renewable fossil fuels
• The challenge: To convert to renewable
resources or at least achieve a more
sustainable balance

Factors affecting the demand
for and supply of energy

Demand for Energy
• Governed by:
– Size of Population
– Level of economic development
• There is a massive gap between LEDCs
and MEDCs in terms of energy
consumption
• Highest demand in NICs
(Industrializing)
• Intentional policies also play huge parts

Global Variations in Energy Supply
• Physical factors
• Economic factors
• Political factors

Physical Factors
• Limited locations of Fossil fuels
• HEP: relief, rock permeability,
precipitation
• Flat land
• Geological foundations
• Solar power and sun
• Wind speed and wind power
• Tidal range for tide power
• Climatic conditions and biomass

Locations of Fossil Fuel
• Deposits of fossil fuels are only found in
certain locations
• Formed by natural processes of anaerobic
decomposition
• Energy here originated from photosynthesis
• Petroleum/ Natural gas: Phytoplankton/
zooplankton
• Coal/ Methane: Fossilized terrestrial plants
• Oil: Hydrocarbon
• These deposits get buried by layers of
sediments
• Heat and pressure chemically altered them
• Geological changes to earth crust have effects

HEP Locations
• High precipitation: Reliable/
sustainable source of water
• Topographical part of a river’s course: a
valley?
• Major steep-sided valley: providing
gravitational potential energy
• Impermeable rock surface: reliable
storage of water
• Rocks able to sustain high hydraulic
pressure
• Stable bedrock

Land requirement for power stations
• Flat land
• Geologically stable foundation
• Proximal to mining sites

Solar Power and Insolation
• Solar power gets its energy from the
sun
• Requires constant insolation
• Limited seasonal variation of sunlight

Wind Power
• A location where wind can be captured
• High but flatland – if not size of wind
farm will be limited
• Close to coastlines
• Wind speed should be sustained
throughout the year
• Wind direction should be consistent

Tidal Range – Tidal Power
• Macro-tidal coastline
• Preferably one with diurnal tidal cycles
• Not prone to coastal erosion
• Consistency in sediment cycle
• Strong tidal currents

Biomass and Climatic conditions
• Requires large land for farming plants
• Needs the correct climate to farm
plants that would produce specific
energy
• Usually tropical areas are best

Economic
• Accessibility of fossil fuels
• Onshore/ Offshore deposits
• Transport Routes
• Foreign Direct Investment
• Fluctuations of Energy Prices
• Exploration and Development

Accessibility
• Requires technologies for mining
• Deep sea stores of natural gas
• Ideas of technologies such as fracking
• Sufficient infrastructures for
transportation

Onshore and Offshore Deposits
• Onshore deposits cheap
• Offshore deposits more expensive
• More environmental costs
• More likely to destroy biodiversity of
areas
• Since it usually involves areas close to
hydrothermal vent – very unique
ecosystem

Transport Routes
• Energy needs to be developed with
transport system
• National grids
• Pipeline systems
• Harbor and boats

Foreign Direct Investment
• Investment from foreign companies are
important in LEDCs
• FDI can be determined by the
advantages and disadvantages of a
country as an industrial locations or
destination of investment

Explorations/ Development
• Highly dependent on energy prices
• Firm act as economic entities
• Further investment in explorations can
only come with more revenues through
higher demands and rises in energy
prices

Political
• International Atomic Agency
• International Agreements
• International Rivers and HEP
• Government Policies

International Atomic Energy Agency
• International organization that seeks to
promote the peaceful use of nuclear
energy, and to inhibit its use for any
military purposes
• Created in 1953 at the peak of the Cold
War by president Eisenhower
• After Chernobyl: worked on safety
• Yukiya Amano – Director since 2009
• Countries that want to develop nuclear
energy has to go through this agency

International Agreements
• International agreements on energy usage
can impact national decisions
• UNFCCC (United Nations Framework
Conventions for Climate Change )
• Kyoto Protocol (1997): agreement that a)
Global warming exists b) human-made
CO2 emission caused it
• Paris Conference (2015): keeping increase
in global temperature below 2oC,
adaptation for climate resilience in a
manner that does not threaten food
production, finance flow made consistent
to climate policies

International River
• HEP schemes will require agreements
from other countries sharing a river
• This is because dams have effects on
the river’s lower courses
• E.g. Egypt’s Aswan Dam: Nile River
• Laos’ Xayaburi dam: Mekong River

Government Policies
• In MEDCs, some major parties have
worked on promoting on overturning
climate change
• Perhaps favoring uses of low-sulphur
coal
• Some countries may insist on energy
security

Capital/ Technologies
• Capital and technologies required for
energy extraction

Factors affecting Energy usage
• Technological Development
• Increasing national wealth
• Changes in demand
• Changes in price
• Environmental factors/ public opinions

Technological development
• Nuclear energy has only been available
since 1954
• Oil and water can be extracted from
much deeper waters
• Renewable energy is in developmental
stage
• Thus in some LEDCs, the original form
of fuel: woods continue to be used
• Coals may be used in non oil rich but
developing nations like China

Increasing National Wealth
• Increase in average income
• Higher living standards (more
expensive technologies in the homes,
more air conditioners, cars, high energy
infrastructures)
• Increasing use of energy
• Diversification of energy mix to cope
with such changes

Changes in demand
• A different energy source may be
discovered
• New supplies may be found
• E.g. Britain’s discovery of North Sea
Natural gas led to the negative changes
in demand for coal

Changes in price
• Prices of different sources of energy
regularly influence demand
• Relative prices influence people’s
choices in countries with diverse
energy mix
• Oil prices fluctuate a great deal

Environmental Factors/ Public Opinions
• Public opinions influence governmental
decisions in democratic governments
• 21st century opinions may be in favor of
sustainable development and uses of
renewable energy
• People are much better informed about
issues of climate change
• Realizing the impact of conventional
fuel sources

Trends in consumption of conventional
energy resource

Fossil fuels and Regional Pattern
• Fossil fuels dominate global energy
situations
• 2012 data: Oil 33% / Coal 30% / Natural
Gas 24%
• HEP is the highest among the
unconventional energy sources

Oil
• Asia Pacific is the only place where oil
consumption is lower than 30%
• Middle East: Over 50%
• Major source of energy

Coal
• Coal is the main source of energy in
Asia Pacific
• Extreme low usage (<5%) South/
Central America/ Middle East
• China around half of the global
consumption

Natural Gas
• Main source of energy for Europe and
Eurasia
• Close second to oil in Middle East
• Lowest share in Asia Pacific

Hydro-electricity
• Most important in South/ Central
America
• Plays sufficient role in Africa
• Les than 1% elsewhere

Nuclear Energy
• Most important in Europe Eurasia and
North America
• Very little elsewhere
• None in the Middle East

Renewables
• Largest contributions in Europe/
Eurasia
• Rising rapidly but from a very low base

MEDCs vs. LEDCs
• MEDCs tend to use wider mixes
• They can invest in domestic supply
while purchasing exports
• High investment required for nuclear
energy limit them to HICs
• Renewables are expensive to set up
• Fuelwood is still important in LEDCs

Wealth and Energy Gap
• The main factor explaining energy gap
• Energy has been used to improve
quality of life
• Cars, washing machines
• Climate can influence energy usage

Significance of Oil
• The most important of the non-
renewable resources
• Oil has been the mainstay in the global
economy since the mid-20th century
• The economy is still very much reliant
on this source of energy
• Becoming an important source of
energy in the 20th century mean oil
became tied to the Global geopolitical
system

Advantages
• Compact and portable – easy to transport/
store
• Can be used for most mechanical
transportation
• Distillation can produced various types of
products
• Cleaner than coal
• Easier to burn than coal
• Highly economical compared to others
• Source of advanced today’s technologies
• By-product Sulphur can be used for other
purposes
• Well-established global infrastructure

Disadvantages
• Non-renewable – millions of years required for
formation
• Generated CO2 greenhouse gas
• Sulphur dioxide/ sulphur trioxide can combine
with moisture in the air to form acid rain
• Not as clean/ efficient as natural gas
• Oil spills from Super tankers e.g. Exxon Alaska
• Oil spill from pipelines e.g. North American states
• Investment needed for further explorations of
reserves
• Vulnerable energy pathway associated with
political instability
• Peak Oil concern genuine
• Fluctuation of prices
• Strip mining for oil from tar sand causes serious
environmental damage

Changes in oil consumption
• Global demand in oil has rose since
1987
• It has caused massive environmental
consequences
• Faster depletion of oil reserves
• Largest increase in Asia Pacific
• Africa still consumes the least oil
• Consumption is low in Middle East – oil
used for commercial purpose, natural
gas used for consumptions

Oil Reserves
• Proven Reserves: An estimated
quantity of all hydrocarbons statistically
defined as crude oil or natural gas,
which geological and engineering data
demonstrate with reasonable certainty
to be recoverable in future years from
known reservoirs under existing
economic and operating conditions

Oil Reserves
• Reserves are proven if economic
producability is supported by actual
production/ conclusive testing
• Middle East has 48% of such reserves
• Political instability in the region has
been caused by and remains a major
concern for oil production

Reserves-to-production ratio
• The remaining mount of non-
renewable resource, expressed in time
• Usually used with coal
• Does not refer to resources running
• But rather when production would hit
its peak and decline according to
Hubbert’s Peak Oil Theory

Reserve-to-production Ratio
• North America: 38.7
• South America: 123
• Europe/ Eurasia: 22.4
• Middle East: 78.1
• Africa: 37.7
• Asia Pacific: 13.6
• Global Average: 52.9

Peak Oil – M King Hubbert
• For any given geographical data, oil
production follows a bell curve pattern
• Early in the curve , rate of production
increases with discovery rate and
infrastructures
• Production later declines with resource
depletion
• Hubbert predicted a peak in 1970
• This actually came through

Peak Oil
• Rate of discoveries have fallen in recent
years
• There is a 60year gap between
discovery and production
• International Energy Agency predicts
Peak Oil between 2013 – 2037
• USGS predicts 50 more years
• New developments in shale oil and gas
have acted as cushions for this

Shale Oil
• Extraction of oil from tight oil reserves
held in shale and other rock formation
from which it does not naturally flow
• Advances in technology made this more
accessible
• Allowed the USA to regain self-sufficiency
• Case study: North Dakota Access Pipeline
• Exploitation of shale gas led to oil
• The shale revolution could spread to other
parts

Shale Oil
• Extraction of shale oil has environmental
impacts
• Involves hydraulic fracturing: pumping
water in joints and beddings of rocks to
open them up for flows of oil
• It requires open mining which reduces
diversity of ecosystem
• Subsurface mining cause subsidence of
surfaces
• Waste materials
• Influences water runoff – lowering of
ground water level
• Possible links to earthquakes after waste
water disposal e.g. Oklahoma

Geopolitics of Oil
• Energy security has a direct impact on
the politics of nations
• Energy insecurity is rising
• 1977, USA constructed the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve – stored in strings
of salt domes and abandoned mines in
Louisiana and Texas
• High accessibility to pipeline and routes

Strategic Petroleum Reserve
• Middle East: Largest exporters of oil
Political tension causes concerns of
vulnerability of oil field
• Case study of the strait of Hormuz

Energy Pathway
• The flow of energy from producer to
consumer
• Pathways can be vulnerable in political
terms
• Physical factors – natural routes
difficult to move through

Natural Gas Reserves
• Global production of natural gas has
been increasing
• Largest producing regions: North
America, Europe/ Eurasia
• Highest relative increase: Middle East
• Russia and USA highest
• Strong correlation between production
and consumption
• Natural gas more difficult to transport
• R/P ratio at 55.7 years

Advantages
• More environmentally friendly than oil
– less pollution
• Emits fewer toxic materials
• In US market: cheapest source of
electrical power
• Efficiently/ safely stored

Disadvantages
• Cause greenhouse emission
• Highly volatile
• Colorless/ odorless: leaks undetectable
without addition of sulphur
• Danger in contamination with poor
transport through pipelines
• Environmental concerns over fracking
• Micro earthquakes

Coal Reserves
• Dominated by the Asia Pacific region
(67.8%) – specifically China which takes
up 50% of coal consumption
• Strong relationship between
consumption and production due to
difficulty in transport
• R/P ration is 50 for Asia 109 for the
world
• However coal reserves are known to be
quickly exhausted due to lower
efficiency of energy use

History of Coals
• Coal was discovered in abundance in
both Britain and China
• For Britain alone, it became the driving
engine of the Industrial revolution
• It powered the steam engine which
then led to mechanization of farms and
societal shift to an industrialized
society
• It revolutionized transportation – both
maritime (steam boats) and train

History of Coals
• The train system promoted mobility of
population
• Meanwhile coals also led to industrial
developments in the forms of factories
• This led to a pull factor, people began
migrating by trains to cities
• Thus coal was further integral to the
development of cities
• Oil would have a similar effects of
revolutionizing transportations and
technologies in the 20th Century

Extending the Life of Fossil Fuel
• A way to maintain energy security when
renewable is still being developed and
implemented
• In many people’s eyes, fossil fuels should
phase out but there will need to be a
considerable gap in between
• New technologies can help sustain energy
security during that gap

Coal Gasification
• Transformation of coals into synthetic
natural gas
• Coals are cheap and allow energy
independence thus it will be a source
of energy for many
• Coals transformed into SNG
• Allows for easier transport
• Reduce pollution
• May be more costly
• However it produces more CO2
• It is also more water intensive

Clean Coal technology
• Allows burning of coals with greater
efficiency
• Capture pollutants before emitted into
the atmosphere
• High pressures and temperature used
• Existing power stations can simply be
upgraded for this

Unconventional Natural Gas
• Conventional Natural Gas can be found
very close to the surface
• New technologies have since
developed for unconventional natural
gas to be discovered at the deeper
layer

Deep Gas
• Gases that exist in deposits far
underground
• Deep drilling, exploration and
extraction techniques have improved
• Such drilling is becoming more
economical

Tight Gas
• Gas stuck in tight formation
underground
• Trapped in impermeable hard rock,
limestone or sandstone formation that
is non porous
• Will be extracted through hydraulic
fracturing

Gas-containing shale
• Gas trapped in fine grained
sedimentary rocks
• Shale does not disintegrate when wet
• Extraction much more expensive
• Hydraulic fracturing

Coal-bed methane
• Coal mining can unleash stores of
methane located in coal fields
• Methane used to be a nuisance and a
safety threat
• Methane can now be extracted and
injected into pipelines
• Can be used for generation of
electricity

Geopressurised zones
• Underground formations unusually
high pressure for their depth
• Formed by clay deposited and
compacted on porous absorbent sand/
silt
• Natural gas in clay squeezed out and is
stored in the porous sand/ silt under
very high pressure
• Found at great depths
• Of all the unconventional sources, this
hold the most gas

Arctic and sub-sea hydrates
• Most recent to be discovered and
researched
• Lattice of frozen water form a
molecular cage around methane
• Look like melting snow
• Discovered in permafrost regions of the
Arctic
• Contain high amount of organic Carbon
• Extraction yet to begin, concerns about
effects on the carbon cycle is an issue

Nuclear power: a global renaissance

History of Nuclear Power
• Nuclear power was experimented on as a
weapon of destruction in the US’
Manhattan Project
• It was first used to bring an end to the 2nd
World War
• In 1953, President Eisenhower of the USA
proposed the Atoms for Peace program
• The creation of the Atomic Energy Agency
• The process of exploiting nuclear energy
from uranium began
• Obinsk Nuclear Power plant constructed

History of Nuclear Power
• Since then a number of accidents have
occurred to cause concerns
• 1986’s Meltdown at Chernobyl
• 1999’s Three Mile Island accident
• 2011’s Meltdown at Fukushima-Deiichi
Powerplant

Nuclear Renaissance
21st Century:
• Heightened fears about oil supply –
associated with political instability
• Vulnerability that came with the lost of
energy security
• Fear of climate change
• Led to the introduction of nuclear
power into the global agenda

Decline of Nuclear Energy
• The latest accident at Fukushima
Deiichi has had a global impact on the
debates of nuclear power
• Japan had shut down all of its reactor
and shifted back to a more
conventional energy mix with coal
increasing in its share
• India and many other countries have
halted plans to construct new nuclear
plants
• Although as the fear subsided, the
argument was shifting once more

Advantages
• Zero emission of greenhouse gas – less
problems with climate change
• Less reliance on imported fossil fuels
for many nations: energy security and
self sufficiency
• Not vulnerable to fluctuations of prices
• Uranium is very plentiful and found in
politically stable countries
• Nuclear plants have been relatively
reliable and stable

Concerns
• Power plants accidents can release
radioactive materials into land, air and
water
• Disposal of radioactive waste still an issue
yet to be solved – no long-term solution
• Rogue states/ terrorists could use them
• High construction/ decommissioning costs
• Increase in rate of cancer in areas close to
power plant is still being investigated

Fast-breeder technology
• A more efficient reactor that
manufactures plutonium fuel from
uranium
• This eliminates the issue of plutonium
as wastes
• They can theoretically be recycled
• However plutonium in solid fuel forms
can be vulnerable to thefts

New Technology and Thorium
• New element that could be used to
produce nuclear power in replacement
of uranium
• Produces less radioactive waste
• Lack of weaponization potential
• Much more abundant in supply

Renewable Energy
• Renewable has become more popular
due to its high energy security
• However the current technologies still
pose problems that needed to be
solved
• The transition from non-renewables to
renewables is the issue of the current
world that needs to be discussed

Renewable Energy
• Hydro Electricity Power continues to
dominated in the field of renewables
• However Biofuels and winds are
increasing at much faster rates
• Investment in these energy have
increased a great deal

Hydro-electric power
• The only one of the traditional sources
of energy that belonged to the
renewable class
• The most important among the
renewables
• China, Brazil, Canada, USA : The big
four in HEP production: 53%
• Large scale development limited due to
specificity in locations and physical
requirements

Hydro-electric power
• Global consumption has increased
• China has the largest share
Problems:
• Negative visual impacts
• Obstruct rivers/ aquatic life forms
• Deterioration in water quality
• Large areas of land have to be flooded
to form reservoirs
• Submerging forest without clearances
release high quantity of methane –
greenhouse gas

Newer alternative energy source
• New energy sources drew interest at
the energy crisis of 1970s
• Relative low prices of oil in the
following decades then reduce that
interest
• Renewed concerns about energy
security returned in the 21st century
• New sources however tend to be more
costly
• Although this cost gap is reducing

Current Status
• Most important of the non-traditional
renewables
• Increasing in dominance
• Usually used by relatively small
countries
• China is the world leader however with
USA, Germany, Spain, India following
• More new wind powers are being
installed in LEDCs and NICs than in
MEDCs

Current Status
• For many, wind energy has reached the
takeoff stage
• As a source of energy and
manufacturing industry
• The cost of wind energy becoming
more and more comparable to
conventional energy source
• Advances in turbine technology
• This combines with economy of scales
• Leads to reduction of costs

Advantages
• Renewable
• Sufficient in production
• Reduction of costs due to technological
advances and economy of scale
• Suitable locations with wind conditions
not difficult to find
• Wind energy has reached takeoff stage as
source of energy and manufacturing
industry
• Offshore wind farms flexible in locations
• Repowering increase capacity of wind
farms
• Significant public supports already exist

Disadvantages
• Effects on landscapes
• NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) protests –
impact of local turbines on property
values
• Hum of turbines can disturb people/
wildlife
• Debate about number of birds killed by
turbines
• TV reception can be affected
• Requirement of government subsidies:
better used elsewhere

Role of Public Financing
• Government funding through subsidies
is essential to development
• The instability of the global economy
makes development of renewables an
even more vulnerable and dangerous
prospect

Repowering
• Replacing first generation wind
turbines with modern wind turbines
• Produce more wind turbine
• Fewer turbines needed
• Higher efficiency, lower costs
• Lower speed of rotating: less humming,
more visually pleasing
• Better grid integration – similar to
conventional power plants

Demands and Wind energy
• Shortage of supply led to increase in
demand for wind energy
• Takes a long time to make
• Thus increase in investment comes as a
result of high demands

Current Status
• Fossil fuel substitutes that can be made
from a range of agri-crop materials
including oilseeds, weed, corn and
sugar
• Blended with petrol and diesel
• More croplands have been converted
for this use
• There are in fact environmental
consequences

Method of Production
• High sugar crops grown in fermentation
chamber to produce ethanol through
anaerobic respiration
• Plant containing vegetable oil grown
– Oils extracted and heated to reduce
viscosity
– Burned directly in diesel engine
– Chemically processed to produce diesel
fuel
• Wood converted to wood gas, methanol
or ethanol fuel
• Cellulosic ethanol from non-edible plant
parts – potential second generation of
biofuels: not economical at the moment

Ethanol
• The most commonly used (90%)
• USA and Brazil (87%)
• Production in China/ EU increasing
• Take up 15% of petrol
• Rising trend of usage
• Difference in crop type (Brazil using
Sugar cane) due to climatic factor, land
availability, greater efficiency in
conversion of light energy

Biodiesel
• Also rising in production
• Most common biofuel in Europe (60%)
• Germany/ France lead producers
• Can be used to mix with mineral diesel
and used in diesel engine
• Rapeseed oil – major source
• Soybean oil in USA

Production
• Still need government subsidies
• Current transitions to larger plants: signs of
economy of scale and higher production
• Consolidation of smaller producers
• Following the agricultural trend of
intensification and commercialization

Geothermal Gradients
• Natural heat found under the earth’s
crust in the form of steam, hot water
and hot rock
• Rainwater percolates into the surface
• The geothermal gradient exists where
temperature rises as depth below
surface increases
• This allows water to be heated
• 30oC per km

Production
• Hot water can be used directly for
cleaning and heating
• It can also be sued to power steam
production of electricity

Advantages
• Renewable
• Extremely low environmental impact
• Highly reliable/secure
• Plant occupy small areas
• Not dependent on weather conditions
• Low maintenance cost

Disadvantages
• Few locations worldwide where this
energy can be fully utilized (plate
tectonic regions where geothermal
gradient is significant)
• Global generation small
• Locations further from regions of usage
• Transportation can be difficult – energy
more volatile in the form of heat
• Pipe and installation can be costly

Solar energy
• Using light energy in the form of
photons to generate electricity
• A rising prospect from a small base
• Huge potential for further development
• Could be a major source of energy
• Solar capacity has been growing
• Germany China Italy Japan USA Spain
lead

Photovoltaic System (PV)
• Solar panel convers sunlight into
electricity
• Receives photon that excites electron
• Forms an electricity circuit
• These are: costly to install
• Have to be tilted carefully so not to
block others
• Companies are inventing new panels
that are lighter – almost printing paper

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)
• Mirror/ lenses focus large area of
sunlight into small beams
• Concentrated light use as a source of
heat
• Normal thermal energy production
takes over
• Fluid is heated and used for electricity
generation
• Solar trough, Parabolic dish, solar
power tower

Solar Towers
• Idea of constructing large glassed in area
• Tall tower in the middle
• Hot air rises in the tower
• Driving the turbines

Current Status
• Still in infancy of development
• Adequate potential as an energy source
• Act like underwater windmill

Advantages
• More predictable – tides
• Less obtrusive

Disadvantages
• High start up cost
• Environmental concerns: potential
effects on fish population
• Sedimentation build-ups

Current Status
• Fuelwood, charcoals and animal dungs still
the main source of many rural or
underdeveloped areas
• Main energy source in Sub Saharan Africa
• Most important use of wood in Asia
• Many people still live without access to
electricity
• E.g. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Bangladesh,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia
• It is a very cheap form of energy however
and technically renewable

Environmental Impact
• Deforestation on a smaller scale –
depleting rural areas if not replenished
• Burning of woods can release large
amount of greenhouse gas
• Indoor air pollution
• Reliance on animal dungs is not good
as they release methane
• However burning is also a way to get
rid of the negative impact

Developmental Implications
• Concept of energy ladder: moving from a
less efficient forms of energy to more
industrial-based forms of energy
• Correlates to moving to higher level of
development
• Income and regional electrification and
household sizes can affect demand of
Fuelwood
• As cities become wealthier, demand for
fuelwood significantly drop
• Woods are likely to remain significant in
poorer regions

Industrialization
• The development of industries in a
country or a region on a wide scale
• Period of social and economic change that
transforms an agrarian society into an
industrial one
• Involves intense use of energy to increase
productions of industrial goods
• Development of infrastructures
• Use of non renewables
• Environmental concerns relegated in
priorities

Deindustrialization
• Decline in industrial activities in a region/
economy
• Movement toward post-industrial society
comes as heavier industries are exported
to areas where labor costs are lower
• MEDCs are therefore characterized by
dominance of tertiary service industries
• This has led to energy efficiency
• Low rate of population growth
• Thus a decline in primary energy
consumption
• More so in cases like Japan and Germany
and UK

Development and Energy usage
• Increases in energy use correlates with
rate of industrial development and
urbanization
• A reverse of both of those trends = less
energy use or shift toward cleaner,
more efficient energy
• Per person consumption may be high
by national consumption will be below
of the NICs
• Strong correlation between GNP and
per person energy consumption

Development and Energy usage
• China, India, Korea are all NICs who
consume large amount of energy
• Even in LEDCs, the demand for energy is
rising
• This is likely due to high population growth
• Even if energy consumption is not as high in
quantity, growth rate in LEDCs can exceed
NICs’
• In LEDCs high energy usage is still possible
 Disparity between rich and poor is
reflected in the energy use and
consumption
• Electricity grid in LEDCs don’t usually go
everywhere

Environmental Impact of Energy
• Increasing energy insecurity ahs led to
more explorations
• As energy prices rose so did the rate of
explorations and exploitations
• This leads to degradation of
environment associated with those
energy sources

Pathways crossing difficult environments
• Supply routes between energy producers
and consumers
• Pipelines, cables or ships
• They can be very difficult to construct,
some energy sources are highly
inaccessible (Trans Alaskan Pipeline)
• In permafrost areas, constructions have to
ensure pipelines are below melting zones/
active level
• Problems of subsidence can also disrupt
productions
• These pathways can have negative impacts
on the environment

Impacts of Pollution
• The dominant factor of environmental
degradation
• Has significant impact on human health
• Deaths from pollution vary between
countries: Low in West Africa and
Europe, highest in Asia
• Air pollution can be ambient or
household
• Can cause changes in DNA of children
during pregnancy

Impacts of Pollution
• The cost of healthcare for pollution
related illnesses may increase
• Interruptions to education and work:
slow down development
• Lost of labor productivity
• It impacts the ecosystems

Toxicity
• Every substance can be considered
toxic at a certain dosage

Agglomeration
• Industries are one of the main sources
of pollutions
• They may agglomerate to share
infrastructure
• This intensifies the level of pollution
• Impact can spread beyond locality/
regions  Can cross borders
• E.g. Deforestations/ smog from China
has affected Southeast Asia

Externality
• The cost or benefit that affects a party
who did not choose to incur in the cost
or benefit
• Pollution is the major negative
externality for industries
• Most focused at industrial areas
• Health risks usually highest around the
source of pollution
• Atmospheric conditions can influence
this pattern of distance decay

Externality Gradient
Distance
Impact
Externality Gradient
Maximum environmental impact
Geographical extent of imp

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
• Source: Industry
• Health effects: Respiratory illnesses,
Cardiovascular illnesses
• Environmental effects: Can lead to acid rain
 damage lakes, rivers, trees, cultural relics

Nitrous Oxide (NO2)
• Source: Industry, Vehicles
• Health effects: Respiratory and
Cardiovascular illnesses
• Environmental Effects: Nitrogen deposits in
rivers/ water bodies  over-fertilization 
Eutrophication

Particulate Matter
• Source: Industry, Vehicles
• Health: Can penetrate lung and enter/
contaminate blood stream
• Environmental effects: Reduced Visibility

Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• Sources: Vehicles
• Health Effects: Headache, fatigue, can
combine with haemoglobin and cause
anaemia if in high concentration

Lead (Pb)
• Source: Vehicles with leaded gasoline
• Health effect: Accumulates in blood stream,
damages nervous system
• Environmental effects: Kill fish/ animals –
highly toxic in water

VOC (Volatile Organic Compound)
• Source: Vehicles, Industries (burning of fossil
fuels/ natural gas), solvents/ paints/ glue
• Health effects: Irritation in the eyes/ skins,
nausea, headaches, carcinogens
• Environmental Effects: Smog

Ozone (O3)
• Source: Nitrous Oxide react with VOCs in the
presence of light
• Health effects: Respiratory illnesses
• Environmental effects: Reduced crop
production/ forest growth ; causes smog

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)
• Source: Insecticide/ pesticide in agriculture
• Health effects: Carcinogen, endocrine
disruptor, linked to breast cancer
• Environmental effects: Persistent organic
pollutant absorbed very readily by soil,
eggshell thinning in animals, contaminate
water

Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)
• Source: Refrigerants, blowing agents,
degreasing solvents
• Health effects: Dizziness in high
concentration
• Environmental effects: Ozone depletion

Strategies against Air Pollution
• Level pollutions have declined in
MEDCs
1. Strict environmental legislations:
make polluters pay for the costs o
their actions
2. Greening of industries: Increase R&D
funding for reducing impact of
pollution
3. Industries exported

Environmental Kuznets Curve
• A graph that hypothesize the relationship
between environmental quality and
economic development
• Indicators of environmental degradation
increases with economic growth until at a
certain point it declines
• Mostly true for environmental health
concerns – not for cases like landfills and
biodiversity

MEDCs, NICs, LEDCs
• Pollution related to primary industries
(mining, agriculture) is most common
• Industrializing countries produce highest
amount of industrial pollutants
• Large urban industrial complexes usually
cause this
• MEDCs experienced deindustrialization 
less pollution from industries
• High vehicles pollution remain in MEDCs
however

Incidental Pollution
• One-off pollution linked major
accidents caused by technological
failures or human error
• Incidental pollution can have long
lasting impact e.g. Chernobyl

Sustained Pollution
• Long-term pollution
• Ozone depletion and global warming
are the impacts of such type of
pollution

Policies in industry
• Clean technology reducing smokestack
emission
• Management of urban and agricultural
wastes
• Capturing of methane gas emitted from
waste sites  using it as biogas

Policies in Transport
• Clean modes of power generation e.g. CNG
• Prioritizing urban transit, walking and cycling
• Reducing fuel with sulphur content

Urban Planning
• Making cities more compact
• Prevent placing industries areas close to
residential areas
• Prevent industries from being close to water
bodies

Power generation
• Low-carbon fuel
• Clean renewable sources
• Distributed energy generations

Municipal/ Agricultural Waste
management
• Waste reduction/ waste separation
• Recycling, reuse, reprocessing

Pollution and Equity
• The most economically marginalized
are the ones receiving the impact of
pollution
• Distribution of poors and minorities
correlate with regions of pollutions

Equity
• Procedural equity: Planning processes
are applied in non discriminatory ways
• Geographical equity: Proximity of
communities to point sources
• Social equity: Roles of race/ class in
decision making

Government actions
• Stringent government actions
sometimes force firms to relocate to
where voices of protests would be least
powerful
• The financially poors do not have the
economic power to protests
• They are thus regularly exploited
• Sometimes the prospects of
employments will be seen as more
important than the less immediate
environmental/ health risks

Ozone layers
• A layer in the stratosphere that
prevents ultraviolet (UV) from passing
through into the atmosphere
• CFCs have depleted the layers
• UV can enter the earth causing skin
cancer, cataracts
• Montreal Protocol (1997) saw nations
from all over the world recognizing the
danger of CFC and agreeing to try to
reduce the danger

Ozone layers
• Skin cancer: fastest growing cancer in
the US
• Occurs with young people as well
• Overexposure to UV is known to be the
cause
• Tanning salons

Ozone Layers
• Ozone depletion takes longer time to
show impact but is far more substantial
• Sources of incidental pollutions are
much easier to tackle

Water: demand, supply, quality

The Global Water Crisis
• For 40% of the world population, water
is a lacking commodity
• Demand for water is doubling every 20
years
• Places with enough water: wastage,
mismanagement and pollution
• Quality of drinking water has a direct
effects on human health worldwide

Water Security
• The capacity of a population to
safeguard sustainable access to
adequate quantities of acceptable
quality of water for sustainable
livelihood, human well being, and socio
economic development, for ensuring
protection against water borne
pollution and water related disasters,
and for preserving ecosystems in the
climate of peace and stability

Water Security
• While in MEDCs, water pollution has
reduced, LEDCs still see deaths from
water-borne diseases
• People living in rural areas suffer from
lack of access
• In LEDCs, lack of regulations mean
wastes are easily dumped into water
bodies
• In LEDCs, women and children are
forced to find water

Water Security
• Can lead to food insecurity
• Limit socio economic development
• Create conflicts between nations
sharing drainage basin
• Growth of population exacerbates the
problem
• Water infrastructure has help kept the
supply managed

Groundwater and aquifers
• These stores of freshwater are quickly
being drained
• Not enough time to be replenished
• Various major aquifers have been
depleted

Water-stressed areas
• Water stress occurs when the demand
for water exceeds the available amount
during a certain period or when poor
quality restricts use
• Includes other than physical scarcity:
quality, environmental flows,
accessibility

Water-scarce areas
• When the resources is insufficient for
demand
• Ratio of human consumption to
available supply in an area
• A physical shortage that can be
measured

Water Risk
• Probability for an area to experience water
hazards

Poverty and Water Scarcity
• Strong link between poverty and water
scarcity
• Improving access to drinking water,
sanitation, cleanliness  most cost
effective way to reduce illnesses in
LEDCs
• Women and girls are used in LEDCs to
collect water: creating more
marginalization by gender and also
disallowing education

Poverty and Water Scarcity
• Lack of transportation system and
accessibility is a major problem
• In more affluent societies, per person
usage has sky rocketed

Middle East Water Scarcity
• Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Saudi
Arabia, Iraq
• Lack of water resources + Poor
management
• Region’s climate is harsh and semi arid
• Thus there is scarcity in arable land and
water sources
• The main issue is desertification
• Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran are all facing this
• Unsustainable agricultural practices:
overgrazing

Middle East Water Scarcity
• Attempts to solve the problems using
desalinization  UAE
• Sea water contains bromide – not good
for health
• It also costs a lot of energy: raising the
price of energy

Regional Utilization of Water
• Water is unevenly distributed
• 60% of world population live in regions
receiving 25% of all precipitation
• Arid areas cover 40% of the earth
surface where only 2% of precipitation
is received
• Congo river takes up 30% of Africa’s
water resources but provide for only
10% of Africa’s population

Green Water
• The part of the total precipitation
received and absorbed by soil and plant
(interception storage and soil moisture
storage)
• Then it is released back into the air
(evapotranspiration)
• It is unavailable for human use
• However it is important to arable lands
• Thus green water scarcity is the main
cause of famine

Blue Water
• Refer to precipitation collected as
surface storage
• Available for human use before it is
evaporated or reached the ocean as
runoff
• Mostly human uses this in the form of
irrigation for agricultural use
• Industrial and domestic uses are also
growing
• Rearing of livestocks require water

Water use in Agriculture
• Every crop needs water – usually to
different degree
• Water can be used in agricultural in the
form of Rainfed water
• It can also be used in the form of
irrigated water

Irrigation
• In California, the farming of water
intensive almond crop has led to
chronic water scarcity

Industrial Use of Water
• Water is used to cool machineries
• Productions of certain products

Domestic Use of Water
• Cleaning
• Bathing
• Cooking
• Recreational use – swimming pool
• Watering plants

Urbanization and Water
• Amount of water used by a population
depends also on economic
development and urbanization
• Potable water (drinking water) has
risen in demand
• Demands can quickly outstrip supply

Urban-industrial complex
• As urban industrial complex expand
• Demand for water grows
• Competition for water with agriculture
is intensifying
• Allocation of water has became more
and more difficult

Physical water scarcity
• When physical access to water is
limited
• Demand outstrips the ability for a
region to provide water
• Arid and semi arid regions most
associated with physical scarcity
• High temperature/ evapotranspiration
rate with low precipitation

Human Activities and Physical Scarcity
• Diversion of water from river basins
have caused long-term scarcity
• Over-exploitation of groundwater
depletes aquifers
• Pollution has rendered large volume of
water undrinkable

Economic Scarcity
• When a population does not have the
necessary monetary means to utilize an
adequate supply of water
• Unequal distribution of resources: the
main cause
• Political conflicts
• Ethnic conflicts/ persecutions

Cases
• Egypt, Murray Darling basin, Colorado,
Sub Saharan Africa

Increase in severity of Water scarcity
• Increase in World Population
• Increased affluence
• Increased demand for biofuels
• Climate change
• Pollution

Cases
• Rivers: Yangtze, Ganges, Nile
• Aquifers: Beijing, New Delhi

Virtual Water
• The amount of water used to produced/
manufactured products
• Thus industrial production can be
responsible for water shortages
• Led to resolutions of conflicts that
previously did not take this into the
equation
• E.g. Jordan and Israel
• Global trades in virtual water is very high
• Liberalization of agricultural trade will
have more of this impact

Degradation of rural environment

Rural Environment
• Supplies human population with food
gene pool/ diversity and forest lands
• Rural areas are rapidly being degraded
• Causes: Population growth, increasing
pressure on land
• Urban activities can also have impacts:
climate change

Soil Degradation
• A change in soil health status resulting
diminished capacity for ecosystem to
provide goods and services for its
beneficiaries.
• Involves physical loss of soil
• Reduction in quality of topsoil 
nutrient decline  contamination
• 15% of the land on earth has been
degraded

Soil Degradation in Temperate regions
• Attributed to market forces
• Commercial behaviors of farmers and
governments
• Using farmlands without fallowing
• Using fertilizers and overusing
pesticides
• Overusing land

Soil Degradation in Tropics
• Attributed to high population pressure
• Land shortages
• Problems with land tenureship
• Lack of education and awareness
• Lower development levels in tropics is
one cause
• Poorer soil structure in tropics: more
vulnerable to leaching
• Greater climatic extremes

Deforestation
• Removal of natural vegetation cover is the
main cause of soil degradation
• It leaves soil surfaces expose to the
elements
• Deforestation can be a result of clearing
lands for agricultural uses
• Cutting trees for timber industries
• The need for fuelwood
• Rain is no longer intercepted
• Rain splash erosion can occur
• Soil may be leached and saturated – more
vulnerable to weathering/ mass
movement

Overgrazing
• Grazing of natural pastures at stocking
intensities above the livestock carrying
capacity
• Result of population pressure and poor
agricultural management
• Marginal ecosystems most under risk
Steps:
1. Trampling by animals damages plant
leaves
2. Many leaves die away, reducing
photosynthetic capacity

Overgrazing
3. There are fewer leaves to intercept
rainfall  ground is more exposed
4. Plant species begin to disappear
5. At bare patches, soil erodes (trampling
already compacted soil and damaged
structures
6. Loose surface soil particles carried
away by wind and water
7. Less water can percolate soil horizon
8. Growth rate and recovery possibilities
reduced

Agricultural Mismanagement
• Caused by farmers’ lack of knowledge
• Pursuit of short term gain (typically
profits) against consideration of long
term damage
• Cultivation without fallowing
• Absence of soil conversion measures
• Cultivation of fragile/ marginal lands
• Unbalanced fertilizer use
• Poor irrigation techniques

Major causes of soil degradation
• Erosion by wind and water (80% of the land
surface eroded this way)
• Physical degradation: loss of structure, surface
sealing and compaction
• Chemical degradation: pollution
– Acidification (fertilizers – buildup of
hydrogen cation)
– Salinization (water transported to an area
– high evapotranspiration rates leave
deposits of soil)
• Biological degradation: loss of organic
materials
• Climate and land-use change

Environmental impact
• Destruction of ecosystem
• Disruption of the nutrient cycle
• Disruption of the geological characteristics of
areas
• Vulnerability to mass movements and
weathering  changes to landscape
• Losses of species
• Losses of water quality
• Disruption of the drainage basin system
• Disruption of climate due to losses of
vegetation
• Inability of soil in storing carbon = releases of
more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

Socio-economic impact
• Losses of arable lands for farmers
• Food and water insecurity
• Dangers to hazards like flooding/ mass movement
• Losses of livelihood
• Increase in unemployment and crimes
• Loss of community pride
• Encourage rural urban migration
• Losses of young workforce
• Elderly/ dependent population left to fend for one
selves
• Government disinterested in the areas
• Exploitation by the economically upward
population
• Loss of cultures as urban areas more readily
expand into the degraded rural areas

Food production
• Losses of arable soil will reduce food
production that is needed to support
the urban areas
• This is a cause of widespread scarcity in
many LEDCs
• Food insecurity will become more
widespread and chronic

Policy Failure
• Inadequate/ inappropriate policies
• Pricing , subsidy, tax policies
• Encouraged excessive/ uneconomic
inputs of fertilizers, pesticides
• Intensification of agriculture leads to
overexploitation of land and
overgrazing without fallow periods
• Some policies favor farming systems
that are inappropriate to the region 
leading to mismanagement of soil by
the uneducated farmers

Rural inequalities
• Rural people possess the local knowledge
and communal understanding of soil
conservation
• However economic need and financial
disparity might force them to do things to
survive
• Resources may need to be overexploited
• Some companies own lands in rural areas
and overexploit the lands  dealing with
the land not with the intricacies of farmers
but the broad appeal of economies of
scale
• The pursuit of higher profits

Resource imbalances
• Growth of population is highest in
LEDCs
• The population is also most likely to be
exploited
• Due mainly to the lack of awareness
and education
• Since LEDCs are least equipped to be
self-sufficient – they are the targets of
exploitation by NICs and MEDCs 
cases like China and the African nations

Unsustainable technologies
• New technologies and the green
revolution have boosted agricultural
production
• But they have negative consequences
• The benefits are highly unsustainable
• Resistance genes to pesticides developing
in insects for example
• Poor irrigation technology, loss of nutrient,
pollution, wind and water erosion and loss
of rural biodiversity are all consequences
of high technological usage

Trade relations
• Value of raw material sales dropped in
LEDCs
• Thus the need to expand income by
greater crop production
• Increase in timber sales

Capital Intensive Farming
• Deforestation, Land degradation,
desertification, salinization, contamination of
water, air pollution, concerns over health of
farmers, landscape change, declines biodiversity
• Cattle manure  pollution by heavy metal
• The need to follow high demands lead to
exploitation
• The need to expand into geographically fragile
environment e.g. rainforests
• The need for uniformity in monoculture 
vulnerability to diseases and loss of gene pools

Poverty and Rural environment
• How poor households can be
compelled to exploit natural resources
• Although many of the operations that
degrade rural areas are the works of
corporations
• Many times rural households are
affected and marginalized by large
operations by powerful companies
• Government policies can have
significant negative effects e.g. on land
tenures

Factors leading to distressed population
• Rapid population growth
• Agricultural modernization in high
potential
• Inequitable land distribution, insecure
tenure
• External shocks and macroeconomic
impacts
• Limited non farm incomes low

Distressed Population
• Population has:
• Limited access to productive land
• Limited credit, technology/ resource
management
• Reduction in common property resources

Impact of Poverty
• Urban migration
• Rural stagnation in drier years
• Greater exploitation of hill slopes/ grazing
areas
• Pressure to forested frontiers

Rural Stagnation
• Exacerbated drought conditions
• Desertification and land degradation
• Destruction of vegetative cover
• Threats to biological diversity
• Leads to fuelwood shortage
• Declining land productivity
• Food insecurity

Exploitation
• Destruction of vegetative covers at
watershed areas
• Siltation – deposition downstream
• Soil erosion
• Threats to biodiversity
• Downstream flooding
• Declining productivity
• Fuelwood shortage

Pressure to forested frontiers
• Large scale deforestation
• Flooding, siltation downstream
• Loss of soil fertility
• Threats to biodiversity
• Contributes to global warming
• Declining land productivity
• Oss of potential forest based production

Urban/ rural impact
• Untreated sewage can flow into rural
rivers from urban areas
• Urban use of groundwater can deplete
and pollute aquifers
• Saltwater intrusion in coastal areas
• Urban industrial complexes are the
main causes of climate change
worldwide

Degradation of urban environment

Urban areas
• Environment quality of urban area has
a direct impact on the dense
population
• Urbanization, industrial development,
inadequate infrastructure are the
causes of urban degradation

Urban problems
• Lack of solid waste management
• Poor air/ water quality
• Inadequate sanitation
• Improper storage/ emission of
hazardous substances
• Urban environmental degradation can
affect population at different scales:
local, regional, global

Amenity Loss
• Losses of infrastructures that are
essential to the standards of living
• Sanitation systems
• Electricity grid
• Landfills
• Toilets
• Hospitals

Traffic Congestion
• Lack of population and urban
management
• Leads to cars being stuck
• Increased stress
• Higher pollution

Loss heritage and historical building
• These may not be properly reserved
• Subjected to urban decay
• Destroyed in acid rains
• Loss in natural hazards such as
earthquakes/ floods

Reduced property and building values
• Urban decay
• Lack of urban renewal and
regeneration scheme
• Visual and land pollution
• Unemployment and crime

Accidents and disaster
• Urban vulnerability to hazards –
especially in LEDCs
• Locations of population
• Lack of industrial maintenance: Bhopal

Flooding and surface drainage
• Impermeable surfaces
• No vegetation to intercept
• Heat island effects
• Poor drainage system

Toxic and hazardous wastes
• Lack of proper solid waste
management
• Lack of landfill management
• No awareness of urban problems

Loss of agricultural land and
desertification
• Urban areas intruding the rural fringes

Air pollution
• Vehicles, Industries

Water pollution
• Industries, domestic wastes, vehicles

Inadequate supply and loss of electricity
transmission
• Marginalized population does not
receive adequate infrastructures
• Lack of maintenance
• Energy insecurity

Misguided government practice
• Poor management of urban areas
• No urban planning
• Urban planning based upon powers
and corruptions

High living densities
• Traffic congestion
• Upward growth of urban areas
• Loss of spaces

Lack of/ inappropriate legislations
• Lawlessness
• Crimes
• Unemployment
• Bad reputation for FDI (Foreign Direct
Investment)

Inadequate tax. Financial revenues
• Not enough governmental funds to
maintain infrastructures
• Not enough funds to uphold law and
legislations rendering city authorities
useless

Polluted land
• Visual pollution
• Urban decay
• Loss of property value
• Water pollution: Rain washes over
rubbish

Garbage dumping
• Need for incineration: air pollution
• Inefficiency use of space
• Breeding ground for rats, cockroaches,
diseases

Flooding
• Impermeable surfaces
• Poor drainage

Natural disasters
• Vulnerable population unable to fend
themselves against hazards
• Lack of preparation and poor responses
• No hazard resistant infrastructures

Lack of understanding and awareness
• Poor education
• Lack of social awareness

Inappropriate/ inadequate technology use
• Lack of education
• Lack of efficient infrastructures
• Waste of public funding

Substandard housing
• Residential segregation
• Informal settlements can be sources of
pollution
• Correlation between poverty and
degradation applies here too
• Impede urban planning processes
• Vulnerable to natural hazards

Lack of sanitation
• Inadequate infrastructures
• Water-borne diseases more common
• Water pollution

Urban poverty
• The overall idea of urban poverty stems
from income disparity
• The marginalized population is so close
to the affluent that the social effect is
far higher than in rural areas
• Thus increase in crime
• Cycle of poverty which tends to
exacerbate degradation
• Lack of representation in public sectors
= problems overlooked and not
addressed

Impact of Rural areas
• Runoffs from farm fertilizers and
pesticides can pollute river
• Urban areas generally down stream to
rural thus the main river in urban areas
is usually very much affected
• Flood-drought cycle can be
exacerbated

Impact of Rural areas
• Degrading conditions in rural areas = more
rural urban migration
• Thus higher population pressure
• Urbanization of poverty

Constraints on improving degraded
environment

Population growth in LEDCs
• This puts high pressure on fragile
environment
• Very difficult to reverse this trend since
it is tied to socio economic need and
cultural beliefs
• Demographic trends take time to
change

Rural Urban Migration
• The gradient has to be graded but this
is also difficult to accomplish

Environmental Hazards
• These include flooding, drought,
earthquakes, hurricanes
• They are made worse by climate
change
• Increased in scale and becoming more
unpredictable
• Higher population growth means more
people are living in marginal land and
vulnerable to these hazards
• Urban areas are also more vulnerable
to property damage

Poor knowledge
• Moderate adaptation of human
behavior could often overturn
environmental degradation
• The lack of education in LEDCs and
even lack of awareness in MEDCs such
as the USA can have great impacts in
impeding development

Management of government policies
• Central and local government often
make fatal mistakes in management
• This can lead to severe degradation
• They can also be influenced by
lobbyists of exploitative companies
• Quality of governance is key to
development

Lack of investments
• Substantial investment could improve
degraded or decayed areas
• Realistic solutions are often tied to
finance
• LEDCs may not be able to afford high
cost schemes, and low cost schemes
will require knowledge

Civil Wars
• Internal conflicts slow down
development
• Force marginalized population to
further exploit the environment
• Allow exploiters to continue their
exploitations during a time when law
and legislations are not intact

Resource Management
• High/ Low Institutional Cost
• High/ Low Technical Cost

Irrigations
• Large scale
• Small scale hill irrigation

Population Reforestation in LEDCs
• Arid and semi arid land
• Mangroves

Land Reclamation
• High technical and institutional costs
• Enclosing areas with stonewalls for
agriculture
• Restoring coastal lands
• They can damage ecosystems
• Reclaimed land can be vulnerable to
liquefactions

Integrated River basin management
• High institutional and technical costs
• Work on ecosystems, wetlands and
groundwater systems as sources of freshwater
• They must include maintenance of ecosystems
• Long-term vision, policies needed (controlling
urban development, agriculture, industries,
fisheries and poverty reduction)
• Needed active participation by all parties
• Investment by government
• Solid foundation of knowledge of the river
basin, ecosystem and socioeconomic entity
associated with it

Transboundary resources
• High technical and institutional costs
• Arid and semi arid land
• Mangroves
• International rivers
• Required political management
• International relations
• Working with governments, locals and
NGOs
• Controlling HEP schemes, water
drawing schemes, fishery schemes and
utilization of resources

Resettlement schemes
• High technical and institutional forces
• Offer protection to people
• However they may forcibly displaced
• E.g. by HEP schemes
• Needed socioeconomic and cultural
understanding of the local people
subject to the resettlement
• Needed to find new and adequate
areas with sufficient infrastructures

Water-pollution reduction programmes
• High technical and Institutional Cost
• The need for better sewage management
• Better sewage treatment
• Imposition of laws and legislation against
industries
• The need for surveillances, maintenance
• A scientific agency required to do constant
checkups
• Work with the locals and tap on local
feedbacks

Rural road maintenance
• High technical/ institutional cost
• Governmental funding needed
• Civil engineering needed
• Long term planning
• Local people’s involvements needed

Ocean fisheries management
• High technical cost, High institutional
cost
• Prevent overfishing
• Setting up fishing quotas, landing fees,
criteria to be fishermen, licenses, bans
on certain practices, limit on number of
fishing days, subsidies and taxes
• Needed government funding,
involvement and authority to maintain
and impose management

Food crop systems on difficult soils
• High technical cost
• Soil management and improvement
• Requiring the use of fertilizers in the
form of manures
• Setting up irrigation schemes

Water harvesting structure
• High technical costs
• Help recharge ground water
• Create sustainable supply of water
• Maintain agriculture during droughts
• Need to educated farmers
• Funding to install system

Centralized provision of energy services
• High technical costs
• Electricity grids
• HEP schemes
• Reduce energy poverty

Solar energy for individual households
• High cost of installation
• High cost of maintenance
• Fair supply of non-polluting energy

Pipe sewer systems
• High technical cause
• Extensive system for cleanliness
• Reduce diseases
• Reduce pollutions

Emission reduction devices
• Reduce pollution associated with
industries
• E.g. Clean coal technology

Improved public transport
• An extensive system of public transport
Rapid transit, underground trains
• Reduce carbon emissions in private
cars
• Reduce traffic congestion
• Reduce energy usage

Water-Aquifer management
• High institutional cost
• Associated at times with shared
international water
• Plans for recharging
• Proper boundaries
• Indication of water tables
• Protections of aquitards

Protection of critical areas
• Laws/ legislations to protect areas
vulnerable to degradation
• Laws to prevent extension of industrial
or agricultural lands
• Green belts

Coastal fisheries management
• Similar to Ocean fisheries management
but at a smaller scale – more locals/
regional

Coral Reef management
• High institutional costs
• Laws to protect reefs
• Raising awareness among tourists
• Control fishing
• Reducing pollution
• Reducing climate change with
campaigns

Pasture Management
• Laws to prevent overgrazing
• Raising awareness in importance of hill
side slopes and open pastures
• Education about danger of overgrazing
and soil erosion

Land reform
• Redistribution of land tenureship so
that farmers are not marginalized
• Reduce poverty which is correlated to
degradation

Integrated pest management
• Help farmers protect their crops and
livelihoods
• Try to prevent usage of pesticides 
reducing pollution but also reducing
resistant bugs

Wild game management
• Protection of species to maintain the
biodiversity of the ecosystem thus
protecting against further degradation

Sloping Agricultural land technology
• SALT
• Using tree legumes to improve fertility
and stability of agricultural soils
• Sustainable production without
expense
• Help farmers in marginal lands
• Promote polycultures

Small scale quarrying
• A form of coping strategy
• Non-agricultural diversification which
helps alleviate poverty
• Case Study: Kenya

Household based sanitation system
• Management of wastewater at a
household level
• Reduce water borne diseases
• Reduce internal pollution

Improve cooking stoves
• Reduce household air pollution
• Better cooked food
• Less usage of fuelwoods

Joint forest management regimes
• An integral and sociocultural solution
to income problems and degradation
• Involving both local people and
authority
• Allowing steady income for local
population
• Conservation of forests
• Case Study: India

Carbon trading
• UN schemes to cut carbon emissions
• Paying poor countries to preserve forests
• Seen a recipe for corruption
• With no strong safeguard could be hijacked
by organized crimes
• However it is strongly backed as it helps both
conservationists and LEDCs

Protection of environment at risk
• There are many ways to protect
environments
• Extreme ways: Human access denied
• E.g. National Parks
• However protections must take in
account the roles of the locals
• Authorities cannot villainies the locals
and turn them against the cause
• Sustainable-development policies
should be implemented based on three
factors: Needs, measures, outcomes

Needs, Measures, Outcomes
Needs:
• What needs to be done to reduce
environmental degradations
• What can be done without destroying
local people’s livelihoods
Measures:
• What are the policies and practices that
can be implemented within a realistic time
scale
Outcomes:
• How successful have these polices been at
different stages?
• Are there unforeseen circumstances

Ecuador’s Andean Cloud Forest
• Andean Corridor Project protects vital
ecosystems of the diversity hotspot
• 4 reserves are created
• More are planned to protect wildlife from
human activities
• Employment of local people take in account
local needs

Cross boundaries
• Some degraded environments are shared
(Mekong Rivers, Amazon rainforest,
Southeast Asian Reef System)
• Required cooperation between countries

Environmental management

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