Environmental Challenges: Threats and Solutions
Posidonia and Caulerpa
Caulerpa: Invasive plant, aggressive towards fauna and flora.
Posidonia: Mediterranean marine plant.
Factors Influencing Human Impact
- Population
- Technology
- Energy
- Consumption
Main Threats to the Environment
- Air pollution
- Water pollution
- Excessive resource use
- Deforestation
- Endangered species
- Erosion and desertification
Preventing Environmental Degradation
- Sustainable development: Balance between growth and conservation.
- Protecting spaces with great ecological value.
- Prevention of damage by evaluating the impact of human activities.
- Recovery of degraded spaces.
- Reduction of consumption.
- International environmental policies: Signed by all countries.
Ecological Footprint
A measure of how much area is needed to support our lifestyles, the land that is needed to produce everything we consume, and what is needed to clean up our waste.
International Agreements on the Environment
Numerous international agreements have been signed aimed at protecting the environment, but political and economic factors have prevented many countries from signing. The United States has not signed, saying that restrictions would be harmful to business. The developed countries have a much greater ecological footprint than less developed ones. If all the countries had a footprint like the USA, a global environmental catastrophe would occur in a short period of time.
Gases Recycling
No, they are very toxic.
Smog and Acid Rain
Smog is formed by the chemical reaction of sunlight with nitrogen oxides. It can irritate your eyes and is harmful to plants.
Acid rain is rain mixed with nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide. It attacks and destroys plants.
Effects of Air Pollution
- Dissolves the ozone layer: The layer becomes thinner.
- The increase of the greenhouse effect: Global warming, polar ice melting.
- Climate change.
- Destruction of ecosystems.
Montreal Protocol
To protect the ozone layer.
Kyoto Protocol
To minimize the contribution of human activities to global warming.
Insufficient Water
Precipitation is scarce, countries don’t have the necessary infrastructure, no reservoirs, no pipes to carry water, and no water treatment plants.
Physical Water Scarcity
When the natural water supply is insufficient to meet the needs of the population.
Economic Water Scarcity
Conditions in which water is available, but not the infrastructure that makes the population use it safely.
How to Increase Available Water
- Build reservoirs to store water (expensive).
- Create desalination plants (expensive).
- Treat wastewater (difficult to do).
- Use transfers and aquifers (short-term solution).
Reduce Water Consumption
- Use low-water irrigation systems.
- Recycle water.
- Use water-saving electrical appliances.
- Encourage people to save water.
Importance of Forests
- Habitat of thousands of species of plants and animals.
- Absorb carbon dioxide.
- Protect soil from erosion and desertification.
- Lower temperatures and help water to evaporate.
Causes of Deforestation
Cutting down trees to obtain wood, make farmland, create pastures for livestock, and build houses and infrastructure.
Soil Degradation
Soil loses its nutrients and fertility due to contamination, soil overuse, and soil erosion.
Biodiversity
The variety of species and ecosystems on Earth. It’s present on the whole planet.
Importance of Biodiversity
Every species plays a specific role. If some species disappear, it affects other species from the same ecosystem.
Human Activity Threat to Biodiversity
- The Earth’s surface has lost its natural use.
- Overexploitation of fishing grounds. Human activity threatens the habitat.
- Foreign species can damage native species, bringing diseases or using resources in a different way.
- Contamination of water, air, and soil.
- All these human activities affect the climate.
Measures to Stop Loss of Biodiversity
- Make inventories of endangered species to adopt conservation measures.
- Expand the protected areas.
- Restore damaged habitats.
- Pass laws to limit the impact of economic activities and overexploitation of resources.
Water is a natural resource that is essential to life. Fresh water is a renewable resource thanks to evaporation and rainfall. Unfortunately, most fresh water is frozen at the poles or in glaciers. Water consumption is much higher in developed countries than in less developed countries. There is economic water scarcity in some less developed countries because they do not have the necessary infrastructure.