Issues and challenges in environtment
- 1. ISSUES & CHALLENGES OF ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT BY: ROHIT RAPHAEL BIJU 553 SHIBIN OOMMEN ABRAHAM 556
- 2. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Environmental Management offers research and opinions on use and conservation of natural resources, protection of habitats and control of hazards, spanning the field of environmental management without regard to traditional disciplinary boundaries.
- 3. CLIMATE CHANGE: 1. Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. 2. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. 3. If present trends continue, this century may well witness extraordinary climate change and an unprecedented destruction of ecosystems, with serious consequences for all of us.
- 4. 4. Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. 5. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more than 1,300 scientists from the United States and other countries, forecasts a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. SOURCE: NASA
- 5. OZONE DEPLETION 1. Gradual thinning of Earth’s ozone layer in the upper atmosphere caused by the release of chemical compounds containing gaseous chlorine or bromine from industry and other human activities. 2. The thinning is most pronounced in the polar regions, especially over Antarctica. Ozone depletion is a major environmental problem because it increases the amount of ultraviolet(UV) radiation that reaches Earth’s surface, which increases the rate of skin cancer, eye cataracts, and genetic and immune system damage.
- 6. Global consumption of ozone-depleting substances has been reduced by some 98% since countries began taking action under the Montreal Protocol. As a result, the atmospheric concentration of the most aggressive types of ozone-depleting substances is falling and the ozone layer is showing the first signs of recovery. Nevertheless, the ozone layer is not expected to recover fully before the second half of this century. This is because once released, ozone-depleting substances stay in the atmosphere for many years and continue to cause damage.
- 8. ACTIONS REQUIRED GLOBALLYTO CONTINUE THE RECOVERY OFTHE OZONE LAYER ARE: 1. Ensuring that existing restrictions on ozone-depleting substances are properly implemented and global use of ozone-depleting substances continue to be reduced. 2. Ensuring that banks of ozone-depleting substances (both in storage and contained in existing equipment) are dealt with in an environmentally-friendly manner and are replaced with climate-friendly alternatives.
- 9. 4.Ensuring that permitted uses of ozone-depleting substances are not diverted to illegal uses. 5.Reducing use of ozone-depleting substances in applications that are not considered as consumption under the Montreal Protocol. 6.Ensuring that no new chemicals or technologies emerge that could pose new threats to the ozone layer (e.g. very short-lived substances).
- 11. GREENHOUSE GAS EFFECT The greenhouse effect is the problem caused by increased quantities of gases such as carbon dioxide in the air. These gases trap the heat from the sun, and cause a gradual rise in the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere. While other planets in Earth's solar system are either scorching hot or bitterly cold, Earth's surface has relatively mild, stable temperatures. Earth enjoys these temperatures because of its atmosphere, which is the thin layer of gases that cloak and protect the planet.
- 12. 1) Water Vapor:- The most abundant greenhouse gas but importantly it acts as a feedback to the climate. Water vapor increases as the earths atmosphere warms but so does the possibility of clouds and precipitation, making these some of the most important feedback mechanisms to the green house. 2) Carbon Dioxide:- A minor but very vital component of the atmosphere, CO2 is released through natural processes such as respiration and volcano eruptions & through human activities such deforestation and burning fossil fuels.
- 13. 3. Methane : A hydro carbon gas produced both through natural sources and human activities including the decomposing waste in land fills, agriculture & especially rice cultivation as well as ruminant digestion and manure management associated with domestic livestock.
- 14. 4. Nitrous Oxide: A powerful greenhouse gas procured by soil cultivation practices specially the use of commercial and use of organic fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, nitric acid production and biomass burning. 5. CFC: Synthetic compounds entirely of industrial origin used in a number of applications, but now largely regulated in production and released to the atmosphere by international agreement for their ability to contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer.
- 15. GLOBAL WARMING The phenomenon of increasing average air temperatures near the surface of Earth over the past one to two centuries. Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate.
- 16. CONTD…. The increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture, and other human activities, are believed to be the primary sources of the global warming that has occurred over the past 50 years. Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate carrying out global warming research have recently predicted that average global temperatures could increase between 1.4 and 5.8 °C by the year 2100.
- 17. CONTD…. Changes resulting from global warming may include rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps, as well as an increase in occurrence and severity of storms and other severe weather events.