ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND POLICIES

Environmental issues and policies



Environmental issues and policies

Introduction

The world is facing severe environmental issues in 21st century and considering the current trend, these issues will tend to grow further. There are numerous environmental issues, but the crucial ones include, water pollution, air pollution, waste management and global warming. Environment can be protected by reducing the degradation of natural resources and conservation of Eco-system, but most importantly the focus should be on the major factor that is contributing to the environmental crisis; which is growth in population. Environmental crises can be also be categorized in terms of global economic standing of a country. In Developed countries, the main concern leading to environmental crises is consumption of resources. Whereas in developing countries, the primary concern is ever growing rate of population. The overall analysis of ecosystem for past 50 years show that it has dramatically changed mainly due to increasing demand of natural resources to meet basic needs, which is again a resultant of increasing population.

Discussion

In order to analyze the Impact of Population growth on a country, we first need to examine the overall environmental issues and environmental policies present in that country. The country we will be discussing is India, as it is a developing country which is facing environmental crises due to high population growth rate

Environmental issues

Considering the geographical location of India, it has a much diversified terrain which can be a disadvantage once we consider all aspects of environmental crises in the country. The Environmental issues in India include rising demand for energy, soil degradation, change in consumption pattern, global warming, air pollution, water pollution and loss of biodiversity. If we talk about air pollution, It is a known fact that Indian cities are categorized as most polluted in the world. The Air in these cities exceeds the level pollution considered safe by World Health organization (WHO). Another major environmental issue in India is Water pollution, which comes from three main sources; industrials effluents, waste from agricultural activities and domestic sewerage. Increasing level of solid waste, in rivers and lakes, is also heavily polluting the water. This is the most dangerous category of environmental crises in India, as people in rural areas of India use the same polluted water for human consumption. Soil pollution also contributes to the environmental degradation of India, where disposal of industrial solid waste is the major source of soil pollution by toxic chemicals. Marine pollution, acid rain and Ozone depletion are also major environmental issues in India where they cumulatively contribute to the global warming.

Environmental policies

The authoritative bodies in India do understand the importance of Environmental issues and their consequences, which is the reason why they have devised certain policies to overcome the alarming environmental crises in India. The year 1972, has been the landmark in the history of environmental management in India. Prior to 1972, environmental issues were dealt with independently by different ministries. In February 1972, a national committee on environmental planning and coordination (NCEPC) was formed, which ...