Development and

UNIT 3 DEVELOPMENT AND Environment

ENVIRONMENT
Structure
3.1 Introduction
Objectives
3.2 Development: Issues and Concerns
3.3 Impact of Agricultural Practices
Deforestation
Salinisation and Water-logging
Soil erosion and Desertification
Fertilisers and Plant Protection Chemicals
High Yielding Varieties (HYV)
3.4 Impact of Industrialisation
3.5 Impact of Urbanisation
Positive Impacts of Urbanisation
Problems of Urbanisation
3.6 Impact of Energy Generation
Impact on Air
Impact on Water
Impact on Land
3.7 Sustainable Development
Concept of Sustainable Development
Equity and Common Interest
Strategic Imperatives
3.8 Activities
3.9 Let Us Sum Up
3.10 Further Reading

3.1 INTRODUCTION
The 20th century is generally regarded as the century of development in science
and technology and advances in economic growth. It was also a century of the
decimation of the environment through the overuse of the non-renewable as
well as the renewable resources of the planet, in the name of development and
improvement in the life styles of the human population.

In the previous two units we explored the components of the environment and
the principles that govern the ecosystem. We discussed the available natural
resources and the means of exploring them in a judicious manner. In this unit
we will discuss the various issues and concerns related to the impact of some
developmental activities essential for human survival. Activities like
agriculture, industry, energy generation that lead to overexploitation of
biological resources and to the deterioration of environmental quality and
enormous loss of vegetal cover at the local (in the Indian context), regional and
global level. We will also discuss the impact of the accompanying urbanisation
that is essential for the growth and economic prosperity of a nation. You will
realize that the majority of the victims of environmental disasters are the
impoverished ones in the poor nations, and any degradation of the environment
makes their survival even more difficult and uncertain.

The connections between the environment and development are so intricate

and tight that any attempt to untangle them would only lead to illogical 97
Environmental Concerns conclusions and counter productive solutions. Therefore, the concept of
sustainable development that is, development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet
their needs has also been discussed in this unit.

Objectives
After reading this unit you will become aware:
of the various issues and concerns related to developmental activities and
the environment at local, regional and global levels;
how various essential human activities such as agriculture, industry and
energy generation have led to environmental degradation, deforestation,
soil erosion and a host of other environmental problems;
of the impact of urbanisation on the various aspects of the environment;
and
of the need for sustainable development so that our environmental
resources and services remain healthy and available to our future
generations.

3.2 DEVELOPMENT: ISSUES AND CONCERNS

It is a common myth that there was no destruction of the environment before
the advent of industrialisation. In fact, human activities have resulted in
changes in the environment since early times. Some of the greatest
deforestations around the Mediterranean region took place in the Greek and
Roman era when indiscriminate logging for shipbuilding and for use as fuel in
daily life and activities related to mining led to rapid clearing of trees and
consequent desertification. As the human population was small then, the
ecosystem was able to sustain the impact of human interference. But with the
growing population the needs of the people also grew and so did the impact of
their activities. With developments in agricultural practices, industrialisation,
and mining techniques there has been a marked increase in production as well
as consumption, a shift towards nondegradable products (such as plastics ) and
increased use of non-renewable resources such as petroleum products.
However, in the last few decades the hazardous impact of human activities has
accelerated and become more visible in all major spheres – hydrosphere,
atmosphere and parts of the lithosphere. Pressure from the ever-growing
population, uncontrolled lavish consumption, urbanisation and industrial
expansion coupled with huge demands for energy have caused the changes that
are serious concerns for the environment.

It is a well known fact that growth and development of the human society,
even the very existence of human beings, requires many natural resources both
physical as well as biological. For all practical purposes land is limited, water
though replenishable, over a period of time can also become scarce. Air is
seemingly inexhaustible but due to severe deterioration of its quality through
changes in its composition can become unusable. Energy in its natural form
like sunlight appears abundant but it is critically in short supply at the level of
the consumer. Fossil fuels like coal, petroleum, natural gas and radioactive
elements are definitely finite. Their increasing use is resulting in their fast
depletion.

98
The unprecedented growth in world production and consumption is leading to Development and
environmental stress through irreversible impacts at local, regional and global Environment
levels. Global warming and ozone level depletion are examples of global
environmental degradation; acid rain and the state of oceans in several
countries are of international concerns and the more local impacts are due to
air and water pollution, soil degradation, deforestation etc.

Even now in most developing countries poverty, malnutrition, infectious and

parasitic diseases, shortages of food and water, poor sanitation and lack of
proper housing are the major concerns rather than issues of global warming or
ozone depletion. The major concerns of the developed and the underdeveloped
countries have been compared in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Environmental concerns of the developed and developing

countries

Environmental Developing countries Developed

countries aspect

Air Air pollution in major cities Air pollution, global warming

Ozone depletion

Land and soil Soil erosion, desertification Soil loss, solid waste disposal
Loss of arable land Changing land use

Water Fresh water shortage Inland and marine water

pollution

Flora and fauna Deforestation, fuel wood Loss of genetic diversity

Shortage Loss of cropland

The environmental issues arising out of developmental activities have to be

examined keeping in view the growth of world population as well the
consumption level. The 1972 UN World Conference on the Human
Environment held at Stockholm also highlighted the differences in the points
of view of the developed and the developing countries regarding development
and environment. The developing countries saw development above the
concerns for the environment while the developed countries saw the population
growth as the main reason for the environmental crisis. Among
environmentalists too, there are two opinions – one that tends to put greater
blame for environmental deterioration on the population growth mainly in the
developing nations. The other viewpoint is that the over consumption patterns
of the industrialized nations is responsible for the present day environmental
problems (see Fig. 3.1).

Most environmental issues are related either to the interaction between human
population and natural resources (resource consumption), that is, those caused
by taking resources from the environment or putting waste into the
environment, or factors associated with the sheer growth of the human
population. On examining resource consumption patterns we find that per
capita, consumption in developed countries is far greater than in developing
nations. The industrialised countries are responsible for the greatest impact of
natural resource consumption on the global environmental problems like 99
Environmental Concerns changes in the atmosphere, while poverty and inability to meet even the basic
needs often forces the use of natural resources in developing countries in ways
that lead to environmental degradation (World Resources 1994-95).

Fig.3.1: Relationship between population, development and environmental degradation

In 1992 the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro was held to discuss the global
environmental issues and focused on the links between the environment and
development. At Rio the governments agreed upon the Local Agenda 21, a
plan designed to tackle environmental issues globally, nationally and locally. It
brought out the relationship between poverty, development and environmental
degradation. The main issue agreed upon was that the rich nations had an
ecological debt to pay to the poorer nations because of the disproportionate
consumption of natural resources in the wealthier nations. Ten years later this
issue of unsustainable pattern of development and consumption of resources
particularly in the developed world was raised in The World Summit on
Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa (you will read
more about this in section 3.7 of this unit).

While the world population crossing the six billion mark and expected to reach
eight billion by mid century, is a cause of concern, there is not enough effort to
examine or reduce the consumption levels in the developed nations. For
example calculations show that if petroleum used in New York was available
to the poor in the form of kerosene, the entire fire wood consumption of the
third world can be replaced! (See Box 3.1 also).

Apart from pollution which is a common concern of both developed and

developing countries, another cause for concern is that environmental stress is
often both the cause and effect of military conflict. Throughout history
disputes over environmental resources has been common. Disputes over river
waters have taken place in North America over Rio Grande, in south East Asia
100
over the waters of the Ganges and Mekong; over the Nile in Africa. Relations Development and
between Britain and Argentina have strained due to a declaration of exclusive Environment
fishing zone around Maldives \Falkland islands. Such conflicts are likely to
increase in the future as competition for scarce resources increases.

Box 3.1: Unsustainable consumption patterns

The total resource consumption of 20 average families in the developing

world is less than the consumption of one British family (having two
children).

India uses less paper for printing textbooks than Scandinavian countries use
for printing pornographic literature.

One fifth the world’s population in the North (USA, Canada, Western
Europe and Japan) consumes 80% of the world’s resources.

Per capita emission of greenhouse gases in the US is twelve times that of

South Asia.

Issues and Concerns in India

Since independence India has made rapid progress. We are becoming
progressively industrialized and urbanised. We have the third largest pool of
scientific and technological manpower after USA and Russia. Industrialisation
is considered a sign of development of a nation and India has seen a five fold
increase in industrial production in the last thirty years. However, issues related
to development in India are similar to issues faced by other developing
countries. These are:
Poverty
Clean air
Clean water for drinking and domestic use
Education
Malnutrition, health care and sanitation
Good soil to provide food and fodder to increasing human and livestock
population
Fuel for cooking and heating
Shelter

You are already aware that there has been a population explosion in India since
independence -from 300 million in 1947 to over a billion today. This rapidly
growing population along with increased economic development has placed a
strain on India’s environment as well as on the infrastructure of the country. If
not managed properly, providing even the basics would result in more negative
environmental impacts. If we are to reach the level of the developed countries
then resource consumption is bound to increase. Since the last two decades
people in India are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental
problems of global warming, acid rain, scarcity of fodder and fuel wood,
pollution of air, water and soil from hazardous chemicals and radiation.

The State of the Environment Report for India prepared by TERI, broadly
covers the five priority issues pertaining to the environment identified by the 101
Environmental Concerns Government of India as per the UNEP guidelines. In addition, other issues
addressing economic and social development are also included. The five
priority issues are:
1. Land degradation, which occurs through the natural and man-made
processes of wind erosion, water erosion, and water-logging, has been
identified as one of the priority concerns in India. The result of such
degradation is the loss of invaluable nutrients and lower food grain
production. Poor land use practices and management are responsible for the
rapid land degradation in India.

2. Loss of biodiversity is of great concern to India since many plant and

animal species are severely threatened by a destruction of their habitat and
an over-exploitation of resources. A large number of species are either
endangered or on the verge of extinction, both of which can be attributed to
a lack of policy and institutional mechanisms.

3. Air pollution with special reference to vehicular pollution in cities. Air

pollution in India can broadly be attributed to rapid industrialisation,
energy production, urbanisation, commercialisation, and an increase in the
number of motorised vehicles. Vehicles are a major source of pollutants in
cities and towns. Apart from the sheer numbers, other factors contributing
to the increasing vehicular pollution in urban areas include the types of
engines used, age of vehicles, density of traffic, road conditions, and the
status of automotive technologies and traffic management systems.

4. Management of fresh water resources. The availability of fresh water is

going to be the most pressing problem in India over the coming decades.
The stress on water resources is a result of multiple factors namely urban
growth, increased industrial activities, intensive farming, and the overuse
of fertilisers and other chemicals in agricultural production. Untreated
water from urban settlements and industrial activities, and run-off from
agricultural land carrying chemicals, are primarily responsible for the
deterioration of water quality and the contamination of lakes, rivers, and
groundwater aquifers.

5. Hazardous waste management with special reference to municipal solid

waste management. There has been a significant increase in the quantities
of municipal solid wastes and hazardous waste generated in India over the
last few decades. The largest quantities of hazardous waste are generated
by the following industries: petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides,
paints and dyes, petroleum, fertilisers, asbestos, caustic soda, inorganic
chemicals, and general engineering. The rate of generation of solid waste in
urban centres has outpaced population growth in recent years with the
wastes normally disposed in low-lying areas of the city’s outskirts (India:
State of the Environment 2001).
These core environmental issues are vital for the long-term economic
development in India, needed to provide the basic amenities to all the citizens.
Industrial pollution continues to remain a major problem accentuated by
expansion of the chemical industry in the recent past. Against an economic
growth of 163 per cent in the past 20 years, the pollution load increased by
more than 475 per cent. During the period from 1975-95 industrial pollution
grew by 247 per cent. The impact of this is being felt in the highly toxic quality
102 of water bodies, deteriorating ambient air quality and land degradation (India
Development Report 2002). The threat of climatic change due to the emission Development and
of greenhouse gases (GHG) mainly carbon dioxide, is by now well known. Environment
India is already facing pressure to reduce its emission of GHGs though the A one meter rise in sea level
unsustainable consumption patterns of industrialized nations have led to the today would displace 7
accumulation of GHGs. The three impacts generally expected of climate million Indians and in the
future this number would be
change are effects on agriculture, sea level rise leading to submergance of much larger.
coastal areas and increased frequencies of extreme events such as drought,
floods cyclones etc. Each of these poses a serious threat to India. Source: Asia Development
Bank (1995)
It is important that we must recognize the cyclic relationship between the
environment, development and poverty. As poverty increases, pressure on the
natural resources increases leading to environmental degradation, the prospects
of further employment declines. Thus environmental degradation generates
more poverty. At least 500 million of the world’s poorest people live in
ecologically marginal areas who may indulge in overexploitation of the natural
resources resulting in the decline in productivity.
Thus we see that environmental challenges arise from lack of development and
also from development processes. The biggest challenge is to implement a
development process that will lead to greater equity, growth and sustainability.
In the following sections we will discuss the impact of various developmental
activities like agriculture, energy generation, industrialisation and urbanisation
on the environment.

3.3 IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES

Agriculture is probably the oldest industry setup by humans. It is also the
largest industry as well. More than half the world’s population is engaged in
agriculture, hence it would be expected that agriculture would leave its impact
on the environment.
Before you start reading about the changes in human environment we would
like you to know about the history of land use patterns during different periods
of time, so that it is easier for you to compare and correlate the damages
caused by different agricultural practices. Figure 3.2 gives a brief account of
the agro ecosystems. The transformation from traditional to modern agriculture
depicts the evolution of more energy intensive and more productive agriculture
from less energy intensive and less productive agriculture. In the figure you
can see the shifts in agricultural practices that have brought in significant
changes in land use patterns, health of natural resources, quantum and direction
of material flow and livelihood patterns.
Agriculture has undergone significant changes during the last century. Use of
modern implements, electric powered irrigation systems, fossil fuel based agro
machinery, chemical fertilisers, plant protection chemicals and high yielding
varieties in traditional agriculture are some of the inputs that make it modern.
While modern agriculture has brought in enormous increase in crop production
on the one hand, on the other it has caused great damage to the natural balance
of the environment.
For simplicity we have divided the impact of agro-pastoral activities into two
categories:
a) Changes brought about by traditional agriculture. These include
defacement of land, deforestation coupled with loss of soil structure, soil 103
Environmental Concerns erosion and depletion of soil nutrients. Some of these changes are shared
with overgrazing which is also a by-product of efforts to exploit the land
resources for maximum livestock production regardless of the ability of the
ecosystem to withstand external interventions. Traditional agriculture
sometimes has serious consequences (see box 3.2).
b) Changes brought about by modern agriculture. Modern agricultural
practices continue to share the disruptive effects of traditional agriculture,
they also brings about some changes in the environment that are
characteristic only of modern agriculture. For example, excessive
irrigation results in twin problems of salinisation and water- logging;
addition of chemical fertilisers increases the rate of loss of micronutrients
from the soil, causes eutrophication of water bodies. The use of plant
protection chemicals poison food products, sometimes kill non-target
friendly organisms and help target organisms to develop immunity; and use
of high yielding varieties makes agriculture market –oriented, encourages
monoculture causing eruption of epidemics and depletion of genetic
diversity.

Fig.3.2: Evolution of induced agriculture

104
Whilst these environmental problems have the greatest impact in the Development and
developing world, they are also shared to some extent by the more developed Environment
countries. Now we will discuss some of the major impacts of modern
agriculture that lead to the environmental issue of land degradation.

3.3.1 Deforestation
Removal of forest cover for agricultural activities is a major cause of
deforestation in the developing countries, most of which are in the tropics.
Tropical forests account for nearly half the world’s remaining forests covering
an area of 2 107 km2. In contrast, in the more developed countries the rate of
deforestation has stopped and in some there has been a reversal with the
implementation of afforestation programmes. In India, forest depletion has
been arrested to some extent. But forest cover still declined from 63.89 million
hectares (mha) in 1995 to 63.34 mha in 1997, (State of Forest Report 1997,
Forest Survey of India, Dehradun).

Deforestation of forests is caused by a number of human activities, of which

shifting agriculture is a primary cause. Though this type of activity has
coexisted with the rain forests for thousands of years, in recent years the
incidence has greatly increased as farmers forced off land by cash-cropping
and ranching turn to the rainforest for sustenance. Other causes of
deforestation are mineral extraction, the building of roads and dams and
logging operations.

On a local level, the environmental problems associated with removal of forest

cover involve the water cycle. The water taken up by trees reduces the amount
available for surface run-off. When deforestation occurs surface run-off
increases leading to severe soil erosion and floods. For example, in the
mountainous regions of India and Nepal entire hillsides have been striped of
their forest covers and the monsoon rains have washed them away. On a
regional level the increase in surface run-off causes down stream flooding
transporting along huge amounts of sediment causing the problem of siltation.
On the global scale, the burning of biomass associated with deforestation is
contributing to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (see box 3.2
also).

Deforestation is also a major cause of loss of biological diversity, for tropical

forest are said to contain at least half of the world’s plant and animal species
(World Resource Institute).

Box 3.2: Consequences of deforestation – the Indonesian forest fires

Indonesia has the world’s second largest rainforests after Brazil. During the period
from August1997 to May 1998 at least 2 million hectares of these rain forests were
destroyed by fire. In previous such burning incidences the farmers engaged in
slash and burn agriculture were held responsible, but this time large – scale
plantation companies, encouraged by government policies to clear large areas of
rainforest for cultivation of rubber trees or oil palms have largely been held
responsible. The extremely dry conditions at that time encouraged the deliberate
burning of the forests and also assisted the fires to turn out of control. Peat bog
forests also caught fire in large areas and these continued to smoulder for weeks
producing large amounts of smoke that enveloped south-east Asia. (Ref. Pearce, F.
(1998) Playing with fire. New Scientist, 21 March 36-39).
105
Environmental Concerns 3.3.2 Salinisation and Water-logging
Salinisation is the accumulation of salts, mainly carbonates, chloride and,
sulphates in soil, surface water and ground water. This process occurs naturally
in arid and semi-arid regions forming salt flats where salt come to the surface
due to capillary action as the water evaporates. The excessive irrigation of arid
and semi-arid regions to enable crop cultivation has greatly increased the
salinisation of soil. Salt affected soils cover 5.5 mha of the 328 mha of India’s
total land area (ICID, 2002). India has a total of 3.58 mha of alkaline soils that
contain excessive sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. Out of these half
fall under agricultural land but remain unproductive.

In our enthusiasm to provide more water to agricultural fields, we have

employed canal irrigation as well as tube wells for drawing water from the
deep core of the earth. Excessive irrigation without proper drainage raises the
water table. As a result the soil becomes drenched with water or water logged.
According to the Central Water Commission a total area of 8.5mha is water
logged. Such soils cannot support plant growth as they lack air and
mechanical strength. India has the largest irrigated area in the world --
59.00mha and in 1997, 501 billion cubic meters (BCM) water was utilised in
irrigation and the demand for water is expected to increase in the coming years
(ICID 1998).

3.3.3 Soil Erosion and Desertification

Soil erosion occurs when the removal of soil occurs at a much faster rate than
its replacement by weathering of underlying bedrock. It is a natural process,
mediated by water and wind. Human activities involving inappropriate
agricultural practices have greatly increased the rate of soil erosion in many
parts of the world. The estimated annual soil loss through erosion is in the
region of 75 000 million tones. Soil erosion is a problem in both developing as
well as developed countries. As mentioned earlier, high population pressure in
the developing nations have resulted in the cultivation of marginal lands. Such
lands may inherently have low fertility as they may be on the margins of
deserts or on land made available by clearing rainforests. Without the
protection of forest cover or crop cover, the bare soil is exposed to forces of
soil erosion. The worst form of erosion prevalent in agricultural lands is wash
off erosion or sheet erosion, which becomes important in the hilly regions. In
semi-arid and arid regions soil erosion is strongly associated with
desertification.

Desertification describes the final stages by which former productive semi-arid

and arid land is degraded into unproductive desert mainly due to human
activities. The global rate of desertification is estimated to be about 6 million
hectares per year. The problem of desertification is a continuing one especially
in the developing world as the need to increase agricultural production leads to
cultivation of marginal lands.

3.3.4 Fertilisers and Plant Protection Chemicals

Most of the chemical fertilisers used in modern agro ecosystems contain
macronutrients that is, nitrogen , phosphorus and potassium (NKP) .But
excessive use of NPK causes the plant to draw more micronutrients as well
from the soil. The rate of growth of plants often exceeds the soil’s ability to
106 replenish the micronutrients. Thus excessive use of fertilisers causes
micronutrient deficiency in soils. Zinc deficiency, for example, in large tracts Development and
of land in the high yielding belt of Punjab and Haryana has depressed the Environment
productivity of the land. Another adverse effect of excessive fertiliser use is
that about one-fourth of the applied fertiliser is not used by the plants and is
leached down. These chemicals usually nitrates, find their way into
groundwater aquifers, increasing the concentration of nitrates in drinking
water. This has become a serious health hazard because excess amounts of
nitrates causes methemoglobinaemia in bottle fed infants. Excess fertilisers are
carried by runoff water into aquatic bodies causing eutrophication. You will
read more about this in unit-4.

Toxic chemicals like insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and rodenticides are

generally used to protect crops or their harvested products. These chemicals
generally known as biocides tend to remain active for long periods after their
use is over which makes them dangerous to the environment because these are
non-biodegradable. Some over 70,000 different kinds of biocides are being
used in the world. In India alone, over 82, 000 tonnes of pesticides were used
in 1991 as against 2000 tonnes in the mid fifties annually (Ministry of
Agriculture 1992).

On continued application these agro-chemicals cause contamination of food

materials, disruption of the natural balance of the ecosystem by killing non-
target organisms and gradual increase in immunity in the target organisms.
Traces of fertilisers and pesticides from fields find their way into rivers. Levels
of pesticides in the Yamuna are found to be higher than the permissible levels.
Further these chemicals are often not biodegradable, once they enter the food
chain they get accumulated and concentrated in the organism’s body through
biological magnification (You have read about this in Unit-1).

3.3.5 High Yielding Varieties (HYV)

The HYVs are man made varieties of agricultural plants, fodder plants, forest
plants, livestock and fish that have been raised by breeding techniques to yield
more. As an outcome farmers were able to achieve greater output, increase in
yield and greater monetary returns from agriculture. The success of these plant
breeding programmes is popularly called “Green Revolution” and it was
responsible for the self-sufficiency in food production in India. However, the
introduction of HYVs has not been universally beneficial. In order to realize
their full potential, these varieties necessitate the use of fertilisers and biocides,
water in the form of irrigation and fuel powered machinery. HYVs are totally
dependant on humans for their survival because left to themselves they cannot
compete with their wild relatives.

The HYVs also encourage monoculture, which means the same genotype is
planted for kilometers at a stretch. Large scale monoculture of a specific
variety makes it highly susceptible to infections and may get wiped out under
attack from a pathogen. HYVs cause loss of agro biodiversity, as their use
replaces the cultivation of other local varieties which are ultimately lost.

3.4 IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALISATION

After agricultural practices, the next major change in human society was the
Industrial Revolution, which began in England. Human inventiveness led to
the discovery of methods for using chemical energy stored in fossil fuels such 107
Environmental Concerns as coal and later oil and natural gas. Horse drawn vehicles and wind-powered
ships were replaced by coal burning steam engines. Within a few decades the
agriculture based rural societies were transformed into more urbanized early
industrialized societies. From England the new ways spread to form what are
now known as the core nations of the ‘developed’ world. By 1870 there were
distinct industrial regions in France and Belgium, Russia, Germany, USA and
Japan. All these were characterized by an increased per capita consumption of
energy, based on coal as fuel.

Along with industrialisation, the population also grew. By 1880 the population
of Great Britain had trebled in less than a century and these people
concentrated into towns and other emerging urban centers. Once set in motion,
the industrial growth was rapid everywhere. The development of more efficient
machines and techniques for mass production and advances in science and
technology led to the level of industrialisation that we see today.

Impact on Environment
To understand the impact of industrialtsation we can take up the example of a
steel mill or a coal mine and examine its environmental impact at the local and
regional level. Let us start at the local level. The impact on the local
environment would be in the form of changed land use, with a large area
covered by buildings, sheds, heaps of materials, roads and hard surfaces (see
Fig. 3.3). During construction there must have been vast amounts of bare soil
that would contribute to silt in the runoff and when completed, the plant would
show urban features. A heavily built up zone would therefore affect the local
water bodies. The quality of water is also likely to be affected through
percolation of wastes from the factory. Its load of suspended as well as
dissolved matter would be therefore higher and some of the substances carried
are likely to be toxic to life. There would be greater organic component of
sewage in the watercourse downstream too.

Fig.3.3: Impact of an industrial plant on the local environment

108
Similarly the air near the plan would be polluted. There would be greater Development and
fallout of soot near the chimney, which would affect the people living nearby. Environment
In downwind direction the impact reduces progressively but sulphur
compounds will rain as dilute acid rain and destroy buildings as well as
vegetation.

We can extend this model to the whole planet. The developed regions can be
regarded as this plant and the rest of the world the outreach for its raw material
and waste products. With the industrialisation of the planet, using the
temperate grasslands to grow food crops, or converting them into ranches to
provide meat in the developed countries met the demand for food. Demand for
other cash crops such as tea, coffee, rubber, and paper increased and large
areas of forests were converted into plantations.

Most developing countries started at independence with virtually no modern

industry. During the 1960s and 1970s their industrial production, employment
and trade consistently grew. Industry and its products have an impact on the
natural resource base through the entire cycle of raw materials exploration,
extraction, and transformation into products, energy consumption, waste
generation and the use by the consumer. These impacts may be positive,
enhancing the quality of the resource or extending its use, or they may be
negative, as a result of process and product pollution and of the depletion of
resources (Our Common Future 1987)

The negative impacts were first perceived as localized problems of air land and
water pollution in the developed countries as the Los Angeles Smog or the
death of large lakes as Lake Erie in the US; and the progressive pollution of all
the major rivers in the west. Similar problems have also been found in many
parts of the developing world as industrial growth, increase in automobile
numbers and urbanisation spreads.

Industrial development has contributed significantly to economic growth in

India; however, not without an environmental price. India has seen a fivefold
increase in industrial production in the last three decades. With the new
industrial policy it is expected to further accelerate. With coal accounting for
52% of total primary energy consumption in 1999, this industrial development
has been fuelled by a relatively high-polluting energy source. Not only is
industrial pollution increasing public health risks, but abatement efforts also
are consuming a significant portion of India's GDP. A report from Ministry of
Environment and Forests estimates that the annual cost of environmental
degradation in India in the past few years is averaging about 4.5% of GDP
(Source: Energy Information Administration, June 2001).

In many cities in the developing world environmental pollution is much worse

than any that was experienced in the developed world in the 1950s or the
1960s Vehicle exhaust, coal burning and particles from coal combustion and
factories in air that causes serious health problems. More than 2000 people
died in Bhopal in India in1984, from release of methyl isocyanate out of the
Union Carbide Factory. Such industrial accidents too that are disastrous for
both the environment and the people.

Whether industries are large or small, they all create pollution related problems
as they generate huge amounts of waste. Therefore, environmental pollution is
also compounded by rapid industrialisation and increase in the number of 109
Environmental Concerns automobiles. Most of our industrial cities are often referred to as cities of
functioning chaos, as the haphazard and uncontrolled growth of different
industries in our industrial cities pose environmental challenges in the shape of
slums, toxic wastes and gases and discharge of effluents into water bodies.

Box 3.3: Haphazard industrialisation and urbanization - Ludhiana

Ludhiana known as the Manchester of India, is the fastest growing city in Punjab
state of the Indian Union. It is located 250 km from New Delhi .It is the most
populous city in the state and the most polluted too. According to the 1991 census
the population now exceeds I million. The fast industrial growth and rapid
population growth has led to many problems typical of unplanned development.
The living standard is perhaps at its minimum tolerable level. The city faces water
pollution, depletion of ground water sources due to excessive and unsustainable
use. The water in and around industrial estates of the city is unfit for drinking.

The city’s dyeing industry and hosiery units and the sewerage system have
converted the water body Budda Nala into an open sewer, polluting the ground
water downstream before the nala joins the river Sutlej. The air hangs thick with
pollutants and on account of high population density the incidents of T.B. have
increased especially in the congested localities of migrant labour.

3.5 IMPACT OF URBANISATION

With the advancements in technology, increase in economic development and
human population, we are becoming more of an urban species. Urbanisation is
Mega cities currently
defined by the United a global phenomenon. People move from villages to cities as cities provide
Nations as cities of over better economic opportunities, educational facilities, and health care and
10 million inhabitants. entertainment options. From less than 10% of the global population in 1700,
The number of mega city dwellers now account for more than half (about 51%) of a much larger
cities will increase from 5 total. Rapid urbanisation first occurred in the developed countries but recent
in 1975, of which 3 were
in the developing world, urban growth has occurred dramatically in the large cities of the developing
to 29 in 2015 of which all countries. In 1900, thirteen cities in the world had population over 1 million
but 4 will be in the each. Except Tokyo all were in either Europe or North America. In 2000,
developing world. however, there were 400 metropolitans with more than 1 million inhabitants of
which a large number was in India and China. In the developing countries
urban growth has been the most rapid in a few cities, which are referred to as
‘megalopolises’ or mega cities. The mega cities of the poorer countries have
been growing at a much faster rate than those in the developed world (see
Table 3.2).

Although there are numerous examples of mega cities in the developed world,
they are primarily a phenomenon of the developing world. According to the
population projections for the 11 largest urban agglomerates in 2015, in 12
years most of the largest cities of the world will be in the developing world, a
significant change from the largest city populations in 1980 and 1994.
Although Tokyo will remain the largest city in the world, New York, at second
place in 1980 and 1994, is projected to be at the bottom of the list by 2015,
while Mumbai will have climbed from sixth to second place.

Both Tokyo and New York are experiencing relatively modest population
increases, and a number of other large cities in the developed world are
experiencing population declines. In contrast, the populations of developing
110 world mega cities are typically growing over one to five percent per year,
although these growth rates are expected to abate somewhat in the next 15 Development and
years (UN, 1998). Environment

Table 3.2: Population and growth rates in the world’s mega cities

City Population (millions) Growth rate

(%)
1990 2000 (tentative)
Tokyo, Japan 25.0 28.0 1.4
Sao Paulo, Brazil 18.1 22.6 4.1
Mexico city Mexico 16.8 20.1 2.0
New York, USA 16.1 16.6 0.3
Shanghai, China 13.4 17.4 1.4
Mumbai, India 12.2 16.4 4.2
Los Angeles, USA 11.5 13.2 1.9
Buenos Aires Argentina 11.4 12.8 1.4
Seoul, South Korea 11.0 12.9 2.9
Beijing, China 10.9 14.4 1.9
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 10.9 12.2 2.2
Kolkata, India 10.7 12.7 1.8
Osaka, Japan 10.5 10.6 0.5
Jakarta, Indonesia 9.2 13.4 4.4
Tianjin, China 9.2 12.5 2.4
Manila, Philippines 8.9 12.6 4.1
Cairo, Egypt 8.6 10.8 2.3
New Delhi, India 8.2 11.7 3.9
Karachi, Pakistan 7.9 11.9 4.7
Lagos, Nigeria 7.7 13.5 5.8
Dhaka, Bangladesh 6.6 11.5 7.2
Source: World Development Indicators, World Bank, 2001.

Urbanisation alters the environment locally as well as regionally, affecting the

climate, water flow and biodiversity creating new hazards and problems of
security and safety. The consumption of land is the most obvious impact of
urbanisation but the impact spreads to frontiers far beyond areas actually
converted for settlements. Timber, fuel, building materials and water are
extracted from ever widening zones around the cities to meet their ever-
growing needs, and at the same time growing quantities of solid wastes,
landfills, water and air pollution are exported out to the hinter land by the
urban centres. The extent of resources used by a city can be visualized as its
“ecological footprint”.
111
Environmental Concerns Box 3.4: Ecological footprint

The term ecological footprint has been coined by the Canadian Environmentalists
William Rees and Mathias Wackernagel of the University of British Columbia.
Their methodology measures how much of the carrying capacity of the earth has
been appropriated by humans. It defines the amount of land that is required to
supply a city with food and natural resources as well as the area of growing
vegetation required to absorb its carbon output.

Ecological footprint calculations are based on average per capita consumption of

food, forest products and fuel in a given geographic area. The size of the footprint
is determined by calculating how much land would be needed to produce that
food, wood and paper and the equivalent amount of biomass needed to substitute
ethanol for oil or gas.

Using 1993 United Nations data on population and consumption levels,

Wackernagel and his colleagues working at the Center for Sustainability Studies
in Veracruz, Mexico, calculated the ecological footprints of 52 nations, as well as
a global average, The results show a wide range of different national footprints
ranging from a modest 0.7 hectare per person in Bangladesh and 0.8 hectare in
India and Pakistan to 9.8 hectares per capita in New Zealand, 8.4 hectares in the
United States and 7.0 hectares in Canada. European nations generally have
smaller footprints with France and Norway using 5.7 hectares per inhabitant and
Germany 4.6 hectares.

Urbanisation in India

India is probably one of the least urbanized countries in the world. Between
1951 and 2001, the level of urbanisation increased only by 13 percentage
points. However, if population sizes are taken into account, India has the
second largest urban population in the world.

More than two thirds of this population lives in regions having population
greater than one million and one fourth of this population lives in the four
mega cities namely Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai with populations
more than 10 million each in 2001 (see also Table 3.3).

Table 3.3: Total and urban population in India in the last 100 years

Year Cities (UAs with Urban population Urban population

million+ (million) (% of total)
population)
1901 238.9 10.84
1921 2 251.3 11.18
1951 5 361.1 17.29
1971 9 548.2 19.91
1981 12 683.3 23.34
1991 23 844.3 25.72
2001 40 1027.0 30.5
Source: Census of India (2001)
112
3.5.1 Positive Impacts of Urbanisation Development and
Environment
The process of urbanisation is often accompanied by major economic and
structural changes. New jobs are created and improved services are provided.
Urban regions provide better facilities of electricity, health, education,
infrastructure and safe drinking water and toilet facilities in comparison to
rural areas. For example, 61per cent of urban households have electricity,
toilets and safe drinking water where as, only 12.3 per cent in rural areas
possess these facilities. In case of energy use, 35 per cent of urban households
use liquefied petroleum gas and 27% use kerosene whereas, in rural areas
nearly 80 per cent of households use inconvenient biomass-based fuels.

There is better exposure to mass media in urban areas. More than half of the
total population in rural areas in 1990 was not exposed to any type of media.
With the spread of satellite TV network the situation is changing, but the
difference is likely to persist.

3.5.2 Problems of Urbanisation

The negative effects like the deterioration of the physical environment and
quality of life caused by the shortfall in demand and supply of the essentials
overwhelm the positive impact of urbanisation.

Urbanisation has resulted in environmental degradation in a number of ways,

such as:

i) Changes in land use: Towns and cities grow with economic growth of
human societies. As towns grow they invade the productive crop lands
and rich forests. Both intracity and regionally open lands are converted
into built-up area. Thus, the land with all its biological resources is
irreversibly lost. An estimated area of 1.5 mha of good agricultural land
has been gobbled up by towns and cities since 1950 and another 8 mha of
such land may have been similarly diverted for this purpose by 2000 AD. Area of Delhi is 1485 sq km
The first Master Plan of Delhi, envisaged an area of 44,000 ha and called and the total population by
2002 year end was more
for acquiring 32,000 ha of agricultural land. Within 20 years, the city has than 14.5 million. It has a
expanded by more than 35per cent. Indian cities which are 30 years or population density of
older, have lost practically all wild life from their suburbs due to 9294/sq km against the
encroachment on agriculture land in their surroundings national density of 324
persons/sq km (Census of
India, 2001). Commercial
ii) Depletion of water resources: Water requirements of the rapidly growing
and industrial demands
urban population also increases many times but due to the limited of resources have grown
resources it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet the requirements of 4 times in the last 5 years.
the municipal water supply. In Mumbai as against the demand of 3026
million litres per day (mld) in 1995, only 60 percent was supplied. Delhi
is no better with average water demand for over 3600 mld only 2947.5
mld is being supplied. It may be mentioned that these are ‘A’ class cities;
in smaller towns the position of water supply is much worse. Due to
extensive built-up areas, the local groundwater recharges decline and the
cities have to draw water from outside. With further growth, the increased
water demand can be met only by drawing water from distant sources.
Presently Delhi is drawing water from Ramaganga, 180 km away. Indore
from Narmada, 75 km away and Bangalore from Cauvery at a distance of
100 km. Chennai is seeking water from Krishna in Andhra Pradesh and
113
Environmental Concerns Cauvery in Karnataka with 600 m lift. In each of these cases, water from
the cities has to be drawn at the cost of cultivation and rural demands.

iii) Building materials: Construction of houses and other structures need large
quantities of building materials. Delhi’s estimated need is 80,000 new
houses every day. Material for this has to be brought from adjoining areas
comprising fertile land causing further damage to good agricultural areas.

iv) Industries: Industrial development goes almost hand in hand with

urbanisation. For examples, nearly 60% of the industries in Maharashtra
are located in Mumbai alone. Industries draw upon water resources
heavily. Water requirement per tonne of produce in a crude oil refinery is
between 1-3 m3, it is 5-8 m3 for dairy, 20-403 for textiles, 100-250 m3 for
steel, 250-400 m3 for pulp and paper and 400-600 m3 for viscose rayon.

v) Slum: United Nations estimates that at least 1 billion people live in

crowded, unsanitary slums of the central cities and in the vast shantytowns
and squatter settlements that ring the outskirts of most of the mega cities
of the developing world. Slums represent one of the worst types of
environmental degradation, which have become concomitant to
urbanisation and industrialisation. About 18.75% of India’s urban
population lives in slums. Sixty percent of Mumbai’s population is slum
dwellers and more than half a million people sleep on the streets,
sidewalks and traffic circles because they have no homes. While about
20% of the population of Delhi live in overcrowded informal settlements
in bastis or slums. Amongst the states, Bihar has 37.50% of its urban
population as slum dwellers followed by Maharashtra 32.63% and West
Bengal 31.53%. Kerala with 8.81% and Karnataka with 14.43%, are the
two states with lowest percentage of urban population in slums. The slum
dwellers have an environment with inadequate living space, water supply,
and sewerage facilities. This causes steady deterioration of surrounding
regions as well as human health.

vi) Water pollution: About 200 million people in the developing world do not
get safe drinking water, according to United Nations. Pollution of fresh
water bodies like urban lakes and rivers through urbanisation and
industrialisation is colossal. About 90% of the drinking water in India
comes from rivers polluted by these human activities. About 873 mld of
waste water drained into the Ganga before the Ganga Action Plan was
initiated. Sabarmati a small river alone receives 998 mld of dirty water
from the city of Ahmedabad (Source: State of India’s Environment, 2001).
About 2,700 large and small units contribute 70% by volume of the
polluted effluents and 30% comes from small and cottage industry sector.
Further, few cities in the developing world can afford to build modern
waste treatment systems for their rapidly growing cities. It is estimated
that 300 million of the world’s urban residents have inadequate sanitation.
Only 217 of the India’s 3119 towns have even partial sewage systems and
water treatment facilities Thus, sewage both seeps into the soil and
pollutes ground water or it flows through streams and rivers. Table 3.4
gives the status of wastewater generation and treatment in a few large
cities in India in the year 1994-95. Delhi alone pours over 500 million
litres of untreated sewage into Yamuna every day. While, Ganga receives
sewage and industrial wastes from 24 urban settlements along its bank.
114
 Table: 3.4: Waste water generation in selected cities of India (1994-95) Development and
Environment
Metro city Waste water generated Waste
in million litres/day (mld) Water collection

Domestic Industrial Total Total (mld) As % of total Treatment

generated capacity
(mld)
Ahmedabad 520 36 556 445 80.0 510
Bangalore 375 25 400 300 75.0 290
Kolkata 1384 48 1432 1075 75.1 NA
Chennai 276 - 276 257 93.1 257
Delhi - - 1270 1016 80.0 1071
Hyderabad 348 25 373 299 80.1 115
Mumbai 2228 228 2456 2110 90.0 109
Pune 432 - 432 367 85.0 370

Source: Anon 1997, Status and supply of waste water generation, collection, treatment and disposal in
metro cities (1994-5), Control of Urban Pollution Series, CUPS/42/1997-8, Central Pollution
Board, New Delhi.

vii) Air pollution: The dense traffic, commonly old and poorly maintained
vehicles, smoky factories, and use of coal or wood fires for cooking often
create a thick pall of smoke in the world’s mega cities. Most of the air
pollution in urban locations results from the discharge of sulphur dioxide,
oxides of nitrogen, hydrogen sulphide and suspended particles, such as fly
ash etc., and cause considerable damage to plants, animals and to human
health (you will read more about the sources and effects of pollution in
the next unit).
viii) Waste production: Solid waste produced by households, industry,
hospitals, construction sites etc., management and disposal problems in
the urban areas of most countries. In India uncontrolled dumping of waste
on the outskirts of cites has created overflowing landfills which are
environmental hazards. At the present rate of solid waste generation the
four landfill sites of Delhi are likely to be filled very soon. This solid
waste also leads to pollution of ground water and air. Table 3.5 shows the
amount of solid waste generated by some of the major cities of India and
it is clear that the amount is increasing day by day.

Table 3.5: Municipal solid waste generated by major Indian cities

City Per capita (kg/day) Collection

1971-3 1994-5 efficiency3 (%)

Kanpur 0.55 0.64 78

Lucknow - 0.62 78
Ahmedabad 0.24 0.56 61
Bangalore 0.32 0.48 80
Delhi 0.21 0.48 75
Mumbai 0.49 0.44 72
Kolkata 0.5 0.4 74
Ludhiana - 0.4 71

Source: Report Prepared by the National Institute of Urban Affairs, 1999.

115
Environmental Concerns In addition to environmental degradation, urbanisation has affected the social
organisation, family structure, culture and behaviour of the population living in
the urban areas as well as those who are living outside the urban centres.

3.6 IMPACT OF ENERGY GENERATION

Human beings have the remarkable capability to exploit energy
transformations. They first learnt to exploit the transformation of chemical
energy to heat energy in the form of fire. Later they used the wind energy and
energy in flowing water to sail their boats and to run wind and water mills. The
use of fossil fuel and the discovery of steam engine, were responsible for the
Industrial Revolution, which has major economic and environmental
implications.
For centuries people have been inventing devices to save human labour,
provide entertainment, and make life more comfortable in the desire to
improve their quality of life. That trend has led us to depend on a variety of
energy consuming machines without which life would be inconceivable. Our
society would come to a halt without electricity, automobiles, trains, planes,
computers and so on. Today our survival totally depends on three fossil fuels-
coal, oil and natural gas. In fact per capita consumption of commercial energy
is sometimes used as an indicator of economic advancement that a country has
attained. As said earlier, India’s per capita consumption of commercial energy
is very low. It is only one eighth of the world average.
However, energy generation for human consumption involves potential
environmental, political or financial problems. It is a fact that developed
nations have been using at least ten times more energy than the developing
nations for many years. The main concern with using fossil fuels is no longer
seen as its availability but the absorption capacity of our environment.
Fossil fuel power plants release air pollutants, require large amounts of cooling
water, and can destroy large tracts of land during the mining process. Nuclear
power plants are generating and accumulating copious quantities of radioactive
waste that currently lack absolutely safe locations for storage or disposal. Even
renewable energy facilities like large hydro electrical projects are not without
environmental and social impact.
3.6.1 Impact on Air
The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas in the generation of
electricity and in the internal combustion engine are altering the earth's
climate. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon that has previously been locked
up in coal, oil and natural gas for millions of years. The carbon in these fossil
fuels is transformed into carbon dioxide (CO2), the predominant gas
contributing to the "greenhouse effect," during the combustion process. The
release of large quantities of fossilized carbon threaten to raise average global
temperatures at an accelerated pace. Energy-related ventures account for about
86 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions linked to human activities. The
generation of electricity by thermal power plants is the single largest source of
CO2 emissions. Burning coal produces far more CO2 than oil or natural gas.
Global warming also poses a major threat to human health by way of increased
infectious diseases. Increasing temperatures nurture the spread of disease-
carrying mosquitoes and rodents. As global temperatures rise, sea levels will
116
also rise. Water previously bound to mountain and polar glaciers melts and Development and
flow into the world's seas. Much of the world's population, especially the Environment
poorer people of the world, live at or close to sea level, areas vulnerable to the
lethal combination of rising sea level and increasingly severe ocean storms.
Sea levels have already risen 4 to 10 inches over the last century.
(Source: www.whrc.org)
Electricity generation using fossil fuels emits sulfur dioxides and oxides of
nitrogen, which are a major cause of acid precipitation. Acid precursors can be
carried in the atmosphere for several days and travel several hundred miles
downwind of the power plant stack before being deposited on the earth's
surface. For example, because of prevailing winds, the northeastern United
States and Canada receive significant quantities of acid precursors from coal-
fired power plants in states stretching from Missouri to the west and
Pennsylvania to the east.
Of course, not all power plants generate the same level of air pollutants
contributing to acid rain. Emissions rates vary widely depending upon factors
as the precise fossil fuel type used, the nature of the combustion process, pre-
and post-combustion air emission controls, as well as vintage of the power
plant. Older coal plants especially those designed to burn high sulfur content
coal are the most significant source of acid rain pollutants.
India’s large reserves of coal are a major asset to the country, accounting for
70 percent of India's current production of electricity. However, excessive use
of this form of energy production — especially without the use of strategies to
mitigate its effects — will cause the quality of the country's air, land, and water
resources to deteriorate.
While climate change and acid rain impact the general environment on a
regional or global scale, air emissions from fossil fuel power plants also have
direct impacts on human health. Most especially, human health is jeopardized
from the formation of ozone (or "smog") and fine particles that may form
either in power plant smokestacks or in the air as a result of the emissions of
any of the three primary gases - carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen
oxides. Both ozone and fine particulates pose health risks within the vicinity of
the emitting power plants or may travel hundreds of miles and pose health risks
far from the sources of the precursor emissions (see Box 3.5). Electric power
plant emissions account for about one-third of all NOx released into the
atmosphere from human sources.

Box 3.5: Kolaghat thermal power plant

West Bengal prides itself in its giant thermal power station (210MW 6) in
Kolaghat.Built in the eighties the station has won the award for “Best performing
Indian power plant” several times. There is no doubt that this power station has
changed the image of West Bengal from a power deficit state to a power –
surplus state. Yet for a large number of people staying in the vicinity the power
plant is a source of misery. Their problems starts from the daily emission of
about 4000 tonnes of fly ash by the plant. The fly ash which is a by- product of
coal combustion and other materials for power generation, is suspected to have
traces of alumina, various other toxic heavy metals and carcinogenic elements. It
has adversely affected the quality of life in a large area.

Contd…
117
Environmental Concerns
The gravity of the situation is manifested in the large heaps of fly ash stacked
along the roads even 20 km from the power plant. Men playing cards on rickety
cots perched on top of fly ash heaps, children playing in the ash are common
sights. A vast grey sheet of fly ash particles remain hanging in the sky over
Kolaghat and adjoining areas obscuring the vision. The large ponds nearby
smell of the leaden ash.

KTPS is fast acquiring vast tracts of land for creating ash ponds. According to
the power sector norms, one MW of thermal power requires one to ten acres of
land for disposal of ash over 30 years. The ash handling system accounts for
five per cent of the total cost of a power project, A part of the ash and certain
gases inevitably produced by burning of coal, escape into the air through the
chimneys even though the chimneys are fitted with electrostatic precipitators.

Coal fuelled electric power plants are also the single largest source of mercury
emissions. An inventory of mercury emissions conducted by EPA of USA
found that one-third of all mercury air emissions come from coal burning in
electric power plants. Mercury is present in the coal used as feedstock in the
utility boiler. As the coal is combusted in the utility boiler, mercury is
vaporized and released as a gas. Pollution controls employed by utilities to
curb other pollutants are not effective in removing mercury. At present, there
are no commercially viable control technologies for mercury. As a
consequence, this highly toxic air pollutant continues to go largely unabated.

3.6.2 Impact on Water

Thermal electric generating facilities make electricity by converting water into
high-pressure steam that drives turbines. Once water has gone through this
cycle, it is cooled and condensed back to water and then reheated to drive the
turbines again. The process of condensation requires a separate cooling water
body to absorb the heat of the steam.

The amount of water used for power plant cooling also varies by each specific
power plant's electricity generating technology and size. For example, nuclear
reactors require the most water for cooling, and fossil fuel power plants come
in second. However, most renewable energy technologies require little or no
water for cooling.

Hydroelectric Generation
To generate, hydroelectric power water from a fast flowing river or a stream is
diverted through turbines. Usually it involves the damming of a river and
flooding of a valley. However there are serious environmental problems
associated with the construction of hydro electrical power stations. Reservoirs
inundate forests, farmlands, and wildlife habitats. Large tracts of land are lost
and often local population displaced as a consequence of developing a
hydroelectric project.

Water Use and Consumption

Most electric power plants require water to operate. Nuclear and fossil fuel
power plants use over 185 billion gallons of water per day. Hydropower plants
use water directly to generate power. These power plants represent the single
118 largest consumer of water among any industrial, governmental or residential
activity. Withdrawal of large volumes of surface water for either power plant Development and
cooling or hydropower generation can adversely affect the fisheries resources Environment
by killing fish, larvae and other aquatic organisms trapped against intake
structures, or swept up in the flow through the different sections of a power
plant.

The use of water to generate power at hydroelectric facilities imposes unique,

and not insignificant, ecological impacts. The diversion of water out of a river
removes water healthy in-stream ecosystems. By slowing river flows, dams
also allow silt to collect on river and reservoir bottoms and bury fish spawning
habitat. The impoundment of water by hydropower facilities fundamentally
reshapes the physical habitat from a riverine to an artificial pond community.
This often eliminates native populations of fish and other wildlife. This impact
is most significant on migratory fish, which breed in upstream reaches of the
river and must migrate downstream early in life to the ocean and again migrate
upstream to lay their eggs (or "spawn"). For instance, the construction of the
Farraka dam in west Bengal has disrupted the migration of hilsa. Silt trapped
above dams accumulates heavy metals and other pollutants. Disrupting the
natural flow of sediments in rivers also promotes erosion of riverbeds
downstream of the dam and increases risks of floods.

Large fossil fuel and nuclear power plants are generally located near bodies of
water as they need huge quantities of cooling water. A variety of processes
associated with fuel handling and ongoing maintenance of large thermal power
plants create or concentrate chemical pollutants that are then discharged into
nearby water bodies. Even when releases are limited to what is allowed in
water use permits, there is still the occasional but inevitable accidental release.

3.6.3 Impact on Land

Power generating facilities alter the land use. Large electric generating
facilities occupy acres upon acres of land just for the power plant components
alone. These power plants also require on-site fuel storage facilities as well as
structures for connecting to the transmission grid, which requires additional
land. Depending on the fuel burned at any one power plant, electricity
generators can leave their sites irrevocably scarred or polluted causing on-site
land impacts which often can never be completely cleaned off. Power plant
sites may become sacrifice zones, sealed off from any future land use due to
contamination linked to the operation of a power plant.

Most generating facilities also produce solid waste by-products of combustion

that can be toxic. Solid wastes from power plants are typically landfilled,
another way in which a generating facility impacts land as it extends its
environmental footprint beyond the boundaries of the power plant site. In this
case, the waste will likely remain at the landfill forever. Mining, collecting and
transporting the natural gas, coal, oil, and nuclear fuel necessary to generate
electricity can also impact land in much the same way by precluding other uses
and leaving permanent scars. All of these are known as off-site land impacts.
Environmentally sound waste disposal techniques can reduce, but not
eliminate, these impacts.

119
Environmental Concerns
3.7 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The earlier sections of this unit had a look at environmental issues in both a
historical as well as a contemporary context. The objective was to raise
questions about the process of development seen in terms of industrialisation
and economic growth. However, environment and development are inexorably
inter-linked. Development cannot subsist upon deteriorating environmental
resources and environment, in turn, cannot be protected if development does
not take into account the environmental problems. Failure to manage the
environment and to sustain development threatens the very basis of our
existence. The issue of environment and development led to the concept of
sustainable development, which we will discuss in this section.

3.7.1 Concept of Sustainable Development

The concept of sustainable development was advanced for the first time during
the Stockholm Intergovernmental conference on Human Environment of June
1972 to emphasize the links between development and environmental
problems and to promote political and economic change locally, nationally and
globally to tackle these problems. The World Commission on Environment and
Development(1987) also known as the “Brundtland Report” further defined the
concept of sustainable development as “development that meets the need of the
present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet
their own needs”.

Sustainable development is the concept of needs and limitations imposed by

technology and society on the environment’s ability to meet the present and
future needs. . Thus, the concept of sustainable development provides a
framework for the integration of environmental policies and development
strategies having implications at international, national, regional and local
levels. Development should not endanger the natural systems that support life
on earth. Many people in the industrial world today operate with the frontier
mentality, which is a human-centred view based on three erroneous basic
assumptions:
the world has an unlimited supply of resources for human use;
humans are apart from nature, and
nature is something to overcome.

With this attitude towards nature, technological advances increase our ability
to use earth’s resources and thus, increase the damage. However, the
realization is growing fast that we are in a world of limits, and ever-increasing
growth of material consumption can only damage, the life giving physical
components of the environment.

Hence, the concept of sustainable development leads us to new resource

consumption strategies which are:
conservation or reduction of excessive resource use,
recycling and reuse of materials, and
more use of renewable resources like solar energy rather than non-
renewable resources such as oil and coal.
120
Sustainable development also requires meeting the basic needs of all deprived Development and
people in this world and extending to all, the opportunities to satisfy their Environment
aspiration for a better life. Otherwise the world, in which poverty and inequity
are endemic, will always be prone to ecological and other crisis. In Gandhiji’s
words, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not any man’s
greed.”

The UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janerio

in 1992 confirmed the pursuit of economic and social progress and equity
within the limits of the world’s natural resources as a workable aim for
everyone, from individuals to governments. The measures needed to ensure
sustainable development were further outlined in Agenda 21 to promote
sustainable development at local level in developed as well as in developing
countries. Though Agenda 21 was a voluntary declaration, it has become a part
of several countries’ local government. Among developing countries India
leads the way and has implemented 20 Agenda 21s.

3.7.2 Equity and the Common Interest

A decade after the Rio Summit, we find that sustainable development is not
high on international agenda. In many countries there is a perception that
sustainability is expensive to implement and ultimately puts a stop to
development. The poorer countries are quite sceptical about the commitments
of the rich countries and demand a more equitable sharing of resources,
environmental costs and responsibilities.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South

Africa from24th August to 4th September 2002 also known as Earth Summit
2002 reviewed the progress since 1992 in implementing sustainable
development, and discussed the way forward. The issues of equity and
common interests were taken up again. The Summit reaffirmed sustainable
development as a central element of the international agenda and gave new
impetus to global action to fight poverty and protect the environment. The
important linkages between poverty, the environment and the use of natural
resources were emphasised and governments agreed to and reaffirmed a wide
range of concrete commitments and targets for action to achieve more effective
implementation of sustainable development objectives. One of the important
outcomes was the establishment of a world solidarity fund to eradicate poverty
and to promote social and human development in the developing countries.

3.7.3 Strategic Imperatives

A shift to a sustainable society will require both policy and institutional

changes at local and global level as well as basic changes in the way people
interact with the environment. We will now discuss some of these aspects.

Technology

We are aware that advanced technology has played a major role in

environmental deterioration and destruction throughout the world. Although a
boon to society, technology has taken its own price. The challenge, then,
before mankind is to redirect its use to make it more energy efficient, less
risky, cleaner and more humane. As you have read earlier, the new resource
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Environmental Concerns consumption strategies in sustainable development are conservation, recycling
and reuse of waste material and use of renewable resources, wherever possible.

Environmentally appropriate technology, which relies basically on the use of

smaller, repairable machines with production methods that use optimum
energy and materials and cause less pollution may be developed. It benefits
people, communities and nations helping them become more self-reliant by
using raw materials that are available locally.

Such technology is advantageous as it increases employment and requires less

investment. It is also efficient on small scale and is compatible with
environment because of low energy requirement and minimal pollution. It is
especially useful in developing countries that have neither the capital nor the
energy resources for advanced technologies more suitable to conditions in the
developed world. Countries like India, who have an abundance of manpower
should look for labour-intensive rather than capital-intensive technology.
Sophisticated technology often puts people out of work, although it increases
the production. In addition the maintenance cost and high energy requirement
of these technologies are sometimes too much for developing countries.

In all countries, rich or poor, the process of economic growth to achieve

sustainable society must be based upon the realities of available renewable and
non-renewable resources. However, most of the times it is not so. For example,
income from forestry operations and mining is generally measured in terms of
monitory value of timber and other products extracted minus the cost of
extraction. Whereas the cost of regenerating the forests or reclamation of land
after mining is not taken into account. Similar incomplete accounting is used to
justify the growing exploitation of other natural resources.

Population

The sustainability of development is intimately linked to the dynamics of

population growth. Overall rate of population growth in developed countries is
under 1%. However, levels of material and energy use are much higher in these
countries. Greater part of global population increase is in developing countries
and it far exceeds their capacity to cope with the demands of the growing
population. Therefore, sustainable development can be perused more easily if
population growth is stabilized at a level consistent with productive capacity of
the ecosystem.

Conservation

As you have read earlier, to meet our basic needs on a sustainable basis,
earth’s natural resources must be conserved and enhanced. The shift to
environmentally appropriate technology and efficient as well as increased use
of renewable resources such as solar energy, wind energy etc. can help us
conserve our natural reserves. Apart from meeting the developmental goals
conservation of nature is also our moral obligation to other living beings and
the to future generations.

Today, however, there is a general awareness of environmental impact in both

rich and poor nations. Worldwide, many organizations are involved in the
studies of critical issues of energy, population, resources and environment.
122 Many people in developed countries are simplifying their life-style. The
number of governmental agencies responsible for environmental protection in Development and
poorer nations has increased many-folds between 1972 and the present. All Environment
these indicate the beginning of a environmental society. Still we are a long way
from becoming a truly sustainable society which means changes at global level
so as to maintain the ecological balance with equitable distribution of benefit
without discrimination to all for satisfying the legitimate needs and aspirations.

3.8 ACTIVITIES

1. a) Write an essay on the developmental activities in the last 20 years in

your local area.

b) Mention the stresses those activities have imposed on the

environment.

c) Give your suggestions regarding solutions to those environmental

stresses.

2. If you were the mayor of a mega city, what would you do to control
growth and improve the quality of life?

3.9 LET US SUM UP

Human activities have resulted in changes in the environment since early

times. The growing world population and resource consumption is leading
to environmental stress through irreversible impacts at global regional and
local levels.

Most environmental issues are related either to interaction between human

populations and natural resources or factors associated with the increasing
human population. However, the environmental issues and concerns of
developing and developed countries differ. Priority environmental issues
identified by India are in the areas of poverty elimination, education and
health care; land degradation; air pollution; loss of biodiversity;
management of fresh water resources and management of hazardous waste.
These environmental challenges arise out of developmental activities and
the biggest challenge is to implement development that will lead to greater
equity, growth and sustainability.

The impacts of various developmental activities on the environment have

been discussed.

Agriculture being the oldest industry in human history has left its impact
on the environment. Traditional as well as modern agricultural methods
have changed the land use patterns, affected the health of the natural
environment and changed the flow and direction of materials and
livelihood patterns. The impact of modern agriculture has resulted in
deforestation; excessive irrigation leading to salinisation and water logging.
The use of fertilisers and plant protection chemicals has increased crop
production tremendously but also resulted in loss of micronutrients and
caused eutrofication of water bodies. Use of high yielding varieties and 123
Environmental Concerns their monoculture had lead to outbreaks of crop diseases and depletion of
genetic diversity.

Industrialisation changed the agriculture based rural societies to more

urban societies and formed what is known as the developed world. All the
countries of the developed world are characterized by increased per capita
resource and energy consumption. Industry and its products have an impact
on the natural resource base of civilization through the entire cycle of raw
material exploration, extraction, transformation into products, energy
consumption, and waste generation. The negative impacts of
industrialisation are pollution of air, land and water seen first locally in the
developed countries but are now major issues at regional and global levels.
Similar problems are seen in most developing countries as industrial
growth, increase in automobiles and urbanisation spreads.

Urbanisation occurred rapidly in the developed countries and is now a

global phenomenon. In fact most of the urban growth in the future is
expected to be seen in the developing world. Among the worst
environmental problems faced in the megacities of the developing world
are traffic congestion, growing slums, water and air pollution , inadequate
sanitation and sewage and solid waste disposal systems.

Most of the energy generated for human consumption is from fossil fuels
which leaves its impact on the environment locally in the form of air
pollution, acid precipitation, consumption of water for cooling, land
degradation and displacement of human populations. The global effects of
the generation of energy through nonrenewable resources are climate
change and acid rain. Energy generation using nuclear fuel also has
problems of radioactive waste disposal.

The concept of sustainable development was advanced for the first time in
the Bruntland Report of 1987. It emphasizes the links between
development and environmental problems, and promotes the need for
political and economic changes locally, regionally and globally to tackle
these problems. It leads to new resource consumption strategies-
conservation or reduction of excessive resource use, recycling and reuse of
materials and more use of renewable resources rather than non-renewable
resources. The issues of equity and common sharing were emphasised
again during the Earth Summit 2002 held in Johannesburg South Africa
where nations of the world agreed upon to establish a world solidarity fund
to eradicate poverty and to promote social and human development in the
developing countries. Sustainable development implies a concern about the
a) relationship between resource use, population growth and technological
development; b) production and distribution of resources of food, energy,
and industry amongst the developing and developed countries; c) uneven
development and imbalances between the rich and the poor nations and
d) environmental degradation and ecological disaster.

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 Development and
3.10 FURTHER READING Environment

1. Kupchella, CE and Hyland M.C., Environmental Science, (1986). Allyn &

Bacon.

2. Weizsacker Ernet Urlichvon (1994) Earth Polities. Offers more than a

collection of facts: you will get a chance to understand the history of all the
themes and that they are interwoven and approaches to solution exist.

3. Cunningham W.P. & Saigo B.W. Envirnonmental Sciences – A global

concern (1990). WMC Brown. The chapter on Energy and Use &
Traditional Fuels Chapter 15 and Chapter 19 on Nuclear fuels are have
expanded coverage.

4. Meyer William B., Human Impact on the Earth, (1996) Cambridge

University Press.

5. Aggarwal S.K., Environmental Issues and Themes (1997), APH Publishing

Corporation.

6. Agarwal Anil Narain Sunita and Sen Srabani.,Ed.,The State of India’s

Environment. The Citizen,s Fifth Report Part 1(1999), Center for Science
and Environment.

References
1. Human Environment (AHE-01, Block 2 and 5), IGNOU Publication.

2. Asia Development Bank (1995) Climate changes in Asia, V. Asthana.

3. World Resources 1994-95.

4. India Development Report 2002.

5. Rees, W., 1992 “ Ecological footprints and Appropriate carrying capacity:

What Urban Economics Leaves Out, Environment and Urbanisation Vol.,
4 No. 2, pp. 121 – 130.

6. The World Commission on Environment and Development. “Our

Common Future” 1987.

7. George Bugliarello, The Bridge, Volume29, No. 4, Winter 1999.

8. India: State of Environment 2001, Report no. 1999 EE4J, Submitted to

United Nation Environment Programme, TERI.

9. United Nation 1998. Trends in urbanisation and the components of urban

growth. In proceedings of the Symposium on Internal Migration and
Urbanisation in Developing Countries, 22-24 January 1996. New York:
United Nations Population Fund.

10. Silvertown J. and Sarre P., Environment and Society (Eds) 1990. London,
Hodder and Stoughton/ Open University, UK Chapter 5: The Impact of
human societies on the environment.
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Environmental Concerns 11. Botkin, Daniel B., Keller Edward A., Environmental Science – Earth as a
Living Planet (Third Edition), John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 11, 15 & 26.

12. http://www.wri.org

13. Energy Information Administration http://www.eia.doe.gov

14. http://www.toxicslink.org

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