ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY (UNIT-I)

The word environment is derived from the French verb environ, which means to “encircle” or “surround.”
“Environment can be defined as the physical, chemical and biological world that surrounds us, as well as
the complex of social and cultural conditions affecting an individual or community.”

“Ecology is the scientific study of the relationships between organisms and their environment, including
humans.” e.g. plants, water, soil, forests etc.

“An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (biotic components) and their physical environment
(abiotic components) that interact with each other in a specific area.”

“Environmental science is the scientific study of all the components or factors that influence our life-
supporting biophysical environment.”
 Elements & Types of Environment

Elements of Environment:-
 Physical elements like land, sunlight, temperature, air, water bodies, climate soils, rocks and minerals.
 Biological elements such as plants, animals, microorganisms and humans constitute the biosphere.
 Cultural elements such as economic, social and political elements are essentially man made features. They
are the latest entrants to the environment and affect the system.

Types of Environment:-
 Geographical Environment It consists of all components provided by nature and hence can be called as the
natural environment. E.g. earth’s surface, mountains, plains, land, water, deserts, storms, cyclones, volcanoes,
oceans.
 Man-Made Environment This environment is used to refer to the one created by man in order to regulate
and monitor certain environmental conditions. E.g. Buildings, parks, roads etc.
Components of Environment:-

1. Hydrosphere- All water bodies.

2. Lithosphere- Soil, Earth rock, mountains etc.

3. Atmosphere- Air and gases like- Oxygen,

carbon dioxide etc. There are 5 layers which
protects the earth and human beings from
radiation.

4. Biosphere- All organism and their interaction

with water and air. Also known as life layer.
 Scope of Environmental Science
1. Industries: Industries need to comply with numerous environmental norms. Hence, environment experts are
required to guide the industries for controlling pollution, adopting clean technologies, proper waste disposal,
and carrying out environmental audit.
2. Consultancy: Environment consultancies are hired by various government bodies, industries, advocacy and
rights groups and NGOs for carrying out different types of field-based studies, laboratory based analyses or,
population studies; which are often required in environment impact assessment (EIA) .
3. Research and development (R&D): R&D opportunities in this area include studying pollution in detail and
its implication on environment and humans. Enormous funding is also being done for the development of
clean and efficient technologies for future.
4. Academics: Environmental science is taught at every level of education, from school to university level.
Environmental studies are now being focused right from primary education.
5. Green marketing: Environmental quality certifications like ISO-14000 are also being incorporated in
marketing strategy. Many eco-friendly products are being promoted in market, experts are required to create
awareness in public about them.
6. Media: Mainstream print and electronic media requires experts to report and analyze environmental issues to
generate awareness about the environment, hence there is an immense need for skilled manpower in this field.
7. Green advocacy: Environmental lawyers are emerging as major players in ensuring proper implementation of
environmental norms, laws, and programs. Public Interest Litigation (PIL) empowers a common man to fight
against any anti environment activity.
8. NGOs: These days, most of the environmental programs are being implemented through NGOs, with the help
of funds from national and international agencies. Green-peace, IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change), WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), CSE (Centre for Science and Environment), TERI (The Energy
and Resources Institute), and Vatavaran are some examples of environmental NGOs.
9. Government jobs: A number of conventional jobs are available in government bodies such as environmental
ministry, pollution control boards, national parks, and biosphere reserves.
10. International agencies: Various international agencies such as UNEP (United Nations Environment
Programme), IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and World Bank require qualified human
resources to implement environment-related projects.
 Importance of Environmental Science

 Conserving our natural resources- Earth is the only planet known to support life. Also on earth the
resources are limited. Following the three "R’s”, prevents wastage of less water and light, walking, using
bicycle, using renewable energy, etc can play a vital role in conserving natural resources.
 Sustainable development- is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
 Health Benefits- The health issues arising out of pollution and climate change are affecting the majority
population of the world. In future, environmental sciences may become an integral part of epidemiology for
managing heath disasters like the current COVID crisis.
 Disaster Management- We are in constant danger of environmental disasters. With the advancement in fields
of satellite imaging and computations now it has become possible to predict the changing weather systems
within reasonable limits. This has greatly helped aviation, shipping sectors. It has also helped a lot in
managing disasters.
 Addressing global challenges- Global warming, toxic waste, water and air pollution, acid rain, and shrinking
energy supplies are frightening challenges that may threaten our future if we do not face up to them.
 Need for Public Awareness

Public awareness can play a major role in protecting environment as:

 The earth’s natural resources are dwindling (reducing) and our environment is being increasingly degraded by
human activities, it is evident that something needs to be done.
 Prevention is better than cure. So, to prevent ill-effects on our environment by our actions, is economically
more feasible than cleaning up the environment once it is damaged.
 Ignorance and lack of concern for the environmental issues can cause hurdles in environment management.
 Government alone cannot manage the entire issues single handedly without public support. Various green
policies formed by the government are the fruits of public efforts.
 Sensitization of the society about environmental issues and challenges initiate skill and expertise development
in the individuals leading to appropriate solutions to the environmental issues.
Idea of ‘DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT DESTRUCTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT’ can be
accomplished by public awareness only.
 Balanced Ecosystem
Ecosystem: An ecosystem refers to an area where both abiotic (solar energy, temperature, soil, and water) and
biotic (natural plants, animals, and humans) constituents are interlinked with each other.
An ecosystem consists of biotic components comprising living organisms and abiotic components comprising
physical factors like temperature, rainfall, wind, soil, and minerals.
Biotic Components– It refers to living things of the ecosystem. It includes plants, animals, and
1.
microorganisms.
2. Abiotic Components– It refers to the non-living things of the ecosystem. It includes wind, water, soil, etc.

Balanced ecosystem: An ecosystem is balanced if its composition and relational structure remain unchanged.
The equilibrium of an ecosystem can be more or less stable depending on its resilience, i.e., its ability to return
to its initial state following a disturbance.
Balanced ecosystems maintain a flow of materials and energy. In a balanced ecosystem, an interdependence of
each factor exists. Any waste materials can be used by living animals, plants, and other organisms.
 Human Activities and their Impact
Consumption of resources has increased due to increased population and their growing needs.
 Food- With increasing population, the demand for crops has increased at a rate that has laid a lot of stress on
our land resources. As a result, forests have been cleared to create agricultural lands. During the last 50 years
world grain production has increased almost three times but, at the same time population growth increased at
such a rate in LDCs (Less developed countries) that it exceeds food production. Every year 40 million people
die of undernourishment and malnutrition.
 Shelter- With increasing population, there is also increasing pressure on the land resources for housing. Both
overcrowded unplanned urban settlements and unhygienic, underdeveloped rural settlements create big
challenges for the present and future generations.
 Economic growth- Economic growth is required for raising the quality of life of human beings.
Technological advancement leading to rapid industrialization and urbanisation have raised the standard of
living in modern era, but have also led to depletion of natural resources, energy crisis and pollution of the air,
water and soil.
 Social Security- The ultimate goal of development is to improve the quality of life, so that all humans
throughout the world enjoy long, healthy, purposeful and fulfilling lives. About 12% of the global population
living in poor countries is suffering from undernutrition or malnutrition. Such poor people suffer from acute
social insecurity because life for them is an endless struggle for survival, centred around fulfilment of basic
amenities. It is very important to improve the quality of life in poor nations.
 Effects of human activities on Environment
 Impact of Agriculture- the various impacts of agriculture on environment are deforestation, soil erosion,
depletion of nutrients, micronutrient imbalance, eutrophication and water-logging.
 Impact of Housing- With increasing population growth, there has been a global shift of population from
rural to urban centres. Housing and infrastructure facilities is a major challenge in urban areas, where space is
limited. This leads to more energy consumption and related impacts, Physical degradation of environment and
loss of top fertile soil, Depletion of natural resources and biodiversity due to deforestation etc.
 Impact of Industry- The most serious impact of industrialization is environmental pollution that has affected
our land, water and air. Contamination of the land with toxic heavy metals is rendering it unproductive. Major
rivers of the world have suffered huge losses due to water pollution. Even the groundwater is getting polluted
due to illegal drilling of industrial waste water. Release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has caused
enhanced global warming. Release of CFC’s has been responsible for depletion of protective ozone layer.
 Impact of Mining- Mining changes the environment. Extracting minerals from the ground will change the
landscape, alter water quality, change the local ecology, and change land use.
 Impact of Transportation- In the modern era, private transport, commuting and relatively short distance
travel is mainly by automobiles. Landslide occurrence has increased as construction of roads clears large
forested areas in the fragile mountainous areas. Automobiles lead to air pollution due to vehicular emissions
like carbon monoxide etc, Noise pollution is a major problem arising due to transport activities and
Widespread use of private automobiles has enormously increased the consumption of petrol, which has
limited reserves.
 Basics of Environmental Impact Assessment
Environment Impact Assessment or EIA can be defined as the study to predict the effect of a proposed
activity/project on the environment.
EIA systematically examines both beneficial and adverse consequences of the project and ensures that these effects
are taken into account during project design.
This is used to predict the environmental impacts of a project in the pre-planning stage itself so that decisions can
be taken to reduce the adverse impacts.

Objectives of Environmental Impact Assessment

1. Identifying, predicting, and evaluating economic, environmental, and social impacts of development activities.
2. Providing information on the environmental consequences for decision making.
Promoting environmentally sound and suitable development by identifying appropriate alternatives and
3.
mitigation measures.