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Branch : Automobile Engineering�Semester : 3rd

Subject : Environmental Studies

Chapter : 06

Topic : Social Issues and the Environment

Faculty : Er. Probodh Ranasingh

AY : 2021 – 22

Mayurbhanj School Of Engineering, Baripada

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Social Issues and Environment

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Introduction

  • We live in a Natural as well as social world
  • Development cannot be of only the rich nor it means only high living standards.
  • Also not just ECONOMIC development
  • It has to be a holistic approach.
  • Social aspects, development and environment have a strong relation.

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From Unsustainable to Sustainable

G.H Bruntland, Director of World Health Organisation : “Meeting the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

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Current status

  • Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio in 1992 (UN Conference on Environment and Development - UNCED)
  • Agenda- 21 proposed
  • Everyone talks and walks sustainability
  • Many programmes have been initiated.

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Key aspects of Sustainable development

  • Inter- generational equity
  • Stop overuse
  • Reduce Impacts
  • Maintain ecological balance
  • Hand over a safe, healthy and resourceful environment to our future generations
  • Intra-generational equity
  • Minimize gap between and within nations
  • Support economic growth of poorer countries
  • Provide technological help

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Measures for Sustainable development

  • Using appropriate technology: concept of “Design with nature”
  • 3-R approach: Minimization of resource use, use again and process to get new product from same material.
  • Promoting environmental awareness and education
  • Carrying capacity: Supporting and Assimilative

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Social Issues

  • Urban problems related to ENERGY
  • WATER CONSERVATION
  • Resettlement and Rehabilitation issues
  • Environmental ethics
  • Climate Change
  • Global Warming
  • Acid Rain and Ozone layer Depletion
  • Nuclear Accidents and Holocaust
  • Wasteland Reclamation
  • Consumerism and waste products

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1. Urban problems related to energy

  • Cities are the main centers of Economic growth, trade, education, employment
  • Now 50% population lives in Urban areas
  • Urban sprawl
  • Difficult to accommodate
  • Uncontrollable and unplanned growth
  • Densely populated, consume more resources, NEED MORE ENERGY

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Energy demanding activities

  • Residential and Commercial lighting
  • Private and Public transport
  • Modern life style: electronic gadgets
  • Industries
  • Waste disposal
  • Prevention and Control of pollution

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Effects

  • Unequal distribution of energy
  • Power cuts and load – shedding
  • Demand energy from other states
  • Overall society suffers
  • Economic development hampered.

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Water Conservation

  • Water is a vital resource.
  • Majority of water resources are polluted heavily
  • Its amount is limited for use
  • So conservation is Extremely important
  • Water conservation refers to reducing the usage of water and recycling of waste water for different purposes such as cleaning, manufacturing, and agricultural irrigation.

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Actions…

Some researchers have suggested that water conservation efforts should be primarily directed at farmers, in light of the fact that crop irrigation accounts for 70% of the world's fresh water use.

Drip irrigation instead of sprinkle irrigation.

Common strategies include:

public outreach campaigns, tiered water rates (charging progressively higher prices as water use increases), or restrictions on outdoor water use such as lawn watering and car washing.

100’s of ways to conserve water

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Rain Water Harvesting

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Introduction

In urban areas, the construction of houses, footpaths and roads has left little exposed earth

for water to soak in.

In parts of the rural areas of India, floodwater quickly flows to the rivers, which then dry up soon after the rains stop. If this water can be held back, it can seep into the ground and recharge the groundwater supply.

This has become a very popular method of conserving water especially in the urban areas.

Rainwater harvesting essentially means collecting rainwater on the roofs of building and storing it underground for later use. Not only does this recharging arrest groundwater depletion, it also raises the declining water table and can help augment water supply.

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Status

  • Town planners and civic authority in many cities in India are making rainwater harvesting compulsory in all new structures.
  • No water or sewage connection would be given if a new building did not have provisions for rainwater harvesting
  • A number of government buildings have been asked to go in for water harvesting in Delhi and other cities of India.

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Process

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Case study

The area surrounding the River Ruparel in Rajasthan, is an example of proper water conservation. The site does not receive even half the rainfall received by Cherrapunji, but proper management and conservation have meant that more water is available than in Cherrapunji.

The water level in the river began declining due to extensive deforestation and agricultural activities along the banks and, by the 1980s, a drought-like situation began to spread.

Under the guidance of some NGOs (non- government organizations), the women living in the area were encouraged to take the initiative in building johads (round ponds) and dams to hold back rainwater.

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WATER SHED MANAGEMENT

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Concept of Watershed

  • Watershed is a geo hydrological unit or piece of land that drain at a common point.

  • A watershed is defined as any spatial area from which rain or irrigation water is collected and drained through a common point.

The watershed and drainage basin are synonymous term indicating an area surrounded by a ridge line that is drained through a single outlet.

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  • A watershed is simply the land that water flows across or through on its way to a common stream, river, or lake.
  • A watershed can be very large (e.g. draining thousands of square miles to a major river or lake or the ocean), or very small, such as a 20-acre watershed that drains to a pond.

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Objectives of watershed management

  1. To control damaging runoff and degradation and thereby conservation of soil and water.
  2. To manage and utilize the runoff water for useful purpose.
  3. To protect, conserve and improve the land of watershed for more efficient and sustained production.
  4. To protect and enhance the water resource originating in the watershed.
  5. To check soil erosion and to reduce the effect of sediment yield on the watershed.
  6. To rehabilitate the deteriorating lands.
  7. To moderate the floods peaks at down stream areas.
  8. To increase infiltration of rainwater.
  9. To improve and increase the production of timbers, fodder and wild life resource.
  10. To enhance the ground water recharge, wherever applicable.

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Resettlement and Rehabilitation

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Intro

  • Development projects essential
  • To have development natural resources are utilized.
  • Most affected are locals or native people
  • Poorest of poor and underprivileged people
  • Various types of project lead to displacement of locals

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Displacement due to dams

Need space for such huge project. Locals, tribals and natives are affected.

Families have to leave the ancestral place and need to settle elsewhere.

Hirakund dam: 20000 people in 250 villages

Bhakra Nangal : not even half of displaced resettled.

Sardar Sarovar: 41,000 families will get displaced due to reservoir.

Tehri dam: 10000 people of Tehri town

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  • A review by the World Bank posits that an average of 13,000 people are displaced by each new large dam constructed currently (Cernea 1996b).
  • By this estimate, Indians displaced by the country’s 3000+ large dams would number over 39 million.

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Displacement due to mining

  • Several thousand hectares of land are covered in Mining operations
  • Mining accidents also cause displacement.
  • Jharia Coal Mines, Jharkhand: 0.3 million people asked to leave the place
  • Reason: Underground fires
  • No alternative provided yet.
  • Cost of R& R: 18000 crores

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Displacement due to creation of Protected area

  • Displacement also takes place where protected areas are established as compensatory measures for the forest lands and natural habitats that are lost.

A welcome step for natural resource conservation

But tribals loose the right to their natural homes

Entry is prohibited in core areas.

Valmiki Tiger reserve: 142 villages in Bihar of Tharu Community

Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary: 53,472 tribal families in Kerala.

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Rehabilitation- issues and policies

Right to housing a basic human right

Government acquires land for various reasons

Already poor tribals most affected.

Loss of land, food, home, jobs, property assets, social isolation

Cash compensation not enough, Tribals are unaware so might be a case of cheating.

Communal settlement does not happen.

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Policy

Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development has formulated a National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation for Project Affected Families, 2003 with the objectives to:

Minimize displacement and to identify non- displacing or least-displacing alternatives;

Plan the resettlement and rehabilitation of Project Affected Families, (PAFs) including special needs of tribals and vulnerable sections;

Provide better standard of living to PAFs; and

Facilitate harmonious relationship between the Requiring Body and PAFs through mutual cooperation.

National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement 2007

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Climate change

  • Climate is average weather of an area
  • Control temperature, evaporation rate, seasons, moisture content.
  • Conditions if prevail for 30 years…its said to be the climate of an area
  • Currently Climate is Changing

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GLOBAL WARMING

Overall increase in temperature by a few degrees.

It happens when greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and methane) trap heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere, which increases the temperature.

This hurts many people, animals, and plants.

Many cannot take the change, so they die.

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Climate change Evidence

  • Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change.
  • Published evidence of climate change
  • Observed that earth’s climate has changed over years.
  • Average temperatures have fluctuated by 0.5 to 1 0 C.
  • Anthropogenic activities are affecting climate
  • Its not uniform in all places. Poles will be more warmer

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Solution

  • Renewable energy
  • Biofuels
  • Afforestation
  • Reduce the current rate of CFCs use
  • Trap methane for fuel
  • Potential of algae in Carbon dioxide utilization
  • Sustainable agriculture

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Acid Rain

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"Acid rain" is a broad term referring to a mixture of wet and dry deposition (deposited material) from the atmosphere containing higher than normal amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids.

Acid rain occurs when these gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form various acidic compounds. The result is a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid.

When sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released from power plants and other sources, prevailing winds blow these compounds across state and national borders, sometimes over hundreds of miles.

pH less than 5.6

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If The acid chemicals in the air are blown into areas where the weather is wet, the acids can fall to the ground in the form of rain, snow, fog, or mist.

As this acidic water flows over and through the ground, it affects a variety of plants and animals.

The strength of the effects depends on several factors, including how acidic the water is.

In areas where the weather is dry, the acid chemicals may become incorporated into dust or smoke and fall to the ground through dry deposition, sticking to the ground, buildings, homes, cars, and trees.

Taj Mahal in Agra

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Ozone layer depletion

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Natural sunscreen: Ozone layer

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  • The production and emission of CFCs, chlorofluorocarbons, is by far the leading cause.
  • CFCs in the stratosphere. There, the chlorine atom is removed from the CFC and attracts one of the three oxygen atoms in the ozone molecule. The process continues, and a single chlorine atom can destroy over 100,000 molecules of ozone.
  • In 1984, ozone layer hole was discovered over Antarctica

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  • MONTREAL PROTOCOL
  • Phase out the use of CFC’s

  • Increase risk of Skin cancer
  • Loss of phytoplankton: they are sensitive to UV.
  • Fair people at higher risk

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Consumerism and waste products

  • Consumption of resources by people
  • Earlier human needs were less, so was consumption rate
  • Now changing lifestyles demand more
  • Population also an issue

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ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION

India first country to have made provisions for environment protection in its constitution

After Stockholm Conference , 1972 Many laws and rules have been made Article 48- A : The state shall endeavour to

protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife of the country.

Article 51 A (g): - It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compasion for living creatures

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ACTS

Wildlife (Protection ) Act, 1972

Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974

Forest (Conservation )Act, 1980

Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986

The Biomedical waste (Management and Handling) Rules , 1998

The Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000

The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) (Amendment) Rules,2002

The Biological Diversity Act,2002

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Environmental Ethics

  • Ethical behaviour is of utmost importance
  • We believe and think: Man is all powerful and supreme creature of the earth.
  • Nature has provided us with resources and she nourishes us like our mother, so we should respect and nurture her
  • Live sustainably.

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Two views:

Anthropogenic and Eco centric.

Earth ethics or environmental guidelines help us to protect our mother earth.

DO NOT’s and DO’s

Having fewer wants = limits to growth = good environment

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THANK YOU