1.7 Environment And Development

ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT    

Introduction Development Vs Environment Intra Generation and Inter Generation Equality Conclusion

INTRODUCTION Throughout our existence on this planet, we the human race have been slowly developing from one stage to other. Starting from the discovery of light to concepts like robots and cloning, our human race has developed like no other organism thanks to our sixth sense. The development of humans is inevitable and our very purpose of life is to develop as time progresses. However today we are developing at a very fast speed that we have caused a risk for the future generations. The development of human race particularly in the last fifty years has been very huge and not considering the availability of natural resources. The development of any organism (includes us) is based on the availability of natural resources. When the development starts to compromise on the natural resources, it is the first sign of demolition. Environment and Development should go hand with hand and not against each other. But today it is only the worst case – going against each other!

DEVELOPMENT Vs ENVIRONMENT We had earlier discussed the various impacts on our environment components – air, water and land. In this heading, we will have a brief summary of all the major developments activities and their effect on our environment. 1. Forest Clearing, Timber Extraction and Land Settlements •

Extinction of rare species of flora and fauna

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Destroys the surface of the land, degrades the land and reduces the production potential of future forests.

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Creation of conditions for mosquito breeding leading to malaria.

2. Agriculture, Green Revolution & Agro based Industries •

Soil fertility declining due short cultivation cycle

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Soil erosion in upland areas and flooding in lowland areas

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Over cultivation and Cultivation of new varieties reduce the cultivability thereby causing an upset in the ecosystem.

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Reliance on prophylactic applications of insecticides, fungicides spoils soil and the groundwater.

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Extensive irrigation results in deterioration of water resources projects causing ecological and environmental impacts.

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Surface water pollution from agro-industries and other industrial waste.

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Failure to control upstream erosion causing serious consequences for reservoir management.

3. Land Use Planning •

No setting aside of preservation spaces or public areas.

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Lack of incorporating long-term ecological and social effects during land exploitation.

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Lack of planning to retain natural resources.

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Need for developing adequate legal means for land reformation

4. Coastal Zone Management •

Danger of jeopardizing mangrove swamps and coral reefs, which are two major natural attributes of costal areas.

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High range industrial developments such as power stations, petrochemical complexes, nuclear power plants, desalinization plants etc affect natural coastal resources

5. Industrialisation and Urbanisation •

Exploitation of non-renewable resources like coal, iron ores, oil etc

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Extraction of copper, chromium, nickel ions causing several water pollution problems.

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Rapidly expanding urban communities causing huge demands for energy and water supply, waste disposal, shelter and other facilities.

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Industrial, development polluting surface water and atmosphere

INTRA GENERATION AND INTER GENERATION EQUITY The basic principle of ideal living is equality – the equality of resources among the people in a generation (intra generation equality) and that between generations (inter generation equality). We should strive to achieve equality in environment resources in our generation in all parts of the world; a person in America should have as much as environmental resources and components as a person in Antigua or in Australia or Africa. By intra generation equity, we have to ensure equitable access to environmental resources and quality for all sections of society, and in particular, to ensure that poor communities, which are most dependent on environmental resources for their livelihoods. By inter generation equity; we have to ensure judicious use of environmental resources to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations.

It is the responsibility of each generation to maintain inter and intra generation equity. We can stay away by saying that we cannot be held responsible for maintaining intra generation equity. It can be agreed in the practical senses. But all of us are equally responsible for any loss in inter generation equity. And that is exactly what we are doing – spoiling inter generation equity. We have seen lovely water resources, greeny lands, beautiful birds and animals which our next generation may not see. We did not get to use as much as water our ancestors used and that loss will be very drastic on the next generation. Our fast paced development activities have made it impossible to maintain equality between generations.

CONCLUSION Let us leap into the Indian perspective into this issue. India is the world’s eighth largest economy and is among the 10 most industrialized countries.

Stimulated by a program of economic liberalization beginning in 1991, India’s economy grew by 5 percent a year, on average, during 1992–97. However, rapid economic and industrial growth is causing severe urban and industrial pollution. A 1995 World Bank study conservatively estimated India’s annual environmental damage at 45 percent of its economy. Therefore the economic and social development we perceive is not a real development if it tends to damage the environment. Therefore we need to create a situation where development and environment should go hand in hand and not against each other. It should be environment & development and not environment vs development. Such a development is called sustainable development and we shall discuss about it in the next section.