Environmental protection posses many challenges in today’s society, not least considering a range of different social, economic and environmental concepts across the world. Through the work of environmental enforcement authorities, some aspects of environmental conservation have been streamlined to ensure best practices. Under the stewardship of environmental concise agencies such as UNEP and UN-HABITAT, many programs have been undertaken to, better, understand the impacts of environmental degradation and graft measures of conserving the environment. It is noble vision is geared towards rehabilitation, restoration and maintenance of environmental resources such as water, land and air. The programs are directed at addressing problems such as pollution, waste management, urban greening, community participation, public awareness and legislation. Through the establishment of environmental management systems spearheaded by such organizations, capacity building is build among the population and increased access to relevant information and methodologies identified to curb the rate of pollution.
Environmental conservation is a concept of conserving the environment to eliminate adverse effects associated with environmental degradation. It is paramount that humans and animals access clean food, water, medicine and raw materials. Environmental conservation leads to maintenance of global biodiversity, fruitful production and steady resilience of ecological systems.
This paper is going to explore among others the factors that lead to environmental degradation, conservation strategies and best practices for a sustainable environment. It will also discuss the role environmental conservation authorities in drafting of laws and policies that restrict and control the use and misuse of the environment.
UNDERLYING CAUSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
Before we explore mechanisms of conserving the environment, it is essential that we understand the contributor of environmental degradation. Environmental degradation is a result of dynamic inter-play of socio-economic, technological and institutional challenges. The factors that lead to degradation are exacerbated by among others economic growth, population growth, urbanization, intensification of agricultural activities, increased energy use and transportation. Poverty still remains the number one cause of environmental degradation.
SOCIAL FACTORS
Population
Population is an essential aspect of development, yet it is a crucial source of environmental degradation when it exceeds the allowed limits that the environment can sufficiently support. Unless the relationship between increasing population and the life support systems is stabilized, development strategies, however, innovative are not likely to yield reliable outcome. Population affects the environment through the exhaustion of natural resources and emission of waste to the ecosystem. This causes loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution and increases pressure on arable land. India, for instance, supports 17% of the world population on just 2.45 of the world land area. It current rate of population growth at 1.85% is a worrying trend to a population challenge. In this regard, vigorous drive for population control needs to be urgently reviewed.
POVERTY
Poverty is termed as the cause and effect of environmental degradation. The circular link between environment and poverty is a complex phenomenon that needs to be studied in detail. Inequality in wealth distribution may foster unsustainability because the poor population who, rely solely in natural resources more than the rich, deplete them faster. Likewise, depleted environment can exacerbate the process of impoverishment simply because the poor directly rely on natural resources. According to the World Bank, it is estimated that 1.29 billion people live in absolute poverty as at 2008. Sub- Saharan Africa has the largest percentage with about 663 million people living in absolute poverty. India has 400 million poor people while china has 173 million as per 2008 results. The 2013 World Bank report with support from Climate and Development Knowledge Network indicated that climate change as a result of degradation. This is likely to hinder poverty reduction attempts. A 2-4 degrees centigrade warming is recorded in agricultural production lands, water resources, coastal ecosystems and cities across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. The global warming has adverse impacts to regular food production in Sub-Saharan countries, shifting rain patterns in South Asia resulting in some parts under water while others lack water without enough for electricity generation, irrigation or human consumption.
URBANIZATION
Lack of job opportunities for successful employment in villages coupled with ecological stress is leading to a mass influx of poor families to the cities and towns. Mega cities are emerging and urban slums expanding. The rate of urban population growth has multiplied tenfold since 1909. For instance, India’s population growth was merely below 100 million in 1970s but reached over 400 million by 2010. Such rapid an unplanned expansion and growth have degraded the urban environment with urban slums informal settlements. There is an ever increasing gap between supply and demand of infrastructural services such as transport, energy, clean water supply, education and housing. The urban environmental resources are diminished at a faster rate, and the resulting environment is characterized with deteriorated land filled with waste, contaminated air unfit for marine and human consumption and undesirable air. All these circumstances increase urban poverty and derail efforts to preserve the environment.
ECONOMIC FACTORS
Environmental degradation can be attributed to market failures or nonexistent or poorly functioning markets for environmental goods and services. Environmental degradation occurs as a result of consumption or production externalities reflected by diverged private and social costs. Through lack of sound property rights and market distortions created by price controls and subsidies, environmental conservation objectives are deprived. Industrial and developing countries have consistently emphasized the advancement of policies and programs for economic prosperity and social welfare. The growth of industrial production and manufacturing technologies has placed a wide load on environment especially through intensive resource and energy utilization. This is evident in the depletion of natural resources such as fossil fuel, minerals and timber paving way for air, water and land contamination. The high price tag associated with fossil fuel as the main source of energy and vital air and land polluting industries such as fertilizer, cement, steel and industrial sources have contributed majorly to environmental pollution. Transport activities have a wide variety of impacts including air pollution, noise from road traffic and oil spills from marine transport. Port and harbor projects mainly impact on the coastal ecosystem. Construction of ports, settlements, and infrastructure affects coastal hydrology, surface water levels fisheries, coral reefs and mangroves to variable levels.
Agricultural developments on the environment including farming on sloppy terrains and wet lands has resulted in soil erosion and land salinization, increasing ground water levels and loss of nutrients. The spread of the green revolution has resulted in excessive land exploitation coupled by soil contamination through the use of fertilizers and pesticides. This has resulted in leaching and contaminated water sources.
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Conservation of the environment simply refers to the sustainable use and management of natural resources including air, water, wildlife and earth deposits. Resources are classified into renewable and non-renewable resources. Conservation of these resources focuses on the needs of human beings such as biological, economic, recreational and cultural. Conservationists are of the view that development is inevitable and are required for a sustainable society, but changes should be implemented in ways that do not waste or destroy the resources.
Environmental conservation tries to maintain the present conditions of nature which are not currently touched by man as well as reinstating destroyed ones. The reason is that; mankind is encroaching on the environment at a rate that dislocates wild landscape and ecosystems for farming, housing, industry, tourism and other human developments. Preservation serves to support nature for human-centered reasons. In spite the fact that sometimes human-centered approaches are left out in environmental protection, placing value on the nature that does not align with the needs of human beings the fact remains that preserving and protecting the environment makes a healthy living space.
EDUCATION AND AWARENESS
Many organizations have realized the impacts of environmental degradation and are on the forefront of designing and adopting programs that ensure restoration of lost ecosystems caused by human actions such as mining, logging, hunting, fishing and recreation. These programs are earth-friendly and are essentially beneficial for saving the planet for the future generation.
Through education and environmental awareness, common efforts can be consolidated and organized towards increased environmental awareness. It is through awareness that the population realizes the impacts of their actions. In this regard, education and awareness play a crucial role in teaching human beings to manage their behavior and ecosystem in an orderly manner. Educative programs offered in institutions of higher learning should be extended to elementary and college levels. With this, students will be equipped with basic knowledge on the effects of degradation, and the necessary steps to salvage the planet from the effects of degradation. More often than not, humans degrade the environment through activities they are not aware. Cultivation along slopes and water catchment areas do more harm to the environment than suffice the farmer with basic food commodities. Through education programs, farmers and other players should be sensitized on the need of adopting better ways of farming as well as adhere to the laid down laws guarding restricted areas. It is through education that people’s attitudes, motivations and commitment are fostered and informed to ensuring that they take responsibility. Among the areas of concern advocated by lead agencies such as UNEP and UNESCO in regard to environmental education include forest and biodiversity, green infrastructure, sustainable tourism and natural 2000 management.
COMMUNITY SENSITIZATION AND INVOLVEMENT
The involvement of local communities in local management of the environment is beneficial than anticipated. Lack of community awareness and sensitization is the considerable gap. It is through informed consent and involvement that the community locals can fully be integrated into environment conservation measures. In-house school programs are excellent examples where students are called to take action through waste management disposal, recycling of plastic papers community clean ups. For instance, rather than wait for the school cleaners to carry out litter collection, the students could be organized into groups and carry out the exercise as a leisure activity during breaks. To motivate them further, it can earn them marks, which are included in their final examination. Once learned and fully integrated, students will get out of the learning environment and into the real world aware of best practices for environment conservation.
Development of outreach programs such as community fishing villages empowers the locals with meaningful practices that earn them income while at the same time cleaning the environment. This is mostly applicable to informal and slum settlements where poverty is the order of the day. Through programs such as waste management and recycling, power generation from waste and greenhouse farming, considerable volumes of waste can be converted into reasonable products with real value and applicability. At the same time, it gives the local opportunities to derive value and income from waste which could have been released to the environment.
The fundamental aspect of environmental conservation and management lies in the enactment of policies and laws that manage the causative agents of environmental degradation. Environmental enforcement agencies falling under government ensure that environmental regulations are adhered to and implemented. The focus is primarily on the traditional command and control regulatory areas of issuing permits, monitoring, and inspection mechanisms. Also, where appropriate, taking enforcement actions. The role of such regulations has changed and the range of alternate approaches has increased, but it still forms the core of environmental conservation. Some theories explain that since most environmental degradation is perpetuated by man, the core preventive mechanism should revolve around creating awareness among people in order to change their social activities in respect to conserving the environment.
REGULATION
Regulatory activities have a long history in taming and preventing undesirable activities in society. Nonetheless, never in history has much effort been dedicated to examining the nature of regulatory regimes in measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of institutional agencies responsible for ensuring environmental regulatory outcomes are derived. This is because of the new priorities in developing countries and challenges faced by countries in reforming older institutions and developing new ones to oversee environmental conservation.
According to environmental enforcement authorities vary in their structure, duties and power. The principal focus of enforcement agencies is the control of issuing permits and licenses in a diligent manner. Regulations are intentions such as rules and laws that is administers by the environment management activity in the conservation of the environment. The nature of legislation is under increasing scrutiny based on the practitioner and academic levels. The underlying question is whether Legislations alone can sufficiently control or at the least slow down the process of environmental degradation. Regimes change over time and the most demanding question are whether these incoming regimes are better at upholding the same regulations kept by their predecessors. The emission of large scale effluents or pollutants to the environment has been controlled for large industrial plants. Focus has shifted on wider concerns of continual improvement through efficient resource allocation and use, energy efficiency methods, product quality and waste management.
The accepted economic climate has changed due to globalization issues as companies seek common playing fields of competition. This has put a number of pressures on regulatory activity with the least being to justify the cost effectiveness of action. The social challenge has also crippled the process of conservation through regulations. The public has increasingly demanded greater accountability of public bodies and greater context in decision making. The fact that economic challenges are dynamically shifting priorities in favor of economic status is changing the equation. Poverty is witnessed on all quarters of the world coupled with increasing skepticism of decision makers. Some countries report increasing and significant mistrust of scientific and technocratic methods of decision making in relation to decision making. Thus, posing a greater challenge to environmental enforcement authorities.
Command and control regulations are bests exercised at the state, and at the decentralized levels of governance. This may include regulatory laws and policies for issuing logging licenses and permits, mining licenses, marine and coastal infrastructure establishments, large scale industry and domestic waste management. Federal and county governments can play a prominent role in gazetment of natural resources and their subsequent preservation. Licenses could be issued and revoked, at the local levels, to ensure thorough means of evaluating compliance with the regulations.
Other regulatory processes that apply on a global context include treaties and conventions agreed upon by states and countries. Kyoto Protocol for instance is a United Nations Framework Convention on climate change. It is an internationally accepted treaty that sets binding obligations on industrialized countries to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. The treaty aims at protecting the environment of dangerous anthropogenic interference of the climatic system. The protocol comprised of 192 parties including European Union and all UN members. The protocol was adopted by parties to the UNFCC of 1997 which entered in force in 2005. As part of the protocol, the consenting parties legally entered into a bind to, significantly, reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in two commitment periods. The periods include 2008-2012 and 2013-2020.
Under the treaty, developed countries have contributed to most of the anthropogenic concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The emission between 1750 and 2004 has increased drastically up to 77% and an approximated 10.4 tonnes per person in 2010.
Likewise, amended Nairobi Convention for the protection, Management and development of the Marine and Coastal and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean entered in March 2010 recognize the unique hydrographical and economic characteristic of the region and that it requires unique care and responsibility. As such, it seeks contracting party’s contributions in grafting appropriate measures to prevent, reduce and combat pollution of the convention area. For instance, pollution from ships should be guided by effective implementation of the applicable international rules and standards within the framework of an international organization. The policy also outlines the appropriate measures for preventing, reducing, and combating pollution caused by waste at sea from ships aircrafts, manmade structures at sea as per the recommended international rules and standards. It also seeks to, jointly, take appropriate measures to conserve biological diversity and protect the preservation of fragile and rare ecosystems including rare, endangered and threatened species of fauna and flora habitats.
In conclusion, environmental degradation has been a phenomenon in the modern society due to intertwined factors. This includes poverty, economic considerations and lack of knowledge. However all is not lost, with incentives and programs for collaboration between international, regional and domestic organizations, the effects can be reversed and sustainable environment created. This includes among others education and awareness, policies and international conventions regulations and control measures.
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