ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT - 1

(1) Relevance of Environmental Management course in Management curriculum.

Environmental management course is very much required in the B-school curriculum.

Environmental management can be so important because our environment gives a
part of what we are whether our culture are dirty people or clean, it is also nice to live
in a nice, clean place which is not polluted. It is also important to get people live in
that place if a certain city, country is polluted no one will think of living there and
visitors will have a negative point of view on that place. Environmental management
is not, as the phrase could suggest the management of the environment as such, but
rather the management of interaction by the modern human societies with, and impact
upon the environment. The three main issues that affect managers are those involving
politics (networking), programs (projects) and resources (money, facilities, etc.). The
need for environmental management can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. A
more common philosophy and impetus behind environmental management is the
concept of carrying capacity. Simply put, carrying capacity refers to the maximum
number of organisms a particular resource can sustain. Environmental management is
therefore not the conservation of the environment solely for the environment's sake,
but rather the conservation of the environment for humankind's sake.

Environmental management involves the management of all components of the bio-

physical environment, both living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic). This is due to the
interconnected and network of relationships amongst all living species and their
habitats. The environment also involves the relationships of the human environment,
such as the social, cultural and economic environment with the bio-physical
environment. As with all management functions, effective management tools,
standards and systems are required. An 'environmental management standard or
system or protocol attempts to reduce environmental impact as measured by some
objective criteria. The ISO 14001 standard is the most widely used standard for
environmental risk management and is closely aligned to the European Eco-
 Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). As a common auditing standard, the ISO
19011 standard explains how to combine this with quality management.

The environmental damage already inflicted due to alarming on-going population

explosion, rapid movement towards urbanization and industrialization, increasing
needs of energy and fast scientific and technological advancement cannot be reversed
unless there is collective thinking, will and effort. These call for public awareness and
participation for bringing about an attitudinal change and finally restricting further
damage to the environment. Effective implementation of environmental management
and conservation programmes depends on education, awareness raising and training
in the relevant areas. Without an understanding of how to conserve natural resources
and the compelling need to do so, few people would be motivated to participate
actively in programmes on environmental conservation, Environment education and
awareness thus assume critical importance.

(2) Why do managers need to study Environmental Management?

During the past five to ten years, increased public and government attention
has been drawn to the harmful effects on the environment of business and industry.
Consequently, legislation and encouragement in the form of incentives have acted to
pressurize industry to review its practices and processes in connection with their
effects on the environment. As a result, environmental technology as a specialist area
of knowledge and skill has emerged. National capacities, particularly in scientific
education and training, need to be strengthened. This will enable governments,
employers and workers to attain their environmental and development objectives by
facilitating the transfer and assimilation of new environmentally sound, socially
acceptable and appropriate technology and know-how. With this development there is
an increasing need for specialists in this field, for technologists in other areas to be
able to put into practice environmental applications, for assessors of the
environmental impacts of specific technological developments and for general
managers with a knowledge and understanding of environmental management. Thus,
there is now an increasing need for environmental education and training in clean
production to be applied to a vast array of industrial processes and applications.
 Managers need to learn environmental management in order to be aware of
the hazards that are created by the various industries. Managers need to be aware of
their surroundings so that they can make environment friendly products in order to
sustain in the market. It is very essential for managers to know about our
environmental conditions especially now when the world is at a danger of global
warming. Managers can collectively help our earth get over the harmful effects or
prolong the harmful effects thus making our lives considerably safer.

(3) Why Copenhagen submits acquired so much importance?

The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the
Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark,
between 7 December and 18 December. The conference was preceded by the Climate
Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions scientific conference, which took
place in March 2009 and was also held at the Bella Center. The negotiations began to
take a new format when in May 2009 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon attended
the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, organized by the
Copenhagen Climate Council (COC), where he requested that COC councilors attend
New York's Climate Week at the Summit on Climate Change on 22 September and
engage with heads of government on the topic of the climate problem. The
Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa on
December 18, and judged a "meaningful agreement" by the United States
government. It was "recognized", but not "agreed upon", in a debate of all the
participating countries the next day, and it was not passed unanimously. The
document recognized that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the
present and that actions should be taken to keep any temperature increases to below
2°C. The document is not legally binding and does not contain any legally binding
commitments for reducing CO2 emissions. Leaders of industrialized countries,
including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, were pleased with this agreement but
many leaders of other countries and non-governmental organizations were opposed to
it.
During the conference some countries stated what actions they were proposing to take
if a binding agreement was achieved. In the end, no such agreement was reached and
the actions will instead be debated in 2010. Listing by country or political union.
Sections in alphabetic order, table according to higher objectives.

Australia

To cut carbon emissions by 25% below 2000 levels by 2020 if the world agrees to an
ambitious global deal to stabilize levels of CO2 to 450 ppm or lower.

Canada

To cut carbon emissions by 20% below 2006 levels by 2020. This is equivalent to 3%
below 1990 levels by 2020.

China

To cut CO2 emissions intensity by 40–45% below 2005 levels by 2020.

European Union

To cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 1990 levels by 2020 if an

international agreement is reached committing other developed countries and the
more advanced developing nations to comparable emission reduction.

India

To cut carbon emissions intensity by 20–25% below 2005 levels by 2020.

Japan

To cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2020.

New Zealand

To reduce emissions between 10% to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 if a global
agreement is secured that limits carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) to 450 ppm and
temperature increases to 2°C, effective rules on forestry, and New Zealand having
access to international carbon markets.
Norway

To reduce carbon emissions by 30% below 1990 levels by 2020.

On December 18 after a day of frantic negotiations between heads of state, it was

announced that a "meaningful agreement" had been reached between the United
States, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil. It was reported that it was not yet clear
whether the motion was unanimous, or what its legal implications are. The UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the US-backed climate deal as an
"essential beginning". It was unclear whether all 192 countries in attendance would
also adopt the deal. The Copenhagen Accord recognizes the scientific case for
keeping temperature rises below 2°C, but does not contain commitments for reduced
emissions that would be necessary to achieve that aim. One part of the agreement
pledges US$ 30 billion to the developing world over the next three years, rising to
US$ 100 billion per year by 2020, to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
Earlier proposals that would have aimed to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C and cut
CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050 were dropped. An agreement was also reached that
would set up a deal to reduce deforestation in return for cash from developed
countries. The agreement made was non-binding but U.S. President Obama said that
countries could show the world their achievements. He said that if they had waited for
a binding agreement, no progress would have been made.

Analysis and aftermath

Despite widely held expectations that the Copenhagen summit would produce a
legally binding treaty, the conference was plagued by negotiating deadlock and the
"Copenhagen Accord" is not legally enforceable. BBC environment analyst Roger
Harrabin attributed the failure of the summit to live up to expectations to a number of
factors including the recent global recession and conservative domestic pressure in
the US and China.

In the week following the end of the Copenhagen summit, carbon prices in the EU
dropped to a six month low. However, some commentators consider that "the future
of the UN's role in international climate deals is now in doubt.

What will be the impact if a deal is not made?

 • Believability: The Sustainability movement will have lost credibility. Maybe
even beyond repair.
• Encouraging the Skeptics: Climate Change skeptics and denouncers will feel
encouraged and get an even larger audience despite the damning facts and
science about Climate Change.
• An Uncertain Future: We are in deep trouble because we have lost the biggest
and best chance to change our ways of limiting our carbon emissions. Just
imagine how long and how much work it took to get everyone to the COP15
and this close to agreeing a common goal. The future will be very uncertain
going forwards.

This is OUR opportunity to change the way we take care of our planet and
make smart climate decisions for a change. Will we choose to evolve in order to make
smarter decisions for the future of our children or are we going to be the old selfish
short term sighted humans that we currently are?

We have a decision to make and the time is now. And in my view this is not
only about Climate Change but Sustainability as a whole.

(4) Difference between weather and climate.

The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what
conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the
atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time.

Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere, and its short-term (minutes to
weeks) variation. Popularly, weather is thought of as the combination of temperature,
humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, visibility, and wind. We talk about the weather in terms
of "What will it be like today?", "How hot is it right now?", and "When will that storm hit
our section of the country?"

Climate is defined as statistical weather information that describes the variation of

weather at a given place for a specified interval. In popular usage, it represents the synthesis
of weather; more formally it is the weather of a locality averaged over some period (usually
30 years) plus statistics of weather extremes.We talk about climate change in terms of years,
decades or even centuries. Scientists study climate to look for trends or cycles of variability
(such as the changes in wind patterns, ocean surface temperatures and precipitation over the
equatorial Pacific that result in El Niño and La Niña), and also to place cycles or other
phenomena into the bigger picture of possible longer term or more permanent climate
changes.

(5) Meaning of orography , topography

Orography is the study of the formation and relief of mountains, and can more
broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography falls within the
broader discipline of geomorphology. Orography has a major impact on global climate, for
instance the orography of East Africa substantially determines the strength of the Indian
monsoon. In geo-scientific models, such as general circulation model, orography defines the
lower boundary of the model over land.

When a river's tributaries or settlements by the river are listed in 'orographic

sequence', they are in order from the highest (nearest the source of the river) to the lowest or
main stem (nearest the mouth). This method of listing tributaries is similar to the Strahler
Stream Order where the headwater tributaries are listed as category = 1

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those of planets,
moons, and asteroids. It is also the description of such surface shapes and features (especially
their depiction in maps).

The topography of an area can also mean the surface shape and features themselves. In a
broader sense, topography is concerned with local detail in general, including not only relief
but also vegetative and human-made features, and even local history and culture. This
meaning is less common in America, where topographic maps with elevation contours have
made "topography" synonymous with relief. The older sense of topography as the study of
place still has currency in Europe. For the purposes of this article, topography specifically
involves the recording of relief or terrain, the three-dimensional quality of the surface, and
the identification of specific landforms. This is also known as geomorphometry. In modern
usage, this involves generation of elevation data in electronic form. It is often considered to
include the graphic representation of the landform on a map by a variety of techniques,
including contour lines, Hypsometric tints, and relief shading.

(6) What is meant by eco system and ecology?

The term ecosystems refer to the combined chemical and biological components of
an environment. An ecosystem is generally an area within the natural environment in which
physical (abiotic) factors of the environment, such as rocks and soil, function together along
with interdependent (biotic) organisms, such as plants and animals, within the same habitat.
Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary. Ecosystems usually form a number of food
webs.

Ecology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the interactions between organisms

and their environment. Ecology is also the study of ecosystems. Ecosystems describe the web
or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization. Since ecology
refers to any form of biodiversity, ecologists can conduct research on the smallest bacteria to
the global flux of atmospheric gases that are regulated by photosynthesis and respiration as
organisms breath in and out of the biosphere. Ecology is a recent discipline that emerged
from the natural sciences in the late 19th century. Ecology is not synonymous with
environment, environmentalism, or environmental science.

(7) What is meant by Latitude, Longitude and mention the latitudinal / longitudinal
boundary of India.

Latitude values indicate the angular distance between the Equator and points north or
south of it on the surface of the Earth A line connecting all the points with the same latitude
value is called a line of latitude. This term is usually used to refer to the lines that represent
values in whole degrees. All lines of latitude are parallel to the Equator, and they are
sometimes also referred to as parallels. Parallels are equally spaced. There are 90 degrees of
latitude going north from the Equator, and the North Pole is at 90 degrees N. There are 90
degrees to the south of the Equator, and the South Pole is at 90 degrees S. When the
directional designators are omitted, northern latitudes are given positive values and southern
latitudes are given negative values.
 Lines of longitude, called meridians, run perpendicular to lines of latitude, and all
pass through both poles. Each longitude line is part of a great circle. There is no obvious 0-
degree point for longitude, as there is for latitude. By international agreement, the meridian
line through Greenwich, England, is currently given the value of 0 degrees of longitude; this
meridian is referred to as the Prime Meridian. Longitude values are indicate the angular
distance between the Prime Meridian and points east or west of it on the surface of the Earth.
The Earth is divided equally into 360 degrees of longitude. There are 180 degrees of
longitude to the east of the Prime Meridian; when the directional designator is omitted these
longitudes are given positive values. There are also 180 degrees of longitude to the west of
the Prime Meridian; when the directional designator is omitted these longitudes are given
negative values. The 180-degree longitude line is opposite the Prime Meridian on the globe,
and is the same going either east or west

India lies to the north of the equator between 8°4' and 37°6' north latitude and 68°7'
and 97°25' east longitude

(8) What is meant by sustainable development?

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs
while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but
also for future generations The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined
what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as
development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own need Sustainable development ties together concern for the
carrying capacity of natural systems with the social challenges facing humanity. The field of
sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts:
environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and sociopolitical sustainability

(9) What are the non-renewable and renewable energy resources ?

A renewable resource is something that is being continually replaced faster than we use it up.

• Solar energy is considered a renewable source of energy

• Wind Power
• Water Power (Hydro-electricity from dammed rivers, tidal streams and ocean waves)
 • Thermal Power from the earth (Geothermal: Using the earth's heat to generate
electricity)
• Thermal Power from the ocean
• Biomass, the burning of plant material, is a renewable resource. Even though the
burning puts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it also prevents a much greater
amount of methane being released by the decomposing vegetation, so it is rated as
positive.

A non-renewable resource is something that is not being replaced as we consume it.

• Oil is a good example of a non-renewable resource. It is used to make gasoline and

other fuels, as well as plastics, such as grocery bags. We are using billions of gallons
of oil every year, but it takes millions of years to be replace. We are using up oil
much much faster than it is being produced. Once we use up oil from the earth, it's
gone. We can't wait millions of years for some more.
• Coal is non-renewable.
• Peat is non-renewable.
• Uranium is non-renewable.
• Trees are often considered a renewable resource, but that is only true in certain
circumstances. If a forest is well managed, than the trees can grow back faster than
we cut them down. However, in many parts of the world (including in the US), forests
are being cut much faster than they regrow, and this is therefore not considered
renewable.

(10) Greenhouse gases and its importance in Global warming

• Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within
the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse
effect. The main greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the
temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about
33 °C (59 °F) colder than at present. In addition to the main greenhouse gases listed
above, other greenhouse gases include sulphur hexafluoride, hydro
 fluorocarbons and per fluorocarbons. Some greenhouse gases are not often listed. For
example, nitrogen trifluoride has a high global warming potential (GWP) but is only
present in very small quantities.

• Its importance in Global warming is that while many greenhouse gases occur
naturally and are needed to create the greenhouse effect that keeps the Earth warm
enough to support life, human use of fossil fuels is the main source of excess
greenhouse gases. By driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired power plants, or
heating our homes with oil or natural gas, we release carbon dioxide and other heat-
trapping gases into the atmosphere. Deforestation is another significant source of
greenhouse gases, because fewer trees means less carbon dioxide conversion to
oxygen.
• During the 150 years of the industrial age, the atmospheric concentration of carbon
dioxide has increased by 31 percent. Over the same period, the level of atmospheric
methane has risen by 151 percent, mostly from agricultural activities such as raising
cattle and growing rice also.
• As the concentration of greenhouse gases grows, more heat is trapped in the
atmosphere and less escapes back into space. This increase in trapped heat changes
the climate and alters weather patterns, which may hasten species extinction,
influence the length of seasons, cause coastal flooding, and lead to more frequent and
severe storms. Thus due to all these consequences global warming occurs.

(11) Glacial melting and its relevance to climate change

• A glacier can be described as a huge block of ice that has formed from falling snow.
Glaciers contain almost all of the fresh water present on earth.
Since 1850, glaciers around the world have been slowly melting, affecting the
viability of fresh water in a variety of ways, so the phenomenon of melting glaciers is
not a new one. Every glacier melts, the level of melting depending on the surrounding
temperature. In most places containing glaciers across the globe, snow falls during the
cold seasons and will get compressed into ice with further snowing. When the
temperature does get a bit warmer the upper fresh layers of snow partly formed ice
begin melting and flowing down into streams and rivers. Many places on earth
depend on this melted fresh water for survival. The melted snow provides fresh and
 pure drinking water, water for agriculture, and in many nations this flow of water is
converted into electricity without polluting the atmosphere.

• However, since 1980 a significant global warming has led to a dramatic increase in
the speed of glacial retreat. Many glaciers have completely vanished, and the
existence of a great number of the remaining glaciers in the world is severely
threatened. The disappearance of glaciers in the Andes of South America and the
Himalayas in Asia will eventually have disastrous effects on the water supplies. An
acceleration in the rate of retreat since 1995 may foreshadow a rise in sea level, which
could have a potentially dramatic effect on coastal regions worldwide. The loss of
glaciers not only directly causes landslides, flash floods and glacial lake overflow, but
also increases annual variation in water flows in rivers. Glacier runoff declines in the
summer as glaciers decrease in size, this decline is already observable in several
regions. Glaciers retain water on mountains in high precipitation years, since the
snow cover accumulating on glaciers protects the ice from melting. In warmer and
drier years, glaciers offset the lower precipitation amounts with a higher melt water
input.

• Global melting relevance to climate change is that glaciers and ice sheets are
archives of climate-change data. Each winter, new snow falls on the surface of the
glacier. Whatever snow does not melt during the following summer will be buried by
more snow the next winter. This "old snow" is called firn. The frozen water
molecules and air trapped in the firn record the chemistry and temperature of the
water vapor from which the snow formed and the atmosphere from which it fell. As
each year's firn layer is buried, that climate record is buried as well. The firn layers
move down from the surface and are compressed as new layers pile on top.
Eventually, the firn becomes dense, glacier ice. Most of the air has been squeezed out
of the ice, but a few bubbles remain. When glaciologists drill down through the ice,
they are drilling backward in time; consequently, ice cores drilled from glaciers and
ice sheets reveal both regional and global climate trends.
• The ice core reveals that global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ),
and dust content rise and fall as global temperature and ice volume change. When the
climate is warm, atmospheric CO 2 and CH 4 concentrations are large, and when
climate is cool, those gases are less abundant. Atmospheric dust concentration
changes in an opposite sense, indicating that warm, interglacial atmospheres are
 relatively moist, whereas in glacial times, the global atmosphere is relatively dry.
These records also show that the present-day CO 2 level is larger than it was in the
past warm times between glaciations. A tropical glacier are melting fast as climate
warms, and as that happens, their contribution to water resources decreases, their
contribution to global sea level increases, and a valuable climate archive is lost.

(12) Vertical Thermal Structure of the Atmosphere and its relevance to atmospherical
processes

The atmosphere has a vertical thermal structure as well as a vertical pressure structure.

A. The atmosphere has been divided into layers according to the behavior of temperatures
in their relationship to altitude.
B. The lowest layer is the troposphere, the layer in which we live and in which our weather
is experienced. In fact, "troposphere" means the realm of mixing, because air is vigorously
mixed and stirred here by storms, convection, and wind systems.
1. It extends up roughly 10 km
2. It is characterized by an inverse relationship between air temperatures and altitude:
Temperatures drop as you climb up in the troposphere.
3. The tropopause is the top of the troposphere: The troposphere stops here.
4. At the tropopause, temperatures stop dropping with gains in altitude.

C. The stratosphere is the next major division.

1. It extends from the tropopause up to about 50 km.
2. It is characterized by a direct relationship between temperatures and altitude.
a. The top of the stratosphere is called the stratopause, another isothermal belt.
b. By the time you get to the stratopause, temperatures have warmed up to freezing or
close to it
c. This warming with altitude has to do with the presence of the ozone layer in the
stratosphere.

D. The mesosphere is the layer above the stratopause.

1. It extends up from the stratopause to about 80 km.
2. It is characterized by resumption of an inverse relationship between temperature
and altitude:
Temperatures drop as you climb.
3. That low temperature is attained at the mesopause, which tops the mesosphere.

E. The thermosphere is the last thermally defined layer of the atmosphere.

1. It is characterized by a direct relationship between temperature and altitude.
2. The thermosphere can be further subdivided:

a. The lower thermosphere is called the ionosphere.

i. The ionosphere extends from roughly 80 km (50 mi.) to somewhere around 300 to
600 km out (~185 - 375 mi.).
 ii. It is the first line of defense for Earth against extremely short wave radiation.
These particles are ionized atoms, that is, atoms with missing electrons, including
isolated protons and alpha-particles (two protons with two neutrons and no electrons).

iii. These rays and really high energy, fast-moving particles smash into the few
molecules of the ionosphere with such force that they strip them of electrons, turning
them into ions, or electrically-imbalanced atoms, too.

iv. The ions, with their electrical imbalances, are drawn by the earth's magnetic field
and align themselves with that field's lines of force.

b. The exosphere is the second, outer layer of the thermosphere

i. The exosphere lies beyond about 500-1,000 km
ii. It is characterized by increasing hydrogen and helium content.

13. Vertical density profile of atmosphere and its impact on various processes

The vertical distribution of air density in the atmosphere follows from the distribution
of the pressure and temperature. Indeed since pressure varies so strongly in the
vertical, whereas temperature variations are quite modest on the absolute scale, the
vertical profiles of air density and pressure must be very similar. In fact the density
profile shows a nearly exponential decay of density with increasing height which is
never very far from 16 km throughout the troposphere.

The changes in the atmospheric density with height are results of specific physical
conditions which exist on the earth and in its atmosphere. The ozone layer, located
near 25 km above the earth's surface, causes the temperature to rapidly change in the
middle atmosphere.
Troposphere:

The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains

approximately 75% of the atmosphere's mass and 99% of its water vapour and
aerosols.

The average depth of the troposphere is approximately 17 km in the middle latitudes.

It is deeper in the tropical regions, up to 20 km and shallower near the poles, at 7 km
in summer, and indistinct in winter. The lowest part of the troposphere, where friction
with the Earth's surface influences air flow, is the planetary boundary layer. The
chemical composition of the troposphere is essentially uniform, with the notable
exception of water vapour. The source of water vapour is at the surface through the
processes of evaporation and transpiration. Furthermore the temperature of the
troposphere decreases with height, and saturation vapour pressure decreases strongly
as temperature drops, so the amount of water vapour that can exist in the atmosphere
decreases strongly with height.

Stratosphere:

The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the
troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer
layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere
 near the Earth's surface, which is cooler higher up and warmer farther down. The
stratosphere is situated between about 10 km and 50 km altitude above the surface at
moderate latitudes, while at the poles it starts at about 8 km altitude.

Mesosphere:

The mesosphere is the layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is directly above the
stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. The mesosphere is located about 50
to 85 kilometers (30 to 50 miles) above the Earth's surface. Within the mesosphere,
temperature decreases with increasing altitude. The main dynamical features in this
region are atmospheric tides, internal atmospheric gravity wave and planetary waves.

Thermosphere:

The thermosphere is biggest of all the layers of the earth's atmosphere directly above
the mesosphere and directly below the exosphere. Within this layer, ultraviolet
radiation causes ionization. The thermosphere begins about 80 km above the earth. In
Thermosphere temperatures increase with altitude due to absorption of highly
energetic solar radiation by the small amount of residual oxygen still present.
Temperatures are highly dependent on solar activity, and can rise to 1,500°.

The dynamics of the lower thermosphere (below about 120 km) are dominated by
atmospheric tide, which is driven, in part, by the very significant diurnal heating.

Effects of density profile on different processes:

Density profile affects many geographical and physical processes in the atmosphere.
Some of the effects are stated as below:

• Scattering of light: As the density is not uniform throughout the atmosphere,

scattering of light is also not uniform. The physical phenomena which are involved in
scattering of light are reflection and refraction of light. Refractive index mainly
depends upon the density, so the light which is travelling through the different layers
of the atmosphere, without travelling in a straight line gets deviated in its path.
• Radiation: As the density of a layer increases the penetration power of heat
decreases. When the light rays enter the atmosphere, they will be blocked by these
 dense layers causing green house effect. So the infrared rays and the ultraviolet rays
which enter into the earth’s atmosphere are not allowed to dissipate and hence
increase the green house effect.
• Humidity: With the increase in density, humidity increases as there is less chance of
dissipation. So density has a major hand in controlling humidity of particular
geographical area.

• Speed of transmission: With the increase in density in the atmosphere, the speed of
transmission of wireless signals reduces and vice versa.

• Absorption of heat and light: If the density of the atmospheric layers is more, then
the absorption power becomes more and radiating power decreases. With the increase
in the percentage of carbon dioxide, the density increases and hence absorption power
increases, enhancing the global warming.

(14) Water holding capacity of air and its relation to atmospheric temperature

The water-holding capacity of air is determined by temperature. As seen in the diagram, the
capacity increases dramatically with increasing temperature.
The water holding capacity increases by about 8% per degree Celsius increase in
temperature.

The moisture holding capacity of air varies with temperature. If there is no change in the total
moisture content during a 24 hour period, relative humidity will increase at night. The
highest readings occur about sunrise which explains damp lawns and fogged car windows.
Relative humidity decreases as the day heats up because warm air has a greater capacity to
contain moisture than cold air.

The ability of the air to hold moisture is dependent upon the temperature. As the temperature
of the air increases, its moisture holding capacity also rises; more moisture must be added to
reach saturation at a higher temperature.

Moisture in the air is typically expressed in terms of relative humidity. This is simply a ratio
of the actual moisture in the air to the total amount of moisture the air can hold at a given
temperature. Warmer air has greater moisture holding capacity than cooler air.

(15) Role of inversion in the stagnation of pollution in a locality

When air movement ceases, stagnation can occur, with a resultant build up of
atmospheric pollutants in localized regions. Although the temperature of air relatively near
the earth’s surface normally decreases with increasing altitude, certain atmospheric
conditions can result in the opposite condition- increasing temperature with increasing
altitude. Such conditions are characterized by high atmospheric stability and are known as
temperature inversions. Because they limit the vertical circulation of air, temperature
inversions result in air stagnation and the trapping of air pollutants in localized areas.

Inversions can occur in several ways. In a sense, the whole atmosphere is inverted
by the warm stratosphere, which floats atop the troposphere with relatively little mixing. An
inversion can form from the collision of a warm air mass (warm front) with a cold air mass
(or cold front). The warm air mass overrides the cold air mass in the frontal area, producing
the inversion. Radiation inversions are likely to form in still air at night when the earth is
no longer receiving solar radiations. The air closest to the earth cools faster than the air
higher in the atmosphere, which remains warm, thus less dense. Furthermore, cooler surface
air tends to flow into the valleys at night, where it is overlain by warmer, less dense air.
Subsidence Inversions, often accompanied by radiation inversions, can become very
widespread. These inversions can form in the vicinity of a surface high pressure area when
high-level air subsides to take the place of surface air blowing out of the high pressure zone.
The subsiding air is warmed as it compresses and can remain as a warm layer several
hundred meters above ground level. A marine inversion is produced during the summer
months when cool air laden with moisture from the ocean blows onshore and under warm,
dry inland air.

Hence, inversions contribute significantly to the effects of air pollution because

they prevent the mixing of air pollutants, thus keeping the pollutants in one area. This not
only prevents the pollutants from escaping, but also acts like a container in which additional
pollutants accumulate. Furthermore, in the case of secondary pollutants formed by
atmospheric chemical processes, such as photochemical smog, the pollutants may be kept
together such that they react with each other and with sunlight to produce even more noxious
products.

16. How economic growth becomes environmental concern?

Economies are driven by energy, and energy extraction and use are currently having
disastrous effects upon the environment. Without agreements that limit the use of fossil fuels
or control their emissions, the environmental degradation that has defined the twentieth
century will continue into the twenty-first. If we limit fossil fuels without a transition to
cleaner energy sources, the global economy will will not have enough power to keep growth
curves positive. While President Obama stated, "Our generation's response to this challenge
will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it, boldly, swiftly, and together, we risk
consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe".

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while
preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also
for future generations.

Environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction

with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as
naturally possible based on ideal-seeking behaviour.
An "unsustainable situation" occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature's resources)
is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability requires that human activity only
uses nature's resources at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. Inherently the
concept of sustainable development is intertwined with the concept of carrying capacity.

Theoretically, the long-term result of environmental degradation is the inability to sustain

human life. Such degradation on a global scale could imply extinction for humanity.

17. Why we say that mushrooming of high-raised buildings and influx of automobile
boom in our roads are adding the global warming impact to our region.

Global warming is real. It is not the result of a natural climatic adjustment. It is a quantifiable
set of environmental results that are in addition to any normal changes in climate. That is
why the effects of global warming have catastrophic potential.

The primary cause of global warming is Carbon Dioxide emissions. CO2 is being pumped
into our atmosphere at an insane pace; 8 billion tons of CO2 entered the air last year. Of
course some of this is due to natural activity such as volcanic eruptions and people breathing.
But the Earth is equipped to easily absorb those into the normal regenerative process. No, the
beginning of global warming was caused by fossil fuels being burned and emitting plenty of
Consumption of renewable State of environment Sustainability
resources

More than nature's ability to

Environmental degradation Not sustainable
replenish

Equal to nature's ability to

Environmental equilibrium Steady state economy
replenish

Less than nature's ability to

Environmental renewal Environmentally sustainable
replenish

CO2.

12% of all CO2 released into the atmosphere is related to buildings. This figure varies from
one source to the next. Some place the percentage of emissions from buildings as high as
33%. What most of these figures do not address is the actual cause of the CO2 emissions. In
newly constructed buildings, production of materials used in building and energy used during
construction are cited as the cause of carbon dioxide emissions. In existing buildings the CO2
created by the energy upkeep of the building is the root of the emissions quotient. The
general comparison is that buildings consume energy in the way that cars burn fuel. But the
pollutants created in providing power for heating, air-conditioning, lights and other usage in
buildings has already been factored. Honestly this double billing accounting is more the
product of auto manufacturers looking to point the blame for global warming away from gas
guzzling cars.

The United States;Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population
produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning -- by far the
largest share of any country. In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than China,
India and Japan, combined.

18. What is the role of forest in the rainfall activity in a region?

Forests covering Mediterranean surface play a vital role in the regulation of water cycle and
they provide quality water to the society. However, forests are great consumers of water as
well, even though some of the water returns to the atmosphere. It is therefore necessary to
understand the relationship between both of these natural resources in order to optimize the
water management through an appropriate forest management, ensuring their sustainability

Rainfall is generally believed to be a result of monsoonal effects. International evidence and

simulation models suggest two conditions under which forests generate rainfall. First,
montane forests in very high altitudes (2000 m+) can harvest clouds.

Second, deforestation of vast tracts of land, i.e., more than 250,000 km2 could reduce the
probability of rainfall from water cycling.

An investigation of the influence of forests on rainfall in depleted forest areas in Thailand

was carried out by Tangtham and Sutthipibul (1988). They compared the changes in average
regional rainfall with changes in forest cover in the northeast between 1951 and 1984. The
periods indicate that rainfall has tended to decrease significantly as forest areas decrease,
while the number of rainy days significantly increased.
Rainfall is also affected when forest-clearing fires create air pollution and release tiny
particles, known as aerosols, into the atmosphere. While aerosols can both heat and cool the
air, depending on their size, shape, and color, high concentrations of biomass-burning
aerosols directly impact local climate by increasing cloud formation but decreasing rainfall.

19. Improper disposal of solid waste is also a reason for atmospheric pollution and
regional warming of atmosphere, how?

Disposal of solid waste is done by collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and
monitoring of waste materials. The process differs for developed and developing nations, for
urban and rural areas, and for residential and industrial producers. Management for non-
hazardous residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the
responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous
commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.

Improper disposal of solid waste leads to atmospheric pollution because in the process of
landfill waste involves burying the waste, and this remains a common practice in most
countries. Poorly-managed landfills can create a number of adverse environmental impacts
such as wind-blown litter, attraction of vermin, and generation of liquid leach ate. Another
common byproduct of landfills is gas (mostly composed of methane and carbon dioxide),
which is produced as organic waste breaks down an aerobically. This gas can create odor
problems, kill surface vegetation, and is a greenhouse gas.

Improper disposal of solid waste also leads to regional warming of atmosphere. Incineration
is a disposal method that involves combustion of waste material. Incineration and other high
temperature waste treatment systems are sometimes described as "thermal treatment".
Incinerators convert waste materials into heat, gas, steam, and ash.Incineration is carried out
both on a small scale by individuals and on a large scale by industry. It is used to dispose of
solid waste. It is recognized as a practical method of disposing of certain hazardous waste
materials (such as biological medical waste). Incineration is a controversial method of waste
disposal, due to issues such as emission of gaseous pollutants.

20. Why we say that uncontrolled way of sand mining kills the rivers ?
Excessive instream sand mining causes the degradation of rivers. Instream mining lowers the
stream bottom, which may lead to bank erosion. Depletion of sand in the streambed and
along coastal areas causes the deepening of rivers and estuaries, and the enlargement of river
mouths and coastal inlets. It may also lead to saline-water intrusion from the nearby sea. The
effect of mining is compounded by the effect of sea level rise. Any volume of sand exported
from streambeds and coastal areas is a loss to the system.

Excessive instream sand mining is a threat to bridges, river banks and nearby structures. Sand
mining also affects the adjoining groundwater system and the uses that local people make of
the river.

Instream sand mining results in the destruction of aquatic and riparian habitat through large
changes in the channel morphology. Impacts include bed degradation, bed coarsening,
lowered water tables near the streambed, and channel instability. These physical impacts
cause degradation of riparian and aquatic biota and may lead to the undermining of bridges
and other structures. Continued extraction may also cause the entire streambed to degrade to
the depth of excavation.

Sand mining generates extra vehicle traffic, which negatively impairs the environment.
Where access roads cross riparian areas, the local environment may be impacted.

21. Why we say that major part of environmental disasters is weather sensitive?

Environmental disasters are very much weather sensitive. Environmental disasters like
blizzards, cyclonic storms, droughts, hailstorms, heat waves and tornados are created by
weather effects like rain, drought, snow, extreme heat or cold, ice or wind.

Blizzard created by low temperature, strong winds and heavy blowing snow.

Cyclonic storms

Tropical cyclone- created by large low-pressure, numerous thunderstorms that produce

strong winds and heavy rain. It feeds on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in
condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air.

Cyclone- created by spiraling winds, low atmospheric pressure.

Drought- created when a region experiences deficiency in water supply. The region receives
below average precipitation. High pressure winds are also a reason which carry continental
rather than oceanic air masses.

Hailstorm- created by raindrops that have formed together into ice.

Heat waves- created by temperature more than 40 degree celcius.

Tornado- created by spiraling funnel shaped wind current that form over bodies of water,
connecting to large cumulous and thunderstorm clouds.

22. Why we say that knowledge of geography is essential in understanding climate

change impact on environment?

It is not unusual for geographers to be asked what it is they "do." In response, geographers
often say that we study the "why of where." This is a shorthand way of saying that
geographical curiosity is grounded by an enduring interest in the patterns of human and
natural phenomena, and the interaction of both, as they are manifested in particular locations,
environments, and places. Just as one might say that historians study time, geographers study
space.

The curiosity of a geographer is virtually unbounded; we are observers and analysts of space,
place, and environment on scales from the local to the global. Geography is a multifaceted
discipline that bridges the social sciences, the humanities, and the physical sciences.
Geographers study neighborhoods and international trade, urban life and economic patterns.
Geographers study the ways in which cultures, past and present, leave their imprint on the
land and landscape. Geographers study the movements of people across space, from local
commuting patterns to global refugee flows. Geographers study geopolitical patterns, the
changing power relationships within and between nations and states.

Geographer’s study the ways in which human relationships to places, spaces, and
environments are shaped by -- and, in turn, shape -- class, ethnic, race, and gender identities.
Geographers study natural hazards, biogeography, climate change, and earthquakes.
Geographers map the world…

Geography develops analytical and conceptual skills, as well as

understanding the spatial dimension of physical, environmental, and
human phenomena. Further, the study of geography trains students to
appreciate the importance of global perspectives.

23. What are the problems we are likely to face due to Himalayan glacial melting?

Due to global warming and environmental changes we are running out of

water resources. As glaciers meltdown it will decline reserves of drinking
water in the entire region, which will affect millions of human lives.
Developing countries like Pakistan should chalk out effective strategies
like constructing dams to meet their requirements. A research study has
revealed that global warming has pushed up the temperature of the
Himalayas, the roof of the world, by up to 0 degrees Celsius. It is
predicted that Himalayan glaciers could disappear within 50 years as a
consequence of climatic changes. It was apprehended in the report that it
would result far- reaching implications for more than a billion people living
in this part of the world. Surendra Shrestha, the Regional Director, United
Nations Environment Program for Asia and the Pacific, labelled it as
'extremely serious.' Melting of the Himalayan glaciers is the reason for
creating new lakes all over this mountain range, moreover reasoning to
swell the existing ones, thus increasing the volume of water in rivers and
triggering flash-flooding in the narrow underneath valleys. An already
glacier-lake outburst in 1994, in the Lunana region of Bhutan caused to
flood a number of villages, endangered the lives of thousands of people.
Likewise in Nepal in 1997 the burst of the Dudh Koshi Lake reasoned
similar consequences. Himalayas range over six countries (Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan) as well as extending into
China and Myanmar. Thousands of glaciers in the Himalayas provides
source to the nine largest and important rivers of the continent, whose
basins are home to 1.3 billion people from Pakistan to Myanmar, together
with parts of India and China. In fact, the Himalayas after Antarctica and
Greenland, forms world’s third largest mass of ice. Definitely this is
Himalayan snow-glacier system, which forms the tallest water tower on
the globe.
According to the experts, this trend will increase speed in the next half
decade. It will produce catastrophic social and economic problems not
only for the villages in the Himalayan foothills but also it would reason
disaster for the entire South Asian region. Himalayan glacier lakes are
filling up with more and more melted ice and in Bhutan, 24 of those lakes
are now poised to burst their banks, a similar number of lakes are at peril
in Nepal as well. According to the reports, it is just the beginning; future
disasters in the region of the Himalayas will include 'floods, droughts, land
erosion, biodiversity loss and alterations in rainfall and the monsoon
system'. The UNEP and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD) scientists have found as a minimum 44 glacial
lakes that are filling so speedily they could burst their banks in as little as
five years' time. Scientists notify that a number of precarious lakes are
yet to be taken into account. The danger that has been posed due to the
meltdown of the Himalayan glaciers is not only limited to the immediate
environment, that have chiefly small human settlements, but it is also a
major threat to the countries situated in the adjacent areas, such as India,
Bangladesh and China, and there would be far larger human

populations at great menace. Recently a catastrophe hit the Indian states

of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab; thousand people were forced to
evacuate their lodgings. It was apprehended that

water from a 38km long, 804 meters wide Glacier Lake in China could spill
over into northern Indian Territory. Some time before, in Bhutan, an
unexpected discharge of floodwater from water reservoir caused floods
that endangered the lives of people in Assam and West Bengal. Scientists
are of the opinion that a number of lakes are still unexplored, particularly
in Pakistan, India (where the majority of the Himalayas lie), and
Afghanistan. In due course of time, glaciers meltdown will decline
reserves of drinking water in the entire region, which will affect millions of
human lives. There will be increased demand for water throughout the
subcontinent. The relevant quarters in Pakistan are of the view that
Himalayan glaciers had been thinning and receding over the past few
years, with losses going faster to alarming levels in the past decade. It
was also indicated in certain reports that the retreating trend of glaciers,
pointed out that the depletion was happening more rapidly on the Eastern
region than the Western side of Himalayas.

24. Reasons for the sea level rise and its impact in the near future?

Current sea level rise has occurred at a mean rate of 1.8 mm per year for
the past century, and more recently at rates estimated near 2.8 ± 0.4 to
3.1 ± 0.7 mm per year (1993-2003). Current sea level rise is due
significantly to global warming, which will increase sea level over the
coming century and longer periods. Increasing temperatures result in sea
level rise by the thermal expansion of water and through the addition of
water to the oceans from the melting of continental ice sheets. Thermal
expansion, which is well-quantified, is currently the primary contributor to
sea level rise and is expected to be the primary contributor over the
course of the next century. Glacial contributions to sea-level rise are less
important, and are more difficult to predict and quantify. Values for
predicted sea level rise over the course of this century typically range
from 90 to 880 mm, with a central value of 480 mm. Based on an analog
to the deglaciation of North America at 9,000 years before present, some
scientists predict sea level rise of 1.3 meters in this century. However,
models of glacial flow in the smaller present-day ice sheets show that a
probable maximum value for sea level rise in the current century is 800
millimeters, based on limitations on how quickly ice can flow below the
equilibrium line altitude and to the sea.

Local and eustatic sea level

Local mean sea level (LMSL) is defined as the height of the sea with
respect to a land benchmark, averaged over a period of time (such as a
month or a year) long enough that fluctuations caused by waves and tides
are smoothed out. One must adjust perceived changes in LMSL to account
for vertical movements of the land, which can be of the same order
(mm/yr) as sea level changes. Some land movements occur because
ofisostatic adjustment of the mantle to the melting of ice sheets at the
end of the last ice age. The weight of the ice sheet depresses the
underlying land, and when the ice melts away the land slowly rebounds.
Atmospheric pressure, ocean currents and local ocean temperature
changes also can affect LMSL.

“Eustatic” change (as opposed to local change) results in an alteration to

the global sea levels, such as changes in the volume of water in the world
oceans or changes in the volume of an ocean basin.

Glaciers and ice caps

Each year about 8 mm (0.3 inch) of water from the entire surface of the
oceans falls into the Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets as snowfall. If no
ice returned to the oceans, sea level would drop 8 mm every year. To a
first approximation, the same amount of water appeared to return to the
ocean in icebergs and from ice melting at the edges. Scientists previously
had estimated which is greater, ice going in or coming out, called themass
balance, important because it causes changes in global sea level. High-
precision gravimetric from satellites in low-noise flight has since
determined Greenland is losing millions of tons per year, in accordance
with loss estimates from ground measurement.[citation needed] Some
estimates range up to 240 km^3 per year in recent years.

Ice shelves float on the surface of the sea and, if they melt, to first order
they do not change sea level. Likewise, the melting of the northern
polarize cap which is composed of floating pack ice would not significantly
contribute to rising sea levels. Because they are fresh, however, their
melting would cause a very small increase in sea levels, so small that it is
generally neglected. It can however be argued that if ice shelves melt it is
a precursor to the melting of ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica.

If small glaciers and polar ice caps on the margins of Greenland and
the Antarctic Peninsula melt, the projected rise in sea level will be around
0.5 m. Melting of the Greenland ice sheet would produce 7.2 m of sea-
level rise, and melting of the Antarctic ice sheet would produce 61.1 m of
sea level rise. The collapse of the grounded interior reservoir of the West
Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise sea level by 5-6 m.

 The interior of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is sufficiently

high (and therefore cold) enough that direct melt there cannot cause
them to melt in a time-frame less than several millennia; therefore it is
likely that they will not, through melting of the interior, contribute
significantly to sea level rise in the coming century. They can, however,
do so through acceleration in flow and enhanced iceberg calving. Also,
melt of the fringes of the ice caps could be significant, as could be sub-
ice-shelf melting in Antarctica.

 Climate changes during the 20th century are estimated from

modeling studies to have led to contributions of between –0.2 and 0.0
mm/yr from Antarctica (the results of increasing precipitation) and 0.0 to
0.1 mm/yr from Greenland (from changes in both precipitation and
runoff).

 Estimates suggest that Greenland and Antarctica have contributed

0.0 to 0.5 mm/yr over the 20th century as a result of long-term
adjustment to the end of the last ice age[citation needed].

The current rise in sea level observed from tide gauges, of about 1.8
mm/yr, is within the estimate range from the combination of factors
above but active research continues in this field. The terrestrial storage
term, thought to be highly uncertain, is no longer positive, and shown to
be quite large.
Since 1992 a number of satellites have been recording the change in sea
level; they display an acceleration in the rate of sea level change, but
they have not been operating for long enough to work out whether this is
a real signal, or just an artefact of short-term variation.

Effects of sea level rise

Based on the projected increases stated above, the IPCC TAR WG II report
notes that current and future climate change would be expected to have
a number of impacts, particularly on coastal systems. Such impacts may
include increased coastal erosion, higher storm-surge flooding, inhibition
of primary production processes, more extensive coastal inundation,
changes in surface water quality and groundwater characteristics,
increased loss of property and coastal habitats, increased flood risk and
potential loss of life, loss of nonmonetary cultural resources and values,
impacts on agriculture and aquaculture through decline in soil and water
quality, and loss of tourism, recreation, and transportation functions.

There is an implication that many of these impacts will be detrimental—

especially for the three-quarters of the world's poor who depend on
agriculture systems. The report does, however, note that owing to the
great diversity of coastal environments; regional and local differences in
projected relative sea level and climate changes; and differences in the
resilience and adaptive capacity of ecosystems, sectors, and countries,
the impacts will be highly variable in time and space.

Statistical data on the human impact of sea level rise is scarce. A study in
the April, 2007 issue of Environment and Urbanization reports that 634
million people live in coastal areas within 30 feet (9.1 m) of sea level. The
study also reported that about two thirds of the world's cities with over
five million people are located in these low-lying coastal areas. The IPCC
report of 2007 estimated that accelerated melting of the Himalayan ice
caps and the resulting rise in sea levels would likely increase the severity
of flooding in the short-term during the rainy season and greatly magnify
the impact of tidal storm surges during the cyclone season. A sea-level
rise of just 40 cm in the Bay of Bengal would put 11 percent of the
Bangladesh's coastal land underwater, creating 7 to 10 million climate
refugees.

Island nations

IPCC assessments suggest that deltas and small island states are
particularly vulnerable to sea level rise caused by both thermal expansion
and ocean volume. Relative sea level rise (mostly caused by subsidence)
is currently causing substantial loss of lands in some deltas. Sea level
changes have not yet been conclusively proven to have directly resulted
in environmental, humanitarian, or economic losses to small island states,
but the IPCC and other bodies have found this a serious risk scenario in
coming decades.

Many media reports have focused the island nations of the Pacific, notably
the Polynesian islands of Tuvalu, which based on more severe flooding
events in recent years, was thought to be "sinking" due to sea level rise. A
scientific review in 2000 reported that based on University of Hawaii
gauge data, Tuvalu had experienced a negligible increase in sea-level of
0.07 mm a year over the past two decades, and that ENSO had been a
larger factor in Tuvalu's higher tides in recent years. A subsequent study
by John Hunter from the University of Tasmania, however, adjusted for
ENSO effects and the movement of the gauge (which was thought to be
sinking). Hunter concluded that Tuvalu had been experiencing sea-level
rise of about 1.2 mm per year. The recent more frequent flooding in
Tuvalu may also be due to an erosional loss of land during and following
the actions of 1997 cyclones Gavin, Hina, and Keli.

Reuters has reported other Pacific islands are facing a severe risk
including Tegua island in Vanuatu. Claims that Vanuatu data shows no net
sea level rise, are not substantiated by tide gauge data. Vanuatu tide
gauge data show a net rise of ~50 mm from 1994-2004. Linear regression
of this short time series suggests a rate of rise of ~7 mm/y, though there
is considerable variability and the exact threat to the islands is difficult to
assess using such a short time series.

Numerous options have been proposed that would assist island nations to
adapt to rising sea level.

25. Role of Industries in controlling the environmental disasters ?

Disasters

A natural disaster is the consequence or effect of a hazardous event, occurring when human
activities and natural phenomenon (a physical event, such as a volcanic eruption, earthquake,
landslide etc., become enmeshed. The resulting fatalities or property damages depend on the
capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster (Bank off et al.2004).

Industrial disasters

Usually occur due to accident for non-adherence of safety norms by industrial units often
turn into mass disasters. One of the worst industrial disasters on record is the Bhopal gas
tragedy in India, in which a leakage of toxic chemicals from a Union Carbide plant killed
over 15,000 people injured many more, and caused severe health problems to the region’s
human and animal populations. The disaster was caused by the accidental release of 40
tonnes of methyl isocyanine (MIC) from a Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL, now known
as Eveready Industries India, Limited) pesticide plant located in the heart of the city of
Bhopal, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Figures depicting the number of people
affected, however, vary from disaster to disaster. In 2004, the death toll all over the world
from natural and technological disasters soared to around 250,000, mainly due to the Indian
ocean tsunami on December 26. This is substantially higher than the annual average of
around 67,000 deaths per year recorded from 1994 to 2003, according to the Centre for
Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). In 2005, the number of people affected
by disasters dropped to around 146 million, which is considerably lower than the annual
average of 258 million recorded over the previous decade. Floods in India, China and
Bangladesh in 2004 affected 110 million people, while the tsunami affected just 2.4 million,
according to CRED.

STATUTORY FRAMEWORK International negotiations

The World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction was held in the city of Yokohama.
Japan, from 23 May to 27 May 1994. The conference organized in partnership with non-
governmental organizations, and with the participation of international organizations, the
scientific community, business, industry and the media,
Deliberating within the framework of the International Decade for Natural Disaster
Reduction, expressed deep concern for the continuing human suffering and disruption of
development caused by natural disasters.
In 2000, the United Nations launched the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(ISDR) to address the underlying causes of vulnerability and to build disaster-resilient
communities by promoting increased awareness for disaster reduction as an integral
component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic
and environmental losses due to hazards of all kinds.

INDIAN LEGISLATION
India had been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on account of its unique geo-
climatic conditions. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides have been
recurrent phenomena. About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various
intensities; over 40 million hectares is prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to
cyclones and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought. In the decade 1990-2000, an average
of about 4344 people lost their lives and about 30 million people were affected by disasters
every year. The loss in terms of private, community and public assets has been astronomical.
Prior to the Bhopal disaster, practically no governments, regulatory agencies, professional
institutions, professionals and industries in India was mentally attuned to accept that such a
horrifying and nightmarish accident could originate from a chemical plant. On the contrary,
going by the narrow and traditional scope of industrial safety being followed in the country
then, the chemical industry was considered to be safer than other industries as per the indices
of safety performance, which only measured the employee injuries. Therefore the very
concept of disaster management relating to chemical industry was practically non-existent.
Thereafter, the Ministries of Environment & Forests, Labour and Surface Transport have
devoted major efforts in amending existing legislations and enacting new ones with the
objective of placing responsibilities on key players having a role in prevention of accidents,
dealing with chemical emergencies, providing relief or compensation to the victims of such
accidents and laying down the modalities and mechanisms for discharging such
responsibilities. The legislations have provided a fairly comprehensive legal framework for
different phases of chemical disaster management. These legislations also reflect the
directions given in the Supreme Court Judgments, lessons learnt from implementing projects
in India and from the international experience. These legislations have significantly
contributed to the improvement of safety standards, strengthening of infrastructure on
training and awareness generation and development of testing of emergency plans and the
response capabilities. Thus there has been a quantum increase in awareness and preparedness
at the national level. However, there is still a long way to go in reaching international level of
preparedness.
26. Climate change scenario with respect to rainfall

While the observed monsoon rainfall at all-India level does not allow any significant trend,
regional monsoon variations have been recorded. A trend of increasing monsoon seasonal
rainfall has been found along the west coast, northern Andhra Pradesh and north-western
India (+10%- +20% of the normal over 100 years) while a trend of decreasing monsoon
seasonal rainfall has been observed over eastern Madhya Pradesh, north-eastern India
specially Assam and Meghalaya and some parts of Gujrat and Kerala ( 6%- 8% of the normal
the 100 years).

All India monsoon rainfall:

All India summer monsoons season (June to September) rainfall as well the rainfall for all
the four monsoon months does not show any significant trend.

Sub-divisional rainfall during monsoon season:

During the season, three subdivisions viz. Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala show significant
decreasing trend and eight subdivisions viz. Gangetic West Bengal, West Uttar Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir, Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra
Pradesh and North Interior Karnataka show significant increasing trends.

June rainfall has shown significant increasing trend for the western and southwestern parts of
the country, whereas significant decreasing trend is observed for the central and eastern parts
of the country. July rainfall has significantly decreased for most parts of the central and
peninsular India but has increased significantly in the Northeastern parts of the country.
August rainfall has increased significantly for the subdivisions Konkan & Goa, Marathwada,
Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, West M.P., Telengana and west U.P. September rainfall has
shown significantly decreasing trend for subdivisions Vidarbha, Marathwada and Telangana
and increasing trend (95%) for the subdivision Sub Himalayan Gangetic West Bengal.

Tropical cyclones over the Indian Seas:

For the North Indian Ocean as a whole, the number of cyclonic and severe cyclonic storms
shows a distinct decadal variability. Long term linear trend (1891-2004) in frequency of
tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean as a whole, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian
Sea for different seasons, generally, shows a significant decreasing trend. There is sharp
decrease in the frequency during the monsoon season. However, an increasing trend in the
frequency of tropical cyclones forming over the Bay of Bengal in the months of May and
November, the principal cyclone months, is observed. Cyclone frequency data for the last
four decades (1961 onwards), since when significant monitoring tools like satellite are
available, shows a significant decreasing trend for all the months and seasons and once again
the maximum decrease was noticed in the monsoon season.

27. What is meant by environmental conflicts?

Environmental conflict manifest themselves as political, social, economic, ethnic, religious or

territorial conflicts or conflicts over resources or national interests, or any other type of
conflict. They are traditional conflicts induced by an environmental degradation.

Environmental conflicts are characterized by the principle importance of degradation in one

or more of the following fields:-

(a) Over use of renewable resources.

(b) Overstrain of the environment’s sink capacity i.e. pollution.

(c) Impoverishment of the space of living.

The focus of the research program lies on violent conflict, actual and political, low and
high intensity. The approach has to happen from two sides: analyzing actual conflicts if
environmental factors are relevant for them; analyzing regions with serious
environmental degradations if social effects resulting from them are leading or could lead
in future to violent conflicts.

28. Factors responsible for climate change?

The work of climatologists has found evidence to suggest that only a limited number of
factors are primarily responsible for most of the climate change on the Earth. These factors
include:

• Variations in the Earth's orbital characteristics.

• Atmospheric carbon dioxide variations.
• Volcanic eruptions.
• Variations in solar output.
a) Variations in the Earths orbital characteristics:

The Milankovitch theory suggests that a normal cyclical variation in three of the Earth’s
orbital characteristics is probably responsible for some past climatic change. The basic idea
behind this theory assumes that over time these three cyclic events vary the amount of solar
radiation that is received on the Earth's surface. The first cyclical variation, known as
eccentricity, controls the shape of the Earth's orbit around the sun. The orbit gradually
changes from being elliptical to being nearly circular and then back to elliptical in a period of
about 100,000 years. The second cyclical variation results from the fact that as the earth
rotates on its polar axis, it wobbles like a spinning top changing the orbital timing of the
equinoxes and solstices. The third cyclical variation is related to the changes in the tilt of the
Earth's axis of rotation over a 41,000 year period. During the 41,000 year cycle the tilt can
deviate from approximately 22.5 to 24.5°.

At the present time, the tilt of the Earth's axis is 23.5°. When the tilt is small there is less
climatic variation between the summer and winter seasons in the middle and high latitudes.
Winters tend to be milder and summers cooler. Warmer winters allow for more snow to fall
in the high-latitude regions. When the atmosphere is warmer it has a greater ability to hold
water vapour and therefore more snow is produced at areas of frontal or orographic uplift.
Cooler summers cause snow and ice to accumulate on the Earth's surface because less of this
frozen water is melted. Thus, the net effect of a smaller tilt would be more extensive
formation of glaciers in the polar latitudes.

Periods of a larger tilt result in greater seasonal climatic variation in the middle and high
latitudes. At these times, winters tend to be colder and summers warmer. Colder winters
produce less snow because of lower atmospheric temperatures. As a result, less snow and ice
accumulates on the ground surface. Moreover, the warmer summers produced by the larger
tilt provide additional energy to melt and evaporate the snow that fell and accumulated
during the winter months. In conclusion, glaciers in the polar regions should be generally
receding, with other contributing factors constant, during this part of the obliquity cycle.

Computer models and historical evidence suggest that the Milankovitch cycles exert their
greatest cooling and warming influence when the troughs and peaks of all three cycles
coincide with each other.
b) Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Variations:

Over the past three centuries, the concentration of carbon dioxide has been increasing in the
Earth's atmosphere because of human influences. Human activities like the combustion of
fossil fuels, conversion of natural prairie to farmland, and deforestation have caused the
release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. From the early 1700s, carbon dioxide has
increased from 280 parts per million to 380 parts per million in 2005. Many scientists believe
that higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will enhance the greenhouse
effect making the planet warmer. Scientists believe we are already experiencing global
warming due to an enhancement of the greenhouse effect. Most computer climate models
suggest that the globe will warm up by 1.5 - 4.5° Celsius if carbon dioxide reaches the
predicted level of 600 parts per million by the year 2050.

c) Volcanic Eruptions:

For many years, climatologists have noticed a connection between large explosive volcanic
eruptions and short-term climatic change. For example, one of the coldest years in the last
two centuries occurred the year following the Tambora volcanic eruption in 1815. Accounts
of very cold weather were documented in the year following this eruption in a number of
regions across the planet. Several other major volcanic events also show a pattern of cooler
global temperatures lasting 1 to 3 years after their eruption.

Initially, scientists thought that the dust emitted into the atmosphere from large volcanic
eruptions was responsible for the cooling by partially blocking the transmission of solar
radiation to the Earth's surface. However, measurements indicate that most of the dust thrown
in the atmosphere returned to the Earth's surface within six months. Recent stratospheric data
suggests that large explosive volcanic eruptions also eject large quantities of sulphur dioxide
gas which remains in the atmosphere for as long as three years. Atmospheric chemists have
determined that the ejected sulphur dioxide gas reacts with water vapour commonly found in
the stratosphere to form a dense optically bright haze layer that reduces the atmospheric
transmission of some of the sun's incoming radiation.
In the last century, two significant climate-modifying eruptions have occurred. El Chichon in
Mexico erupted in April of 1982, and Mount Pinatubo went off in the Philippines during
June, 1991. Of these two volcanic events, Mount Pinatubo had a greater effect on the Earth's
climate and ejected about 20 million tons of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere.
Researchers believe that the Pinatubo eruption was primarily responsible for the 0.8 degree
Celsius drop in global average air temperature in 1992. The global climatic effects of the
eruption of Mount Pinatubo are believed to have peaked in late 1993. Satellite data
confirmed the connection between the Mount Pinatubo eruption and the global temperature
decrease in 1992 and 1993. The satellite data indicated that the sulphur dioxide plume from
the eruption caused a several percent increase in the amount of sunlight reflected by the
Earth's atmosphere back to space causing the surface of the planet to cool.

d) Variations in Solar Output:

Until recently, many scientists thought that the sun's output of radiation only varied by a
fraction of a percent over many years. However, measurements made by satellites equipped
with radiometers in the 1980s and 1990s suggested that the sun's energy output may be more
variable than was once thought. Measurements made during the early 1980s showed a
decrease of 0.1 percent in the total amount of solar energy reaching the Earth over just an 18
month time period. If this trend were to extend over several decades, it could influence global
climate. Numerical climatic models predict that a change in solar output of only 1 percent per
century would alter the Earth's average temperature by between 0.5 to 1.0° Celsius.

Scientists have long tried to also link sunspots to climatic change. Sunspots are huge
magnetic storms that are seen as dark areas on the sun's surface. The number and size of
sunspots show cyclical patterns, reaching a maximum about every 11, 90, and 180 years. The
decrease in solar energy observed in the early 1980s corresponds to a period of maximum
sunspot activity based on the 11 year cycle. In addition, measurements made with a solar
telescope from 1976 to 1980 showed that during this period, as the number and size of
sunspots increased, the sun's surface cooled by about 6° Celsius. Apparently, the sunspots
prevented some of the sun's energy from leaving its surface. However, these findings tend to
contradict observations made on longer times scales. Observations of the sun during the
middle of the Little Ice Age between 1650 to 1750 indicated that very little sunspot activity
was occurring on the sun's surface. The Little Ice Age was a time of a much cooler global
climate and some scientists correlate this occurrence with a reduction in solar activity over a
period of 90 or 180 years. Measurements have shown that these 90 and 180 year cycles
influence the amplitude of the 11 year sunspot cycle. It is hypothesized that during times of
low amplitude, like the Maunder Minimum, the sun's output of radiation is reduced.
Observations by astronomers during this period from1645 to 1715 noticed very little sunspot
activity occurring on the sun.

During periods of maximum sunspot activity, the sun's magnetic field is strong. When
sunspot activity is low, the sun's magnetic field weakens. The magnetic field of the sun also
reverses every 22 years, during a sunspot minimum. Some scientists believe that the periodic
droughts on the Great Plains of the United States are in someway correlated with this 22 year
cycle.

29. What all steps you may take in reducing the environmental degradation?

The following are the six steps to be taken in reducing the environmental
degradation:

a) Full Cost Economic Analysis:

Many people believe that "economics" is the enemy of the environment.

This is not necessarily true. The enemy of the environment is failing to
account for all the true costs of producing something, using a resource, or
converting a natural system for another purpose. Today a firm can
profitably produce goods in a certain manner as long as it doesn't have to
worry about externalities costs that are not reflected in the price of a
good or service but are passed on to society as a whole in the form of
pollution, resource depletion, or other detrimental effects. For example,
oil producers can extract petroleum from the Earth and sell it without
every worrying about the long-term costs of geopolitical security, social
stability, or climate change.

b) Education:
Kids and adults who know about the world are less likely to destroy it
without considering the consequences. Education has also been shown to
improve income prospects for the world's poor, while education for
women, specifically, has been found to delay the age at which a woman
has her first child, thus reducing the number of children a woman can
expect to bear over the course of her lifetime. Finally, it is important to
remember that education extends beyond what is learned in a classroom.
A recent Cornell study found that children introduced to "wild" nature
activities in childhood were more likely to show interest in the
environment as adults.

c)Population:

According to figures released last year by the U.N., global birth rates fell
to the lowest level in recorded history with the average woman in the
developing world having 2.9 children, down from an average of nearly six
babies in the 1970s. UN demographers also predict that fertility in most of
the developing world will fall below the replacement level of 2.1 children
per woman before the end of the 21st century. Factors leading to falling
birth rates include increased level education for women, the use of
contraceptives, and urbanization. Population is expected to peak to about
9.1 million by 2009.

Nevertheless, the world's human population is still the ultimate driving

force behind all forms of environmental degradation. Consumption in
wealthy countries and developing countries alike is pushing species
toward extinction while diminishing availability of viable land and
exhausting resources. Some are especially concerned by the tremendous
economic expansion of China and India, but still, with current resource
use, citizens of the United States use far more resources per capita than
any other people on Earth. In other words, with current consumption
patterns, overpopulation in the United States with population growth rate
roughly 1 percent is more of a threat to the Earth's environment than
overpopulation in Angola.
d) Creative approaches to poverty reduction:

Increasing prosperity has been linked to improved health and increased

concern for the environment. In the world's poorest regions there are few
economic options, other than subsistence activities which tend to lead to
environmental degradation and direct aid which too often has not only
bred corruption and the misallocation of resources away from those who
need it most, but has also fostered dependency and skewed the perceived
value of goods and services. Private initiatives entrepreneurship funded
through micro finance programs could play a more significant role than
traditional aid handouts in the future. It will be important to conduct these
activities with ecological principles in mind, remembering the economic
concepts expressed in the first section.

e)Corruption:

Corruption is extremely costly to developing economies. Corruption

breeds poorly performing economies by discouraging private sector
development, scaring off foreign investors, undermining government
credibility, and impeding poverty alleviation. Kleptocratic rulers believe
that they stand to gain more from taking a large share of a stable or
shrinking economy than from exploiting a shrinking portion of an
increasing economy. Economies based on natural resource extraction are
particularly prone to kleptocracy.

Corruption and lack of transparency mean that environmentally-damaging

and economically unsound activities can be planned and take place
without any safeguards or supervision. Corrupt officials collude with
private firms to illegally harvest timber, extract minerals, or over-harvest
fisheries. In developing countries alone, the World Bank estimates that
US$15 billion in tax revenues is lost annually. Much of this loss is
supervised by or even done with the collaboration of corrupt government
officials.
Reducing corruption is a difficult task. Holding politicians accountable for
their actions has always been difficult. Some simple steps in the right
direction include: Reducing bureaucracy to make it easier for ordinary
people to start businesses and small firms to grow; implementing laws
that are well-defined and universally enforced; and minimizing barriers to
trade.

f) Protection and restoration of wildlands:

Considering the economic, recreational, and social value of wild lands,

there is little doubt that humanity is better off making its best effort to
conserve the world's remaining store of such lands. A lot can still be done.
Using our intelligence and ingenuity, the human species can preserve
biodiversity and unique places for future generations, without
compromising the quality of life for present populations. Anything less
reduces our options in the future and leaves the planet a poorer place.

Saving the forests, oceans, wetlands, deserts, and tundras of the world
may require a fundamental change in the way we humans see the world
around us. It is our underlying philosophy, one that has been conditioned
since birth that has turned so many of Earth's unique ecosystems into
places in peril today.

30. What all steps you may take in adopting to the present
Climate change scenario?

Adapting to climate change means adapting the way we do things in all areas of our lives to
respond to the changing circumstances. It means not only protecting against negative
impacts, but also making us better able to take advantage of any benefits.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defined adaptation as "any

adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or
their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities".
The earlier we start adapting, the better equipped we will be to cope with higher
temperatures, increased rainfall and the other potential changes. That might mean ensuring
homes; buildings and transport links are protected against flooding or heat waves.

Understanding the risks

We all need to look at our vulnerability to the changing climate. 'Vulnerability' can be
defined as being open to or at risk of damage. In terms of climate change, it can be
influenced by natural characteristics, the built environment, and socio-economic factors.

A particular change in climate can have a very different effect on different people and places,
leading to different risk levels. For example, high temperatures could cause damage to some
road surfaces, but not to others due to the different melting point of the material used, and
whether the road is mostly in shade due to roadside trees.

The significance of the impact will then depend on whether it is a country road without much
traffic, or a major urban trunk road.

Ensuring we have the capacity to reduce any disruption and deal with the remaining
consequences can be described as building resilience.

Considering possible adaptation responses

When adapting to climate change, in many cases there will be a number of different possible
adaptation options available to a particular organisation at a particular time.

The choice will depend on the costs and benefits of different options, the attitude to risk of
the organisation and the information that is available to it.

An organisation might decide at any particular time to:

• make no change to its operations and behaviour, and accept the

possible risks
• undertake a major change in the way they work to avoid the impact
• reduce their vulnerability to the impact by changing their behaviour.

Most decisions will be made in the context of other, non-climate related change.
Looking at the bigger picture

The outcome of the adaptation decision is likely to have an impact beyond the organisation
that makes it - for example, on suppliers, service users, staff and the natural environment.

This is because of the complex and interconnected nature of systems within our society, the
economy and the environment. One particular impact or decision - even a seemingly small
one - can lead to a chain of impacts, affecting several different sectors of society.

That's why we need to approach climate change adaptation policy by looking holistically at
the systems (ecological and human) that might be affected.

Planning on the basis of good information and understanding of the wider effects of action is
likely to lead to more cost effective and sustainable adaptation.

Making adaptation part of everyday decision-making

Adapting to climate change is a process. That's why it needs to be built in to our normal
planning and risk management processes, whether in business, government or any other
sphere. That way, we can make sustainable adaptation decisions, at the right time and in
order to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs.

There are a number of case studies which provide examples of how organisations are tackling
adaptation.