SUSTAINBLE

PLANNING UNIT II
• Eco system and food chain,
• natural cycles
1
AND • Ecological foot print
• Climate change and
Sustainability.

ARCHITECTUR
E
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2 There are a number of issues threatening our planet's biodiversity, from climate change
to invasive species. Below, we discuss some of the biggest threats facing biodiversity
today, as well as what the world can do (and is doing) to keep them in check.
Potential Threat to Ecosystems
1. Environmental Pollution
Air, land, water, and soil pollution simply destroy the health of crucial ecosystems. Be it as
a result of natural or anthropogenic causes, pollution potentially releases noxious
substances and destructive chemicals into the environment that damage the health of
living things and degrades the nature of non-living things.
In an aquatic system, for instance, water pollution can disturb the ecological balance by
accelerating plant and nutrient growth thereby causing the death of fish because of
suffocation resulting from dissolved oxygen depletion. The various implication of pollution
is the interference with natural cycles in the ecosystem such as the oxygen cycle, the
nitrogen cycle, the water cycle and the food chain, which results in adverse ecosystem
damage.

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 2. Over-exploitation of Natural Resources

3 The exploitation of the natural resources to the point of diminishing returns has significantly
destroys the ecosystem. Activities such as over hunting, over fishing, over mining, and excessive
logging have led to a reduction in community structures, population distributions, and species
breeding. For instance, excessive fishing has led to population collapse of more than a third of all
fish species and some are currently endangered.
Overhunting, overfishing and over-harvesting contribute greatly to the loss of biodiversity, killing
off numerous species over the past several hundred years. Poaching and other forms of hunting
for profit increase the risk of extinction; the extinction of an apex predator — or, a predator at
the top of a food chain — can result in catastrophic consequences for ecosystems.
What can we do? Conservation and continued awareness surrounding overexploitation,
especially poaching and overfishing, are key. Governments need to actively enforce rules against
such practices, and individuals can be more conscious of what they eat and purchase. Other
solutions, such as removing subsidies granted to large-scale fisheries, can help, too.
3. Invasive Species
Foreign species that find way into an ecosystem, either by human or natural initiation can wreck
serious havoc on the native members of the ecosystem. Whenever this happens, the native
species can be wiped out completely or may find it tough to survive.

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 Invasive species often compete for food with the native species and can also alter the
habitat. This gradually destroys ecosystems and leads to the extinction of species.
4 According to WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), the introduction of alien Nile Tilapia
into Lake Victoria in the 1970s led to the extinction of more than half of the native cichlid
fish family.
The introduction of non-native species into an ecosystem can threaten endemic wildlife
(either as predators or competing for resources), affect human health and upset
economies.
What can we do? According to the National Wildlife Federation, solutions include creating
systems to prevent introduction of invasive species in the first place, effectively
monitoring for new infestations and swiftly eradication newly detected invaders. Some
scientists use more creative means, such as Google Street View
4. Eutrophication
Eutrophication is the excessive concentration of chemical nutrients in water bodies to an
extent that it encourages the dense growth of plant life and algae blooms. Based on the
degree of eutrophication, the effects are depletion of oxygen, extensive deterioration of
water quality, poisoning of seafood and degradation of recreational opportunities. As a
result, it affects the survival of fish and other aquatic life forms. The presence of toxic
algal blooms in water bodies has endangered aquatic life and availability of quality water
thus posing a threat to ecosystems.

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 5. Climate Change and Global Warming
Climate change and global warming are leading threats to the ecosystems. Changes in climates
5 and global temperatures directly impact the abiotic factors essential for sustaining the biotic
elements. The present rate of rising global temperatures is destroying and altering the coral
reefs, mountain regions, water cycles, which are vital ecosystems resources. For instance,
different species requires particular abiotic factors to thrive. If global warming and climate
change continue, 10% of the entire world species might go extinct by 2050.
Climate change
Changes in climate throughout our planet's history have, of course, altered life on Earth in the
long run — ecosystems have come and gone and species routinely go extinct.
But rapid, manmade climate change speeds up the process, without affording ecosystems and
species the time to adapt. For example, rising ocean temperatures and diminishing Arctic sea ice
affects marine biodiversity and can shift vegetation zones, having global implications.
Overall, climate is a major factor in the distribution of species across the globe; climate change
forces them to adjust. But many are not able to cope, causing them to die out.
What can we do? Individuals can take various steps to fight climate change, such as reducing
their carbon footprints, promoting education and contacting elected officials. International
governments and cities can lead the charge, however, and the 2015 United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Paris was hopefully be a turning point.

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 6. Deforestation and habitat loss
Deforestation is a direct cause of extinction and loss of biodiversity. An estimated 18 million acres of
6 forest are lost each year, due in part to logging and other human practices, destroying the ecosystems on
which many species depend. Tropical rainforests in particular, such as the Amazon, hold a high percentage
of the world's known species, yet the regions themselves are in decline due to humans.
What can we do? The solutions to deforestation mostly lie in policy — companies and corporations can
adopt best practices and refuse to use timber and paper suppliers that contribute to deforestation. In the
same vein, conscious consumers can refuse to patronize companies that do, and put pressure on retailers
that employ unsustainable manufacturing methods. Individuals can also participate in land preservation
through charities and private corporations. Ultimately,
7. Pollution
From the burning of fossil fuels (releasing dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere and, in some cases,
depleting ozone levels) to dumping 19 billion pounds of plastic into the ocean every year, pollution
completely disrupts the Earth's ecosystems. While it may not necessarily cause extinction, pollutants do
have the potential to influents species' habits.
For example, acid rain, which is typically caused by the burning of fossil fuels, can acidify smaller bodies of
water and soil, negatively affecting the species that live there by changing breeding and feeding habits.
What can we do? The average person can do a number of things to fight atmospheric and hydrologic
pollution, such as recycling, conserving energy at home and using public transportation.

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 Ecological footprint:
7
What is it? An analysis that gauges our impact on the planet's biological systems, the ecological
footprint measures human consumption of natural resources in comparison to Earth's ecological
capacity to regenerate them. Individually, each of us has "a footprint," and, collectively, they
aggregate across geographical zones and other means of classification.
Calculation of the footprint takes into account just about everything we do; from the food we eat,
to the house we live in, to the car we drive and the other consumption habits we practice each
day. It's a very complex calculation that answers a straightforward question: how much of the
Earth's resources do our lifestyles require?
Defining and determining ecological footprints Determining ecological footprint is essentially
measuring supply and demand on a global scale for an entire planet's worth of commodities
and services. Ecological footprint (EF) analysis does this by assessing the biologically productive
land and marine area required to produce the resources a population consumes and absorb the
corresponding waste, using prevailing technology. This approach can also be applied to an
activity such as the manufacturing of a product or driving of a car, and everything considered in a
given footprint analysis is converted into a normalized measure of land area called 'global
hectares' (gha). On a large (countries, or continents, for example) scale, footprint analysis is
useful for determining to what extent a nation uses more (or less) than is available within its
borders, or to what extent the nation's lifestyle would be replicable worldwide. On a smaller
scale, EF analysis can be a useful tool to educate people about how their lifestyle compares with
the planet's ability to keep up and renew the resources used, with the goal of changing personal
behavior to be more sustainable.

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 How the Footprint Works
8 Ecological Footprint accounting measures the demand on and supply of nature.
On the demand side, the Ecological Footprint measures the ecological assets that a given
population requires to produce the natural resources it consumes (including plant-based
food and fiber products, livestock and fish products, timber and other forest products,
space for urban infrastructure) and to absorb its waste, especially carbon emissions.
On the supply side, a city, state or nations biocapacity represents the productivity of its
ecological assets (including cropland, grazing land, forest land, fishing grounds, and
built-up land). These areas, especially if left unharvested, can also absorb much of the
waste we generate, especially our carbon emissions.
Biodiversity suffers when the planet's biocapacity cannot keep pace with human
consumption and waste generation

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 The Earth’s biocapacity is the amount of biologically productive area – cropland, pasture,
forest, and fisheries – that is available to meet humanity’s needs. The Ecological Footprint
9 tracks this in terms of the area of biologically productive land and water needed to
provide ecological resources and services – food, fibre, and timber, land on which to build,
and land to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) released by burning fossil fuels. The Ecological
Footprint tracks the use of six categories of productive surface areas: cropland, grazing
land, fishing grounds, built-up land, forest area, and carbon demand on land.
Since the late 1980s, we have been in overshoot - the Ecological Footprint has exceeded
the Earth’s biocapacity - by about 25%. Effectively, the Earth’s regenerative capacity can
no longer keep up with demand – people are turning resources into waste faster than
nature can turn waste back into resources. Humanity is no longer living off nature’s
interest, but drawing down its capital. This growing pressure on ecosystems is causing
habitat destruction or degradation and permanent loss of productivity, threatening both
biodiversity and human well-being.
Both the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity are expressed in global hectares—globally
comparable, standardized hectares with world average productivity.
Each city, state or nation’s Ecological Footprint can be compared to its biocapacity.

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10

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 If a population’s Ecological Footprint exceeds the region’s biocapacity, that region
runs an ecological deficit. Its demand for the goods and services that its land and seas can
11 provide—fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, wood, cotton for clothing, and carbon dioxide
absorption—exceeds what the region’s ecosystems can renew. A region in ecological
deficit meets demand by importing, liquidating its own ecological assets (such as
overfishing), and/or emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If a region’s
biocapacity exceeds its Ecological Footprint, it has an ecological reserve.
Conceived in 1990 by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees at the University of British
Columbia, the Ecological Footprint launched the broader Footprint movement, including
the carbon Footprint, and is now widely used by scientists, businesses, governments,
individuals, & institutions working to monitor ecological resource use and advance
sustainable development.

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 Action to combat Climate Change And Its Impacts
12 Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and
affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow.
People are experiencing the significant impacts of climate change, which include changing weather
patterns, rising sea level, and more extreme weather events. The greenhouse gas emissions from human
activities are driving climate change and continue to rise. They are now at their highest levels in history.
Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century and is
likely to surpass 3 degrees Celsius this century—with some areas of the world expected to warm even
more. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.
Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient
economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people are turning to renewable energy and a range
of other measures that will reduce emissions and increase adaptation efforts.
But climate change is a global challenge that does not respect national borders. Emissions anywhere
affect people everywhere. It is an issue that requires solutions that need to be coordinated at the
international level and it requires international cooperation to help developing countries move toward a
low-carbon economy.
To address climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris on 12 December
2015. The Agreement entered into force shortly thereafter, on 4 November 2016. In the agreement, all
countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and given the
grave risks, to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius. You can learn more about the agreement here.
Implementation of the Paris Agreement is essential for the achievement of the Sustainable Development
Goals, and provides a roadmap for climate actions that will reduce emissions and build climate resilience.

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 CLIMATE ACTION – WHY IT MATTERS

13 PARIS AGREEMENT
Thanks to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change we know:
From 1880 to 2012, average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. To put this into
perspective, for each 1 degree of temperature increase, grain yields decline by about 5
per cent. Maize, wheat and other major crops have experienced significant yield
reductions at the global level of 40 megatonnes per year between 1981 and 2002 due to a
warmer climate.
Oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished and sea level has
risen. From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded
due to warming and ice melted. The Arctic’s sea ice extent has shrunk in every successive
decade since 1979, with 1.07 million km² of ice loss every decade
Given current concentrations and on-going emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely
that by the end of this century, the increase in global temperature will exceed 1.5°C
compared to 1850 to 1900 for all but one scenario. The world’s oceans will warm and ice
melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted as 24 – 30cm by 2065 and 40-63cm
by 2100. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries even if emissions
are stopped

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020

 ❖ Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased by almost 50 per cent since 1990
❖ Emissions grew more quickly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous
14 decades
❖ It is still possible, using a wide array of technological measures and changes in behaviour, to
limit the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels
❖ Major institutional and technological change will give a better than even chance that global
warming will not exceed this threshold
❖ Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in
all countries
❖ Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
❖ Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change
mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
❖ Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by
2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful
mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green
Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible
❖ Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and
management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing
on women, youth and local and marginalized communities

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 ❖ Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the
15 primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate
change.
At present we are experiencing a warming of the climate which is called global warming. It will be
helpful for key cities of the world to sign the Kyoto protocols in order to lessen the greenhouse
gas emissions. These cities have an enormous power to change the environment. We must
acknowledge the basic and difficult task of shaping the cities because they are the ultimate
drivers of our social systems.
First, we need to know and understand what sustainability is. Consciousness and responsiveness
will help us find ways on how to reduce the dangers of global warming. We are capable of
building a sustainable lifestyle that we all yearn for. For this reason we must also create a better
and brighter world where we can all live in harmony with nature.
Our families are the smallest unit of the society and the city where we live is a direct and
concrete measure of what we create. This construct is our connection with the built surroundings
and environment, politics and government, social and economic ideas. Looking at a snapshot of
our municipality allows us to analyze our ability to help transform ourselves in better sustainable
nations.
The change that we need is lies within ourselves and our community. If each one of us will
contribute, it is not be impossible to win this challenge. If we manage our waste disposal
methods effectively and consider sustainability, the world will see an evident transformation. Let
us all work out on developing sustainable practices and make sure that each thing that we do
does not aggravate the situation but instead improves the environment.

ELECTIVE-V AR6015- SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE UNIT-2 SEM-9/5YR 12/.08/2020