Aayush Sharma

Global perspective IA 1
Q1 5 QUESTIONS
1) what do you understand by the term biodiversity and eco system?
2) What are human activities that pose threat to biodiversity and eco system?
3) Are there any ways to reduce the loss to ecosystem?
4) Can’t biodiversity and human activities co exist?
5) What do u understand by sustainable development?

Q2
Biodiversity

Biodiversity comes from two words bio means life and diversity means
variability thus biodiversity is the variety of all living things, variety of all
living things, plants animals and microcobes and the ecosystem .

Human activities that cause loss of biodiversity and ecosystem are

1 Agriculture
2-plastic production
3-emissiion of carbon dioxide and others green honse gases
4-destruction of reefs
5-over hunting and over exploitation of resources

How have the following human activities caused the losses of biodiversity?

Source 1
1-Agriculture
With an ever increasing World population there is a soaring demand for
enough food the population growth rate is hence driving the world to clear
forest in order to create. More room for agriculture. Nearly 40./. Of forest
cover has been changed converted in not land for agricultureThe history of
agriculture began thousands of years ago. After gathering wild grains
beginning at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers began to plant them
around 11,500 years ago. Pigs, sheep and cattle were domesticated over
10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11
regions of the world. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale
monoculture in the twentieth century came to dominate agricultural
output, though about 2 billion people still depended on subsistence
agriculture into the twenty-first.

Effects and f deforestation are

1 destruction of wildlife as their ecosystem (forest) are
destroyed
2 Global warming and climate changes
3- Aquatic resources degradation

Source 2
2- plastic production

The invention of plastic has created one of the most problematic pollution
ever witnessed on the earth . plastic remains in the environment for
thousands of years and have long lasting consequences on ecosystem.
Presently the world produces 300 million tons of plastic yearly.nearly 40./.
Winds up in the landfills with upto 20 million tons finds its way into the
world’ ocean’s badly affecting aquatic life the chemical present in plastic
interference with endonomic system and change their reproductive
patterns . THEY CAN CAUSE rapid all divisions which may result in
cancer .plastic eating by wildlife cause blockage in its digestive
tracts .plastic remains in the environment for thousands of years and have
long lasting consequences on ecosystem.
Source 3
3.Emission of carbon dioxide and other green house gas

The emission of carbon dioxide and other green house gases namely
meltane and hydro fluorocarbons are humans include through are
combustion of fossil’s fuels and the use of man made products . Today ,due
to higher release of such gases ,there is Increase in global temperature rise
in sea level and extreme weather events such as heat waves . floating
tsunami and droughts .the sea level rise and extreme weather events have
altered ocean and land ecosystem , impacted food chain and biodiversity
and intensefies desertification.

Source 4
4- Destruction of reefs
Ocean reefs are the global’s richest oceaginic ecosystem but human
activities have leds to their destruction by upsetting the natural flow of the
nutrients and energy that supports plants and animal species in the marine
world .water pollution ,climate change over fishing and acidification of
marine water are the repercussions of human activities that have caused
the destruction of coral reefs .over one fifth of global reefs are already
destroyed and one fourth might extinct by 2050. Coral reefs are dying
around the world. Damaging activities include coral mining, pollution
(organic and non-organic), overfishing, blast fishing, the digging of canals
and access into islands and bays. Other dangers include disease, destructive
fishing practices and warming oceans. The livehood of about 500 million
people globally depends on coral reefs

Source 5
5- overhunting n over exploitation
Overhunting n over exploitation of natural resources through overfishing
and mining have reduced many plant and animal species .These humans
activities do not give room for the replacement , growth or development of
over exploited products.
Overhunting can cause extinction destroy natural resources and breeding
areas and affects food chain . Therefore , whenever any living things or
native species that plays a part in an ecosystem is taken away in large
quantities n become extinct, the entire ecosystem suffers and can be
permanently altered.

Q3
Personal reflection
Having an ecologist or an environmentalist in the vicinity is always an
added advantage over the peers in writing a report .in many cases,it is mr
Anuj Saxena ,a senior officer at the department of biological
science,Trombay ,Mumbai .He gave me deep inside knowledge as to how
his governmental organization works ,their endeavors and challenges
Beside him, I read a lot of about the topic from Google and the related
websites .The national Geography and BBC wild websites gave authentic
information about the related topic .I am also indebted to my class
teacher who made the challenging topic lucid for us ,the students
He gave me 50 years study of Bombay as it was called then about how
things changed over .Though he gave me the information of area
specific,but the information he shared could be universally applied to all
parts of the world.He told me that as the population increases,so does the
pressure on the earth to feed them increases.This puts a lot of pressure
on the delicate environment and the inhabitants,especially the plants and
animals.Effects of population can be seen in the depletion of resources
and increase in the pollution.He advised me to be a torch-bearer in
fighting against the hazards posed by the humans against the
environment. He gave me the example of Greta Thunberg and Malala
Yousufzai,the young turks who have taken multi-nationals to task and
mend their ways to bring order and peace in the world,be in terms of
social justice,women empowerment or nature-care.He also told me about
various NGOs like WWF,PETA,EHSAAS, etc have done commendable job in
saving the planet and wildlife.