Unit 7 :

Human COMMUNITIES
and the Environment

1
Human Population and Growth: Impacts on
Environment, Human Health and welfares
As of Sept., 2014

(Super)exponential growth
World Population: 7.3 billion 2
Trends of Global Population

3
Likely population by 2050: 9 billion

4
Population projections
For 2025

5
 Global Megacities

Number of large cities growing. World’s urban population will

increase from 3.1 billion to 5 billion from 2004-2030. 6
 Causes of Rapid population growth
It is mainly due to the decrease in death rate and
increase in birth rate
Growth rate = Birth Rate - Death Rate
1.1% = 1.9% - 0.8% (as of 2012)
Low death rates due to:
– Inventions of modern medical facilities
– availability of antibiotics, immunization decreases
deaths and infant mortality
– better food supplies and nutrition,
– improvements in sanitation, and
– access to clean water
7
 Birth Rate higher in agricultural countries as the
children's are required to help their parents in the
field.

Lack of Family planning: 97% of pop. growth in

poor nations is due to little access to reproductive
services.

8
(Cunningham et. al: Environmental Science: A Global Concern)
 Calculating Growth Rates (r)
• Nt = Noexp(r t)
where No= pop. at time t, Nt = pop at later time (t),
and r is the growth rate, and t is time in years.
• Rearranging to solve for r:
(Nt /No) = exp(r t)
r = ln(Nt/No) / t

Example: with current population of 7 billion, 1%

growth rate = 70 million new people/year.

9
Population growth rates

10
 Calculating Doubling Times
The “Rule of 70”:
– Doubling time = 70/percentage growth rate
– (… comes from ln(2) = 0.69)

Example:
– Current growth rate is 1.1%, so doubling time is
70/1.1 = 64 years (ca. 2075).
– Projected pop at 2078 would be ~14 billion

11
12
Population Explosion
The enormous increase in population due to
low death rate and high birth rate is termed as
population explosion.
The human population is not increasing at a
uniform rate in all parts of the world.

13
 Fertility rates affect population growth rates

Total fertility rate (TFR) = average number of

children born per woman during her lifetime

Replacement fertility = the TFR that keeps

population size stable

For humans, replacement fertility is about 2.1.

14
Fertility rates (replacement is 2.1)

15
(Rubenstein: Introduction to Human Geography)
 Total fertility rates by region

African nations have the highest TFRs.

European nations have the lowest TFRs.
16
Variation of Population based on age
structure

1. Pre –productive population (0-14 years)

2. Reproductive population (15-44 years)
3. Post reproductive population (above 45 years)

17
 Age Structure
Pyramid shaped (India) Bell shaped (France)
Pre reproductive age Pre reproductive age group
group is more. A large population and reproductive
group of young age people age group population is
will enter in to the more or less equal. So the
reproductive age group people enter into
which will increase the reproductive age group will
pop growth. Less no of old not change. Thus population
age people – less death growth is stable.
Urn shaped (Germany )
Pre reproductive age group
population is smaller then
reproductive age group
population. In the next 10
years the people enter into
reproductive age group will
be less than before resulting
in decrease of population18
Demographic transition:
Population growth is generally related to be economic
development.
The death rates and birth rates fall due to improved living
conditions.
This results in the population growth.
This phenomenon is referred as demographic transitions.
 Refers to the impact of economic development on birth and
death rates, responsible for the gradual reduction in pop
growth rates during the late-20th century
 The DT is a critical shift in population growth and age
structures that differentiate developed nations from
developing nations

19
 Four stages of DT
1. The Preindustrial Stage when there is little population growth
because harse social conditions lead to both high death and high
birth rates.
2. The Transitional Stage, when industrialization begins and
health care improves, resulting in lowered death rates, but birth
rates remain high. Most of the developing world here.
3. The Industrial Stage, when the birth rate drops due to
modernization (and its accompanying social changes). Many
developed countries and a few developing countries here.
4. Finally, the Postindustrial Stage is recognized by further
reductions in birth rates, approaching or even below zero
population growth. Approximately 13% of the world population
(mostly European countries) is in this stage.

A complete DT exhibits both declining birth and death rates 20

 Demographic Transition
Stage 1: Death rates and birth rates both high.
Stage 2: Fall in death rates, Population increases.
Stage 3. Decline in birth rate stabilizes population.
Stage 4. Birth and death rates both low, population stable.
Stage 5 (new). Higher death rates than birth rates, populations
contract.

21
 Population Pyramids for the
four demographic transition phases

22
 Population Age Structure
Developing Countries Developed Countries

Growth is determined by teenagers – the population wave of

the future. 30% of pop’n <15 years = 1.9 billion more into
reproductive years. 23
Problems of Population growth

1. Increasing demands for food and natural resources

2. Inadequate housing and health service
3. Loss of agricultural land
4. Unemployment and socio-political unrest
5. Environmental pollution

24
Effect of population explosion
1. Poverty: Infant mortality is one of the most tragic indicators of
poverty. There are still 34 developing countries where more than
1 in 10 children die before they reaches the age of five.
2. Population explosion leads to environmental degradation
3. Pop. Exp. Causes over exploitation of natural resources. So
shortage of resources for future generation
4. Increase in pop. increases the diseases
5. Over crowding of cities lead to development of slums
6. Unemployment
7. Lack of basic amenities like water supply and sanitation, etc

25
 Current consequences
• Water depletion & • Famines
pollution (33%) • Unemployment
• Soil degradation (43%) • 2B malnourished (½
• Deforestation children)
• Biodiversity • Resource depletion
• Extinction (27,000/ yr.) • US oil: 15 yrs
• World oil: 50 yrs

26
(Newton and Dillingham: The Human Family Grows: Population as a Problem)
Carbon Foot Prints

27
 What is the connection between Energy and
Carbon Dioxide?

=
Energy Use

CO2 makes up approximately

85 percent of total greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions. 28
 What human activity produces the most greenhouse
gases (CO2)?

1. Electricity
Generation
2. Transportation
3. Industry
4. Agricultural
5. Commercial
6. Residential

29
Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2004, EPA.
The average person generates 94lbs of CO2 per day.

30
31
 Carbon Reduction Solutions
• Reducing CO2 emissions benefits:
• The environment
• The economy
• Society

• Practices that benefit all three of these are

said to be sustainable.

32
Resettlement and Rehabilitation

33
 Introduction
• Development projects very essential.
• For development natural resources are utilized.
• Most affected are locals or native people
• Poorest of poor and underprivileged people
• Various types of project lead to displacement of
locals
• Displacement due to dams
• Displacement due to mining
• Displacement due to formation of PA’s
34
 Displacement due to dams
• Need space for such huge project.
• Locals, tribals and natives are affected.
• Families have to leave the ancestral place and need to settle
elsewhere.
• Hirakund dam: 20000 people in 250 villages
• Bhakra Nangal : not even half of displaced resettled.
• Sardar Sarovar: 41,000 families will get displaced due to
reservoir.
• Tehri dam: 10000 people of Tehri town
• A review by the World Bank posits that an average of 13,000
people are displaced by each new large dam constructed
currently (Cernea 1996b).
• By this estimate, Indians displaced by the country’s 3000+ large
dams would number over 39 million.
35
 Displacement due to mining
• Several thousand hectares of land are covered in
Mining operations
• Mining accidents also cause displacement.
• Jharia Coal Mines, Jharkhand: 0.3 million people
asked to leave the place
– Reason: Underground fires
– No alternative provided yet.
– Cost of R & R: 18000 crores

36
Displacement due to creation of Protected
area
• Displacement also takes place where protected areas are
established as compensatory measures for the forest lands
and natural habitats that are lost.
• A welcome step for natural resource conservation
• But tribals loose the right to their natural homes
• Entry is prohibited in core areas.
• Valmiki Tiger reserve: 142 villages in Bihar of Tharu
Community
• Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary: 53,472 tribal families in Kerala.

37
 Rehabilitation- issues and policies

• Right to housing a basic human right

• Government acquires land for various reasons
• Already poor tribals most affected.
• Loss of land, food, home, jobs, property assets, social
isolation
• Cash compensation not enough, tribals are unaware so
might be a case of cheating.
• Communal settlement does not happen.

38
Disaster Management: Floods, Earth quakes,
cyclones and landslides

39
 Why?
• Climate change is likely to be perceived through experience of
extreme weather events
• Therefore, response to climate change will perhaps happen
through adaptation to climate hazards
• Important to characterize the institutional mechanisms and
structures in place for responding to natural (and climate-
related) disasters

40
National response mechanism

41
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA : NODAL MINISTRIES /
DEPARTMENT FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT

DISASTERS NODAL MINISTRIES

Natural Disasters Agriculture

Air Accidents Civil Aviation
Civil Strife Home Affairs
Railway Accidents Railways
Chemical Disasters Environment
Biological Disasters Health & family Welfare
Nuclear Accident Atomic Energy
42
43
 Case Study: Environmental Movement:
Chipko, Silent vallley, Bishnios of Rajasthan

44
45
 Chipko Movement
 The Chipko movement, or Chipko Andolan, was a forest conservation
movement in India. It began in 1970s in Uttarakhand, then a part of Uttar
Pradesh(at the foothills of Himalayas) and went on to become a rallying
point for many future environmental movements all over the world.
 It created a precedent for starting nonviolent protest in India and its
success meant that the world immediately took notice of this non-violent
movement, which was to inspire in time many similar eco-groups by
helping to slow down the rapid deforestation, expose vested interests,
increase social awareness and the need to save trees , increase ecological
awareness, and demonstrate the viability of people power.
 The Chipko Andolan or the Chipko movement is a movement that
practiced methods of Satyagraha where both male and female activists
from Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Suraksha Devi,
Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Virushka Devi and
others.

46
 Bishnios of Rajasthan
 Bishnoi (also known as Vishnoi) is a Hindu religious sect found in the
Western Thar Desert and northern states of India.
 The Bishnoi narrate the story of Amrita Devi, a member of the sect who
inspired as many as 363 other Bishnois to go to their deaths in protest of
the cutting down of Khejri trees in September 1730.
 The maharajah of Jodhpur, Abhay Singh, requiring wood for the
construction of a new palace, sent soldiers to cut trees in the village of
Khejarli, which was called Jehnad at that time. Noticing their actions,
Devi hugged a tree in an attempt to stop them. Her family then adopted
the same strategy, as did other local people when the news spread. She
told the soldiers that she considered their actions to be an insult to her
faith and that she was prepared to die to save the trees. The soldiers did
indeed kill her and others until Abhay Singh was informed of what was
going on and intervened to stop the massacre.
 Some of the 363 Bishnois who were killed protecting the trees were
buried in Khejarli, where a simple grave with four pillars was erected.
Every year, in September, the Bishnois assemble there to commemorate
the sacrifice made by their people to preserve their faith and religion. [1
47
Environmental Ethics:

48
Role of Indian and other religions and
cultures in environmental conservation

49
 Environmental Protection Vedas
 Vedic literature (about 1500 BC) clearly speaks that there is an integral
balance in Man, Nature and The God. Natural forces were considered to
be expressions ofthe Lord Himself and are venerable entities. Vedas
envisage a beautiful natural environment on earth and command the man
not to pollute.
 In Rig Veda it is mentioned that universe consists of five basic elements
namely Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space (Ether). These five elements
provide basis for life in everything and man is ordained to conserve them.
 Yajur Veda talks about propitiation and peace of all components of earth.
 Atharvana Veda considers earth to be the Mother and the creations are her
offsprings. There is a command not to degrade the resources of Mother
Earth.
 Water is considered to be the milk of the Mother Earth which fosters the
growth of all its offsprings and makes them pure in 100 ways.
 Rivers are the source of power for life and water is the symbol of dignity.
Veda commands the knowledge to keep the environment free from all
impurities and that can be done by way of Yagnas or sacrificial fire. 50
Environmental Communication and public awareness

Garbage burning continues…..

E-Rikshaws, a good and a bad step?

51
52
1. AIR POLLUTION IS NOT JUST A LOCAL ISSUE

Case Study of Berlin

ACTIONS IN NCR ARE IMPORTANT FOR DELHI CLEAN

53
 Case Study
(CNG Vehicle in Delhi)
 The Indian City of Delhi is part of the national capital region (NCR) with
about 14.3 million inhabitants. Due to the rapid increase in vehicle
kilometers driven and the poor technical conditions of the vehicles, the load
of ambient air with automobile pollutants is extremely high.
 The Central Pollution Control Board estimates that city traffic added as much
as 2,000 tons of pollutants a day in 2000. The permissible standard of 240
micrograms for suspended particulates (annual average) and 240 micrograms
per cubic meter (24 hour standard) are exceeded, but no exact analysis based
on monitoring station readings are available.
 According to a study issued by the Centre for Science and Environment, New
Delhi, which was carried out by an international consultant team, until
March 2001 about 275 CNG buses, 12,000 CNG taxis and cars and 13,500 CNG
three-wheelers were on the road by that time. As 2002 came to a close,
however, all diesel buses in Delhi have been converted to CNG and air
pollution levels are noticeably down.
 Because the responsible government had taken no appropriate action to
combat air pollution, the Supreme Court of India took over the responsibility
and issued on July 28, 1998 a time frame for measures to be taken. 54
• The following order issued by Honorable Supreme Cout of India.
 Replacement of all pre-1990 autos and taxis with new vehicles using
clean fuels by March 31, 2000.
 Financial incentives for replacement of all post-1990 autos and taxis
with new vehicles on clean fuels by March 31, 2001.
 No buses more than eight years old to ply except on CNG or other clean
fuels, by March 31, 2000.
 Entire city bus fleet (DTC and private) to be steadily converted to single
fuel mode on CNG by March 31, 2001.
 New interstate bus terminals (ISBT) to be built at entry points in the
north and southwest to avoid pollution due to entry of inter-state buses
by March 31, 2000.
 Gas Authority of India Ltd. to expand its CNG dispensing capacity
from nine stations to 80 by March 31, 2001.
 Two independent fuel testing labs to be established by June 1, 1999.
 Automatic inspection and maintenance (I&M) facilities to be set up for
commercial vehicles in the first phase, immediately.
 Comprehensive I&M programs to be started by transport department
and private sector by March 31, 2001. 55
56