Transcript Definitions of some Terminology

Some terminologies-relating to Environment
•
Ecology:
The scientific study of the relationships of living organisms
each other and with their environment (Southwick,1976).
with
-The study of interactions of organisms with the physical and
biological environment (Ricklefs and Miller,2000).
•
Environment:
The complete range of external conditions physical and
which an organism lives.
biological
in
- The environment refers to the physical and biological systems which
provide our basic life support and which contribute to our psychological
well being.
•
Environmental ScienceThe study of science subjects which deals with
environment. It is
evident that Ecology and Environmental Science are not mutually
exclusive but have maximum contents and concepts in common.
- Environmental Science integrates Ecology as well as other branches of
Science with Economics, Politics, Philosophy etc exhibiting a holistic
principle in the domain of environment.
Environmental studies: This is a new terminology which
has been coined very recently to deal
with
the
environmental issues in a generalized
manner
give
priorities to
socio-cultural aspects and at the same
time laying less emphasis on the complicacy of hard
core science so that a learner as well as common people
can
easily understand and able to appreciate the
environmental problems in a general way.
Environmental Biology: The study of problems that result
from natural hazards and human exploitation on
biological world.
Ecotoxicology : The scientific enquiry to the fate and
action of human made substances like pesticides,
detergents on natural world, especially the way in
which such substances affect human health.
Finally, ecology must be distinguished from a number
of other endeavors that are often confused with it.
Environmentalism, Conservationism and
preservationist are social and political movements, not
fields of scientific enquiry. In their most constructive
and responsible form, these movements seek to
educate the public about human-induced
environmental problems and to effect changes that will
alleviate such problems.
Ecosystem- its Concepts
Definition of Ecosystem: Although the ecosystem concept emerged as early
as 1935, only in the past four decades, it has undergone extensive
development and application. The ecosystem concept considerably
strengthened the science of ecology by
(i) focusing equal attention on abiotic and biotic components and
(ii) explicitly recognizing the potential for studying ecological processes at
multiple scales.
Definition:
1.
The term ecosystem was first coined by the British Ecologist, A.G. Tanslay
(1935), extracting the idea for a system from physics. It is the system so
formed which provides the basic units of nature on the face of the earth.
These ecosystems may be of various kinds and sizes.
2.
Ecosystem is defined as a spatially explicit unit of the earth that includes
all of the organisms along with all components of the abiotic environment
within its bound areas (Likens. 1992).
3.The functional relationship between community and habitat are many and
complex, constituting on ecosystem (Kendeigh, 1974).
4. Any unit that includes all of the organisms i.e. the community in a
given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy
leads to clearly defined trophie structure, biotic diversity and material cycles
within the system is an ecological system or ecosystem (E.P. Odum, 1971).
5.An ecosystem is basically an energy processing and nutrient regenerating
system whose components have evolved over a long period of time. (R.L.
Smith, 1990).
Summing up all those above-mentioned definitions, the ecosystem may
be defined as an open, and self-sustaining unit or system within
environment composed specific structural components (biotic and
abiotic) the interactions of which result the flow of energy and cycle of
materials.
Hypothetical representation of food chain
& food web
Cybernetics or Stability of Ecosystem:
•
Ecosystems are capable of self-maintenance and self-regulation as
are their component populations and organisms.
•
Thus, the science of controls vis-à-vis cybernetics (Gr. Kybernetes
= Pilot or governor) as founded by Wiener (1984) has important
application in ecology since man increasingly tends to disrupt
natural controls or attempts to substitute artificial mechanisms for
natural ones.
•
Homeostasis (Homeo =same; stasis=standing) refers to the
tendency for biological systems to resist change and to remain in a
state of equilibrium.
•
Homoeostatic mechanism operates from the individual level to
ecosystem level.
The stability may be achieved in two ways:
• Through feedback control
• Through redundancy of components
Stability through feedback control
• An ecosystem as a cybernetic or homoeostatic system consists of a set of
interdependent parts or subsystems enclosed in a defined boundary).
• Outside is an environment, which provides the inputs necessary for it’s functioning. The
system’s output is any attribute transmitted to the environment.
• The output from the system is directly related to the input. If input ceases, the system no
longer functions. Homeostatic system exists which maintains balance between input and
output. Some of the output is fed back into the system to influence future output.
• A feedback system involves an idea state or set point towards which the system adjusts.
If the feedback accelerates a deviation away from the set point, it is called positive.
Although the positive feedback is necessary initially for the growth, survival and higher
production but unless controlled, it can destroy the system. Counteracting positive
feedback, is negative feedback. If halts or reverses a movement away from the set point
by controlling the behavior of the input.
Example
• In the predator prey relationship, input of energy in predator
(though ingestion) is dependent on and is controlled by the output of
energy (chasing of pray). Here, the stored energy is fed back to
ensure future input of energy.
•This predator pray interaction represents a good example of
cybernetic stability.
• Population explosion of pray acts as a positive feedback resulting
the growth of predator population which on its part acts as a
negative feed back controlling the unwanted population rise of the
prey.
• Thus an equilibrium of both population is maintained
Growth of predator
population
Growth of prey
population
Stability through redundancy of components:
Performing of a specific function by more than one component is called
redundancy. Redundancy enhances stability. For example, diversity
of species enhances stability of ecosystem. Owing to the
involvement of so many organisms enjoying different trophic level,
the food web offers more stability than food chain.
Types of stability
From ecosystem point of view, there are two
types of stability:
•
Resistance stability: The ability of an
ecosystem to resist perturbations and
maintain its structure and function intact.
Therefore, it has the ability to avoid
displacement.
•
Resilience stability: The ability of an
ecosystem to return to its original state
quickly after being disturb by a
perturbation.
Environmental Components and relationship with society
Ecosystem as defined by A.G. Tansley has two integral and
interacting components: biota (the living part) and habitat
(non living part).
Biodiversity may be simply defined as the totality of diverse
kinds of biota (microbes, plants and animals) including all
conceivable varieties from micro to macro level (Datta,
2006).
Beck (1995 ) suggested “ that we need to shift the focus of
our understanding and research on the process of
ecological degradation from the physical and natural
sciences to an analysis of the social origins of ecological
degradation”.
Duncan (1961) first developed POET model, to describe
the relationship between social factors and the natural
environment. According to POET model human societies
are being composed of four interrelated components.
In this model P stands for human population,
O for social organization,
E form natural environment and
T for technologies employed by society.
Brulle (2000) stated, “A society’s impact on natural
environment
is
seen
to
be
a
function
of
the
simultaneous interaction of population level, social
organization and technological development”.
Ehrich and Hoildren (1971) postulated the IPAT model
where I indicates Impacts of human activities on the
natural environment and sequentially three variables
are
P-Population,
A-Affluence and
T-Technological development.
In conclusion the “New Ten commandments” (Datta 1990) are mentioned below
which may be helpful as a key to the survival of man and biosphere. (It is well
known that the Ten Commandments are the ten laws which were proclaimed by
God to Moses on Mt. Sinai).
1. Man’s place and role in nature should be reexamined.
2. Man should refrain from making large scale transformation of environment
without proper environmental impact analysis.
3. man as apart of Earth Watch programme should ensure that the fate of the
“global commons” does not end in the “tragedy of the commons”.
4. A balance between population growth and resource utilization should be
established.
5. The gap between the rich and the poor, between the developed and developing
as well as between the developed and underdeveloped countries should be
narrowed.
6. Equitable distribution of resources to all for rightful use should be allowed and
needful conservation of vital resources should be practiced.
7. Essential ecological processes should be allowed to continue in time and space
without any impediment.
8. Abuse and misuse of resources should be avoided and wastes should be
recycled as far practicable.
9. Man will have to develop a profound respect for nature.
10. Man should remain altruistic.
KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM: THE CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWARK :
• Here we are dealing with two aspects ecological
knowledge:
• i) the formal knowledge- that is next book- based
ecological knowledge derived by the scientific
community, going through a hypotheticodeductive process;
• ii) the traditional knowledge- that is available with
local communities which has just standard
receiving adequate attention from the scientific
community; this knowledge base accumulated by
traditional societies on basis of an experimental
process is all the time being refined and adapted
to changing socio- ecological situations, both in
space and time.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge:
• Traditional
societies,
based
on
their
accumulated wisdom have evolved their own
knowledge base linked to biodiversity in all its
scalar dimensions (sub- specific, species and
ecosystems
and
landscapes)
linking
conservation with their sustainable livelihood
concerns. Based on a value system that they
cherish
(
intangible
culture
valuesRamakrishnan 2008b), they seek tangible
benefits from the natural and human- managed
ecosystems placed within the landscape.
TEK linked with biodiversity in all its scalar
dimensions can be broadly classified into:
(i) ethnobiological – aspects dealing with
medicinal species and lesser- known species of
food value;
(ii) that links ecological processes, at the species,
ecosystem and landscape levels with social
processes right from family, village, village cluster
and regional levels; and
(iii) ethical/cultural with intangible values that they
treasure (Ramakrishnan 2008b), often times with
tangible implications (what may be viewed as
socially valued species, ecosystems and
landscapes with tangible economic benefits linked
to them Ramakrishnan 2008a, c).
TEK: The Basis of Linking Ecological with
Social Processes
• Socio-ecological value at the species level
• Species Level Interconnections in Traditional
Agriculture
• Traditional society maintain a variety of complex multispecies agroecosystem, operated under varied levels
of intensification. Ranging from casually managed
shifting agriculture system, through a whole variety
rotational fallows, agroforestry systems, compound
farms, traditional cash cropping systems, crop rotation
system etc. Maintained at the middle intencity levels,
leading to the modern high energy input agriculture.
The complexity of these agro-ecosystems are due to
TEK based biodiversity (sub- specific and species
level crop and associated biodiversity) management,
both in space and time.
Species level Inter connections in Natural
Ecosystem
• In the successional forests on north- eastern hills of
India, a variety of socially selected species are also
ecologically significant keystone species.
• Nepalese alder (Alnus nepalensis), a nitrogen fixing
species (fixing up to about 125kg N/Ha/year) and
many bamboo species (Bambusa tulda, B. khasiana
and Dendrocalamus hamiltoni) with the ability to
conserve nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the
early successional shifting agricultural fallows play a
key role, both in space and time, in determining
forest successional process.
• Such an interphase between ecological and social
processes are critical for natural resources
management with community participation, and for
biodiversity management.
Socially Valued Ecosystems:
•
•
•
•
The socially valued ecosystems with a range of
socio-ecological dimensions;
Traditional agricultural system that meet with the
livelihood needs of traditional society
They may be specially conserved and rigorously
protected ecosystem of socio-cultural value
To which one could also put in ecological values,
particularly in the contemporary context of rapid
land use conversions and linked land degradation
all around.
Socially Valued Human- managed Ecosystems
• With traditional societies living in natural resources rich
regions of the tropical world, being dependent upon
biodiversity and being part of the ecosystems functioning,
the natural resources contained therein are critical for their
livelihood requirement.
• In such a context, socio-cultural dimensions have crucial
role in determining ecosystem properties, with implications
for their sustainable management. Shifting agriculture,
which represents a complex set of subsystems within, is
indicative if this linkage between food security of
traditional societies and their efforts towards conserving
their cultural identity.
Value of Biodiversity
An alternative angle of VISION
Academic
Applied
Academic value
Systematics
Evolution
Ecology
Genetics
Environment, Development and Technology
• In the context of environmentally-sound technologies, the term
environment will be predicated to mean any component of the
atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, or biosphere perceived as
inseparable components.
• Development will be taken to mean “development of human beings”,
namely, a process of satisfaction of basic human needs and welfare
(Table 1.1), leading to the concept of needs-oriented development.
Technology will be taken to mean modifier of the environment on the
one hand and as a negotiable commodity with a given set of “term of
exchange” on the other.
• Table 1.1: A Simple List of Basic Needs and Welfare
Material Needs
Material Satisfiers
Material Satisfiers
Physiological Individual
Food, Water, Clothes,
Shelter
Creativity Identity
Impacts Model of Anthropogenic Economic
Cycles on Ecological Cycles
Environmentally Sound Technologies
(Environmental Technologies)
• Environmentally-Sound Technologies (EnSTs) may
be defined in terms of the sustainability concept as
technologies whose use or application can be said,
or demonstrated to, “… meet the needs of the
present generation without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs”
promoting the use technology assessment as a tool
for
the
development
and
application
of
environmentally
sound
technologies
constitutes
environmentally
sound
technology
assessment
(EnSTA).
Major Pathways of Environmental Degradation
• Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment
through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the
destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife
• Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned
by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations. The World
Resources Institute (WRI), UNEP (the United Nations Environment
Programme), UNDP (the United Nations Development Programme)
and the World Bank have made public an important report on health
and the environment worldwide on May 1, 1998.
• Environmental degradation is of many types. When
natural habitats are destroyed or natural resources are
depleted, environment is degraded.
• Environmental Change and Human Health,is initially
connect a special section of World Resources 1998-99.
Eleven million children die worldwide annually in the
developing world , equal to the combined populations
of Norway and Switzerland, and mostly due to malaria,
acute respiratory infections or diarrhoea — illnesses
that are largely preventable
Pollution- leads to Environmental Degradation
Global warming / Climate Change /
Green House Effect
Photochemical Smog
Air
Acid Rain
Ozone Layer Destruction
Eutrophication
Water
Agricultural wastes-Pesticides / Fertilizers
Heavy Metals, Radioactive Isotopes.
Sewage / Sludge
Thermal Power plants
Solid Waste
Pesticide/Fertilizer
Soil
Erosion
Acidification
Environmental Management vis-à-vis
Sustainable Development
Conservation / preservation
Restoration / Rehabilitation
Environmental
Management
Formulation of Environmental Laws
Environmental Monitoring
Environmental planning
Sustainable Development
Environmental Monitoring
• Environmental changes occur naturally and are part of or the
result of multiple cycles and interactions.
• Environmental scientist study the dynamics of cycles such as the
nitrogen, carbon and water cycle and their interrelationships.
• Human now have a more holistic view of the environment and
recognize as many factors as possible to determine its health and
preservation.
• This in turn has led to the new term- biocomplexity, which is
defined as “ The interdependence of elements within specific
environmental systems and interactions between different types of
systems”.
Environmental Monitoring
Definition: it is the programmed observation and study of
environmental changes.
Its purpose is to assess the short-term fate to long-term
management.
Different Steps of Environmental Monitoring:
Observation
&
( Verification)
Measurement
Data (Selection Testing)
Information (Organization/
Interpretation)
Wisdom
Understanding (Judgment)
Knowledge (Comprehensive
Integration)
Biological
Different Types of Environmental Monitoring:
Physical- Chemical
Benefits of Environmental monitoring
• Protection of Public Water supplies (Sources of water pollution,
treatment etc)
• Hazardous, non hazardous and radioactive waste management
(Disposal reuse, possible impacts to human health & the
environment).
• Urban Air quality.
• Natural resources Protection and Management.
• Weather Forecasting (Catastrophe-floods, droughts)
• Economic Development & Planning (Resource allocation &
exploitation).
• Population Growth (Demography, density pallemy in relation to
resource).
• Delineation-Mapping of natural resources, soil classification,
wetland delineation, critical habitats etc.
• Biodiversity of& Threatened Species
• Global environmental Changes (Assessment & Control)
Environmental Remediation and
Restoration
These Focus on the development and
implementation strategies geared to reserve
negative environmental impacts.
Sanctuary:
The State Government may by notification declare its intension to
constitute any area than area comprised with any reserve forest as
Sanctuary- if it consider that such area is of adequate ecological,
faunal, floral geomorphological significance for the purpose of
protecting wild life or its environment.
National Park:
Whenever, it appears to the State Government that an area,
whether within a Sanctuary or not is by reson of its ecological,
needed to be constituted as National Park for the purpose of
protecting & propagating wild life there in or its environment, it may
be notification, declare its intension to constitute such area as
National Park.
Evolution of Resource Base PRA
Technique:
• Secondary sources (e.g. files, reports, maps, aerial
photos);
• Semi-structured interview;
• Key informants (perhaps identified through
participatory social mapping);
• Groups (e.g. focus groups) and group interviews;
• Do-it-yourself (outsider asks to participate in
community activities);
• They do it (villagers as investigators and researchers);
• Participatory analysis of secondary sources (e.g. aerial
photographs);
• Participatory mapping and modeling (similar to
planning-for-real);
• Transect walks (walking with or by local people through
an area and observing/listening);
• Time lines and trend and change analysis (e.g. major
remembered events in a village);
• Oral histories and ethnobiographies;
• Seasonal calendars (e.g. to track seasonal weather
changes, labour patterns, patterns of borroweing);
• Daily time use analysis (e.g. tasks with time demands,
drudgery);
• Livelihood analysis (stability, crises, coping
mechanisms, credit and debt, etc.);
• Participatory linkage diagramming;
• Institutional diagrams (identifying individuals or
instructions important to and for a community);
• Well-being and wealth grouping and ranking;
• Analysis of difference (e.g. by gender, age, social group,
occupation, wealth/poverty);
• Matrix scoring and ranking (to score, perceived
performances of different seeds, trees, soil conservation
methods);
• Estimate and quantification (to explore ‘what might
happen if…’);
• Key probes (questions which can lead to key issues);
• Stories, portraits and case studies;
• Team contracts and interactions;
• Presentation and analysis;
• Sequences (use of a combination of several methods
in a given sequence);
• Participatory planning, budgeting, implementation
and monitoring;
• Group discussions and brainstorming;
• Short standard schedules or protocols (for short and
quick questionnaires or to record data); and
• Report writing (without delay, so that feedback is
instant).
Environmental Laws
For the Management of Environment, the main legislative measures
brought about in India are:
• Air (Preservation & Control of Pollution) Act 1981
• Water (Preservation & Control of Pollution) 1974
• Water (Preservation & Control of Pollution
and Control of
Pollution Cess Act) environment protection Act,1986
• The environment (protection )act,1986
• Wild life (protection) act 1972 and amended 1991
• Forest (Conservation) Act,1980
• Biodiversity act, 2002
• Bio-Medical waste (Management and Handling) Rules,1998