Environmental Degradation Review PDF

**ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION** Is the disintegration of the earth or deterioration of the environment through consumption of assets such as: \> Air \> Water \> Soil › The destruction of environments and the eradication of wildlife CAUSES OF ENVIRONMENT DEGRADATION 1. **LAND DISTURBANCE** - Ru...

**ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION** Is the disintegration of the earth or deterioration of the environment through consumption of assets such as: \> Air \> Water \> Soil › The destruction of environments and the eradication of wildlife CAUSES OF ENVIRONMENT DEGRADATION 1. **LAND DISTURBANCE** - Rupture in the environmental surroundings. Numerous weedy plant species for example, garlic mustard, are both foreign and obtrusive provides for them a chance start growing and spreading. 2. **POLLUTION** - Pollution, in whatever form, whether it is air, water, land or noise is harmful for the environment. 3. **OVERPOPULATION** - Rapid population growth puts strain on natural resources which results in degradation of our environment. 4. **LANDFILLS** - Pollute the environment and destroy the beauty of the city. Landfills come within the city due the large amount of waste that gets generated by households, industries, factories and hospitals. 5. **DEFORESTATION -** is the cutting down of trees to make way for more homes and industries. 6. **NATURAL CAUSES** - Things like avalanches, quakes, tidal waves, storms, and wildfires can totally crush nearby animal and plant groups to the point where they can no longer survive in those areas. **EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION** 1. **LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY** - Biodiversity is important for maintaining balance of the ecosystem in the form of combating pollution, restoring nutrients, protecting water sources and stabilizing climate. 2. **IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH** Human health might be at the receiving end as a result of the environmental degradation. 3. **OZONE LAYER DEPLETION** - Ozone layer is responsible for protecting earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. 4. **LOSS FOR TOURISM INDUSTRY** - The deterioration of environment can be a huge setback for tourism industry that rely on tourists for their daily livelihood. 5. **ECONOMIC IMPACT** - The huge cost that a country may have to borne due to environmental degradation can have big economic impact in terms of restoration of green cover, cleaning up of landfills and protection of endangered species. **Best ways to prevent environmental degradation** Reduce Our Over All Consumption of Resources Reuse All the Resources and Materials That We Possibly Can Recycle What We Can, Whenever We Can Green Transportation Give Back to the Environment **GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHY** is the study of the world\'s population, encompassing its size, composition, distribution, and changes over time. \- It provides a comprehensive understanding of human populations across the globe, considering factors like birth rates, death rates, migration patterns, and their implications for societies, economies, and the environment. **STAGE1**: Pre-industrial societies with high birth and death rates, resulting in slow population growth. This stage was the norm for most of human history. **STAGE 2**: Death rates decline rapidly due to improvement in sanitation, healthcare, and food supply. This leads to a significant population increase. **STAGE 3**: Birth rates begin to fall due to factors like access to contraception, increased education and economic opportunities for women, and a shift in societal values. **STAGE 4** : Both birth and death rates are low, resulting in a stable or even declining population. Many developed countries have reached this stage. **GLOBAL MIGRATION -** (**BAUMAN, 1998**) The nuances of the movements of people around the world can be seen through the categories of migrants -vagabonds\' and tourists (**RITZER, 2015**) Vagabonds are on the move \'because thay have to be -they are not faring well in their home countries and are forced to move in the hope that their circumstances will Improve. Tourists, on the other hand, are on the move because they want to bo and because they can afford it. **THE TRANSITION OF GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHY** The global demographic transition, a shift from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates, began around 1800 in Europe. This period marked the beginning of a profound change in human population dynamics, driven by advancements in technology, medicine, and societal structures. **4 important things about Global Migration** 1. **GLOBAL MIGRATION IS A GROWING TRENDS** 2. **MIGRATION PATTERNS ARE DIVERSE AND DYNAMIC** 3. **MIGRATION HAS PROFOUND IMPACTS ON BOTH ORIGIN AND DESTINATION COUNTRIES.** 4. **GLOBAL MIGRATION IS A COMPLEX AND CONTESTED ISSUE.** **GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY** **FOOD SECURITY** - exists when all people, at all times. have physical and economic access to Sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary healthy it toad. \- The people who produce our food are able to earn a decent, living wage growing, catching, producing, processing, transporting, retailing, and serving food. **FOUR DIMENSIONS OF FOOD SECURITY** 1.**PHYSICAL AVAILABILITY OF FOOD** ** ** refers to the physical existence of food. 2.**ECONOMIC AND PHYSICAL ACCESS TO FOOD** refers to an adequate supply of food at the national or international level; this does not in itself guarantee household-level security. 3\. **FOOD UTILIZATION** commonly understood as the way the body makes the most of various nutrients in the food. 4. **STABILITY OF THE OTHER THREE DIMENSIONS -** mean regular or consistent access to food on a periodic basis, securing one\'s nutritional status. **IMPORTANCE OF FOOD SECURITY** 1\. Economic Growth 2\. Reduced Poverty 3\. Trade Opportunities 4\. Increased Global Security and Stability 5\. Improved Health and Healthcare of People **What are the things affecting Food Security?** population growth Increasing cost of food Unemployment Poverty Slowing Irrigation Climate Change **Answer to a crisis in food security?** United Nations has set ending hunger, achieving food security and improved Nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. The World Economic Forum (2010) also addressed this issue through the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA) in 2009 wherein pubic- private partnerships were established. **ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION, POVERTY AND INEQUALITY** \- Trading of goods and services is rapidly increasing in each place of each country in whole world and this leads to economic globalization. **ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION** \- The Swedish statistician Hans Rosting once said, \"The 1 to 2 billion poorest in the world who don\'t have food for the day suffer from the worst disease, globalization deficiency. The way. globalization is occurring could be much better, but the worst thing is not being part of it.\" \- Economic globalization has led to competition among companies to produce goods at the lowest cost, often resulting in production moving to countries with lower wages and weaker regulations. This process benefits corporations and consumers with cheaper products but can harm high-wage workers who lose their jobs.. However, low-wage workers in developing countries may benefit from increased employment opportunities, despite facing hazardous working conditions and lower pay than in developed countries. **POVERTY** - Poverty is a pressing issue in the contemporary world, characterized by a lack of access to basic necessities such as food, clean water, healthcare, and education. Poverty is often caused by factors such as unemployment, lack of education, discrimination, and social exclusion. Poverty in economic globalization refers to the condition of individuals or communities who lack access to basic necessities and opportunities for a decent standard of living, amidst the backdrop of increasing global economic interdependence and integration. Globalization can have both positive and negative impacts on poverty levels around the world. **INEQUALITY** - Inequality in economic globalization refers to the unequal distribution of benefits and disadvantages among different groups within and between countries as a result of global economic integration. This can manifest in various ways, such as disparities in income, wealth, job opportunities, access to resources, and living standards. **IMPACTS OF ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION IN POVERTY AND INEQUALITY** **POSITIVE IMPACTS** \- Increased access to global markets can create opportunities for economic growth and development, leaching to job creation and income generation. \- Foreign direct investment (FDI) and technology transfer from multinational corporations can stimulate economic growth in developing countries. \- Trade liberalization can lower prices for consumers, increase. **NEGATIVE IMPACTS** **-** Globalization can lead to the exploitation of cheap labor in developing countries, resulting in low wages, poor working conditions, and limited workers\' rights. \- Unequal distribution of wealth and resources can widen income inequality within and between countries, as wealth concentrates in the hands of a few individuals or corporations. \- Competition from foreign businesses can drive local industries out of business, leading to job losses and increased poverty levels. In **conclusion**, economic globalization can have complex and multifaceted effects on and inequality. By understanding these dynamics and implementing targeted policies, countries can work towards creating a more inclusive and equitable economy that global benefits all individuals and communities. **ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION AND GLOBAL TRADE** \"**Economic globalization** - refers to the increasing interdependence of world economies as a result of the growing scale of cross-border trade of commodities and services, flow of international capital, and wide and rapid spread of technologies. It reflects the continuing expansion and mutual integration of market frontiers, and is an irreversible trend for the economic development in the whole world at the turn of the millennium.\" (p. 1) THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF ECONOMIES ASSOCIATED **1.ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION-PROTECTIONISM** 2. **TRADE LIBERALIZATION** **PROTECTIONISM** - means \"a policy of systematic government intervention in foreign trade with the objective of encouraging domestic production. This encouragement involves giving preferential treatment to domestic producers and discriminating against foreign competitors\" (McAleese, 2007 as cited in Ritzer, 2015, p. 1169). **TRADE PROTECTIONISM** - usually comes in the form of quotas and tariffs. Tariffs are required fees on imports or exports. For instance, a pen that costs \$1.00 in Country A and in Country B, it would be given five-dollar tariff. The pen would become \$6 in Country B. This policy was practiced during the mercantilist era, from sixteenth to seventeenth centuries until the early years of the Industrial Revolution (Chorev, 2007). The Great Depression of 1929 marked the peak of protectionism. Until today, protectionism exists in the world economy despite the growth of trade liberalization. Countries such as China, Japan, and the United States are being accused of practicing protectionism (Ritzer, 2015). **World War Il**- heavily influenced the shifting of the dominant economic policy from protectionism to trade liberalization or free trade. Free trade agreements and technological advances in transportation and communication mean goods and services move around the world more easily than ever. According to economist **Jeffrey Sachs**, mobile phones are the \"single most transformative technology\" when it comes to the developing world. Phones give people access to banking and payment systems and better access to education and information.. Installing cellphone towers is also a lot cheaper than running thousands of kilometers of telephone lines. Economists gall this **leapfrogging**, the idea that countries can skip straight to more efficient and cost-effective technologies that were not available in the past. International trade has also created new opportunities for people to sell their products and labor in a global marketplace. Globalization made some countries, especially the developing ones, to gain more in the global economy at the expense of other nations. There are various ways, however, the country can make trade easier with other countries while lessening the inequities in the global world. \"FAIR TRADE\" **FAIR TRADE -** as defined by the International Fair Trade Association, is the \"concern for the social, economic, and environmental well- being of marginalized small producers\" (Downie, 2007, pp. C1-C5). It aims for a more moral and equitable global economic system. Specifically, it is concerned with protection of workers and producers, establishment of more just prices, engagement in environmentally sound practices and sustainable production, creation of relationships between producers in the South and consumers in the North, and promotion of safe working environment. **ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT** **( ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION)** **GLOBALIZATION** - Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. \- Globalization is **dynamic process** by which nations and economies around the world become more interdependent. **Economic Globalization**, the term, **first proposed by Levy 1985.** The trans-national Increase in trade and capital transfer across national boundaries. The world has always known international trade, but what makes economic globalization different is that nations are coming to play a smaller and weaker role in it. Modern trans national corporations have offices and production facilities in a dozen countries and swear allegiance to none of them. Advantages and Disadvantages of Economic Globalization **ADVANTAGES** Free trade Cheap Production Economic Growth Increased the standard of life. Access to new and efficient market Increased Competition **DISADVANTAGES** Harmful effects on small Industries and Small Business. Global Warming. Underpayment of Workers in Developing Countries. Encourages dependence on other countries. **SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT** **Globalization** creates new opportunities for cooperation, but it also creates tensions and problems. There are some significant downsides to globalize trade and perhaps the strongest argument against economic globalization is its lack of sustainability or the degree to which the earth\'s resources can be used for our needs, even in the future. **Sustainable development** is defined as development of our world today using the earth\'s resources and the preservation of such resources for the future. Common challenges in sustainability are environmental degradation and food security. Environmental degradation became blatant during the Industrial Revolution where the concept of efficiency was introduced. **EFFICIENCY** means finding the quickest possible way of producing large amounts of a particular product. This process made buying of goods easier to the people. Then, there is an increased demand. **Harvey (2005)** noted that **neoliberals** and **environmentalists debate** the impact of of free trade on the environment. Environmentalist argue that environmental issues should be given priority over economic issues. **NEOLIBERALS** see the efforts of the environmentalists as serious impediments to trade. But some seek to integrate in other approaches like ecological modernization theory which sees globalization as a process that can both protect and enhance the environment (Yearley, 2007). **Kyoto Protocol** aimed at a reduction of global carbon emissions, but failed to take off largely. because it was not ratified by the United States (Armitage, 2005). There are measures like \"carbon tax\" and \"carbon neutrality\" to deal with environmental problems (Ritzer, 2015)