ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT - 1

(1) Relevance of Environmental Management course in Management curriculum.

Environmental management course is very much required in the B-school curriculum.

Environmental management can be so important because our environment gives a part

of what we are whether our culture are dirty people or clean, it is also nice to live in a

nice, clean place which is not polluted. It is also important to get people live in that

place if a certain city, country is polluted no one will think of living there and visitors

will have a negative point of view on that place. Environmental management is not, as

the phrase could suggest the management of the environment as such, but rather the

management of interaction by the modern human societies with, and impact upon the

environment. The three main issues that affect managers are those involving politics

(networking), programs (projects) and resources (money, facilities, etc.). The need for

environmental management can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. A more

common philosophy and impetus behind environmental management is the concept of

carrying capacity. Simply put, carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of

organisms a particular resource can sustain. Environmental management is therefore

not the conservation of the environment solely for the environment's sake, but rather

the conservation of the environment for humankind's sake.

Environmental management involves the management of all components of the bio-

physical environment, both living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic). This is due to the

interconnected and network of relationships amongst all living species and their

habitats. The environment also involves the relationships of the human environment,

such as the social, cultural and economic environment with the bio-physical

environment. As with all management functions, effective management tools,

standards and systems are required. An 'environmental management standard or

system or protocol attempts to reduce environmental impact as measured by some

objective criteria. The ISO 14001 standard is the most widely used standard for

environmental risk management and is closely aligned to the European Eco-

Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). As a common auditing standard, the ISO

19011 standard explains how to combine this with quality management.

The environmental damage already inflicted due to alarming on-going population

explosion, rapid movement towards urbanization and industrialization, increasing

needs of energy and fast scientific and technological advancement cannot be reversed

unless there is collective thinking, will and effort. These call for public awareness and

participation for bringing about an attitudinal change and finally restricting further

damage to the environment. Effective implementation of environmental management

and conservation programmes depends on education, awareness raising and training

in the relevant areas. Without an understanding of how to conserve natural resources

and the compelling need to do so, few people would be motivated to participate

actively in programmes on environmental conservation, Environment education and

awareness thus assume critical importance.

(2) Why do managers need to study Environmental Management?

During the past five to ten years, increased public and government attention

has been drawn to the harmful effects on the environment of business and industry.

Consequently, legislation and encouragement in the form of incentives have acted to

pressurize industry to review its practices and processes in connection with their

effects on the environment. As a result, environmental technology as a specialist area

of knowledge and skill has emerged. National capacities, particularly in scientific

education and training, need to be strengthened. This will enable governments,

employers and workers to attain their environmental and development objectives by

facilitating the transfer and assimilation of new environmentally sound, socially

acceptable and appropriate technology and know-how. With this development there is

an increasing need for specialists in this field, for technologists in other areas to be

able to put into practice environmental applications, for assessors of the

environmental impacts of specific technological developments and for general

managers with a knowledge and understanding of environmental management. Thus,

there is now an increasing need for environmental education and training in clean

production to be applied to a vast array of industrial processes and applications.

Managers need to learn environmental management in order to be aware of the

hazards that are created by the various industries. Managers need to be aware of their

surroundings so that they can make environment friendly products in order to sustain

in the market. It is very essential for managers to know about our environmental

conditions especially now when the world is at a danger of global warming. Managers

can collectively help our earth get over the harmful effects or prolong the harmful

effects thus making our lives considerably safer.

(3) Why Copenhagen submits acquired so much importance?

The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the

Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark,

between 7 December and 18 December. The conference was preceded by the Climate

Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions scientific conference, which took

place in March 2009 and was also held at the Bella Center. The negotiations began to

take a new format when in May 2009 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon attended

the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, organized by the

Copenhagen Climate Council (COC), where he requested that COC councilors attend

New York's Climate Week at the Summit on Climate Change on 22 September and

engage with heads of government on the topic of the climate problem. The

Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa on

December 18, and judged a "meaningful agreement" by the United States

government. It was "recognized", but not "agreed upon", in a debate of all the

participating countries the next day, and it was not passed unanimously. The

document recognized that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the

present and that actions should be taken to keep any temperature increases to below

2°C. The document is not legally binding and does not contain any legally binding

commitments for reducing CO2 emissions. Leaders of industrialized countries,

including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, were pleased with this agreement but

many leaders of other countries and non-governmental organizations were opposed to

it.

During the conference some countries stated what actions they were proposing to take

if a binding agreement was achieved. In the end, no such agreement was reached and

the actions will instead be debated in 2010. Listing by country or political union.

Sections in alphabetic order, table according to higher objectives.

Australia

To cut carbon emissions by 25% below 2000 levels by 2020 if the world agrees to an

ambitious global deal to stabilize levels of CO2 to 450 ppm or lower.

Canada

To cut carbon emissions by 20% below 2006 levels by 2020. This is equivalent to 3%

below 1990 levels by 2020.

China

To cut CO2 emissions intensity by 40–45% below 2005 levels by 2020.

European Union

To cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 1990 levels by 2020 if an

international agreement is reached committing other developed countries and the

more advanced developing nations to comparable emission reduction.

India

To cut carbon emissions intensity by 20–25% below 2005 levels by 2020.

Japan

To cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2020.

New Zealand

To reduce emissions between 10% to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 if a global

agreement is secured that limits carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) to 450 ppm and

temperature increases to 2°C, effective rules on forestry, and New Zealand having

access to international carbon markets.

Norway

To reduce carbon emissions by 30% below 1990 levels by 2020.

On December 18 after a day of frantic negotiations between heads of state, it was

announced that a "meaningful agreement" had been reached between the United

States, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil. It was reported that it was not yet clear

whether the motion was unanimous, or what its legal implications are. The UN

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the US-backed climate deal as an

"essential beginning". It was unclear whether all 192 countries in attendance would

also adopt the deal. The Copenhagen Accord recognizes the scientific case for

keeping temperature rises below 2°C, but does not contain commitments for reduced

emissions that would be necessary to achieve that aim. One part of the agreement

pledges US$ 30 billion to the developing world over the next three years, rising to

US$ 100 billion per year by 2020, to help poor countries adapt to climate change.

Earlier proposals that would have aimed to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C and cut

CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050 were dropped. An agreement was also reached that

would set up a deal to reduce deforestation in return for cash from developed

countries. The agreement made was non-binding but U.S. President Obama said that

countries could show the world their achievements. He said that if they had waited for

a binding agreement, no progress would have been made.

Analysis and aftermath

Despite widely held expectations that the Copenhagen summit would produce a

legally binding treaty, the conference was plagued by negotiating deadlock and the

"Copenhagen Accord" is not legally enforceable. BBC environment analyst Roger

Harrabin attributed the failure of the summit to live up to expectations to a number of

factors including the recent global recession and conservative domestic pressure in the

US and China.

In the week following the end of the Copenhagen summit, carbon prices in the EU

dropped to a six month low. However, some commentators consider that "the future

of the UN's role in international climate deals is now in doubt.

What will be the impact if a deal is not made?

Believability: The Sustainability movement will have lost credibility. Maybe

even beyond repair.

Encouraging the Skeptics: Climate Change skeptics and denouncers will feel

encouraged and get an even larger audience despite the damning facts and

science about Climate Change.

An Uncertain Future: We are in deep trouble because we have lost the biggest

and best chance to change our ways of limiting our carbon emissions. Just

imagine how long and how much work it took to get everyone to the COP15

and this close to agreeing a common goal. The future will be very uncertain

going forwards.

This is OUR opportunity to change the way we take care of our planet and

make smart climate decisions for a change. Will we choose to evolve in order to make

smarter decisions for the future of our children or are we going to be the old selfish

short term sighted humans that we currently are?

We have a decision to make and the time is now. And in my view this is not

only about Climate Change but Sustainability as a whole.

(4) Difference between weather and climate.

The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what

conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the

atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time.

Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere, and its short-term (minutes to

weeks) variation. Popularly, weather is thought of as the combination of temperature,

humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, visibility, and wind. We talk about the weather in terms

of "What will it be like today?", "How hot is it right now?", and "When will that storm hit our

section of the country?"

Climate is defined as statistical weather information that describes the variation of

weather at a given place for a specified interval. In popular usage, it represents the synthesis

of weather; more formally it is the weather of a locality averaged over some period (usually

30 years) plus statistics of weather extremes.We talk about climate change in terms of years,

decades or even centuries. Scientists study climate to look for trends or cycles of variability

(such as the changes in wind patterns, ocean surface temperatures and precipitation over the

equatorial Pacific that result in El Niño and La Niña), and also to place cycles or other

phenomena into the bigger picture of possible longer term or more permanent climate

changes.

(5) Meaning of orography , topography

Orography is the study of the formation and relief of mountains, and can more

broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography falls within the

broader discipline of geomorphology. Orography has a major impact on global climate, for

instance the orography of East Africa substantially determines the strength of the Indian

monsoon. In geo-scientific models, such as general circulation model, orography defines the

lower boundary of the model over land.

When a river's tributaries or settlements by the river are listed in 'orographic

sequence', they are in order from the highest (nearest the source of the river) to the lowest or

main stem (nearest the mouth). This method of listing tributaries is similar to the Strahler

Stream Order where the headwater tributaries are listed as category = 1

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those of planets,

moons, and asteroids. It is also the description of such surface shapes and features (especially

their depiction in maps).

The topography of an area can also mean the surface shape and features themselves. In a

broader sense, topography is concerned with local detail in general, including not only relief

but also vegetative and human-made features, and even local history and culture. This

meaning is less common in America, where topographic maps with elevation contours have

made "topography" synonymous with relief. The older sense of topography as the study of

place still has currency in Europe. For the purposes of this article, topography specifically

involves the recording of relief or terrain, the three-dimensional quality of the surface, and

the identification of specific landforms. This is also known as geomorphometry. In modern

usage, this involves generation of elevation data in electronic form. It is often considered to

include the graphic representation of the landform on a map by a variety of techniques,

including contour lines, Hypsometric tints, and relief shading.

(6) What is meant by eco system and ecology?

The term ecosystems refer to the combined chemical and biological components of an

environment. An ecosystem is generally an area within the natural environment in which

physical (abiotic) factors of the environment, such as rocks and soil, function together along

with interdependent (biotic) organisms, such as plants and animals, within the same habitat.

Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary. Ecosystems usually form a number of food

webs.

Ecology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the interactions between organisms

and their environment. Ecology is also the study of ecosystems. Ecosystems describe the web

or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization. Since ecology

refers to any form of biodiversity, ecologists can conduct research on the smallest bacteria to

the global flux of atmospheric gases that are regulated by photosynthesis and respiration as

organisms breath in and out of the biosphere. Ecology is a recent discipline that emerged

from the natural sciences in the late 19th century. Ecology is not synonymous with

environment, environmentalism, or environmental science.

(7) What is meant by Latitude, Longitude and mention the latitudinal / longitudinal

boundary of India.

Latitude values indicate the angular distance between the Equator and points north or

south of it on the surface of the Earth A line connecting all the points with the same latitude

value is called a line of latitude. This term is usually used to refer to the lines that represent

values in whole degrees. All lines of latitude are parallel to the Equator, and they are

sometimes also referred to as parallels. Parallels are equally spaced. There are 90 degrees of

latitude going north from the Equator, and the North Pole is at 90 degrees N. There are 90

degrees to the south of the Equator, and the South Pole is at 90 degrees S. When the

directional designators are omitted, northern latitudes are given positive values and southern

latitudes are given negative values.

Lines of longitude, called meridians, run perpendicular to lines of latitude, and all

pass through both poles. Each longitude line is part of a great circle. There is no obvious 0-

degree point for longitude, as there is for latitude. By international agreement, the meridian

line through Greenwich, England, is currently given the value of 0 degrees of longitude; this

meridian is referred to as the Prime Meridian. Longitude values are indicate the angular

distance between the Prime Meridian and points east or west of it on the surface of the Earth.

The Earth is divided equally into 360 degrees of longitude. There are 180 degrees of

longitude to the east of the Prime Meridian; when the directional designator is omitted these

longitudes are given positive values. There are also 180 degrees of longitude to the west of

the Prime Meridian; when the directional designator is omitted these longitudes are given

negative values. The 180-degree longitude line is opposite the Prime Meridian on the globe,

and is the same going either east or west

India lies to the north of the equator between 8°4' and 37°6' north latitude and 68°7'

and 97°25' east longitude

(8) What is meant by sustainable development?

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs

while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but

also for future generations The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined

what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as

development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own need Sustainable development ties together concern for the

carrying capacity of natural systems with the social challenges facing humanity. The field of

sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts:

environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and sociopolitical sustainability

(9) What are the non-renewable and renewable energy resources ?

A renewable resource is something that is being continually replaced faster than we use it up.

Solar energy is considered a renewable source of energy

Wind Power

Water Power (Hydro-electricity from dammed rivers, tidal streams and ocean waves)

Thermal Power from the earth (Geothermal: Using the earth's heat to generate

electricity)

Thermal Power from the ocean

Biomass, the burning of plant material, is a renewable resource. Even though the

burning puts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it also prevents a much greater

amount of methane being released by the decomposing vegetation, so it is rated as

positive.

A non-renewable resource is something that is not being replaced as we consume it.

Oil is a good example of a non-renewable resource. It is used to make gasoline and

other fuels, as well as plastics, such as grocery bags. We are using billions of gallons

of oil every year, but it takes millions of years to be replace. We are using up oil much

much faster than it is being produced. Once we use up oil from the earth, it's gone.

We can't wait millions of years for some more.

Coal is non-renewable.

Peat is non-renewable.

Uranium is non-renewable.

Trees are often considered a renewable resource, but that is only true in certain

circumstances. If a forest is well managed, than the trees can grow back faster than we

cut them down. However, in many parts of the world (including in the US), forests are

being cut much faster than they regrow, and this is therefore not considered

renewable.

(10) Greenhouse gases and its importance in Global warming

Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within

the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse

effect. The main greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon

dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the

temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about

33 °C (59 °F) colder than at present. In addition to the main greenhouse gases listed

above, other greenhouse gases include sulphur hexafluoride, hydro

fluorocarbons and per fluorocarbons. Some greenhouse gases are not often listed. For

example, nitrogen trifluoride has a high global warming potential (GWP) but is only

present in very small quantities.

Its importance in Global warming is that while many greenhouse gases occur

naturally and are needed to create the greenhouse effect that keeps the Earth warm

enough to support life, human use of fossil fuels is the main source of excess

greenhouse gases. By driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired power plants, or

heating our homes with oil or natural gas, we release carbon dioxide and other heat-

trapping gases into the atmosphere. Deforestation is another significant source of

greenhouse gases, because fewer trees means less carbon dioxide conversion to

oxygen.

During the 150 years of the industrial age, the atmospheric concentration of carbon

dioxide has increased by 31 percent. Over the same period, the level of atmospheric

methane has risen by 151 percent, mostly from agricultural activities such as raising

cattle and growing rice also.

As the concentration of greenhouse gases grows, more heat is trapped in the

atmosphere and less escapes back into space. This increase in trapped heat changes

the climate and alters weather patterns, which may hasten species extinction,

influence the length of seasons, cause coastal flooding, and lead to more frequent and

severe storms. Thus due to all these consequences global warming occurs.

(11) Glacial melting and its relevance to climate change

A glacier can be described as a huge block of ice that has formed from falling snow.

Glaciers contain almost all of the fresh water present on earth.

Since 1850, glaciers around the world have been slowly melting, affecting the

viability of fresh water in a variety of ways, so the phenomenon of melting glaciers is

not a new one. Every glacier melts, the level of melting depending on the surrounding

temperature. In most places containing glaciers across the globe, snow falls during the

cold seasons and will get compressed into ice with further snowing. When the

temperature does get a bit warmer the upper fresh layers of snow partly formed ice

begin melting and flowing down into streams and rivers. Many places on earth depend

on this melted fresh water for survival. The melted snow provides fresh and pure

drinking water, water for agriculture, and in many nations this flow of water is

converted into electricity without polluting the atmosphere.

However, since 1980 a significant global warming has led to a dramatic increase in

the speed of glacial retreat. Many glaciers have completely vanished, and the

existence of a great number of the remaining glaciers in the world is severely

threatened. The disappearance of glaciers in the Andes of South America and the

Himalayas in Asia will eventually have disastrous effects on the water supplies. An

acceleration in the rate of retreat since 1995 may foreshadow a rise in sea level, which

could have a potentially dramatic effect on coastal regions worldwide. The loss of

glaciers not only directly causes landslides, flash floods and glacial lake overflow, but

also increases annual variation in water flows in rivers. Glacier runoff declines in the

summer as glaciers decrease in size, this decline is already observable in several

regions. Glaciers retain water on mountains in high precipitation years, since the snow

cover accumulating on glaciers protects the ice from melting. In warmer and drier

years, glaciers offset the lower precipitation amounts with a higher melt water input.

Global melting relevance to climate change is that glaciers and ice sheets are archives

of climate-change data. Each winter, new snow falls on the surface of the glacier.

Whatever snow does not melt during the following summer will be buried by more

snow the next winter. This "old snow" is called firn. The frozen water molecules and

air trapped in the firn record the chemistry and temperature of the water vapor from

which the snow formed and the atmosphere from which it fell. As each year's firn

layer is buried, that climate record is buried as well. The firn layers move down from

the surface and are compressed as new layers pile on top. Eventually, the firn

becomes dense, glacier ice. Most of the air has been squeezed out of the ice, but a few

bubbles remain. When glaciologists drill down through the ice, they are drilling

backward in time; consequently, ice cores drilled from glaciers and ice sheets reveal

both regional and global climate trends.

The ice core reveals that global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ),

and dust content rise and fall as global temperature and ice volume change. When the

climate is warm, atmospheric CO 2 and CH 4 concentrations are large, and when

climate is cool, those gases are less abundant. Atmospheric dust concentration

changes in an opposite sense, indicating that warm, interglacial atmospheres are

relatively moist, whereas in glacial times, the global atmosphere is relatively dry.

These records also show that the present-day CO 2 level is larger than it was in the

past warm times between glaciations. A tropical glacier are melting fast as climate

warms, and as that happens, their contribution to water resources decreases, their

contribution to global sea level increases, and a valuable climate archive is lost.

(12) Vertical Thermal Structure of the Atmosphere and its relevance to atmospherical

processes

The atmosphere has a vertical thermal structure as well as a vertical pressure structure.

A. The atmosphere has been divided into layers according to the behavior of temperatures

in their relationship to altitude.

B. The lowest layer is the troposphere, the layer in which we live and in which our weather

is experienced. In fact, "troposphere" means the realm of mixing, because air is vigorously

mixed and stirred here by storms, convection, and wind systems.

1. It extends up roughly 10 km

2. It is characterized by an inverse relationship between air temperatures and altitude:

Temperatures drop as you climb up in the troposphere.

3. The tropopause is the top of the troposphere: The troposphere stops here.

4. At the tropopause, temperatures stop dropping with gains in altitude.

C. The stratosphere is the next major division.

1. It extends from the tropopause up to about 50 km.

2. It is characterized by a direct relationship between temperatures and altitude.

a. The top of the stratosphere is called the stratopause, another isothermal belt.

b. By the time you get to the stratopause, temperatures have warmed up to freezing or

close to it

c. This warming with altitude has to do with the presence of the ozone layer in the

stratosphere.

D. The mesosphere is the layer above the stratopause.

1. It extends up from the stratopause to about 80 km.

2. It is characterized by resumption of an inverse relationship between temperature

and altitude:

Temperatures drop as you climb.

3. That low temperature is attained at the mesopause, which tops the mesosphere.

E. The thermosphere is the last thermally defined layer of the atmosphere.

1. It is characterized by a direct relationship between temperature and altitude.

2. The thermosphere can be further subdivided:

a. The lower thermosphere is called the ionosphere.

i. The ionosphere extends from roughly 80 km (50 mi.) to somewhere around 300 to

600 km out (~185 - 375 mi.).

ii. It is the first line of defense for Earth against extremely short wave radiation.

These particles are ionized atoms, that is, atoms with missing electrons, including

isolated protons and alpha-particles (two protons with two neutrons and no electrons).

iii. These rays and really high energy, fast-moving particles smash into the few

molecules of the ionosphere with such force that they strip them of electrons, turning

them into ions, or electrically-imbalanced atoms, too.

iv. The ions, with their electrical imbalances, are drawn by the earth's magnetic field

and align themselves with that field's lines of force.

b. The exosphere is the second, outer layer of the thermosphere

i. The exosphere lies beyond about 500-1,000 km

ii. It is characterized by increasing hydrogen and helium content.

13. Vertical density profile of atmosphere and its impact on various processes

The vertical distribution of air density in the atmosphere follows from the distribution

of the pressure and temperature. Indeed since pressure varies so strongly in the

vertical, whereas temperature variations are quite modest on the absolute scale, the

vertical profiles of air density and pressure must be very similar. In fact the density

profile shows a nearly exponential decay of density with increasing height which is

never very far from 16 km throughout the troposphere.

The changes in the atmospheric density with height are results of specific physical

conditions which exist on the earth and in its atmosphere. The ozone layer, located

near 25 km above the earth's surface, causes the temperature to rapidly change in the

middle atmosphere.

Troposphere :

The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains

approximately 75% of the atmosphere's mass and 99% of its water vapour and

aerosols.

The average depth of the troposphere is approximately 17 km in the middle latitudes.

It is deeper in the tropical regions, up to 20 km and shallower near the poles, at 7 km

in summer, and indistinct in winter. The lowest part of the troposphere, where friction

with the Earth's surface influences air flow, is the planetary boundary layer. The

chemical composition of the troposphere is essentially uniform, with the notable

exception of water vapour. The source of water vapour is at the surface through the

processes of evaporation and transpiration. Furthermore the temperature of the

troposphere decreases with height, and saturation vapour pressure decreases strongly

as temperature drops, so the amount of water vapour that can exist in the atmosphere

decreases strongly with height.

Stratosphere:

The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the

troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer

layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere

near the Earth's surface, which is cooler higher up and warmer farther down. The

stratosphere is situated between about 10 km and 50 km altitude above the surface at

moderate latitudes, while at the poles it starts at about 8 km altitude.

Mesosphere:

The mesosphere is the layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is directly above the

stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. The mesosphere is located about 50

to 85 kilometers (30 to 50 miles) above the Earth's surface. Within the mesosphere,

temperature decreases with increasing altitude. The main dynamical features in this

region are atmospheric tides, internal atmospheric gravity wave and planetary waves.

Thermosphere:

The thermosphere is biggest of all the layers of the earth's atmosphere directly above

the mesosphere and directly below the exosphere. Within this layer, ultraviolet

radiation causes ionization. The thermosphere begins about 80 km above the earth. In

Thermosphere temperatures increase with altitude due to absorption of highly

energetic solar radiation by the small amount of residual oxygen still present.

Temperatures are highly dependent on solar activity, and can rise to 1,500°.

The dynamics of the lower thermosphere (below about 120 km) are dominated by

atmospheric tide, which is driven, in part, by the very significant diurnal heating.

Effects of density profile on different processes:

Density profile affects many geographical and physical processes in the atmosphere.

Some of the effects are stated as below:

Scattering of light : As the density is not uniform throughout the atmosphere,

scattering of light is also not uniform. The physical phenomena which are involved in

scattering of light are reflection and refraction of light. Refractive index mainly

depends upon the density, so the light which is travelling through the different layers

of the atmosphere, without travelling in a straight line gets deviated in its path.

Radiation: As the density of a layer increases the penetration power of heat

decreases. When the light rays enter the atmosphere, they will be blocked by these

dense layers causing green house effect. So the infrared rays and the ultraviolet rays

which enter into the earth’s atmosphere are not allowed to dissipate and hence

increase the green house effect.

Humidity: With the increase in density, humidity increases as there is less chance of

dissipation. So density has a major hand in controlling humidity of particular

geographical area.

Speed of transmission : With the increase in density in the atmosphere, the speed of

transmission of wireless signals reduces and vice versa.

Absorption of heat and light: If the density of the atmospheric layers is more, then

the absorption power becomes more and radiating power decreases. With the increase

in the percentage of carbon dioxide, the density increases and hence absorption power

increases, enhancing the global warming.

(14) Water holding capacity of air and its relation to atmospheric temperature

The water-holding capacity of air is determined by temperature. As seen in the diagram, the

capacity increases dramatically with increasing temperature.

The water holding capacity increases by about 8% per degree Celsius increase in temperature.

The moisture holding capacity of air varies with temperature. If there is no change in the total

moisture content during a 24 hour period, relative humidity will increase at night. The highest

readings occur about sunrise which explains damp lawns and fogged car windows. Relative

humidity decreases as the day heats up because warm air has a greater capacity to contain

moisture than cold air.

The ability of the air to hold moisture is dependent upon the temperature. As the temperature

of the air increases, its moisture holding capacity also rises; more moisture must be added to

reach saturation at a higher temperature.

Moisture in the air is typically expressed in terms of relative humidity. This is simply a ratio

of the actual moisture in the air to the total amount of moisture the air can hold at a given

temperature. Warmer air has greater moisture holding capacity than cooler air.

(15) Role of inversion in the stagnation of pollution in a locality

When air movement ceases, stagnation can occur, with a resultant build up of

atmospheric pollutants in localized regions. Although the temperature of air relatively near

the earth’s surface normally decreases with increasing altitude, certain atmospheric

conditions can result in the opposite condition- increasing temperature with increasing

altitude. Such conditions are characterized by high atmospheric stability and are known as

temperature inversions. Because they limit the vertical circulation of air, temperature

inversions result in air stagnation and the trapping of air pollutants in localized areas.

Inversions can occur in several ways. In a sense, the whole atmosphere is inverted

by the warm stratosphere, which floats atop the troposphere with relatively little mixing. An

inversion can form from the collision of a warm air mass (warm front) with a cold air mass

(or cold front). The warm air mass overrides the cold air mass in the frontal area, producing

the inversion. Radiation inversions are likely to form in still air at night when the earth is

no longer receiving solar radiations. The air closest to the earth cools faster than the air

higher in the atmosphere, which remains warm, thus less dense. Furthermore, cooler surface

air tends to flow into the valleys at night, where it is overlain by warmer, less dense air.

Subsidence Inversions, often accompanied by radiation inversions, can become very

widespread. These inversions can form in the vicinity of a surface high pressure area when

high-level air subsides to take the place of surface air blowing out of the high pressure zone.

The subsiding air is warmed as it compresses and can remain as a warm layer several hundred

meters above ground level. A marine inversion is produced during the summer months when

cool air laden with moisture from the ocean blows onshore and under warm, dry inland air.

Hence, inversions contribute significantly to the effects of air pollution because they

prevent the mixing of air pollutants, thus keeping the pollutants in one area. This not only

prevents the pollutants from escaping, but also acts like a container in which additional

pollutants accumulate. Furthermore, in the case of secondary pollutants formed by

atmospheric chemical processes, such as photochemical smog, the pollutants may be kept

together such that they react with each other and with sunlight to produce even more noxious

products.

16. How economic growth becomes environmental concern?

Economies are driven by energy, and energy extraction and use are currently having

disastrous effects upon the environment.  Without agreements that limit the use of fossil fuels

or control their emissions, the environmental degradation that has defined the twentieth

century will continue into the twenty-first.  If we limit fossil fuels without a transition to

cleaner energy sources, the global economy will will not have enough power to keep growth

curves positive. While President Obama stated, "Our generation's response to this challenge

will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it, boldly, swiftly, and together, we risk

consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe".

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while

preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for

future generations.

Environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction

with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as

naturally possible based on ideal-seeking behaviour.

Consumption of renewable

resources

State of environment Sustainability

More than nature's ability to Environmental degradation Not sustainable

replenish

Equal to nature's ability to

replenishEnvironmental equilibrium Steady state economy

Less than nature's ability to

replenishEnvironmental renewal Environmentally sustainable

An "unsustainable situation" occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature's resources)

is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability requires that human activity only

uses nature's resources at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. Inherently the

concept of sustainable development is intertwined with the concept of carrying capacity.

Theoretically, the long-term result of environmental degradation is the inability to sustain

human life. Such degradation on a global scale could imply extinction for humanity.

17. Why we say that mushrooming of high-raised buildings and influx of automobile

boom in our roads are adding the global warming impact to our region.

Global warming is real. It is not the result of a natural climatic adjustment. It is a quantifiable

set of environmental results that are in addition to any normal changes in climate. That is why

the effects of global warming have catastrophic potential.

The primary cause of global warming is Carbon Dioxide emissions. CO2 is being pumped

into our atmosphere at an insane pace; 8 billion tons of CO2 entered the air last year. Of

course some of this is due to natural activity such as volcanic eruptions and people breathing.

But the Earth is equipped to easily absorb those into the normal regenerative process. No, the

beginning of global warming was caused by fossil fuels being burned and emitting plenty of

CO2.

12% of all CO2 released into the atmosphere is related to buildings. This figure varies from

one source to the next. Some place the percentage of emissions from buildings as high as

33%. What most of these figures do not address is the actual cause of the CO2 emissions. In

newly constructed buildings, production of materials used in building and energy used during

construction are cited as the cause of carbon dioxide emissions. In existing buildings the CO2

created by the energy upkeep of the building is the root of the emissions quotient. The

general comparison is that buildings consume energy in the way that cars burn fuel. But the

pollutants created in providing power for heating, air-conditioning, lights and other usage in

buildings has already been factored. Honestly this double billing accounting is more the

product of auto manufacturers looking to point the blame for global warming away from gas

guzzling cars.

The United States;Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population

produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning -- by far the

largest share of any country. In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than China,

India and Japan, combined.

18. What is the role of forest in the rainfall activity in a region?

Forests covering Mediterranean surface play a vital role in the regulation of water cycle and

they provide quality water to the society. However, forests are great consumers of water as

well, even though some of the water returns to the atmosphere. It is therefore necessary to

understand the relationship between both of these natural resources in order to optimize the

water management through an appropriate forest management, ensuring their sustainability

Rainfall is generally believed to be a result of monsoonal effects. International evidence and

simulation models suggest two conditions under which forests generate rainfall. First,

montane forests in very high altitudes (2000 m+) can harvest clouds.

Second, deforestation of vast tracts of land, i.e., more than 250,000 km2 could reduce the

probability of rainfall from water cycling.

An investigation of the influence of forests on rainfall in depleted forest areas in Thailand

was carried out by Tangtham and Sutthipibul (1988). They compared the changes in average

regional rainfall with changes in forest cover in the northeast between 1951 and 1984. The

periods indicate that rainfall has tended to decrease significantly as forest areas decrease,

while the number of rainy days significantly increased.

Rainfall is also affected when forest-clearing fires create air pollution and release tiny

particles, known as aerosols, into the atmosphere. While aerosols can both heat and cool the

air, depending on their size, shape, and color, high concentrations of biomass-burning

aerosols directly impact local climate by increasing cloud formation but decreasing rainfall.

19. Improper disposal of solid waste is also a reason for atmospheric pollution and

regional warming of atmosphere, how?

Disposal of solid waste is done by collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and

monitoring of waste materials. The process differs for developed and developing nations, for

urban and rural areas, and for residential and industrial producers. Management for non-

hazardous residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the

responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous

commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.

Improper disposal of solid waste leads to atmospheric pollution because in the process of

landfill waste involves burying the waste, and this remains a common practice in most

countries. Poorly-managed landfills can create a number of adverse environmental impacts

such as wind-blown litter, attraction of vermin, and generation of liquid leach ate. Another

common byproduct of landfills is gas (mostly composed of methane and carbon dioxide),

which is produced as organic waste breaks down an aerobically. This gas can create odor

problems, kill surface vegetation, and is a greenhouse gas.

Improper disposal of solid waste also leads to regional warming of atmosphere. Incineration

is a disposal method that involves combustion of waste material. Incineration and other high

temperature waste treatment systems are sometimes described as "thermal treatment".

Incinerators convert waste materials into heat, gas, steam, and ash.Incineration is carried out

both on a small scale by individuals and on a large scale by industry. It is used to dispose of

solid waste. It is recognized as a practical method of disposing of certain hazardous waste

materials (such as biological medical waste). Incineration is a controversial method of waste

disposal, due to issues such as emission of gaseous pollutants.

20. Why we say that uncontrolled way of sand mining kills the rivers ?

Excessive instream sand mining causes the degradation of rivers. Instream mining lowers the

stream bottom, which may lead to bank erosion. Depletion of sand in the streambed and

along coastal areas causes the deepening of rivers and estuaries, and the enlargement of river

mouths and coastal inlets. It may also lead to saline-water intrusion from the nearby sea. The

effect of mining is compounded by the effect of sea level rise. Any volume of sand exported

from streambeds and coastal areas is a loss to the system.

Excessive instream sand mining is a threat to bridges, river banks and nearby structures. Sand

mining also affects the adjoining groundwater system and the uses that local people make of

the river.

Instream sand mining results in the destruction of aquatic and riparian habitat through large

changes in the channel morphology. Impacts include bed degradation, bed coarsening,

lowered water tables near the streambed, and channel instability. These physical impacts

cause degradation of riparian and aquatic biota and may lead to the undermining of bridges

and other structures. Continued extraction may also cause the entire streambed to degrade to

the depth of excavation.

Sand mining generates extra vehicle traffic, which negatively impairs the environment.

Where access roads cross riparian areas, the local environment may be impacted.

21. Why we say that major part of environmental disasters is weather sensitive?

Environmental disasters are very much weather sensitive. Environmental disasters like

blizzards, cyclonic storms, droughts, hailstorms, heat waves and tornados are created by

weather effects like rain, drought, snow, extreme heat or cold, ice or wind.

Blizzard created by low temperature, strong winds and heavy blowing snow.

Cyclonic storms

Tropical cyclone- created by large low-pressure, numerous thunderstorms that produce

strong winds and heavy rain. It feeds on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in

condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air.

Cyclone- created by spiraling winds, low atmospheric pressure.

Drought- created when a region experiences deficiency in water supply. The region receives

below average precipitation. High pressure winds are also a reason which carry continental

rather than oceanic air masses.

Hailstorm- created by raindrops that have formed together into ice.

Heat waves- created by temperature more than 40 degree celcius.

Tornado- created by spiraling funnel shaped wind current that form over bodies of water,

connecting to large cumulous and thunderstorm clouds.

22. Why we say that knowledge of geography is essential in understanding climate

change impact on environment?

It is not unusual for geographers to be asked what it is they "do." In response, geographers

often say that we study the "why of where." This is a shorthand way of saying that

geographical curiosity is grounded by an enduring interest in the patterns of human and

natural phenomena, and the interaction of both, as they are manifested in particular locations,

environments, and places. Just as one might say that historians study time, geographers study

space.

The curiosity of a geographer is virtually unbounded; we are observers and analysts of space,

place, and environment on scales from the local to the global. Geography is a multifaceted

discipline that bridges the social sciences, the humanities, and the physical sciences.

Geographers study neighborhoods and international trade, urban life and economic patterns.

Geographers study the ways in which cultures, past and present, leave their imprint on the

land and landscape. Geographers study the movements of people across space, from local

commuting patterns to global refugee flows. Geographers study geopolitical patterns, the

changing power relationships within and between nations and states.

Geographer’s study the ways in which human relationships to places, spaces, and

environments are shaped by -- and, in turn, shape -- class, ethnic, race, and gender identities.

Geographers study natural hazards, biogeography, climate change, and earthquakes.

Geographers map the world…

Geography develops analytical and conceptual skills, as well as understanding the spatial

dimension of physical, environmental, and human phenomena. Further, the study of

geography trains students to appreciate the importance of global perspectives.

23. What are the problems we are likely to face due to Himalayan glacial melting?

Due to global warming and environmental changes we are running out of water resources.

As glaciers meltdown it will decline reserves of drinking water in the entire region, which

will affect millions of human lives. Developing countries like Pakistan should chalk out

effective strategies like constructing dams to meet their requirements. A research study has

revealed that global warming has pushed up the temperature of the Himalayas, the roof of

the world, by up to 0 degrees Celsius. It is predicted that Himalayan glaciers could disappear

within 50 years as a consequence of climatic changes. It was apprehended in the report that

it would result far- reaching implications for more than a billion people living in this part of

the world. Surendra Shrestha, the Regional Director, United Nations Environment Program

for Asia and the Pacific, labelled it as 'extremely serious.' Melting of the Himalayan glaciers

is the reason for creating new lakes all over this mountain range, moreover reasoning to

swell the existing ones, thus increasing the volume of water in rivers and triggering flash-

flooding in the narrow underneath valleys. An already glacier-lake outburst in 1994, in the

Lunana region of Bhutan caused to flood a number of villages, endangered the lives of

thousands of people. Likewise in Nepal in 1997 the burst of the Dudh Koshi Lake reasoned

similar consequences. Himalayas range over six countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,

India, Nepal, and Pakistan) as well as extending into China and Myanmar. Thousands of

glaciers in the Himalayas provides source to the nine largest and important rivers of the

continent, whose basins are home to 1.3 billion people from Pakistan to Myanmar, together

with parts of India and China. In fact, the Himalayas after Antarctica and Greenland, forms

world’s third largest mass of ice. Definitely this is Himalayan snow-glacier system, which

forms the tallest water tower on the globe.

According to the experts, this trend will increase speed in the next half decade. It will

produce catastrophic social and economic problems not only for the villages in the

Himalayan foothills but also it would reason disaster for the entire South Asian region.

Himalayan glacier lakes are filling up with more and more melted ice and in Bhutan, 24 of

those lakes are now poised to burst their banks, a similar number of lakes are at peril in

Nepal as well. According to the reports, it is just the beginning; future disasters in the region

of the Himalayas will include 'floods, droughts, land erosion, biodiversity loss and alterations

in rainfall and the monsoon system'. The UNEP and the International Centre for Integrated

Mountain Development (ICIMOD) scientists have found as a minimum 44 glacial lakes that

are filling so speedily they could burst their banks in as little as five years' time. Scientists

notify that a number of precarious lakes are yet to be taken into account. The danger that

has been posed due to the meltdown of the Himalayan glaciers is not only limited to the

immediate environment, that have chiefly small human settlements, but it is also a major

threat to the countries situated in the adjacent areas, such as India, Bangladesh and China,

and there would be far larger human

populations at great menace. Recently a catastrophe hit the Indian states of Himachal

Pradesh and Punjab; thousand people were forced to evacuate their lodgings. It was

apprehended that

water from a 38km long, 804 meters wide Glacier Lake in China could spill over into

northern Indian Territory. Some time before, in Bhutan, an unexpected discharge of

floodwater from water reservoir caused floods that endangered the lives of people in Assam

and West Bengal. Scientists are of the opinion that a number of lakes are still unexplored,

particularly in Pakistan, India (where the majority of the Himalayas lie), and Afghanistan. In

due course of time, glaciers meltdown will decline reserves of drinking water in the entire

region, which will affect millions of human lives. There will be increased demand for water

throughout the subcontinent. The relevant quarters in Pakistan are of the view that

Himalayan glaciers had been thinning and receding over the past few years, with losses

going faster to alarming levels in the past decade. It was also indicated in certain reports

that the retreating trend of glaciers, pointed out that the depletion was happening more

rapidly on the Eastern region than the Western side of Himalayas.

24. Reasons for the sea level rise and its impact in the near future?

Current sea level rise has occurred at a mean rate of 1.8 mm per year for the past century,

and more recently at rates estimated near 2.8 ± 0.4 to 3.1 ± 0.7 mm per year (1993-2003).

Current sea level rise is due significantly to global warming, which will increase sea level

over the coming century and longer periods. Increasing temperatures result in sea level rise

by the thermal expansion of water and through the addition of water to the oceans from

the melting of continental ice sheets. Thermal expansion, which is well-quantified, is

currently the primary contributor to sea level rise and is expected to be the primary

contributor over the course of the next century. Glacial contributions to sea-level rise are

less important, and are more difficult to predict and quantify. Values for predicted sea level

rise over the course of this century typically range from 90 to 880 mm, with a central value

of 480 mm. Based on an analog to the deglaciation of North America at 9,000 years before

present, some scientists predict sea level rise of 1.3 meters in this century. However, models

of glacial flow in the smaller present-day ice sheets show that a probable maximum value

for sea level rise in the current century is 800 millimeters, based on limitations on how

quickly ice can flow below the equilibrium line altitude and to the sea.

Local and eustatic sea level

Local mean sea level (LMSL) is defined as the height of the sea with respect to a land

benchmark, averaged over a period of time (such as a month or a year) long enough that

fluctuations caused by waves and tides are smoothed out. One must adjust perceived

changes in LMSL to account for vertical movements of the land, which can be of the same

order (mm/yr) as sea level changes. Some land movements occur because ofisostatic

adjustment of the mantle to the melting of ice sheets at the end of the last ice age. The

weight of the ice sheet depresses the underlying land, and when the ice melts away the land

slowly rebounds. Atmospheric pressure, ocean currents and local ocean temperature

changes also can affect LMSL.

“Eustatic” change (as opposed to local change) results in an alteration to the global sea

levels, such as changes in the volume of water in the world oceans or changes in the volume

of an ocean basin.

Glaciers and ice caps

Each year about 8 mm (0.3 inch) of water from the entire surface of the oceans falls into the

Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets as snowfall. If no ice returned to the oceans, sea level

would drop 8 mm every year. To a first approximation, the same amount of water appeared

to return to the ocean in icebergs and from ice melting at the edges. Scientists previously

had estimated which is greater, ice going in or coming out, called themass balance,

important because it causes changes in global sea level. High-precision gravimetric from

satellites in low-noise flight has since determined Greenland is losing millions of tons per

year, in accordance with loss estimates from ground measurement.[citation needed] Some

estimates range up to 240 km^3 per year in recent years.

Ice shelves float on the surface of the sea and, if they melt, to first order they do not change

sea level. Likewise, the melting of the northern polarize cap which is composed of floating

pack ice would not significantly contribute to rising sea levels. Because they are fresh,

however, their melting would cause a very small increase in sea levels, so small that it is

generally neglected. It can however be argued that if ice shelves melt it is a precursor to the

melting of ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica.

If small glaciers and polar ice caps on the margins of Greenland and the Antarctic

Peninsula melt, the projected rise in sea level will be around 0.5 m. Melting of the

Greenland ice sheet would produce 7.2 m of sea-level rise, and melting of the Antarctic ice

sheet would produce 61.1 m of sea level rise. The collapse of the grounded interior reservoir

of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise sea level by 5-6 m.

The interior of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is sufficiently high (and

therefore cold) enough that direct melt there cannot cause them to melt in a time-frame

less than several millennia; therefore it is likely that they will not, through melting of the

interior, contribute significantly to sea level rise in the coming century. They can, however,

do so through acceleration in flow and enhanced iceberg calving. Also, melt of the fringes of

the ice caps could be significant, as could be sub-ice-shelf melting in Antarctica.

Climate changes during the 20th century are estimated from modeling studies to

have led to contributions of between –0.2 and 0.0 mm/yr from Antarctica (the results of

increasing precipitation) and 0.0 to 0.1 mm/yr from Greenland (from changes in both

precipitation and runoff).

Estimates suggest that Greenland and Antarctica have contributed 0.0 to 0.5 mm/yr

over the 20th century as a result of long-term adjustment to the end of the last ice

age[citation needed].

The current rise in sea level observed from tide gauges, of about 1.8 mm/yr, is within the

estimate range from the combination of factors above but active research continues in this

field. The terrestrial storage term, thought to be highly uncertain, is no longer positive, and

shown to be quite large.

Since 1992 a number of satellites have been recording the change in sea level; they display

an acceleration in the rate of sea level change, but they have not been operating for long

enough to work out whether this is a real signal, or just an artefact of short-term variation.

Effects of sea level rise

Based on the projected increases stated above, the IPCC TAR WG II report notes that current

and future climate change would be expected to have a number of impacts, particularly on

coastal systems. Such impacts may include increased coastal erosion, higher storm-surge

flooding, inhibition of primary production processes, more extensive coastal inundation,

changes in surface water quality and groundwater characteristics, increased loss of property

and coastal habitats, increased flood risk and potential loss of life, loss of nonmonetary

cultural resources and values, impacts on agriculture and aquaculture through decline in soil

and water quality, and loss of tourism, recreation, and transportation functions.

There is an implication that many of these impacts will be detrimental—especially for the

three-quarters of the world's poor who depend on agriculture systems. The report does,

however, note that owing to the great diversity of coastal environments; regional and local

differences in projected relative sea level and climate changes; and differences in the

resilience and adaptive capacity of ecosystems, sectors, and countries, the impacts will be

highly variable in time and space.

Statistical data on the human impact of sea level rise is scarce. A study in the April, 2007

issue of Environment and Urbanization reports that 634 million people live in coastal areas

within 30 feet (9.1 m) of sea level. The study also reported that about two thirds of the

world's cities with over five million people are located in these low-lying coastal areas. The

IPCC report of 2007 estimated that accelerated melting of the Himalayan ice caps and the

resulting rise in sea levels would likely increase the severity of flooding in the short-term

during the rainy season and greatly magnify the impact of tidal storm surges during the

cyclone season. A sea-level rise of just 40 cm in the Bay of Bengal would put 11 percent of

the Bangladesh's coastal land underwater, creating 7 to 10 million climate refugees.

Island nations

IPCC assessments suggest that deltas and small island states are particularly vulnerable to

sea level rise caused by both thermal expansion and ocean volume. Relative sea level rise

(mostly caused by subsidence) is currently causing substantial loss of lands in some deltas.

Sea level changes have not yet been conclusively proven to have directly resulted in

environmental, humanitarian, or economic losses to small island states, but the IPCC and

other bodies have found this a serious risk scenario in coming decades.

Many media reports have focused the island nations of the Pacific, notably the Polynesian

islands of Tuvalu, which based on more severe flooding events in recent years, was thought

to be "sinking" due to sea level rise. A scientific review in 2000 reported that based on

University of Hawaii gauge data, Tuvalu had experienced a negligible increase in sea-level of

0.07 mm a year over the past two decades, and that ENSO had been a larger factor in

Tuvalu's higher tides in recent years. A subsequent study by John Hunter from the University

of Tasmania, however, adjusted for ENSO effects and the movement of the gauge (which

was thought to be sinking). Hunter concluded that Tuvalu had been experiencing sea-level

rise of about 1.2 mm per year. The recent more frequent flooding in Tuvalu may also be due

to an erosional loss of land during and following the actions of 1997 cyclones Gavin, Hina,

and Keli.

Reuters has reported other Pacific islands are facing a severe risk including Tegua island in

Vanuatu. Claims that Vanuatu data shows no net sea level rise, are not substantiated by tide

gauge data. Vanuatu tide gauge data show a net rise of ~50 mm from 1994-2004. Linear

regression of this short time series suggests a rate of rise of ~7 mm/y, though there is

considerable variability and the exact threat to the islands is difficult to assess using such a

short time series.

Numerous options have been proposed that would assist island nations to adapt to rising

sea level.

25. Role of Industries in controlling the environmental disasters ?

Disasters

A natural disaster is the consequence or effect of a hazardous event, occurring when human

activities and natural phenomenon (a physical event, such as a volcanic eruption, earthquake,

landslide etc., become enmeshed. The resulting fatalities or property damages depend on the

capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster (Bank off et al.2004).

Industrial disasters

Usually occur due to accident for non-adherence of safety norms by industrial units often turn

into mass disasters. One of the worst industrial disasters on record is the Bhopal gas tragedy

in India, in which a leakage of toxic chemicals from a Union Carbide plant killed over 15,000

people injured many more, and caused severe health problems to the region’s human and

animal populations. The disaster was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl

isocyanine (MIC) from a Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL, now known as Eveready

Industries India, Limited) pesticide plant located in the heart of the city of Bhopal, in the

Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Figures depicting the number of people affected, however,

vary from disaster to disaster. In 2004, the death toll all over the world from natural and

technological disasters soared to around 250,000, mainly due to the Indian ocean tsunami on

December 26. This is substantially higher than the annual average of around 67,000 deaths

per year recorded from 1994 to 2003, according to the Centre for Research on the

Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). In 2005, the number of people affected by disasters

dropped to around 146 million, which is considerably lower than the annual average of 258

million recorded over the previous decade. Floods in India, China and Bangladesh in 2004

affected 110 million people, while the tsunami affected just 2.4 million, according to CRED.

STATUTORY FRAMEWORK International negotiations

The World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction was held in the city of Yokohama.

Japan, from 23 May to 27 May 1994. The conference organized in partnership with non-

governmental organizations, and with the participation of international organizations, the

scientific community, business, industry and the media,

Deliberating within the framework of the International Decade for Natural Disaster

Reduction, expressed deep concern for the continuing human suffering and disruption of

development caused by natural disasters.

In 2000, the United Nations launched the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

(ISDR) to address the underlying causes of vulnerability and to build disaster-resilient

communities by promoting increased awareness for disaster reduction as an integral

component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic

and environmental losses due to hazards of all kinds.

INDIAN LEGISLATION

India had been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on account of its unique geo-

climatic conditions. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides have been

recurrent phenomena. About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various

intensities; over 40 million hectares is prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to

cyclones and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought. In the decade 1990-2000, an average

of about 4344 people lost their lives and about 30 million people were affected by disasters

every year. The loss in terms of private, community and public assets has been astronomical.

Prior to the Bhopal disaster, practically no governments, regulatory agencies, professional

institutions, professionals and industries in India was mentally attuned to accept that such a

horrifying and nightmarish accident could originate from a chemical plant. On the contrary,

going by the narrow and traditional scope of industrial safety being followed in the country

then, the chemical industry was considered to be safer than other industries as per the indices

of safety performance, which only measured the employee injuries. Therefore the very

concept of disaster management relating to chemical industry was practically non-existent.

Thereafter, the Ministries of Environment & Forests, Labour and Surface Transport have

devoted major efforts in amending existing legislations and enacting new ones with the

objective of placing responsibilities on key players having a role in prevention of accidents,

dealing with chemical emergencies, providing relief or compensation to the victims of such

accidents and laying down the modalities and mechanisms for discharging such

responsibilities. The legislations have provided a fairly comprehensive legal framework for

different phases of chemical disaster management. These legislations also reflect the

directions given in the Supreme Court Judgments, lessons learnt from implementing projects

in India and from the international experience. These legislations have significantly

contributed to the improvement of safety standards, strengthening of infrastructure on

training and awareness generation and development of testing of emergency plans and the

response capabilities. Thus there has been a quantum increase in awareness and preparedness

at the national level. However, there is still a long way to go in reaching international level of

preparedness.

26. Climate change scenario with respect to rainfall

While the observed monsoon rainfall at all-India level does not allow any significant trend,

regional monsoon variations have been recorded. A trend of increasing monsoon seasonal

rainfall has been found along the west coast, northern Andhra Pradesh and north-western

India (+10%- +20% of the normal over 100 years) while a trend of decreasing monsoon

seasonal rainfall has been observed over eastern Madhya Pradesh, north-eastern India

specially Assam and Meghalaya and some parts of Gujrat and Kerala ( 6%- 8% of the normal

the 100 years).

All India monsoon rainfall:

All India summer monsoons season (June to September) rainfall as well the rainfall for all

the four monsoon months does not show any significant trend.

Sub-divisional rainfall during monsoon season:

During the season, three subdivisions viz. Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala show significant

decreasing trend and eight subdivisions viz. Gangetic West Bengal, West Uttar Pradesh,

Jammu & Kashmir, Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra

Pradesh and North Interior Karnataka show significant increasing trends.

June rainfall has shown significant increasing trend for the western and southwestern parts of

the country, whereas significant decreasing trend is observed for the central and eastern parts

of the country. July rainfall has significantly decreased for most parts of the central and

peninsular India   but has increased significantly in the Northeastern parts of the country.

August rainfall has increased significantly for the subdivisions Konkan & Goa, Marathwada,

Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, West M.P., Telengana and west U.P. September rainfall has

shown significantly decreasing trend for subdivisions Vidarbha, Marathwada and Telangana

and increasing trend (95%) for the subdivision Sub Himalayan Gangetic West Bengal.

Tropical cyclones over the Indian Seas:

For the North Indian Ocean as a whole, the number of cyclonic and severe cyclonic storms

shows a distinct decadal variability. Long term linear trend (1891-2004) in frequency of

tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean as a whole, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian

Sea for different seasons, generally, shows a significant decreasing trend. There is sharp

decrease in the frequency during the monsoon season. However, an increasing trend in the

frequency of tropical cyclones forming over the Bay of Bengal in the months of May and

November, the principal cyclone months, is observed. Cyclone frequency data for the last

four decades (1961 onwards), since when significant monitoring tools like satellite are

available, shows a significant decreasing trend for all the months and seasons and once again

the maximum decrease was noticed in the monsoon season.

27. What is meant by environmental conflicts?

Environmental conflict manifest themselves as political, social, economic, ethnic, religious or

territorial conflicts or conflicts over resources or national interests, or any other type of

conflict. They are traditional conflicts induced by an environmental degradation.

Environmental conflicts are characterized by the principle importance of degradation in one

or more of the following fields:-

(a) Over use of renewable resources.

(b) Overstrain of the environment’s sink capacity i.e. pollution.

(c) Impoverishment of the space of living.

The focus of the research program lies on violent conflict, actual and political, low and

high intensity. The approach has to happen from two sides: analyzing actual conflicts if

environmental factors are relevant for them; analyzing regions with serious environmental

degradations if social effects resulting from them are leading or could lead in future to

violent conflicts.

28. Factors responsible for climate change?

The work of climatologists has found evidence to suggest that only a limited number of

factors are primarily responsible for most of the climate change on the Earth. These factors

include:

Variations in the Earth's orbital characteristics.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide variations.

Volcanic eruptions.

Variations in solar output.

a) Variations in the Earths orbital characteristics:

The Milankovitch theory suggests that a normal cyclical variation in three of the Earth’s

orbital characteristics is probably responsible for some past climatic change. The basic idea

behind this theory assumes that over time these three cyclic events vary the amount of solar

radiation that is received on the Earth's surface. The first cyclical variation, known as

eccentricity, controls the shape of the Earth's orbit around the sun. The orbit gradually

changes from being elliptical to being nearly circular and then back to elliptical in a period of

about 100,000 years. The second cyclical variation results from the fact that as the earth

rotates on its polar axis, it wobbles like a spinning top changing the orbital timing of the

equinoxes and solstices. The third cyclical variation is related to the changes in the tilt of the

Earth's axis of rotation over a 41,000 year period. During the 41,000 year cycle the tilt can

deviate from approximately 22.5 to 24.5°.

At the present time, the tilt of the Earth's axis is 23.5°. When the tilt is small there is less

climatic variation between the summer and winter seasons in the middle and high latitudes.

Winters tend to be milder and summers cooler. Warmer winters allow for more snow to fall

in the high-latitude regions. When the atmosphere is warmer it has a greater ability to hold

water vapour and therefore more snow is produced at areas of frontal or orographic uplift.

Cooler summers cause snow and ice to accumulate on the Earth's surface because less of this

frozen water is melted. Thus, the net effect of a smaller tilt would be more extensive

formation of glaciers in the polar latitudes.

Periods of a larger tilt result in greater seasonal climatic variation in the middle and high

latitudes. At these times, winters tend to be colder and summers warmer. Colder winters

produce less snow because of lower atmospheric temperatures. As a result, less snow and ice

accumulates on the ground surface. Moreover, the warmer summers produced by the larger

tilt provide additional energy to melt and evaporate the snow that fell and accumulated during

the winter months. In conclusion, glaciers in the polar regions should be generally receding,

with other contributing factors constant, during this part of the obliquity cycle.

Computer models and historical evidence suggest that the Milankovitch cycles exert their

greatest cooling and warming influence when the troughs and peaks of all three cycles

coincide with each other.

b) Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Variations:

Over the past three centuries, the concentration of carbon dioxide has been increasing in the

Earth's atmosphere because of human influences. Human activities like the combustion of

fossil fuels, conversion of natural prairie to farmland, and deforestation have caused the

release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. From the early 1700s, carbon dioxide has

increased from 280 parts per million to 380 parts per million in 2005. Many scientists believe

that higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will enhance the greenhouse

effect making the planet warmer. Scientists believe we are already experiencing global

warming due to an enhancement of the greenhouse effect. Most computer climate models

suggest that the globe will warm up by 1.5 - 4.5° Celsius if carbon dioxide reaches the

predicted level of 600 parts per million by the year 2050.

c) Volcanic Eruptions:

For many years, climatologists have noticed a connection between large explosive volcanic

eruptions and short-term climatic change. For example, one of the coldest years in the last

two centuries occurred the year following the Tambora volcanic eruption in 1815. Accounts

of very cold weather were documented in the year following this eruption in a number of

regions across the planet. Several other major volcanic events also show a pattern of cooler

global temperatures lasting 1 to 3 years after their eruption.

Initially, scientists thought that the dust emitted into the atmosphere from large volcanic

eruptions was responsible for the cooling by partially blocking the transmission of solar

radiation to the Earth's surface. However, measurements indicate that most of the dust thrown

in the atmosphere returned to the Earth's surface within six months. Recent stratospheric data

suggests that large explosive volcanic eruptions also eject large quantities of sulphur dioxide

gas which remains in the atmosphere for as long as three years. Atmospheric chemists have

determined that the ejected sulphur dioxide gas reacts with water vapour commonly found in

the stratosphere to form a dense optically bright haze layer that reduces the atmospheric

transmission of some of the sun's incoming radiation.

In the last century, two significant climate-modifying eruptions have occurred. El Chichon in

Mexico erupted in April of 1982, and Mount Pinatubo went off in the Philippines during

June, 1991. Of these two volcanic events, Mount Pinatubo had a greater effect on the Earth's

climate and ejected about 20 million tons of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere.

Researchers believe that the Pinatubo eruption was primarily responsible for the 0.8 degree

Celsius drop in global average air temperature in 1992. The global climatic effects of the

eruption of Mount Pinatubo are believed to have peaked in late 1993. Satellite data confirmed

the connection between the Mount Pinatubo eruption and the global temperature decrease in

1992 and 1993. The satellite data indicated that the sulphur dioxide plume from the eruption

caused a several percent increase in the amount of sunlight reflected by the Earth's

atmosphere back to space causing the surface of the planet to cool.

d) Variations in Solar Output:

Until recently, many scientists thought that the sun's output of radiation only varied by a

fraction of a percent over many years. However, measurements made by satellites equipped

with radiometers in the 1980s and 1990s suggested that the sun's energy output may be more

variable than was once thought. Measurements made during the early 1980s showed a

decrease of 0.1 percent in the total amount of solar energy reaching the Earth over just an 18

month time period. If this trend were to extend over several decades, it could influence global

climate. Numerical climatic models predict that a change in solar output of only 1 percent per

century would alter the Earth's average temperature by between 0.5 to 1.0° Celsius.

Scientists have long tried to also link sunspots to climatic change. Sunspots are huge

magnetic storms that are seen as dark areas on the sun's surface. The number and size of

sunspots show cyclical patterns, reaching a maximum about every 11, 90, and 180 years. The

decrease in solar energy observed in the early 1980s corresponds to a period of maximum

sunspot activity based on the 11 year cycle. In addition, measurements made with a solar

telescope from 1976 to 1980 showed that during this period, as the number and size of

sunspots increased, the sun's surface cooled by about 6° Celsius. Apparently, the sunspots

prevented some of the sun's energy from leaving its surface. However, these findings tend to

contradict observations made on longer times scales. Observations of the sun during the

middle of the Little Ice Age between 1650 to 1750 indicated that very little sunspot activity

was occurring on the sun's surface. The Little Ice Age was a time of a much cooler global

climate and some scientists correlate this occurrence with a reduction in solar activity over a

period of 90 or 180 years. Measurements have shown that these 90 and 180 year cycles

influence the amplitude of the 11 year sunspot cycle. It is hypothesized that during times of

low amplitude, like the Maunder Minimum, the sun's output of radiation is reduced.

Observations by astronomers during this period from1645 to 1715 noticed very little sunspot

activity occurring on the sun.

During periods of maximum sunspot activity, the sun's magnetic field is strong. When

sunspot activity is low, the sun's magnetic field weakens. The magnetic field of the sun also

reverses every 22 years, during a sunspot minimum. Some scientists believe that the periodic

droughts on the Great Plains of the United States are in someway correlated with this 22 year

cycle.

29. What all steps you may take in reducing the environmental degradation?

The following are the six steps to be taken in reducing the environmental degradation:

a) Full Cost Economic Analysis:

Many people believe that "economics" is the enemy of the environment. This is not

necessarily true. The enemy of the environment is failing to account for all the true costs of

producing something, using a resource, or converting a natural system for another purpose.

Today a firm can profitably produce goods in a certain manner as long as it doesn't have to

worry about externalities costs that are not reflected in the price of a good or service but

are passed on to society as a whole in the form of pollution, resource depletion, or other

detrimental effects. For example, oil producers can extract petroleum from the Earth and

sell it without every worrying about the long-term costs of geopolitical security, social

stability, or climate change.

b) Education:

Kids and adults who know about the world are less likely to destroy it without considering

the consequences. Education has also been shown to improve income prospects for the

world's poor, while education for women, specifically, has been found to delay the age at

which a woman has her first child, thus reducing the number of children a woman can

expect to bear over the course of her lifetime. Finally, it is important to remember that

education extends beyond what is learned in a classroom. A recent Cornell study found that

children introduced to "wild" nature activities in childhood were more likely to show

interest in the environment as adults.

c)Population:

According to figures released last year by the U.N., global birth rates fell to the lowest level

in recorded history with the average woman in the developing world having 2.9 children,

down from an average of nearly six babies in the 1970s. UN demographers also predict that

fertility in most of the developing world will fall below the replacement level of 2.1 children

per woman before the end of the 21st century. Factors leading to falling birth rates include

increased level education for women, the use of contraceptives, and urbanization.

Population is expected to peak to about 9.1 million by 2009.

Nevertheless, the world's human population is still the ultimate driving force behind all

forms of environmental degradation. Consumption in wealthy countries and developing

countries alike is pushing species toward extinction while diminishing availability of viable

land and exhausting resources. Some are especially concerned by the tremendous economic

expansion of China and India, but still, with current resource use, citizens of the United

States use far more resources per capita than any other people on Earth. In other words,

with current consumption patterns, overpopulation in the United States with population

growth rate roughly 1 percent is more of a threat to the Earth's environment than

overpopulation in Angola.

d) Creative approaches to poverty reduction:

Increasing prosperity has been linked to improved health and increased concern for the

environment. In the world's poorest regions there are few economic options, other than

subsistence activities which tend to lead to environmental degradation and direct aid which

too often has not only bred corruption and the misallocation of resources away from those

who need it most, but has also fostered dependency and skewed the perceived value of

goods and services. Private initiatives entrepreneurship funded through micro finance

programs could play a more significant role than traditional aid handouts in the future. It

will be important to conduct these activities with ecological principles in mind, remembering

the economic concepts expressed in the first section.

e)Corruption:

Corruption is extremely costly to developing economies. Corruption breeds poorly

performing economies by discouraging private sector development, scaring off foreign

investors, undermining government credibility, and impeding poverty alleviation.

Kleptocratic rulers believe that they stand to gain more from taking a large share of a stable

or shrinking economy than from exploiting a shrinking portion of an increasing economy.

Economies based on natural resource extraction are particularly prone to kleptocracy.

Corruption and lack of transparency mean that environmentally-damaging and economically

unsound activities can be planned and take place without any safeguards or supervision.

Corrupt officials collude with private firms to illegally harvest timber, extract minerals, or

over-harvest fisheries. In developing countries alone, the World Bank estimates that US$15

billion in tax revenues is lost annually. Much of this loss is supervised by or even done with

the collaboration of corrupt government officials.

Reducing corruption is a difficult task. Holding politicians accountable for their actions has

always been difficult. Some simple steps in the right direction include: Reducing bureaucracy

to make it easier for ordinary people to start businesses and small firms to grow;

implementing laws that are well-defined and universally enforced; and minimizing barriers

to trade.

f) Protection and restoration of wildlands:

Considering the economic, recreational, and social value of wild lands, there is little doubt

that humanity is better off making its best effort to conserve the world's remaining store of

such lands. A lot can still be done. Using our intelligence and ingenuity, the human species

can preserve biodiversity and unique places for future generations, without compromising

the quality of life for present populations. Anything less reduces our options in the future

and leaves the planet a poorer place.

Saving the forests, oceans, wetlands, deserts, and tundras of the world may require a

fundamental change in the way we humans see the world around us. It is our underlying

philosophy, one that has been conditioned since birth that has turned so many of Earth's

unique ecosystems into places in peril today.

30. What all steps you may take in adopting to the present Climate change scenario?

Adapting to climate change means adapting the way we do things in all areas of our lives to

respond to the changing circumstances. It means not only protecting against negative impacts,

but also making us better able to take advantage of any benefits.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defined adaptation as "any

adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or

their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities".

The earlier we start adapting, the better equipped we will be to cope with higher

temperatures, increased rainfall and the other potential changes. That might mean ensuring

homes; buildings and transport links are protected against flooding or heat waves.

Understanding the risks

We all need to look at our vulnerability to the changing climate. 'Vulnerability' can be

defined as being open to or at risk of damage. In terms of climate change, it can be influenced

by natural characteristics, the built environment, and socio-economic factors.

A particular change in climate can have a very different effect on different people and places,

leading to different risk levels. For example, high temperatures could cause damage to some

road surfaces, but not to others due to the different melting point of the material used, and

whether the road is mostly in shade due to roadside trees.

The significance of the impact will then depend on whether it is a country road without much

traffic, or a major urban trunk road.

Ensuring we have the capacity to reduce any disruption and deal with the remaining

consequences can be described as building resilience.

Considering possible adaptation responses

When adapting to climate change, in many cases there will be a number of different possible

adaptation options available to a particular organisation at a particular time.

The choice will depend on the costs and benefits of different options, the attitude to risk of

the organisation and the information that is available to it.

An organisation might decide at any particular time to:

make no change to its operations and behaviour, and accept the possible risks

undertake a major change in the way they work to avoid the impact

reduce their vulnerability to the impact by changing their behaviour.

Most decisions will be made in the context of other, non-climate related change.

Looking at the bigger picture

The outcome of the adaptation decision is likely to have an impact beyond the organisation

that makes it - for example, on suppliers, service users, staff and the natural environment.

This is because of the complex and interconnected nature of systems within our society, the

economy and the environment. One particular impact or decision - even a seemingly small

one - can lead to a chain of impacts, affecting several different sectors of society.

That's why we need to approach climate change adaptation policy by looking holistically at

the systems (ecological and human) that might be affected.

Planning on the basis of good information and understanding of the wider effects of action is

likely to lead to more cost effective and sustainable adaptation.

Making adaptation part of everyday decision-making

Adapting to climate change is a process. That's why it needs to be built in to our normal

planning and risk management processes, whether in business, government or any other

sphere. That way, we can make sustainable adaptation decisions, at the right time and in order

to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs.

There are a number of case studies which provide examples of how organisations are tackling

adaptation.