Natural and Manmade Disasters
Environmental problems arise both due to natural processes and human activities. These problems adversely affect human and other forms of life.
Developmental activities carried out by humans have degraded and polluted the environment. It has become necessary to keep a close watch on their impact on the environment.
The large population world over, technological advancement in recent years and lack of respect for our environment has added to the list of problems, especially pollution and depletion of natural resources.
Although natural phenomena such as earthquakes, floods, tsunami, cyclones and fires affect the environment on a large scale, nature has the capacity of recovering. However, it is high time that each citizen becomes aware of these issues in order to contribute towards saving the environment.
Environmental Problems
Environmental problems may occur due to natural disasters and degradation caused by human activities. A disaster whether it is natural or man-made results in large scale damage to life and property. The effect of these disasters can be felt either locally or at the global level.
They are categorized into natural and manmade environmental problems.
Natural Disasters
- Flood
- Cyclone
- Earthquake
- Forest fire
- Tsunami
- Landslide
- Cloudburst
Manmade Disasters
Although the growth in the human population leads to added stress on our resources indiscriminate and irresponsible use of our natural resources makes it even worse. Large population means more land under cultivation for food production and water for irrigation, more fertilizers and pesticides in the environment. Forests are also cleared to create space for housing, roads, educational institutes, industries.
To meet the demand of food, housing and energy, environmental resources are being depleted at a fast pace. Environment has the potential to replenish most of its resources over a certain period of time. However, over-exploitation of resources and human activities has resulted in many environmental problems.
- Deforestation and loss of ecosystems
- Pollution (air, water and land)
- Depletion of fossil fuels
- Concentration of pesticides in organisms leading to biomagnification
- Depletion of ozone layer
- Global warming
- Unhygienic living conditions due to generation of more waste