Theme: Case study: Environmental problems. Environmental problems

Theme: Case study: Environmental problems.

Environmental problems in coastal regions require a collaborative approach among governments, civil society, and private interests, presenting a difficult collective action problem (Olsen and Nickerson, 2003 and Centre for UN Reform Education 2007). Environmental problems are diffuse and cross borders and jurisdictions. Incentives can arise to ignore transboundary impacts and neglect the management of shared resources, particularly when the diffuse nature of the benefits makes free riding on the efforts of others attractive. In the Arctic, the issue of oil and gas exploitation is a good example of the collection action problem. For example, not all Arctic states are members of key agreements. For example, the Russian Federation is not a member of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation. Other instruments to manage oil and gas activities such as the Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines are nonlegally binding. The Convention for the Protection of the marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) convention covers parts of the Northeast Atlantic in terms of legally binding pollution management; however, significant gaps appear across the Arctic region as a whole. In fact, the dominant regime is a patchwork of domestic regulation and practice and limited international rules managing exploitation in a highly sensitive marine region. Emissions, Effluents, Releases, Leaks, and Spills

Environmental problems are characterized differently, depending on who is doing the characterization. For example, an ongoing release of a contaminant into the air often is referred to as an emission. Regulatory agencies keep track of such emissions, often depending on self-reporting by the entity doing the emitting. These data are collected and published as emission inventories. Water programs generally refer to the same type of ongoing release as an effluent that is discharged. Again, the entity releasing the effluent reports the type and quantity of the released pollutant. The regulatory concept is similar to that of tax oversight by the Internal Revenue Service, with facilities randomly audited to ensure that the reported information is sufficiently precise and accurate and, if not, the facility is subject to civil and criminal penalties.
Other less predictable releases go by a number of names. In hazardous waste programs, such as the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) program, contaminant intrusions into groundwater are called leaks. In fact, new underground tanks are often required to have leak detection systems and alarms. In solid waste programs, such as landfill regulations, the intrusion may go by the name leachate. Landfills often are required to have leachate collection systems to protect adjacent aquifers and surface waters. Spills are generally liquid releases that occur suddenly, such as an oil spill. Air releases that occur suddenly are called leaks, such as chlorine or natural gas leaks. The general term for expected and unplanned environmental releases is just that, releases, such as those reported in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI).
All these terms are used in this book. Although consistency has been strived for, not every case fits neatly into an air, water, or other problem. In those cases, some or all of these terms apply.
Environmental problems every so often need the scrutiny of many diverse factors. For instances, delineating the forest canopy density map, it wants various aspects like AVI, BSI, SI, etc. This model is the combined result of physical indices. The present chapter starts with the incorporation of various vegetation indices. The satellite imageries provide convenient evidence in research. Landsat TM 5 and Landsat 8 OLI data were used to evaluate the thickness of forest in Sonitpur, Lakhimpur district of Assam, and Papum reserve forest of Arunachal Pradesh. The procedure reveals that the growing drift of open forest will unquestionably increase the transience of trees. The AVI displays a scenario, which portrays more reflectance of infrared band and high absorption in red band in 1991 instead of 2020. The Bare Soil Index signifies bare properties with high reflectance in short-wave and more absorption in the infrared and red wave. Again, it shows low vegetation density during the year 2020. A value of 0%, which denotes low shadow indicated by Scaled Shadow Index in 2020, while it shows a larger value of 100% in the year 1991. The FCD module suggested that high amount of canopy density represents that the area holds crown of trees. In 1991, it demonstrates that the area under high and moderate canopy density is more prominent. While in the year 2020, the area falls under moderate forest canopy density, open forest is more prevalent.
Changes are common with every phenomenon. Change detection analysis showed that the forest cover deteriorated between 1991 and 2020. With this technique, areas with open forest; deforestation; and under growing categories were identified. The results suggested that high amount of deforestation is observed in Lakhimpur district of Assam. While the areas under open forest (66.34%) were detected in Sonitpur district during the year 1991 and 2020. Again, the areas under growing (15.57%) strata were displayed by Sonitpur district too.
The ability of using remote sensing for forest fragmentation will be improved by developments in satellite data that will be available over the succeeding years, and by the incorporation of remote sensing and GIS methods, along with the usage of auxiliary methods for example proficient systems and ecosystem recreation models. Yet, the current study can be progress further by means of several satellite imageries of diverse period. This helps in assessing the fluctuations of forest canopy density over time and space. It is an important measure to assess the forest thickness and the information can be contributed to manage forest density. Lastly, the study acclaims policy involvement to shield the forest areas from loss, deterioration and degradation.
nvironmental problems in the urban setting stem from congestion, that is the excess of level of environmental stressors over the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. Table 1 shows average densities of some of the largest cities in the world. More significant is the density of particular pockets of the city – especially informal settlements, where densities of 100 000 people per square kilometer are common.
Water quality impacts are most often due to domestic wastewater that is released into receiving waters. In most of the developed cities, wastewater is partially treated before its release into receiving waters; but in other cities, sewage is discharged directly into canals (whether open or closed) and, from there, into receiving waters such as rivers and the ocean. This causes both ecological and public health problems since the receiving waters cannot absorb the nutrients, bacteria, and toxic constituents being discharged into it; and the pollution reduces the available sources of potable water.
In the poorer cities of the world, the greatest water-quality problem results indirectly from the inadequate wastewater collection and treatment system. The problem is the contamination of water supplies through various pathways, for example, sewage spilled onto the ground contacting people directly or flowing into wells and other water sources or indirect connections to the water supply system. This results in a heavy toll in terms of waterborne disease such as cholera and typhoid. Another health threat results from the ponds that allow the breeding of disease vectors like mosquitoes (i.e., sources of diseases like dengue and malaria). The high densities of people inhabiting the most crowded pockets in the largest cities increase the proximity of infected persons to the rest of the community, thus allowing the epidemic spread of these diseases.
In the most crowded cities of the developing world, the environmental bane that people point to before anything else is solid waste. The visual impact of solid waste on the streets, outside homes, and in watercourses is the most striking problem in many cities. Again, congestion is the issue, as it combines with institutional undercapacity to produce a situation where the rate of solid waste generation exceeds the limits of urban infrastructure capacity. In city centers, the main effect is the assault on the senses, including odor, vermin, and visual stressors. At the outskirts (but sometimes, within the center) of the city, this creates a second condition where the solid waste is piled into mountains of garbage that lie rotting to such a degree that the steam produced by the biological activity is often mistaken for smoke. In the Philippines, Manila's Smokey Mountain was for a long time an unfortunate landmark of the city before it was shut down, and garbage was sent to the Payatas landfill in Quezon City, instead. Several years later, in July 2000, Payatas was to become the site of a national tragedy when what literally became a mountain of garbage collapsed, in a process akin to slope failures in hillsides, onto a nearby community of garbage-recyclers, killing 210 residents. The irony of this particular case was that the great burden of solid waste was partly the result of a congressional ban on garbage incineration; in this case, environmental advocates, by winning a war on air pollution and its toll on human health, inadvertently contributed to a greater toll in the lost lives in Payatas.
Among the greatest risks associated with living in crowded cities is the vulnerability to natural hazards. Perhaps even more tragic than the toll from poor air quality or infectious disease is the devastating effect that natural hazards such as storms, earthquakes, floods, and fires have on urban populations. The fragility of life for the poor, informal settlers, and the homeless in the megacities of the world is most palpable during those extreme events when low quality housing is laid waste and urban infrastructure and services are shut down. In 2007, the cyclone in Burma's Irrawady delta and the earthquake in China's Sichuan province claimed approximately 200 000 lives. In 2005, in the United States, a hurricane had water cresting over earthen dikes in New Orleans and wiped out entire neighborhoods, claiming 1464 lives and exposing the federal government's failed emergency response systems.