1.

What is meant by:

A. biological elements of the environment.
B. cultural elements of the environment.
C. Physical elements of the environment.

2. Write short notes on:

A. Eight millennium development goals.
B. Aspects of Human well-being.
C. Mobility and vulnerability.
Environmental Sustainability
ES means growth with balance without using
tomorrow’s resources today or
endangering the chances of future
generations to meet their needs.

ES involves making decision and taking

actions to protect the nature to support
human life. Reducing businesses’ negative
impact and making benefit to individuals.
It is not simply about reducing the
amount of waste produced or using
less energy, but is concerned with
developing processes that will lead to
businesses becoming completely
sustainable in the future.
Businesses can potentially part in:
1 Damaging rainforests and woodlands
through logging and agricultural clearing.
2 Polluting and over-fishing of oceans,
rivers & lakes.
3 Polluting atmosphere through burning of
fossil fuels
4 Damaging prime agricultural and
cultivated lands through using
unsustainable farming practices
Env sustainability forces businesses
to look beyond making short term
gains and look at the long term
impact.
For example, when manufacturing a
product, you need to look at the
environmental impact of the
products through entire lifecycle,
from development to disposal before
finalizing your design.
Population, poverty and the Environment
ES is essential in achieving the Millennium
Development Goals, especially the
poverty reduction. Changes in population
size, rate of growth, and distribution
have a far-reaching impact on the
environment and development prospects.

population

environment poverty
Human Population Growth
• The largest population increases and the
most fragile environmental conditions are
usually found in poor countries. Program of
Action of the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) help in
achieving a more favorable equation
between population and available
resources.
• In the rural environment, land
fragmentation, eroded and degraded
soils are contributing to poverty, hunger
and migration.

• The unplanned rapid growth of cities,

fed by migrants from rural areas is
creating intense pressure on local
ecosystem and has in some cases,
overwhelmed environmental resources.
Poverty and environmental stress
• The majority of the rural poor have
increasingly become clustered on low–
potential land.
• The land productivity is decreased due to
some environmental stresses such as
exploiting the land, overgrazing, soil mining,
deforestation and land degradation.
• Human-induced climate change is leading to
the rising of the Earth’s temperature lead
to the rising of sea level which threatens
people living in low lying areas such as Nile
deltas and islands.
Food and water security
• Food and water security are becoming
critical issues in many developing countries,
especially where poverty and environmental
degradation are endemic e.g. sub-Saharan
Africa.
• The Food and Agricultural Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), estimates that
to meet the needs of the World’s population
in 2020, will have to double food production.
• The target is to halve the proportion of
people without access safe drinking water
and basic sanitation. More than 1 billion
people lack clean water and more than 2.5
billion live without adequate sanitation.
• Many countries facing water scarcity are low-
income with rapidly growing populations that are
generally unable to make investments in water-
saving technologies.
• Women, in many less developed countries, make
vital contributions to resource management and
conservation and are working as conservationists
by safeguarding forests, soil, water and grazing
areas. And are the caretakers of their family’s
health.
• It is important to empower women to support a
sustainable future
 Population and sustainable
development
• Sustainable development is the process by
which people satisfy their basic needs and
improve their quality of life in the present
while safeguarding the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
• Sustainable development recognizes that
the three ‘pillars’ – the economy, society
and the environment – are interconnected.
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Principle of EQUITY: is to achieve the 3 goals

 Population and sustainable
development
• In highly developed countries, a better quality
of life means a high standard of living, usually
measured in terms of income level and uses of
resources and technology.
• People in developed countries have the
greatest impact on the global environment.
• At any level of development, human impact on
the environment is a function of the population
size per capita consumption and the env damage
caused by the technology.
• Highly developed countries(HDCs) represent only
20% of the world’s population , yet they consume
significantly more 86% of consumption. The
poorest 20% accounts for 1.3%
• The richest 5th accounts for 53% of CO2
emissions, the poorest 5th accounts for 3%.
• A child born in HDCs consumes as 30-50 children
born on LDCs.
• As level rises in LDCs (Live better), it will be a
challenge
Human life depends mainly on 3 Main renewable
resources: air, water and soil. Each year, land loses:
• 5-7 million hectares of agricultural lands.
• 2 billion hectares overgrazed and poor farming.
• 16-20 million hectares are logged.
Water scarcity and pollution:
• 1.1 billion people without clean drinking water.
• 2.8 billion people without sanitation services.
• 250 million people with water borne diseases, 10
million of whom die.
Air:
• 2.7 million deaths of air pollution
• 2.2 million deaths of indoor pollution
• Rise in CO2 levels, by industry, will result in
increases in temperature that raise the sea
level to disrupt agriculture production.
• Population growth enforce people to burn
forests to plant crops, over cropping, over
pumping of groundwater.
• 80 countries can’t produce enough food to
feed own populations
• 1.3 billion people (1/5 world’s people) live in
absolute poverty.
North-South co operations:
• HDCs must develop technologies to
minimize damage to natural systems.
Afford these technologies to LDCs.
• HDCs afford favorable economic
climate to LDCs : reliable access to
markets, debt reduction, increase flow
of financial resources.
• Education, basic healthy care, family
planning are important to alleviate
poverty.
 Population and Environmental
Protection
As population growth slows, countries can
invest in education, health care, job creation
that can help boost living standards. In
return, as individual income, savings more
resources become available that can boost
productivity.
What are the means of environmental
protections?
1. Dynamic economy needs slower
population growth:
Population will exceed 8 billion by 2025.
Annual world population fall to 1.4% in
2000 than in 1960 (2%).
2. Births outnumber deaths, overpopulation:
fertility has fallen by half since 1960s.
3 children / woman. In 65 countries 2
children / woman. About 1.7 billion in 47
countries of 3-5 children/ woman.
3. The Rise in populations is mainly in
developing nations:

In Europe, a decline in population

growth by 13-7% in the next 25
years.
In Sub-Saharan countries will rise
by 10-17% at the same time.
4. Parts of Africa will experience
drastic water shortages by 2025:
3 billion people will be affected by
2025.
Sub-Saharan countries be worst.
5. Family planning is effective in
stabilizing growth:
Couples will be better able to achieve their
fertility desires even in low incomes and
limited education FP will improve welfare.
 The Role of Women
Women make up 2/3 of the poorest people.
Twice as men at illiteracy.
Responsible in finding water, find wood.
Burning wood for cooking which is more
dangerous than tobacco smoking. Care of
livestock and tending crops .
Equal education, credit, land and legal right
will be beneficial to women to contribute in
environmental and economic development of
their families