[LEC 6] HUMAN POPULATION AND Population Change

URBANIZATION - We can calculate the population change of

an area by subtracting the number of people
Three major factors accounting for the rapid rise leaving a population (through death and
of the human population: emigration) from the number entering it
- Early and modern agriculture allowed us to (through birth and immigration) during a
feed more people. specified period of time (usually 1 year).
- Technologies helped us expand into almost
all of the planet’s climate zones and habitats.
- Death rates dropped sharply because of
improved sanitation and health care and the Women Are Having Fewer Babies but the
development of antibiotics and vaccines. World’s Population Is Still Growing
- A key factor affecting human population
Three important trends related to the current size growth and size is the total fertility rate (TFR):
and impact of the human population: the average number of children born to the
- First, the rate of population growth has women in a population during their
slowed since 1960, but the world’s reproductive years
population is still growing at a rate of about
1.2%. DID YOU KNOW?
- Second, human population growth is ● Between 1955 and 2013, the global TFR
unevenly distributed. dropped from 5 to 2.5. Those who support
- Third, people have moved in large numbers slowing the world’s population growth view
from rural areas to urban areas. this as good news. However, to eventually
halt population growth, the global TFR would
The Human Population Can Grow, Decline, Or have to drop to 2.1— the rate necessary for
Remain Fairly Stable. replacing both parents after taking infant
● If there are more births than deaths during a mortality into account.
given period of time, the human population
increases, and when the opposite is true, it Several Factors Affect Birth and Fertility Rates
decreases. - Importance of children as a part of the labor
Three factors: force, especially in less-developed countries
1. Births (fertility) - Cost of raising and educating children
2. Deaths (mortality) - Availability of, or lack of, private and public
3. Migration pension systems
- Urbanization
- Educational and employment opportunities
available for women
- Average age at marriage
 - Availability of legal abortions Aging Populations Can Decline Rapidly
- Availability of reliable birth control methods ● Japan has the world’s highest percentage of
- Religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural elderly people (above age 65) and the
norms world’s lowest percentage of young people
(below age 15).
Several Factors Affect Death Rates
● Life expectancy: the average number of Some Problems with Rapid Population Decline
years a person born in the year of the - Can threaten economic growth
estimate can be expected to live. - Labor Shortages
○ In 2013, Japan had the world’s - Less government revenues with fewer
longest life expectancy of 83 years. workers
● Infant mortality rate, the number of babies - Less entrepreneurship and new business
out of every 1,000 born who die before their formation
first birthday. - Less likelihood for new technology
○ It is viewed as one of the best development
measures of a society’s quality of - Increasing public deficits to fund higher
life because it reflects a country’s pension and health-care costs
general level of nutrition and health - Pensions may be cut and retirement age
care. increased

Migration Affects an Area’s Population Size WHAT ARE SOME WAYS TO SLOW HUMAN
- Migration: the movement of people into POPULATION GROWTH?
(immigration) and out of (emigration) specific ● Reducing poverty through economic
geographic areas. development
- Environmental refugees: people who have ● Elevating the status of women
to leave their homes and sometimes their ● Encouraging family planning
countries because of water or food
shortages, soil erosion, or some other form Promoting Economic Development Can Stabilize
of environmental degradation or depletion. a Population
- Demographic transition: As countries
HOW DOES A POPULATION’S AGE STRUCTURE become industrialized and economically
AFFECT ITS GROWTH OR DECLINE? developed, their per capita incomes rise,
poverty declines, and their populations tend
A Population’s Age Structure Helps Us to Make to grow more slowly.
Projections
● Age structure: the numbers or percentages
of males and females in young, middle, and
older age groups in that population.
Empowerment of Women Tends to
Population Growth
- A number of studies show that women tend
to have fewer children if they are educated,
have the ability to control their own fertility,
earn an income of their own, and live in
societies that do not suppress their rights.
Some Argue for Promoting Family Planning
- Family planning involves the provision of
education and clinical services that can help
couples to choose how many Children to
have and when to have them.
- Family planning enables women to limit the
size of their families if they wish to do so, and
to plan their pregnancies.
[LEC 7] URBANIZATION EFFECT
What are the Major Urban Resources and
Environmental Problems?
1. The percentage of the global population that
lives in urban areas has grown sharply and
this trend is projected to continue.
2. The numbers and sizes of urban areas are
mushrooming.
3. Poverty is becoming increasingly urbanized,
mostly in less-developed countries.
Urban Sprawl
● The growth of low-density development on
the edges of cities and towns— is eliminating
agricultural and wild lands around many
cities
○ This results in a dispersed jumble of
housing developments, shopping
malls, parking lots, and
complexes that are
Slow connected by multilane highways and
freeways.
○ Urban sprawl is largely the product of
ample affordable land, automobiles,
federal and state funding of
highways, and inadequate urban
planning.
Urbanization has Advantages
- Cities are centers of economic development,
innovation, education, technological
advances, social and cultural diversity, and
job markets.
- Live longer than rural residents and have
lower infant mortality and fertility rates.
- Have better access to medical care, family
planning, education, and social services than
do their rural counterparts.
- Recycling is more economically feasible
because of the high concentrations of
recyclable materials in urban areas.
- Central-city dwellers also tend to drive less
and rely more on mass transportation, car-
pooling, walking, and bicycling.
office
loosely
Urbanization has Disadvantages usually lack clean water supplies, sewers,
- Most urban areas are unsustainable electricity, and roads, and are subject to
systems. severe air and water pollution and hazardous
- Consumes about 75% of its resources and wastes from nearby factories.
produce about 75% of the world’s pollution
and wastes How Does Transportation Affect Urban
- Most of the world’s cities have huge Environmental Impacts?
ecological footprints that extend far beyond ● Cities Can Grow Outward or Upward
their boundaries ○ compact cities get around by
- Most cities lack vegetation walking, biking, or using mass transit
- Many cities have water problems. such as rail and bus systems
- Cities tend to concentrate on pollution and ■ such as Hong Kong, China,
health problems. and Tokyo, Japan
- Cities have excessive noise (Noise ○ dispersed cities whose residents
Pollution: any unwanted, disturbing, or depend on motor vehicles for most
harmful sound that damages, impairs, or travel
interferes with hearing, causes stress, ■ such car-centered cities are
hampers concentration and work efficiency, found in the United States,
or causes accidents. Canada, Australia, and some
- Cities affect local climates. other countries

● Use of Motor Vehicles Has Advantages and

Disadvantages
○ Motor vehicles provide mobility and
offer a convenient and comfortable
way to get from one place to another
○ automobile accidents kill about 1.3
million people per year—an average
Life Is a Desperate Struggle for the Urban of more than 3,500 deaths per day—
Poor in Less-Developed Countries and injure another 50 million people.
- Slums — areas dominated by dilapidated ○ Motor vehicles are the world’s largest
tenements, or rooming houses where source of outdoor air pollution, which
several people might live in a single room. causes 30,000–60,000 premature
- Other poor people live in squatter deaths per year in the United States
settlements and shantytowns on the outskirts ○ the fastest growing source of climate-
of cities. changing CO2 emissions
- Poor people living in shantytowns and ○ congestion
squatter settlements, or on the streets,
How Can Cities Become More Sustainable and
Liveable?
● Smart Growth Can Promote Environmental
Sustainability
○ Smart growth is a set of policies and
tools that allow and encourage more
environmentally sustainable urban
development with less dependence
on cars; uses zoning laws and other
tools to channel growth in order to
reduce its ecological footprint.
● The Eco-City Concept: Cities for People, Not
Cars
○ An eco-city is a people-oriented city,
not a car-oriented city. Its residents
are able to walk, bike, or use low
polluting mass transit for most of their
travel
○ abandoned lots and industrial sites
are cleaned up and used
○ Nearby forests, grasslands,
wetlands, and farms are preserved
The eco-city model is not a futuristic dream, but a
growing reality in a number of cities, including
Portland, Oregon, that are striving to become more
environmentally sustainable and livable.
- Other examples are Curitiba, Brazil Bogotá,
Colombia; Waitakere City, New Zealand;
Stockholm, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland;
Copenhagen, Denmark; Melbourne,
Australia; Vancouver, Canada; Leicester,
England; Neerlands, the Netherlands; and in
the United States, Davis, California;
Olympia, Washington; and Chattanooga,
Tennessee.
[LEC 8] POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE
What Is Food Security and Why is It Difficult To
Attain?
- Poverty is the root cause of food insecurity
- Many people suffer from chronic hunger and
malnutrition
- Many people do not get enough vitamins and
minerals
- Many people have health problems from
eating too much
Food Security - is the condition under which all or
most of the people in a population have daily access
to enough nutritious food to live active and healthy
lives.
Food Insecurity - living with chronic hunger and
poor nutrition, which threatens their ability to lead
healthy and productive lives.
Other Obstacles to Food Security:
- Poverty
- War
- Corruption
- Political Upheaval
- Bad Weather
- Climate Change
People who cannot grow or buy enough food to meet
their basic energy needs suffer from Chronic
Undernutrition, or Hunger.
Occurs when food energy intake exceeds energy
use and causes excess body fat. Too many calories,
too little exercise can lead to Overnutrition.
People who are underfed and underweight and
those who are overfed and overweight share similar
health problems:
- Lower life expectancy
- Greater susceptibility to disease and illness
- Lower productivity and life quality
DID YOU KNOW?
According to the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are about 1
billion chronically undernourished and malnourished
people. One of every seven people on the planet.
Food Production Has Increased Dramatically
Three systems supply most of the world’s
food.
1. Croplands that produce grains, primarily
rice, wheat, and corn. Provide about 77% of
the world’s food.
2. Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots that
produce meat and meat products
3. Fisheries and aquaculture (fish farming)
that supply fish and shellfish.
These three systems depend on a small number of
plant and animal species.
- About two out of three of the world’s people
survive primarily by eating three grain crops
(rice, wheat, and corn) because they cannot
afford to eat meat.
- Only a few species of mammals and fish
provide most of the world’s meat and
seafood.
Industrialized Crop Production Relies on High-
Input Monocultures
2 major types of agriculture:
1. Industrialized agriculture, or high-input
agriculture
- uses heavy equipment along with
large amounts of financial capital,
fossil fuels, water, commercial
inorganic fertilizers, and pesticides to
produce single crops, or
monocultures.
● Plantation Agriculture
- form of industrialized agriculture used
primarily in tropical less-developed
countries. It involves growing cash
crops such as bananas, coffee,
vegetables, soybeans, sugarcane,
and palm oil.
2. Traditional Agriculture Often Relies on Low-
Input Polyculture
● Traditional subsistence agriculture -
supplements energy from the sun
with the labor of humans and draft
animals to produce enough crops for
a farm family’s survival.
● Traditional intensive agriculture -
farmers try to obtain higher crop
yields by increasing their inputs of
human and draft-animal labor, animal
manure for fertilizer, and water.
* Some traditional farmers focus on cultivating a
single crop, but many grow several crops on the
same plot simultaneously, a practice known as
POLYCULTURE.
Organic Agriculture Is on the Rise Meat Consumption Has Grown Steadily
A fast-growing sector of the U.S. and world - Between 1961 and 2012, the average
economies is organic agriculture, in which crops are amount of meat and meat products
grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, consumed per person rose more than
synthetic inorganic fertilizers, and genetically twofold along with the production of meat
engineered varieties, and animals must be raised on and meat products, primarily beef, pork,
100% organic feed without the use of antibiotics or poultry, domestic sheep, milk, cheese, and
growth hormones. Growing Power has become a eggs.
well-known model for such food production. - By 2050, meat consumption is anticipated to
Did You Know? more than double once more.
The world’s three largest grain
producing countries: China, India, and the Feedlots - a place or structure where animals are
United States produce almost half of the fed or fattened up.
world’s grains.
Concentrated animal feeding operations
Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering (CAFOs) - a type of agricultural facility where
Produce New Varieties of Crops and Livestock numerous animals are kept in close quarters.
- For centuries, farmers and scientists have
used cross breeding through artificial Production of Fish and Shellfish Has Increased
selection to develop genetically improved Substantially
varieties of crops and livestock animals. ● Fishery
Such selective breeding in this first gene - is a collection of certain aquatic
revolution has yielded amazing results. species that are great choices for
- Traditional crossbreeding is a slow process, economic harvesting in a specific
typically taking 15 years or more to produce coastal area or inland body of water.
a commercially valuable new crop variety, ● Aquaculture or fish farming
and it can combine traits only from species - another method used to produce fish
that are genetically similar. and shellfish. It involves breeding fish
- Scientists are creating a second gene in freshwater ponds, lakes,
revolution by using genetic engineering to reservoirs, and rice paddies as well
develop genetically modified strains of crops as in underwater cages in shallower
and livestock animals. and more inland ocean waters.
- Engineers use a process called gene splicing
to alter an organism’s genetic material ➢ Between 1950 and 2012, global seafood
through adding, deleting, or changing production of wild and farmed fish rose nine
segments of its DNA. times
 ➢ 2012 - Aquaculture produces 42% of the
world's fish and shellfish, which accounts for
around 58% of all fish and shellfish captured
worldwide.
➢ 2011 - China produced more farmed fish
than beef, making up over 62% of the global
total. About 87% of the world's commercial
ocean fisheries are being harvested at full
capacity (57%) or overfished (30%),
according to a 2012 FAO assessment on
global fisheries.
Large Energy Inputs Are Necessary For
Industrialized Food Production
- The use of fossil fuels— primarily oil and
natural gas— to power farm equipment and
other agricultural equipment, and produce
synthetic inorganic fertilizers has allowed for
the industrialization of food production.
- According to the ecological economist, Peter
Tyedmers, the world’s fishing fleets use
about 12.5 units of energy to put 1 unit of
food energy from seafood on the table.
* The systems used today for food production,
processing, transportation, and preparation are very
dependent on fossil fuels, and as a result, they
contribute to a massive net energy loss.
Producing Food Has Major Environmental
Impacts
- Industrialized agriculture has allowed
farmers to use less land to produce more
food, and this has helped to protect
biodiversity in many areas by reducing the
destruction of forests and grasslands for
farming. However, many analysts point out
that industrialized agriculture has greater
overall harmful environmental impacts than
any other human activity and that these
environmental effects may limit future food
production.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS ARISING FROM
INDUSTRIALIZED FOOD PRODUCTION
Soil Erosion - the movement of soil components,
especially surface litter and topsoil, from one place
to another by the actions of wind and water.
Three Major Harmful Effects of Topsoil
Erosion:
1. Loss of soil fertility
2. Water pollution
3. Carbon release
Desertification - the process in which the
productive potential of topsoil falls by 10% or more
because of a combination of prolonged drought and
human activities that expose topsoil to erosion.
Status of desertification in a particular
area:
a. Moderate - with a 10–25% drop in
productivity)
b. Severe - with a drop of 25–50%
c. Very Severe - with a drop of more than 50%,
usually resulting in large gullies and sand
dunes
Irrigation - A major reason for the success of
farmers in boosting productivity on farms is the use
of irrigation, which accounts for about 70% of the
water that humanity uses. Currently, the 20% of the
world’s cropland that is irrigated produces
about 40% of the world’s food.
* Excessive irrigation has serious consequences

Soil Salinization - It stunts crop growth, lowers crop
yields, and can eventually kill plants and ruin the
land.
Agriculture Contributes to Air Pollution and
Climate Change
Agricultural activities, including the clearing
and burning of forests to raise crops or livestock,
create a great deal of air pollution. They also account
for more than a quarter of all human-generated
emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is helping
to warm the atmosphere and lead to climate change
that is projected to play an important role in making
some areas unsuitable for growing crops during this
century.
Did you know?
According to the 2006 FAO study,
Livestock’s Long Shadow, industrialized
livestock production generates about 18% of
the world’s greenhouse gases—more than
all of the world’s cars, trucks, buses, and
planes emit.
Food and Biofuel Production Systems Have
Caused Major Losses of Biodiversity
Natural biodiversity and some ecosystem
services are threatened when tropical and other
forests are cleared and when grasslands are plowed
up and replaced with croplands used to produce
food and biofuels. Increasing loss of
agrobiodiversity— the genetic variety of animal and
plant species used on farms to produce food.
● In Indonesia, tropical forests are burned to
make way for plantations of oil palm trees
increasingly used to produce biodiesel fuel.
In losing agrobiodiversity, ecologists warn that we
are rapidly shrinking the world’s genetic “library” of
plant varieties, which are critical for increasing food
yields. This failure to preserve agrobiodiversity is a
serious violation of the biodiversity principle of
sustainability that could reduce the sustainability of
food production.
● The world’s most secure seed bank is the
underground Doomsday Seed Vault, which
was carved into the Arctic permafrost on a
frozen Norwegian arctic island.
Individual plants and seeds from endangered
varieties of crops and wild plant species important to
the world’s food supply are stored in about 1,400
refrigerated seed banks, as well as in agricultural
research centers and botanical gardens scattered
around the world.
● Scientists estimate that since 1900, we have
lost 75% of the genetic diversity of
agricultural crops that existed then.
There Is Controversy over Genetically
Engineered Foods
While genetic engineering could help to
improve food security for some, controversy has
arisen over the use of this technology. Its producers
and investors see genetically modified (GM) food
production as a potentially sustainable way to solve
world hunger problems.
In addition, herbicide resistant genetically
engineered crops have led to increased herbicide
use and to herbicide-resistant superweeds, some of
which can rapidly grow more than 2 meters (7 feet)
tall.
In 2011, an international team of scientists
and analysts published the Global Citizens’ Report
on the State of GMOs.
There Are Limits to Expansion of the Green Aquaculture Can Harm Aquatic Ecosystems
Revolutions - Aquaculture broadly refers to the cultivation
Scientists point out that where such inputs do of aquatic organisms in controlled aquatic
increase yields, there comes a point where yields environments for any commercial,
stop growing because of the inability of crop plants recreational or public purpose.
to take up nutrients from additional fertilizer and - Fish farms, especially those that raise
irrigation water. This helps to explain the slowdown carnivorous fish such as salmon and tuna,
in the rate of growth in global grain yields since 1990. also produce large amounts of wastes,
Since 1978, the amount of irrigated land per including pesticides and antibiotics used on
person has been declining, and it is projected to fall fish farms.
much more by 2050. One reason for this is
population growth, which is projected to add 2.6 FOOD PRODUCTION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
billion more people between 2013 and 2050.
Other factors are limited availability of Nature Controls the Populations of Most Pests
irrigation water, soil salinization, and the fact that - A pest is any species that interferes with
most of the world’s farmers do not have enough human welfare by competing with us for food,
money to irrigate their crops. invading our homes, lawns, or gardens,
Food production could also drop sharply in destroying building materials, spreading
some major food-producing areas because of longer disease, invading ecosystems, or simply
and more intense droughts and heat waves, also being a nuisance.
resulting from projected climate change.
How Can We Protect Crops From Pests More
Industrialized Meat Production Has Harmful Sustainably?
Environmental Effects - When we clear forests and grasslands, plant
- Feedlots and concentrated animal feeding monoculture crops, and douse fields with
operations use large amounts of water to chemicals that kill pests, we upset many of
grow feed for livestock and to wash away these natural population checks and
their wastes. balances that are in keeping with the
- Industrialized meat production uses large biodiversity principle of sustainability.
amounts of energy (mostly from oil), which
helps to make it one of the chief sources of Use Of Pesticides To Help Control Pest
air and water pollution and greenhouse gas Populations
emissions. Pesticides - chemicals used to kill or control
- The production of meat and meat products populations of organisms that we consider
generates 10–20 times more greenhouse undesirable.
gases per unit of weight than does - Common types of pesticides include
production of common vegetables and insecticides (insect killers), herbicides (weed
grains. killers), fungicides (fungus killers), and
 rodenticides (rat and mouse killers). 2. They can put farmers on a financial treadmill.
Scientists have used such chemicals to 3. Some insecticides kill natural predators and
create biopesticides to kill some pests. parasites that help to control the pest
populations
- Some synthetic pesticides, called broad- 4. Pesticides are usually applied inefficiently
spectrum agents, are toxic to beneficial and often pollute the environment.
species as well as to pests. Examples are 5. Some pesticides harm wildlife.
organochlorine compounds, 6. Some pesticides threaten human health.
organophosphates, carbamates,
pyrethroids, and neonicotinoids. Others, Reducing Exposure to Pesticide
called selective, or narrow-spectrum, agents, - Grow some of your food using organic
are each effective against a narrowly defined methods
group of organisms. - Buy certified organic food
- Wash and scrub all fresh fruits and
- Pesticides vary in their persistence, the vegetables
length of time they remain deadly in the - Eat less meat, no meat, or certified
environment. Some, such as DDT and organically produced meat
related compounds, remain in the - Before cooking, trim the fat from the meat.
environment for years and can be
biologically magnified in food chains and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) uses a
webs. combination of methods, including the use of
biological, ecological, and other alternative methods
Synthetic Pesticides Provide Several Benefits for controlling pests.
1. They have saved human lives. a. Fool the pest.
2. They can increase food supplies. b. Provide homes for pest enemies.
3. They can help farmers to increase their c. Implant genetic resistance.
profits. d. Bring in natural enemies.
4. They can help farmers to increase their e. Use insect perfumes.
profits. f. Bring in the hormones.
5. They work fast. g. Reduce the use of synthetic herbicides to
6. When used properly, the health risks of some control weeds.
pesticides are very low, relative to their
benefits. Integrated Pest Management is a Component of
7. Newer pesticides are safer to use and more More Sustainable Agriculture
effective than many older ones. - Many pest control experts and farmers
Synthetic Pesticides have Several drawbacks believe the best way to control crop pests is
1. They accelerate the development of genetic through IPM.
resistance to pesticides in pest organisms.
 - The overall aim of IPM is to reduce crop
damage to an economically tolerable level.
- A well-designed IPM program can reduce
synthetic pesticide use and pest control
costs by 50-65%, without reducing crop
yields and food quality.
- IPM can also reduce inputs of fertilizer and
irrigation water, and slow the development of
genetic resistance, because pests are
attacked less often and with lower doses of
pesticides.
Disadvantages of IPM:
- It requires expert knowledge about each pest
situation and takes more time than using
conventional pesticides.
- Methods developed for a crop in one area
might not apply to areas with even slightly
different growing conditions.
- Initial costs may be higher, although long -
term costs typically are lower than those of
using conventional pesticides.
IMPROVING FOOD SECURITY
Use Of Government Policies to Improve
Food Production and Security
1. control food prices
2. provide subsidies
Other Government and Private Programs Are
Increasing Food Security
- Studies by the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) indicate that one-half to two-
thirds of nutrition-related childhood deaths
could be prevented at an average annual
cost of $5–$10 per child.
- Growing Power - a Private and non-profit
organization that is working to help
communities to improve their food security
and produce food more sustainably.
Grow and Buy More Food Locally and Cut Food
Waste
- There is a growing number of consumers
who are becoming “locavores” and buying
more of their food from local and regional
producers in farmers’ markets.
- GREEN CAREER: Small-scale sustainable
agriculture
- An increase in the demand for locally
grown food could result in more
small, diversified farms that produce
organic, minimally processed food
from plants and animals.
Many Farmers Are Reducing Soil Erosion
- Soil conservation involves using a variety
of methods to reduce topsoil erosion and
restore soil fertility, mostly by keeping the
land covered with vegetation.
- Contour planting can be used to reduce
topsoil erosion. It involves plowing and
planting crops in rows across the slope of the
land rather than up and down.
- Strip-cropping helps to reduce erosion and
to restore soil fertility with alternating strips of
a row crop (such as corn or cotton) and
another crop that completely covers the soil,
called a cover crop (such as alfalfa, clover,
oats, or rye).
- Alley cropping, or agroforestry, is another
way to slow the erosion of topsoil and to
maintain soil fertility.
- Conservation-tillage farming uses special
tillers and planting machines that inject
 seeds and fertilizer directly through crop
residues into minimally disturbed topsoil.
Types of Organic Fertilizers
a. Animal manure: the dung and urine of
cattle, horses, poultry and other farm
animals. It improves topsoil structure, adds
organic nitrogen, and stimulates the growth
of beneficial soil bacteria and fungi.
b. Green manure: consists of freshly cut or
growing green vegetation that is plowed into
the topsoil to increase the organic matter and
humus available to the next crop.
c. Compost: produced when microorganisms
break down organic matter such as leaves,
crop residues, food wastes, paper, and wood
in the presence of oxygen.
We Can Reduce Soil Salinization
Desertification
Salinization - is an excessive accumulation of
water-soluble salts. Typically, it is table salt NaCl.
The list is far more extensive and includes various
compounds of sodium, potassium, calcium,
magnesium, sulfates, chlorides, carbohydrates, and
bicarbonates. In general, salt-affected earths are
categorized as saline, sodic and saline- sodic,
depending on the content.
What Causes Soil Salinization?
Soil salinization occurs when soluble salts
are retained in the earth. It happens either naturally
or because of improper anthropogenic activities,
particularly farming practices. Besides, some earths
are initially saline due to low salt dissolution and
removal. Soil salinization causes include:
- dry climates and low precipitations when
excessive salts are not flushed from the
earth.
- high evaporation rate, which adds salts to the
ground surface;
- poor drainage or waterlogging when salts are
not washed due to a lack of water
transportation;
- irrigation with salt-rich water, which amplifies
salt content in earths;
- removal of deep-rooted vegetation and a
raised water table as a consequence;
- leakage from geological deposits and
penetration into groundwater;
- sea-level rise when sea salts seep into lower
lands; breezes in the coastal areas that blow
salty air masses to the nearby territories;
- seawater submergence followed by salt
& evaporation;
- inappropriate application of fertilizers when
excess nitrification accelerates soil
salinization.
How to Prevent Soil Salinization?
- Optimize irrigation (reduce salty water
usage, implement drip irrigation, use
desalinated, recycled, rain-harvested water,
and don’t over irrigate).
- Add organic matter and manure to keep
moisture and reduce irrigation.
- Restrain from deep tillage/heavy machinery
not to transfer soil salts to the root zone area,
which induces salinization.
- Use cover crops or mulch to protect the
ground surface.
Desertification - is a type of land degradation in
drylands in which biological productivity is lost due
to natural processes or induced by human activities
whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is
the spread of arid areas caused by a variety of
factors, such as climate change and overexploitation
of soil as a result of human activity.and
bicarbonates.
What Causes Desertification?
- Overgrazing.
- Deforestation.
- Farming Practices.
- Excessive Use of Fertilizers and Pesticides.
- Over drafting of groundwater.
- Urbanization and Other Types of Land
Development.
- Climate Change.
- Stripping the Land of Resources.
How to Prevent Desertification?
- Planting more trees
- Water management
- Improving the quality of the soil
Some Producers Practice More Sustainable And
Aquaculture
Aquaculture is projected to be the prime
source of seafood by 2030, as demand grows from
the global middle class and wild capture fisheries
approach their maximum take. When practiced
responsibly, fish farming can help provide
livelihoods and feed a global population that will
reach nine billion by 2050. But for an aquaculture
system to be truly sustainable, it must have:
a. Environmental sustainability - Aquaculture
should not create significant disruption to the
ecosystem or cause the loss of biodiversity
or substantial pollution impact.
b. Economic sustainability - Aquaculture must
be a viable business with good long-term
prospects.
c. Social and community sustainability -
Aquaculture must be socially responsible
and contribute to community well-being.
Several certification programs have made progress
in defining key characteristics of sustainable
aquaculture. Some essential practices include:
a. Environment practices
b. Community practices
c. Sustainable business and farm management
practices
5 Approaches for Sustainable growth of Aquaculture
1. Investing in new technologies
2. Reduce dependency on ocean caught fish as
feed
3. Focus on the environmental impacts beyond
individual farms
4. Reward sustainable farming
5. Eat sustainable seafood
We Can Produce Meat and Dairy Products More
Efficiently
Meat production has a huge environmental
impact, and meat consumption is the largest factor
in the growing ecological footprints of individuals in
affluent nations.
- A more sustainable form of meat production
and consumption would involve shifting from
less grain-efficient forms of animal protein to
more grain-efficient forms.
 - We could also shift from buying chicken that
has been raised in CAFOs which produce
large amounts of manure that is not returned
to the soil, to supporting free-range chicken
operations that use chicken manure to
fertilize the soil.
We Can Make a Shift to More Sustainable Food
Production
Modern industrialized food production has
yielded huge amounts of food at affordable prices,
but to a growing number of analysts, it is
unsustainable, because it violates the three scientific
principles of sustainability.
1. It relies heavily on the use of fossil fuels and
thus adds greenhouse gases and other air
pollutants to the atmosphere and contributes
to climate change.
2. It also reduces biodiversity and
agrobiodiversity.
3. Interferes with the cycling of plant nutrients.
Analysis suggests five major strategies to help
farmers and consumers switch to sustainable
agriculture over the next 50 years.
1. Increase research on more sustainable
organic farming and perennial polyculture,
and on improving human nutrition.
2. Establish education and programs in more
sustainable agriculture for students, farmers,
and government agricultural officials.
3. Set up an international fund to give farmers
in poor countries access to various types of
more sustainable agriculture.
4. Replace government subsidies for
environmentally harmful forms of
industrialized food production with subsidies
that encourage more sustainable food
production.
5. Mount a massive program to educate
consumers about where their food really
comes from, how it is produced, and what are
the harmful environmental and health effects
of industrialized food production.
[LEC 9] PEOPLE AND FORESTS
Forests Vary In Age And Makeup
a. Old Growth Forest (Primary Forest)
- Uncut or regenerated forest that has
not been disturbed by human
activities or natural disasters for 200
years or more
- Have high wildlife biodiversity
b. Second Growth Forest
- Forests with trees that developed
after human activity or natural
disasters.
c. Tree Plantation (Tree Farm or Commercial
Forest
- Managed forests with 1 or 2 species
of the same age and are harvested.
- Can produce wood at a rapid rate
- Protects old-growth and second-
growth forests from harvest but also
threatens it through expansion of
farms.
- Less biologically diverse
- Repeated cycles of cutting and
replanting hinder the growth potential
of future forests within that land
through topsoil nutrient depletion.
Forests Provide Important Economic And - also expose forests to invasion by
Ecosystem Services disease-causing organisms and
● Photosynthesis nonnative pests
- Forests help to stabilize average - disturbances from human activities
atmospheric temperatures and such as farming and ranching
climate conditions. 3. Clear-cutting
● Habitat and Housing - provides benefits for landowners and
- Home to two-thirds of terrestrial timber companies. But it can also
species and home to 300 million harm an ecosystem by causing
people. 1 Billion of people living in increased erosion, sediment pollution
extreme poverty rely on the forest for of nearby waterways, and losses in
survival. biodiversity.
● Health and Medicine - A variation of clear-cutting that allows
- Traditional medicines, used by 80% a more sustainable timber yield
of the world’s people, are derived without widespread destruction is
mostly from plant species that are strip cutting.
native to forests.
- Tropical forest plants are also used Fire Can Threaten Or Benefit Forest Ecosystems
as blueprints for making the world's Two types of fires can affect forest
prescription drugs. ecosystems:
1. Surface fires - fires usually burn only
There Are Several Ways To Harvest Trees undergrowth and leaf litter on the forest floor.
1. Natural capital degradation Occasional surface fires have a number of
- building roads into previously ecological benefits. They:
inaccessible forests is the first step in - burn away flammable material
harvesting timber, but it also paves - dry brush and help to prevent more
the way to fragmentation, destructive fires
destruction, and degradation of - free valuable plant nutrients tied up in
ecosystems. slowly
- decomposing litter and undergrowth
2. Logging roads can have several harmful - release seeds from the cones of the
effects: tree (lodgepole pines, giant sequoia)
- topsoil erosion - help to control destructive insects
- sediment runoff into waterways and tree diseases
- habitat fragmentation
- loss of biodiversity 2. Crown fire - is an extremely hot fire that leaps
from treetop to treetop, burning whole trees.
It usually occurs in forests that have not
 experienced surface fires for several
decades, a situation that allows dead wood,
leaves, and other flammable ground litter to
accumulate. These rapidly burning fires can
destroy:
- most vegetation
- kill wildlife
- increase topsoil erosion
- burn or damage human structures
Almost Half Of The World’s Forests Have Been
Cut Down
Deforestation is the temporary or
permanent removal of large expanses of forest for
agriculture, settlements, or other uses.
- Surveys by the World Resources Institute
(WRI) indicate that during the past 8,000
years, human activities have reduced the
earth’s old-growth forest cover by about
47%, with most of this loss occurring in the
last 60 years.
Clearing large areas of forests, especially old-growth
forests, has important short-term economic benefits,
but it also has a number of harmful environmental
effects.
- Water pollution and soil degradation from
erosion
- Acceleration of flooding
- Local extinction of specialist species
- Habitat loss for native and migrating species
- Release of CO2 and loss of CO2 absorption
In 2011, the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) reported that the net total
forest cover in several countries, including the
United States, changed very little or even increased
between 2000 and 2010.
- natural reforestation by secondary ecological
succession on cleared forest areas and
abandoned croplands
- spread of commercial tree plantations and to
a global program
Tropical Forests Are Disappearing Rapidly
Tropical forests cover about 6% of the earth’s
land area, but they are home to around 50% of all
terrestrial biodiversity and provide the resources for
many of the everyday products we use.
The RISKS:
- By reducing these forests, we reduce their
carbon absorption and contribute to climate
change.
- The burning and clearing of tropical forests
adds carbon to the atmosphere, accounting
for 10–15% of global greenhouse gas
emissions.
- Species are highly vulnerable to extinction
when their forest habitats are destroyed or
degraded.
The Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO)
warns that at the current global rate of tropical
deforestation, as much as 50% of the world’s
remaining old- growth tropical forests will be gone or
severely degraded by the end of this century.
Underlying and Direct Causes:
- pressures from population growth and
poverty
- clearing or burning of forests for cattle
grazing and large soybean plantations
- replacing forests by large plantations of oil
palm
- clearing plots for small-scale farming and
harvesting wood for fuel
 - large-scale logging and ranching - Allowing some fires on public lands to burn
underbrush and smaller trees, as long as the
HOW SHOULD WE MANAGE AND SUSTAIN fires do not threaten human structures or
FORESTS? human lives.
We can sustain forests by emphasizing the - Protecting houses and other buildings in fire-
economic value of their ecosystem services, prone areas.
removing government subsidies that hasten their - Using solar-powered micro-drones,
destruction, protecting old-growth forests, equipped with infrared sensors, to detect
harvesting trees no faster than they are replenished, forest fires and monitor progress in fighting
and planting trees. them.

Solutions For More Sustainable Forestry WE CAN REDUCE THE DEMAND FOR
- Include ecosystem services of forests in HARVESTED TREES
estimates of their economic value
- Identify and protect highly diverse forest Produce tree-free paper
areas - Cutting down trees for pulp to produce paper
- Stop logging in old-growth forests is one cause, but fiber from sources other
- Stop clear-cutting on steep slopes than trees (kenaf, hemp) can also be used as
- Reduce road-building in forests and rely an alternative to making paper.
more on selective and strip cutting
- Leave most standing dead trees and larger Reduce the use of throwaway paper products made
fallen trees for wildlife habitat and nutrient from trees
cycling - choose reusable plates, cups, cloth napkins,
- Put tree plantations only on deforested and handkerchiefs, and cloth bags.
degraded land
- Certify timber grown by sustainable methods Establish local plantations
- Creating small plantations of quickly-
WE CAN IMPROVE THE MANAGEMENT OF growing trees and bushes around farms and
FOREST FIRES in community woodlots is one solution to
lessen the severity of the fuelwood shortage
Several Strategies For Reducing Fire-Related Harm in less-developed nations.
To Forests And To People Who Use Or Live In The
Forests: Produce biomass briquettes as a substitute for
- Using carefully planned and controlled fuelwood.
prescribed burns to remove flammable small - Using biomass briquettes is advantageous in
trees and underbrush in the highest-risk that they can be produced from resources
forest areas. that are renewable and accessible and have
 a lower environmental impact than traditional
fuels.
Ways To Reduce Tropical Deforestation
1. International Level:
- Debt-for-Nature Swaps
- Conservation Concessions
2. National Level:
- Cutting Deforestation Rates
3. Consumer Level:
- Buying only certified wood products
as sustainably produced by the FSC
and promoting Tree Planting
HOW SHOULD WE MANAGE AND SUSTAIN
GRASSLANDS?
- We can sustain the productivity of
grasslands by controlling the numbers and
distribution of grazing livestock and by
restoring degraded grasslands.
Some Grasslands Are Overgrazed
- Grasslands provide many important
ecosystem services, including soil formation,
erosion control, chemical cycling, storage of
atmospheric carbon dioxide in biomass, and
maintenance of biodiversity.
What is Rangelands?
- are unfenced grasslands in temperate and
tropical climates that supply forage, or
vegetation for grazing (grass-eating) and
browsing (shrub-eating) animals.
- Cattle, sheep, and goats graze on about 42%
of the world’s grassland.
* Livestock also graze in pastures, which are
managed grasslands or fenced meadows often
planted with domesticated grasses or other for age
crops such as alfalfa and clover.
Blades of rangeland grass grow from the base,
not at the tip as broadleaf plants do. Thus, as long
as only the upper portion of the blade is eaten and
its lower portion remains, rangeland grass is a
renewable resource that can be grazed again and
again.
- Moderate levels of grazing are healthy for
grasslands, because removal of mature
vegetation stimulates rapid regrowth and
encourages greater plant diversity.
Overgrazing
- occurs when too many animals graze for too
long, damaging the grasses and their roots,
and exceeding the carrying capacity of a
rangeland area.
Overgrazing also:
- reduces grass cover, exposes the
topsoil to erosion by water and wind,
and compacts the soil, which lessens
its capacity to hold water.
- encourages the invasion of
rangeland by species such as
sagebrush, mesquite, cactus, and
cheatgrass, which cattle will not eat.
Rotational Grazing
- Cattle are confined by portable fencing to
one area for a few days and then moved to a
new location.
Riparian Zones
- Cattle like to graze around natural water
sources, especially along streams or rivers
lined by strips of vegetation.
WE CAN MANAGE RANGELANDS MORE
SUSTAINABLY
● Most widely used way to manage rangelands
more sustainably
- Control the number of grazing
animals and the duration of their
grazing in a given area so the
carrying capacity of the area is not
exceeded.
● More expensive and less widely used
method of rangeland management
- Suppress the growth of unwanted
invader plants by the use of
herbicides, mechanical removal, or
controlled burning.
● Cheaper way to discourage unwanted
vegetation in some areas
- Controlled, short-term trampling by
large numbers of livestock such as
sheep, goats, and cattle that destroy
the invasive plants’ root systems.
HOW SHOULD WE MANAGE AND SUSTAIN
PARKS AND NATURE RESERVES?
Sustaining biodiversity will require more
effective protection of existing parks and natural
reserves, as well as the protection of much more of
the Earth’s remaining undisturbed land area.
National Parks Face Many Environmental
Threats
According to the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are now more
than 6,600 major national parks located in more than
120 countries.
● most of these parks are too small to sustain
many large animal species.
Parks In Less-Developed Countries Have The
Greatest Biodiversity Of All The World’s Parks
But Only About 1% Of These Parklands Are
Protected
● Local People
- enter the parks illegally in search of
wood, game animals, and other
natural products that they need for
their daily survival.
● Loggers and Miners
- operate illegally in many of these
parks, as do wildlife poachers who kill
animals to obtain and sell items such
as rhino horns, elephant tusks, and
furs.
● Park Services
- have too little money and too few
personnel to fight these invasions,
either by force or through education.
Nature Reserves Occupy Only A Small Part Of
The Earth’s Land
Most ecologists and conservation biologists
argue that the best way to preserve biodiversity is to
create a worldwide network of protected areas.
● In 2013, less than 13% of the earth’s land
area (not including Antarctica) was protected
either strictly or partially in more than
 177,000 wildlife refuges, nature reserves, What Is The Ecosystem Approach to Sustaining
parks, and wilderness areas. Terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecosystem
- However, no more than 6% of the Services?
earth’s land is strictly protected from
potentially harmful human activities. The Ecosystem Approach (A Strategy for
● Conservation biologists call for fully Sustaining Terrestrial Biodiversity)
protecting at least 20% of the earth’s land 1. Map the world’s terrestrial ecosystems and
area in a global system of biodiversity create an inventory of the species contained
reserves that would include multiple in each of them, along with the ecosystem
examples of all the earth’s biomes. services they provide.
● Most developers and resource extractors 2. Identify terrestrial ecosystems that are
oppose protecting even 13% of the earth’s resilient and can recover if not overwhelmed
land. by harmful human activities, along with
- areas might contain valuable ecosystems that are fragile and need
resources that would provide short- protection.
term economic benefits. 3. Make development biodiversity-friendly by
providing significant financial incentives and
Ecological Insurance Policy technical help to private landowners who
- Ecologists and conservation biologists view agree to help protect endangered
protected areas as islands of biodiversity and ecosystems.
ecosystem services that help to sustain all 4. Protect the most endangered terrestrial
life and and economies indefinitely and serve ecosystems and species, with emphasis on
as centers of future evolution. protecting plant biodiversity and ecosystem
services.
Buffer Zone Concept 5. Seek to restore as many degraded
- This means strictly protecting an inner core ecosystems as possible.
of a reserve, usually by establishing two
buffer zones in which local people can Life Raft Ecosystems
extract resources sustainably without - Areas where poverty levels are high and
harming the inner core. where a large part of the economy depends
- By 2012, the United Nations had on various ecosystem services that are being
used this concept to create a global degraded severely enough to threaten
network of 621 biosphere reserves in humans and other species.
117 countries. -
Ecological Restoration
- the process of repairing damage caused by
humans to various ecosystems.
There Are Variety Of Approaches To Employ And
Enhance Ecological Succession Processes
● Restoration
- returning a degraded habitat or
ecosystem to a condition as similar
as possible to its natural state in
cases where this is feasible.
● Rehabilitation
- turning a degraded ecosystem into a
functional or useful ecosystem
without trying to restore it to its
original condition.
● Replacement
- replacing a degraded ecosystem with
another type of ecosystem.
● Creating Artificial Ecosystems
- for example, artificial wetlands have
been created in some areas to help
reduce flooding and to treat sewage.
There Are Four-Step Strategy For Carrying Out
Most Forms Of Ecological Restoration And
Rehabilitation
1. Identify the causes of the degradation (such
as pollution, farming, overgrazing, mining, or
invasive species).
2. Stop the degradation by eliminating or
sharply reducing these factors.
3. If necessary, reintroduce key species to help
restore natural ecological processes.
4. Protect the area from further degradation to
allow natural recovery.
WHY IS ENERGY EFFICIENCY AN IMPORTANT
ENERGY RESOURCE?
Energy Efficiency
- It is a measure of how much useful work we
can get from each energy unit we use.
- Improving energy efficiency means using
LESS energy to provide the SAME amount
of work.
We Use Energy Inefficiently
- Many people live and work in poorly
insulated and badly designed buildings that
require excessive heating during cold
weather and excessive cooling during hot
weather.
- Many people, especially Americans, live in
ever-expanding suburban areas around
large cities where they must depend on cars
for getting around.
- Many commute to work, mostly in energy-
inefficient vehicles, and only 5% rely on more
energy-efficient mass transit.
- We waste large amounts of high-quality
energy and money by relying on various
energy-inefficient devices.
Benefits of Improving Energy Efficiency
a. Environmental: Increased efficiency can
lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and
other pollutants, as well as decrease water
use.
b. Economic: Improving energy efficiency can
lower individual utility bills, create jobs and
help stabilize electricity prices and volatility.
c. Utility System Benefits: Energy efficiency
can provide long-term benefits by lowering
overall electricity demand, thus reducing the
 need to invest in new electricity generation Why Do Consumers Buy Large, Inefficient Motor
and transmission infrastructure. Vehicles?
d. Risk Management: Energy efficiency also They do not realize that gasoline costs them
helps diversify utility resource portfolios and much more than the price they pay at the pump.
can be a hedge against uncertainty Hidden Costs
associated with fluctuating fuel prices. - Government Subsidies and tax breaks for oil
e. Health: Lowering the amount of energy we companies, car manufacturers, and road
waste reduces our need to burn coal and builders
other fossil fuels to generate electricity. - Cost of pollution control and cleanup
These pollutants damage all the major organ - Higher medical bills and health insurance
systems in the body. premiums resulting from illnesses caused by
air, water pollution from the production and
We Can Improve Energy Efficiency In Industries use of motor vehicles.
And Utilities
- One way to save energy is to use Ways To Save Energy And Money In
Cogeneration. Transportation
- Industries can also use more energy-efficient - Building or expanding mass transit systems
electric motors. within cities
- Recycling materials such as steel and other - Carrying more freight by rail instead of in
metals heavy trucks
- Using more energy-efficient compact - Constructing high-speed rail lines between
fluorescent and LED lighting. cities
- Another way to save energy would be to - Encourage bicycle use by building bike lanes
redesign the software and cooling systems in along highways and long streets
electronic data processing systems.
Energy- Efficient Vehicles Are Available
We Can Improve Energy Efficiency And Save 1. Conventional Hybrid
Money In Transportation - Powered mostly by a small internal
combustion engine with an assist
Fuel Consumption from a strong battery.
- measures the amount of fuel a car consumes - These cars have a small, traditional
to go a specific distance. gasoline-powered engine and a
battery-powered electric motor used
Fuel Economy to provide the energy needed for
- refers to how far a car can go using a set acceleration and hill climbing.
amount of fuel.
 2. Plug-in Hybrid
- Typically has a smaller internal
combustion engine with a second
and more powerful battery that can
be plugged into a 110-volt or 220-volt
outlet and recharged.
- Plug-in hybrids have the potential to
be even more efficient than
conventional hybrids because a more
limited use of the PHEV's internal
combustion engine may allow the
engine to be used at closer to its
maximum efficiency.
3. All Electric Vehicle
- An all- electric vehicle is a vehicle that
is fully powered by electricity. Electric
vehicles have fewer moving parts
and are easy to maintain. They are
also very environmentally friendly as
they use no fossil fuels like petrol or
diesel or even gasoline.
We Can Design Buildings That Save Energy and
Money
1. Design and build houses that are oriented to
face the sun
2. Design and build houses employing green
architecture
3. Design and build houses that uses
superinsulation in its planning
over their lifetimes according to measurements of
energy use, water use, CO2 emissions, outputs of
solid and hazardous wastes, thermal comfort, and
indoor air quality.
We Can Save Money and Energy in Existing
Buildings
Here are some ways to save energy and
money in existing buildings:
a. Insulate the building and plug leaks
b. Use energy-efficient windows
c. Stop other heating and cooling losses
d. Heat houses and other buildings more
efficiently
e. Heat water more efficiently
f. Use energy-efficient appliances
g. Stop using the standby mode
h. Use energy-efficient computers
i. Use energy-efficient lighting
Why Are We Still So Much Energy And Money?
1. Governments are prone to corruption
2. Fossil fuels and Nuclear power are cheap
3. Few long-lasting government tax breaks,
rebates, low interest long-term loans, and
other economic incentives for investing in
energy efficiency.
4. Citizens are not well informed of the
environmental and money-saving
advantages of improving energy efficiency.

DID YOU KNOW?

Green building certification standards have
been adopted in 21 countries, thanks to the efforts
of the World Green Building Council. The
Sustainable Building Coalition has proposed that we
go further and evaluate the sustainability of buildings