A M MCHS

Empowered like Mary to lead in service

Name __________________________________ II ______ SOCIAL STUDIES II Extra Credit Worksheet

Class No. __________ Date ______________

Environmental Problem

Desertification
CHINA In China, nearly 20% of land area is desert. As a result of a combination of poor farming practices, drought and increased demand for groundwater,

Air Pollution
BEIJING, CHINA

Deforestation
PHIPIPPINES For the past decades the Philippines is among the countries with the highest

The World Health Organization says air pollution figures for Beijing are still far

Situation
(include causes and countrys resolution)

higher than its recommended target level. deforestation rates. According to the Department of Environment and Natural The Beijing authorities say pollution levels are coming down and they have introduced a series of measures, such as reducing traffic driving in to the city and stopping work at building sites, to bring down levels even further. As Chinas economy continues to grow at an incredibly rapid rate, so are its pollution levels. The U.S. embassy said The country suffers from consistent floods and landslides all year round. Resources (DENR) the country has now only about seven million hectares of forest land left. The illegal logging has contributed to the rapid deforestation not to mention the continuous release of permits to big logging companies.

desertification has become Chinas most important environmental challenge. As the effects of increasing desertification appear, farmers are forced to abandon their land, levels of rural poverty rise and the intensity of sandstorms, which batter northern and western China each year, continue to intensify.

Huge population pressures, scarce rainfall and climate change have made China the world's biggest victim of desertification, a problem that could take 300 years to reverse, state media said on Wednesday.

earlier this week that the thick smog covering Beijing had gone beyond measurable pollution levels.

According to the recent reports of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDMC) about 262,107 families have lost their homes

The assessment by the embassy found that the pollution levels were or beyond index, which essentially means that air

while about 1.355 million people have been affected. But this is only one of the many adverse effects of deforestation. Some negative consequences of it include disruption of water cycle, loss of biodiversity, and climate change.

Overgrazing, excessive land reclamation and inappropriate water use also make it especially difficult to halt deserts from encroaching on large areas of land in the nation's arid north and west, the China Daily reported. China is still a country with the largest area of desertified land in the world," Zhu Lieke, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, was quoted as saying.

quality in the city had dropped below the worst level on the scale.

Air quality in Beijing had reached level five the worst rating according to the Bureau. Particle pollution, a lack of wind and high temperatures had added to the problem, a report said. Visibility in some parts was down to just 200 meters. Although log ban has been already implemented in some areas in the country however this seems does not stop illegal loggers and logging companies. Right now many environmentalist groups are asking China has already surpassed the U.S. when it comes to the worst pollution levels in the world, and considering its rapid rate of growth that number is only going to grow before it comes down. Currently over 70 percent of Chinas electricity comes from coal plants, and the country is continuing to build more of them. As a result, China is now the Aquino Administration to do something about the logging operations of the Surigao Development Corporation (SUDECOR) in Surgiao del Sur. This company is said to be operating a 76,000 hectare in Surigao del Sur which also includes some remaining

About 27% of China's total land mass, or about 2.6 million square kilometres, are considered desertified land, while another 18% of the nation's land is eroded by sand, the report said.

Experts believe that 530 000km of the nation's deserts can be returned to green land, but the process will take 300 years at the current rate of reversing desertification by 1 700km annually, it said.

responsible for 24 percent of the global fossil emissions of CO2.

virgin forests of Mindanao. If the government will not do

Even building seemingly green infrastructure initially produces emissions and Chinas investment into large-scale infrastructure projects has led to the

something to stop this kind of logging operations then in later time most of the Philippine forests will be destroyed. Over-exploitation of the country's forests will not only ruin the country's biodiversity but will also

Some of the worst land erosion in the world occurs in the basin of the Yellow River, China's second largest river, with 62% of the area affected by water and soil erosion, the paper said in a separate report.

biggest increase in pollution.

China is also supposed to see a surge in vehicular traffic to more than 1.2 billion by 2025, from 750 million today. Even as the country is giving out huge stimulus funds to see an increase in electric vehicles on the road, for now those are most likely to be powered by electricity produced from coal-plants. For any true dent in Chinas emissions standards, the reliance on coal is going to have to decrease. As more of their green-projects get completed and as electricity starts getting produced from renewable sources China will hopefully see a drop in emissions.

severely affect its socio-economic development. Environmental protection like reforestation must be done to restore the lost trees. The Philippines has lost at least 80 percent of its original forest cover since the 16th century. This has also earned the notoriety in Southeast Asia as the only country with the thinnest forest cover. The countrys remaining forest cover is found mostly in Palawan, Mindanao and the uplands of northern Luzon. An environmental group in Aurora foresees that all forest cover will be

gone by the end of this decade (or BANGKOK, THAILAND 2010) if logging operations continue at their present pace. Air pollution in Bangkok has reached critical levels, with hazardous substances up to three times the acceptable standard in some areas, the Pollution Control Department has reported. The latest data from the DENR shows the Philippines has only 7.171 million has. of forest land, or 23.9 percent of the countrys total land area (30 million has. or 300,000 sq. kms) as of this year. This means that the The department yesterday published a report on Bangkok pollution based on studies carried out last year. Its inspections found worryingly high levels of benzene, a chemical found in petrol and tobacco smoke, in many spots. remaining forest cover constitutes 25 percent of the countrys original forest land. The DENRs figures are however disputed by other sources. Other estimates place the forest cover in 1987 at 5.4M has. to 6.6M has. The Global Agricultural Information The Din Daeng community was found to have the highest benzene levels, at 5.2 microgrammes per cubic metre, compared to the accepted standard of 1.7 mg/cu m. Network of the U.S. Department of Agriculture places the Philippines forest at 5.2 million hectares in 2002 which is slightly below 18 percent of the countrys original forest land. This shows the country has lost 82 percent Chulalongkorn Hospital was also found to have a benzene level exceeding

acceptable levels at 4.5 mg cu m, followed by Chokechai Si Road with 3.9mg cu m and Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University with 2.8 mg cu m.

of its forest. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), in its 2003 report The State of the Worlds Forests, places the Philippines rate of deforestation at 1.4 percent annually from 1990 to 2000, or -89,000 has. In a recent e-mail to Bulatlat, Joey Estriber, secretary of the Aurorabased Multi-Sectoral Action Group

"Judging from the benzene levels, the quality of air in Bangkok is no different from that of Map Ta Phut industrial estate," Pollution Control Department (PCD) deputy chief Wijarn Simachaya said.

The department would hold talks with car and tyre manufacturers to seek their cooperation to produce environmentfriendly vehicles.

(MSAG) sent information showing that the Philippines is one of the countries with the highest rate of mountain deforestation, and is the Southeast Asian country with the thinnest forest

The PCD would also ask the Rural Roads Department to use special materials in road construction which could cut noise levels by three decibels, he said.

cover. While the country may turn to various reforestation programs by both government and private sectors, the signs are not very encouraging.

The average noise level in Bangkok is measured at 84 decibels, against the accepted safe level of 70 decibels. The DENR claims that from 1990 to 2000, the reforestation rate was only

68,379 has. a year. If true, this The major sources of air pollutants in Bangkok are motor vehicles, roads and construction dust, industries and power plants. If the government and private-sector reforestation programs were able to From vehicular registration statistics, it was found that in the year 2000 the number of vehicles registered in Bangkok was 4.5 million (Figure 2.1), increasing of 113% from 1991 and compared to 20 million for the whole country. The increase of vehicles in Bangkok is not proportionate to the increase of roads and has caused traffic congestion and delay in transportation. Traffic speed survey in 2000 showed that during the rush hour, average speed was 10-12 km./hour in the inner area, whereas it was 19-21 km./hour in outer area. The MSAG is calling for the cancellation of the permits of the nine companies operating in Aurora. In Congress, representatives of the progressive party-list groups Bayan reforest a total of 683,790 has. from 1990 to 2000 and the extent of forest change for the same period was 89,000 has., then for the said period the country was losing 77,279 has. yearly as opposed to only 68,379 has. being reforested annually for the same period. The MSAG fears that the Philippines may lose all of its forest cover by the end of the present decade if logging operations continue at their present pace. translates to a total of 683,790 has. reforested for the period.

Muna (People First), Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) and Gabriela Womens Party (GWP) have filed a joint resolution calling on the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to immediately ban all commercial logging and mining operations by immediately and unconditionally canceling the licenses of all logging and mining operations and concessions.

People must be aware of the effects of desertification. This may cause drought and poverty. So we should not waste our scarce resources and instead make use of them

Air pollution is a common problem in big cities in Asia. The traffic and motor vehicles are major causes of air pollution. One way to reduce it is by using the public transport system and avoid using cars. This way motor vehicles on the road will be decreased substantially.

The best way to fight deforestation is by planting more trees. But in my own way, I could make people aware that the cutting of trees can cause destruction and lives because of flooding as experienced in the recent Ondoy. We have to be more aware of our environment and the bad effects of deforestation, if we want to be free of the destruction caused by nature.

Personal Contribution

wisely. Like for example Water, which is abundant in the Philippines should not be wasted since it will help fight desertification in other countries like China.