ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

CAUSES & IMPACT ON HUMAN

LIFE
What is Environmental Degradation?
• Environmental degradation is a series of actions through which we
weaken or harm the natural environment, reduce its biological
diversity and encroach on the general health of the natural
infrastructure. Though environment can be degraded naturally,
anthropogenic impacts on the environment fast-track its
degradation. This compels us to declare a new geological epoch – the
Anthropocene, since the consumption of natural assets like air,
water and soil reaches the level where the environment stands
irreparably compromised, faces its deterioration and defines the
irreversible disintegration of the earth.

• The unbearable burden of human population, mania for return on

invested capital, emphasis on numerical value of per capita growth,
tendency to transform natural world into technological world, living
to compete with sheep tendency irresolutely and even incoherently,
and picking out self-centeredness over the righteousness of natural
cause will degrade this environment to the point where the principle
of intergenerational equity doesn’t hold any meaning.

BY RITIKA SHINDE
Causes of Environmental Degradation
• It occurs when the earth’s natural resources are depleted, and the environment is
compromised in the form of extinction of species, pollution in the air, water and soil, and rapid
growth in population.
• Environmental degradation is one of the largest threats that are being looked at in the world
today. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction characterizes 
environmental degradation as the lessening of the limit of the earth to meet social and
environmental destinations and needs. 
• Environmental degradation can happen in a number of ways. At the point when environments
are wrecked or common assets are exhausted, the environment is considered to be corrupted
and harmed. There are a number of different techniques that are being used to prevent this,
including environmental resource protection and general protection efforts.
• Environmental issues can be seen by long term ecological effects, some of which can demolish
whole environments. An environment is a unique unit and incorporates all the living and non-
living components that live inside it. 
BY RITIKA SHINDE
1]OVERPOPULATION
• Population is growing rapidly, far outpacing the ability of
our planet to support it, given current practices.
Overpopulation is associated with negative environment
and economic outcomes ranging from the impacts of over-
farming, deforestation and water pollution to
eutrophication and global warming.
• ● Some of the most important causes of population growth
in India are as follows:
• 1.Widening Gap Between Birth And Death Rates.
• 2. Low Age At Marriage.
• 3. High Illiteracy.
• 4. Religious Attitude Towards Family Planning.
• 5. Poverty.
• 6.Child Labour
• 7. Other Causes.
BY SAKSHI BHOSALE
2] AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES
• Intensive agricultural practices have led to the decline in quality of most of our
natural environment. Majority of farmers resort to converting forest and
grasslands to croplands which reduces the quality of natural forests and
vegetation cover. The pressure to convert lands into resource areas for producing
priced foods, crops and livestock rearing has increasingly led to depreciation of
the natural environment such as forests, wildlife and fertile lands.
• Intensive agricultural practices destroy fertile lands and nearby vegetation cover
due to the accumulation of toxic substances like bad minerals and heavy
materials which destroy the soil’s biological and chemical activities. Runoffs of
agricultural wastes and chemical fertilizers and pesticides into marine and
freshwater environment have also deteriorated the quality of wildlife habitats,
natural water resources , wetlands and aquatic life.
BY SAKSHI BHOSALE
3]DEFORESATITION
Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for
something besides forest. This can include clearing the land for agriculture
or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing.
Forests cover more than 30% of the Earth's land surface, according to the
World Wildlife Fund. These forested areas can provide food, medicine and
fuel for more than a billion people. Study states that about 10.9 Million
sq.km of forests have been lost since the beginning of 20th Century. The
major effects of deforestation on ecology are as follows:

1. Soil Erosion
2. Ruins Wildlife
3. Release of Gases
4. Temperature changes

BY CHAITANYA SATOSKAR
4]LANDFILLS
Landfills are sites designated for dumping rubbish, garbage,
or other sorts of solid wastes. Historically, they are the most
common means of disposing solid waste which is either
buried or left to pile in heaps.
Landfill is a common phenomenon around the world,
especially due to the increased number of wastes from our
homes, schools, offices, hospitals, and markets.
Some landfills are well managed and designed as part of
integrated waste management. However, most communities
leave the landfills unattended to which cause land pollution
and uncontrolled buildup of all sorts of solid waste
materials.
Here are the Adverse effects of Landfills on ecology:
1. Health Effects
2. Soil and Land Pollution
3. Groundwater Pollution
4. Atmospheric effects and Air pollution
BY CHAITANYA SATOSKAR
5]NATURAL CAUSES
• Despite the fact that environmental
degradation is under normal circumstances
associated with anthropogenic activities,
natural causes are also contributors.
• Natural events such as wildfires, hurricanes,
landslides, tsunamis and earthquakes can
totally lower the survival grade of local animal
communities and plant life in a region.
• These disasters can also destroy alter the
nature of the landscape rendering it unable to
support life forms on it. Besides, occurrences
such as hurricanes and flooding can wash or
force the migration of invasive species into
foreign environments which can lead to its
BY DIKSHA SINGH eventual degradation.
6]POLLUTION
• Pollution, in whatever form, whether it is air, water,
land or noise is harmful to the environment. 
Air pollution pollutes the air that we breathe, which
causes health issues.
• Water pollution degrades the quality of water that
we use for drinking purposes. Land pollution results
in the degradation of the earth’s surface as a result of
human activities. 
• Noise pollution can cause irreparable damage to our
ears when exposed to continuous large sounds like
honking of vehicles on a busy road or machines
producing large noise in a factory or a mill.

BY DIKSHA SINGH
EFFECTS OF ENVIROMENTAL DEGRADATION
1] Loss of tourism due to environmental degradation
Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing enterprises with over 500 million travelers and above 3
trillion US dollar earning worldwide.
Pollution caused by tourist: Leaving behind leftovers bottles cans polythene packs dumping of human waste etc., is a
problem faced by almost all the places Some of these are biodegradable while others are nonbiodegradable and pose a grave
threat to the environment.
Degradation Caused by Infrastructure:This incorporates activities which in some or the other way are related to the
promotion of tourism e.g. building resorts, hotels, laying down transportation and communication lines, developing golf courses,
setting up small handicraft consumer industries, eating points near the coast. These activities destroy the ecosystem around the
coast.
Hotels and Resorts:Hotels and Resorts can be seen as the basic element of tourism industry. Unplanned hotels may have a
serious ecological repercussions, certain areas are reserved as no construction zones because construction may activate soil
erosion but environmental norms are often flouted and violated as in case of Hotel Bagor in HP. Govt.

BY SAHIL ALWE
2]ECONOMIC IMPACT
Economic growth means an increase in real output (real
GDP). Therefore, with increased output and
consumption we are likely to see costs imposed on the
environment. The environmental impact of economic
growth includes the increased consumption of non-
renewable resources, higher levels of pollution, global
warming and the potential loss of environmental
habitats.
For example, the pace of global economic growth in the
past century has led to a decline in the availability of
natural resources such as forests (cut down for
agriculture/demand for wood)

A decline in sources of oil/coal/gas

Loss of fishing stocks – due to overfishing
Loss of species diversity – damage to natural resources
has led to species extinction.

BY SAHIL ALWE
3]IMPACT ON HUMAN LIFE
• Air pollution is one of the top 10 killers in the world and is the fifth leading cause
of death in India. It results in about 620,000 premature deaths which are caused
by stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, lower
respiratory infections and trachea, bronchus and lung cancer, among others. 

• The report informs that about 37.7 million Indians are affected by water-borne
diseases annually. Around 1.5 million children die due to diarrhea alone, and 73
million working days are lost due to water-borne illnesses each year.

• A degraded environment creates difficulties and is unable to support life forms

giving rise to diseases and impacts human life in ways unimaginable
BY SHREYASH KORADE
4]LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY
• Environmental degradation is a threat not only t
o human life but also to other living beings.
• Land-based bird populations are threatened with
extinction due to the loss of suitable habitat.
Insect species are declining due to habitat loss
and land conversion to intensive agriculture and
urbanization, pollution from pesticides and
fertilizers, as well as biological factors including
pathogens and introduced species.
• Biodiversity is important for maintaining the
balance of the ecosystem in the form of
combating pollution, restoring nutrients,
protecting water sources and stabilizing climate.
Deforestation, global warming, overpopulation
and pollution are a few of the major causes of
loss of biodiversity
BY SHREYASH KORADE
SOLUTIONS
1]STOP DEFORESTATION
As consumers we can choose to buy less industrial and transformed products such as cookies,
crips, noodles or cosmetics that use plenty of palm oil. Instead, we can go for a home-made
approach with fewer chemicals and food preservatives which is better for both the planet and
our health. Your smartphone, your laptop or your car, to name a few, are all made of
aluminum, plastic and rare Earth minerals, among other materials. To get these, (just like
foods like coffee or cacao) land was clear to build mining sites, roads and factories and where
built to transport and transform them, powerplants provide them with energy…
The longer we use our products for, the higher the changes that demand doesn’t grow (it
won’t likely decrease either – there are more people in the planet every day). Economically-
speaking, if the demand doesn’t grow, production won’t grow either and it is not necessary to
clear more space to extract natural resources and build human infrastructures might,
deforestation (and carbon emissions from the industry) might just not increase.
BY SAKSHI KALOKHE
2]GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS
The ministry of environment, forest and climate change has framed a new draft
National Forest Policy 2018 which proposes climate change mitigation through
sustainable forest management. The new policy, which aims to bring a
minimum one-third of India’s total geographical area under forest cover
through scientific interventions and enforcing strict rules to protect the dense
cover, will replace the existing one that has been guiding the government to
manage forests since 1988. Unlike the previous policies, which stressed on
environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance, the 2018 policy
focusses on the international challenge of climate change. The policy also
addresses the issue of human-animal conflict. It proposes short term and long
term measures to reduce this. The draft says, “Quick response, dedicated teams
of well equipped and trained personnel, mobility, strong interface with health
and veterinary services, rescue centers, objective and speedy assessment of
damage and quick payment of relief to the victims would be at the core of the
short-term action. Monitoring and management of population of wildlife would
be adopted on a long-term basis within and outside forests for maintaining the
balance.”

The policy does not discuss in detail the contentious issue of diversion of forest
land for mining and other purposes.
BY SAKSHI KALOKHE
3] FINES & PUNISMENT FOR ILLEGAL
DUMPING
INCARCERATION : For misdemeanors, sentences may involve 12 months or less in the
county jail or state prison, depending on the state. For felonies, the sentence can be one or
more years. The judge may require that the entire sentence be served in jail.

FINES : Court impose fines to penalize defendants. These fines vary greatly, depending on
the circumstances. Some fines accrue daily until the illegal dumped waste is cleaned up.

PROBATION : A person on probation regularly meets with a probation officer and fulfills
other terms and conditions such as maintaining employment and attending counseling.

RESTITUTION : Courts often require defendants to pay for any damage they caused to
someone’s property by their illegal dumping.

REMEDIATION : Courts may require defendants to clean up and repair property damaged
by their illegal dumping.

BY VEDANTI KHULE
4]REDUCE CONSUMPTION LEVEL
• It has become essential reduce our
consumption levels. Our developed
society always strive for the latest
electronics, smartphones, and the
trendiest clothes and so on.

• However, this behavior leads to huge

resource depletion and excessive
production of waste. We have to lower
our consumption levels significantly to
avoid the ecological consequences.

BY VEDANTI KHULE
5]REDUCE & REUSE WASTE
GENERATION
There are several ways to reduce and reuse
waste generation. Few are listed below:
• Buy second hand items and donate used goods.
• Shop from local farmer markets and buy in
bulk to reduce packaging.
• Replace paper by mails, receipts and
magazines.
• Go for e-billing programmes.
• Recycle cans and bottles after consumption.
• Use paper clips over staples.
• Minimise food scraps or feed these scarps to
animals if appropriate.
BY YAGNA PATEL
6]AVOID USE OF PLASTIC
• Avoid single use of plastic such as drinking straws.
• While shopping remember to take a cloth bag.
• Replace plastic containers with glass or steel containers.
• While hanging out clothes use wooden pegs instead of plastic
ones.
• Choose to reuse and give some of the packaging a new purpose.
• Use natural cleaning cloths and scrubbers instead of plastic
ones.
• Switch to bar soap instead of liquid soap.
• Learn to preserve food without plastic.
• Avoid feeding pets from plastic bowls.
These were few ways to avoid plastic and protect the
environment.
BY YAGNA PATEL
CONCLUSION
•Environmental degradation is one of most urgent of environmental issues. Depending upon the damage, some environments may
never recover. The plants and animals that inhabited these places will be lost forever. In order to reduce any future impacts, city
planners, industry, and resource managers must consider the long term effects of development on the environment.
•The degradation of the natural resource base and environment is started with various human and economic development activities.

•Environmental degradation increased poverty , financial crisis , food and energy crisis are the main global issues . The main causes
of these issues are increased global pollution and the increased adoption of development technology that is not sustainable in
nature.
•The government has now realized the need for concern regarding environmental issues, and started incorporating environment
into policies dealing with various sectors

•There is a lack of coherence among policies, and no holistic approach to mitigate environmental degradation and conserve
resources.

•It is important to develop a climate change adaptation strategy for the country, particularly to mitigate impacts of extreme climatic
events such as droughts, floods, cyclones, and storm surges now people are also conscious about environmental degradation and
are ready against it.With sound planning, public awareness and community participation, future environmental degradation can be
prevented.
BY YASH CHAVAN
THANKYOU