Need for public participation in Environmental protection

Easy read on the Need for public participation in Environmental protection in 2021

Easy read on Need for public participation in Environmental protection in 2021

Scope of environmental studies

Environmental factors greatly influence every organism and its activities. The significant areas playing a vital role of importance in the environment are natural resources, ecosystems, biodiversity and its conservation, environmental pollution, social concerns and environment human population and environment. Thus, the scope of environmental studies remarkably covers some aspects of every major discipline. The main scope of environmental studies include

1.       To get awareness and sensitivity to the total environment and its related problems.

2.       To motivate active participation in environmental protection and improvement.

3.       To develop skills for categorising and solving environmental glitches.

4.       To know the necessity of conservation of resources.

5.       To evaluate environmental programmes in terms of social, economic, and ecological factors.

Need for public participation in Environmental protection
Need for public participation in Environmental protection

Importance of environmental education

The main problem of the environment is – natural resources are limited and not uniformly distributed throughout the world. If we use them more and more, the earth’s resources would be reduced completely. The following factors are considered as of the importance of environmental education.

1.       People understand the concept of the need for development without destruction of the environment.

2.       People gain knowledge of types of environment and the effects of environmental hazards.

3.       People know about their role in protecting the environment by demanding laws and systems.

4.       Environmental studies have a direct relation to the quality of life.

5.       Environmental studies develop concern and respect for the environment.

Need for public awareness

In the year 1992 at Rio de Janerio, The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was organised, followed by the Conference on Sustainable Development in 2002 (World Summit) have highlighted critical issues of global environmental concern, as follows,

1. Environmental pollution cannot be eliminated by laws alone.

2. The proper application and especially public participation are essential aspects.

3. The public contribution is possible only when the public is aware of the ecological and environmental issues.

4. A drive by the government to ban the littering of polythene cannot be fruitful until the people understand the environmental implications of the same.

5. The public has to be educated about the fact that if we are degrading our environment, we are harming ourselves.       

As the earth’s natural resources are rapidly decreasing and our environment is being increasingly tainted by human activities, it is apparent that something needs to be done. The following activities may help for environmental awareness,

1.       Join as a group to study nature

2.       Begin reading newspaper articles and search several environmental websites which tell more about our current environmental issues.

3.       Work for conserving resources by taking up the cause of environmental issues during discussions with friends and relatives.

4.       Practice and promote issues such as saving paper, saving water, reducing the use of plastic,

5.       Practising the 3Rs principle of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and proper waste disposal.

6.       Join local programs that support activities like saving trees in your area.

7.       Practice and promote recycling waste and buying eco-friendly products.

8.       Practice and endorse good civic sense and hygiene such as no spitting or tobacco chewing, no throwing garbage, no smoking, and no urinating in public places.

9.       Take part in proceedings organised on World Environment Day, Wildlife Week

10.     Plant tree saplings and make others know the importance of trees.

Learn about the Environmental management system practices in Indian industries. You can also check our course on Good Environmentally Sustainable Practices from Ampersand Academy.

Environmental management system practices in Indian industries

Easy Read Environmental management system practices in Indian industries in 3 mins

Here is a Easy Read Environmental management system practices in Indian industries in 3 mins

Environmental management systems (EMSs) are intended to formalise techniques for managing and reducing environmental impacts. The most recent couple of many years of the twentieth century have witnessed growing attention to the severity as well as the diversity of environmental problems. Indian business is relatively youthful. Industrialisation practically began after independence. The objective of the examination is to give a general introduction to Environmental Management System practices in India. The present paper centres around the need for EMS in the Indian industry, issues associated with the EMS practices, benefits of practising the EMS a brief discussion on ISO 14000 benchmarks and other related parts of EMS.

Environmental management system practices in Indian industries
Environmental management system practices in Indian industries. Thanks, Robert Sroufe

It is the systematic endeavour by companies to identify measures, report and diminish their environmental footprint by integrating these functions with the everyday affairs of management and decision making. The presence of EMS may indicate the environmental friendliness of an organisation; the uncertainty of estimation identified with indicators and indices may yield an unreliable picture of the environmental presentation of the organisation. In short as a definition “The organisational structure, responsibilities, practices, strategies, procedures and assets for determining and implementing environmental policy.

An EMS in this way, by and large, follow the adoption of environmental policy. The environmental policy officially outlines a company’s commitments to environmental management and generally includes commitments to lessen squander, pollution, vitality and asset use, sets objectives and targets and reviews the company’s environmental execution. When the policy and EMS are set up, an organisation will consider the publication of an environmental report to archive the company‟s progress against its policy and execution targets set within the EMS.

Companies may embrace a certified EMS, for example, ISO 14001 or Eco-management and audit plot (EMAS), or they may build up their own „in-house‟ systems. Of the certified plans, ISO 14001 is the most ordinarily received in light of its international status and the achievement of its forerunner, the quality standard ISO 9000. ISO 14001 was written as an accord standard with about 50 countries participating.

ISO 14000 is an International Standard (1996) germane on a global scale and help to improve the EMS of an organisation or framework. The makeover of these management practices is not limited to industrialised countries. Numerous environmental laws have been enacted since 1964 alongside the creation of administrative agencies to implement these laws. Notwithstanding, the command and control (C and C) approach which speaks to the traditional type of governance to a great extent received in India has failed to reduce industrial pollution. With a spate of industrial accidents in recent years, investor scrutiny is getting increasingly focused on environmental risk liability. Customers are likewise showing higher degrees of steadfastness to environmentally conscious companies.

Environmental management system practices in Indian industries
Environmental management system practices in Indian industries
  1. Implementing an EMS can facilitate an organisation to  Oversee and improve its environmental performance (managing negative impacts) and helping to increase resource efficiency (for example cutting waste and vitality use)
  2. Comply with environmental laws and regulations
  3. Produce financial savings through well-overseen utilisation of resources and efficient practices
  4. Improve its standing and reputation with staff, client companies, accomplice organisations and more extensive partners
  5. Adjust to a changing environment (its operations or its products/services).

 Environmental management services work toward multiple benefits

  • Improved administrative compliance requirements
  •  Open advertises and reduced exchange barriers
  •  Reduction liability and risks
  • Enhanced credibility among customers and peers
  • Reduction of destructive impacts on the environment
  • Prevention/reduction of pollution and waste, ordinarily resulting in cost savings
  • Improvements in site and project wellbeing by minimising injuries identified with environmental spills, discharges, and emissions
  • Improved relationships with partners such as government agencies, community gatherings, and investors.

Environmental reporting by Indian corporations lingers significantly behind that found in the created world except for a couple of establishments. Environmental reporting in India is yet in its beginning. The explanation behind inadequate environmental disclosure is likely that less weight is applied to Indian companies by partners, environmental gatherings, the overall population and notably the government.

To persuade the companies for profound Environmental reporting, awards for good quality of Environmental reporting ought to be instituted, similar to the compensations for excellent environmental performance. Environmental legislation, maybe, is sufficient.

Now that you’ve read about Environmental management system practices in Indian industries.

Learn about the Paris Agreement. You can also check our course on Good Environmentally Sustainable Practices from Ampersand Academy.

Eutrophication Water Blooming

Easy read Eutrophication Water Blooming in under 5 mins

Know about the causes, factors controlling and control measures of Eutrophication Water Blooming

The procedure of extreme growth of algae and cyanobacteria because of the overabundance of supplements causing algal blossoms is called Eutrophication Water Blooming. The impact of an expanding phosphate focus by the presentation of pollutants is an explanation behind water blooming. In the deep waters of some enormous lakes and oceans, the amassing of nitrates and phosphates happens because of heterotrophic microorganism exercises. Algae may store phosphorous in their cells in sums, surpassing the prerequisite. Water blooming is a result of eutrophication, and it is brought about by the propagation of algae in the upper layers of water. The above procedure causes changes in water shading, turbidity, water quality falls apart, and dangerous mixes are created.

The procedure of natural eutrophication continues gradually; it takes up to a thousand years. Quickened eutrophication, in any case, is brought about by human exercises. Therefore, abundance measures of nitrogen advertisement phosphorus get into water from different sources, for example, modern and city squander, just as fields that have been prepared with phosphorus and nitrogen composts. Such exercises altogether increment the convergence of biogenes, making ideal conditions for algae propagation. In such dirtied waters, faecal and pathogenic microscopic organisms may make do for a progressively broadened period. Precipitation in profoundly mechanical and contaminated territories has likewise affected eutrophication Water Blooming.

All water bodies are subject to a biological and sluggish eutrophication process, which in recent years has undergone very rapid progress because of the presence of man and his activities. This eutrophication process consists of a continuous increase in the role of nutrients, mainly phosphorus and nitrogen until it exceeds the capacity of the water body.

Eutrophication Water Blooming
Eutrophication Water Blooming
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These changes mainly depend :

The utilisation of fertilisers

Agricultural practices and the utilisation of composts in the soil contribute to the accumulation of nutrients. When these nutrients reach high-intensity levels and the ground is no longer ready to absorb them, they are carried by rain into streams and groundwater that flow into lakes or oceans.

Eutrophication Water Blooming
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Discharge of wastewater into water forms

In several parts of the biosphere, and particularly in emerging countries, squander water is discharged directly into water bodies such as streams, lakes and oceans. The consequence of this is the arrival of a high quantity of nutrients which invigorates the excessive growth of algae. In industrialised countries, on the other hand, squander water can be illicitly discharged directly into water bodies. When instead water is treated utilising water treatment plants before discharge into the environment, the treatments applied are not in every case such as to reduce the organic load, with the consequent accumulation of nutrients in the ecosystem.

Eutrophication Water Blooming
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Reduction of self-purification capacity

Over the years, lakes accumulate enormous quantities of solid material transported by the water sediments. These sediments are such as ready to absorb a lot of nutrients and pollutants. Consequently, the accumulation of sediments begins to fill the basin and, compounding the interactions between water and sediment; the resuspension of nutrients presents at the lowermost of the basin is facilitated. This phenomenon could lead to a further deterioration of water quality, accentuating the processes connected with eutrophication Water Blooming.

Eutrophication Water Blooming
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Mechanism

Eutrophication Water Blooming is characterised by a substantial increase of algae (microscopic organisms like plants) because of the more prominent accessibility of one or more growth factors necessary for photosynthesis, such as sunlight, carbon dioxide and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). When algae begin to grow in an uncontrolled manner, increasingly enormous biomass is formed which is destined to debase. In deep water, much organic substance accumulates, represented by the algae having reached an incredible end cycle. To destroy all the dead algae, excessive consumption of oxygen is required, in some cases almost total, by microorganisms.

An anoxic (without oxygen) environment is thus created on the lake bottom, with the evolution of organism’s adept of living in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic), responsible for the deprivation of the biomass. The microorganisms, decompose the organic matter in the lack of oxygen, free compounds that are toxic, such as ammonia and hydrogen sulphide (H2S). The absence of oxygen decreases biodiversity causing, in some instances, even the death of animal and plant species. This happens, when the pace of degradation of the algae by microorganisms is more noteworthy than that of oxygen rejuvenation, which in summer is as of now present in low concentrations.

Eutrophication Water Blooming
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Factors Controlling eutrophication

  1. Nutrients

Sources of nutrients like C, H, N, O, P are required for the growth of microbes. Natural sources like excreta of winged animals and animals, manures runoff from agricultural fields, detergents rich in phosphates, get accumulated.

  1. Light and Temperature

The intensity of light and current temperature in the aquatic habitats affects the algal groups. During summer, green algae and cyanobacteria dominate, and in spring the diatoms dominate.

  1. Toxins

The dominance of the algal groups is also affected by the production of various toxins which inhibit other algal forms.

Effects of Eutrophication

Potent algal toxins are produced which are consumed by the shellfish and humans consume the same fish as food which is infected with these toxins. For example, Nostoc microcystis and Anabena produce potent toxins which can kill a fish. An earthy smelling organic compound is known as  Geosmin is produced by blue-green algae like Oscillatoria that produces odour and taste in drinking water.

Control measures of Eutrophication

  • Ecological Management

Limits the flow of nutrients and fertilisers. Advanced treatments are applied such that plants are not flooded with water.

  • Chemical Algicides

Spraying of algicides with CuSO4 which are not toxic to fish and humans reduces algal blooms.

  • Biological Algicides

Algae predate the bacteria in short of food. Viruses also are active against green algae and control the growth of plants.

  • Destratification

Artificial destratification occurs by physical mixing of aeration.

Water is anything but a business item like some other yet rather a legacy that must be safeguarded and secured, particularly within sight of a worldwide decrease in the accessibility of drinking water and increment in its interest. Regardless of the impressive endeavours made to improve the water quality by constraining supplement advancement, social eutrophication and the subsequent algal blossoms keep on being the primary driver of water contamination.

The counteractive action and assurance activity that nations must receive to defend the nature of surface water as mentioned not just by established researchers and different specialists yet to an expanding degree additionally by residents and ecological associations is in this manner progressively significant. The board of the eutrophic procedure is an unpredictable issue that will require the aggregate endeavours of researchers, arrangement producers and residents.

Eutrophication Water Blooming
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