Chapter 12

Geographical Perspective on selected issues and Problems

FACTS HAT MATTER

Environmental Pollution

•Environmental pollution results from the release of substances and energy irom waste products of human activities'.

•There are many types of pollution on the basis of medium through which pollutants are transported and diffused:

(I) Air pollution

(ii) Land pollution

(iii) Water pollution

(iv) Noise pollution.

Water Pollution

•Water pollution refers to degradation of the quality of water. It contains small quantities of suspended particles of organic and inorganic substances. When concentration of these substances increases, water becomes polluted, and hence it becomes unht for human or living beings use. Such water is considered as polluted. Self purifying capacity of water is unable to purify itself.

•Water polutants are created from natural sources like soil erosion, landslides, decay and decomposition of plants and animals, etc. but the main pollutants are caused by human activities through industrial, agricultural and cultural activities. Human causes are the real causes of concern.

•Most of the industrial wastes are disposed off in running water or lakes. Consequently, poisonous elements reach the reservoirs, rivers and other water bodies, which destroy the bio-system of these waters. Major water polluting industries are leather, pulp and paper, textiles and chemicals. From agricultural sector, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides also cause water pollution. Cultural activities also cause water pollution.

Air Pollution

•Air pollution is taken as addition of contaminants like dust, fumes, gas, fog, odour, smoke or vapour to the air in substantial proportion and duration that may be harmful to flora and fauna and to property.

•The diseases commonly caused by contaminated water are diarrhoea, intestinal Worms, hepatitis, etc. World Health Organisation shows that about one- fourth of the Communicable diseases in India are water-borne.

•Air pollution causes various diseases related to respiratory, nervous and circulatory systems. Smoky fog over cities called as urban smog is caused by atmospheric pollution. It can also cause acid rains. pH value of the first rain after summer is always lower than the subsequent rains.

Noise Pollution

•Noise pollution refers to the state of unbearable and uncomtortable to human beings which is caused by noise from different sources. The level of steady noise is measured Dy Sound level expressed in terms of decibels (dB). Traffic is one of the main noise polluters.

•The main sources of noise pollution are various factories, mechanised construction and demolition works, automobiles and aircrafts, etc. Noise polution is location specific.

Urban Waste Disposal

•Old waste which includes old and used articles like stained small pieces of metals, broken glasswares, plastic containers, polythene bags, ashes, floppies, CDs dumped at different places. These discarded materials are also termed as refuse garbage and rubbish, etc. and are disposed off from two sources:

(i) Household or domestic establishments

(ii) Industrial or commercial establishments

•The household wastes is disposed off either on public lands or on private contractors off Sites, whereas the solid wastes of industrial units are collected and disposed through public (municipal) facilities at low lying public grounds (landfill areas).

•Solid wastes cause health hazard through creation of obnoxious smell, and harbourine oI fiies and rodents, which act as carriers of diseases like typhoid, diphtheria diarrhoea, malaria and cholera, etc. Urban waste disposal is a serious problem in lndia. n metros about 90% is collected while in other towns about 70 to 50% is collected. Waste should be used to generate electricity & Compost.

Rural-Urban Migration

Population flow from rural to urban areas is caused by many factors:

(a) High demand for labour in urban areas,

(b) Low job opportunities in rural areas and

•At present, 47 per cent of the world's six billion population lives in cities and more wll join them in the near future. This proportion is estimated to go up to 50 per cent by 2008.

•By 2050, an estimated two-thirds of the world's population will live in urban areas, imposing even more pressure on the space infrastructure and resources of cities, which are manifested in terms of sanitary, health, crime problems and urban poverty.

Problems of Slums

•Urban centres in India are more different in terms of the socio-economic, politico-cultural and other indicators of development than any other areas. 69% still live in villages (2011)

•Slums, "jhuggi-jhopari" are the clusters and colonies of shanty structures. These are inhabited by those people who were forced to migrate from the rural areas to these urban centres in search of livelihood but could not afford proper housing due to high rent and high costs of land. They occupy environmentally incompatible and degraded areas. Slums are residential areas of the least choice, dilapidated houses, poor hygienic conditions poor ventilation, lack of basic amenities like drinking water, light and toilet facilities, etc.

•Most of the slum population works in low paid, high risk-prone, unorganised sectors of the urban economy. Consequently, they are the undernourished, prone to different types of diseases and illness and can ill afford to give proper education to their children. The poverty makes them vulnerable to drug abuse, alcoholism, crime, vandalism, escapism, apathy and ultimately social exclusion.

Land Degradation

•The pressure on agricultural land increases not only due to the limited availability but also by deterioration of quality of agricultural land, soil erosion, waterlogging salinisation and alkalinisation of land that leads to land degradation.

•Though all degraded land may not be wasteland, but unchecked process of degradation may lead to the conversion to wasteland. National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA has classified wastelands by using remote sensing techniques and it is possible to categorise these wastelands according to the processes that have created them.

•17.98% of land area of lndia is degraded. There are two processes that induce lana degradation. These are natural and created by human beings.

•Natural causes of degraded lands include waterlogged and marshy areas, land affected by salinity and alkalinity and land with or without scrub.

•Shifting cultivation area, degraded land under plantation crops, degraded forests degraded pastures, and mining and industrial wastelands, are the causes of Land degradation by human actions.

We hope CBSE/MP Board Class 12th "Geography Part B " Chapter 12 "Geographical perspective on selected issues and Problems" will help you.

Written By - HIMANSHU SHARMA