Environmental pollution | Categories of Environmental Issues part (2)

 

Environmental pollution | Categories of Environmental Issues, global warming, oil spill, nitrogen deposition, solid waste part (2)

Global Warming

Global Temperature Rise:

Earth’s average surface temperature is increasing.

Globally in 1950, CO2 level was 300ppm, and Current (2019) CO2 measurement is 420ppm.

• Warming Oceans: Data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reveals that the upper few meters of the ocean’s temperature has increased by approximately 0.13°C per decade over the past 100 years.

Climate Change

• The long-term shift in the average global or regional weather patterns is called climate change.
• Shrinking Ice Sheets:

      Data from an Experiment reveals that between 1993 and 2016, Greenland lost an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year.

• Glacial Retreat
• Decreased Snow Cover
• Sea Level Rise
• Extreme Events
• Ocean Acidification

Oil Spill

 It is defined as the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into environment, particularly the marine ecosystem, because of human activity. It causes marine pollution.

National Issues

Solid waste in Pakistan: Any matter which is not needed by the owner, producer or processor. For example, Domestic waste, Factory waste, Bio-medical waste & Nuclear waste.

• In Karachi, more than 9,000 tons of municipal wastes produces daily.
• Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar and other big cities of Pakistan are facing huge challenges in tackling the problem of urban waste.
• Annually 160,000 million rupees are needed for treatment & disposal of these wastes

Contributing factors of solid waste 

• No proper system for waste collection
• Waste is thrown on the streets
• Different kinds of wastes are not collected separately.
•  no controlled sanitary landfill sites and Open burning is not considered dangerous.

Nitrogen Deposition

• Deforestation, fossil fuel burning and significant use of fertilizers cause nitrogen deposition.
• In Asia, Pakistan has highest annual deforestation rate
• Forests currently cover only 2.5% of the Pakistan’s land. More than 61,000 hectares of forest land have been turned to non-forest use in the country (Worldwide Fund for Nature 2019)
• if deforestation continues at the current rate, Pakistan will run out of forests within the next 50 years (Worldwide Fund for Nature 2019).

Land Degradation

Severe weather conditions especially drought, and human activities that pollute or reduce the quality of soils

• In Pakistan, land degradation mainly involves deforestation and desertification, salinity, soil erosion, water-logging, depletion of soil fertility and negative nutrient balances etc.

Soil Erosion