China.

The worlds largest population 1/5 of the worlds total population Complex environment worlds largest and highest mountain plateau Two of the worlds longest rivers Many lakes Long coastline and continental shelf China - geography China is the worlds most populous country, with about 1.3 billion people, or 1/5 of the world’s total. In area it is the 3rd largest country, and in plant diversity the 3 rd richest. Its economy, already huge, is growing at the fastest rate of any major country: nearly 10 % per year – which is 4 times the growth rate of any 1st world country. It has the world’s highest production rate of steel, cement, aquaculture food and television sets Highest production and consumption of coal, fertilizers and tobacco. Near the top of production of electricity and motor vehicles And is now building the world’s largest dam and largest water-diversion project. Economy Although China is still a developing country with a relatively low per capita income, it has experienced tremendous economic growth since the late 1970s. In large part as a result of economic liberalization policies, the GDP quadrupled between 1978 and 1998, and foreign investment soared during the 1990s. China's challenge in the early 21st cent. will be to balance its highly centralized political system with an increasingly decentralized economic system. Agriculture is by far the leading occupation, involving over 50% of the population, although extensive rough, high terrain and large arid areas—especially in the west and north—limit cultivation to only about 10% of the land surface. Since the late 1970s, China has decollectivized agriculture, yielding tremendous gains in production. Even with these improvements, agriculture accounts for only 20% of the nation's gross national product. Despite initial gains in farmers' incomes in the early 1980s, taxes and fees have increasingly made farming an unprofitable occupation. Except for the oasis farming in Xinjiang and Qinghai, some irrigated areas in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, and sheltered valleys in Tibet, agricultural production is restricted to the east. China is the world's largest producer of rice and wheat and a major producer of sweet potatoes, sorghum, millet, barley, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and potatoes. In terms of cash crops, China ranks first in cotton and tobacco and is an important producer of oilseeds, silk, tea, ramie, jute, hemp, sugarcane, and sugar beets. Livestock raising on a large scale is confined to the border regions and provinces in the north and west; it is mainly of the nomadic pastoral type. China ranks first in world production of red meat (including beef, veal, mutton, lamb, and pork). Sheep, cattle, and goats are the most common types of livestock. Horses, donkeys, and mules are work animals in the north, while oxen and water buffalo are used for plowing chiefly in the south. Hogs and poultry are widely raised in China, furnishing important export staples, such as hog bristles and egg products. Fish and pork supply most of the animal protein in the Chinese diet. Due to improved technology, the fishing industry has grown considerably since the late 1970s. China is one of the world's major mineral-producing countries. Coal is the most abundant mineral (China ranks first in coal production); high-quality, easily mined coal is found throughout the country, but especially in the north and northeast. There are also extensive iron-ore deposits; the largest mines are at Anshan and Benxi, in Liaoning province. Oil fields discovered in the 1960s and after made China a net exporter, and by the early 1990s, China was the world's fifth-ranked oil producer. Growing domestic demand beginning in the mid-1990s, however, has forced the nation to import increasing quantities of petroleum. Offshore exploration has become important to meeting domestic needs; massive deposits off the coasts are believed to exceed all the world's known oil reserves. China's leading export minerals are tungsten, antimony, tin, magnesium, molybdenum, mercury, manganese, barite, and salt. China is among the world's four top producers of antimony, magnesium, tin, tungsten, and zinc, and ranks second (after the United States) in the production of salt, sixth in gold, and eighth in lead ore. There are large deposits of uranium in the northwest, especially in Xinjiang; there are also mines in Jiangxi and Guangdong provs. Alumina is found in many parts of the country; China is one of world's largest producers of aluminum. There are also deposits of vanadium, magnetite, copper, fluorite, nickel, asbestos, phosphate rock, pyrite, and sulfur. Coal is the single most important energy source; coal-fired thermal electric generators provide over 70% of the country's electric power. China's exploitation of its high-sulfur coal resources has resulted in massive pollution. China also has extensive hydroelectric energy potential, notably in Yunnan, W Sichuan, and E Tibet, although hydroelectric power accounts for only 5% of the country's total energy production. Hydroelectric projects exist in provinces served by major rivers where near-surface coal is not abundant. The largest completed project, Gezhouba Dam, on the Chang (Yangtze) River, opened in 1981; the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest engineering project, on the lower Chang, is scheduled for completion in 2009. Before 1945, heavy industry was concentrated in the northeast (Manchuria), but important centers were subsequently established in other parts of the country, notably in Shanghai and Wuhan. After the 1960s, the emphasis was on regional self-sufficiency, and many factories sprang up in rural areas. The iron and steel industry is organized around several major centers (including Anshan, one of the world's largest), but thousands of small iron and steel plants have also been established throughout the country. Brick, tile, cement, and food-processing plants are found in almost every province. Shanghai and Guangzhou are the traditionally great textile centers, but many new mills have been built, concentrated mostly in the cotton-growing provinces of N China and along the Chang (Yangtze) River. Rivers and canals (notably the Grand Canal, which connects the Huang He and the Chang [Yangtze] rivers) remain important transportation arteries. The east and northeast are well served by railroads and highways, and there are now major rail and road links with the interior. There are railroads to North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, and Vietnam, and road connections to Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Myanmar. Since the 1980s China has undertaken a major highway construction program. As part of its continuing effort to become competitive in the global marketplace, China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001; its major trade partners are the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany. China's economy, though strengthened by the more liberal economic policies of the 1980s and 90s, continues to suffer from inadequate transportation, communication, and energy resources Opium Wars, 1839–42 and 1856–60, two wars between China and Western countries. The first was between Great Britain and China. Early in the 19th cent., British merchants began smuggling opium into China in order to balance their purchases of tea for export to Britain. In 1839, China enforced its prohibitions on the importation of opium by destroying at Guangzhou (Canton) a large quantity of opium confiscated from British merchants. Great Britain, which had been looking to end China's restrictions on foreign trade, responded by sending gunboats to attack several Chinese coastal cities. China, unable to withstand modern arms, was defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) and the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (1843). These provided that the ports of Guangzhou, Jinmen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai should be open to British trade and residence; in addition Hong Kong was ceded to the British. Within a few years other Western powers signed similar treaties with China and received commercial and residential privileges, and the Western domination of China's treaty ports began. In 1856 a second war broke out following an allegedly illegal Chinese search of a British-registered ship, the Arrow, in Guangzhou. British and French troops took Guangzhou and Tianjin and compelled the Chinese to accept the treaties of Tianjin (1858), to which France, Russia, and the United States were also party. China agreed to open 11 more ports, permit foreign legations in Beijing, sanction Christian missionary activity, and legalize the import of opium. China's subsequent attempt to block the entry of diplomats into Beijing as well as Britain's determination to enforce the new treaty terms led to a renewal of the war in This time the British and French occupied Beijing and burned the imperial summer palace (Yuan ming yuan). The Beijing conventions of 1860, by which China was forced to reaffirm the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin and make additional concessions, concluded the hostilities treaty port The Treaty of Nanjing (1842), which restored peace, provided for five treaty ports—Xiamen, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai. As in all the 69 Chinese treaty ports that were finally opened, zones were established for foreign residence that enjoyed extraterritoriality. Ecosystem range from glaciers, deserts, grassland, wetlands, tropical rainforest

Demographic and resource pressures
Population growth 2-3% pa from s, has slowed down to 0.7% since the one child policy However: Household numbers grows 3 times faster. Household size have decreased from 4.5 to 3.5 people in 15 years. Estimated to be 2.2 by 2030 Added another 8 mio. Households in 2000 Per household floor area tripled in 30 years Urbanization incr. from 13% to 39% from After the 1950s there was a steady migration of China's people to growing industrial areas in outlying regions such as Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Qinghai. In addition, there has been increased movement to urban areas since the late 1970s. In the late 1990s, some 60–100 million dislocated rural workers were unable to obtain permanent jobs or government services in the cities because of strict residency requirements under the hukuo system, which binds people to their place of birth. In 2001, however, under pressure from businesses, the government announced that it would begin a gradual reform of the hukuo system.

Population distribution
Population Trend in China China's population growth rate has slowed in the past five years, although its population is still increasing, according to results of a recent survey. The population totaled billion by October 1, 1995, up 6.54% from 1990, according to the nationwide survey of one percent of China's population. But the annual growth rate slowed by 0.34 percent over the past five years, compared with the period of According to the survey, the average national birth rate last year was per thousand, which means 470,000 fewer births than in The 1995 population growth rate was per thousand, compared with per thousand in About percent of the population is male, the survey showed. More than 12 million people, from more than 40,000 urban neighborhood communities and rural villages from 30 municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions were surveyed by the State Statistics Bureau. China's population density is high in the southeast; in fact, 43 percent of the land contains 94 percent of its population. A quarter of the population of China is in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including Jiangxi province, and the population density reaches 663 people per square kilometer. Shanghai, China's largest city, has a population density of 2,118 people per square kilometer. Population growth has brought a series of problems to the country, the reason behind its policy of family planning. The basic content of family planning in China, a China Today article states, is to advocate late marriage and late childbirth. China's marriage law rule marriage age for a man is 22 and 20 for a woman. A baby born to a mother older than 24 is considered a late childbirth. Couples normally only have one child, but the state has adopted a more liberal policy toward minority ethnic groups. "Family planning in China started in the early 1970s. It enjoys the understanding and support of the population and has achieved results," the article concludes. "China would have 260 million more than the present population if the family planning program had not been adopted. As a result, life is more prosperous. The family planning policy is unshakeable." Density highest in south east 94% of population lives on 43% of the land

China’s Economy Fastest growing economy 10% pa Largest producer of steel, television sets and aquaculture Largest consumption of coal, fertilizer, pesticides and tobacco Near the top in production of electricity, cars, chemical textiles 2003 production of steel, cement, chemical fiber and color TV incr. by 7, 13, 42, and times respectively Beginning in the late 1970s, changes in economic policy, including decentralization of control and the creation of “special economic zones” to attract foreign investment, led to considerable industrial growth, especially in light industries that produce consumer goods. In the 1990s a program of share-holding and greater market orientation went into effect; however, state enterprises continue to dominate many key industries in China's “socialist market economy.” In addition, implementation of some reforms was stalled by fears of social dislocation and by political opposition, but by 2004 economic changes had become so great that the Communist party moved to add protection for private property rights to the country's constitution. Major industrial products are textiles, chemicals, fertilizers, machinery (especially for agriculture), processed foods, iron and steel, building materials, plastics, toys, and electronics.

China’s Economy Consumption of meat, milk and egg increased 4, 4 and 8 fold respectively from 1978 to 2002. Number of vehicles increased 6 fold from 1980 to 1994 The traditional Township-Village Enterprises (TVE) very energy inefficient and based on coal Foreign investment in new industries better but double edged

Driven by foreign investment

China’s Policy Believed that humans could and should conquer nature and that only capitalist countries suffered from environmental damage This changed in 1972 when China attended the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment Environmental protection a basic national principle in 1983 Strategy to achieve sustainability in 1994 2003 Sustainable development and harmony between man and nature Rhetoric or reality – economy still main driver Economy versus Environment At the same time that even state-run enterprises are fouling the air and water, the government is moving full-steam ahead on economic reforms and its plans for rapid expansion. For example, a $700-million petrochemical plant is under construction in the port city of Tianjin, described by the Wall Street Journal in an article 4 August 1993 as "the first of 14 [chemical] plants China plans to build by 1996." With increasing foreign investment and skyrocketing growth rates (China now boasts a GNP ranked by some as third in the world), the standard of living for China's 1.2 billion people is rapidly rising. Even the government admits that the country is paying a price for its rapid growth. "While the government is putting more and more attention on environmental pollution, industry is attaching more importance to economic development," says Changbo, adding that both state-run and joint ventures often ignore the strict standards NEPA sets. "If you talk with the manager of an enterprise, the first question is about production and money; you have to remind him to consider the environment," said Changbo. That attitude could change as China seeks international help for its environmental problems. Already the World Bank has committed record amounts of money to China, $300 million in 1993 alone, to strengthen the government's environmental protection programs.

In summary Population and household growth +
Escalating production and consumption of natural resources + Increased emission of air and water pollutant + Increased affluence + Considerable pressure on the natural resource base and environment +

Environmental Consequences
Grassland degradation Soil erosion Overgrazing Salinization Water pollution and shortage Freshwater Groundwater depletion Oceans Loss of biodiversity – increase in invasive species Chinas environmental problems are among the most severe of any major country and are getting worse: Air pollution Land Degradation Cropland losses Desertification Disappearing wetlands Environmental degradation did not start with the acceleration of economic growth in late 1970s. It started after the second world war and civil war when development intensified leading to more deforestation, overgrazing and erosion. Great leap forward saw a dramatic increase in number of factories. Fourfold increase in alone leading to more deforestation to fuel backyard steel productions. 1960s to 70s pollution grew as many factories were moved to the interior as the coast was considered militarily vulnerable Since economic reform in 1978 environmental degradation continued to accelerate due to rapid industrialization among them Township Village Enterprises with an average of 6 employees. They accounted for up to a third of Chinese production and half its export but contributed disproportionately to pollution While total ecological footprint (a measure or human natural resource consumption and waste output) is the second highest in the world (after the United States) the per capita footprint is below world average. Increasing scale and frequency of human-induced natural disasters: Mud-slides Flooding These and other environmental problems are causing: economic losses social conflicts health problems

Health Consequences

Air pollution Most severe env. health problem
3 out of 4 city dwellers live below Chinas air-quality standards Acid rain fell on a quarter of cities for more than 60% of rainy days High mortality rate from lung disease, High rate of lung cancer because of smoking The most serious environmental health problem, say Chinese environmental health experts, is air pollution. One example is Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province and an ancient fortified city located in a valley. Iron, steel, and chemical factories spew soot, fly ash, and sulfur dioxide into the air, and the pollutants are trapped within the valley and the walls of the city, according to the Chinese National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). Two million people live in Taiyuan. Indoor air pollution is also a serious threat. Women in rural Xuan Wei County of Yunnan Province have the highest lung cancer rate among Chinese women, even though few smoke. The greatest cancer risk is among residents who burn smoky coal inside their homes with no ventilation. The Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine says thousands of Chinese in other rural areas suffer debilitating diseases from burning coal containing arsenic and fluoride. Most factories built before the 1980s have no pollution control equipment and are fueled by coal, which the government calls "the chief source of air pollution in China." According to Vaclav Smil, professor and author of China's Environmental Crisis, "Burdens of air pollution are not surprising in a nation where combustion of one billion tons of coal, largely uncleaned and burned with minimal or no pollution controls, supplies three-quarters of all primary energy." As a result, numerous cities in China exceed World Health Organization air pollution guidelines. Statistics show high morbidity and mortality from lung disease in China. Respiratory disease is one of the leading causes of death overall in China. It is the primary cause of death among rural residents, who have a mortality rate of 168 per 100,000 people. Cancer is the primary cause of death among urban residents, who have a mortality rate of 126 per 100,000 according to the 1992 Report on the State of the Environment in China, published by NEPA. "Environmental pollution and unhealthy habits are the main causes of disease," the report concludes. "Unhealthy habits" include smoking--a habit shared by 300 million Chinese. An estimated two million Chinese a year will die from smoking by the year 2025 if the current rate of tobacco use persists Iron, steel and chemical factories spew sot, fly ash and sulfur dioxide into the air Pollutant trapped in the valley and within the walls of the city. 2 million people live Taiyuan – Shansi Province

CO2 emission - China Indoor air pollution. Women in Xuan Wei in Yunnan province has the highest lung cancer rate among Chinese women. From the burning of unclean coals in the homes without ventilation Improving as industries achieve emission standards – change from coal to gas

Social equity on CO2 emission
CO2 emission, largely a by-product of energy production and use Low and middle income countries have seen a relatively much higher increase in CO2 emission The ratio of GDP to energy use provides a measure of energy efficiency. To produce comparable and consistent estimates of real GDP across countries relative to physical inputs to GDP—that is, units of energy use—GDP is converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates. Differences in this ratio over time and across countries reflect in part structural changes in the economy, changes in the energy efficiency of particular sectors, and differences in fuel mixes. The data on traditional fuel are from the United Nations Statistics Division’s Energy Statistics Yearbook. This series differs from those published in World Development Indicators 1999 and previous editions, which came from other sources. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, largely a by-product of energy production and use (see table 3.7), account for the largest share of greenhouse gases, which are associated with global warming. Anthropogenic CO2 emissions result primarily from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacturing. In combustion, different fossil fuels release different amounts of CO2 for the same level of energy use. Burning oil releases about 50 % more CO2 than burning natural gas, and burning coal releases about twice as much. Cement manufacturing releases about half a metric ton of CO2 for each ton of cement produced.

Water pollution Second most severe env. health problem
Sewage, agricultural and industrial waste contaminates water supplies and cause many deceases Much surface and groundwater is declared heavily polluted by heavy metals incl. lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and fluorides. China’s per capita water availability only ¼ of world average - shortage Water pollution China's second most serious environmental health problem is water pollution. Waterborne illnesses, from sewage and agricultural waste contaminating the water supplies, cause thousands of deaths from infectious disease per year. Rivers used for drinking water also become polluted with industrial discharges, according to Bai Changbo, NEPA's Foreign Affairs Officer. Says Changbo, "Much of China's surface water is contaminated with heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, and arsenic, from industrial effluent Water Pollution Most cities and villages do not have sophisticated sewage treatment facilities, so water supplies often become contaminated with bacteria and viruses. Sewage contamination of a sea bed from which clams were harvested was associated with 300,000 cases of hepatitis A in a 2-month period in Shanghai in Industrial discharges further contaminate water supplies. The 1992 NEPA report labeled river after river as "seriously polluted." The most frequently named pollutants are ammonia nitrogen, volatile phenols, heavy metals, arsenic, cyanides, petrol pollutants, and oxygen-causing organic matter. NEPA notes that nearly 2 million pounds of arsenic and 130 million pounds of "petrol pollutants" were discharged into rivers in In freshwater lakes, pollution by heavy metals such as mercury and hexavalent chromium is quite serious. Elevated levels of mercury have been detected in fishermen eating mercury-contaminated fish. Women who cook and spend more time in the home may be at greater risk from smoky coal. Arsenic and fluoride also occur naturally in water supplies in certain provinces of China. At high levels in drinking water, both can be harmful. NEPA authorities say that these two elements are not a national priority because they are found at excessive levels in only a few rural provinces. Chinese scientists, however, say arsenic and fluoride in water, as well as in air, can cause devastating effects on rural residents. Arsenic contamination. China's arsenic standard for drinking water is the same as EPA's: 50 µg/m3. Niu has received reports from Inner Mongolia and Xinjing Province that the standard may be exceeded by times in drinking water. He is attempting to validate the analytical techniques used in these remote areas. Scientists from the United States, Taiwan, and China are all exploring potential collaborative projects in Inner Mongolia to study arsenic exposures and evaluate health effects. Evidence is too preliminary, says Niu, to know if there are internal cancers such as those reported by C.J. Chen and colleagues in Taiwan, although a small number of cases of skin lesions (keratoses) and blackfoot disease, a gangrenous circulatory problem previously documented in Taiwan, have been detected. Arsenic contaminated water Skeletal fluorosis

Water Pollution More than 700 mio people consume drinking water contaminated with levels of animal and human excreta that exceed maximum permissible levels by as much as 86% in rural areas and 28% in urban areas By 1996 only 5% of industrial and 17% of domestic waste received any treatment before being discharged in rivers, lakes, oceans etc. However these percentages are increasing Also dramatic increase in fresh water aquaculture

Cancer mortality from water pollution - TVE
Cancer mortality from water pollution - TVE Increase in cancer mortality over time in control area, polluted and most polluted townships Show that increased pollution results in increased mortality steady increase in cancer mortality over time in polluted areas One illustration of the link between cancer and pollution in China comes from a study of two villages, Xujia and Xizhou, where water supplies were polluted by petroleum industries. Deep groundwater, the source of village drinking water supplies, was heavily contaminated by hydrocarbons such as aliphatic and aromatic alkenes, phenols, aldehydes, ketones, acids, esters, etc., with concentrations of petroleum derivatives at mg/l, volatile phenols at mg/l, and sulfides at mg/l . When compared to a control area, major findings included a >25% higher rate of overall cancer mortality from 1986 to 1988 and a >50% higher rate of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract during the same time period Liver and stomach cancer deaths doubled since the 1970s. China has Highest liver cancer dead rate in the world

Cancer death and anemia from sewage storage - Urbanization
Cancer death and anemia from sewage storage - Urbanization Deceases investigated: Cancer Liver cancer Esophageal cancer Anemia In Control area Polluted area (along the canal) Most polluted area (near the lake) Urbanization Polluted water resources are not only a problem in the rural areas surrounding TVEs. Chinese cities have limited facilities or infrastructure to treat sewage or drinking water, which mostly comes from surface water of large rivers or lakes. More than 300 of China's 640 cities now face water shortages, with a total annual scarcity of nearly 6 billion m3. Most cities and communities simply discharge untreated wastewater and sewage produced by households and industries into surrounding surface waters, including rivers, lakes, and coastal areas. The increasing volume of human excreta as well as toxins and solid wastes from industries in urban areas is leading to a severe deterioration of water quality. In fact, most urban water pollution is linked to organic loads entering water bodies. A major problem for China is the inadequate treatment of municipal sewage. In 1996, more than 20 billion tons of urban sewage was discharged into rivers, lakes, or seas, with approximately 10% receiving any treatment by the 135 centralized sewage treatment plants that operated nationwide. Without proper disposal or treatment of sewage, most monitored river sections in urban areas (131 of 135) failed to meet designated water quality grades in a 1994 study. Given the lack of wastewater treatment infrastructure, it is not surprising that low levels of sewage treatment have resulted in widespread contamination of drinking water supplies, and in turn resulted in significant episodes of illness. Statistics show that sewage is the leading contributor of contamination to water supplies (i.e., piped water, surface water, and groundwater), and that sewage contamination produces more cases of illness as compared to chemical and pesticide contamination. Untreated sewage usually contains large numbers of pathogenic microorganisms such as schistosomial ova cercaria and ova of parasitic flukes and worms; hepatitis A, bacterial dysentery, infectious diarrhea, para-cholera, and typhoid are also common. In 1991, the average incidence of typhoid fever was 10.6 per 100,000--any incidence greater than 10 per 100,000 is considered high by the World Health Organization. The problems stemming from the failure to treat sewage properly are exacerbated by inadequate treatment of drinking water supplies. Of the 27 largest Chinese cities, only 6 supplied drinking water that met government standards; groundwater did not meet state standards in 23 of these cities. The situation is as bad or worse among rural towns and medium-sized cities. A survey of drinking water plants in Hubei Province found that only one in eight drinking water plants consistently treated water year round. Consequently, half the populations served by plants that failed to treat water regularly suffered from intestinal infectious disease between 1986 and Therefore, even populations with access to tap water still face some risk of contracting diseases. Baoding City disposed 250,000 tons of sewage per day into lake via a Canal

Cancer mortality and birth defects – changes to agriculture
Impact of new practice of using industrial wastewater for irrigation 70 km long canal build in 1960, daily received 400,000 m3 of untreated wastewater from coalmines and petrochemical, power and chemical plants – increasing cancer mortality and birth defect Intensification and Modernization of Agriculture Inadequate drinking water and sewage treatment infrastructure is not the only problem plaguing urban water resources. The rapid expansion of new agricultural activities, the so-called vegetable baskets (urban and suburban gardens), are also aggravating drinking water supply problems. These newly developed plots are usually irrigated with untreated sewage while fertilizer and pesticides are applied to raise productivity. Furthermore, poultry operations and small-scale household husbandry have also expanded rapidly to meet the demand of city residents for meat, eggs, and milk. These operations generate considerable animal waste within and around cities. Most of the wastes from these farms are discharged untreated into surface waters . China's agricultural economy has undergone a rapid transformation in the last 15 years. Beginning in the 1980s farmers were permitted by the state to sell surplus produce on the open market. This created incentives to increase agricultural productivity and to adopt green revolution technologies: intensive fertilizer and pesticide application together with improved hybrid seeds. The National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) in Beijing reported that the use of fertilizers in China rose from 25.9 million tons in 1990 to 33.1 million tons in Despite the increased use of fertilizer, only 30% of fertilizers applied to agricultural crops are used effectively. As a result, nonpoint source pollution has been worsening dramatically. Excessive use of fertilizers, the prevalence of phosphate-based detergents, and the discharge of human and livestock excreta intothe lakes of intensively farmed provinces is leading to their eutrophication (overloading of water bodies with organic materials and nutrients that encourage algal blooms and deplete the oxygen available for aquatic organisms). The proliferation of algae has affected water supply sources and forced the temporary closure of drinking water plants. For example, Taihu, the third largest freshwater lake in China, has become a major sink of agricultural and rural effluents generated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. Algal blooms are also the source of a far more serious threat to human health: algal toxins. More than 80% of 480 algae samples taken from surface waters collected throughout China produced toxins. Many studies, including short-term assays, intact animal experiments, chronic feeding assays, and epidemiologic surveys, have demonstrated the etiological role of algal toxins, particularly microcystins and nordularin produced by blue-green algae, in pathogenesis of liver cancer. Even when the presence of hepatitis B viral infections, ethnic or genetic susceptibilities, and alcohol consumption were factored in, the risk of liver cancer associated with the consumption of polluted drinking water was still twofold or higher. Because these phytotoxins represent only a few of those probably present in eutrophied waters, this is important and disturbing evidence that merits urgent attention; in China, however, the study of pesticides has focused on managing or preventing poisoning or toxic events usually associated with accidental spills during application or transportation. Thus, there are limited epidemiologic data or other types of research performed on the possible ways that agrochemicals, particularly pesticides, could effect human health in China. There is also limited knowledge of whether bioaccumulation in plants and animals is entering the human food chain, or what levels of exposure affect immune system function. Misapplication of fertilizers and pesticides is not the only agricultural practice adversely affecting water supplies, however. Acute water shortages, especially in the northern regions, have led to the relatively new practice of using industrial wastewater for irrigation. This interaction between industrial and agricultural activities and their impact on human health is highlighted by the problems in the Shenfu irrigation area near the heavily industrialized city of Shenyang in Liaoning Province. An irrigation canal was built in this area in the early 1960s. The canal was 70 km in length and supplied 13,000 acres of land. Each day the canal drained an average 400,000 m3 of untreated wastewater from coal mines and petrochemical, power, and chemical plants. The area's cancer mortality and incidence of birth defects were investigated between 1973 and Figure 3 demonstrates that higher levels of cancer mortality and birth defects were found relative to the control area. In particular, the area served by the canal had approximately three times as many (34.2/10,000 versus 12.0/10,000) cases of liver cancer than the control area, lower average age of death from cancer, and approximately three times more birth defects (67.42 versus per 1,000) than the control area. `

Ocean pollution 3 million square km of sea, vast continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles off its coast. Almost all coastal seas are polluted, mainly due to pollutants from the land washing into the rivers and then into the sea but also oil spills and other marine activities. In 2003 alone 20 of the major outlets discharged app 880 mio tons of sewerage water containing 1.3 mio tons of pollutants. Pollution and over fishing have hit fisheries stock with declining natural harvests while aquaculture production has increased further increasing pollution.

Production of aquaculture freshwater fish has increased steeply

Water Shortage Unevenly distributed North only 1/3 of South
100 cities suffer from severe shortages, halting industrial production. 300 cities out of Chinas 617 Cities suffer from shortage 2/3 from groundwater mining – salt water intrusion in coastal areas and subsidence in some cities World’s worst cessation of river flows. Yellow river stopped flowing during 20 of the years Number of days without flow up from 90 in 1980 to 230 in 1997 The signs of water stress can be seen on every front. For millions of Chinese farmers, wells that are going dry as water tables fall provide painful evidence of scarcity. A recent Chinese survey reports that the water table beneath much of the North China Plain, a region that produces nearly 40 percent of China's grain, has fallen an average of 1.5 meters (roughly 5 feet) per year over the last five years. Nothing demonstrates China's water challenge more than the failure of the Yellow River to reach the sea for part of each year. In 1972, the Yellow River, the northernmost of China's two major rivers ran dry for the first time in history. After not reaching the sea for some 15 days in 1972, the river ran dry intermittently over the next decade or so. Beginning in 1985, it has run dry each year, with the dry period becoming progressively longer. In 1997, a year exacerbated by drought, it failed to reach the sea for 226 days. For some months in 1997, it failed even to reach Shandong, the last province the river flows through en route to the sea and the one that produces one fifth of China's wheat and one seventh of its corn. In 1996, the failure of the river, which supplies half of Shandong's irrigation water, to reach the province reduced grain output by 2.7 million tons, enough to feed 9 million Chinese. With literally hundreds of new upstream projects withdrawing water in the years ahead, ever less will reach the lower basin. China wants to protect agriculture in the fertile downstream regions, but the need for water in upstream provinces for residences and to create jobs in industry is overwhelming. At the national level, the redistribution of income to the economically lagging interior is essential to maintain political stability and to prevent a massive exodus to cities in the coastal provinces.

Water shortage Competition rural urban intensifying:
Residential use incr. from 31 to 134 bil. tons from 1995 to 2003 while industrial use Incr. from 52 to 269 bil. ton Farmers can not compete economically 1000 ton of water in agriculture = $200 while in industry it = $14,000 of profit. Virtual water? China's Water Shortage Could Shake World Grain Markets by Lester R. Brown and Brian Halweil "Emerging water shortages are threatening China's grain production as rivers are drained dry and aquifers are depleted by the country's soaring water needs," announced Lester Brown,. "Because China's potential demand is so large, it cannot import the grain it needs without driving world grain prices up, leaving 1.3 billion people who subsist on $1 a day at risk," said Brown. "The goal for China is to be as self-sufficient in food as possible by fashioning an internal solution to the problem of water scarcity." Smaller countries, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, have already experienced severe water shortages, but China is the first major food producer to do so. These smaller countries typically divert irrigation water to cities and industry as needed, importing grain to offset irrigation losses. To import a ton of wheat is to import a thousand tons of water. Small countries, like Israel, Jordan, or Saudi Arabia, can import 70 to 90 percent of their grain without disrupting markets, but China cannot. China's farmers now face strong competition for water from cities and industry. Residential demand for water is projected to increase from 31 billion tons in 1995 to 134 billion tons in The demand for water by industry is projected to grow even faster, from 52 billion tons to 269 billion tons. Of China's 617 cities, 300 are facing water shortages. In many, these shortfalls can be filled only by diverting water from agriculture. In the spring of 1994, farmers in the region surrounding Beijing were denied access to reservoirs, their traditional source of irrigation water, because all the water was needed to satisfy the city's fast growing needs. Beijing is setting the precedent for other water-stressed cities. Farmers cannot compete economically with industry for water in China or anywhere else. The arithmetic is stark. A thousand tons of water produces one ton of wheat, which has a market value of $200, while a thousand tons of water used in industry yields an estimated $14,000 of output, or 70 times as much. One of the most frequently proposed responses to water scarcity is to reduce wastage by water pricing, charging users enough for water to ensure that it is used efficiently.. The potential for saving water in industry is also promising. For example, China uses from 23 to 56 tons of Higher water prices that lead to the use of more efficient technologies, such as sprinklers or drip irrigation, can sharply cut water use water to produce a ton of steel, whereas the United States, Japan, and Germany use less than 6 tons. Restructuring the energy sector will involve shifting from hydropower, with its large evaporating reservoirs, to wind power. The farmer holds a small irrigator used to lift water out of a canal using small buckets

The Yangtze Basin – Three Gorges dam
The worlds largest water project – one of the worlds largest hydropower projects Average annual run –off 451 bil. ton Significant social and env. impact May silt up in 50 years Will move water to northern China The Yangtze Basin – Three Gorges dam China Yangtze Three Gorges Project (TGP), as one of the biggest hydropower-complex project in the world, ranks as the key project for improvement and development of Yangtze River. The dam is located in the areas of Xilingxia gorge, one of the three gorges of the river, which will control a drainage area of 1 million km 2 , with an average annual runoff of 451 billion m3 . The open valley at the dam site, with hard and complete granite as the bedrock, has provided the favorable topographical and geological conditions for dam construction

Three Gorges Dam

The Three Gorges Dam will move water
from south to the north Figure 1 South to North Diversion project $59 Billion Three gorges dam : 30 billion

Soil erosion affects 19% of land
As a result of human activity, such as Deforestation for agriculture and logging Destruction of vegetation (grassland) Cultivation on steep slopes Drying out of wetlands for agriculture and city develop Consequences Deposition of sediment in the river bed causing more frequent flooding leading to the deposition of coarse sediment particles and secondary alkalization In one area more than doubling the area of eroded land from the 1960s to 80s Soil erosion Northeast China presents an excellent example of how urbanization and reclamation have brought about soil erosion in the Songhua watershed. According to an official from the Ministry of Water Resources, "irrational human activities, such as excessive deforestation, destruction of vegetation, and cultivation on steep slopes, have lead to severe soil loss in the upper reaches of the rivers and significant deposition of sediment in the areas along the lower reaches of the rivers." Soil erosion has not only denuded the ecological environment, making it more prone to floods and droughts, it has also led to serious siltation from unfixed sediment in the river bed. The Harbin estuary has risen from 30 to 50 centimeters compared with its level in the 1950s. Siltation raises the river beds so flooding occurs more quickly. Agriculture. Agronomy studies show that 29.1 percent of the total black soil lands in Heilongjiang were reclaimed between 1960 and 1980 for a total of 1,651,600 hectares. Nearly all of the fertile black soil ("heitudi") has been turned into farmland at this time, according to researchers from the region. Eroded land in the Song-Nen Plain took up 29,874,000 acres in the 1960s, but in the 1980s this area increased to 69,240,000 acres. Flooding in the plain areas has inundated farmland, leading to the deposition of coarse sediment particles and secondary alkalization. Forestry and grasslands. In order to increase food production for growing communities, forests and grasslands have been cleared for agricultural land. Over 80% of the Songhua Plain is now already under cultivation. Large-scale logging practices over the past fifty years have reduced the size of forests in both the Changbai and Greater Xing'An Mountain regions, sources for the Songhua and Nen Rivers, respectively. In the Greater Xing'An region, forests retreated by approximately 100 km to the North between 1960 and 1980 as lands were plowed for food production. Only 7% is left of the forest cover at present, including wind breaks. In the Lesser Xing'An Forest, half of the forests have been destroyed since Officials from the Water and Soil Conservation Institute who attended the Harbin Symposium in May argued that "if the Greater Xing'An forest is destroyed, the ecological balance of [the] entire plain will be broken, so that the function of adjusting water will be [lost. The occurrence of] floods and droughts will increase, [and] peaks will come more rapidly than before. However, once the drought [occurs, the water] flow will decrease and the water [logging] will last longer than ever. Therefore, it is necessary to take some measures to cultivate and protect the current forest in the Greater Xing'An district." Furthermore, by the end of 1995 there were less than 70 million mu (1 mu is equivalent to hectare) of grasslands in the Songhua River Plain, a relatively small percentage of the vast grasslands which originally covered the area. This decline in grassland coverage has greatly decreased the absorption capacity of the soils, making the region much more vulnerable to flooding. Wetlands. Effective watershed management will be critical in protecting the health of the river system from further deterioration. Protecting wetlands, rivers, and lakes could slow and reduce the flow of water from rains, but many wetlands have already been filled in to accommodate a high rate of urbanization and settlement. Many wetlands located between Qiqihar and Zhaoyuan have been reclaimed for crop-growing and village development. The Heilongjiang Provincial Government did recently move to strengthen the protection of wetlands with a regulation which forbids individuals and work units to exploit the remaining 2.7 million hectares of wetland, which, according to government officials, makes up 10.8 per cent of the country's total.

Over grazing- increase in number of goat, sheep and cattle
Increasing desertification, the Gobi desert expanded by 52,400 km2 from 1994 to 1999 Winter storms create enormous dust storms affecting Korea and Japan China Losing War With Advancing Deserts Old deserts are advancing and new ones are forming, like guerrilla forces striking unexpectedly, forcing Beijing to fight on several fronts. And worse, the growing deserts are gaining momentum, occupying an ever-larger piece of China's territory each year. Desert expansion has accelerated with each successive decade since China's Environmental Protection Agency reports that the Gobi Desert expanded by 52,400 square kilometers (20,240 square miles) from 1994 to 1999, an area half the size of Pennsylvania. With the advancing Gobi now within 150 miles of Beijing, China's leaders are beginning to sense the gravity of the situation. Over plowing and overgrazing are converging to create a dust bowl of historic dimensions. With little vegetation remaining in parts of northern and western China, the strong winds of late winter and early spring can remove literally millions of tons of topsoil in a single day—soil that can take centuries to replace. For the outside world, it is these dust storms that draw attention to the deserts that are forming in China. On April 12, 2002, for instance, South Korea was engulfed by a huge dust storm from China that left people in Seoul literally gasping for breath. Schools were closed, airline flights were cancelled, and clinics were overrun with patients having difficulty breathing. Retail sales fell. Koreans have come to dread the arrival of what they now call "the fifth season"—the dust storms of late winter and early spring. Japan also suffers from dust storms originating in China. Although not as directly exposed as Koreans are, the Japanese complain about the dust and the brown rain that streaks their windshields and windows. A report by a U.S. embassy official in May 2001 after a visit to Xilingol Prefecture in Inner Mongolia (Nei Monggol) notes that although 97 percent of the region is officially classified as grasslands, a third of the terrain now appears to be desert. The report says the prefecture's livestock population climbed from 2 million as recently as 1977 to 18 million in A Chinese scientist doing grassland research in the prefecture says that if recent desertification trends continue, Xilingol will be uninhabitable in 15 years. In the deteriorating relationship between the global economy and the earth's ecosystem, China is on the leading edge. A human population of 1.3 billion and a livestock population of just over 400 million are weighing heavily on the land. Huge flocks of sheep and goats in the northwest are stripping the land of its protective vegetation, creating a dust bowl on a scale not seen before. Northwestern China is on the verge of a massive ecological meltdown. While overplowing is now being partly remedied by paying farmers to plant their grainland in trees, overgrazing continues largely unabated. China's cattle, sheep, and goat population tripled from 1950 to The United States, a country with comparable grazing capacity, has 97 million cattle. China has 106 million. But for sheep and goats, the figures are 8 million versus 298 million. Concentrated in the western and northern provinces, sheep and goats are destroying the land's protective vegetation. The wind then does the rest, removing the soil and converting productive rangeland into desert. (See data.) Beijing is trying to arrest the spread of deserts by encouraging pastoralists to reduce their flocks of sheep and goats by 40 percent, but in communities where wealth is measured not in income but in the number of livestock owned and where most families are living under the poverty line, such cuts are not easy. Some local governments are requiring stall-feeding of livestock with forage gathered by hand, hoping that this confinement measure will permit grasslands to recover. China is taking some of the right steps to halt the advancing desert, but it has a long way to go to reduce livestock numbers to a sustainable level. At this point, there is no plan in place or on the drawing board that will halt the advancing deserts.

Terraces for Rice Growing
19% of Chinas soil is now affected by soil erosion, and resulting in soil loss at 5 billion tons per year. Erosion is especially devastating at the middle stretch of the Yellow River, and increasingly on the Yangtze River, whose sediment discharge are filling up the river itself ( shortening Chinas navigable river channels by 50% and restricted the size of ships that can use them) as well as its reservoirs and lakes. Soil quality and fertility have also declined, partly because of long-term fertilizer use plus pesticide-related drastic declines in soil-renewing earthworms, thereby causing a 50% decrease in the area of cropland to be of high quality. Salinization has affected 9% of the land, mainly because of poorly designed irrigation systems in dry areas. Desertification, due to overgrazing and land reclamation for agriculture has affected more than ¼ of China, destroying about 15% of North China’s area remaining for agriculture and pastoralism within the last decade. The destruction of agricultural land poses a big problem for China’s food security

Arable land mainly in the east
Arable land where most development takes place

Severity of Human Induced Soil Degradation
The destruction of agricultural land poses a big problem for China’s food security

Consequences for China’s people
Socio-economic losses $72 mil per year is spend to control just one weed imported from Brazil for pig forage $250 mil in annual loss arising from factory closure due to shortage of water just in one city Sand storm damage app $540 mil/year Acid rain damage to crop and forest $730 mil/year $6 bil cost of green wall to protect Beijing $7 bil/year losses due to desertification $7 bil/year due to losses from other alien species $27 bil loss due to flood in 1998 $54 bil/year losses due to water and air pollution The losses from pollution and ecological damage ranged from 7% to 20% of GDP per year in the past two decades. Social conflicts: 18 conflict over forest resource management in southwestern china in Water wars on the Yellow River between upstream and downstream users, between people on opposite sides of the river and between backers of agricultural, industrial and ecological needs

Consequences for China’s people
Health cost 1996 to 2001 spending on public health incr. by 80% App 300,000 death/year due to air pollution Lead blood level in cities twice the level considered to be dangerous Natural disasters AD300 to 1949 dust storms once every 31 years. Since 1990 almost one every year – soil erosion Drought damage about 160,000 km2 of cropland every year – double the area in 1950s Increasing flood frequency

China in the global village
The shear size of China’s population, its landmass and economy guarantee that its environmental problems will spread to the rest of the world Beneficial and harmful imports China importing natural gas and oil– reduces environmental damage from the use of coal Countries transferring pollution-intensive industries to China – using technology often prohibited in the exporting country China paid to accept toxic trash from developed countries (increased from 1 mio to 11 mio t/p.a ) Exports causing damage at home Products go abroad but pollution stays at home

China in the global village
Invasive spices exported (chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, Asian long-horned beetle) Exports air pollution into the atmosphere Exports deforestation. China’s import of wood has increased 6 fold; mainly from Malaysia, Papa New Guinea and Brazil

Chinas problem – A global issue
China largest contributor of Sulfur oxides Chorofluorocarbons Ozone depleting substances and Carbon dioxides But China’s large population, economy and area also guarantee that its environmental problems will not remain a domestic issue but will spill over to the rest of the world, which is increasingly affected through sharing the same planet, oceans, and atmosphere with China. For instance, China is already the largest contributor of sulfur oxides, chorofluorocarbons, other ozone-depleting substances, and (soon) carbon dioxide to the atmosphere

Chinas problem – A global issue
Dust and aerial pollutants already impact neighboring countries Leading importer of tropical rainforest timber – a driving force behind tropical deforestation What will happen if China achieves 1st world standard of living with 1st world environmental impact per capita Its dust and aerial pollutants are transported eastwards in the atmosphere to neighboring countries And it is one of the two leading importers of tropical rainforest timber, making it a driving force behind tropical deforestation. Even more important will be the proportionate increase in total human impact on the world’s environments if China, succeeds in catching up to 1st world standard of living = 1st world per capita environmental impact

Are their any hope? Increasingly participating in international treaties Introducing better farming practices and some traditional environmentally friendly technologies Becoming less energy intensive WTO/Olympic caused China to pay more attention to air pollution Phased out leaded petrol in little more than a year (took Europe and N.A. decades) 1998 ban on logging and National Forest Conservation program Grain-to-Green program in 2000, by ,000 km2 of cropland will be converted. One of the biggest conservation programs in the world

Destruction or losses of natural resources: natural habitats
wild food sources biological diversity soil 2. Ceiling of natural resources: energy freshwater photosynthetic capacity 3. Harmful things that we produce or move around: toxic chemicals alien species atmospheric gases 4. Population issues: population is growing per-capita impact At an accelerating rate, we are destroying natural habitats of else converting them to human-made habitats, such as cities and villages, farmlands, industrial estates and golf courses. The natural habitat whose losses have provoked the most discussion are forests, wetland, coral reefs and the ocean bottom. More than half of the world’s original area of forest has already been converted to other uses, and at present conversion rates ¼ of the forests that remain will become converted within the next half century. Those losses of forests represent losses for us humans, timber, raw materials and because they provide us with so called ecosystem services such as protecting our watersheds, protecting soil against erosion, constituting essential steps in the water cycle that generates much of our rainfall, and providing habitat for most terrestrial plant and animal species. Deforestation was a major factor in collapses of societies in the past. Issues of concern to us are not only forest destruction and conversion, but also changes in the structure of wooded habitats that do remain; like changed fire regimes that put forests, chaparral woodlands, and savannahs at greater risk of infrequent but catastrophic fires. Even larger fraction of the world’s original wetlands than of its forests has already been destroyed, damaged or converted. Consequences for us arise from the wetlands’ importance in maintaining the quality of our water supplies and the existence of commercially important freshwater fisheries, while eve ocean fisheries depend on mangrove wetlands to provide habitat for the juvenile phase of many fish species. About 1/3 of the world’s coral reefs have already been severely damaged, by different fishing methods but also effects of sediment runoff and pollutant from adjacent lands cleared or converted to agriculture. 2. Wild food, especially fish and to a lesser extent shellfish, contribute a large fraction of the protein consumed by humans. If wild fish stocks were managed appropriately, the stock levels could be maintained, and they could be harvested perpetually. But the great majority of valuable fisheries already have collapsed or are in steep decline. Increasingly fish and shrimps are being grown by aquaculture, but the way it is practiced today is making the problem of declining wild fisheries worse rather than better, because the farmed fished are mostly feed wild caught fish and thereby usually consume more fish meat than they yield. Cultured fish regularly escapes spreading deceases and interbreeding. But the farmed fish genetically are breed for their rapid growth rather at the expense of poor survival in the wild. 3. A significant fraction of wild species, populations, and genetic diversity has already been lost, and at present rates a large fraction of what remains will be lost within the next half century. Some species, like edible animals, fruit trees and good timber are of obvious value to us. But biodiversity losses of small inedible species often provoke the response: Who Cares ??? Do you really care less for humans than for some lousy little fish or weed? This response misses the point that the entire natural world is made up of wild species providing us for for free with services that can be very expensive , and in many cases impossible for us to supply ourselves. Elimination of lots of lousy little species regularly causes big harmful consequences for humans, just as does randomly knocking out many of the lousy little rivets holding together an airplane. Examples like: the role of earthworms in regenerating soil and maintaining its texture, soil bacteria that fix the essential crop nutrient nitrogen – bees and other insects pollinators. 4. Soils of farmlands used for growing crops are being carried away by water and wind erosion at rates between 10 to40 times the rates of soil formation, and between 500 and times soil erosion rates on forested land. Because those soil erosion rates are so much higher than soil formation rates, that means a net loss of soil. Not only in China, Australia and in India as we have talked about but for instance, you can see places in IOWA, the state whose agriculture productivity is amongst the highest in US has been eroded in the last 150 years, where a churchyard from the 19th century now stands out like an island 10 feet above the surrounding farmland. Other types of soil damage caused by human agricultural practices include salinization, losses of soil fertility, soil acidification in some areas. Ceiling of natural resources. Energy The world’s major energy sources, especially for industrial societies, are fossil fuels; oil, natural gas, and coal. While there has been much discussion about how many big oil and gas fields remain to be discovered, and while coal reserves are believed to be large, the prevalent view is that known and likely reserves of readily accessible oil and natural gas will last for a few more decades. This view should not be misinterpreted to mean that all of the oil and natural gas within the earth will have been used up by then. Instead, further reserves will be deeper underground, dirtier, increasingly expensive to extract or process, or will involve higher environmental costs. Of course, fossil fuels are not our sole energy sources……. Freshwater Most of the world’s freshwater in river and lakes is already being utilized for irrigation, domestic and industrial water, and in situ uses such as boat transportation corridors, fisheries, and recreation. Rivers and lakes that are nor already utilized are mostly far from major population centers and likely users, such as northwerstern Australia, Siberia, and Iceland. Throughout the world, freshwater underground aquifers are being depleted at rates faster than they naturally replenished, so that they will eventually dwindle. Of course, freshwater can be made by desalinization of seawater, but that cost money and energy, as does pumping the resulting desalinizated waters inland for use. Sunlight is infinite It might first seem that the supply of sunlight is infinite, so one might reason that the earth’s capacity to grow crops and world plants is also infinite. Within the last 20 years, it has been appreciated that that is not the case, and that’s not only because plants grow poorly in the world’s Artic regions and desert unless one goes to the expense of supplying heat or water. More generally, the amount of solar energy fixed per acre by plant photosynthesis, hence plant growth per acre, depends on temperature and rainfall. At any given temperature and rainfall the plant growth that can be supported by the sunlight falling on an acre is limited by the geometry and biochemistry of plants, even if they take up the sunlight so efficiently that nothing is wasted. The first calculation of this photosynthetic ceiling, carried out in 1986, estimated that humans then already used or diverted or wasted about half of the Earth’s capacity. Given the rate of increase of human population, and especially of population impact since 1986, we are projected to be utilizing most of the world’s terrestrial photosynthetic capacity by the middle of this century. Harmful things that we produce and move around Toxic chemicals: The chemical industry and many other industries manufacture or release into the air, soil, oceans, lakes, and rivers many toxic chemicals, some of them “unnatural” and synthesized only by humans, other present naturally in tiny concentrations ( mercury) – but synthesized and released by humans in quantities much larger than natural ones. Insecticide, pesticides, herbicides we have known for a while have detrimental effects on birds and animals – but we have also come to realize the effects on ourselves: birth defects, mental retardation, temporary or permanent damage to our immune system, infertility death in the U.S. from air pollution alone are conservatively estimated at over per year ( without soil and water pollution) Alien species. Species that we transfer, intentionally or inadvertently, from a place where they are native to another place where they are not native. The aliens cause these big effects because native species with which they come in contact had no previous evolutionary experience of them and are unable to resist them (like human population newly exposed to smallpox or AIDS) Human activities produces gases that escapes into the atmosphere, where they either damage the protective ozone layer ( as do formerly widespread refrigerator coolants) or else act as greenhouse gases that absorb sunlight and thereby lead to global warming. Populations issues Everybody agrees that the world population is increasing, but that its annual percentage rate of increase is not as high as it was a decade ago. However it is still uncertain if the population will stabilize or whether population will continue to grow with the effect that will have on increased pressure on resources Per capita impact. What really count is not the number of people alone but the impact on the environment. Instead our number pose problems insofar as we consume resources and generate wastes. That per capita impact – the resources consumed, and the wastes put out, by each person – varies greatly around the world, being highest in the first world and lowest in the third world. On the average, each citizen of the US, western Europe, and Japan consumes 32 times more resources such as fossil fuels, and puts out 32 times more wastes, than do inhabitants of the 3rd world.

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