Environment Sustainable Development test - 4

In order to address two major environmental concerns in India, viz., water and air pollution, the government set up the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 1974.

India is one of the ten most industrialised nations of the world.

The Brundtland Commission emphasises on protecting the future generation. This is in line with the argument of the environmentalists who emphasise that we have a moral obligation to hand over the planet earth in good order to the future generation; that is, the present generation should bequeath a better environment to the future generation. At least we should leave to the next generation a stock of ‘quality of life’ assets no less than what we have inherited.

In Delhi, the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as fuel in public transport system has significantly lowered air pollution and the air has become cleaner in the last few years.

With the help of photovoltaic cells,  solar energy can be converted into electricity. These cells use special kind of materials to capture solar energy and then convert the energy into electricity. This technology is extremely useful for remote areas and for places where supply of power through grid or power lines is either not possible or proves very costly. This technique is also totally free from pollution.

Mini-hydel Plants: In mountainous regions, streams can be found almost everywhere. A large percentage of such streams are perennial. Mini-hydel plants use the energy of such streams to move small turbines. The turbines generate electricity which can be used locally. Such power plants are more or less environment-friendly as they do not change the land use pattern in areas where they are located; they generate enough power to meet local demands. This means that they can also do away with the need for large scale transmission towers and cables and avoid transmission loss.

The concept of sustainable development was emphasised by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which defined it as: ‘Development that meets the need of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs’.

The term and definition of sustainable development were given by Brundtland commission which published it in 'our common Future'.Later on the report was published in 1987 by UNCED.

To achieve sustainable decvelopment the following  needs to be done :

1. Renewable resources should be extracted in sustainable manner.
2. Rate of extraction of non renewable resorces should not exceed the rate of creation of renewable substitutes.
3. Inefficiences arising from pollution should be corrected.
4. Technological progress should be input efficient.
5. Limiting the human population.

 Population explosion and with the advent of industrial revolution to meet the growing needs of the expanding population, things changed. The result was that the demand for resources for both production and consumption went beyond the rate of regeneration of the resources; the pressure on the absorptive capacity of the environment increased tremendously — this trend continues even today. Thus what has happened is a reversal of supply-demand relationship for environmental quality — we are now faced with increased demand for environmental resources and services but their supply is limited due to overuse it has led to environment degradation.