Proper and improper practices related to the use of natural resources

OBJECTIVE

Describe proper and improper practices related to the sustainable development and use of natural resources and their effects on the environment and population.

CONSERVATION

According to Your Dictionary, conservation is the act of trying to protect or preserve something, or the limiting of how much of a resource you use. Conservation is achieved through alternative technologies, recycling, and reduction in waste and spoilage.

Conservation is, therefore, a major effort to preserve and care for the lands and waters on which all life depends. Strategies such as land protection, habitat restoration, and climate adaptation are great, but the best available method we must use is to inform citizens of the need to conserve. Ecosystems and human communities are interdependent. Both the problems and the solutions of nature conservation are impacted by how people think about, relate to, use and govern natural resources and nature.

FOOD SECURITY

The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. Commonly, the concept of food security is defined as including both physical and economic access to food that meets people’s dietary needs as well as their food preferences.

Food security is built on three pillars:

■ Food availability: there is sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.

■ Food access: having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.

■ Food use: appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation.

Food security is a complex sustainable development issue linked to health through malnutrition, but also to sustainable economic development and environment.

Some improper practices related to the sustainable development (table).

Try this: What other proper and improper practices can you identify that relate to the use of resources in your country? SOME EFFECTS OF IMPROPER PRACTICES RELATED TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

POLLUTION

Pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate the natural surroundings, which brings about changes that affect our normal lifestyles unfavourably. With modernisation and development, pollution has reached its highest, giving rise to global warming and human illness. Pollution occurs in different forms: air, water, soil, radioactive, noise, heat/ thermal, and light.

TYPES AND CAUSES OF POLLUTION

Air pollution occurs due to the excessive burning of fuel, which is a necessity of our daily lives, for cooking, driving and other industrial activities. It releases a huge amount of chemical substances in the air; these pollute the air. When we breathe in polluted particles from the air, it may result in respiratory problems.

■ Water pollution: The industrial wastes dumped into the rivers and other water bodies cause pollution, leading to its contamination and death of aquatic species. The spraying of insecticides and pesticides on plants pollutes the groundwater system, and oil spills in the oceans have caused severe damage to water bodies. Water pollution not only harms the aquatic beings, but it also contaminates the entire food chain, severely affecting humans’ dependency on these food. Water-borne diseases like cholera and diarrhoea may also occur.

■ Soil /land pollution: This occurs due to the incorporation of unwanted chemicals in the soil owing to human activities. The use of insecticides and pesticides absorbs the nitrogen compounds from the soil, making it unfit for plants to derive nutrition. Also included is improper garbage disposal.

■ Noise pollution: Caused when noise, which is an unpleasant sound, affects our ears and leads to psychological problems, like stress, hypertension and hearing impairment. It is caused by such things as machines in industries and loud music.