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Chapter 14Environmental Sustainability
The state of the environment
Environmental sustainabiloity is maintaining the facotres that allows the quality of the
environment to endure on a long term basis
Pollution is the introduction of a harmful substance into the envirionment
Biodiversity is the variety of plants and animals in a habitat
Huge pressures placed on environment include:
Increasing pollution
Greater consumption of g/s
Human activities that need environmental inputs
Environmental degradation
Land degradation is the deterioration in the quality of the land caused by incorrect
practices
Environmental degradation is erosion of the natural environment through depletion of
resources
Both caused by human activity
Developed countries are largerst contributors of environmental degradation
Environmental degredation causes the following environmental issues:
1. Loss of biodiversity – exploitation of natural resources have resulted in many
speicies having high extinction rates
2. Invasion of alien vegetation – overwhelms natural vegetation and use about 16%
of available rainfall
3. Shortage of available fresh water – SAs resources of frsh water are fully used
because of increasing population and development . SA have set up schemes for
water in the future
4. Generation of waste and pollution – SA main source of waste is mining
Stock pollutants is waste that cant be absorbed in soil , water and air
Fund pollutats are pollutats that can be absorbed by the environment
provided that their concentration isn’t too strong
Look back at positive and negative externalities and how they relate to this section
Conservation
Conservation is the use of something in order to keep it intact
It involves the official suprervision of natural areas in order to protect them through
wise management
SA is signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity – undertaken in national parks
Preservation
Is the process of maintaining something to protect it from harm
The state has to intervene to preserve specific natural assets
Measures to ensure sustainability
Greening the economy i.e. the green economy is a clean energy economy that unese
renewable energy and energy efficient technology and sets up recycling programs – it
encourages a cleaner production process that consumes less energy
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