Category: Conservation of Forest

PESTLE analysis is key for any business looking to enter a new market or even improving business in the market they are currently in. PESTLE is a strategic analysis tool to understand the rise or fall of the market and whether to advance or retreat in the current market. PESTLE is also known as PEST, both of these acronyms have four common features: political, economic, social and technological. PESTLE contains these four factors but also tacks on legal and environmental factors which are both extremely important considerations. The country I have chosen to do my PESTLE analysis on is Costa Rica. Costa Rica is located in Central America bordered by Nicaragua and Panama. Costa Rica has consistently been among the top ranked Latin-American countries in the human development index, ranking 62nd out of the entire world, further into the report we will break down each PESTLE factor individually and compare it with Costa Rica.

Political

The political area has a huge influence upon the regulation of a business and the spending power of consumers and other businesses. Costa Rica is a constitutional republic; it is the only Latin-American country to have been a democracy since 1950 or earlier. However, when looking at the government’s spending, we can see that in 2016 the revenue was CRC 4441.37 billion while total expenditure was CRC 6048.76 billion. With some simple math we can see that this puts the Costa Rican government net lending/ borrowing at negative CRC 1607.39 billion. These figures indicate that not enough financial resources were made available by the government to boost economic growth. The government emphasizes development of democracy and respect for human rights. Costa Rica currently does not have an army therefore they are free of military infringement. There are many laws that protect the rights of consumers and producers in Costa Rica, a few examples include laws that protect formation of contracts, copyrights, trademarks, encrypted program-carrying satellite signals, industrial designs, patents, geographical indication, trade regulations and tariffs. Many imports are taxed very highly, an example of this is vehicles. Older vehicles can be taxed up to 79% of the vehicles price, and on top of that it’s not the purchase price that gets taxed it is the value of the vehicle in Costa Rica which makes it even more expensive to bring a vehicle into Costa Rica. This tax on vehicles can greatly impact business expenditures that involve transportation of goods or rely heavily moving around the country. Minimum wage in Costa Rica ranges from 107,883 Costa Rican colons a month for domestic employees to 397,665 colons for university graduates, having a minimum wage that isn’t overly high is great for foreign investors due to the fact that it means cheap labor. Overall, security is a bit of concern in Costa Rica, while the vast majority of visitors do not become victims to crime all individuals are at potential risk to crime. While majority acts of crime are opportunist acts of theft, there is also theft of travel documents. Both of these should be a concern to investors in the country due to high chance of theft extra security measures must be made in order to keep one’s business safe, while theft of documents can cause complications while being in the country.

Economical

Economic factors affect the purchasing power of potential customers and the firm’s cost of capital. Costa Rica’s economy is expected to grow a CAGR of 3.96% from its 2015 level of CRC 25945.97 billion and reach CRC 34053.90 billion by 2022. However, Costa Rica’s unemployment rate was 8.244% of the total labor force which is marginally higher than Canada’s at 6.3 percent. While being marginally higher than Canada’s unemployment Costa Rica’s unemployment rate is expected to decrease at a CAGR of 2.70% in order to reach 7.634% by 2022. Costa Rica’s real GDP was around CRC 27069.12 billion in 2016 whereas the nominal GDP was CRC 31287.38 billion. This means that the GDP deflator was 115.583, Per capita GDP in USD 11834.84 where purchasing power USD 16435.83. The current total account balance for Costa Rica was expected to be negative 2 billion USD and is expected to further decline CAGR of 5.46% and reach USD 3.618 by 2022. The fact that the total account balance is decreasing indicates that Costa Rica is a borrower from the rest of the world. Currently Costa Ricans are shopping more often but spending less this could be due to more disposable income paired with a rising educated population. The number of consumers seems to be around 5 million which is a great market size. The current currency for Costa Rica is colons which is steadily rising and expected to continue to rise one USD currently equals 608 colons, even though the currency is rising it is still considered the most stable currency in all of Central America, however all one must take all these factors into consideration due to the fact that rising currency could mean rising costs in one industry but could also mean lower costs in another. Costa Rica also has a huge tourism industry which means many investment opportunities, a major way to invest is in real estate such as property, farms, hotels, bars etc. One of the main reasons for the popularity of real estate in Costa Rica is the extremely low property tax, which is only 0.25% of the registered value of the property. It is also possible to invest in the Costa Rican stock market, interest rates for the country hover around five percent. Costa Rica’s lack of mineral resources makes the country heavily reliant of imports. As we can see in their trade balance, they have recorded a trade deficit of 524.60 USD million in January of 2019. Balance of trade in Costa Rica averaged – 278.30 USD million from 1995 until 2019, reaching an all-time high of 139.60 USD million in April of 1999 and a record low of – 661.40 USD million in October of 2012. However, all of this being considered Costa Rica’s economic freedom score is 67.3 making the economy the 49th freest in the 2011 index.

Social

Social factors of society heavily influence consumers and spending habits which is why it is so important to understand them. To start things off we want to look at Costa Rica’s demographic, the current population in 2019 sits around 5 million which is up from the 4.58 million this means that Costa Rica currently ranks at the 120th most populous country in the world, this does not take into consideration the 2.2 million visitors the country receives per year from their huge tourism industry. The population of Costa Rica is around one percent every year which is right in line with other countries, and is expected to reach 5.28 million by 2022. Costa Rica has a population density of 84 people per square kilometer, the biggest and capital city is San Jose which has a population of 300,000 and has a higher than average population density. According to a 2011 census the composition of people were 66% White/Castizo, 14% Mestizo, 9% immigrants, 7% Mulatto, 2.5% Amerindian, 1% Black, 0.2% Asian and 0.9% other, the average Costa Rican in the central valley is 68% European, 29% Amerindian and 3% African. There is a small amount of the population that is indigenous the number is around 100,000 indigenous people that live in reserves, most of these reserves are located in the mountains. The most common European ancestry is Spanish which is why the culture is heavily influenced by the culture from Spain. Another very important factor is that about 15 percent of the population are Nicaraguans some of whom are in the country for seasonal work. Costa Rica is home to many refugees that have fled from nearby Latin American countries over the last forty years. As with population religion is also a huge part of the social factor in Costa Rica, approximately 76% of Costa Ricans identify as Catholic, although not all are practicing. The remaining 24% are Evangelical Christians (13.7%), Jehovah’s Witnesses (1.7%), Protestant (0.7%), other (4.8%), or have no religion (3.2%). Religion is heavily present in everyday life as many capital cities are named after saints and many major holidays revolve around Catholicism. Local Culture in Costa Rica is heavily influenced by many factors such as family and traditions, most families live under one household Grandparents, Parents, and kids; while traditions are important because most believe in a certain way of doing things such as maintaining one’s household. One thing that many might overlook is the importance of soccer in Costa Rican culture every town has a soccer field and Costa Ricans are fanatics about their favorite soccer team, this is important because it is a great way to build rapport with clients and consumers in order to engage in a strong relationship. Costa Rica also has made major progress in social systems and benefits but more efforts are necessary to reduce poverty and inequality. Education is a huge part of the culture in Costa Rica, since 1869 education has been free and compulsory for all its citizens. Since the country does not have an army, they can afford to put much more of the yearly budget into education. Over the last 3 decades the country has invested close to 30 percent of its budget into primary and secondary education for its citizens, the heavy focus on education has seemed to pay off since the literacy rate for residents 15 and older is 96 percent. Having a highly educated population is extremely important for those considering investing in a foreign country because it means much more access to skilled workers while potentially being cheaper than those in one’s home country. The main language spoken in Costa Rica is Spanish but most of the residence can speak English and the higher educated citizens are mostly fluent as the culture places heavy influences on being able to speak English, it is crucial to know the languages spoken in a country before business expenditures. Overall, Costa Rica is rich with culture however one must be well versed with it before any business expenditures.

Technology

There is little doubt that in today’s day and age technological factors are of the utmost importance to business. As we dive into the technological factors of Costa Rica, we can see that since the approval of the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2007 Costa Rica’s cell phone technology has improved from being (TDMA) the oldest possible cell phone technology to GSM and 3G, where GSM stands for Global System for Mobile. Within the Software Industry of Costa Rica there are over 100 software companies and of those 100 companies over 60% have expertise in exporting goods and services. The country has reduced the government’s office presence and increased the services through internet by investing in technological data and high optical communications. Costa Rica’s national plan of science and technology has 7 areas which include health sciences, alternative energies, biotechnologies, natural capital, new materials, digital technologies. One notable feat is that in 2015 Costa Rica became the first country ever to be powered by clean energy for the first 75 days this was achieved through geo-energy and thermal power. Despite large focuses on sustainable energy computer hardware also plays a big role in the technological center. Another notable innovation that was made in Costa Rica was in 2017 when Costa Rican scientists presented the first Central American satellite and although despite being heavily reliant on the agriculture sectors in the past Costa Rica is currently one of the fastest growing nations in the tech center. The research and development sector of Costa Rica was reported at 0.5769 % in 2014 of total GDP spending. Since education is such a big part of Costa Rican culture and of the GDP budget this means that there are more people skilled in technological areas which leads to more advancements and economic growth. After signing the Free Trade Agreement with the United States Costa Rica has improved its limited communication services by introducing new networks, the main telecom carriers in Costa Rica are Ice, Kolbi, Claro, and Movistar. After extensive research I can deduce that Costa Rica has improved exponentially in the technology sector, however it is not quite a key player globally.

Legal Factors

As with any other business, it is important to know and understand local laws and comply with them. The legal factors are closely linked to the political factors in most countries as it is usually the government that creates laws and enforces them. The legal system in Costa Rica compares positively compared to the rest of Central America while at the same time the levels of corruption are among the lowest in Central America. The country ranks 129th in contract enforcement which means it can take 582 days to undertake legal action and enforce it, when compared to the world’s best of 164 days; it doesn’t stack up that well. Costa Rica has discrimination laws that enforce the idea that under law every person is treated the same. The goal of consumer protection laws in Costa Rica is to protect free market transactions and promote free trading, this law does this by reducing or preventing monopolies that would otherwise make it unfair or impossible to enter a market. Another notable law that was introduced in 2013 was the antitrust law which is healthy for an economy such as the national one however when it was first introduced it took up much of the human resources. A strong spot of Costa Rica is many labor laws. These laws include wage laws, standard work weeks, vacation and legal holiday time, notice upon firing, and most interestingly all employees are entitled to a month worth of wages as a Christmas bonus. Costa Rica overall has many excellent legal programs, but lacks in contract enforcement and speed of legal actions and enforcements.

Environmental

Environmental analysis is a critical factor for the country of Costa Rica as much of its economy revolves around it, mainly tourism and protection of the vast environment found in Costa Rica. The environmental factors mainly affect tourism, and agriculture, in modern times it is more tourist focused but before much of the economy heavily relied on agriculture most famously coffee beans. Costa Rica has extremely high levels of biological diversity including 12000 species of plants, 1200 species of butterflies, 800 species of birds, 400 species of reptiles and amphibians and 200 species of mammals. The biological diversity can be attributed to the copious amounts of rainforests and national parks, Costa Rica has many different climates in different parts of the country which intern allows for such biological diversity. One important thing to consider is the 2 seasons in Costa Rica, typically the country has a rainy season and a dry season. The two seasons in Costa Rica are important to consider as the rainy season sees less tourism and the economy is largely based off of tourism so it is affected as such during the season. On average the hottest of the summer months are March and May while the coolest are December and January, nevertheless it depends heavily on the region. Weather isn’t the same all over Costa Rica, in fact Costa Rica has 12 climate zones which are mostly impacted by elevation and other geographical factors. Costa Rica’s microclimates are extremely diverse and can vary from a number of climates such as exotic volcanoes and high up cool cloud forests. In the 90s the government implemented plans to protect 18 percent of national parks and another 13 percent of privately owned preserves. An example of protecting a national park is to limit the amount of visitors at a given time. In the 1970’s and 1980’s high amounts of rainforests were burned and chopped down in order to make lots for cattle, however today deforestation rates have dropped considerably. In order to lower deforestation rates Costa Rica passed a ban on the destruction of mature forestry, this ban has seemed to work because studies show that agriculture has been able to thrive and Costa Rica is of the top-ranking countries in combating deforestation. During 2005 Costa Rica joined a special group called of tropical developing countries that proposed a rainforest conservation for emissions. An interesting point is that Costa Rica is one of the most progressive countries on earth in regards to climate change, not just climate change either but they are often praised for being among the best for handling environmental issues. Despite being able to tackle many environmental issues Costa Rica still has problems with fighting poachers and illicit hunting, an example of this is the infamous shark finning that corrodes Costa Rican waters. As a whole Costa Rica is great at tackling and overcoming environmental issues nonetheless there are always some areas that can be improved upon.

Conclusion

After looking over all six factors of PESTLE it is clear that the choice to invest into Costa Rica is not black and white as is the case with most things. Politically, Costa Rica is one of the most stable countries in Central America however it is not without its flaws as crime and theft are an issue. Costa Rica’s economy is currently on the rise and is expected to continue to rise. Overall, Costa Rica is an economically free country. Social and cultural factors play a huge part in Costa Rica. One must be well versed and it may be a lot to take in but once adept can be very rewarding. Costa Rica has multiplied their technology division but still lags behind in certain areas when compared to the rest of the world. When looking at legal factors in Costa Rica it is easy to see the shortcomings when looking at the fact that it can take up to 582 days to enact and enforce legal action. Costa Rica is doing great on environmental issues and is very concerned about environmental conservation, but it needs to improve its catch of poachers. Overall, Costa Rica is a solid country to invest in and many should consider it for their next business venture, but at the same time be wary of the country’s shortcomings.

References

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Imagine if we could produce crops that do not require any pesticides, grow quicker than normal, and are produced with vital nutrients not previously found in them. This isn’t fantasy, as we already do all of the above through GMOs. According to the World Health Organization, GMOs or genetically modified organisms, are defined as organisms, such as plants, in which the genetic material, or DNA, has been modified in a manner that would not occur in nature. This is generally done by either directly injecting the plant cells of the subject organism with the desired DNA traits from another plant or by exposing the plants cells to bacteria containing the desired genes. Though the results of GMOs have been scientifically proven to be incredibly beneficial for us, there are still a large amount of people with a negative attitude towards them. In this essay I hope to take an in-depth look at both of the arguments and come to a scientific conclusion with the evidence at hand.

A major concern that many individuals have relating to GMOs are that they are unhealthy or even dangerous for us to consume. They believe that GMO crops may cause cancer, birth defects, and a multiple of other serious diseases or conditions. However, numerous scientific studies and studies have proven otherwise. In 2016, according to Cornell University who analyzed dozens of scientific reports regarding GMOs, both for and against, while also considering the plausibility and claims made by anti-GMO activists. The Academy ultimately concluded that they ‘found no substantiated evidence that foods from GE crops were less safe than foods from non-GE crops.’ Furthermore, much of the scientific studies finding GMOs to be dangerous are full with inaccuracies and poor research. One such example is the 2012 report by the French scientist, Gilles Eric Seralini. In his article, Seralini claimed that his study found that rats fed with genetically modified corn ended up developing massive and debilitating cancer tumors. This report would be used by those against GMOs as proof that genetic modification of crops is dangerous. However, a rigorous peer review of the study by fellow scientists found that Seralini not only failed to adequately gather data, he also tested this experiment on a breed of rat that were highly susceptible to cancer. These findings would lead to the removal of Seralini’s paper, a major blow to the anti-GMO arguments. Though the safety of GM crops is unfairly questioned, the efficiency of the crops is criticized as well.

A second argument that anti-GMO activists frequently make is that the results of genetically modified crops are not significant or beneficial enough to justify using them. Once again, their arguments are incorrect and unfounded. A 2014 scientific report by a German professor, Vilhelm Klumper, found that the genetic advantages GMO crops possess over organic crops enabled farmers to increase their crop yields, the amount of crops produced per area, by 22% which led to a 68% increase in their profits. If these major economic results of GMOs fail to sway those of you who still remain skeptical, please consider the potential humanitarian effects of these crops. Many people across the globe, many of them children, die or are disabled every year as a result of vitamin A deficiency. During the 90’s, scientists modified rice to create a genetically modified version which contains a far greater amount of vitamin A than regular rice. According to Harvard university, a study found that a daily consumption of only a third of a cup of this ‘golden rice’, would be enough to stop a child from developing a vitamin A deficiency. This GMO could potentially help millions if it were introduced in impoverished countries, but the controversy of GMOs has prevented much of the rice from spreading to these regions. While anti-GMO activists have questioned the productiveness and benefits of GMOs, they have also incorrectly concluded that these crops will negatively affect nature.

Another major GMO concern is that genetically modified crops are harmful to the environment. Anti-GMO activists are worried that the insect-resistant properties many genetically modified crops possess are contributing to the current declining population of bees and butterflies that is occurring worldwide. However, as Purdue university notes, when genetically modifying crops, scientists are able to introduce genes to the plant which only kills specific pests when eaten, such as flies, while not harming beneficial insects like the before mentioned bees and butterflies. Additionally, as most are already pest resistant, GMOs are actually advantageous to the environment as they do not require the large amounts of pesticides that non-gm crops need, which frequently kill beneficial insects and other animals. GM crops are furthermore advantageous to the environment in numerous other ways. One example is due to the fact that GMOs produce a higher yield than non-genetically modified crops. This greater agricultural output will require less land for farms, protecting precious forestlands from conversion to farmland. As trees absorb carbon dioxide, this act of conservation on the part of GMOs will also help lessen the effects of climate change, which is aggravated by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

In conclusion, it is in my opinion that GMOs are harmless, productive, and are advantageous for the environment. Though I understand concerns regarding the unsavory business practices that Monsanto and other GMO companies are infamous for and I agree that GMO foods should be labeled, as we have a right to know what we eat, the concern of the science of genetic modification will be ultimately harmful to us. A 2017 pew research poll finds that while 57 percent of the public have a negative perception of GMOs, over 88 percent of scientists from the American Association for the Advancement of Science have a positive one. I know which group I’ll put my trust in.

Nesting and Habitat

The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the only Eagle that is confined to North America, and it builds one of the largest nests out of all birds on the continent. They fill out their nests with branches and sticks and line them with grasses, mosses, and other softer materials, which help them last for years (Guinn et al. 2004). These nests are called eyries and can be found near large bodies of water with an abundance of resources for feeding and nesting (Travsky et al. 2004). In general, they choose nesting sites that are further from human interaction and near bodies of water with open vegetation. However, a study shows that greater nest success occurs in dense forest areas farther away from water (Livingston et al. 1990). More research into nesting shows that Bald Eagles prefer softwood or forests that are softwood dominant when choosing a nesting site (Gerrard et al. 1975). While it is ideal to be farther away from human activity, evidence has shown that eagles near more developed areas have adapted to more urbanized areas. In Saalfeld et al. 2010, a study in Texas showed Bald Eagle nests were located in trees surrounded by shorter and smaller trees rather than taller ones. This was consistent with the predicted hypothesis from the study that eagles select nest trees with an unobstructed view and an easy flight path from the nest (Saalfeld et al. 2010). Eagles in the Vancouver area have adapted to human-altered landscapes; management strategies should focus on maintaining edge habitat, monitoring population expansion in urban areas, and protecting nest sites (Goulet et al. 2021).

Migration

Research into Bald Eagles’ migration has shown that eagles generally migrate south along the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Coast in the fall then travel north to breeding grounds in the spring (Mojica et al. 2011). Lithium et al 2007 further justified this migration path by researching Bald Eagle usage of these two flyways within their study showing these same two corridors are used by the eagles. In another study, it showed four-movement strategies used by Bald Eagles in southeastern Alaska and western Canada: birds breeding stayed year-round, non-breeding birds migrated to the south for winter, non-breeding birds that stayed for their feeding sites, and birds that were nomadic in the area (Wheat et al. 2017). When comparing this to the framework of other migratory patterns, some similarities arose. For example, Jenkins et al 1992 showed that Bald Eagles departed within a narrow time frame, traveled alone in the same direction, displayed a determination to stay on course, and did not rest or stop to consume food (Jenkins et al. 1992). Bald Eagles also migrate in order to find food sources that are abundant, such as salmon (McClelland et al. 1994). While migrating, eagles often momentarily stop at interior reservoirs and lakes, open ranchland, and the Pacific marine coast in order to rest or find food (Hunt et al. 2009).

Diet

The Bald Eagle is an opportunistic and generalist predator, and its diet mostly consists of prey in the area from which they reside (Buehler 2000, Thompson et al. 2005). Bald Eagles consume a large amount of prey and obtain it from hunting, scavenging, and stealing. Newsom et al. studied scat from eyries, which showed that diets contained on average 86.0% fish, 9.7% birds, and 3.7% mammals (Newsom et al. 2010). To expand this information Hanson et al 2017, look into the relative abundance of prey and further justified that Bald Eagles eat what is available to them in their environment (Hanson et al. 2017). To add further evidence, Harvey et al 2012 suggest that Bald Eagles use top-down control based on looking at the food webs of the ecosystem. In this study, the high consumption of Bald Eagles and their prey decreased the trophic effect of the eagle population throughout the rest of the food web. (Harvey et al. 2012). According to a study in California, Bald Eagles fed largely on waterfowl by scavenging ducks and geese as well as rodents that were in their environment (Frenzel et al. 1998). The birds specifically had migrated to the area and were abundant. Through these studies, it is shown Bald Eagles tend to eat a diet that consists mostly of fish and whatever prey is abundant in their area.

Reproduction

Research into Bald Eagle reproduction found that they can produce from zero to thirty offspring within their lifetime (Jenkins et al. 2006). This study further correlated that larger males with larger body mass produce more offspring throughout their life. In Mougeot et al. 2013, the density of the population was the cause for most of the variation in breeding performance. They concluded that milder springs are rarely in correlated with higher nesting success. When females arrive at sites with poorer conditions due to food shortages, breeding declines. Elliot et al. 2011 furthered this study by showing it can also be due to territory size and reduced food sources from the intraspecific competition (Elliot et al. 2011). While reproduction can be very high, there can also be a failure. In a study looking at Bald Eagles in Alaska, most nesting failures (92%) occurred during incubation when weather conditions were most severe (Steidi et al. 1997). Incubation is the most critical time and is the phase most determining if a nest will be successful or not. To further validate nesting failures during incubation, most active nests that failed in a study done in Alaska were abandoned during incubation (Gende et al. 1997).

Endangered

Bald Eagles were once on the endangered species list due to the chemical DDT and lead poisoning. In a study over the four flyways from 1997 to 2013, Trauma and poisonings throughout the flyways were the leading causes of death for Bald Eagles throughout the study period (Russell et al. 2014). Another study showed the ingestion of bullet fragments that resulted in lead poisoning. This was because of large game hunting and carcasses not being found and left for the eagles and other animals to prey on. This peaked in December due to elk and deer hunting: 91 % Of the Bald Eagles were admitted to the hospital with toxic lead levels (Stauber et al. 2010). January to April are the worst months for Bald Eagle lead poisoning due to the hunting season-ending. While there is not a ban on using these led bullets, there are education efforts being used to try and persuade hunters to use solid copper deer slugs as opposed to lead (Neumann et al. 2009). DDT was another big issue that was causing the Bald Eagle to go on the brink of extinction. DDT is a pesticide that thinned the eagles’ eggshells, causing them to break during incubation (American Forests et al. 2014). This was causing a major decline in the entire population of eagles everywhere. The pesticide was polluting most of North America. In California, between 1947 and 1961 an estimated 37 to 53 million liters of DDT-contaminated acid sludge, containing 348–696 metric tons of DDT, was disposed of at an ocean dump site 16 km northwest of Santa Catalina Island (Sharp et al. 2005). Issues such as this caused a drastic decrease in Bald Eagles (Sharp et al. 2005). As a result of actions like these, in 1963, fewer than 500 pairs of Bald Eagles remained. Most birds were drastically affected by DDT and a nationwide ban of the pesticide went into effect on June 14, 1972 (Amsterdam News et al. 1997). After the banning, The Fish and Wildlife Service established five recovery plans with different goals for each of the different geographic regions. Over the course of 20 years, the number of breeding pairs in the wild increased from 100s to more than 5,000. (Wood et al. 1993). Augustin 8, 2007, the USFWS removed the bald eagle from the endangered species list (Martin et al. 2008). While Bald Eagles are off of the endangered list, there are still conservation efforts being put into place to assure they do not go endangered again.

In developing countries, national parks have become the subject of international conservation policies (Mombeshora and Le Bel, 2009). A national park is a region set aside by a national government to protect the natural resources for recreation and enjoyment purposes or its historical or scientific significance (Britannica, 2019). In these parks, the habitats and their associated plants and animals are maintained in their natural condition; however, it is essential to acknowledge that national parks worldwide will differ significantly in their effectiveness in protecting the natural environment. This difference occurs, considering that in certain instances, governments can provide their parks with enough financial support to strictly enforce regulations while others may not have enough capital available.

The expansion of the national park network has allowed biodiversity and habitat protection, but the acquisition of large areas into the park system has also been accomplished by the displacement of local residents and entire communities. This displacement contributes to these communities being subjected to various threats, such as impoverishment (Mombeshora and Le Bel, 2009), which negatively impacts their livelihoods and creates hostility towards national parks. This paper highlights the concept and history of national parks, the relationship between indigenous communities and nature, how the parks impact local communities’ livelihoods, and compensation strategies that can be implemented to minimize the effects national parks have on these communities.

In over ninety countries, there are nearly four hundred and seventy-six million indigenous people worldwide; however, they make up more than six percent of the world’s population and fifteen percent of the extremely poor (The World Bank, 2020b), indicating that a large majority of the global population relies on the natural environment to survive and sustain their livelihood. Indigenous people worldwide face several challenges regarding their land and traditional integrity, considering that most people acknowledge the detrimental impacts of extraction, logging, and construction, among other development programs and processes. However, we tend to neglect or ignore the negative impacts indigenous communities face due to national parks’ development to ensure the natural environment’s conservation.

Indigenous people own, inhabit, or use a quarter of the earth’s land area; they safeguard eighty percent of the remaining biodiversity (The World Bank, 2020b). However, despite the importance of indigenous people and their contributions to safeguarding biodiversity being acknowledged, governments and states chose to build and develop national parks and protected areas, which often involve the removal of indigenous communities, depriving them of their traditions, customs, and their only source of survival that is the natural resources in the area they inhabit. Most of the land inhabited by indigenous peoples is customarily owned, but only a fraction of the land is recognized by certain governments as officially or lawfully belonging to indigenous people (The World Bank, 2020a), which is a main reason for the development of national parks without the involvement of the indigenous communities who inhabit the areas where the national park is to be developed, ultimately impacting the livelihoods of several individuals and communities across the globe.

Concept and History of National Parks

National parks and conservation are recent concepts; however, separating nature from regular human use has been a long-established cultural practice in human societies worldwide. For example, sacred groves were of spiritual and social significance for African cultures and served ecological roles such as plant and wildlife protection (Jacobs, 2008). In India from the fourth and third centuries BC, forests were set aside for elephant conservation as they were seen as a tool to be utilized in warfare (Redford, 2003). In communities around the world, the ancient game reserves of the Middle East and the feudal game parks or royal forests of the European tradition have a long tradition of the enclosure of nature for individual or social delight (Allsen, 2006); however, this is only two examples out of several. These enclosures were always conducted by the highest authority of the political body concerned, and there were undeniable continuities, such as between the classification of ‘Crown property’ in medieval and early modern Britain and the creation within the British Empire of game reserves and national parks (Neumaan, 1996). These previous examples of the separation of nature and man indicate that in March 1872, when the United States Congress formally “set aside a certain tract of land near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River as a public park” (Curtin, 1998), it was merely an innovative spin on an ancient notion.

Since the late nineteenth century, the most critical nature protection instrument has been national parks and similar types of protected areas (Gissibl et al., 2009). The principle of entrusting nature to a park and granting it the status of national heritage has been transferred to a wide and varied variety of political, social, and ecological settings since the U.S created the label of a ‘national park’ to protect Yellowstone’s natural wonders in 1872 (Gissibl et al., 2009). The national park concept is a distinctive commitment to world conservation by the U.S citizens (National Research Council, 1992). In creating parks or similar reserves to conserve places of environmental, historical, or cultural significance, more than a hundred nations have followed the lead of this region (National Research Council, 1992), indicating the majority of these nations have studied the U.S. method as a guide for national park management.

Since the setting up of the world’s first national park, subsequent protected areas adopted the conventional approach in Yellowstone in 1872, where several protected areas were produced and operated by an exclusive top-down method whereby local people had little to no role in creating and maintaining protected areas (Pretty and Smith, 2004). The western concept of national parks, according to Colchester (2004), included violating the rights of indigenous peoples, evicting them from their homelands, and provoking long-term civil tensions, which became the core idea and blueprint for worldwide conservation policy. Therefore, one can conclude that it is because of this western view of national parks and conservation policy that nations began to evict and exclude indigenous communities not only from decisions regarding the development of the park but from the park itself, ultimately impacting the livelihoods of these communities whether within or surrounding the area covered by the park. The example that the establishment of Yellowstone has set for the world has led to negative attitudes towards environmental policies thereby weakening conservation priorities by tensions between park administrators and local populations

These conflicts are prevalent in developing countries where two-thirds of protected areas are based (Zimmerer, 2006) and where many locals depend on forest services for their livelihoods and have been able to harvest various forest products free of charge in areas that were later declared as national parks or reserves (Pote et al.,2006). However, indigenous people are located across the globe and not only in developing countries.

Impacts of National Parks on Local Communities

According to the World Bank (2016), aboriginal people are distinctive social and cultural communities that share mutual ancestral relations with the territories and natural resources where they live or from the area they have been displaced. Their origins, traditions, livelihoods, and physical and spiritual well-being are inextricably connected to the land and natural resources on which they rely. They also adhere to representation from their traditional leaders and organizations separate from those in conventional society or culture (The World Bank, 2016a). Indigenous people and communities believe that human beings and the environment are closely linked to each other as equal and interdependent.

For example, New Zealand’s Maori people believe in preserving and maintaining the environment to honor their ancestors and ensure the future (United Nations, 2017). Their beliefs and belief systems also indicate that they have a great reverence for nature. Most indigenous people believe that the natural world is sacred, find themselves to be one part of the natural world, and the environment the other, which for future generations, must be preserved and protected. Therefore, in some cases, they consider themselves the natural environment protectors that provide them with life necessities. One may say these people are against development, but they are against development that harms the environment instead they support eco-friendly development. Therefore, one can conclude that these individuals and communities want to live in harmony with nature and not exploit it for personal gain, indicating that these individuals are not against conservation or national parks but rather the unfair treatments they encounter due to being displaced from their homes, excluded from decision making and in some instances the park itself.

Indigenous cultures have preserved biodiversity on Earth for thousands of years, but their rights are gradually undermined, and numerous challenges face them when national parks are developed (Global Forest Coalition, 2018). One of the reasons for indigenous people being mistreated is because they are seen as individuals of a lower class-leading people to believe that they are helpless and easy to take advantage of. The land-based cultures of indigenous people make them stand out from most of the population resulting in these individuals being regarded as the minority (Amhed, 2018). Moreover, identity politics’ intensification has contributed to cultural intolerance, fundamentalism, and systemic abuse of minority rights (Amhed, 2018). Some indigenous cultural identity rejections took on violent manifestations in many African countries (Barume, 2017 cited in Amhed, 2018). Cultural packaging of violence is marked by violent (specifically gendered) human rights abuses and significant ecological destruction (Amhed, 2018). When indigenous people are seen as the minority, they become prone to exploitation and discrimination by those who feel they hold a superior position in societies such as park owners and managers. Thus, these individuals are likely to face eviction from their native territories, deprivation of the right to share their religion, violent assaults, and abuse. Indigenous groups are often oppressed and face injustice in countries’ justice structures, leaving them far more vulnerable to harassment and abuse.

Since the 19th century, the Sengwer indigenous people have lived in Kenya’s Embobut Hills. Under the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) is forcefully expelling the Sengwer from the forest; as the authorities suspect the Sengwer of destroying the habitat, but the government has no evidence. They burn the Sengwer’s houses and use abuse and threats against members of the group. However, indigenous people treat their lands as sacred grounds indicating that they do not promote the environment’s destruction. Instead, they preserve the environment as it provides them with necessities; thus, they understand and acknowledge the environment’s importance. Therefore, this can indicate the Sengwer people are being subjected to unfair treatment by authorities, possibly to use the area for resource extraction. When authorities succeed in removing indigenous people from their lands, they no longer have a way to sustain their lives and their families’ lives, and they become homeless, forcing these people to move to another area, which can be resource-poor. Removing these individuals from their land also impact their health as they get their medication from plants and herbs around them; they may also feel detached as they often share a physical and spiritual connection with their lands. When communities are deprived of their assets, evicted from their homelands, and denied access to sacred or cultural sites, cultural values crumble, causing them to lose vital cultural practices that preserved their well-being and make them who they are.

Compensation

Human populations such as indigenous communities that have co-existed with plant and animal communities within an ecosystem are not considered an essential element of biodiversity to be preserved during the creation and maintenance of national parks (O’Riordan and Stoll-Kleemann, 2002), indicating these communities are not treated fairly, exposing them to forced removals and impoverishment. In reaction to anthropogenic stresses on national parks, decisions to help neighboring park populations’ livelihoods frequently come as an afterthought. The relation between local livelihoods and biodiversity conservation is intrinsic and should ideally be managed together, considering the national park’s effect on local livelihoods.

In our current age there are many troubling problems facing our national parks. From poaching and pollution to smog and climate change, our national parks are in an everlasting battle to stay up to the standards they have upheld for decades. The most damaging problem that is facing national parks today may actually be invasive species. Invasive species are unwelcome animals that damage the ecosystem of the park they inhabit. There are hundreds of different invasive species and they all impact parks negatively. Some damage to the park includes: exotic invasive plants covering approximately 1.4 million acres of lands and waters, a reported almost 1,500 populations of invasive animals and the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database identified 361 aquatic invasive species in 129 parks. I would like to go in depth about some examples of different species that are prominent in the U.S. and see how they got there, what they do, and how can we combat them.

Both plants and animals can be classified as invasive species, and both can cause detrimental harm to the ecosystem they reside in. one incredibly devastating invasive animal is the zebra mussel. The zebra mussel is a small freshwater mussel. This species was originally native to the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine. However, the zebra mussel has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas, and has become an invasive species in many countries worldwide. They feed almost entirely on algae and are about the size of a fingernail. They live underwater, attached to whatever is seemingly close to them as it can range from the underside of boats, other mussels, organic and inorganic materials such as wood, pipes and docks. They are easily identified by their D-shaped shells and unique stripped shaped patterns that encompass the entire mollusks body. Once they have become identified it is paramount that they are dealt with as soon as possible. They can gather in large clumps and enact a problem known as biofouling.

Biofouling is defined as the fouling of pipes and underwater surfaces, such as rocks, by organisms such as barnacles and algae. This isn’t typically a problem for boats if the trip is short distance or the boat is large in stature, but boats, docks or intake pipes that are left in the water for a long period of time can become encrusted and be very difficult to clean. They can also cause engine problems to occur if they become stuck in the machinery. Biofouling is also a large problem within the ecosystems it takes place in as well. Zebra mussels can become attached to native mussels much like they do docks, and in large groups they can prevent the mussels from moving, feeding, reproducing, or regulating water properly. Also due to the zebra mussels’ fast reproduction cycles, many times they can out reproduce the native species and gain an advantage on food and resources that are necessary for native species mussel to thrive. This causes zebra mussels to gain a stranglehold on many water systems they begin to inhabit. They feed at a very high rate as well, and can clear a body of water of particles that many fish and other mollusks in the area feed off of. This obviously has a very harmful effect on the native life and causes many of the food chains that were in place to become very unbalanced.

Large quantities have run rampant in bodies of water in many national parks, specifically parks in the mid-east of the U.S. The finger lakes especially have an incredibly large population of zebra mussels that are negatively affecting the population of native species of mussels, of which there are over 300 species of. This is why it is very important that parks and organizations that oversee the wellness of bodies of water that have a chance of zebra mussels coming to live there know how to deal with this issue. Once a population of zebra mussels has become established in a water body, there is very little to be done to remove them. That is why prevention is really the only way to stop it from them from becoming a part of the ecosystem. Zebra mussels are dependent on a current to spread their populations. This means that they can only move downstream in a river, and need a ride if they are to move further upstream. They mostly move and spread through boats rides because the larva of the zebra mussel is too small for the eye to see. This is a reason why they move to new locations and spread so suddenly. To prevent this, boaters must take care to drain their boats, motors and live wells before leaving a lake or river, wash their boat and trailer thoroughly. This is far and away the best way to deal with zebra mussels, stop them before they ever have a chance to begin to populate the location which they are moved to. Much of this information about zebra mussel prevention has come from the National Park Service at the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. Since 1992, the National Park Service at the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway has led the efforts designed to slow the spread of zebra mussels, their efforts have helped make ship captains more diligent about cleaning and rinsing out any parts of the boat that may possibly be contaminated with zebra mussel larvae.

Now that I have detailed the possible ecosystem altering effects that can be created from an unwanted animal being unknowingly transported to a location that they should not exist in. I will give an example of an invasive species of plant that is ravaging wildlife all over the United States.

This specific plant is known as the kudzu plant. Kudzu is a plant native to Japan and southeast China. Introduced to North America in the 19th century, and has been nicknamed the ‘vine that ate the South’. It has been spreading rapidly in the southern U.S., especially in the likes of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida. It is not the only Invasive species to come out of Japan as the Japanese beetles are an invasive species in North America. They are native to the islands of Japan, where their population is naturally controlled by predators such as wasps. These wasps do not exist in North America, and Japanese beetles have become a major pest to farmers. The kudzu plant is possibly much more detrimental to the environment than the Japanese beetle, as the beetle population is small in comparison to the amount of foliage that the kudzu plant can extend with in such a short amount of time.

Kudzu was introduced to the Southeast in 1883 at the New Orleans Exposition. The vine was widely marketed in the Southeast as an ornamental plant to be used to shade porches. At that time, it was actually believed that kudzu had important and useful traits that could help ecosystems. It was believed to be cheap cattle fodder and have the ability to control erosion which had spiked around the time of the dust bowl. By 1946, it was estimated that 3,000,000 acres of kudzu had been planted on farms covering the southeast of the United States. When bad farming conditions and rodent infestations caused a failure of growth to occur on many cotton farms, farmers began to abandon their farms. The climate and environment of the Southeastern United States allowed the kudzu to grow unchecked. In 1953 kudzu was removed from a list of suggested cover plants and listed it as a weed in 1970. By 1997, the vine was placed on the Federal Noxious Weed List Established in 1974 the program was created to control the spread of noxious weeds. The United States Secretary of Agriculture was given the authority to declare plants ‘noxious weeds’, and limit the interstate spread of such plants without a permit. Today, kudzu is estimated to cover 7,400,000 acres of land in the southeastern United States. It has also been recorded in parts of Canada, specifically Nova Scotia, Columbus, Ohio, and New York.

In its native regions the kudzu plant has many uses that can be beneficial, such as: food for livestock, in fertilizer, and to control erosion by covering it. It has also been used as the subject for many Japanese folk artists, as the vines have been said to have photogenic qualities. In Korea, kudzu root is harvested for its starch, which is used in various foods, while in China, kudzu root is used in herbal teas and some medicinal treatments. Although these treatments have come under some scrutiny over whether they actually work, it is very apparent that the kudzu plant is very useful in its native climates and ecosystem.

This is not the case in the United States where kudzu kills or damages other plants by smothering them under a blanket of leaves, overcoming tree trunks, breaking branches, or even uprooting entire trees kudzu’s ability to grow quickly, survive in areas of low nitrogen availability, and acquire resources quickly allows it to out-compete native species. In a kind of ironic turn of events, some of the only plants that can grow at the same pace to compete with the kudzu plant are other invasive plants, such as the Chinese Privet and the Japanese Honeysuckle. Kudzu and other invasive weeds pose a significant threat to the biodiversity in the southeast. Kudzu is a very stress-tolerant plant and only the above ground portions of the plant are damaged by frost. Once established in a habitat, kudzu is able to grow very quickly. Kudzu can grow up to 60 feet per season, and it can weigh in at 180 kg. In addition to its abilities to obtain nutrients and spread quickly, kudzu leaves act in a parasitic type fashion. Meaning that instead of supporting itself, it grows on top of other plants and buildings to reach light. Its ability to reproduce and spread quickly allows it to quickly cover shrubs, trees, and forests, where it blocks the sun’s rays from the plants below it, decreasing or completely eliminating their chances of obtaining the necessary sunlight to enact photosynthesis. The economic effects are also pretty drastic as the U.S. government loses one hundred to five hundred million dollars in possible forest productivity. Kudzu management is of great concern in the management of national parks in the southeast such as Vicksburg National Military Park, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In Vicksburg, kudzu has overtaken 190 of the 2,000 total acres of the park and threatens to diminish the history within the park.

Luckily, unlike in the case of the zebra mussel, the kudzu plant has a couple of ways be to controlled and managed. One means of kudzu removal practiced in the southeastern United States involves mowing the vine or cutting it back. This is incredibly time consuming and has a lot of upkeep as you have to remember to continuously cut back the ground level weeds at least every month during the kudzu plants growing season. Also, when using this method of kudzu control, all of the plant material must be removed permanently to prevent the vines from taking root and re-growing.

A different and less time-consuming option for the control of kudzu is treatment with herbicides. The most effective are picloram and tebuthiuron. However, chemical treatments are expensive, and killing off the plant completely requires large amounts of herbicides to be effective. Another form of removal other than herbicides is soil solarization. Soil solarization is a non-chemical environmentally friendly method for controlling pests using solar power to increase the soil temperature to levels at which many soil-borne plant pathogens will be killed or greatly weakened. This way to control the plant will kill the root of the plant, and it will be done without the use of harmful pesticides that can damage other plants and wildlife that inhabit the area around the kudzu plant. Another way to control kudzu is goats and sheep. A small herd can reduce an acre of kudzu every day. It has even been suggested that humans should eat kudzu as a way to help lessen the problem themselves. Which is frankly a ridiculous proposition that would definitely not work in practice. Some other efforts to control kudzu infestations have included the following methods: cutting, grazing, digging, disking, prescribed burning and application of herbicides. Roots of mature plants grow too deeply to be affected by freezing. Burning will kill only the very young plants.

These are only two examples of invasive species that harmfully affect national parks all over the world. And in each of the parks there are hundreds of invasive animal species and thousands of invasive plant species. In Yellow Stone National Park alone it is said: “In addition to about 1,386 native plant species, 225 nonnative species have been documented in the park through ongoing survey efforts. Not all of these nonnative species are still present in the park, but most of them are. A total of 120 acres (green circles) of invasive plants were treated in 2015” (National Park Service). It feels as if the national parks are fighting a losing battle as thousands of different invasive species cost different parks milliSns of dollars to deal with them every year. This is the reality that many national parks have to face, they have to fight a battle against overwhelming odds with very little possibilities to combat their foes. This is why the people who visit these parks have to do every little thing they can to prevent invasive from running rampant in the park that they would want to enjoy.

People visiting national parks may all be able to do a small part in combating invasive species that can ruin ecosystems so many people enjoy. One thing that people can do is clean their hiking and fishing gear. While hiking a trail or trying to fish at a stream you could be unknowingly collecting invasive species from your boots and waders as you hike and fish. It is extremely necessary that you spray and wipe your boots and waders down after each time used, especially if you are traveling with them, so that you don’t bring an invasive species anywhere further into the park Another thing that people could do to help is not move firewood. Firewood is often made out of dead or dying trees, which are often host to animals like the emerald ash borer, a highly damaging invasive species. Instead buy firewood and do not move the wood once you have it. Little things like this can really add up if everyone gets onboard with the conservation efforts. In reality however the most important thing you can do if you are exploring a national park is If you see an invasive species, report it. It is incredibly easy to do there are two main ways to carry it out. One is to report an invasive species by phone, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey maintain an ANS hotline. The second is an online form that must be filled out with details about how you found the species, where you found it, and what possible species it actually is.

Many people have little to no idea about the terror that invasive species cause. There are literally thousands of different species that run rampant all over the globe ruining natural beauty which has been ever present for hundreds of years. I didn’t even realize how harmful some of these species could be until I conducted research on the topic itself. Although I didn’t cover all of the possible invasive species that unfortunately inhabit our great national parks, the zebra mussel and the kudzu plant should easily illustrate the need for proper control and prevention methods to be carried out by the organizations that run national parks and maybe even more importantly, by the people that are strolling through along a trail admiring the beauty of a historic and breathtaking park.

Works Cited

1. “10 Ways You Can Prevent the Spread of Invasive Species”. Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, 28 Feb. 2018, www.allianceforthebay.org/2018/02/10-ways-you-can-prevent-the-spread-of-invasive-species/
2. Earth Rangers. “Ten of the World’s Most Invasive Species: Earth Rangers Wild Wire Blog”. Earth Rangers, 3 Oct. 2018, www.earthrangers.com/wildwire/top-10/ten-of-the-worlds-most-invasive-species/
3. Ericson, Jenny, et al. “U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service”. FAQs – Invasive Species – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov/invasives/faq.html
4. “Invasive Species, National Parks, and You (U.S. National Park Service)”. National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/articles/invasive-species.htm
5. “Journey with Nature: Kudzu”. The Nature Conservancy, www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/indiana/stories-in-indiana/kudzu-invasive-species/

“Zebra Mussels”. Lake Scientist, www.lakescientist.com/zebra-mussels/

Environmental awareness

Environmental awareness means being aware of the natural environment and making choices that benefit the earth, rather than hurt it. Some of the ways to practice environmental awareness include: using safe and non-toxic building supplies, conserving energy and water, recycling, activism, and others.

Environmental awareness is to understand the fragility of our environment and the importance of its protection. Promoting environmental awareness is an easy way to become an environmental steward and participate in creating a brighter future for our children.

I feel that environmental awareness makes us realize the pressing need to take immediate action to stop harming the environment and start restoring the damage we have done to it. Unless there is awareness, there is no action or at least no proper action. And this action must start from the individual level and spread through the people and organizations we know.

Once we have a thorough understanding of the environmental issues such as deforestation, environmental pollution, water crisis, global warming, and climate change, loss of biodiversity, etc. Every one of our actions will come out of a place of concern for our surroundings, out of love for mother nature, out of the willingness to contribute towards sustainable development and make a positive change in the world.

Integration of information technology and environmental awareness. Over the past few decades, technologies have made a few great contributions to environmental protection. Renewable technologies have reduced the demand for fossil fuel; computer technologies have enabled paperless offices into a reality and thus decreasing the number of trees used to produce paper. Therefore, I have come to believe that technologies will serve a major role in protecting the environment, both in the present and future. IT plays a vital role in the field of environment education and the dissemination of information.

Environmental technology (envirotech), green technology (Greentech), or clean technology (cleantech) is the application of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring, and electronic devices to monitor, model, and conserve the natural environment and resources, and to curb the negative impacts of human involvement. The term is also used to describe sustainable energy generation technologies such as photovoltaics, wind turbines, bioreactors, etc. Sustainable development is the core of environmental technologies.

Media and environmental awareness

As far as the environmental issues are concerned, media either as a risk communicator or as a promoter of data, information, and good practices of any kind, should smooth the progress of people to become more environmentally responsible and cultivate environmental awareness. Additionally, media could help people associate reasons and effects, thus to get informed and to reflect upon the given information, in order to understand the origins and the causes of the major environmental problems. Mass Media plays an important role in creating environmental awareness among people.

All the aforementioned could be accomplished by the use of digital media, and especially the Internet. Firstly, the blending of text and multimedia contributes to the presentation and decoding of complicated situations and events, and secondly, the proper choice of internet-based approach could be low cost and “green”. The power of pictures and videos to illustrate captivates or shock, is undoubted, linked to understanding. Via the Internet, people have instant, cost-free, and unlimited access to a great number of environmental documentaries or professional and amateur videos regarding nature and its protection via apposite websites, like www.youtube.com or similar. Blogs, Wikis, Forums and educational portals: such websites, on the one hand, give access to a vast amount of information regarding the planets and their protection, without any consumption of paper and ink, and on the other hand, provide a virtual space of communication and exchanging of information and ideas, without the burden of traveling. Virtual environments and e-museums: which represent an attractive alternative for the enhancement of environmental awareness, as the user has the opportunity to navigate and sometimes interact with the presented environment.

Types of media for environmental awareness

• Radio happens to be the cheapest and easily accessible. The signals and frequencies of radio are covering almost the whole country. Thus it can be used as a significant medium of creating environmental awareness. The latest drive of radio channel FM 93.5 “MOUNT GHAZIPUR” has created awareness among Delhites regarding the hazards of culminating waste on our environment. The weekly half-hour radio magazine Living Planet tells environment stories from around the world, digging deeper into topics that touch our lives every day;
• Television is another very good mode to communicate environmental issues among the society. Certain television channels like Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, animal planet Channel broadcast exclusively on endangered species, wild and sea life. Doordarshan Channel is being telecasted all over India and has regular programs on Environment. “Earth Matters” focuses on one special environmental problem. It offers information on the sources, explains the consequences of the problem considered and gives suggestions for the solution by changing individual behavior;
• Print media is a powerful ally in educating the public on environmental matters. Newspapers, journals, magazines, etc. play a key role in providing relevant information with required facts and pictures to the community. Articles and analyses explore the environmental awareness in the common man about environmental problems. Sometimes separate column is there for environmental issues;
• Social Media. Today’s young generation makes ample of use of social media and internet platforms. They have emerged altogether as a new form of media. Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp are connecting today’s generation. Certain global environmental issues can be discussed on these platforms continuously. Government agencies and industries are also utilising social media a s a preferred tool of communication with the mass. Green on Facebook: One Page for Eco Resources, Adopt a Tiger Through the World Wildlife Fund, etc are some facebook pages on environment.

Role of media for environmental awareness

• Provides geographical knowledge – Newspapers, radio, television, and even the internet are providing a comprehensive understanding of geographical knowledge to people.What is happening in the world today, which place has been ignored and the relevant representations made through different forms of media produces deep effects on the people;
• Identification of forces affecting nature – Currently, human beings are building an artificial man made environment by over utilising the natural resources in the name of economic and social development. Media can report and educate people about certain forces and activities that adversely affect our environment;
• Conservation of natural resources -Our primary target is not only controlling the wastage of various sources of energy like oil, gas, coal, etc. the main focus should be on certain relative aspects which serve as a means of environmental protection;
• Dissemination of environmental information – Electronic media and print media are a major medium of spreading information about environment among the population. Media educate people about various environmental concerns and ways to address them;
• Vocational information -Media also helps in providing vocational and professional information to a larger group of the community. Recent programs on guidance about conversion of waste and garbage into compost by households to save environment is an illuminating illustration;
• Spreading awareness and civic responsibility -Media create awareness among people and enlighten them about different problems of society. Media educates people about their roles in changing society through certain events and programs. Helps to know how people can contribute towards environmental protection and sustainability and build healthy environment.

By developing of Machiavelli’s political theory and ideas based on the government in a philosophic way that influenced the important names such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, and Immanuel Kant, Thomas Hobbes, being among the founders of modern political philosophy, emphasized the importance of the social contract and the state of human nature in his well-known work called Leviathan in the 17th century. Thomas Hobbes is considered as a substantial English philosopher since not only his reputation still goes on, but also his ideas are on the carpet. This philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, lived between 1588 – 1679, draws attention to his viewpoint on the social contract among human beings, ethics, and ideal government so as to prevent any kind of bad acts that come from human beings. According to aspects of Hobbes’s ideas on his works, nature and psychology underlie all social and individual actions in this world. The difference indicates that human beings alternate between dread and addiction. In this sense, dread can be understood as a more dominant feeling in the human nature. This feeling of dread is the main reason for the establishment of the state because a human being is a weak creature and this situation has caused the existence of the conflict environment in the state of nature.

What Thomas Hobbes refers to with the figure Leviathan, the mythological namesake of the philosopher’s best-known work, is not an implication of a regime, it is the sovereign itself. The main idea of Thomas Hobbes’s opinion about human nature is the selfishness and the greed of humans. Hobbes claimed that humans are inherently selfish and greedy so that they act like they have the right to do whatever they want, especially kinds of bad acts. We can take a few to get back some composure on what Hobbes referenced in Leviathan with regards to people, it is guaranteed that individuals are normally self seekers who search for their advantages and the condition of nature which every single person are against to each other. At this point, this selfishness of people led Hobbes to think a kind of theory assumed as a pessimistic theory, which is about not trusting in human beings and furthermore create the monarchy with strict rules and less freedom. By creating this social contract among people and giving the power to only one person that is Leviathan providing the peaceful atmosphere for people and making the laws, Hobbes found the way to prevent any kind of threat from people who could attack each other in this world.

With the period he lived, Thomas Hobbes posed the inquiries to himself that no one asked before maybe, he began to attempt to discover the appropriate responses about the republic with the motivation of Machiavelli’s the Prince book. By considering the period Thomas Hobbes lived, seventeenth century, these questions’ answers ‘’What is the meaning of the republic?’’, ‘’What is the purpose of the republic?’’, ‘’What makes the republic?’’, ‘’Where does the republic take its power from?’’, ‘’What is the importance of the republic?’’ or ‘’ What is the motivation behind the republic?’’ can be found in Leviathan. In any case, before addressing these inquiries, Hobbes set out the data about people in the initial segment of the Leviathan book since the republic is something that was made up by people in prior occasions. Here comes the condition of nature now, in light of the fact that before attempting to comprehend what Hobbes portrayed as a perfect government and what he implied with utilizing legendary figure Leviathan, he made the condition of nature reasonable in the initial segment of the book. The initial three parts of Leviathan concern the mechanics of the human psyche, covering the subjects of sense, creative mind, and the line of reasoning. Hobbes contends that our insight into the world starts from ‘outside bodies’ squeezing against our tangible device. Imagining the universe as a plenum established exclusively of issue, Hobbes delineates protests persistently knocking against one another and depicts the section of movement starting with one material body then onto the next. This basic movement of the universe in the long run moves to the outside of the human body, where nerves and films of the eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and skin are truly moved, thus transferring their gained movements on to the mind. Sense, at that point, is the activity of outer bodies slamming into our touchy organs. The underlying three pieces of Leviathan concern the mechanics of the human mind, covering the subjects of sense, imaginative brain, and the line of thinking. Hobbes battles that our knowledge into the world beginnings from ‘outside bodies’ pressing against our unmistakable gadget. Envisioning the universe as a plenum built up solely of issue, Hobbes outlines fights each other and delineates the area of development beginning with one material body then onto the following. This essential development of the universe over the long haul moves to the outside of the human body, where nerves and movies of the eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and skin are genuinely moved, consequently moving their picked up developments on to the brain. ‘Sense,’ by then, is the action of external bodies hammering into our delicate organs.

Next to drawing the image of perfect popular government, let us currently see Thomas Hobbes’s hypothesis of Leviathan. As indicated by Hobbes, the condition of nature is not quiet yet rather it is wild brimming with brutality. Hobbes accepts that the condition of nature is only a condition of warre during which all people battled against every single other individual lastly finished this riotous life by making an implicit agreement. The main issue of Thomas Hobbes’s hypothesis is human instinct and particularly the self-centeredness and the greed of individuals. He even cases ‘For it is a willful demonstration: and of the intentional demonstrations of each man, the article is some acceptable to himself’ (Leviathan). This comprehension of the tremendous childishness of people guides Hobbes to an extremely dim hypothesis, which does not trust in individuals and in this manner makes a system of outright government with exacting, serious guidelines and little space for opportunities. Hobbes believes that people are normally some way or another equivalent and there is not a lot of distinction between their psychological and physical capacities (Leviathan). In this way, in a stateless stage people have the intention to contend with others in an unfriendly sense; what is more, they live with the dread of being slaughtered or loosing what they have. Hobbes calls this dread timidity and clarifies it as the absence of certainty individuals have in the condition of war because of their unavoidably risky lives. Hobbes finishes up his hypothesis by the acknowledgment that levelheaded vain person individuals will benefit more in a sorted out state, and subsequently, to make an implicit agreement among them and give their capacity to a sole individual who might resemble a human God called Leviathan, who might give harmony and request in the public arena by making laws getting from laws of nature and by rebuffing blameworthy individuals harshly. In Hobbes’s view, Leviathan ought to be the sole position and should provide extreme disciplines so as to forestall self seeker individuals to act inside the constraints of laws. Likewise, Hobbes accepts that ‘the sovereign force cannot be relinquished’ (Leviathan). Also, ‘no man without foul play challenge the Institution of the Sovereign announced by the significant part’ (Leviathan). Furthermore, Hobbes attests that ‘the Sovereign’s activities can’t be legitimately blamed by the Subject’ (Leviathan). Another unusual point in Hobbes’ hypothesis is that he guarantees that whatever sovereign does, his activities cannot be deserving of the subject. These are largely proves indicating that Hobbes could never safeguard a just state like I referenced and he needs a flat out monarchic system where there would be no individual flexibilities. Hobbes does not trust in people, he thinks people are narrow minded and force chasing. In this way, most definitely he would dismiss any sort of common society associations since they will likewise follow their own advantages and break the harmony in the state. Consequently, Hobbes gives the entire decision capacity to a human God called Leviathan who might settle on all issues and rule the state with an iron hand.

Hobbes’s point in his second part of Leviathan book is like that of Machiavelli’s the Prince. Both are similarly worried for achieving request out of disorderly thoughtful war like circumstance in England and discretionary guideline of the Papal State in Italy separately. Hobbes is putting forth a hard and fast attempt to make a structure and premise of logical establishment for the need of a sovereign force through his supposed logical realism. That is the reason he examines finally human instinct, mind and requirement for sociological request in the public eye. Hobbes puts the Sovereign at the summit of every single other angle and exercises of life. There must be outright savagery in catching, supporting and improving political force by the ruler for Machiavelli. Indeed, even the scarcest indication of take off from this demonstration must be squashed for acceptable. Anyway for conservation of political force, Machiavelli admonishes his sovereign or lord or ruler alongwith educating murder and all sort with respect to brutalities. What Hobbes works in his Leviathan? For him, there is obviously a condition of nature where man or people are miserable, dreadful, brutish and narrow minded living nearly in a condition of war of each person against every person. These creatures choose to go into an implicit agreement and rest their regular laws and rights by ethicalness of normal explanation into a Sovereign individual with the end goal of security of life and request in the public eye through a leviathan Sovereign. Henceforth, Hobbes is theoretically contemplating human instinct, brain research, requirement for society, sociological establishments and the mission for a political request and political framework in his own remarkable manner or the geometrical strategy. Hobbes as such weaves his trap of logical realism prompting close to finish accommodation of each person to a Sovereign obviously with certain passing impediments on the sovereign force. For whatever length of time that the Sovereign can ensure the life of his subjects, he stays a Sovereign. Something else, verifiably, the condition of nature will rise once more. While looking at the idea of political intensity of Machiavelli and Hobbes, it develops obviously that Hobbes is somewhat lesser of a pragmatist than Machiavelli while Machiavelli isn’t as a lot of a dreamer as Hobbes is in spite of being an ancestor of the idea of political force.

Hobbes contends that the sovereign ought to have boundless rights, with no difference or disintegration. He says that however the sovereign comes to control, his privileges are the equivalent: ‘His capacity can’t, without his assent, be moved to another; he can’t relinquish it; he can’t be blamed by any for his subjects of injury; he can’t be rebuffed by them; he is judge of what is fundamental for harmony, and judge of tenets,’ and so forth

There is no adjudicator above him or capacity to rebuff him thus he is exempt from the laws that apply to everyone else. He says that in light of the fact that the sovereign demonstrations instead of his subjects, his activities are in fact theirs, and that in light of the fact that no individual can harm himself the sovereign can in this manner do no damage to his subjects. Hobbes says that in light of the fact that the sovereign’s objectives are harmony and guard for his kin, ‘whosever has right to the end has right to the methods’.

He at that point excuses contradiction and disintegration, saying that dissidents, having submitted to the agreement, must ‘assent with the rest,’ and that the subjects all in all ‘can’t without [the Sovereign’s] leave push off government and come back to the disarray of a divided large number.

To the individuals who might contend that subjects are commonly troubled under ground-breaking rulers, Hobbes reacts that men will never be totally glad and that a common war would make an amazing measure of hopelessness. Basically, Hobbes accepts that once the district is framed, the agreement is authoritative.

Hobbes additionally addresses which system type the sovereign should take, concluding that a ruler is prevalent in light of the fact that it most legitimately thinks power without limitations. He records three sorts of federations, each characterized by the distinction of the sovereign, yet concludes that a government is far unrivaled.

Gentries, in which a piece of the populace rules, and vote based systems, in which a delegate gathering oversees, are more vulnerable than a government, as per Hobbes, since they are less ready to create harmony and security.

Rulers, he says, are subject just to the irregularity of one individual’s human instinct, while congregations have irregularities of number too.

Gathering individuals can differ with each other, and start a common war, Locke says, and the advantages of preference of a ruler are not many while the top picks of congregations are many. Because of these apparent advantages, Hobbes accepts that the agreement made region should appear as a government.

While Hobbes gives point by point contentions to a large portion of these thoughts, a portion of his contentions are defective. The principal issue is that his hypothetical clarification of the arrangement of government doesn’t take into account functional application. Hobbes asserts that all legislatures are made through a contract, however it is sure that administrations are regularly forced on reluctant subjects.

Hobbes appears to legitimize this by attesting that all men acting soundly would need to agree to the district, on the grounds that the other option (the condition of nature) is so unappealing, yet with no methods for men to really decide to give their assent, this is mysterious, best case scenario.

Obviously, regardless of whether a sovereign was picked by the individuals, his successors would not come to control under similar conditions, and the subjects’ relatives would not have been given a decision. Hobbes expresses that there is no distinction between the privileges of a sovereign who comes to influence forcibly and a sovereign who is chosen for influence through political methods; he even reacts to potential pundits who ‘hold every such contract as continue from dread of death or viciousness void,’ saying that ‘in the event that it were valid, no man in any sort of ward could be obliged to submission’.

Given the requests Hobbes makes of residents since they have (evidently) intentionally assented to the contract, it appears to be unimaginably unreasonable that most subjects are not really ready to pick whether they would need to assent.

The second analysis of Hobbes’ contentions is that he depends intensely upon a big-hearted sovereign who can set aside his own advantages to work to help his residents.

Truth be told, one of the most articulate evaluates of Hobbes’ contention for boundless monarchical force originates from the writer himself, when he states, ‘Whosoever beareth the individual of the individuals… beareth likewise his own common individual.’

What’s more, however he is cautious in his politic individual to secure the regular intrigue, yet he is increasingly mindful so as to get the private great of himself, his family, related and companions, and generally if the open intrigue opportunity to cross the private, he lean towards the private; for the interests of men are normally more intense than their explanation’.

Hobbes’ counter contention is that under a government, the private and open premium are the equivalent, in light of the fact that a ruler’s wealth, influence and respect originate from that of his subjects, yet as a rule this just isn’t accurate.

History has reliably indicated that supreme force debases completely, that when heads are permitted to act anyway they wish they more frequently than take what they need to the detriment of the state and their residents. Hobbes’ dependence on a ruler who might some way or another have the option to disregard his own wants to benefit the nation causes his political system to appear to be substantially less commonsense.

The last issue with Hobbes’ contentions is that they contain opposing articulations, explicitly in regards to the capacity to make pledges with a large number of individuals. At the point when he composes of the agreement wherein the district is shaped, Hobbes expresses, ‘it is a genuine solidarity of all . . . made by contract of each man with each man, in such way as though every man should state to each man I approve and surrender my privilege of overseeing myself to this man . . . ‘. Hobbes says that each man has made a contract with each other man in the district.

However later, when Hobbes examines the privileges of the sovereign, he says that the Sovereign made no agreement with his subjects on the grounds that there are such a large number of them for him to have made a pledge with. He says, ‘with the entire, as one gathering, it is outlandish, on the grounds that up ’til now they are not one individual”

A long way from a specialized qualification, this thought is utilized to legitimize a sovereign’s unchallenged capacity to go about however he sees fit the powerlessness of his subjects to revolt; Hobbes says that on the grounds that the sovereign didn’t make an agreement with the individuals, ‘there can happen no penetrate of contract with respect to the sovereign, and thus none of his subjects, by any misrepresentation of relinquishment, can be liberated from his subjection’. These logical inconsistencies dishonor Hobbes’ contentions and lead to flawed ends.

Working off of his thoughts of human instinct and the state and laws of nature, Hobbes hypothesizes that administrations are shaped through contracts of the residents, who decide to surrender their privileges to one pioneer or gathering of pioneers who expect their position and settles on choices for their sake. Since people are so factious and the condition of nature is so heinous, Hobbes feels that a ground-breaking ruler can best maintain law and control in the public eye.

Introduction

Urbanization can be defined as drift of population from rural and agricultural land to urban and non-agricultural sectors (Gollin et al 2002; Michaels et al 2012). The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2018), has reported that world’s urban population has accelerated from 751 million in 1950 to 4.2 billion in 2018 and will reach to 6.4 billion in 2050. Desire to achieve better housing and health-care facilities, sanitation, education, better employment opportunities, socio-economic benefits and modern technology based lifestyle drag the bulk of population to urban sector. As the every change has both positive and negative impacts, perhaps urbanization has promoted the economic and financial status, but due to over and rapid urbanization, socio-economic issues like development of slums, bad sanitation and drainage has resulted into many communicable diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, influenza, plague, dengue. Also, rapid deforestation to obtain land for development of colonies and infrastructure is resulting in air and land pollution, results in loss of habitat (Czech et al, 2000) and extinction of native species (Vale and Vale, 1976., Luniak, 1994). The sedentary lifestyle of cities has invited many health issues like hypersensitivity, asthma, depression, mania, cardiac arrest etc. many devastating diseases. In the upcoming paragraphs there are some measures for the healthy and sustainable urbanization.

Measures for Healthy Urbanisation

Extinction and elimination of native biodiversity is also one of the threatening impact of urbanization (Vale and Vale 1976, Stein et al 2000). To revegetate the native plants and to protect the ecosystem, there is need to restore natural remnant habitats during colonization and development. As mentioned by Wasowski and Wasowski (2000), in their book- The Landscaping Revolution- by retaining pre-development vegetation during housing development preserve and sustain the native flora and fauna of the area. In long-term mass construction and development, retaining pre-development vegetation is much cheaper (Dorney et al 1986) and is adopted by many house owners also (Wasowski and Wasowski 2000). This is one of the way to protect the endangered species of the area. Cognizant public to promote the ecosystem conservation, is also one of the application of urban ecology to promote sustainability in habitat (Kendle and Forbes 1997). Around 80% of population of America lives in urban area, who are conscious about their native biodiversity (Clergeau et al. 2001). Revegetation of lost habitat can be recovered by replacement habitats, like managed vegetation, ruderal vegetation and natural remnant vegetation in which maintenance of green spaces at residential and commercial area is accounted (Whitney 1985).

To promote resource and space management and sustainability in urban and rural sector, Bi-dimensional matrix model for sustainable urbanisation is one of the approach, which aims at resource allocation and transformation in all sectors of community. This model has divided human settlement into urban and rural area by horizontal plane (X-axis), and development into sustainable and unsustainable sector by vertical plane (Y-axis), resulting into 4 quadrants, Quadrant I, II, III,IV, as shown in figure below. “A Sustainable city” addressed by Quadrant I, is the common goal for both developed and developing countries (Padisson, 2001), followed by Quadrant II, depicting the sustainable rural form as goal (Altieri and Masera, 19993). Quadrant III is characterized by the unsustainable rural form (Marsden et al., 2010) and the unsustainable city reflecting demographic explosion is characteristic of Quadrant IV (Breese, 1969). Transformation process in Quadrant I and II, has raised the economic status by continuous flow of resources. Industrialisation in rural areas has enhance the economic status by contributing in micro and small scale business. This model explains the transformation of one quadrant to other in various aspects, land and traffic congestion, resource allocation and utilization, water and energy system, recycling process etc. Proper sharing of services and resources at both rural and urban sector can promote urban sustainability.

For healthy urbanization, alongwith the proper allocation of land and its resources, management of wastes, and generation of renewable energy source is must to combat with the energy load on exhaustible sources like, mines, fossil fuels etc. (Bong et al, 2017). Kathirvale et al, (2003), in their review has mentioned that with solid waste management (SWM), the production rate is expected to rise upto 9 Mt/year in 2020 from 0.5-0.8 kg/person-day. In the constitution amendments in Malaysia in 2000, Renewable energy has declared the fifth major source of energy, followed by hydro energy, coal, oil, gas. Biogas, solar, and waste from municipalities is the major source of renewable energy. In Malaysia, effluent from palm oil mill, livestock waste, and corporation waste is the major source of biogas production (Mekhilef et al, 2014). Mahlia et al (2011), has reviewed that from biogas the estimated electricity production to be 100MW by 2015, and reserve of around 410 MW by 2030 and by 2020 it would be360-400 MW. Malaysia’s government use to make and implement various plans and policies for the generation of renewable energy resources and solid waste management, some of which are, Waste minimization master plan (MWM) (2006), National solid waste management policy (2006), which was focused on 3R’s (recycle, reduce, reuse) and segregation of solid waste (Pang, Chau, Oh, 2010).

Conclusion

Urbanization and industrialization is inevitable. So need is to adopt the steps to promote the sustainable and healthy urbanization. Preservation of biodiversity by protection of ecosystem, transformation of services and resources from rural to urban sector and vice-versa to promote equality and development, and recycling of wastes and generation of energy from waste can promote the healthy planetary integrity. Regulation of policies made by government is required to maintain the sustainability in ecosystem.

References

1. Jedwab, R., Christiaensen, L., Gindelsky, M. (2017). Demography, urbanization and development: Rural push, urban pull and…urban push? Journal of Urban Economics, 98, 6-16. Retrieved from https://doi-org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/10.1016/j.jue.2015.09.002
2. Gollin, D., Jedwab, R., Vollrath, D. (2016). Urbanization with and without industrialization. Journal of Economic Growth, 21(1), 35-70. doi: 10.1007/s10887-d5-9121-4.
3. Michaels, G., Rauch, F., Redding, S.J. (2012). Urbanization and Structural Transformation. The Quarterly Journal Of Economics, 127(2), 540-560.
4. McKinney, M.L. (2002). Urbanization, biodiversity, and conservation. BioScience, 52(10), 883. Retrieved from http://ucpressjournals.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/journal.asp?j=bio
5. Zhang, X (2015). Sustainable Urbanization: a bi-dimensional matrix model. Journal of Cleaner Production, 134, Part-A, 425-433. Retrieved from https://doi-org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.036
6. 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, 16 May 2018. United Nations: Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html
7. Bong, C.P.C., Hashim, H., Shuin, L., Siong Ho, C., Lee, C.T. (2017). Review on the renewable energy and solid waste management policies towards biogas development in Malaysia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, pages 988-998. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.12.004
8. Jong, M., Joss, S., Schraven, D., Zhan, C., Weijnen, M. (2015). Sustainable-smart-resilient-low carbon-eco-knowledge cities; making sense of a multitude of concepts promoting sustainable urbanization. Journal of Cleaner Production, 109, pages 25-38. Retrieved from https://doi-org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.02.004

Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century, world population increased exponentially in accordance to immigration, technological advances that improved quality of life as well as elongated lifespans, and exponential growth in food production productivity. These factors have created persistent population growth even as mortality and fertility rates decrease. In the United States alone, through demographic transition, there has been ascending growth as family size decreases. However, surging problems have aroused in accordance to sustainability in relationship to quality of life. Human behavior, reproduction, the population’s continuous growth rate, and immigration are key influencers of population change around the world and specifically in the United States. The effects of perpetual population growth yield immense strain onto agriculture/food production. Sustainability or extinction can become either one of the possible outcomes for persistent population growth in relation to food production within the United States. In order to be possible, major population adjustments, changes in human behavior, innovations in technology, as well as policy alterations will need to be introduced to provide enough supply to meet the United States’ developing population needs. Can U.S. food production keep up with U.S. population growth?

As the population of the world, the whole number of humans on Earth, has continually increased, growth rates have both declined and increased over the course of the United States’ history. Fertility rates, defined as the number of births that occur to an individual/population, examine one aspect of growth and trend of populations. Another factor that illustrates the change of population is the population growth rate, known as the percent of growth in a population; along with crude birth rate which shows the amount of births per thousand people in a year. Opposingly, the crude death rate depicts the amount of deaths per thousand people in a given year. With these rates in mind, construction of United States’ population is possible to be known statically and accounted for. The current population of the United States today is around 329 million. While still being a low producing, continually growing population, the population growth rate has been estimated at: “0.62 percent this is the lowest registered population growth rate in the past 80 years. While the nation’s growth rate has varied through wars, economic upheavals, baby booms, and baby busts, the current rate reflects a further dip in a trend toward a lower level of growth.” (Frey, 2018). Factors within the time span from 1950 to the early 2000s have shaped new generations and ideals of family size. Not only has the spread of accessible contraception and free education decreased family size, it has also affected the when people are beginning to have children. Fertility is determined by social, environmental, and demographic factors. The current U.S fertility rates is below replacement level fertility; on average a woman will currently have 1.73 kids in her lifetime. At replacement level, specifically within the United States, a woman will have 2.08 children in order for the population to reproduce itself. However, as of today women have been putting off starting families as a result of an increase in women in professional work as well as a rise in accessible contraceptives. “Based on Data from Center of Disease Control showed that America’s 3,853,472 births in 2017 has been the lowest since 1987. Furthermore, illustrating how the United States is now further away from a viable replacement.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Yet, even with the United States’ population growth rate under replacement level fertility, the population is still projected to reach around 78 million people before 2060. Another factor of continually increasing growth, population momentum, accounts for the increasing level of population as a population that is growing will continue to grow for several generations after reaching replacement level fertility. Living in a time of a post-industrialist society, innovations have been met that have contributed to the older population of the United States. Growth has been increasing due to the falling mortality rates and the decreasing fertility rates as the age structure of the population begins to house greater numbers of older ages rather than younger ages. Even as growth begins to slow, it remains to be expanding at unprecedented rates.

Within the U.S. alone, the agriculture produced is extremely diverse and readily available. Over the past one year, the United States has grown from shipping $139.5 billion in agricultural products to $141 billion (Bureau of Global Public Affairs, 2018). Due to the diversified high-quality products of American farmers, exports have become increasingly sought after. The top five U.S. agricultural exports are soybeans, corn, tree nuts, beef, and cotton. The U.S. food supply’s quality and variety represents the efficiency and diversity of the whole agricultural sector. Consumption patterns of Americans has created contributing factors to how food is expended as well as wasted. “In 2010, the U.S. food supply provided 4,000 calories per person per day. Accounting for waste, the average American consumed 2,476 calories per day in 2010.” (University of Michigan SES, 2017). Based on the calculated depictions by the University of Michigan, around 38 percent of calories are wasted due to transportation limits or even simply due to unused food. “An estimated 21 percent of the edible food is wasted at the consumer level, 50 percent more than in 1970. This waste accounts for roughly 15 percent of the municipal solid waste stream and represents a loss of $450 per person each year.” (University of Michigan SES, 2017). With the trends of waste in mind, American consumer’s waste greatly affects production levels as well as energy use in order to produce this food that will eventually be wasted. Within the current U.S. food system constructed, the food supply chain is a conglomerate as the basic framework of transporting farm to table food has many variables and depends on independent stages of processing and shipping. A combination of decreasing food production in conjunction with increasing food waste has impacted the sustainability of the food system. In order to keep up with the development of population and produce more food with changes in demographics and environment, the United States will have to adopt progressively effective and maintainable generation techniques and adjust to environmental change.

As it has been shown, the population in relationship to its exponential increase regardless of slowing growth rate, greatly affects the proportion in which crops are grown as well as harms production possibilities. “By 2050 the world demand for food is expected to increase by 60 percent.” (Maxwell, 2019). Population growth creates the issue of more Americans to feed in greater rates, meaning a greater production of agriculture, that will in-turn create the increased requirement for the utilization of arable lands. Specifically, within the United States, the population will double to almost more than 500 million people within the century. “Humans are producing more food than ever, but land degradation is already harming agricultural productivity on 23 percent of the planet’s land area. The decline of wild bees and other insects that help pollinate fruits and vegetables is putting up to $577 billion in annual crop production at risk.” (Plumer, 2019). As time has passed, humans have become more egotistical as well as self-serving without regards to what their impacts have specifically on the environment and in what sense how incredulous populations strain resources. The American population has allowed capitalistic perspectives of market goods translate into their lives. “Human behavior is often affected by culture. Because North American culture is largely materialistic and anthropocentric, attempts to demonstrate the value of biodiversity have centered on direct or indirect benefits to humans.” (Gehrt, 1996 p.10). America’s culture, while it contributes to a large consumer economy, negatively contributes to production and utilization of resources as the lax attitude towards environmental resources plagues conservation efforts. Another impact of American population can be seen: “conversion of natural areas to agricultural use is the leading cause of forest loss globally. Moreover, human vacillation between complacency and concern in response to perceived resource availability can threaten the viability of long-term conservation and keep the human-environment system perpetually in the vicinity of a dangerous tipping point” (Bauch, Anan, Singer, & Levin, 2016). With increases in population size, less availability of arable lands for food production will be able to be used, creating a disequilibrium to the amount of people the United States agriculture will be able to support. Current growth rates predict an unsustainable course for the resource provisions set. More people within the United States equates to more space taken up for habitation rather than production, limiting the amount of agricultural production and sufficient lands that could be utilized for things that could aid in provision rather than above average sized homes. While almost the entire world population could fit within the state of Texas, Americans favor dispersed housing and consumerism-based societies that persuade the ideas of large houses for small family sizes.

In accordance to America’s population growth and its harms to production, the environmental factors are causes for concern of unsuitability to support future society. The small portion of rural society within the United States has been consistently influenced by global warming and changes in climate. Anticipated changes in climate and weather patterns have evolved American agricultural production, yet the ability to produce/keep-up with negative impacts by humans on the environment has proved difficult. “On-going soil erosion and expanding urbanization contribute to the continuous loss of cropland in the United States. Annually more than two million acres of prime cropland are lost to erosion, salinization, and waterlogging” (Pimentel, 1994). The demands of urbanized and capitalistic societies are creating a shortage of farmland. Not only do erosion and land degradation affect the production of food, but climate change increasingly threatens efficiency/productivity as well. In 2050, the average global temperature is predicted to rise up five degrees yielding decreases in productivity of agricultural and meat production. (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2017). Another influencer of environmental unsustainability in relationship to human’s capitalistic nature is technology. Technology allows a certain level of leniency in regard to how American’s view the environment and the effects they have upon it. “Humanity’s technological capacity to exploit nature now exceeds nature’s regenerative capacity. Humans tend to use up available resources, a trait that is constantly enhanced by evolving technology” (Rees, 2010). Due to innovations in technology, indifference and negligence towards the well-being of the environment has increased because of American’s disregard. Water sources also play a larger role in association to carrying capacity consequences. “7 percent of the world’s population live in areas where water is scarce and is predicted to rise 67 percent by 2050” (Wallace, 2000). A combination of factors contributes to the deterioration of value of the environment. Along with movement of population to non-rural areas, there have become significant demands for increase infrastructure to house. “Urban-based and international demands for agricultural products are recognized as drivers of deforestation. The strong trend in movement of people to cities in the tropics is associated with greater pressures for clearing tropical forests” (Defries, Rudel, Uriarte, & Hansen, 2010). This increase in rural to urban movement associates human’s ecological footprint to forest-loss and the destruction of natural lands that could be used for alleviating the pressures of producing enough food per person.

Estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United States food production levels will need to increase around 70 percent in order to meet the capacity of a growing population. The likely effects of climate change and global warming are meant to reduce food production productivity/efficiency. Effects of American’s activity and (in correlation with how many there are and the nation’s economic activity) has had progressively negative impacts on the environment. “Today, humans are relying on significantly fewer varieties of plants and animals to produce food. Of the 6,190 domesticated mammal breeds used in agriculture, more than 559 have gone extinct and 1,000 more are threatened. The food system is becoming less resilient against pests and diseases” (Plumer, 2019). However, in order to produce sufficient levels of food for the growing United States population, changes in human behavior, innovations and technology, and policy adjustments will have to be enacted. “To meet the expected food needs on a sustainable basis: increased investment in research and development for sustained productivity growth, and infrastructure institutional reforms” (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2018). Innovation has the potential for expanding the advantages that we get from nature. Assets can be utilized all the more productively; contamination can be diminished and controlled; exhausted fish stocks or farmlands can be restored. Based on projections calculated by the United Nations, increasing levels of population within the United States can be met with enough food production. In order to reach desired levels/boost output, there would have to implement soil tillage, economical fertilizer use, and conservation of water resources. A policy adjustment, recently made into law, signed by the current president Donald Trump, known as the 2018 Farm Bill, set aside billions of dollars in order to allocate investments for the specific purposes of reforming and continuing of agricultural programs that will enable research abilities to progress and conservation efforts to be even more effective. Another factor of food production that would enable a leniency in producing more food to feed the growing population is it create goals to reduce food loss/waste. Between 30 percent to 40 percent of United States’ food supply is wasted. “At the consumer and retail levels 31 percent of the food supply became food loss and waste, equaling 133 billion pounds and almost $162 billion” (United States Department of Agriculture, 2010). Due to the complex food chain/supply system, food is lost at almost every stage (from spoilage, transporting, damage by insects/weather). Food waste is a great detriment to the availability of food and holds a great value of produce that could otherwise be resourced effectively allowing to bridge the gap between increasing food production. Healthy foods that could have helped feed families is most often sent to landfills. Land and water are utilized mostly in processing, shipping, and transporting instead of being allocated to source other means of productions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in conjunction with the United Sates Department of Agriculture, has set a goal to cut the nation’s food waste in half by 2030. Another significant issue that decreases food production capabilities is deforestation. In order to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and halt inevitable damages to biodiversity, “farmers need to commit to deforestation-free supply chains.” (Elferink and Schierhron, 2017). Many factors in producing, harvesting, transporting, and even growing agriculture leads to the erosion of arable lands and deforestation to clear more pastures for farm animals. Introducing an operation known as “sustainable intensification” will allow farmers to incorporate methods that will bolster crop production while decrease negative impacts on the environment. While the inevitable reduction in farmland requires the improvement in productivity and efficiency of pre-existing farms, the ability to bolster production of crop harvests in pre-existing lands will allow for a portion of sustainability of the expanding American population. Both the profitability and productivity of existing farms will need to improve altogether. Unquestionably innovation will continue on based on the principal “necessity is the mother of invention.” Incorporating methods of chemical fertilization, mechanizations of efficiency, and allocation of resources more effectively will allow for the intensification of sustainable agriculture become a reality.

Over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first century, technology and agricultural intensification has led the rapid increase in population size of the United States. With the exponential increase of population in the U.S., techniques of proficient production diversified in order to support humans. While decreases in mortality and fertility rates have decreased and slowed the growth of the current United States population, the number continues to rise as demand for more food produced efficiently is required to meet the needs of the American people. Not only has population growth within the United States affected demand of food, it has affected the ability and system to which food is able to be produced. Growing of the American population has harmed agricultural production in aspects of reducing arable land for farming as well as leaving behind human’s carbon footprint, affecting the environment through increases in pollution and urbanization of societies leading to deforestation and increases in carbon dioxide levels. The ability to reach a sustainable future for the United States’ increasing population is possible as intensification of agriculture and reallocation of funding/food will enable production facilitation to meet carrying capacity. Yet, with changes in human behavior from self-serving mindsets to those that include the welfare of others, policy adjustments, and finally innovations within technological aspects, U.S. food production will account for the mass population growth.

As a consultant to the United Nations, I have been asked to examine how the continued increase in the use of natural resources by the global population is partially leading to the release of greenhouse gases and how their release affects developing countries, namely Sierra Leone, West Africa.

In this analysis, I will have background information on what ‘greenhouse gasses’ are, what are the effects of ‘greenhouse gasses’ on Sierra Leone, and, ultimately, how ‘greenhouse gasses’ lead to global warming. In the next part, I will try to address the question of how pollution can cause problems for the developing world. To provide a focus on which countries emit the most ‘greenhouse gasses’ and on the fiscal, protection, and political problems of these emissions globally and to Sierra Leone. In section three, I would like to present the origins and remedies of ‘greenhouse gases,’ there are possible remedies to fix the root cause and, ultimately, the relationship between population control and ‘greenhouse gases.’ In conclusion, give a description of what I have learned in my studies that can aid the United Nations in its attempts to tackle the impact of ‘greenhouse gases’ on population development.

The Republic of Sierra Leone of West Africa is the government that I consider to be the United Nations’ analysis of population development and ‘greenhouse gases.’ The Republic of Sierra Leone is a nation of approximately 7.4 million people, the capital of which is Freetown. Sierra Leone’s most recent history also includes a bloody civil war that ended in 2002, followed by an Ebola outbreak in 2014, and Sierra Leone has experienced tremendous economic growth as the country is rich in minerals, primarily diamonds. The county ranks 180th out of 187 in the 2011 Human Development Ranking for the poorest countries. Sierra Leone’s greenhouse gas emissions are land-use change and forestry, agriculture, pollution, and industrial practices with energy emissions that are well below estimates.

Sierra Leone should strive to encourage energy sustainability and the diversification of energy blends by green energy sources, improve waste management systems, and implement smart climate and conservation agriculture.

SECTION I: BACKGROUND

A French mathematician named Joseph Fourier was credited with coining the term ‘greenhouse effect’ since his 1824 conclusion that the Earth’s atmosphere was much like a wooden box insulated with a lid made of clear glass. The greenhouse effect is characterized as the warmth of the Earth’s surface and troposphere (the lowest level of the atmosphere). The longer these gasses occur, the more radiation is stopped from leaking into space, which in essence means that the planet is becoming hotter. The greenhouse effect is caused by the presence of the following greenhouse gasses in order of abundance:

1. Water vapor,
2. Carbon dioxide,
3. Methane
4. Nitrous oxide
5. Fluorocarbons

Although certain greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere are natural and will not have a greenhouse impact on our biodiversity. Carbon dioxide greenhouse gas has risen by 40%, fueling fears over the importance of the greenhouse effect to global warming, throwing out arguments between multiple countries over targets for the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon dioxide is the key contributor to the greenhouse effect, particularly when the combustion of fossil fuels creates methane naturally when the plant is burnt, digested, or rotted without oxygen. Significant volumes of methane are emitted from dairy farming, waste dumps, rice farming, and oil and gas processing. Nitrous oxide produced by chemical fertilizers and fossil fuel combustion has a global warming effect 310 times that of carbon dioxide. It is calculated that natural and man-made greenhouse gasses increase the surface temperature of the planet by 33 degrees Celsius.

Greenhouse gasses contribute to global warming by increasing the natural greenhouse effect, and like glass greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere, they support life on Earth by absorbing the heat of the sun. These gases, however, cause the sun’s rays to penetrate through and warm the planet but prevent this radiation from leaving our atmosphere into space. Without naturally occurring, heat-absorbing gases, primarily water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane, our Planet must have been cold to support life as we know it. They ought to fear us all …

SECTION II: How Emissions Causes Problems for the Developing World

As of 18 August 2015, it has been reported that 63% of annual emissions come from developed countries. Economic prosperity behind this is a very positive idea, but it has a dangerous side effect, namely carbon pollution. Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and North America, India and China are all developed countries that contain the most greenhouse gases. Among these nations, the Republic of Sierra Leone contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, with 51.3 percent from land-use reform and forestry, 25.7 percent from agriculture-rice production, enteric fermentation from poultry, 23 percent from waste and manufacturing processes, and very little from energy. Indeed, Sierra Leone has taken ambitious strides to minimize greenhouse gas pollution by establishing a strategic strategy for 2018-2021 to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10% over time, making solar and hydroelectric power more energy efficient. This country is taking huge measures and will also need to continue working to mitigate greenhouse gasses generated by agriculture and enteric fermentation, the conflict has contributed to a large-scale relocation of farmers, cutting off large portions of the land from development. Many farmers have lost productive properties, such as seeds, equipment, and storage facilities, resulting in a dramatic decrease in agricultural production. Post-war emissions increased, powered by enteric fermentation of livestock or manure left on the pasture and by the cultivation of rice. This country will need to discuss how it plans to support its producers to get them back on track so that they can continue to move towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Economic development would be dictated by the success of Sierra Leone’s businesses and sectors, encouraged by a favorable market climate, including a sound institutional system, sufficient infrastructure, access to credit, and the supply of skilled labor.

In Sierra Leone, because the country has been experiencing an uptick in its economy, it has not produced much-desired, lucrative employment, partly because production has remained undiversified, dominated by subsistence agriculture. Economic development has not reduced poverty in this region, with more than half the population living in poverty; 45 percent of households living in food insecurity.

The social protection policies needed to help solve this problem are inconsistent and lacking in coverage, and initiatives to improve social protection policies would complement the benefits of economic development and thereby create resilience.

The security issues emerging from these greenhouse gas emissions vary, the various countries, economic and resource sectors will face different impacts from climate change, their capacity to withstand and respond to these impacts, and will thus differ in their decisions on the possible threats raised by climate change. In the Republic of Sierra Leone, the continuing depletion of natural resources by unlawful construction and unregulated creation of wetland settlements, resulting in the loss of natural resources, will be a security issue that needs to be resolved. Creatively by encouraging green energy-based mini-grids for beneficial use in remote areas, such as wetlands, to support those populations threatened by climate change.

Public threats to greenhouse gas emissions are likely to come from special interest interests working to suppress the consensus that global warming is taking place, and greenhouse gas emissions need to be slowed down. The politics of global warming have been influenced by the skepticism of climate change and the national debate over global warming, disrupting attempts to combat climate change. The Republic of Sierra Leone does not, in my view, have a political problem as the governments of this country truly realize and appreciate the importance of adapting to greenhouse gas emissions in the face of sluggish climate change and protecting their non-renewable capital, economy, and population.

SECTION III: Causes and Solutions of Greenhouse Gases

Climate change due to greenhouse gas pollution is a serious cause of deforestation, such as forestry, mining and burning are some of the causes of deforestation, and as trees are toppled, almost a billion tons of carbon is released into the atmosphere per year. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas is another source of greenhouse gas pollution when CO2 is emitted into the environment, producing greenhouse gas emissions. Solar energies will be an alternative for burning fossil fuels and switching from deforestation to agriculture would be another alternative for tackling greenhouse gas emissions. As the world’s population increases, so do the will to tackle climate change and be responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by alternative sources of energy such as solar and hydroelectric power.

In conclusion, other world countries should follow the example of Sierra Leone, and its leaders have recognized that greenhouse gas emissions are significant, as is the climate change that we now need to intervene to protect our natural and man-made resources. Save the World in the meantime.

References

1. The Causes of Climate Change. (2019, July 23). Retrieved from Global Climate Change – Vital Signs of the Planet: https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
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3. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Factsheet: Sierra Leone. (2017, April). Retrieved from ClimateLinks: https://www.climatelinks.org/resources/greenhouse-gas-emissions-factsheet-sierra-leone
4. Sierra Leone Country Profile. (2018, 4 5). Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14094194
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9. Koroma, H. D. (2013). The Agenda for Prosperity _ Road to Middle Income Status. Retrieved from The Government of Sierra Leone: https://www.undp.org/content/dam/sierraleone/docs/projectdocuments/povreduction/undp_sle_The%20Agenda%20for%20Prosperity%20.pdf