English Presentation

DESERFICATION AND FORESTATION

Desertification is the process which turns productive into non- productive desert as a result of poor land-management. Desertification occurs mainly in semi-arid areas bordering on deserts.

WHAT CAUSES DESERTIFICATION?

* Overgrazing is the major cause of desertification worldwide. Plants of semi-arid areas are adapted to being eaten by sparsely scattered, large, grazing mammals which move in response to the patchy rainfall common to these regions. Early human pastoralists living in semi-arid areas copied this natural system. They moved their small groups of domestic animals in response to food and water availability. Such regular stock movement prevented overgrazing of the fragile plant cover.

HOW CAN DESERTIFICATION BE HALTED?

To halt desertification the number of animals on the land must be reduced, allowing plants to regrow. Soil conditions must be made favourable for plant growth by. However, the only realistic large-scale approach is to prevent desertification through good land management in semi-arid areas.

DEFORESTATION

Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost each and every year. The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation.

WHAT CAUSES DEFORESTATION?

The biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture. Farmers cut forests to provide more room for planting crops or grazing livestock.

Not all deforestation is intentional. Some is caused by a combination of human and natural factors like wildfires and subsequent overgrazing, which may prevent the growth of young trees.

Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.

HOW CAN DESFORESTATION BE HALTED?

The quickest solution to deforestation would be to simply stop cutting down trees. Though deforestation rates have slowed a bit in recent years, financial realities make this unlikely to occur.

AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution is a mixture of solid particles and gases in the air. Car emissions, chemicals from factories, dust, pollen and mold spores may be suspended as particles. Ozone, a gas, is a major part of air pollution in cities. When ozone forms air pollution, it's also called smog.

WHAT CAUSES AIR POLLUTION?

1. Burning of Fossil Fuels: Sulfur dioxide emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and other factory combustibles is one the major cause of air pollution.

2. Agricultural activities: Use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers in agricultural activities has grown quite a lot. They emit harmful chemicals into the air and can also cause water pollution.

3. Exhaust from factories and industries: Manufacturing industries release large amount of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, organic compounds, and chemicals into the air thereby depleting the quality of air.

HOW CAN AIR POLLUTION BE HALTED?

1. Use public mode of transportation: Encourage people to use more and more public modes of transportation to reduce pollution. Also, try to make use of car pooling.

2. Conserve energy: Switch off fans and lights when you are going out.

3. Understand the concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Do not throw away items that are of no use to you. In-fact reuse them for some other purpose.

WATER SCARCITY

Water scarcity refers to the volumetric abundance, or lack thereof, of water supply. This is typically calculated as a ratio of human water consumption to available water supply in a given area. Water scarcity is a physical, objective reality that can be measured consistently across regions and over

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