UNIT-V

Human Population
and the Environment

Distant ancestors were just as hunters and gatherers

Their number was less than 10 million
By A.D. 1, the population grew to 300 million (30 crore)
(due to development of agriculture practice)
Industrial revolution in 18th century
Increased standard of living & decrease of epidemics
supported increase in population
By1750, the population was 760 million
Reached 1 billion (100 crore) by 1800
After world war-II, population growth accelerated in less development countries
The 20th century started with 1.6 billion and ended with 6.1 billion

Years

Population to reach

39,000

1 billion

130

2 billion

45

4 billion

By 2050

11 billion (expected)

Bubonic plague

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS
Exponential growth: When a quantity increases by a constant amount per unit
time e.g. 1, 3, 5, 7 etc. it is called linear growth. But, when it increases by a fixed
percentage it is known as exponential growth e.g. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 etc.
Doubling time: The time needed for a population to double its size at a
constant annual rate. It is calculated by
Doubling time Td = 70/r
Where Td = doubling time in years and r = annual growth rate
Total Fertility rates (TFR): the average number of children that would be born to a
woman in her lifetime if the age specific birth rates remain constant.
TFR varies from 1.9 in developed nations to 4.7 in developing nations and was 6.1
in 1950 but now it has come down due to changes in culture, govt. Policies etc.
Infant mortality rate: the percentage of infants died out of those born in a year
pattern differs widely in developed and developing countries

Replacement level:
Age structure: age pyramids
Zero population growth (ZPG): birth plus immigration in a population are just
equal to deaths plus emigration
Male-Female ratio: should be fairly balanced in a society to flourish
Life expectancy the average age that a new born infant is expected to attain in a
given country
Demographic transition: population is usually related to economic development.

POPULATION EXPLOSION
human population has grown much faster in 20th century than ever before
in just 40 years (1950-1990) the population crossed 5 billion
addition of about 92 million every year
In the year 2000, the world population was 6.3 billion
predicted to grow four times in the next 100 years
This unprecedented growth of human population at an alarming rate is referred to
as population explosion
The Indian Scenario
India is the second most populous country of the world
If the current growth rates continue, it will have 1.63 billion people by 2050 and
will become the most populous country surpassing China
In just 35 years after independence we added another India in terms of population

On 11th May, 2000 we became 1 billion and now we can say that every 6th person
in this world is an Indian.

There are two very important views on population growth

Malthusian Theory:
Human populations tend to grow at an exponential or compound rate
whereas food production increases very slowly or remains stable
Therefore, starvation, poverty, disease, crime and misery are invariably associated
with population explosion.
Believes .positive checks. like famines, disease outbreak and violence.
Preventive checks. like birth control need to stabilize population growth.

Thomas Robert Malthus

Marxian Theory:
Population growth is a symptom rather than the cause of poverty,
resource depletion, pollution and other social ills.
Believed that social exploitation and oppression of the less
privileged people leads to poverty, overcrowding, unemployment,
environmental degradation that in turn, causes over population.

Family Welfare Programmes

Population explosion is like a time bomb
population must be kept much below the carrying capacity
A catastrophic doomsday model warns us that the earth cannot sustain more than
two more doublings i.e. 25 billion

dividing crude birth rate by crude death

rate

Stabilization ratio of developing &

developed nations

Family Planning
Family size and gap b/w offsping
Past: traditional methods like folk medicine
Now: surgical methods, chemical pills etc

ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH

Healthy person ?
Physically fit without suffering from any disease
World Health Organisation (WHO): health ?
It is a state of physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence
of disease or infirmity
Influenced by: nutritional, biological, chemical or psychological etc.

Infectious organisms
Microbes especially bacteria can cause food poisoning by producing toxins in the
contaminated food

Infectious

organisms

can

also

cause

respiratory

diseases

(pneumonia,

tuberculosis, influenza etc.) and gastrointestinal diseases (diarrhoea, dysentery,

cholera etc.).
There are various types of parasites that cause diseases like malaria, filariasis etc

Most of these infections take place when the environmental conditions are
unclean and unhygienic

Chemicals
Industrial effluents containing various chemicals are of major concern
Chemicals: two categories i.e. hazardous and toxic chemicals
Hazardous: dangerous chemicals like explosives, inflammable chemicals
Toxic chemicals (toxins): poisonous chemicals which kill cells and can cause
death
Chemicals: cause cancer (carcinogenic)
affect DNA (mutagenic)
affect nervous system (neurotoxins)
DDT and other chlorinated pesticides bioaccumulate in food-chain heavy metals
(mercury, cadmium, lead etc.) fluoride and nitrate can affect human health

Noise
hearing damage and various types of physiological and psychological changes
are induced

Radiations

Cosmic rays and ultra-violet rays cause harmful effects on human health which
may include cancer

Diet

Malnutrition makes humans prone to many diseases

Strong correlation between cardiovascular diseases and the amount of salt and
fat in ones diet
Dropsy in India: contamination of mustard oil with the poisonous seeds of
Argemone Mexicana
adulterated food items sold in the market affect human health

Settlement
Improper settlement and poor physical environment may cause various
psychological problems which affect various vital physiological processes in the
body

HIV/AIDS
AIDS: Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome
Not a hereditary disease

Caused by HIV: a virus---Human Immunodeficiency Virus

HIV from an infected person can pass to a normal person by:
Sharing needles or syringes contaminated with HIV
delivery or breast feeding (from HIV infected mothers)
during pregnancy (from HIV infected mothers)
sexually transmitted from infected person

HIV, however, doesnt spread through

tears, sweat, urine, faeces or saliva

by sharing utensils, towels, clothing, toilet seats

insect bite like that of mosquito or bed bug.

Global status
About 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide
70% of them in Sub Saharan Africa
About 3 million people died due to HIV/AIDS in 2003
AIDS is rapidly spreading in eastern Europe and Asia
Expected that in the coming decades there will be sharp increase in HIV/AIDS
cases in Russia, China, and India.

Indian Scenario
Nearly 6 million infected individuals
Indian picture is alarming-----particularly in the states of Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh &TS, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Manipur

HOW DOES AIDS KILL HUMANS?

AIDS itself does not kill humans

The deaths occur due to attack by other diseases
Immune system weakens thus decrease the resistance power of the body
Decline in T-cells --the key infection fighters in the immune system.
HIV destroys or disables these T-cells
Even dreaded disease like cancer can easily develop in the HIV infected persons

Origin and spread

AIDS was discovered in 1983
Much sufficient knowledge about the disease
Definite source of the virus not identified
Most evidences suggested that AIDS has spread from Africa
It is believed that the virus has been transferred to humans from primates like
African Monkey or chimpanzees.
Another theory suggest that HIV has spread through vaccine programmes in various
parts of the world :
(i) HIV has spread in Africa through HIV contaminated polio vaccine prepared by
using monkeys kidney
(ii) spread through small pox vaccine programme of Africa
(iii) spread through hepatitis B viral vaccine in New York, Los Angeles and San
Francisco.

Effects of HIV/AIDS on Environment

By AIDS epidemic, a large number of deaths occur which adversely affect local
environment and natural resources
Large number of deaths--- loss of labour and decrease in the level of production
With fewer adults, young members with limited resources and lack of experience
and knowledge---- difficult to look after the perennial crops

&

prefer crops requiring less labour and time

Young members devote less time for soil conservation, forestry conservation,
especially if there are deaths of professional forest workers

WOMEN AND CHILD WELFARE

Women and children are usually the soft targets, who suffer in a number of ways
because-- they are weaker, helpless and economically dependent.
Women Welfare
Particularly in developing countries, women suffer from gender discrimination
and devaluation at home, at workplace, in matrimony, in public life and power etc.
Across culture/ race / nation, the gender violence, victimization and harassment
take many forms (statistical figure at Ministry of Women and Child Development)
Exceptionally high number of cases of abduction, dowry deaths, rape, domestic
violence, criminal offences and mental torture to women is something that needs
immediate attention and reforms in the interest of the women

Thus, there is need for policy reforms and more stringent legislation including
educational and legal awareness amongst women to check the injustice towards
her

The Department of Women and Child Development was set up in 1985 as a part of
Ministry of Human Resource Development to give much impetus towards holistic
development of women and children.

As the national machinery for the development of women and children, the
Department formulates plans, policies and programmes,

enacts/amends

legislation, guides and coordinates the efforts of both Govt. and non-govt.
Organisations working in the field of women and child development.

Besides its nodal role, the dept implements certain innovative programmes for
women and children that cover welfare and support services, training for
employment

and

income

generation,

awareness

generation

and

gender

sensitization.

These programmes play a supplementary and complementary role to the other

general services in the sectors like health, education and rural development etc.

All these efforts are directed to ensure that women are empowered both
economically and socially and become equal partners in national development
along with men

The major policy initiatives undertaken by the Dept of woman & Child
development in the recent past include;
(i) Establishment of the National Commission for Women (NCW)
(ii) Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK)
(iii) Launching of Balika Samriddhi Yojana (IMY)
(iv) Launching of Rural Womens Development and Empowerment project
(RWDEP)
Besides these, number of NGOs mostly as Mahila Mandals are working

Govt. Of India proclaimed a National policy on children in August 1974 declaring

that Children as : supremely important assets . For the holistic development of
child, the Department has been implementing the Worlds largest and most unique
programme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) since 1975 providing
a package of services :

(i)Supplementary nutrition
(ii)Immunization
(iii)Health check-up
(iv)Pre-school non-formal education

HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights are the rights that a human being must enjoy
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) by the UNO on December 10,
1948: A happy, dignified and secure living conditions for all
The declaration provided comprehensive protection to all, against all forms of
injustice and human rights violations
The UNDHR defines specific rights: civil, political, economic, social as well as
cultural
Also it defines the rights to---- life, liberty, security, fair trial by law, freedom of
thought, expression, conscience, association and freedom of movement
It emphasizes right to equal pay for equal work, right to form and join trade
unions, right to health care, education, adequate rest etc.

Although the human rights are considered to be universal, wide disparity between
the developing and the developed countries
Population and poverty are often found to be the most important causes of
violation of human rights
The World Health Organisation estimates indicate that:
one out of every five persons in this world is malnourished
lacks clean drinking water
lacks proper hygienic conditions
adequate health facilities
one out of three persons does not have enough fuel to cook or keep warm
one out of five persons is desperately poor for whom life is nothing but struggle
for survival
Every year 40 million people are dying due to consumption of contaminated
drinking water

After the Earth Summit 1992, the need for sustainable development was
recognized
On May 16, 1994 at Geneva, the United Nations drafted the first ever Declaration of
Human Rights and Environment, which embodies the right of every human being
to a healthy, secure and ecologically sound environment

Draft Declaration of Human Rights and Environment

The draft declaration describes the rights as well as duties of individuals,

governments and international organizations
The principles of the draft declaration are divided into five parts

Part I: Human rights for an ecologically sound environment, sustainable

development and peace for all.
It emphasizes the present generations rights to fulfil its needs to lead a dignified
and good quality life without impairing the rights of the future generations to meet
their needs
Part II:
Human rights related to an environment free from pollution and degradation
Emphasizes the rights to enjoyment of natural ecosystems with their rich
biodiversity

Defines right to own native land or home. No one can be evicted from ones native
place except in emergency

Part III:
Right of every person to environmental information, education, awareness and
also public participation in environmental decision making

Part IV:
Duties to protect and preserve the environment and prevent environmental harm.
It includes all remedies for environmental degradation and measures to be taken
for sustainable resource use

Part V: Deals with social justice and equity with respect to use of natural
resources and sustainable development

VALUE EDUCATION
Education: one of the most important tools in bringing about socio-economic and
cultural progress of a country
Education: does not mean simply acquiring information but also its use within the
framework of a spectrum of ethical values.
Scientific and technological advancements have brought revolutionary changes in
our every day life
Running behind the development and progress, man has become too
materialistic, self-centered and over ambitious pushing the desired ideals of a real
life to the background
Value-based education has a very significant role to inculcate a positive attitude in
the mind
It teaches to be compassionate, helpful, peace loving, generous and tolerant for a
harmonious, peaceful, enjoyable and sustainable future

Value-based Environmental Education

Following the Supreme Court directives, environmental education has been
included in the curriculum right from the school stage to college/university level
The prime objective of the same is to make everyone environment literate
environmental education can be be made value based:
(a) Human Value: Preparation of text-books and resource materials about
environmental educationto build a attitudes about environment
Basic human value: man in nature rather than nature for man
(b) Social values: love, compassion, tolerance and justice--basic teachings of
most of our religions------ all forms of life and the biodiversity on this earth are
protected

(c) Cultural and religious values: Lesson from VedaDehi me dadami te. i.e.
.you give me and I give you. (Yajurveda)---- man should not exploit nature without
nurturing her
(d) Ethical values: Earth-centric rather than human-centric world-view
Promote the earth-citizenship thinking
(e) Global values: Not to disturb the interconnected and inter-linked natural
phenomena over the earth

that may cause ecological imbalance leading to

catastrophic results
(f) Spiritual values: principles of self-restraint, selfdiscipline, contentment,
reduction of wants, freedom from greed
Value-based environmental education can bring in a total transformation of our
mind-set, our attitudes and our life-styles

ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN ENVIRONMENT

AND HUMAN HEALTH
Improved environmental management requires dissemination of environmental
information for which efficient networking and the use of the latest technological
developments plays as success factors

Environmental situation is always changing due to human activities and some

natural causes
So accurate and timely information on various environmental changes are very
essential for action on a scientific basis
Support of modern information technology (IT) is needed

IT has increased the pace of discovery

IT has increased the dispersal of information to broader audiences.

Advancement in different fields like computer, communication, satellite and other

technologies have enabled the engineers, environmentalists to gather information
simultaneously from many sources

These information help in developing early warning systems to forecast any

future eventuality much earlier

Remote Sensing technology, Geographical Information System (GIS) and Global

Positioning System (GPS) are used for various environmental management.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India has established an

Information System called Environmental Information System (ENVIS) in 1982.

The purpose is to collect, storage, and dissemination of environmental

information to decision makers, policy makers, planners, scientists, engineers,
environmentalists, researchers and general public all over the country.

The ENVIS network has its focal point in the Environmental Ministry and the
thirteen (13) subject orientated centres known as ENVIS centres.

ENVIS are set up in the various organisations/institutions of the country in the

priority areas of environment----pollution control, toxic chemicals, biodiversity,
environmental mgmt, mining, energy & environment, mangroves, corals, wildlife
etc.

ENVIS has been designed as the National Focal Point for INFOTERRAa global
environmental

information

Programme (UNEP).

network

of

the

United

Nations

Environment

The objectives of ENVIS are:

(i) To build up a repository and dissemination centre in Environmental Science
and Engg.
(ii) To gear up the modern technologies for collecting, processing, storing and
disseminating the information of environmental nature
(iii) To support and promote research, development and innovation in
environmental information technology
(iv) To provide national environmental information services of the present needs
and capable to development to meet the future needs

NMIS
(National management Information System)
Of the Department of Science and Technology has compiled a database on
Research and Development Projects along with information about research
scientists and personnel involved

Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS)

GIS is a tool to map landuse patterns by studying digitised toposheets and/or

satellite imagery. It provides the information about various physical/biological
resources and also about their state of degradation in a digital form through RS.

Also GIS allows for simulation of hypothetical models of environmental

management

Application of GIS:
(i)For future landuse planning
(ii)Interpretation of polluted zones/degraded lands/diseased crop lands
(iii)To check unplanned growth and related environmental problems
(iv)Satellite data helps in providing correct and reliable cum verifiable information
on forest cover, success of conservation efforts etc.
(v)Also provide information of atmospheric phenomena like approach of
monsoon, ozone layer depletion, smog etc.
(vi)Can be explored new resources of oil, minerals etc by remote sensing
satellites

Online healthcare information about medicare and various related websites

guides consumers to a wide variety of health information
The National Institute of Occupational Health provides computerized information
on occupational health.
To summarize, the application of IT:
(i)Environmental pollution (ground water, marine, forest etc.) monitoring using RS
& GIS
(ii)Enabling environmental scientists and decision makers around the world to
communicate, collaborate and coordinate.
(iii)Tracking and study of wildlife using technologies like radio collars
(iv)Computer based modelling and simulation of environmental scenario for
analysis and prediction
(v)Telemedicine and advanced diagnostic equipments to care for human health

Case study: Karnataka s GIS SchemeBhoomi

Karnatakas GIS schemeBhoomi has made the way to farmers to access their
land records. Farmers now can get a copy of the records of rights, tenancy and
crops from a computerized information kiosk without any harassment and bribery.