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The environmental impact of irrigation includes the changes in quantity and quality of soil and water as a result of irrigation and the ensuing effects on natural and social conditions at the tail-end and downstream of the irrigation scheme. The impacts stem from the changed hydrological conditions owing to the installation and operation of the ...
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a major assessment of the human impact on the environment, called for by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000, launched in 2001 and published in 2005 with more than $14 million of grants. It popularized the term ecosystem services, the benefits gained by humans from ecosystems.
Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic environmental impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments [14] and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources [15] caused directly or indirectly by humans.
[4] [5] Management of the global atmosphere now involves assessment of all aspects of the carbon cycle to identify opportunities to address human-induced climate change and this has become a major focus of scientific research because of the potential catastrophic effects on biodiversity and human communities. Other human impacts on the ...
Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues.These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management, maintenance of biodiversity, the management of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species. [1]
In 1996, Wackernagel and Rees published the book Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. [ 15 ] The simplest way to define an ecological footprint is the amount of environmental resources necessary to produce the goods and services that support an individual's lifestyle, a nation's prosperity, or the economic activity of ...
In general, biocapacity is the amount of resources available to people at a specific moment in time to a specific population and to differentiate between ecological footprint – which is the environmental demand of a regional ecosystem. [10] Biocapacity is able to determine the human impacts on Earth.
The relationship between humans and rivers, which represent freshwater environments, is complicated. Rivers serve primarily as a freshwater resource and as sinks for domestic and industrial waste water. The consequences from this usage occur from diverse activities and root themselves in complex, interdisciplinary systems and practices. [4]