The environment is the total planetary inheritance, made up of biotic factors such as plants, animals and forests and abiotic factors such as air, water, land and sunlight. It performs four functions: it supplies resources, both renewable and non-renewable; it assimilates waste; it sustains life by maintaining genetic and bio-diversity; and it provides aesthetic services. So long as the demand on the environment stays within its carrying and absorptive capacity there is no problem, but when extraction of resources exceeds their rate of regeneration and waste exceeds the environment's capacity to absorb it, an environmental crisis arises. India faces priority problems of land degradation, biodiversity loss, air pollution especially from vehicles, and the management of fresh water and solid waste; about seventy per cent of its water is polluted. Global problems include global warming, caused by rising greenhouse gases, and ozone depletion, caused by chlorofluorocarbons and tackled by the Montreal Protocol. Movements such as Chipko and Appiko show popular concern for forests. Sustainable development, defined by the Brundtland Commission as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, is the goal; the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 with a target year of 2030. Strategies include non-conventional energy such as wind and solar power, LPG and gobar gas in rural areas, CNG in cities like Delhi, and bio-composting and bio-pest control.
Environment and Sustainable Development
Key terms
Environment
The total planetary inheritance of biotic and abiotic factors that supports and surrounds all life.
Carrying capacity
The level of demand the environment can sustain without its resources being exhausted or degraded.
Renewable resources
Resources that can be replenished by natural processes, such as forest trees and ocean fish.
Sustainable development
Development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
Global warming
The gradual rise in the earth's average temperature caused by increasing greenhouse gases.
Sustainable Development Goals
The 17 goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015 with a target year of 2030.
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