After reading this chapter, the reader will be able to understand the following: •Definition, concepts, scope, and importance of ecology and ecosystems •What the various ecosystems are •Evolution of concepts and practices related to sustainable development at a national and international level •National Environmental Policy, National Action Plan on Climate Change, and National Water Policy “Samudra Vasane Devi Parvatha Sthana Mandale Vishnu Patnee Namasthubhyam Paada Sparsam Kshamaswa me Oh Mother Earth! O Great Goddess shining in the apparel of the ocean and conveying maternal love through the beautiful hills which are your limbs! I bow unto Thee, the beloved consort of Lord Vishnu, who sustains the whole creation! Mother, forgive me, as I touch you with my feet! This prayer, Bhumi Vandanam (Salutation to Mother Earth), is chanted by many Bharatheeyas (Indians) as they wake up from their sleep and before they place their feet on the ground. It is a paradox that a culture rooted in such lofty thoughts is now in a situation where even holy rivers such as the Ganga and the Yamuna have high levels of pollution.” The word ‘ecology’ has its origins in the Greek and German languages. The word ‘Oecology’ evolved from the German word ‘Okologie’, a term coined by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist and philosopher. ‘Oikos’, in Greek, means house or household. In ancient Greece, the family unit was large and ‘oikos’ referred to the house, the extended family, farmland, etc. Thus, ecology could refer to writings, discourses, collections, science, or the study of the household. Ecology is the study of the interlinkages between living organisms along with their physical, chemical, and biological environment. Though ecology and environment are used synonymously, there is a difference in their meaning. Ecology, as a sub-discipline of biology, is related with the study of life. Ecology, therefore, is closely related to evolutionary biology, physiology, and genetics. The study of ecology explores the movement of energy and materials through living communities, the distribution of organisms and bio-diversity, and the life process and adaptations of organisms. An ecosystem is a biological community along with its physical environment. Living and non-living entities are connected through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Environment refers to the aggregation of surroundings, conditions, and influences in relation to a considered entity. The National Environment Policy (NEP), 2006, refers to ‘Environment’ as that which ‘comprises all entities, natural or manmade, external to oneself, and their interrelationships, which provide value, now or perhaps in the future, to humankind’. The policy document also states that ‘Environmental concerns relate to their degradation through actions of humans’. Environmental management is a branch of study that deals with managing the resources of the planet in a way that benefits the well-being of all species, and sustains resources for use by future generations. Since the industrial revolution, nations have taken the path of growing their economies without any regard for the environment. This was particularly so for nations in Europe, the Americas, and other rich countries. An example of this negligence is indicated by the incident of a river catching fire—the highly polluted Cuyahoga River, Ohio, USA—as recently as in 1969. The TIME magazine reported, ‘No Visible Life. Some river! Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows. “Anyone who falls into the Cuyahoga does not drown”, Cleveland's citizens joke grimly. “He decays.”’¹http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901182,00.html, last accessed on 24 June 2012. This was true for all nations. Such negligence and exploitation has resulted in species becoming extinct. Human intervention has resulted in a massive decline of bio-diversity due to habitat destruction, the release of toxins, the usage and release of harmful chemicals, over-harvesting, and more. The extinction of species is a natural phenomenon and massive bio-diversity losses have occurred five times in the past 540 million years. However, the current ongoing massive decline, referred to as the ‘sixth extinction wave’²Gerardo Ceballos, Andrés García, Paul R. Ehrlich, ‘The Sixth Extinction Crisis: Loss of Animal Populations and Species’, Journal of Cosmology, Vol 8, 2010, pp. 1821–1831., is the first wave to occur during the existence of human beings and has been induced by their behaviour. This extinction wave is the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago.³Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: A Toolkit for Understanding and Action, Island Press, March 2007, http://islandpress.org/assets/library/27_matoolkit.pdf, last accessed on 8 August 2011. It is now estimated that species are becoming extinct at 1000 times the natural rate.⁴http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8449506.stm, last accessed on 27 September 2012. Biologists have mentioned that if this continues unabated, it could be a harbinger of the downfall of the human civilization and the premature demise of billions of people.⁵Gerardo Ceballos, Andrés García, Paul R. Ehrlich, ‘The Sixth Extinction Crisis: Loss of Animal Populations and Species’, Journal of Cosmology, Vol 8, 2010, pp. 1821–1831. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that ‘The atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years. CO2 concentrations have increased by 40 per cent since pre-industrial times, primarily due to fossil fuel emissions and secondarily due to net land use change emissions. The ocean has absorbed about 30 per cent of the emitted anthropogenic carbon dioxide, causing ocean acidification.’⁶http://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/ar5/ar5_wg1_headlines.pdf, last accessed on 6 October 2013. The report also predicts the continuing warming of the global ocean. Global warming will also result in ice melting at an abnormal rate (Refer Fig. 1.1.). As heat from the surface of the ocean penetrates into the deep ocean, ocean currents and circulation will get affected. FIG. 1.1Male, the capital of the Maldives. Due to climate change and the expected rise of water levels, Maldives, an island inhabited by more than 300,000 people, is expected to be submerged within a century.⁷Photo by Shahee Illyas, used with permission. Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Male-total.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Male-total.jpg, last accessed on 14 July 2014. In 2005, more than a thousand of the world's leading biological scientists released The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. They analysed the state of the planet's ecosystem and provided guidelines for decision-makers. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment states, ‘In the last half-century, people have made unprecedented changes to the planet's ecosystems — largely to meet rising demands for food, fresh water, fibre, and energy’ and adds that almost 60 per cent of the ecosystem services examined as part of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment were degraded or were used in unsustainable ways.⁸Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: A Toolkit for Understanding and Action, Island Press, March 2007, http://islandpress.org/assets/library/27_matoolkit.pdf, last accessed on 8 August 2011. The assessment found that of the 24 ecosystem services measured, only four showed an improvement during the previous 50 years and 15 ecosystem services were in serious decline. A key finding of the report is that ‘Pressures on ecosystems will grow significantly worse during the first half of this century, unless human attitudes and actions change’.⁹Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: A Toolkit for Understanding and Action, Island Press, March 2007, http://islandpress.org/assets/library/27_matoolkit.pdf, last accessed on 8 August 2011. As per the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, 2010, human activity in 2008 amounted to $6.6 trillion in global environmental damage, 33 per cent of which was caused by 3,000 of the world's largest publicly traded organizations. The Living Planet Report 2010, released by the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Global Footprint Network, and the Zoological Society of London, indicated that the ecological footprint exceeded the earth's bio-capacity by 50 per cent (refer Fig. 1.2). This meant that it takes 1.5 years for the Earth to produce the resources that humanity currently consumes in one year. The report goes on to state that we would be requiring one more planet by 2030, if we continued our lifestyle of ‘business as usual’. ‘If everyone in the world lived like an average resident of the United States or the United Arab Emirates, then a bio-capacity equivalent to more than 4.5 Earths would be required to keep up with humanity's consumption and CO2 emissions,’ says the Living Planet Report.¹⁰http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/2010_lpr/lpr_2010_media_center/, last accessed on 27 May 2011. FIG. 1.2Global ecological footprint Source: WWF 2012. Living Planet Report 2010. WWF International, Gland, Switzerland ¹¹Living Planet Report 2010, http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_lpr2010_lr_en.pdf, last accessed on 8 October 2013. Used with permission.Two decades ago, the month of February in Mumbai was known for the blooming of coral trees (Erythrina indica) and for rosy pastors (Pastor roseus), and the birds that inhabit these trees. However, it has now been noted that these trees now bloom less frequently and the number of these birds in the ecosystem has decreased. As human beings exploit one ecosystem service, it invariably results in the destruction of another ecosystem service. For example, mining done to extract metals has resulted in soil erosion, a loss of biodiversity, and the contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface water by chemicals from mining processes. Exploiting the ecosystem today may result in improving material well-being and removing poverty, but such exploitation cannot continue for long. One cannot continue to extract precious metals from a single ore for a long time. To solve some of today's problems, we are depleting the ecological resources of tomorrow. An example could be the increasing prevalence of the number of deep bore wells or drilled wells in India. Bore wells and drilled wells access water that has accumulated below impermeable rocks over thousands of years. This has resulted in a steep drop in the water table¹²http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-06-27/allahabad/28169537_1_tubewells-water-table-water-level, last accessed on 4 October 2011.¹³http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-07/ranchi/29392204_1_water-harvesting-rain-water-water-table, accessed on 4 October 2011.¹⁴http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-02-02/delhi/28125128_1_water-table-water-supply-mgd, last accessed on 4 October 2011.¹⁵http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/19/stories/2009071957040400.htm, last accessed on 4 October 2011. and reports indicate a significant drying up of India's water table.¹⁶http://www.deccanherald.com/content/56673/indias-ground-water-table-dry.html, last accessed on 5 October 2011. A study conducted by the Uttar Pradesh state groundwater department states that groundwater availability (up to a depth of 5 metres), declined 21.65–59.85% during the pre-monsoon period from 1984 to 2006. The decline was 52.2–91.5% during the post-monsoon period.¹⁷http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-11/lucknow/29646511_1_ground-water-water-table-canal-water, last accessed on 4 October 2011. Such a depletion of ecological resources will have serious repercussions for future generations and their well-being. Many a time, the negative impact of ecosystem and climate change is felt by people living away from those enjoying the benefits of natural services. When we speed comfortably in our cars fuelled by petroleum products, the environmental price is paid by those in nations such as Sudan, Ecuador, or Nigeria¹⁸http://www.unep.org/newscentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2649&ArticleID=8827,last accessed on 17 August 2011.. There have been instances where rivers get polluted due to oil extraction which has affected the health of those who are dependent on the river water. It may not seem like too much of a waste to keep the lights switched on while leaving a room. However, a look behind the scene will lead us to discover that a significant portion of India's electricity is powered by coal-based power plants, a major source of carbon emissions. While we enjoy the comfort of electricity, the health of the people living near the power plant is affected by the emissions from the power plants. ‘The world's poor, especially subsistence farmers and pastoralists are the first to suffer from the loss of services provided by ecosystems and biodiversity—in other words, the free benefits of nature. These include food and fuel-wood from forests, the flow of water and nutrients from forest to field, flood control, drought control, and soil retention provided by forests, fish from the ocean, and so on,’ says Pavan Sukhdev, Founder-CEO of GIST Advisory, an environmental consulting firm, and former Managing Director–Global Markets Division, Deutsche Bank.¹⁹http://pavansukhdev.com/2011/04/05/%E2%80%9Cto-make-poverty-history-make-nature-the-future%E2%80%9D/, last accessed on 25 May 2011. Kabir Sanjay Bavikatte, Legal Advisor–National Biodiversity Authority, India and Lawyer–Natural Justice, says ‘For many communities, the ecosystem is the greatest and the most reliable service provider, providing goods and services in ways that governments cannot. A loss of biodiversity means that those who are reliant on natural ecosystems for their livelihoods will have no alternative but to either relocate to cities or rely on a country's social welfare resources to survive.’²⁰Kabir Sanjay Bavikatte, Green Governance Foundations for a Green Economy, The Hindu Survey of the Environment 2012. If everyone in the world lived like an average resident of the United States or the United Arab Emirates, a bio-capacity equivalent to more than 4.5 Earths would be required to keep up with humanity's consumption and CO₂ emissions. As per a report by ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Bio-diversity’ (TEEB)²¹TEEB (2010) The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature: A Synthesis of the Approach, Conclusions and Recommendations of TEEB, Available at http://www.teebweb.org/wp-content/uploads/Study%20and%20Reports/Reports/Synthesis%20report/TEEB%20Synthesis%20Report%202010.pdf, last accessed on 14 July 2014., 47 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the poor in India comes from ecosystem services. The NEP 2006 acknowledges environmental degradation as a major causal factor in enhancing and perpetuating poverty, particularly among the rural poor, when such degradation impacts soil fertility, the quantity and quality of water, air quality, forests, wildlife, and fisheries. A number of environment-health factors are closely linked with dimensions of poverty (e.g., malnutrition or the lack of access to clean energy and water). Environmental factors are estimated to be responsible for nearly 20 per cent of the burden of disease in India. ‘For millions of the world's poorest people, healthy ecosystems are a matter of survival; starvation looms when a fishery fails; cholera spreads when waste-filtering wetlands are lost. Even in wealthier industrialized countries, degraded ecosystems take a devastating toll on human health. Air and water pollution are linked to an explosion of asthma and other respiratory problems, and an increased risk of cancer and heart disease. Epidemics rage when natural systems are disrupted. For example, the emergence of Lyme disease in the US has been linked to a loss of habitat and a diminished diversity of species,’ reports a publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.²²Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: A Toolkit for Understanding and Action, Island Press, March 2007, http://www.unpei.org/sites/default/files/PDF/ecosystems-economicanalysis/MEA-A-Toolkit.pdf, last accessed on 14 July 2014. The dominant theme of the NEP 2006 is that while the conservation of environmental resources is necessary to secure livelihoods and the well-being of all, the most secure basis for conservation is to ensure that people dependent on particular resources obtain better livelihoods through conservation itself, than by degrading resources. For the economically poor of the world, many environmental problems are problems of poverty. Unsafe drinking water and inadequate sewage facilities could be considered as grave environmental health threats facing them. Figure 1.3 shows an image of an oil spill in Nigeria. FIG. 1.3Oil spill in Ogoniland, Nigeria²³Image source: http://www.unep.org/newscentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2649&ArticleID=8827, last accessed on 17 August 2011. Used with permission. Words such as ‘sustainable development’, ‘organic farming’, etc., have gained increasing popularity. However, a deeper exploration would reveal that farming, prior to the arrival of industrialization and applications of synthetic chemicals and pesticides, was always organic. Development was meant to be fruitful, to benefit all members of the community, including all the species. The advent of industrial revolution changed many of these ideas. The following time-line focuses on developments after the emergence of industrial development. ²⁴Adapted from http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2009/sd_timeline_2009.pdf, last accessed on 24 April 2012. Used with permission. Josh Ruskin's book, Unto This Last, spoke about the destructive effects of unrestricted industrialism on human beings and the natural world. This essay influenced personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, who suggested a lifestyle in harmony with the environment. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), an international organization dedicated for the conservation of the integrity and diversity of nature was founded. Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, brought together research on toxicology, ecology, and epidemiology to suggest that agricultural pesticides were building to catastrophic levels, and were linked to the damage to animal species and human health. The book specifically documented the effects of pesticide abuse on birds. It also influenced the decision to ban the usage of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in USA in 1972. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) was formed in the USA to pursue legal solutions to environmental damage. The EDF went to court to stop the Suffolk County Mosquito Control Commission from spraying DDT on Long Island's marshes. (www.environmentaldefense.org) •The Intergovernmental Conference for Rational Use and Conservation of the Biosphere was organized by UNESCO. Early discussions were held on the concept of ecologically sustainable development. (www.unesco.org) •Paul Ehrlich published The Population Bomb, on the connection among human population, resource exploitation, and the environment. •The Apollo lunar mission by NASA sent the first ‘Earthrise’ picture (Refer Fig. 1.4), which was considered to be one of the most influential environmental photographs. It was said that this picture influenced the start of the ‘Earth Day’ event in 1970, now celebrated across countries on April 22. FIG. 1.4First ‘earthrise’ picture sent by the Apollo Lunar mission²⁵http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a410/AS8-14-2383HR.jpg, last accessed on 6 August 2014. Copyright free image from NASA. •Friends of the Earth was formed as an advocacy organization dedicated to the prevention of environmental degradation, the preservation of diversity, and the role of citizens in decision-making. (www.foe.org) •The National Environmental Policy Act was passed in the United States, making it one of the first countries to establish a national legislative framework to protect the environment. The law set the basis for environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the world. •The pollution of the river Rhine in Europe, due to the usage of the pesticide Endosulfan, resulted in the death of more than 20 million fish and the contamination of the river. •The First Earth Day was held as a national teach-in on the environment. An estimated 20 million people participated in peaceful demonstrations across the United States. (www.earthday.net) •The Natural Resources Defense Council was formed with a staff of lawyers and scientists to push for comprehensive U.S. environmental policy. (www.nrdc.org) •Greenpeace was started in Canada and launched an aggressive agenda to stop environmental damage through civil protests and non-violent interference. (www.greenpeace.org) •The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Council advocated the polluter pays principle—those causing pollution should pay the resulting costs. •The UN Conference on the Human Environment and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) held in Stockholm was rooted in the pollution and acid rain problems of northern Europe. This conference resulted in the establishment of many national environmental protection agencies and the UNEP. (www.unep.org) •Club of Rome published the controversial Limits to Growth report, which predicted dire consequences if growth did not slow down. Northern countries criticized the report for not including technological solutions; southern countries were incensed because it advocated the abandonment of economic development. (www.clubofrome.org) Infosys Technologies Ltd., plans to go carbon-neutral by 2018. As part of this goal, the company is in the process of sourcing 100% of its electricity requirements from renewable resources. Infosys, from 2007-08 to 2011-12, reduced its per capita, per month electricity consumption by 32.67%, GHG emissions by 25.67%, and water consumption by 22.87%. •The United States enacted the Endangered Species Act and became one of the first countries to implement legal protection for its heritage of fish, wildlife, and plants. •The Chipko movement was born in India in response to deforestation and environmental degradation. These women's actions influenced both forestry and women's participation in environmental issues. (www.rightlivelihood.org/recip/chipko.htm) •The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil crisis fuelied the limits-to-growth debate. •Rowland and Molina released work on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the scientific journal Nature, calculating that continued use of CFCs at current rates would critically deplete the ozone layer. •The Latin American World Model was developed by the Fundación Bariloche. It is the South's response to Limits to Growth and calls for growth and equity for the Third World (www.fundacionbariloche.org.ar/LP-mod-latinoam.htm). •The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) came into force. (www.cites.org) •The Worldwatch Institute was established in the United States to raise public awareness of global environmental threats and to catalyse effective policy responses; it began publishing its annual report The State of the World in 1984. (www.worldwatch.org) Habitat, the UN Conference on Human Settlements, was the first global meeting to link the environment with human settlement. •The Green Belt Movement was started in Kenya, using community tree planting to prevent desertification. (www.greenbeltmovement.org) •The UN Conference on Desertification was held. The OECD Directorate of the Environment re-launched research on environmental and economic linkages. (www.oecd.org) •Banking on the Biosphere, the IIED report on practices of nine multilateral development agencies including the World Bank, set the stage for reforms that are still under way. •The Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred in Pennsylvania, United States. •The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released the World Conservation Strategy report. The section ‘Towards Sustainable Development’ identified the main agents of habitat destruction as poverty, population pressure, social inequity, and trading regimes. The report called for a new international development strategy to redress inequities. (www.iucn.org) •The Independent Commission on International Development Issues published North-South: A Programme for Survival (Brandt Report), calling for a new economic relationship between North and South. •The Center for Science and Environment (CSE), one of the leading public interest research and advocacy organizations in India started functioning. The World Health Assembly unanimously adopted the Global Strategy for Health for All by the Year 2000, which affirmed that the major social goal of governments should be for all people to attain a level of health that would permit them to lead socially and economically productive lives. (www.who.org) •The World Resources Institute was established in the United States. It began publishing biennial assessments of world resources in 1986. (www.wri.org) •The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was signed²⁶http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/closindx.htm, last accessed on 18 September 2014.. It established material rules concerning environmental standards and enforcement provisions dealing with marine pollution. (www.un.org/depts/los) •The international debt crisis erupted and threatened the world's financial system. It turned the 1980s into a lost decade for Latin America and other developing regions. •The UN World Charter for Nature (WCN)²⁷http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/37/a37r007.htm, last accessed on 18 September 2014. adopted the principle that every form of life is unique and should be respected regardless of its value to humankind. It called for an understanding of our dependence on natural resources and the need to control our exploitation of them. (www.un.org/documents/ga/res/37/a37r007.htm)India has ratified UNCLOS and voted for WCN. •Development Alternatives was established in India. It fostered a new relationship among people, technology, and the environment in the South. (www.devalt.org) •The Grameen Bank was established to provide credit to the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh, launching a new understanding of the role of microcredit in development. (www.grameen-info.org) •A toxic chemical leak left 10,000 dead and 300,000 injured in Bhopal, India. (www.bhopal.net) •A drought in Ethiopia resulted in between 250,000 and 1 million people dying of starvation. •The International Conference on Environment and Economics held by the OECD concluded that the environment and economics should be mutually reinforcing. •Responsible Care, an initiative of the Canadian Chemical Producers, provided a code of conduct for chemical producers and has now been adopted in many countries. (www.ccpa.ca) •A meeting in Austria of the World Meteorological Society, the UNEP, and the International Council of Scientific Unions reported on the build-up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These gases predict global warming. •The Antarctic ozone hole was discovered by British and American scientists. The Chernobyl nuclear station accident generated a massive toxic radioactive explosion. •Our Common Future (Brundtland Report), a report of the World Commission on Environment and Development weaved together social, economic, cultural, and environmental issues and global solutions. It popularized the term sustainable development’. •The OECD Development Advisory Committee created guidelines for environment and development in bilateral aid policies. (www.oecd.org/dac) •The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was adopted. (http://ozone.unep.org) •Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper fighting the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, was assassinated. Scientists used satellite photos to document what the Amazon fires were doing to the rainforest. (www.chicomendes.com) •The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established to assess the most up-to-date scientific, technical, and socioeconomic research in the field. (www.ipcc.ch) •The Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground, dumping 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. (www.evostc.state.ak.us) •The Stockholm Environmental Institute was established as an independent institute for carrying out global and regional environmental research. (www.sei.se) The UN Summit for Children was held, an important recognition of the impact of the environment on future generations. (www.unicef.org/wsc) •The Canadian East coast cod fishery collapsed when only 2,700 tonnes of spawning biomass were left after a harvest of 190,000 tonnes. •Hundreds of oil fires burnt in Kuwait for months following the Persian Gulf War. •The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty²⁸http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_antarctica/geopolitical/treaty/update_1991.php, last accessed on 18 September 2014. was signed in 1991. India has ratified the treaty. •The Business Council for Sustainable Development published Changing Course, and established business interests in promoting sustainable development practices. (www.wbcsd.ch) •The Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, had 172 governments participating of which 108 countries sent their heads of government. Formally known as the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), agreements were reached on the action plan Agenda 21 and on the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the non-binding Forest Principles. The first meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development was established as a follow-up to UNCED, to enhance international cooperation, and to rationalize intergovernmental decision-making capacity. (www.un.org/esa/sustdev) In 2010, Washington DC imposed a 5-cent fee for every disposable plastic bag given to customers. Proceeds from this fine were channelized into cleaning up the Anacostia River that flows through Washington DC. Following the imposition of the fee, consumer bag usage came down from 22.5 million per month to 3 million. •The Global Environment Facility was established, restructuring billions of dollars in aid to give more decision-making powers to developing countries. (www.gefweb.org) •China's Agenda 21, a white paper on the population, environment, and development of the People's Republic of China, was published. China set an international example for national strategies for sustainable development. •The execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria brought international attention to the link between human rights, environmental justice, security, and economic growth. •The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established, and formally recognized the link between trade, environment, and development. (www.wto.org) The World Summit for Social Development was held in Copenhagen. It was the first time that the international community expressed a clear commitment in eradicating poverty absolutely. (www.un.org/esa/socdev/wssd/index.html) ISO 14001 was formally adopted as a voluntary international standard for corporate environmental management systems. (www.iso.org) Asia experienced ecological and financial chaos. Land clearing fires intensified by El Niño-induced drought resulted in a haze blanketing the region and cost US$3 billion in health costs and fire-related damage. Concurrently, the market crashed, raising questions about currency speculation and the need for government economic reforms. •Controversies arose over genetically modified (GM) organisms. Global environmental and food security concerns were raised, and the European Union blocked imports of GM crops from North America. Farmers in developing countries rebelled against ‘terminator technology’, a technology where seeds will not germinate. •Due to unusually severe weather conditions, China experienced the worst floods in decades, two-thirds of Bangladesh was underwater for several months from monsoons, hurricane Mitch destroyed parts of Central America, 54 countries were hit by floods and 45 by drought, and the global temperature reached the highest ever recorded. (http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/1998/ann/extremes98.html) •The Dow Jones Sustainability Index was launched. The first of its kind, the tool provided guidance to investors looking for profitable companies following sustainable development principles. (www.sustainability-index.com) •The third WTO Ministerial Conference was held in Seattle. Thousands of demonstrators protested the negative effects of globalization and the growth of global corporations. Along with deep conflicts among WTO delegates, they scuttled the negotiations. The first of many anti-globalization protests, the demonstrations signalled a new era of confrontation between disaffected stakeholders and those in power. (www.iisd.org/trade/wto/seattleandsd.htm) Pancha Bhuta Suprabhatam (Greetings to the Five Elements of the Universe) Prithvi saGandha SarasasthatAapaha Sparsascha Vayur Jwalitham cha Tejah Nabhah sa Sabdam Mahataa sa Daiva Kurvantu sarve Mama Suprabhaatam Earth, with its quality of smell; Water, with its quality of taste; Air, with its quality of touch; Fire, with its quality of brilliance; and Space, with its quality of sound. May all these elements along with the Cosmic Mind, make my morning auspicious. •The UN Millennium Development Goals were defined. The largest-ever gathering of world leaders agreed to a set of time-bound and measurable goals for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women, to be achieved by 2015. (www.un.org/millenniumgoals) •Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey was declared extinct, the first extinction in several centuries of a member of the primate order, to which humans belong. According to the IUCN Red List, 11,046 species are now threatened with extinction. •The Bharat Stage Emission Standards were introduced •9/11, the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon led to stock markets and economies stumbling. •The Fourth Ministerial Conference of the WTO was held in Doha, Qatar, and recognized environmental and developmental concerns in its final declaration. •The World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg, marking 10 years since the UNCED. In a climate of frustration at the lack of government progress, the summit promoted ‘partnerships’ as a non-negotiated approach to sustainability. (www.worldsummit2002.org) •The Global Reporting Initiative released guidelines for reporting on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of business activities. (www.globalreporting.org) India started the National Bio-diversity Authority, located in Chennai. Wipro Limited was ranked the leading global company in the ‘Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics’, which was released in November 2012. HP and Nokia were ranked second and third in the rankings. •Wangari Muta Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, she was the first environmentalist to be awarded a Nobel Prize. (http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/2004) •There was a HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2004 alone, 2.5 million people in the region died of AIDS, and over three million became newly infected. With only 10 per cent of the world's population, the region was home to more than 60 per cent of all people living with HIV. (www.unaids.org) •The Kyoto Protocol entered into force. It legally bound developed countries to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and established the Clean Development Mechanism for developing countries. •The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was released. 1,300 experts from 95 countries provided scientific information concerning the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. •The Stern report made the convincing economic case that the costs of inaction on climate change would be up to 20 times greater than the measures required to address the issue today (www.sternreview.org.uk). •NASA reported that the ozone layer was recovering, due in part to the reduced concentrations of CFCs, phased out under the Montreal Protocol. (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/26may_ozone.htm) •Project Greenhands, an environmental initiative of the Isha Foundation, created a Guinness World Record in planting tree saplings. Members of the foundation planted more than 8.56 lakh saplings on a single day. By March 2015, Project Greenhands had organized the planting of more than two crore saplings. •The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was launched. •Public attention to climate change increased. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, won an Academy Award, and the IPCC's alarming forecasts about the planet's health made headlines. The IPCC and Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize. (www.ipcc.ch) •More signs of ecosystem stress emerged. In addition to an earlier prediction that fish stocks could disappear in 50 years, scientists said sharks and bee colonies were also at risk. •World food, fuel, and financial crises converged. Global food prices increased 43 per cent in one year; the growing energy demand in China, India, and elsewhere sent energy prices soaring; financial institutions faltered over the collapse of mortgage lending in the United States, and markets tumbled, sending the world into recession. •Green economy ideas entered the mainstream. National governments invested a portion of their economic stimulus in environmental actions and a low-carbon economy and green growth became new objectives for the future economy. (www.oecd.org/dataoecd/58/34/44077822.pdf) •Urbanization increased. For the first time in history, more than 50 per cent of the world's population lived in towns and cities. (www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm) •The Australian drought that commenced in 2003 led to the worst wildfires in history. •The G20 promised to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. Experts estimated that annual subsidies could amount to $500 billion, equal to 1 per cent of world GDP.²⁹www.globalsubsidies.org/files/assets/I_policy_brief_on_G-20_Announcement_Oct_09-1.pdf, last accessed on August 22, 2012. As per the International Energy Agency (IEA), $409 bn was spent in 2010 to subsidize fossil fuels. This was an increase from $300 bn in 2009. The IEA also estimated that this global subsidy could increase to $600 bn in 2012.³⁰http://www.bnef.com/PressReleases/view/224, last accessed on August 22, 2012. •Connectivity throughout the world exceeded predictions. About 60 per cent of world's people had mobile phones, and 25 per cent were on the Internet. Social networking was directly influencing citizen engagement, from the Obama presidential campaign to the contested Iranian election. •At the Copenhagen climate negotiations, the domestic targets and actions of large emitters such as the United States and China took centre stage, but the international process continued to be seen as critical in measuring whether those actions were meeting the global reductions that science demanded. The outcomes of the Copenhagen negotiations were unclear—the process may have been in trouble but the Copenhagen Accord itself may have been a breakthrough in terms of engaging developing countries. (www.iisd.ca/climate/cop15/) •The website GoodGuide.com was launched. It enabled consumers to receive information on the health, environmental, and social impact of products that a consumer intended to buy. The company also launched mobile applications whereby this information could be collected by scanning the barcode of the consumer product. •India launched the National Green Tribunal. •India set up an expert group to provide a roadmap for a Green National Accounting (GNA) system. •a. India banned animal testing in the manufacture of cosmetics including lipsticks, eye make-up, and toothpaste. •b. India passed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act with provisions for fairer compensation, and increased transparency during land acquisition during the setting up of industries. This act replaced the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The environmental movement in India recorded a major event in 1730. Abhay Singh, Maharajah of Jodhpur required timber for burning lime for the construction of his new palace. His soldiers reached Khejarli, a village in the district of Jodhpur. This region was inhabited by Bishnois, a Hindu sect that does not allow the killing of wildlife and the cutting of trees. The Bishnois are guided by the 29 (Bish–twenty, noi – nine) principles given by Guru Jambheshwar, and these principles centre mainly on living a life respecting nature. The name of the village Khejarli was derived from the Khejri tree that grows in abundance in the village. As the soldiers started the process of felling the trees, Amrita Devi, a mother of three, protested, against the tree felling. It is said that she preferred to give up her life rather than seeing the trees chopped. Amrita Devi was beheaded and the tree felling continued. Her daughters soon joined in and met with the same end. The news spread, and soon, more Bishnois, 363 in all, became martyrs. The tree felling party went back to Jodhpur and told the Maharajah about the incident. Maharaja Abhay Singh, apologized and issued a decree that prohibited the cutting of green trees and the hunting of animals in the Bishnoi villages. This event has been considered to be the inspiration for the Chipko (hug) movement that started in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand in the early 1970s. The Chipko movement was a socio-ecological movement driven by the awareness against tree-felling carried out by the government contractors in the region. The decreasing forest cover resulted in soil erosion and water shortages, which resulted in the farmers giving up their traditional livelihood practices such as raising livestock and collecting firewood and fodder. The destruction of the green cover also resulted in landslides and floods. This led the natives to organize themselves in protest. The initial protests started in 1971. Members of the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) hugged trees (chipko) as a non-violent protest action, to force contractors to retreat. Such protests spread across the region. The protest that started at the town Chamoli Gopeshwar soon spread to other regions. In 1974, loggers arrived to start cutting trees as a part of logging operations in Reni village. DGSS workers and the men of Reni village were duped by the contractors into going to another region for a fictitious compensation payment. The women of the village refused to fell the trees and instead, started hugging them to stop the trees from being felled. They kept an all-night vigil. When the men returned and the message spread nearby regions, more people joined the protest. After four days, the contractors and loggers had to leave. This incident led the Chief Minister of the state (Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna) to set up a committee, which after studying the issue, ruled in favour of the villagers. Within a decade, similar protests took place across the Uttarakhand Himalayas. In 1977, in one such protest, women started tying Rakhis to the trees that were meant to be cut. The Chipko movement soon encompassed activities that included protesting against limestone mining, energy conservation, water management, and afforestation. Some of the heroes of this struggle included Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Sundarlal Bahuguna, Govind Singh Rawat, Dhoom Singh Negi, Shamsher Singh Bisht, and Ghanasyam Raturi. In May 2013, the gram panchayat of Gerethang village in western Sikkim, India, passed a resolution to not use any paper or styrofoam plates, mugs, plastic spoons, etc. at social gatherings. The resolution also included the decision not to sell such materials in any shops. Instead, of such materials, a self-help group will produce and supply leaf-based products. It was during the same period that a similar movement was taking place in the southern part of India, in the Nilgiris. In 1973, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) decided to construct a dam across the Kunthipuzha (translated from Malayalam, it means River Kunthi), one of the major rivers originating at Silent Valley, located in the Niligiri Hills region of Palakkad district, Kerala. The region consisted of shola forests and was known locally as Sairandhrivanam, named after Sairandhri (also known as Draupadi), the wife of the Pandavas. Legend has it that as part of their 13-year travels, the Pandavas travelled south and reached this region. This region is a treasure-house of fauna and flora, including medicinal plants. Hydnocarpus, an evergreen forest tree whose seeds provide the oil that can be used to treat leprosy, and Rauvolfia serpentina, a shrub used for treating high blood pressure are a few examples. Varieties of wild pepper, cardamom, black gram, rice, and bean have been found in this region. This region was also inhabited by the lion-tailed macaque (Fig. 1.5), the great Indian hornbill, and the Nilgiri Tahr. The dam was expected to have a height of 130 metres, and would have resulted in 8.3 km² of virgin rainforest getting destroyed. A paucity of funds resulted in delays in construction and the KSEB decided to resume construction in 1976. During this period, tree felling was being carried on in the valley. A call for the conservation of this forest came from poets, academicians, and conservationists. It was during this period that the Indira Gandhi intervened. She, as the Prime Minister, had formed the National Committee for Environmental Planning and Co-ordination, which was looking for places in the Western Ghats suitable for conservation. The search led to Silent Valley as an ideal place for conservation. In 1977, the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) compiled the initial assessment report, which mentioned that the region had the ‘largest chunk of continuous evergreen forest without any human interference in the country’.³¹http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-silent-revolution/541546/2, last accessed on 30 May 2011. In 1978, the Government of India gave its sanction to the Silent Valley National Park Project, with the condition that the state government enact legislation to protect the ecosystem. In the same year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) passed a resolution that supported the conservation of the region. In 1979, the government of Kerala passed legislation protecting Silent Valley, however excluding the electric project area from the protected area. Although the cutting of forests continued in the excluded area, the High Court of Kerala passed an order against this, following the filing of a petition of writ. The High Court soon lifted the ban, but Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister, requested the state government to stop further action in the valley, until a comprehensive study was done. Soon a multi-disciplinary committee, chaired by Dr MGK Menon, was created and submitted a report. Following the study of the report, the dam project was abandoned. On November 15, 1984 the Silent Valley forests were declared a National Park and on September 1, 1986 the National Park was also designated the core area of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. In 2007, a 147.22 km² buffer zone was approved by the Kerala Cabinet. FIG. 1.5Lion-tailed macaque, found in Silent Valley, is among the rarest and most threatened of primates³²Photo by Aaron Logan. Used with permission. Image source: ‘Lightmatter lion-tailed macaque’. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightmatter_lion-tailed_macaque.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Lightmatter_lion-tailed_macaque.jpg, last accessed on 14 July 2014. •³³http://www.moef.nic.in/downloads/about-the-ministry/introduction-nep2006e.pdf, last accessed on 17 July 2014.Conservation of critical environmental resources—To protect and conserve critical ecological systems and resources, and invaluable natural and man-made heritage, that is essential for life support, livelihoods, economic growth, and a broad conception of human well-being. •Intra-generational equity: Livelihood Security for the Poor—To ensure equitable access to environmental resources, and quality for all sections of society, and in particular, to ensure that poor communities, which are most dependent on environmental resources for their livelihoods, are assured secure access to these resources. •Inter-generational equity—To ensure judicious use of environmental resources to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations. •Integration of environmental concerns in economic and social development—To integrate environmental concerns into policies, plans, programs, and projects for economic and social development. •Efficiency in environmental resource use—To ensure efficient use of environmental resources in the sense of reduction in their use per unit of economic output, to minimize adverse environmental impacts. •Environmental governance—To apply the principles of good governance (transparency, rationality, accountability, reduction in time and costs, participation, and regulatory independence) to the management and regulation of use of environmental resources. •Enhancement of resources for environmental conservation—To ensure higher resource flows, comprising finance, technology, management skills, traditional knowledge, and social capital, for environmental conservation through mutually beneficial multi-stakeholder partnerships between local communities, public agencies, the academic and research community, investors, and multilateral and bilateral development partners. The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) outlines the strategies, policies and programs adopted by India to address climate mitigation and adaptation. Released in 2008, NAPCC is guided by the following principles:³⁴http://pmindia.nic.in/Pg01-52.pdf, last accessed on 26 September 2012. •Protecting the poor and vulnerable sections of society through an inclusive and sustainable development strategy, sensitive to climate change. •Achieving national growth objectives through a qualitative change in direction that enhances ecological sustainability, leading to further mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. •Devising efficient and cost-effective strategies for end user Demand Side Management. •Deploying appropriate technologies for both adaptation and mitigation of greenhouse gases emissions extensively as well as at an accelerated pace. •Engineering new and innovative forms of market, regulatory, and voluntary mechanisms to promote sustainable development. •Effecting implementation of programs through unique linkages, including civil society and local government institutions, and through public private partnership. •Welcoming international cooperation for research, development, sharing, and transfer of technologies enabled by additional funding and a global IPR regime that facilitates technology transfer to developing countries under the UNFCCC. As part of NAPCC, eight national missions are designed and these national missions form the core of the action plan. These missions³⁵http://www.moef.nic.in/sites/default/files/presnt_CC.pdf, last accessed on 19 July 2013., their objectives and the organizations responsible for its implementation are indicated in Table 1.1. S. no. Mission Objective Responsible entity 1 National Solar Mission 20,000 MW of solar power by 2020 Ministry of New and Renewable Energy 2 National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency 10,000 MW of EE savings by 2020 Ministry of Power 3 National Mission on Sustainable Habitat EE in residential and commercial buildings, public transport, Solid waste management Ministry of Urban Development 4 National Water Mission Water conservation, river basin management Ministry of Water Resources 5 National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem Conservation and adaptation practices, glacial monitoring Ministry of Science and Technology 6 National Mission for a Green India 6 million hectares of afforestation over degraded forest lands by the end of the 12th Plan Ministry of Environment and Forests 7 National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture Drought proofing, risk management, agricultural research Ministry of Agriculture 8 National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change Vulnerability assessment, research and observation, data management Ministry of Science and Technology Missions 1, 2, and 3 are focused on mitigation while Missions 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are focused on adaptation strategies. The salient features³⁶Adapted from the policy document available at http://wrmin.nic.in/writereaddata/NationalWaterPolicy/NWP2012Eng6495132651.pdf, last accessed on 16 July 2014. of the National Water Policy, released in 2012, by the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, are as follows: •To ensure that the Centre, the states, and various governance institutions provide access to a minimum quantity of potable water for essential health and hygiene to all its citizens, available within easy reach of the household. •To evolve a National Framework Law. •To recognize water as a sustainer of life and ecology. •To manage water as a community resource, held by the state, under public trust doctrine to achieve food security, livelihood, and equitable and sustainable development for all. •To keep a portion of river flows aside to meet ecological needs ensuring that the low and high flow releases are proportional to the natural flow regime, including base flow contribution in the low flow season through regulated ground water use. •To develop water footprints and water footprints to be included in the project appraisal and environment impact assessment (EIA) for water uses, particularly for industrial projects. •To assess and review the availability of water resources and their use by various sectors at periodic intervals. •To revive traditional water harvesting structures and water bodies. •To sensitize and encourage the community to adapt first to the utilization of water as per local availability, before water is provided through long distance transfer. •To price water in a way that ensures efficient usage of water and also conservation of water. •To arrive at a fair pricing for water for drinking, sanitation, agricultural, and industrial purposes and to arrive at this pricing through an independent statutory Water Regulatory Authority, set up by each State, after wide ranging consultation with all stakeholders. •To determine water charges on a volumetric basis. •To incentivize the recycle and reuse of water. •To regulate the usage of electricity to minimize the overdrawing of groundwater. •To give statutory powers to Water Users Associations (WUAs) to collect and retain a portion of water charges, manage the volumetric quantum of water allotted to them, and maintain the distribution system in their jurisdiction. WUAs should be given the freedom to fix rates subject to floor rates determined by Water Regulatory Authorities. •To establish a National Water Informatics Center to collect and maintain hydrologic data from the country. •To release all hydrological data in the public domain. •To manage water resources projects and services with community participation. •To establish a Water Disputes Tribunal at the centre. •To explore the possibilities of involving the private sector in water resources projects and services, with accountability to democratically elected local bodies. •To provide improved water supply in rural areas with proper sewerage facilities. •To incentivize sewerage systems with decentralized sewage treatment plants and least water intensive sanitation. •To focus on collecting surface water for urban and rural water supply. •To promote the reuse of urban water effluents from kitchens and bathrooms, after treatment. •To use urban domestic water systems to collect and publish water accounts and water audit reports. •To promote rainwater harvesting and desalinization in urban and industrial areas. •To integrate urban water supply and sewage treatment schemes and to include sewerage charges in water supply bills. •To prevent the industries from using more water within the plant, to avoid treatment, or to pollute groundwater. •To allow industries in water-scarce regions to withdraw only make-up water and to ensure that industries have the obligation to return only effluents treated to a specified standard back into the hydrologic system. •To plan water resources projects considering the social and environmental aspects in addition to techno-economic considerations in consultation with project-affected and beneficiary families. •To not allow encroachments and diversion of water bodies (such as rivers, lakes, tanks, ponds, etc.,) and drainage channels (irrigated areas as well as urban area drainage). •To strictly regulate urban settlements, encroachments, and any developmental activities in the protected upstream areas of reservoirs or water bodies, and key aquifer recharge areas. •To ensure that various planning processes take into consideration the environmental needs of Himalayan regions, aquatic eco-systems, wet lands, and embanked flood plains. •To prevent the pollution of water sources and water bodies. To evolve a periodic system of inspection by third parties and to take stringent punitive action against the persons responsible for pollution. •To ensure that industrial effluents, local cesspools, and chemical and fertilizer residues do not reach the ground water. •To promote training and academic courses in water management. •To start applied research in water management. •To start a national campaign for water literacy. •To establish an autonomous center for research in water policy. •To conduct quality improvement programs for water planners and managers. •To provide grants to states to update infrastructure and management practices, to prepare annual water balances and accounts for the site and basin, to prepare hydrologic balances for water systems, etc. An ecosystem refers to the biological environment of an area that consists of living organisms, and its interaction with non-living physical components such as air, soil, sunlight, and water. Examples of ecosystems include agro-ecosystem, aquatic ecosystem, chaparral, coral reefs, desert, freshwater ecosystem, human ecosystem, littoral zone, marine ecosystem, pond ecosystem, prairie, rainforest, riparian zone, savanna, steppe, taiga, tundra, and urban ecosystem. The structure of an ecosystem is influenced by the systematic physical organization of the biotic (related to living organisms) and abiotic (related to non-living—physical and chemical factors) components of that ecosystem. The flow of nutrients between biotic and abiotic components is referred to as the biogeochemical cycle. Some of the major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, sulphur cycle, oxygen cycle, and water cycle. Two processes happen simultaneously in an eco-system—the biogeochemical cycle and the energy flow that happens amongst the autotrophs, heterotrophs, and decomposers (Refer to the section Food Chain, Food Web and Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers for details on autotrophs, heterotrophs, and decomposers). These two processes constitute the functions of an ecosystem. An ecosystem can be represented in a trophic structure that depicts the relationship between producers and consumers. The trophic structure and function of an ecosystem is graphically represented as an ecological pyramid (Fig. 1.6) also referred to as a trophic pyramid/energy pyramid/Eltonian pyramid (named after Dr Charles Elton, the British ecologist who devised the pyramid). Each trophic level has a certain mass of nutrients (such as carbon, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorous, etc.,) which are referred to as ‘standing state’ and a certain mass of living material, which is referred to as ‘standing crop’ (biomass). The pyramids of number, biomass, and productivity represent the population number, the amount of biomass and the amount of productivity, respectively. Biomass pyramids indicate the amount of biomass at each trophic level, while productivity pyramids show the production of biomass or its turnover. The sun plays the prime role in any discussion related to the energy flow in the ecosystem. No wonder that ancient cultures and their people paid obeisance to the sun. Light from the sun provides energy for green plants to engage in photosynthesis, which results in the production of glucose that is stored as starch. In the presence of sunlight and a pigment called chlorophyll, plants convert water and carbon dioxide to form glucose and oxygen. This can be expressed as follows: 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + sunlight + chlorophyll → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ The energy stored in plants, which are consumed by animals and human beings, breaks down the glucose through the process of respiration and releases the energy needed for the plants’ sustenance. This can be expressed as follows: C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + energy The accumulation of energy in plants will be in the form of starch, and the transfer of this accumulated energy from plants, which are the primary producers, to other life forms is referred to as an energy flow. The flow of energy through a food chain is referred to as an energy flow. Ecologists also refer to energy flow as calorific flow. Energy is transferred from one trophic level to another trophic level. It is estimated that 90 per cent of the energy is lost at each level in the form of heat or incompletely digested food. Thus, in a food chain that involves the primary producer, the primary consumer, the secondary consumer, and the tertiary consumer, the primary consumer receives only 10 per cent of the energy produced by the primary producer. The secondary consumer and the tertiary consumer receive only 1 per cent and 0.1 per cent of the energy produced by the primary producer. The base of the pyramid is often formed by primary producer organisms such as green plants. The first level is referred to as the first trophic level. Following the primary producers are the primary consumers (herbivores), secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers, who will occupy the top of the pyramid. Autotrophs like plants are considered to be primary producers and occupy the first level as they obtain energy directly from an energy source like sunlight. Autotrophs such as plants or algae are the producers in a food chain. They are capable of producing their own food and in order to produce it, do not rely on organic compounds or carbon sources as an energy source. Autotrophs are organisms that produce complex organic compounds such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light (by photosynthesis) or inorganic chemical reactions (chemosynthesis). FIG. 1.6Trophic pyramid³⁷Sources of various public domain photos used in the image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alburnus.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heterocarpus_ensifer.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:YellowPerch.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Esox_lucius1.jpg, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pandion_haliaetus_NBII.jpg, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KopAlver.jpg, last accessed on 7 August 2014. The food linkage between various trophic levels is referred to as the food chain and the network connecting various food chains is referred to as the food web. Links are trophic interactions directed from prey to predator. A chain is a sequence of links that starts at a basal species and ends with a consumer species. Food chains are directional paths of trophic energy, or equivalently, sequences of links that start with basal species, such as producers or fine organic matter, and end with consumer organisms.³⁸Neo D. Martines, ‘Artifacts or Attributes? Effects of Resolution on the Little Rock Lake Food Web’, Ecological Monographs, 61(4), 1991. A food chain is a linear sequence that starts from a species that eats no other species (like plants) and ends with a species that is eaten by no other species in the web. Species like plants are referred to as producers as they utilize solar energy to produce food and are not dependent on other organisms. Food chains typically start with a producer. In a food chain, all organisms other than the organisms at the first level are referred to as consumers as they consume some other organism . Chain length is measured by the number of links in the sequence from producers or fine organic matter to consumers. A web's average chain length is the average number of links in every chain connecting all consumers to basal species.³⁹Neo D. Martines, ‘Artifacts or Attributes? Effects of Resolution on the Little Rock Lake Food Web’, Ecological Monographs, 61(4), 1991. Raymond Lindeman, in his now famous research paper ‘The Tropic-Dynamic Aspect of Ecology’⁴⁰Lindeman, Raymond L., ‘The Trophic-Dynamic Aspect of Ecology’, Ecology, 23(4), 1942, pp. 399–417. spoke about the energy flow in ecosystems and gave the 10 per cent law suggesting that only 10 per cent of energy is transferred to the next trophic level. Therefore, plants can store only 10 per cent of the energy from the sun. Herbivores or primary consumers have access only to this 10 per cent of this energy while the remaining 90 per cent is dissipated as heat. There is further energy loss of 90 per cent as one move from the level of a primary consumer to that of a secondary consumer (Fig. 1.6). The health of the organism at the top of the food chain is indicative of the health of the entire ecosystem. For example, the tiger is considered to be an apex predator. It is also referred to as a top predator or a top-level predator or an alpha predator. A tiger can exist only if there is a healthy availability of other species in the ecosystem, and thus the existence of the tiger is an indicator of the health of the ecosystem, and the conservation of the tiger results in the conservation of species across all trophic levels. Due to this reason, Project Tiger, a project launched by the Government of India in 1973 aiming at the conservation of tigers, also aims at maintaining the natural habitat of tigers and rectifying the damage done to the habitat. In the formative years of this project, there were nine tiger reserves, which have increased to 46 in 2014⁴¹http://projecttiger.nic.in/content/107_1_Background.aspx, last accessed on 14 July 2014.. Ecological succession refers to the process of change undergone by a biotic community during a period of time. Usually such changes are orderly and predictable. For example, a deciduous forest community could be destroyed by a wildfire. Though the trees and plants are destroyed, the soil is very much alive, now with added nutrients derived from the fallen trees. Soon, grasses and bushes start growing, followed by fast-growing trees. Under the fast-growing trees grow the slow-growing shade tolerant trees. As days go by, the fast-growing trees are dwarfed by deciduous trees. This results in the death of the fast-growing shade intolerant trees. Now, the situation is conducive for another wild-fire, resulting in the repetition of the entire cycle. In 2012, LG Electronics USA launched consumer goods (an OLED TV, LCD Computer Monitor, a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a smartphone) that carry the CarbonFree logo, a certification from CarbonFund.org foundation that certifies a product to be carbon neutral, a feat achieved by the company offsetting or reducing emissions associated with the product. Life Cycle Analysis (LCAs) of the products, from extraction of raw materials to product disposal, will be carried out to determine the emissions caused by these products. LG is working with E-Stewards Initiative to engage in e-waste recycling. Periodic fires in forest ecosystems help to maintain the habitat. Such naturally occurring fires promote diversity of the forest ecosystem. Examples of how a forest fire helps to maintain the habitat and ecological succession are as follows: •Natural fires near the Great Lakes⁴²Located in the US–Canada border, these five lakes consists of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. They form the largest group of freshwater lakes on the planet. ecosystem in USA usually occur every 125-180 years. The seed of the jack pine, which is found in this region, is aided by fire. The seeds are found inside the cones in the tree and these cones remain closed for many years. The heat from the fire opens the cones and releases the seeds onto the ground. The seeds of the jack pine can withstand significantly high heat exposure. Along with the burning of the mature tree, the fire also burns the existing vegetation and litter on the ground. This way, the seeds are provided with soil that is high in minerals. •In regions like Alaska, the decay of vegetation is slow because of the cold conditions. Thus the availability of nutrients for life is also slow. A natural fire results in the release of a significant amount of nutrients, resulting in a fresh growth of plants, which results in food for animal life. While natural fires result in ecological succession, a human induced fire causes harm. In USA, almost 80,000 wildfires are recorded each year and burn more than 6.5 million acres of forests and grasslands annually.⁴³http://www.smokeybear.com/resources/Smokey%20TG%20BW.pdf, last accessed on 4 July 2012. It has been estimated that nine out of ten wildfires in USA are caused by humans.⁴⁴http://www.smokeybear.com/resources/Smokey%20TG%20BW.pdf, last accessed on 4 July 2012. Ecological succession can be of three types – primary, secondary, and cyclic. Primary succession occurs in an environment where conditions suitable for biotic growth are created anew. An example could be an area where there has been a flow of lava to a region where soil did not exist, or an area from where a glacier has retreated. Following the cooling of lava, pioneer organisms like lichen and fungus may start growing. In due course of time, these pioneer organisms are replaced by grass and other pioneer plants, which will soon be replaced by other plants and animals. In secondary succession, there is an interruption to an already established ecosystem, for example, a forest fire burning away the existing biotic connections and paving the way for new ones. Primary succession usually takes a longer period of time as compared to secondary succession. Cyclic succession is the gradual, organic change in vegetation and species that occurs in an area when there is little disturbance to the ecosystem. The Law of Tolerance, as proposed by V.E. Shelford states that the abundance in the population of an organism depends on the extent to which a complex of conditions is satisfied. Each organism has ranges of tolerance, which are the upper and lower limits of a range of environmental factors such as light, temperature, availability of water, and food, that contribute to the existence of the organism. Organisms with a wide range of tolerance will increase in their population while those organisms that have a narrow range of tolerance will have a restricted population. Limiting factors are those factors that regulate the population of an organism when they occur in excess or are insufficient. The Law of the Minimum, as proposed by Justus von Liebig states that growth in the population of an organism is limited by the factor that is the most deficient (at a minimum) in the environment that sustains the organism. The law of the minimum was originally meant only for the plant kingdom. Shelford expanded the Law of the Minimum to include the animal kingdom. In 2013, the Government of India banned the establishment of dolphinariums for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition, and for interaction purposes. The ban is applicable not just to dolphins, but all marine mammals. In its statement, the Government of India said that it is morally unacceptable to keep dolphins captive for entertainment purposes. India is one of four countries in the world (the others being Costa Rica, Hungary, and Chile) to ban such shows. Carrying capacity refers to the maximum population density of a given species that a given environment can support. It is also referred to as the maximal load in an environment. The carrying capacity for each species in a habitat is different because of the difference in the requirements for food, shelter, and social requirements. Technology and behavioural intervention has played an important role in impacting the carrying capacity of the world. The use of fertilizers, composting, greenhouses, land reclamation, etc., has increased the carrying capacity of the world. However, many of these interventions have resulted in negatively impacting the life of other living organisms and in the degradation of the planet. For example, while the increased use of fertilizers has resulted in increased food production, it has also resulted in an enormous usage of water and fossil fuels, from which fertilizers are made. Similarly, land reclamation has resulted in the destruction of wetlands, which have provided ecosystem services such as flood control, groundwater replenishment, and water purification. A forest is an area with a high density of trees (for more details, including the definition and classification of forests, refer to the chapter on bio-diversity). Forests cover 30 per cent of the total land area and 9.4 per cent of the planet's surface. They cover 90 per cent of the world's terrestrial biodiversity. A forest consists of the upper tree layer, also referred to as the canopy or overstory, and the lower tree layer or the understory. The understory consists of the following: (a) shrub layer, (b) herb layer, and (c) the moss layer with soil microbes. Human induced factors that affect forests include deforestation through logging and forest fires, the introduction of foreign tree species, and environmental fall-outs like acid rain. However, at least some of these negative interventions can be offset by allowing for the regrowth of the forest. Forests that have regrown after major human induced or natural disturbances are referred to as secondary forests. The forests that have not undergone such disturbances are referred to as primary forests or old growth forests. Geographical regions dominated by grasses are referred to as grasslands. The height of the vegetation in this land can vary. Grasslands support diverse wildlife and can be classified as follows: (a) tropical and subtropical grasslands, (b) temperate grasslands, (c) flooded grasslands, (d) montane grasslands, (e) Tundra grasslands, and (f) desert and xeric grasslands. Some of the mammals found in grasslands include wildebeest (gnu), American bison, giant anteater, and Dzungarian horse. Grasslands could occur as a result of animal movement and behaviour. For example, the bush elephants of Africa are known to eat the saplings of acacia plants preventing them from maturing into trees. These elephants are also known for ripping plants and pulling down trees. The ecosystem in grasslands is also influenced by human intervention including farming and making provision for the grazing of domesticated animals. The world's tallest grasslands are the Terai-Duar grasslands located at the base of the Himalayas. These grasslands stretch through Bhutan, Nepal, and India. Grasses in this grassland include baruwa and kans grass. The region is also known for the one-horned rhinoceros, Bengal tigers, Indian leopards, and Asian elephants. Some of the other species of wildlife found in the grasslands of India include the Indian bison, Indian water buffalo, nilgai, Bengal florican, lesser florican, pygmy hog, hispid hare, hog deer, and swamp deer (barasingha).⁴⁵http://www.planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp11/tf11_grass.pdf, last accessed on 17 July 2014. A desert is a geographical region that receives extremely low precipitation. Regions with precipitation less than 250 millimetres (10 inches), are considered to be true deserts, while those regions that receive precipitation between 250 millimetres and 500 millimetres are considered to be semi-deserts or steppes. These regions lose more moisture than they receive. Deserts occupy one-third of the total land area of the planet. Only 20 per cent of the earth's deserts are covered by sand. Deserts can be classified as hot and cold deserts. Hot deserts are found in the tropical region. The Saharan desert, Arabian desert, and Thar desert in India, are examples. Cold deserts are typically located at higher altitudes than hot deserts. They may also be part of the rain-shadow region of high mountains. For example, Ladakh is a high-altitude cold desert located in the northern part of India with Himalayan ranges creating a rain-shadow region in Ladakh (refer to Fig. 1.7 for another example of a locale with a rain-shadow region on one side and perennial rivers on the windward side). While deserts have relatively thin flora cover, they are diverse. Desert animals in hot deserts usually remain hidden during daylight hours because of the heat conditions prevailing in the desert and the need of water. Two of the largest deserts of the world are cold deserts–the Antarctic and the Arctic. The largest hot desert is the Saharan Desert. In the Thar desert region of India, 23 species of lizard and 25 species of snakes have been found⁴⁶http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/life/thar.htm, last accessed on 17 July 2014.. Mammalian varieties found in this region consist of 41 species⁴⁷http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/projects/IND/00057823_Project%20Document%20-%2071579.pdf, last accessed on 17 July 2014. and include the blackbuck, Indian gazelle, and the Indian wild ass. The lack of water in this region ensured that the conversion of grassland to cropland was slow, thereby resulting in the survival of these animals. 141 species⁴⁸http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/projects/IND/00057823_Project%20Document%20-%2071579.pdf, last accessed on 17 July 2014. of migratory and resident birds, including species of eagles, falcons, harriers, and vultures, have been recorded in the Thar desert. Despite the extreme climate, the Thar desert region is also one of the most densely populated regions of the world, with a human population of 84–90 per sq. km. as compared to 3–6 per sq. km. in other deserts. FIG. 1.7An image from Tirunelveli district in Tamilnadu, India, depicting the Agasthiyamalai hills. While the Agasthyamalai hills create a rain-shadow for the Tirunelveli region, the hills are also the source for rivers (Thamirabarani, Karamana, and Neyyar) and medicinal plants on the windward side of the hills.⁴⁹Photo by Arun Ganesh, used with permission. Image source: ‘Agasthiyamalai range and Tirunelveli rainshadow’ by w:user:PlaneMad - Photo by w:user:PlaneMad. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agasthiyamalai_range_and_Tirunelveli_rainshadow.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Agasthiyamalai_range_and_Tirunelveli_rainshadow.jpg, last accessed on 26 September 2012. Figure 1.7 An ecosystem associated with a body of water is referred to as an aquatic ecosystem (refer to Fig. 1.8 for an aquatic ecosystem). Two of the major aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems. While marine ecosystems cover approximately 71 per cent of the earth's surface and contain 97 per cent of the planet's water, freshwater ecosystems cover 0.8 per cent of the planet's surface and contain 0.009 per cent of the planet's water. Marine ecosystems include oceans, estuaries, lagoons, mangroves, the deep sea, the sea floor, coral reefs, and more. FIG. 1.8Aquatic ecosystems Though freshwater ecosystems cover only a miniscule part of the earth's surface, they contain 41 per cent of the world's known fish species. Fresh water ecosystems can be classified into the lentic ecosystem, lotic ecosystem, and wetland ecosystem. The lentic ecosystem consists of water bodies with slow moving water. This includes ponds, pools, and lakes. The backwaters and lagoons of Kerala fall into this category. The lotic ecosystem refers to water bodies with rapidly moving water, such as streams and rivers. Wetlands are areas where water and soil are in close proximity. Types of wetland include swamps, marshes, fens, and bogs. Wetlands are considered to be the top productive natural ecosystems. In addition to providing a number of ecosystem services, they also support a large number of animal and plant species. The Sundarbans in Bengal are known for their wetlands with mangrove forests. Freshwater ecosystems perform important ecosystem services including recycling nutrients, purifying water, recharging of ground water, controlling floods, and providing a habitat for a variety of wildlife.

•Ecology from the context of its root words, refers to writings/discourses/collections/science/study of the household. Ecology is the study of the interlinkages between living organisms along with their physical, chemical, and biological environment. •Environment management is a branch of study that deals with managing the resources of the planet in a way benifits the well-being of all species, and sustains resources for use by future generations. •Human intervention has resulted in a massive decline of biodiversity due to habitat destruction, release of toxins, the usage and release of harmful chemicals, over-harvesting, and more. •As per a report from ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity’ (TEEB), 47 percent of the GDP of the poor in India comes from ecosystem services. •The Chipko movement was a socio-ecological movement driven by awareness against tree-felling carried out by government contractors in the region. •An ecosystem refers to the biological environment of an area that consists of living organisms, and its interaction with the non-living physical components such as air, soil, sunlight, and water. •The energy stored in the plants that are consumed by animals and human beings, breaks down glucose through the process of respiration and releases the energy needed for their sustenance. This can be expressed as follows: C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + energy •The base of the pyramid is often formed by the primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers. •Ecological succession refers to the process of change undergone by a biotic community in a period of time. •The Law of Tolerance, as proposed by V.E. Shelford states that the abundance in the population of an organism depends on the extent to which a complex of conditions is satisfied. •The Law of the Minimum, as proposed by Justus von Liebig states that the growth in the population of an organism is limited by the factor that is the most deficient (at a minimum) in the environment that sustains the organism. •Carrying capacity refers to the maximum population density of a given species that a given environment can support. It is also referred to as the maximal load in an environment. •A forest is an area with a high density of trees. Forests cover 30 per cent of total land area and 9.4 per cent of the planet's surface. •Geographical regions dominated by grasses are referred to as grasslands. The height of the vegetation in this land can vary. Grasslands support diverse wildlife and can be classified as follows: (a) tropical and subtropical grasslands, (b) temperate grasslands, (c) flooded grasslands, (d) montane grasslands, (e) Tundra grasslands, and (f) desert and xeric grasslands. •A desert is a geographical region that receives extremely low precipitation. •An ecosystem associated with a body of water is referred to as an aquatic ecosystem. Two of the major aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems.

Ecology Ecological succession Ecosystem Environment management Food chain Food web Law of Minimum Law of Tolerance Sustainable development 1.‘Oikos’, in Greek means (a)house or household (b)creation (c)freedom (d)environment (a) 2.The Chipko movement was a socio-ecological movement driven by (a)awareness against tree-felling (b)planting green trees (c)voicing for human rights (d)saving animals (a) 3.The objective of the National Environment Policy 2006 was (a)conservation of critical environmental resources (b)integration of environmental concerns in economic and social development (c)efficiency in environmental resource use (d)enhancement of resources for environmental conservation (e)all of these (e) 4.The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) is guided by the following principle: (a)Protecting the poor and vulnerable sections through an inclusive and sustainable development strategy, sensitive to climate change (b)Inter-generational equity (c)Intra-generational equity (d)Forming multilateral and bilateral development partners (a) 5.__________________ refers to a biological environment of an area that consists of living organisms and its interaction with non-living physical components. (a)Ecosystem (b)Food chain (c)Food web (d)Bioaccumulation (a) 6.Energy stored in plants, breaks down glucose through the process of respiration and releases the energy needed for their sustenance and can be expressed as (a)C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + energy (b)C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + glucose (c)C₆H₁₂O₅ + 6O₂ → 5CO₂ + 6H₂O + energy (d)C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 5H₂O + carbohydrates (a) 7.The base of the pyramid is often formed by the (a)primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers (b)primary consumers, the primary producers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers (c)primary producers, primary consumers, tertiary consumers, and secondary consumers (d)tertiary consumers, primary producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers (a) 8.________ refers to the process of change undergone by a biotic community in a period of time. (a)Ecological succession (b)Environment succession (c)Ecology (d)Food web (a) 9.The maximum population density of a given species that a given environment can support is referred to as (a)carrying capacity (b)withholding capacity (c)bio-diversity (d)ecosystem (a) 10.__________ ecosystem includes oceans, estuaries, lagoons, mangroves, deep sea, sea floor, coral reefs, and more. (a)Marine (b)Forest (c)Grassland (d)Deep (a) 1.Define etymology, ecology, and environmental management. 2.Describe the evolution of green movement in India. 3.What do you mean by food chain and food web? 4.Define the Law of Minimum and the Law of Tolerance. 1.Explain the evolution of sustainable development. 2.Explain the National Environmental Policy (NEP) 2006 and the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). 3.Explain the concept of ecosystem, its structure, functions, and various types of ecosystem. 4.Explain ecological succession. 5.Explain the energy flow in the ecosystem. 1. The Living Planet Report states that ‘If everyone in the world lived like an average resident of the United States or the United Arab Emirates, then a bio-capacity equivalent to more than 4.5 Earths would be required to keep up with humanity's consumption and CO2 emissions’. How can we, as humanity, and you, as a citizen, make a transition to a sustainable way of being and living? 1. Make a food chain for each of the following . You should use examples local to your region: (a)Desert food chain (b)Aquatic food chain 1. Silent Valley: 25 years of an ecological triumph http://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/ZTKhUS56VU5MODk8aYxb2J/Silent-Valley-25-years-of-an-ecological-triumph.html, last accessed on 18 September 2014. 2. World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Case Studies on bio-diversity and eco-system services, stakeholder consultation and ecosystem accounting http://www.wbcsd.org/Pages/EDocument/EDocumentDetails.aspx?ID=14923, last accessed on 18 September 2014. 1. Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, Penguin Books, 2005. 2. John Robbins, The Food Revolution, Magna Publisher, 2001. 3. David Suzuki and Amanda McConnell, The Sacred Balance, Greystone Books, 2007. 4. Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, GBD Publications, 2010. 1. An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Paramount Classics, 2006. 1-a, 2-a, 3-e, 4-a, 5-a, 6-a, 7-a, 8-a, 9-a, 10-a