Keeping Track Of Our Changing Environment Economics Essay

 

隨時跟蹤環境的變化

 

定量研究是使用事實和數據生產科學知識。量化模塊的特點是目標,驗證和推廣。這里,數字是做出假設的關鍵，比如為什么某個確定的實體以某種方式分布,可能性,數字之間的關系和如何將這些數字與其他因素相關起來。解釋科學現象的量化關注于數字的組織過程和傳播。本文分析了從1992年到2012年之間的定量數據和變化的環境數據。這項研究是由聯合國環境規劃署的報告研究被稱為我們的跟蹤環境的變化:從里約到里約+ 20。該雜志由聯合國環境項目完成，它們提供了著名研究機構和國際機構收集的已統計分析的數據。用于確定環境的未來趨勢。報告的目的是分析定量變量,依賴和獨立通過展示關鍵的假設,心態,和哲學和評估環境和經濟等因素之間的關系以及進行社會分析和給我的在這項研究的觀點。從證據中,我可以得出結論, 理論環境目標不能應用于現實，除非數字和時間約束的目標被制定。

 

Quantitative research is the use of facts and figures to produce scientific knowledge. Quantitative module is characterized by objectives, verifications and generalization. Here, numbers are the key to make assumptions such as why a certain entity is distributed in a certain way, possibilities, relation of numbers and how these numbers relate with other factors. Quantification explaining scientific phenomena focuses on the organizational processes and dissemination of numbers. This paper analyses the quantitative data and statistics of changing environment from 1992 to 2012.The research was done by United Nations Environment Program and the report of the study is called Keeping Track of Our Changing Environment: From Rio to Rio+20. This journal by the United Nations Environmental Program provides data collected by renowned research bodies and international agencies, which have been statistically analyzed and are used to determine the future trends of the environment. The aims of the report is to analyze the quantitative variables, both dependent and independent by showing the key assumptions, mentalities, and philosophies and evaluate the relationships between environment and factors like economy as well as conduct a social analysis and give my stand on the study. From the evidence derived, I can conclude that theoretical environmental goals cannot be made to realities unless numeric and time bound targets are made.

 

The study variables

 

In quantitative research, one ought to determine the relationship between an independent variable and a dependent outcome in a population. According to Fink (2002), a variable is a measurable characteristic for example weight. An independent variable is an outcome that has been manipulated by the researcher including statistical data while dependent variable is the response obtained from the data that has already been measured (Fink, pp 31-33).#p#分頁標題#e#

 

The study period

 

The study was limited to twenty years because it is then that the greatest economic, social, environmental and geopolitical changes occurred. The twenty years are used because within then the changes are significant and varied increasing accuracy. Short periods for new phenomena’s like carbon trading are used to present a partial picture of the activities to date.

 

Data collection

 

The data used was globally collected to avoid geographical limitations that would make the study unrealistic by ensuring the entire world but not part of it is represented. For example the total population graph was concluded from sum of data from western Asia, the North American region, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, and Asia.

 

Data source

 

The sources of the data were authoritative and from reliable institutions. The shortcomings in data arose because not all statistics were available at the national level. There is also a possibility that the data collection techniques had some form of cliché and therefore the data yielded was of poor quality or outdated. For example the United Nations Population Division, Food and Agriculture Organization under the umbrella of the United Nations, the sustainable Europe research institute (SERI), the compiled world bank data regarding UNEP GEO Data Portal, and the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (UNEP, 101). In addition, the comparison of statistics over time intrinsically presents difficulties. Using these reports, I will critically analyze the numerical objectives of the research from evidence of climate change, loss of biodiversity, total destruction of species, land surface degradation and reduced ocean quality. In my opinion, despite the positive efforts to sustain the environment for example; through the use of renewable sources of energy, the use of ozone friendly chemicals and while the environment is still degrading. However, data for developing countries is poor due to gender disaggregation.

 

Data representation techniques

 

Figures, graphs like the Megacities and Gross Domestic Product graphs, satellite images like the Amazon rainforest, and the Mesopotamian Marshlands are used to explain the figures, patterns and trends in environmental changes, economic growth and condition of natural resources and landscapes. Charts are particularly used to present areas where all three data requirements were met to ensure steadfastness. Trends are not provided where one or another of the criterion was not met, such as the availability of fresh water, the depletion of ground water, land degradation, chemicals and waste because analysis might not be reliable.

 

The journal on the subject of keeping track talks about the emerging trends in the world over the past twenty years. These changes have swept the world over the past twenty years and have been compiled in the form of statistical data. The United Nations Environmental Program is responsible for producing the report as part of their Global Environmental Outlook series, which was conducted in the Brazil conference. Several advancements have taken place since the conference. New technology has brought about the advancement of many industrial institutions. Communication and research are one of the few areas that have benefited greatly from the technological advancements. During the early 1990’s, there were certain technological materials that had not been developed like the mobile telephones. Recently, about an estimate of about five billion individuals have an access to a mobile handset thus enabling the world to become a global village (UNEP, 7). With the rise in internet subscriptions, communication in the recent years has become an easy affair for people. Social networking has made it easy to communicate with people from all over the world. A few years ago, worldwide communication was a bit difficult because such technological advancements were unavailable. However, recent social communication via the internet boasts of an average of about two billion users with a majority of them using social sites like facebook and twitter among others (UNEP, 7).#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Environmental degradation is another issue being addressed and is an emerging trend highlighted in the article. Environmental degradation is defined as the quantitative and qualitative wear and tear of the environment (Kirch, 333). Degradation occurs by means of human or natural catastrophic process. According to a report by the World Bank’s world development report in 1992, some of the environmental problems we face today include degradation, water shortage, pollution and loss of biodiversity (Duraiappah, 3). The report cites that degradation to a larger extent comprises the subjectivity on the part of the agents involved or who owns the resources beforehand (Duraiappah, 4). The UNEP Rio report shows that degradation has been taking place over time with the depletion of certain important minerals and precious metals. The growing populations have been a major factor that has brought about the instantaneous high demand for resources such as water, energy and food (UNEP, 7). An increase in population results to a decrease in the availability of natural resources. This means the ecosystem becomes constrained by the limited resources available. Water is an example of a natural resource that becomes restrained by the ever growing number of people. Due to the rapidly changing environmental problems in the world, there have been several issues concerning the environment that have been addressed over the past twenty years (UNEP, 7). One issue is regarding the carbon trading (UNEP, 8). While addressing climate change, putting an emphasis on the monetary value towards the emission of greenhouse gases has been a major step in combating the issue. According to statistics carried out about climate change within the European Union, there has been a drop in the emission of greenhouse gasses from 1990 by about 17.4 percent (Eurostat, 2012). Using the figure below, there has been a downward trend in emission from 1990 and the next seven years to 1997. This decrease is attributed to the decline in the economic crisis, which brought about minimal industrial activities. The European Union’s approach to attaining their vision 2020 was adopted in 2008 and its most important agenda was to entrust the EU-27 to reduce their overall conservatory gas productions by about twenty percent their initial levels in 1990 by the end of 2020 (Eurostat, 2012). This will enable Europe as a nation change completely into a low-carbon economy and at the same time increase its power security through other means of clean fuels.

 

Nanotechnology as discussed in the UNEP journal (p 8), 2012 aims at ensuring there is a clean source of energy for the population. Even though it is related to posing future threats and potential environmental exposures, it provides a much safer source of energy to be used in the industries, health care, production of clean water. The other importance of nanotechnology is employment. According to an early estimate, about two million jobs will be created by 2015 in the field of nanotechnology (Industry Canada, 2009).#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Population and human development in relation to demography is the other argument presented in the journal. Population can be influenced by each and everything that can influence or be influenced by how many people live in a given location, the rate at which people in a locality change over time, population distribution, population processes, the structure that defines a population in terms of sex and age, and what defines people living in a certain place in terms of education, family, occupation, income among the many other distinguishing features that add up to who individuals are (Weeks, 3). Taking a look at the past population will help in determining the future trend of the population.

 

Population around the world has been increasing over the past decades. Since the year 1992, the world population has increased by the rate of 1.3 percent per annum (UNEP, 12). The number of people rose from about five billion to about seven billion within ten years. This amounts to about 26 percent increase (UNEP, 12). This can be attributed to a drop in the mortality levels over the decades and the increase in life expectancy levels (Weeks, 4). Taking a closer look at the total statistical population trend in the journal keeping track of our changing environment, different regions have different growth rates. There are certain continents having a greater number of inhabitants. About 80 percent of the total population inhabits the Asian continent (UNEP, 12). Population in Asia has grown tremendously over the past decades. The rates of growth have been high because in 1950, Asia had a population of 1.4 billion people (Taeuber, 1958), which has risen to about 7 billion people. One of the factors that can be attributed to the growing trend is the improvement in the health sector. New and improved sanitation in particular incorporated with the introduction of a better diet and technical advancements have made sure there is the attainment of the increased population (Taeuber, 1958). This trend is hazardous because as the population grows, the economic status of the nation remains partial with the social change being muted (Taeuber, 1958).

 

In the African, European and North American continents combined, about 15 percent of the world population lives there. In America, agriculture has become advanced in the past century. Over the past decade, the world food production has increased by about 24 percent. This figure has outnumbered the population growth (Kinder, 1998). However, this increase is not evenly distributed over the African continent where the food production decreased, while population increased. This is attributed to the high levels of poverty. In the African society, women suffer from malnutrition while the men feed healthily on whatever food is available (Kindler, 1998). The small amounts of resources are available to women, who are responsible for providing the food supply. Even though there is plenty of food, and there is sufficient equitable distribution to meet the demands of the future generations, this shortage of food supply is attributed to the fact that there is lack of enough funds to buy the food.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

According to the journal about the Rio summit, with an increase in population, there comes about a decrease in the population growth rate (UNEP, 13). The graph shows a drop in the annual percentage from 1.65 percent to about 1.2 percent in the past ten years from the 1990’s until 2000’s. Over the last eight years between 1992 and 2010, there has been a decline in the growth rate by 27 percent worldwide (UNEP, 13). This rate can be related to the rate at which a nation grows economically. When there is an increase in the population growth rate, the economic status of the nation improves as well. One confirmed report about this relationship is through the immense change across the world in terms of the international trade and the emergence of communication technologies including the internet (Notaras, 2011). When it comes to population increase, the graph shows a 67 percent increment since 1992 in Asia especially the western part of Asia while in Africa; there has been a percentage increment of 53 over the past decades. In Europe, the population increase is slightly growing at a rate of 4 percent (UNEP, 13).

 

Over the past twenty years from 1992, the rate of urban population has risen by about 2 billion. In the year 1992, the urban population was about 2.5 billion people and by the end of 2009, the number had increased by approximately 45 percent to about 3.5 billion people (UNEP). According to Brinkhoff (2011), the number of people moving to urban areas is about one billion. This number is equivalent to about thirty two times the population of Tokyo, Japan and about 110 times the population of Paris, France. One attribute to the rapid growth of urban areas is migration. Migration is the long term relocation from one place to the other by an individual or a group of people from their original place (Oberai, 28). The most pronounced form of migration is rural to urban migration. This net migration exceeds the number of people moving from the urban centres (Gizewski and Dixon, 1995). This unprecedented augmentation of the metropolitan centres is projected to continue in the coming years even though the rate will have a downward trend (UNEP, 14). In order to make it more viable and environmentally sustainable, special attention ought to be given in terms of the economy, social lifestyle and politically. About 50 percent of the populations in urban areas consume approximately 75 percent of the global energy produced (UNEP, 14). This population is also responsible for producing about 80 percent of the carbon emissions globally when consumption becomes the main subject to address (Satterthwaite, 2011). The other factor that causes an increase in the urban population is the natural increase if population where the number of births exceed the number of deaths (Gizewski and Dixon, 1995).

 

Urbanization and urban settlements has brought about the rise of slums and environmentally fragile countries (UN, 2). The rate at which mega cities have grown since the 1990’s is double. According to the UNEP journal on keeping track of Our Changing Environment, a mega city has been defined as the high density metropolitan areas that have at least 10 million inhabitants. According to data survey by the International Labour Organization, ILO and from the United Nation Department of International Economic and Social Affairs, which was collected in 1990, the data indicates that rural to urban migration contributed to the current growth in urban centres especially in developing nations (Oberai, 27). The table below illustrates the data that was obtained. Even though the level of migration is below the 50 percent mark for quite a number of the large cities in the developing nations, it is still a major contributor of the large share. When one compares both migration and the natural growth in the stages of a society’s growth with regards to the economy, migration is the number one contributor of urban growth#p#分頁標題#e#

 

The rapid urbanization shows a greater chance of addressing this vulnerable issue of settlement. This is because roughly approximately 40 percent of the urban settlement is found living in surroundings that are prone to flooding, poor housing that lack the basic requirements for survival and have a poor environment as well (UNEP, 14). Both Internal and external migrations contribute to the high rate of urbanization. The latest research work suggests that rural migration can also stem from shifts in farming production, the low economic growth rates, and differences in the rural land tenure system (Gizewski and Dixon, 1995). When it comes to determining the extent of how much the rural economy can absorb and assimilate its economic and labour growth; the intensity of technology used in agriculture, availability of land, conducive climatic conditions, the level of demand for the agricultural produce, fertilizers and assistance provided by agricultural extension officers come in handy (Gizewski and Dixon, 1995).

 

Ever since the Rio summit in Brazil, 1992, the world’s overall gross domestic product has had a significant increase. This increase has risen from US$ 36 to 63 million millions in the year 2010 (UNEP, 23). This signified an increase of about 75 percent, which can be interpreted as an average of 3.2 percent per annum. The gross domestic product per capita has risen by about 40 percent within the same period from 1992 to 2010. In the year 2011, the financial condition was very bad, which resulted to a downfall in the economy. With the improvement of the American activities and the improved policies in the euro area have brought about the improvement of the economic data (IMF, 22). The trend as projected by analysts indicate that a majority of the advanced economies together with their activities will remain relatively solid in the better part of the developing and emerging economies (IMF, xiii). In a bid to support growth and the implementation of the fundamental changes in order to achieve a healthy growth, the regulation of policies by the policy makers is fundamental.

 

Ever since the Rio summit in Brazil, 1992, the world’s overall gross domestic product has had a significant increase. This increase has risen from US$ 36 to 63 million millions in the year 2010 (UNEP, 23). This signified an increase of about 75 percent, which can be interpreted as an average of 3.2 percent per annum. The gross domestic product per capita has risen by about 40 percent within the same period from 1992 to 2010. In the year 2011, the financial condition was very bad, which resulted to a downfall in the economy. With the improvement of the American activities and the improved policies in the euro area have brought about the improvement of the economic data (IMF, 22). The trend as projected by analysts indicate that a majority of the advanced economies together with their activities will remain relatively solid in the better part of the developing and emerging economies (IMF, xiii). In a bid to support growth and the implementation of the fundamental changes in order to achieve a healthy growth, the regulation of policies by the policy makers is fundamental. There has been a substantial increase in the GDP per capita in many developing countries due to their strong economic growth rate. This increase projected a high of about 80 percent since 1992 and about 45 percent since 2002. The gross domestic product shows the intensity of economic activities by a nation (UNEP, 23). This term in most cases is usually misinterpreted for the measure of a particular nation’s standards of living.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Trade, which can be defined as the exchange of goods for goods or goods for services has been there since ancient human history. The economic importance incorporated with its social and political importance to have increased tremendously over the past years, and in the end, have contributed towards globalization (UNEP, 25). Trade is the other area that affects the GDP. According to the United Nations Environmental Journal from the world summit in Rio, the value of internationally traded good has tripled between the past twenty years from 1992 to 2009 (UNEP, 25). The value increased from 9 billion dollars up to 28 billion dollars. Before the economic crisis in 2008, the share of the GDP trade had been on the increase of about 10 percent. This rose from 39 percent to 49 percent to reach a maximum of 60 percent (UNEP, 25). The largest contributors to this growth even after 2008 has been attributed to trade in oil and mineral fuels by about 15 percent, vehicle industry by about 7 percent and machinery by about 12 percent (ITC, 2011). The goal of UNEP is to promote resource efficiency and the sustainable consumption and production in developing and developed nations (UNEP, 2012). Their major aim is to ensure there is an increased perception and realization by the public and private sector as well as the civil society with aim of promoting sustainable resource management (UNEP, 2012). According to the journal about the Rio summit, there has been a decline the emissions, material per unit of output consumed and energy even though there has been a growth in the overall energy and material use (UNEP, 27). The resource extraction per capita has been on a slight increase and other times stable over the years since 1992. Eco taxing is one solution that has enabled minimal emission of carbon (IV) oxide together with the other forms of pollutions such as deforestation and overfishing in a bid to supplement the incentives of decoupling and the green economy (UNEP, 27).

 

Since 1990, there has been a decline in the amount of forest cover worldwide. The total coverage of forests is about 30 percent of the total land mass (UNEP, 47). In between 2000 and 2010, about 13 million hectares of forested land was converted to other forms of activity by man and in other instances through natural calamities. A report by the Food and Agricultural Organization indicates that this value has declined as compared to the previous years where the total mass of land converted was about 16 million hectares per year (FAO, 2010). Global warming also arises from this loss of biodiversity because about 14 percent of the gases released into the environment include carbon (IV) oxide. This approximate percentage value of the carbon (IV) oxide gas emitted means a high chance of global warming because there would be no forest cover to absorb the emitted gases (UNEP, 47). Satellite photographs in the UNEP journal, p 48 show the areas of cleared land in the Amazonian jungle in Brazil. The trees cut down are a major source of timber, firewood, and pulp production. There has been an outward annual growth of 2.2 percent towards the improvement of the almost endangered watershed. This fraction is a significance of the annual increment of forested land by about 265 million hectares from the 170 hectares internationally (UNEP, 49).#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Water is the other area that shows great improvements over the past two decades even though about 2.5 billion people worldwide especially those living in developed nations still lack improved hygienic coverage. In 1992, about 54 percent of the population had access to improved sanitation (UNEP, 52). This has improved by about 6 percent to reach the 60 percent mark. With the current millennium development goals, it would take another twenty decades to reach the target of ensuring about 75 percent of households worldwide would have a hygienic coverage of clean water. In case the conservation levels improve as they have been, as per the Rio conference, this target would reach the about 90 percent of the total population in 2015 from the 77 percent in 1990 (UNEP, 52). With an improvement in water supply, the global food production would improve over the years (UNEP, 71).there has been a 42 percent increment since 1992 in terms of food production. This has been attributed to improved yields from the new agricultural lands. In the developing nations, agricultural production is not as developed as in the developed nations with their food securities being poorly managed. intensive production techniques, and expanding the farm land would be very helpful in achieving effective farming but their effects, which tends to lead to loss of biodiversity are adverse and well known (UNEP, 71).

 

Summarily, this paper has discussed the problems that affect human beings in the world as they have been addressed in the 1992 Rio de Janeiro conference. The journal keeping track of our changing environment: from Rio to Rio+20 talks about the statistical information that is important in determining a conclusive solution towards the emerging trends that affect the environment and how these information had been obtained.