Sunday, 1 June 2014

Environmental Education.



QUESTION.
Environmental education refers to an integrated process which deals with man interrelationship with or her natural and man made surrounding, include the relation of population growth, pollution ,resource allocation and depletion, conservation technology and urban and rural planning to the total life of human”.
a) explain the interrelationship between natural resources utilization and ;
  1. population growth
  2. resource allocation
  3. urban and rural planning.
b)By examining Tanzania situation which factor from (a) above rank first in causing environment degradation. Elaborate the current strategies used to fix the problem caused by the mentioned factor

Environmental education is the process that creates awareness and understanding of the relationship between human their environments-natural, man made, cultural and technological. Environmental education is concerned with knowledge, value and altitude and as its aims responsible environmental behavior (NEEAC, 1996).

A resource is a natural occurring, exploitable material that society perceives to be useful to its economic and material well being. A natural resource is physical occurring resource. Natural resource can be renewable or non renewable resource. Renewable natural resources are like ground water, soil plants and animals, while non renewable resources are like crude oil, natural gas and coal (Getis, 2008).

Environmental education has the interrelationship with man, including the population growth, pollution, resource allocation and depletion, conservation technology and urban and rural planning. The following is explanation of how natural resource relate with population growth, resource allocation, urban and rural planning;

 Population growth this cancerous growth of the human population clouds the future on the planet earth and is underlying cause of our resources environmental crisis. As the in population means an increase in the pollution of air, water, and land .It means an accelerated depletion of natural resources which are already in short. Supply are dedicating in quality. It means massive starvation as in Africa today, will spread to other parts of the world, it means that greater numbers of people living in over crowned conditions will suffer from increasing emotional stress and will make increasing demands on wildness and recreation areas in order  to get away from all. Drug abuse, mental illness, crime and suicide will be more common .Each surge in population will bring a corresponding decline in our overall standard of living.(Oliver and Daniel 1990)

Also, population growth can led the excessive resource consumption and depletion the worlds industrialized nations are consuming non renewable resource  coal, oil, gas, copper zinc at an accelerating pace: The United States ranks first in per capital consumption , although our nation has only 5 percent of the global population, It consume 30 percent of worlds resources(Oliver and Daniel 1990)

Pollution like other industrialization/ industrized nations, we have granted our environment with an enormous variety and volume of contaminant, we have polluted lakes, streams, oceans and ground water with sewage, industrial wastes, radioactive materials, heat, detergents, fertilizers, pesticides and plastics. Millions of tones suffer dioxide and carbon dioxide are spread into the air from the combustion of fuel. (Oliver and Daniel 1990)

 Resource allocation is the process of determining the best way to use available assert or resource in a composition of a given project, companies to allocate resources in a manner that to minimize costs, while maximizing profits, typically by using strategic policies and procedures that move the business toward the achievement of its goal, or is the process of dividing up and distributing satisfy unlimited wants and needs.

Land as natural resources relate with rural and urban planning. A land use plan indicating the location and the amount of land to be used for residential, commercial, industrial, transportation and public purposes like a planning for circulation facilities, for public utilities, for community facilities use plan proposes a long range future urban and rural a pattern for retail, office, industrial, residential and open spaces, and public land use and circulation system. During rural and urban planning there will land planning classification were different use of land will be defined. (Adler 1994).

Water as a natural resources relate with urban and rural planning process people who dealing with planning in different areas of water where there should be spaces for water supply systems like water pipes, water tanks also area for wastes disposal this wastes may become harmful to the water sources.

 The following are factors of population growth that led to environmental degradation in Tanzania;
 The rising population has triggered the threat of human survival through different direct and indirect linkages. The increasing pressure of population directly implies the depletion in the natural resources and deforestation. The depletion in the natural resources is further linked to the adverse impact on climate and thus making the impact cyclic in nature. The increase in the population had added to the challenges people face in terms of poverty, environmental degradation and climate change (NHS 2007).

Global environmental and climate change is largely due to depletion of ozone layer, which is caused by the Green House Gases (GHG).  The greenhouse gases are released due to increase in human activities like changes in the agriculture and land-use, increased use of fossil fuel and use of biomass. An increase in greenhouse gases leads to increased warming of the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface. For the developing countries like Tanzania, the major challenge lies in balancing the growth requirement with the environmental sustainability. The industrial and infrastructure development correspondingly triggers the rise in energy needs and thus, creating a challenge in terms of the optimum trade off between the two. The growth in the population further adds to the complexity of the problem, as maintaining the ‘status quo’ also contribute significantly to the adverse impacts on the environment because of the increasing resource requirements for increased population ( NHS 2007).
     
The deforestation is another adverse impact of the population growth. The heavy reliance of the large percentage of the population on the firewood and charcoal can be considered as a major contributor behind this. The rise in timber industry also adds to the problem. During last 20 years, the total forest area has been reduced from 414,950 Sq km in 1990 to 334,280 Sq km in 2010 (Figure 10).  About 20% decrease in the total forest area in just 20 years is an alarming situation. As it can be seen that the problem is mainly due to the energy use pattern, there appeared (NHS 2007).

The current strategies used by Tanzania to fix the factor above;
The National Strategy of Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP), which is also known as MKUKUTA in Kiswahili, focuses on growth and reduction of poverty in order to have sustainable reasonable growth. The NSGRP is in line with the Vision 2025 and the Millennium Development Goals. The successful implementation of NSGRP can help in reducing the negative impacts of environment on people’s livelihood, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, and provision of reliable and affordable energy to consumers. Some of the important policy goals, directly related to sustainable development are: Promoting Sustainable and broad-based Growth ,Provision of Reliable and affordable energy to consumers ,access to clean, affordable, clean and safe water, sanitation, decent shelter and safe and sustainable environment and thereby, reduced vulnerability from the environmental risk (URT, 2005)

Tanzania has developed National Environmental Policy (NEP) to address the environmental sustainability issues in an integrated manner (URT, 1997a, p.3). The policy highlights major environmental problems in Tanzania including land degradation, lack of accessible good quality water, environmental pollution, loss of wildlife habitats and biodiversity, deterioration of aquatic systems and deforestation.  The policy focuses on the following objectives (URT, 1997a, p. 9); environment or risking health or safety, to prevent and control degradation of land, water, vegetation, and air which constitute our life support systems, to ensure sustainability, security and equitable use of resources for meeting the basic needs of the present and future generations without degrading the conserve and enhance our natural and man-made heritage, including the biological diversity of the unique ecosystems of Tanzania, to improve the condition and productivity of degraded areas including rural and urban settlements in order that all Tanzanians may live in safe, healthful, productive and aesthetically pleasing surroundings, to raise public awareness and understanding of the essential linkages between environment and development, promotion of sustainable renewable energy resources, assessment and control to promote international cooperation on the environment agenda, ( URT 1997 a,p.9).

Generally environmental education is very potential in daily life of human being since environment is used in daily survival. Through environmental education,  people can be aware on how to use resource while controlling the environment crisis.




                                                             REFERENCES

Getis, J. (2008), Introduction to Geography (11th Edition).  McGraw-Hill, Inc, New York.

WEBSITE
 Adler et al, (1994). Planning the Oregon Way: A Twenty Year Evaluation Corvallis,
URT 1997, National  environmental Policy, The United Republic of Tanzania. Retrieved from http;// www.tzonline. Org.
URT 1997, The National Land Policy, The United Republic of Tanzania. Accessed on 23/10/2012 from http;// www.tzonline.org.
URT 1997, The Agricultural and Livestock Policy, The United Republic of Tanzania. Accessed on 24/10/2012 from http;// www.tanzania.go.tz.
URT (2005), National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, the United Republic of Tanzania.  Accessed on 23/10/2012 from http://www.povertymonitoring.go.
NHS (2007), Tanzania National Household Survey 2007, National Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of State President’s Office Planning and Privatisation. Accessed on 25/10/2012 from http://nbs.go.tz
                                                                                       

Like Page Yetu Hapa Kuungana Nasi Facebook

0 comments:

Post a Comment