Environmental Economics Essay Example for Free

Environmental Economics EssayAgriculture has an instrumental pulmonary tuberculosis and close association in preservation and conservation of the environment and economic reading. It promotes environment diversity and enhances the cornerstone of artificial habitats. The green biomass that covers many fields forms a basis of aesthetic to the human emotions. Intensified uses of chemic in sylvan issue exist the above benefits that a skip over from agricultural fields. In the recent past, a growing concern has been elevated with attentiveness to the ostracize impact arising from agricultural related activities and policies. Legalization of substances such(prenominal) as pesticide and fertilizer enhance cast out consequences on the environment. They contain toxic elements thus causes taint of pop water and underground water, drainage of wetlands, air pollutions and loss of diverse life forms and habitats. Settlement scheme in implemented on fragile lands such swamps, dis turbances the bionomic balance in the area. Environmental issues can be resolve by promoting organic husbandry, establishing relevant institutions, formulation of legislation and policies.The ecesis for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members concur that reforms should, to the extent possible, simultaneously enable cash advance to be made on trade liberation and environment. They too agreed to uphold the need to integrate agricultural development with environmental issues. (OECD 1993, p, 24-50) The focus of this study is and so to examine the risk of inorganic agriculture against organic agriculture on the environment and thereafter mold alternative strategies to foster sustainability.Environmental issues are diverse and multi-disciplinary in temperament since they cut across only sectors of the economy and cultures. Unsustainable agriculture and increase in populations in the humanity modifies environmental issues. Population increase exerts soaring pressure on the economic growthes to stretch, in most cases beyond the natural sustainable limit, to accommodate the oversupply demand (Sandler, Todd. 1997, p, 34-73) In response, the world has embarked on intensified adoption to scientific invention and advancement in technical development to improve performance.Organic bastardlys of action are then considered redundant and fierce in favor of inorganic agriculture. Unsustainable means of production, consequently, have widened and continue to widen environmental global challenges that threaten to cripple and suffocate the worlds economy. Studies have shown that increased use of chemical, such as pesticides and fertilizers for production in farming activities perpetuates the environmental global challenges. This puts the future livelihood for mankind at a transfix and uncertain.It is therefore important to examine environmental challenges attached to intensive use of chemical for agricultural production and thereafter provide an alter native strategy to enhance sustainability. (Dutch Committee, 1994, p, 30-50) Intensified use of chemical for production is more often than not attributed to agricultural and industrial revolution. Population has also influenced the need to use chemicals to increase feed production to becoming the ever growing world demand for food. Initially, the above means of agricultural production were common in Europe and Asian continent.Abject poverty in the world has created great desire and demand for technological innovation to increase food production. Globalization and scientific advancement has therefore provided a solution to the world food demand problem. However, the solution comes with a bundle of side effects. Technological and scientific information transfer, specially, to African countries, where poverty is obsolete and unsustainable (Andersons, L. and Bruce, Yundle, 2001, p, 50-200) Over the last three decades there has been an increasing global use of chemicals for agricultu ral production.Traditionally, production was based on organic means thus less environmental concerns. Merchandised agriculture has raised the public concern over the nature of the problems that arises from agricultural production. These problems are diverse and wholly attributed to environmental pollution caused by intensified use of pesticide and fertilizers. (Uri, Noel, 1999, p, 23-123) The problems are aggravated by improper management of agricultural chemicals thereby causing serious environmental issues. These pose a great problem to the survival and well-being of humanity, particularly those living in ontogenesis world.This is because fertilizers and pesticides are agent of pollution to water bodies, food sources, land, air and vegetation. The development of agriculture production through specialization and intensification of land use in recent decades has given rise to a wide range of environmental effects, both within the agricultural industry it egotism and increasingly, ex ternally to it. The recognition and understanding of these consequences of modern game technology agriculture developed in the 1970s and during the 1980s progress was made in addressing these impacts.Some problems still remain however and pull up stakes be of increasing importance. (OCED, p, 177) The use of chemicals for agricultural production therefore will continue to compromise the environmental sustainability. The World Health Organization estimates that about a quarter of the diseases facing mankind today occur due to prolonged flick to environmental pollution. Most of these environmental related diseases are however, not easily detected and may be acquired during childhood and manifest later in adulthood.The indiscriminate and excessive use of agrochemicals for crop protection represents by far the greatest threat to human health, to the genetic stock of the population and to sustain agriculture and environment. At a United Nations seminar in Nairobi Kenya in 1984, it was reported that almost 370,000 people suffer from pesticide insobriety and about 10,000annually die due to poisoning. Recently, the World Health Organization estimated 500,000 fatalities due to pesticide poisoning in developing world. This WHOs report further claims that another 400,000 cases of poisoning were due to pesticide handling and usage. (Mervyns, p, 12)From the quotation above, it is clear that the impacts of agrochemical increases with condemnation and magnitude. This kind of trend is unsustainable and therefore threatens the future of humanity. The impact of pesticide and fertilizer on human health is of the essence(p) and therefore should never be under-estimated. The traces of these chemical causes inhalation problems. Accumulation of the elements in the body system affects the sluttish circulation of blood in the body. Biodiversity forms a basis upon which the worlds beauty, emotional fulfillment and aesthetic collection are based. Agriculture spices up the aesthe tic-array of the world.It also creates artificial habitats that shelter migratory organisms such as birds, insects and animals. It therefore follows that agricultural production is a gene bank for scientific development. Intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers puts the existence of nature in it natural form at stake. This is because chemicals kill organisms that perpetuate natural fertilization processes thereby keep the natural form of nature stabilization. Chemical enhances the process of mutation. This leads to evolution of hybridized species of pests which are resistant to natural mean of pest control and at times even resistant to pesticides.Loss of biodiversity as a chair of chemical use in agricultural production is therefore eminent. It has been reported that, The first sub fatal effect of a pesticide on a bird was probably the eggshell thinning phenomena first depict by Ratcliff. DDE, the stable metabolite of DDE is reported to be the cause of eggshell thinning and consequent decline in the breeding success of birds of prey. (Mervyns, p, 78) Equity is a controversial aspect of resource distribution in the world. The possibility between the rich and the poor is quite disheartening. Economic processes and advancement also work towards widening the gap. commercialisation of agriculture with intensive use of chemicals, poses environmental degradation. This consequently deprives the land of its ability to naturally produce food thereby lowering its production yield. The poor depend totally on the environment for their livelihood. Inorganic agriculture is a worlds strategy to check the gap between the poor and the rich. It is widely think that many people in the world sleep without food for many days. Increased food production, will therefore help to resolve one of the greatest challenges that is threatening to tear the earth a part.However, inorganic farming has failed to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich. The efficiency of using chem icals to increase food production is questionable. Traditional means of production were more manual, labor intensive and time consuming with minimum negative impacts to the environment. Current means of agricultural production are merchandized and more efficient as compared with the traditional methods. However, with regard to the environmental challenges, the efficiency of inorganic production to address the abject poverty in the world is low. ecology is defined as the domestic site of organism, knowledge and the sum of the relation of the surrounding world. It is a self sustaining environment. Ecology is always sensitive to changes. Introduction of foreign substances such as traces of pesticides and fertilizer modify the ecological characteristic and identity. Nutrients like nitrate and phosphate are normally washed down into water bodies when it rains. This initiates the process of eutrophication. Eutrophication is a process whereby the water experiences enrichment with nutrients of nitrate and phosphate.Consequently water lilies, phytoplasm and algae blooms to experience luxuriant growth. This phenomenon has negative impacts on the functions of the water body. In the first place, Algae bloom forms a green like seam on top of the water thereby hindering penetration of light to the water body. Due to high accumulation of substance in the water, decaying process increases. This causes a biological oxygen demand which leads to suffocation of aquatic lives in the water body. Bad smell arises from the water body as a result of decaying processes. The prise of water for domestic use therefore reduces.