Environmental Impact and Resource Overuse

Environment

The environment comprises chemical, biological, and social processes that can affect living beings. The effect of transformation on the natural environment is called environmental impact. All living creatures produce an effect on the environment in which they live. Impact is generated because human technological development is much larger than that of other species, leading to economic and political impacts, overfishing, and pollution. Advances in living conditions have improved health and increased population longevity, but we often over-exploit environmental resources. Nature needs time to regenerate.

Overexploitation of Plant and Animal Species

Plant and animal species form ecosystems; the equilibrium between all these elements is essential. However, the food needs of humans, the dominant species at the peak of the food chain, have placed pressure on the environment through hunting, fishing, and agriculture.

• Hunting has largely been replaced by captive breeding for habitual consumption species.
• This is primarily seen in fisheries, where overexploitation occurs.
• In agriculture, intensive development in some countries eliminates endemic species.
• In poorer countries, uncontrolled logging and forest burning are widespread.

The loss of plant species leads to deforestation, land depletion, and subsequent erosion. Plant species are also over-exploited for their intrinsic value; wood exploitation is another activity leading to biodiversity loss.

Overexploitation of Land

Loss of biodiversity occurs not only due to the overexploitation of species but also through the alteration of the physical environment where land and water reside. Land suffers strong direct environmental impacts, affecting the landscape and the medium. One of the most serious alterations suffered by the Earth is erosion. Erosion is the natural consequence of geological and biological agents acting on weather and soil. When vegetation disappears, air or water moves soil more easily.

Overexploitation of Water

Water is essential because life cannot exist without it. The overexploitation of water primarily concerns intensive agriculture. The main consequences are the desiccation of wetlands, salinization, and the exhaustion of coastal aquifers.

Pollution and Climate Change

Pollution results from introducing substances into the environment that adversely affect both the physical environment and living beings. These contaminated substances can be natural (biological or inorganic) or synthetic. The presence of specific associated substances causes pollution problems.