Showing results by author "SIVAKUMARAN SIVARAMANAN" in All Categories

A country’s status and reputation is more importantly determined by its cleanness. Sectors such as tourism, financial strength, public health and education all depend on clean environment. Clean environment also gives positive attitude to a human being as well as providing a glorious aesthetic environment. Though countries have achieved the successful waste management practices technically, many countries (particularly developing countries) not yet reach the objective clean environment even proper management strategies and technologies are available, the major reason is behavior of public...

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is becoming major thread to the whole world. Its toxic emissions mixed with virgin soil and air and causing harmful effects to the entire biota either directly or indirectly. Direct impacts include release of acids, toxic compounds including heavy metals, carcinogenic chemicals and indirect effects such as bio magnification of heavy metals. Many private firms are involved in collecting, dismantling, separation and exporting e-wastes for recyclers. However, strict regulations are currently being followed as on approval of such firms such as e-...

Animal abuse, cruelty and slaughtering are still in an increasing trend in this modern era. Unlike ancient times animals are killed not for food alone but also for various business needs. Crocodile, alligators and python slaughtered in a gruesome way for manufacture of Kelly bags for fashion industry, cattle are treated horribly even in dairy farms, whales and dolphins are killed for meat, fur seals are skinned alive, elephants and rhinos are hunt for their ivories, sharks are abandoned alive in deep waters after cutting their fins for soup, foxes, minks rabbits, cats and dogs are ...

Increasing nutrient loading from agro-fertilizer effluents, industrial effluents, municipal and domestic effluents including black water contamination and urban runoff accelerates the eutrophication in many parts of the world, many developing countries discharges grey water directly to the coastal water which increases the coastal eutrophication. According to Dr.Robert Diaz (VIMS and WRI) there are 762 coastal areas affected by eutrophication and/or hypoxia, algal blooms are removed by methods such as magnetic separation (Acid modified fly ash and magnetite (Fe3O4)), using beach sand or ...

Acid rain is one of the major environmental threats since 19th century. This book reviews the 2012 progress report of US EPA (2013) and summarizes the issue in various environmental aspects. Significant reduction in the SO2, NOx emission and deposition of acid have been occurred via the active implementation of Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), Acid Rain Program (ARP) and NOx budget training program (NBP). Cross state air pollution rule and litigation (CSAPR) implemented by US EPA since 2011 reduces the cross boundary movement of effluents between US and Canada. US national composite means ...

This part attempts to provide adequate evidences to explain that environmental problems are human origin and it argues more philosophically by providing the statements of the leading philosophers on the man’s state and responsibilities in the environment, it concludes in order to preserve the environment, changes to be done in social and behavior levels in the entire human system. Modified genes from engineered crop plants are escaping into weeds and other wild varieties. Today GE canola, corn and lesser extent soybean and cotton are contaminating their non-GE counterparts; this has ...

Each and every animal on earth has as much right to live as you and me. It is unacceptable to say that all human attempts to bring the captive closer to the wild have not been successful. However, it is unethical to redefine a species’ life as desired by humans or to satisfy human needs. Even a human offender is not allowed to spend his entire life in prison, so how can we do that to an innocent creature that never committed any harm according to its own ethics or righteousness? Those who argue that we keep them happy in captivity should think about what the same happened to them. Are ...

Human population in a hike, thus deforestation and establishment of new agricultural lands are unavoidable, at the same time environmental hazards such as global warming, climate change, desertification of land and various types of pollution are threatening the human society today. In 1960 the scientists first began to understand that agroforestry systems could provide a sustainable land use and to solve most of the environmental issues by its environmental services such as sequester greenhouse gases, improve soil fertility and conservation of the soil, conservation of biodiversity, provide...

We live in a changing planet, and the problem we face also change time to time. This phenomenon is exactly same for anthropogenic environmental problems, for instance, to mitigate pest outbreak we introduced DDT, but that solution itself become a severe threat to the environment. DDT underwent bioaccumulation in living organisms and it also went through biomagnification and affect the top-level carnivore in the food chain including humans. Similarly, many man-made solutions to man-made environmental crisis become a new environmental problem. This chain of problems continues as a succession....

According to IUCN (2009) global mangrove cover is estimated to be between 167,000 and 181,000km2. Among 40 % of them are found in South and Southeast Asia. More than a third of the mangrove plants are vanished due to over exploitation and destruction of their habitats, as global annual mangrove deforestation ranges 2-8%. Shrimp culture account for 20-50% of mangrove destruction worldwide. It has been predicted if rehabilitation or conservation activities not prevail developing countries will lose 25% of their remaining mangrove cover by 2050. This book comprises habitats of mangroves, their...

Restoration forestry or eco-forestry or sustainable forestry is basically not aimed to produce forest trees for logging or any sort of human consumption instead it mainly aiming the environmental protection in order to maintain Carbon dioxide and Oxygen levels as well as pacifying weather changes and the effects to the natural habitats. This book attempts to justify the reasons of deforestation, afforestation and reforestation with available examples and current techniques as per discussions of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Land use, land use, change and forestry (LULUCF) of Kyoto ...

Major sources of marine pollution are particles, hazardous chemicals, industrial, agricultural & residual wastes, warm water effluents, urban runoff and discharges, noise and invasive species. Plastics, oil or other organic wastes, PVC, plasticides, furans, dioxins, phenols, PCB and heavy metals are directly toxic to marine fauna while others block their alimentary canal or injuring the soft body parts such as eyes, gills or delicate eggs and young ones. Oil spills reduces the dissolving oxygen to water, affects plumage of birds and fur of mammals and associated with several malefic effects...

Environmental planning involved in protection of environment while promoting the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of ecological services and natural resources. It is a cooperative approach with the participation of government, communities, landholders, relevant stakeholders and indigenous people. Planning often associated with the evaluation tools such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Kyoto (CDM) project cycle are used to estimate and avoid the impact. Many planning policies remains in words without accounting the fact (...

El Niño is the strongest change in the weather pattern of tropical Pacific region. It causes severe storms, floods, drought, forest fires, epidemics, famine, fish kill, bleaching of corals, and die back of forests. El Niño of 1997/98 (also called super El Niño) affected temperature and the rainfall in United States caused cyclones in eastern Canada and US region, floods in China, forest fires in Australia, epidemics such as Dengue outbreak thrived over western Pacific and Asia, over 35 countries declared federal disaster area. Crop loss, land degradation, river sedimentation and ...