Impact of environmental degradation on people / Philip Viegas and Geeta Menon

The world environment has reached a critical stage and the natural resources have been exploited far beyond their maximum sustainable limits. But natural consequences that have followed have been disregarded by the processes of industrial development. Although the magnitude of the environmental crises as such has received sufficient attention in research, most studies seriously lack in two respects. Firstly, the emphasis has been mainly on the ecological or the commercial aspects of the problem, ignoring almost entirely the more relevant issue of the human costs. Though it is recognised that alterations in the natural environ ment have a direct bearing on the survival of human communities dependent upon it, little attention has been paid to this issue. Secondly, the tendency so far has been to dissect the environment and study the various components separately land forest, fisheries, water, air, etc

with the consequence that what emer ges is a mere fragmented picture of a system that in reality functions as one organism. This book reviews the environmental situation in its entirety, establishing the linkages between various ecosystems within the environment and integrating the ecological, commercial and human costs of environmental deterioration to provide a more wholistic view of the magnitude of the crises. This monograph is designed primarily for social activists and others generally concerned with environmental issues.