Мулдагалиева А.А., Гумарова Ш.Б., Мадиева З.К. Английский язык. Учебно – методическое пособие к практическим занятиям для биологов бакалавриата и магистратуры
SECTION I
UNIT I
New words and expressions:
protection – защита
pollution – загрязнение
environment – окружающая среда
exhaust fumes – выхлопные газы
source – источник
resourсеs – ресурсы
chemical substances – химические вещества
drainage – канализация, сток
purifier – очиститель
dump – свалка
disposal – расположение
sewage – сточные воды
calamity – бедствие
contamination – загрязнение, заражение
loss – потеря
species – виды
race – быстрое движение, путь
advancement – успех, прогресс
safeguard – гарантия, охрана, охранять
scatter – разбрасывать, рассеивать
distressing – огорчительный, внушающий беспокойство
irretrievable – непоправимый, невозместимый
Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:
engineering, speculate, faculty, problem, ecology, civilization, industry, air, proportions, system, number, variety, expansion, urban, territory, asphalt, production, complexity, chemical, substances, combinations, role, resources, drainage, sphere, reason, reservoir, factory, era, national, ocean, seriously, figure, hectare, atmospheric, billion, ton, genetic, catastrophe, technological, investment, essential, protection, community, public.
MY SPECIALITY – APPLIED ECOLOGY
I am a student of the Faculty of Geography. My future speciality is applied ecology.
That the problem of pollution and ecology has become the most important one for mankind is evident to all. The more civilization is developing, the greater the ecological problems are becoming. Air, water and soil pollution by industry is now reaching tremendous proportions. It destroys the environment in big cities. Air is polluted mainly by heating systems and cars. You know how heavy the traffic is in big cities. The slower the traffic, the more exhaust fumes there are. The acuteness of the problem depends on how well the country is developed and on the number of cars.
The variety of polluting sources is growing. The expansion of urban territories with asphalt-covered roads, the increase in the production and the complexity of chemical substances and combinations used in everyday life have led to the ever increasing role in polluting water resources played by the drainage from the territory of cities, towns and villages. Such scattered sources of pollution cannot be enclosed in a pipe with a purifier mounted on its outlet.
The sphere of water pollution is broadening. During recent years a new problem appeared – the pollution of ground water. It is caused by a great variety of reasons: numerous waste dumps scattered all over the area and exposed to the influence of rainwater, polluted surface reservoirs, the disposal of sewage from factories (waste matter as well) and the use of water on oilfields.
In our era water pollution is changing from a national to an international problem, especially in territories where rivers cross several countries. The seas and oceans are also becoming seriously polluted.
The figures of the Earth's ecological calamities are distressing. Forests are disappearing at the rate of 20 hectares per minute, or more than 500 000 hectares a year. The volume of atmospheric oxygen annually decreases by 10 billion tons – a consequence of the destruction of forests and the contamination of water reservoirs.
The planet's genetic fund has sustained irretrievable losses: hundreds of species of animals, birds, fish and plants have disappeared forever. All these figures show our race to ecological catastrophe.
Our scientific knowledge and technological advancement make it possible to eliminate It, if people use good will and make considerable Investments for that purpose.
The essential feature of environmental protection is that many problems can be solved only at the level of world community. It is the joint efforts of many scientists and special public organizations that can deal with the problem and make necessary measures to protect the environment.
Joint actions of all countries can eliminate pollution and achieve successes in purifying air, water and soil and in safeguarding national resources.
EXERCISES:
I. Translate the following into English:
protect – protection, pollute – pollution, contaminate – contamination, purify – purifier – purification, environment – environmental, chemistry – chemist – chemical, source – resources, dispose – disposal, sewage – sewerage, lose – loss, eliminate – elimination, advance – advancement.
2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
проблема загрязнения окружающей среды, загрязнять, человечество, цивилизация, развиваться, дороги с асфальтовым покрытием, дождевая вода, сброшенная вода, исчезать, со скоростью, последствия разрушения, водохранилище, генофонд планеты, экологическая катастрофа, технический прогресс, устранить, сделать значительный вклад, основная черта, защита окружающей среды, разрешить проблему, на уровне мирового сообщества, совместные усилия, общественные организации, принять меры, очистка воздуха, охрана, выхлопные газы, свалка.
3. Open the brackets and use the proper tense:
1) The problem of pollution (become) the most important one for mankind,
2) Air, water and soil pollution (destroy) the environment.
3) The sphere of water pollution (broaden).
4) Water pollution (change) from a national to an international problem.
5) The planet's genetic fund (sustain) irretrievable losses.
4. Make questions of the following statements and then give short answers to each of them:
1) Hundreds of species of animals and plants have disappeared forever.
2) Our scientific knowledge and technological advancement make it possible to eliminate ecological catastrophe.
3) The essential feature of environmental protection is that many problems can be solved only at the level of world community.
4) Joint actions of all countries can eliminate pollution.
5) Air, water and soil pollution by industry is now reaching tremendous proportions.
6) Air is polluted mainly by heating systems and cars.
5. Answer the questions:
1) What is one of the most important problems for mankind now?
2) What is ecology? Give your definition.
3) What are the disadvantages of industrial development?
4) How does water, air, soil become polluted?
5) Why is the problem of water pollution becoming a global problem?
6) Why do the environmental problems require the cooperation of alt nations?
7) What makes it possible to eliminate air, water and soti pollution?
8) Why have you chosen the profession of an ecologist?
UNIT II
New words and expressions:
conservation – охрана природы
desiccation – высушивание
wildlife – живая природа
riverine – речной, прибрежный
pothole – пещера
bounty – щедрость
jeopardy – опасность
alteration – чередование
dam – плотина, преграждать
exacerbate – обострять
attempt – попытка, пытаться
clean-up – уборка, чистка
bird of prey – хищная птица
comprehensive – всесторонний
under way – на ходу
charge – нагрузка, заведовать
motivate – побуждать
desert – пустыня
Read the international words and give their Russin equivalents:
effect, nuclear, testing, range, population, flora, fauna, occupy, territory, peak, climate, zone, steppe, landscape, cultivating.
CLIMATE FOR CONSERVATION IN KAZAKHSTAN
Until recently, Kazakhstan has been better known for the harmful effects of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing range and the desiccation of the Aral Sea than for its wildlife. In fact, the vast country supports rich and diverse population of flora and fauna. Kazakhstan occupies an enormous territory, extending from the Volga River on the West to the Altai Mountains on the East and from the Southern Urals and Western Siberia in the North to the snowy peaks of the Tien Shan Range and the deserts of Central Asia in the South. The country's climatic zones include everything from steppes, deserts and semideserts to mountain woodlands, riverine wetlands and pothole lakes. In this varied landscape can be found 104 species of amphibiance, 52 of reptiles, 488 of birds and 187 of mammals and nearly 5000 species of higher plants.
Now, however, this natural bounty is in jeopardy. Although Kazakhstan's population and its impact on the land are comparatively low; its biodiversity is seriously threatened in a number of ways. The alteration of the land that occured in the 1960's, when Khruschev ordered the country to begin cultivating corn on a mass scale, caused widespread damage. Rivers that fed steppe lakes were dammed and agricultural cultivation of the steppes, floodplains and marshes forced changes in natural ecosystems, exacerbated by the use of chemical pesticides, many already banned in the West. In addition, Kazakh industry generally does not employ any emission-control equipment or attempt cleanup of the environmental damage it causes. As a result, many natural species are now officially considered rare or endangered.
The country's economic crisis had led to a lessening of the human impact on natural ecosystems due to a decline in agriculture and industrial production. The situation could, however, take a rapid turn for the worse since the largely unregulated transition to a market economy has encouraged extensive commercil use of many plant and animal species including the export of natural products used for medicinal purposes such as antilope horn; the sale of rare insects in demand by collectors and the capture of birds of prey.
Unfortunately, no comprehensive natural conservation program exists at the present time. The isolated projects that are under way are targeted at regions of environmental crisis, such as the Aral Sea and the area around Semipalatinsk nuclear testing ground. Governmental structures charged with developing a national conservation strategy appear slow and unmotivated. The state, occupied with solving serious economic problems, cannot pay adequate attention to nature conservation.
In Kazakhstan no mass movement for nature protection exists as it does in western countries, but a few nongovernmental groups are beginning to form and take action. The activities of nongovermental organizations which are occuring in more and more cities around the country raise hopes for improvement of the nature conservation climate in Kazakhstan.
From «Surviving Together», T. Bragina, a scientist worker.EXERCISES:
1. Translate the following into English:
motivate – motivation – unmotivated, occupy – occupation, serious – seriously, economy – economic – economics, attention – attentive – inattentive – attentively, nature – natural, conservation – conservative – conserve, protect – protection, form – formation, act – activity – action, organize – organization, hope – hopeful – hopeless – hopefulness.
2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
массовое движение, защита природы, западные страны, неправительственные организации, до недавнего времени, ядерные испытания, полигон, огромная территория, климатические зоны, полупустыня, пестициды, оборудование, рыночная экономика, в настоящее время, правительственные структуры, экономические проблемы.
3. Make questions of the following statements and then give short answers to each of them:
1) Kazakhstan occupies an enormous territory.
2) In this varied landscape a great number of species can be found.
3) Kazakhstan"s population is comparatively low.
4) Agricultural cultivation of the steppes forced changes in natural ecosystem.
5) Many natural species are now officially considered rare or endangered.
4. Answer the questions:
1) What species can be found in Kazakhstan?
2) What is the population of Kazakhstan?
3) What climatic zones of our country do you know?
4) What regions of environmental crisis in Kazakhstan are known to you?
5. Read the following sentences and point out the subject and the predicate in each of them:
1) Kazakhstan's biodiversity is seriously threatened.
2) The country's economic crisis had led to a lessening of human impact on natural ecosystems.
3) The largely unregulated transition to a market economy has encouraged extensive commercial use of many plant and animal species.
4) The projects are targeted at regions of environmental crisis.
5) A few nongovermental groups are beginning to take action.
UNIT III
New words and expressions:
salty – соленый
devastate – опустошать
trigger – вызывать
reverse – изменить
unfold – развертывать
basin – бассейн
shrink (shrunk) – садиться, вызывать усадку
irrigation – орошение
reduce – уменьшать
inflow – приток
evaporation – испарение
precipitation – выпадение осадков
estimate – оценивать
encompass – окружать
flow – течение
arise – возникать
saline – соляной
fishery – рыбный промысел
diversity – разнообразие
husbandry – сельское хозяйство
reed – камыш
diminuation – уменьшение
discharge – выделение
expand – расширять
recession – спад
gain – прибыль, прирост
loss – потеря, ущерб
prevent – предупреждать, мешать
surface – поверхность
shallow – мелкий
extend – простираться
drainage – сток
net – сеть, чистый
Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:
major, history, effect, million, transport, hydrogeological, engineer, decade, problem, planet, serious, tragedy, national, central, fundamentally, balance, natural, hectar, canal, application, reservoir, filtration, system, result, accelerate, block, separate, western, portion, stabilize, kilometer
THE ARAL SEA PROBLEM
There are two major environmental disasters in the recent history of the former Soviet Union: Chernobyl and the Aral Sea. In 1960 the land-locked Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake, but now, due to increased irrigation demands on its two main inflowing rivers, it is now half the size, 16 m lower and three times as salty. The effect on the 3 mln people who needed the lake for its water, fish and transport has been slowly devastating. Sadly, the huge hydrogeological changes which engineers have unwittingly triggered will take decades to reverse. This paper investigates the nature, causes and consequences of the Aral Sea problem and discusses proposed solutions.
One of the planet's most serious environmental and human tragedies is unfolding in the basin of the Aral Sea. Over the past 40 years, the huge lake has shrunk considerably as expanding irrigation has reduced river inflow to it.
The Aral Sea and its Water Balance
The Aral Sea is located among the deserts of Central Asia. A terminal lake (i.e., without surface inflow ), its level is fundamentally determined by the balance between surface inflow from two large rivers and net evaporation ( i. e. evaporation from its surface minus precipitation on it), which is estimated to be around 874 mm per year. Net ground water exchange plays a secondary role and data on it are approximate.
Five former republics, now independent nations, lie wholly or partially in the sea's basin: Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tadzhikistan. The Aral Sea drainage basin encompasses all of Uzbekistan and Tadzhikistan, all but the nothern part of Kyrgyzstan, the eastern half of Turkmenia and the two southern oblasts of Kazakstan. It also includes part of nothern Iran and Afganistan. The flow of the Amu-Dar'ya arises primarily from the Pamir Mountains and the flow of the Syr-Dar'ya primarily from the Tien-Shan Mountains. The population of that part of the Aral Sea basin lying in the former Soviet Union was around 35 mln in 1990.
The Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake in the area in 1960. Although somewhat saline the lake was populated mainly by fresh water species and had a productive fishery as well as serving as a major regional transportation route. The vast deltas of Amu-Dar'ya and Syr-Dar'ya not only had major ecological significance, with a diversity of floral and faunal species but great economic importance related to irrigated agriculture and animal husbandry, hunting and trapping, fishing and harvesting of the reeds that grow in abundance in the numerous wetlands and lakes found here.
Over the past 40 years the sea has steadily shrunk. The reason is a huge and growing diminuation of discharge from the Amu-Dar'ya and Syr-Dar'ya, caused primarily by the expanding irrigation in their basins.
Irrigation expantion in the Aral Sea basin after 1960 required much more water per hectar as long canals were extended into the desert; poorer, more saline soils were irrigated, requiring heavier water applications. Giant reservoirs were built that required filling and which increased evaporative losses, and new irrigation systems discharged their water into the deserts rather than back to the rivers.
The net result has been an increasingly large difference between the gain (river inflow) and loss (net evaporation) sides of the sea's water balance. Consequently, the drying, recession and salingation that began in 1960s, accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s and continues into 1990s.
In 1987 the Aral Sea divided into two water bodies: the smaller sea in the north and the larger one in the south. Since then, these have developed as separate water bodies with their own water balances. The Syr-Dar'ya flows into the small sea, whereas the Amu-Dar'ya enters the large sea. A connecting channel existed between the two until mid 1992 when it was blocked by a dike to prevent further water loss from the small to the large sea.
The water body will continue to shrink rapidly because net inflow to it, consisting of surface and subsurface compounds, will remain well below net evaporation. By 2005, when the level falls to 30 m the large sea will separate into a deep western part, which would continue to recede and salinize since it would receive no surface inflow, and a shallow eastern portion which would shrink and salinize less rapidly since it would continue to receive inflow from the Amu-Dar'ya. The eastern part of the large sea would stabilize with an area around 7000 sq km later in the century.
EXERCISES:
1. Translate the following into English:
recede – recession, environment – environmental, serious – seriously, exist – existence – existent – existing, reduce – reduction, fundamental – fundamentally, nature – natural, expand – expansion, extend – extension – extensive – extent, flow – inflow, salty – salt – saline – salinize – salingation– salinity, fish – fishery – fishing, charge – discharge, diminuation – minimum – minimal – minimize, evaporate – evaporation – evaporative, increase – encreasingly, separate – separation, rapid – rapidly, irrigate – irrigation
2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
огромные гидрогеологические изменения, орошение, требование, впадающие реки, десятилетия, исследовать, последствия, проблема Аральского моря, предложенные решения, пустыни Центральной Азии, уровень, определять, испарение, выпадение осадков, оценивать, второстепенная роль, приблизительные данные, независимые государства, целиком, частично, бассейн Аральского моря, кроме северной части, включать, население, четвертое по величине озеро в мире, рыбный промысел, обширная дельта, разнообразие флоры и фауны, важное экономическое значение, расти в изобилии, многочисленный, за последние 40 лет, пустыня, разделять, с тех пор, насыпь, оставаться.
3. Make questions of the following statements and then give short answers to each of them:
1. The land-locked Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake.
2. The Aral Sea is now half the size.
3. The huge lake has shrunk considerably.
4. Expanding irrigation has reduced river inflow to the Aral Sea.
5. The Aral Sea is located among the deserts of Central Asia.
6. Data on net ground water exchange are approximate.
7. Five independent nations lie in the sea's basin.
8. The population of that part of the Aral Sea basin was around 35 mln.
9. The lake was populated mainly by fresh water species.
10. Reeds grow in abundance in the numerous wetlands and lakes.
4. Find in the text the passages to which the questions refer:
1. Why has the Aral Sea shrunk considerably?
2. Where is the Aral Sea located?
3. Why did the drying, recession and salingation of the Aral Sea accelerate in the 1970-1980s?
4. What part of the Aral Sea will stabilize by 2005?
5. Read the following sentences and point out the subject and the predicate in each of them:
1. This paper investigates the nature, causes and consequences of the Aral Sea problem.
2. One of the planet's most serious environmental and human tragedies is unfolding in the basin of the Aral Sea.
3. Expanding irrigation has reduced river inflow to the Aral Sea.
The Aral Sea had a productive fishery and served as a major transportation route.
4. Irrigation expansion in the Aral Sea basin after 1960 required much more water per hectar.
5. The Aral Sea is divided into two water bodies.
UNIT IV
New words and expressions:
degradation – деградация
severe – суровый
cease – прекращать
adapt – приспосабливать
spawn – метать икру
feed – кормить, питаться
hinder – мешать
access – доступ
abandon – оставлять
suffer – страдать, испытывать
damage – повреждать
disaster – бедствие
decline – понижение
pasture – пастбище, подножный корм
affect – действовать, влиять
inedible – несъедобный
vegetation – растительность
graze – пастись
plateau – плато, плоскогорье
implicate – вовлекать
respiratory – дыхательный
digestive – пищеварительный
inhalation – вдыхание
ingestion – глотание
hygienic – гигиенический
drainage – сток
treatment – обработка
pesticide – пестицид
fertilizer – удобрение
contaminate – загрязнять, заражать
morbid – болезненный, патологический
constrained – принужденный
affliction – огорчение
morbidity – патология
Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:
degradation, commercial, adapt, condition, area, navigation, kilometre, stop, port, major, limit, region, population, million, ecological, zone, serious, delta, reduction, associate, agriculture, practice, system, productivity, natural, vegetation, plateau, respiratory, variety, medical, hygienic, drainage, canal, minimal, critical, problem, pesticide, incedent, factor, diet, general, infant.
Environmental, Economic and Human Consequences
The environmental, economic and human degradation from the Aral Sea's desiccation have been wide-ranging and severe. Commercial fishing ceased in the early 1980s as native species, unable to adapt to rapidly changing conditions (chiefly rising salinity and loss of spawning and feeding areas), disappeared and the shoreline receded ten of kilometers from fishing towns and villages, hindering access to the sea by fishing boats. Commercial navigation across the Aral Sea also stopped as efforts to keep the increasingly long navigation channels open to the major port of Aralsk became too costly and difficult and were abandoned.
But damage has not been limited to the sea and settlements directly dependent on it. A region around the sea with a population in 1991 of nearly 4 mln has also suffered great damage and is considered an "ecological disaster zone". One of the most serious consequences has been the degradation of ecosystems in the Amu-Dar'ya and Syr-Dar'ya deltas owing to the huge reduction of flow through them and decline of groundwater levels in them associated with both reduced river discharge and the falling level of the Aral Sea.
Irrigated agriculture, practiced in the deltas of the Amu-Dar'ya and Syr-Dar'ya has been badly hurt by constrained water supplies resulting from greatly reduced river flow. Animal husbandry both in the deltas and in desert regions adjacent to the Aral Sea has been damaged by the diminishing productivity of pastures affected by desertification, dropping groundwater levels and replacement by inedible species of natural vegetation which is suitable for grazing.
Salt and dust blown from the increasingly large former sea bottom is carried as far as 500 km and settles over a considerable area adjacent to the Aral Sea. Natural vegetation and the crops in the Amu-Dar'ya delta to the South of the sea and pastures in the Ust-Yurt plateau to the West of the Aral Sea are suffering the most damage. Blowing salt and dust is also being implicated in increasingly high levels of respiratory illnesses, and even with throat and esophageal cancer.
The population of the area adjacent to the Aral Sea suffers a variety of health problems. Some of these are directly linked to the sea's recession e. g. respiratory and digestive afflictions, possibly even cancer, from inhalation and ingestion of blowing salt and dust, whereas others are results of environmental pollution associated with irrigation and "Third World" medical, health and hygienic conditions. Poor quality drinking water – much of which is taken directly from the Amu-Dar'ya and Syr-Dar'ya whose flow in their lower reaches is largely comprised of irrigation drainage, and from irrigation canals with minimal or no treatment – is a critical problem. Commonly, such water has high salt levels and contains pesticides, defoliants and fertilizers. Contaminated drinking water is implicated in high rates of typhoid, paratyphoid, viral hepatitis and dysentery, the incidents of which grew in the 1970s and 1980s. Because of this and other factors (e. g. high fertility, poor medical care, poor diet and lack of sewage systems) general mortality and morbidity and infant mortality and morbidity are the highest in the region constituting the former USSR.
EXERCISES:
1. State to what part of speech the following words belong according to their suffixes and translate them into Russian:
environmental, economic, degradation, commercial, rapidly, condition, chiefly, salinity, navigation, increasingly, costly, settlement, population, ecological, serious, consequence, reduction, agriculture, husbandry, region, adjacent, productivity, pasture, desertification, replacement, inedible, natural, vegetation, considerable, respiratory, variety, directly, recession, affliction, possibly, inhalation, ingestion, pollution, irrigation, hygienic, quality, largely, drainage, minimal, commonly, factor, general, mortality, morbidity.
2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
быстро меняющиеся условия, исчезать, ущерб, поселок, зависеть, население, серьезные последствие, животноводство, заболевания дыхательных путей, примыкающий к морю район, загрязнение окружающей среды, орошение, плохое качество питьевой воды, минимальная обработка, вода содержит пестициды и дефолианты, зараженная питьевая вода, плохое питание, высокая рождаемость, общая смертность.
3. Make questions of the following statements. Begin each question with the words given in brackets:
1. The population in the area adjacent to the Aral Sea suffers a variety of health problems. (What problems..?)
2. Some of the health problems are linked to the sea's recession. (What…to?)
3. Poor quality drinking water is a critical problem. (What..?)
4. Such water has high salt levels. (What salt levels..?)
5. The Aral Sea water contains pesticides, defoliants, fertilizers. (What..?)
4. Make the following sentences negative:
1. Commercial fishing ceased in the 1980s.
2. The shoreline receded tens of kilometers from fishing towns and villages.
3. Commercial navigation across the Aral Sea stopped.
4. Animal husbandry has been damaged by the diminishing productivity of pastures.
5. Natural vegetation and crops are suffering the most damage.
6. Health problems are the results of environmental pollution.
7. General mortality and morbidity are the highest in the region.
5. Answer the questions:
1. Why did commercial fishing cease in the Aral Sea?
2. Why did commercial navigation stop?
3. Why is the region around the sea considered as "ecological disaster zone"?
4. Why was animal husbandry damaged?
5. What is the reason of high levels of respiratory illnesses?
6. What does the population of the area suffer?
7. What is the reason of the poor quality drinking water?
8. What does the drinking water contain?
9. What is the result of poor medical care, poor diet and lack of sewage system?
UNIT V
New words and expressions:
issue (n, v) – вопрос, выпускать
implementation – выполнение
ensure – обеспечивать
supply (n,v) – снабжение, снабжать,
at least – по крайней мере
release – выпускать
cope – справляться
improve – улучшать
diversify – разнообразить
emphasis – ударение
means – средство
local – местный
care – забота, попечение , уход
delivery – доставка
as well as – также, тоже
total – итог, сумма, общий, полный
estimate – оценивать
recession – спад
halt – останавливать
gradually – постепенно
restoration – восстановление
endemic – эндемический
species – виды
tolerant – терпимый
valuable – ценный
flourish – процветать
assume – принимать
rehabilitate – восстанавливать
however – однако, тем не менее
scheme – проект, замысел
scope – пределы, простор, размах
alter – переделывать, изменять
approach – приближение, подход, подступ, приближаться
basin – бассейн
provision – снабжение, обеспечение
oblige – обязывать, заставлять
resolve – решать
effort – усилие
contribution – вклад
observer – наблюдатель
alleviate – облегчать
involve – вовлекать
evaluation – оценка
deflation – спуск
Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:
rehabilitation, public, pressure, central, decree, order, program, medical, service, region, ecological, condition, irrigation, system, guarantee, concept, crisis, commission, expert, economy, agriculture, production, manufacture, local, standard, stabilize, limit, total, billion, endemic, commercial, ocean, formulate, assistance, plan, credit, infrastructure, management, fund.
Rehabilitation Efforts
Since 1986 the Aral Sea problem has become a major public issue in the former USSR. Under considerable public pressure, the former Central Government of the Soviet Union issued a decree on the Aral Sea in September 1988. It ordered development and implementation of a program to improve medical and health services in the region around the Aral Sea, ensure safe drinking water supplies, improve ecological conditions in the deltas of the Amu-Dar'ya and Syr-Dar'ya, rebuild and raise the efficiency of irrigation systems and guarantee the delivery of at least 21 cubic kilometers of water per year to the Aral Sea by 2005.
In February 1991, the State Commission on the Aral Sea released a concept for coping with the crisis, developed by an "expert working group". It proposed a broad program intended to a) improve land and water use;
b) diversify the economy in the Aral Sea region with less emphasis on irrigated agriculture and cotton production and light manufacturing as means of reducing water use, increasing local food supplies and improving living standards;
c) improve health and medical care and;
d) ensure delivery of much more water to the Aral Sea as well as stabilizing the dried bottom to limit deflation of salt and dust.
The program was to be implemented in 3 stages: 1991-1995, 1996-2000 and 2001-2010. Total cost was estimated as nearly 60 billion (1990) rubles. The recession of the Aral Sea would first be halted and then its level gradually raised and stabilized at 40-41 m by 2010. Restoration of such a level would reconnect the small sea in the North and the large sea in the South into one water body. Also, even though the salinity would be too high for restoration of endemic fresh water species, more salt tolerant, commercially valuable species from the Black Sea, Mediterranean, or open ocean could be introduced. Past experience indicates that some of these new inhabitants would flourish and assuming the Aral Sea did not become polluted, the fishery could be rehabilitated. However, the cost of the scheme is daunting and the period of implementation, considering its scope, short.
The break-up of the USSR at the end of 1991 altered the approach to the Aral Sea problem. The five newly independent states of the Aral Sea basin have taken full control of natural resources located on their territories. All the Aral Sea basin states are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The CIS declared the Aral Sea problem, along with Chernobyl, an "all Commonwealth concern". In May 1992 the presidents of the CIS, meeting in Tashkent, signed an agreement on the Aral Sea which includes provisions for financing research and improvement efforts.
An important step was taken in February 1992 with the signing by all basin states of an agreement on the joint management and protection of interstate resources. The agreement obliges the republics to work jointly to resolve ecological problems connected with the desiccation of the Aral Sea.
In May 1992, the five republics, along with other members of the CIS, signed a ten-year agreement on cooperative efforts to improve the region's situation. An intergovernmental Aral Committee and Aral fund, which would receive contributions from all CIS members, were also created. Another agreement was signed in March 1993. It established an Interstate Council for the Aral Sea Basin Crisis with membership for all basin states and observer status for Russia.
The Aral Sea Basin states have asked international organizations to provide aid for alleviating their problem. The World Bank has become involved, it sent an evaluation team to the region in September 1992. In March 1993 the World Bank agreed to formulate and implement an Aral Sea Environment Assistance Plan. To be implemented over 10 years, the plan is estimated to cost US $ 50 mln in loans, grants and credits, and is aimed at health and medical care infrastructure development, improving the water management and stabilizing the Aral Sea.
EXERCISES:
1. Give derivatives of the following words and translate them:
implement, environment, assist, estimate, aim, health, medical, develop, improve, manage, stable, pollute, fish, consider, nature, local, declare, sign, agree, provide, important, protect, resolve, ecology, connect, region, situate, govern, contribute, create, establish, observer, nation, organize, value, press, form, center.
2. Find in the text the Russian equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
общественное давление, улучшать экологические условия, повысить эффективность оросительных систем, предложить программу, землепользование, орошаемое земледелие, производство хлопка, легкая промышленность, улучшение жизненного уровня, выполнять, общая стоимость, оценивать, останавливать, восстановление, опыт прошлых лет, процветать, загрязнять, независимые государства, взять полный контроль над природными ресурсами, Содружество Независимых Государств, подписать соглашение, решить экологические проблемы, совместные усилия, создавать, учредить, статус наблюдателя, вовлекать, обеспечить помощь, заем, кредит
3. Copy out of each paragraph the sentences containing the most important information.
4. Read the text again and write a brief summary of it.
5. Make up a plan of the text.
UNIT VI
New words and expressions:
concerted – согласованный
alleviate – облегчать
beset – осаждать
adequate – адекватный, достаточный
implementation – выполнение
priority – приоритет
dike – насыпь, ров
trap – капкан, ловить
frequency – частота
expanse – пространство
feasible – осуществимый, возможный
consolidate – укреплять
loose – свободный, рыхлый
hence – отсюда, с этих пор. следовательно
restore – восстанавливать
revive – возрождать
reasonably – разумно, основательно
assume – принимать, предполагать
original – оригинальный, первоначальный, подлинный
remain – оставаться
maintain – поддерживать
competitor – конкурент
indigenous – туземный, местный
Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:
chief, resources, storm, chemicals, consolidate, material, situation, practical, condition, zone, optimal, argument, original, flora, fauna, type, select, cooperative, state, national, community, critical, problem, region, adequate, population, result, reconstruction, irrigation, priority, decade
The Future of the Aral Sea
With a concerted and cooperative effort among the Aral Sea Basin States and the real help from Russia and the international community, there is hope to alleviate, at least partially, the most critical problems that beset the Aral Sea region. The key issues of health and medical improvement, providing an adequate supply of clean drinking water and implementation of measures to bring down population growth should be started immediately and could show major results within a decade. Reconstruction of irrigation systems to save water is also a priority, but will take decades to implement fully.
Efforts to preserve the delta of the Amu-Dar'ya are important because of its ecological and economic value. One proposal is to construct a low dike or dikes on the dried bottom in front of and around the delta to reflood former gulfs and raise ground water levels, partially restoring its former ecological character; improving agriculture, fisheries and trapping: and providing a barrier to salt, sand and dust blowing from the dried bottom of the Aral Sea.
Reducing the frequency and severity of salt and dust storms is also a priority. This could be accomplished by stabilization of the large expanses of saline former bottom along the northeastern and eastern shoreline of the sea which are the chief sources of such storms. The most feasible means for stabilization is planting of salt-tolerant vegetation (e.g. black saksaul) and application of chemicals to consolidate the loose surface material.
Partial restoration of the small sea is also feasible. Naturally separated from the large sea in 1987 its level could be raised with relatively small increases of inflow, compared to the situation for the large sea, since its surface area, and hence evaporation losses, are much smaller.
To restore the entire Aral Sea to its size would be a daunting task.
Practical consideration may dictate that even under the best of future circumstances, the Aral Sea can only partially be revived. Assuming the discharge to the sea were reasonably clean, endemic flora and fauna could be reintroduced to the sea from lakes in the Amu-Dar'ya and Syr-Dar'ya delta where they still survive (or from other lakes with similar ecological conditions to the pre1960s Aral Sea, such as Balkhash). They would probably do well in the freshened zones around the mouth of the Amu-Dar'ya and Syr-Dar'ya, even though the salinity in the open sea would be above the optimal for them. This is a powerful argument for making efforts to preserve what remains of the original flora and fauna of the Aral Sea, either in deltaic lakes or in parts of the remaining sea in which habitat conditions of the pre-recession Aral Sea could be artificially maintained. More salt-tolerant types of fishes could also be introduced, as long as care was taken to select species that would not become major competitors to the indigenous varieties.
EXERCISES:
1. Form nouns from the following verbs and translate them into Russian:
plant, restore, separate, increase, implement, consider, revive, compare, situate, evaporate, select, dictate, argue, maintain, introduce, cooperate, state, result, reconstruct, irrigate, alleviate, issue, improve, provide, supply, measure, show, start, save, propose, trap, reduce, stabilize, mean.
2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
согласованные усилия, реальная помощь, международное сообщество, ключевой вопрос, чистая питьевая вода, снизить рост населения, немедленно, в течение десятилетия, оросительные системы, поднять уровень воды, рыбный промысел, пыльная буря, средство, частичное восстановление, эндемическая флора и фауна, искусственно поддерживать, конкурент.
3. Answer the following questions:
1. What are the most critical problems of the Aral Sea region?
2. Why is it important to preserve the delta of the Amu-Dar'ya?
3. Why is it necessary to reduce the frequency and severity of salt and dust storms?
4. What are the chief sources of the storms?
5. Can the entire Aral Sea be restored to its prerecession size?
6. Why should the endemic fauna and flora be reintroduced to the sea?
7. Why should salt-tolerant vegetation be planted in the Aral Sea region?
4. Copy out of each paragraph the sentences containing the most important information.
5. Express the main idea of the whole text in English.
UNIT VII
New words and expressions:
surround – окружать
accompany – сопровождать
owing to – из-за, по причине, вследствие
underestimate – недооценивать
confident – уверенный
benefit – польза, выгода
outweigh – перевешивать
harm – вред
experience – опыт
throe – муки, агония
reverse – изменять
rectify – исправлять
appeal – взывать, обращаться
proposal – предложение
caution – осторожность, предупреждение
disrupt – сорвать
cause – причинять, вызывать, заставлять
collapse – падение, крах, провал
Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:
scale, negative, human, massive, planner, engineer, radical, result, experience, hydrological, period, process, correct, complex, management, collapse.
Conclusions
The Aral Sea and surrounding region has suffered large scale negative environmental change accompanied by major economic losses and human suffering over the past 4 decades owing to development of massive irrigation works. Soviet planners and engineers in 1950s, 1960s and 1970s underestimated both the range and severity of these consequences. They were confident that the socio-economic benefits of irrigation development outweigh any harm that might result.
What lesson can be learnt from the Aral Sea experience?
1) Once a large hydrological system such as the Aral Sea basin is in the throes of radical change, it is very difficult, costly and requires a lengthy period to reverse the process (i. e. it is much easier to create such problems than to rectify them).
2) Simplistic and, at first glance, appealing proposals to correct complex water management problems in the Aral Sea basin quickly (e. g. through rapid and massive cuts in irrigation to free water for the Aral Sea) should be approached with caution as they may so disrupt the economy as to cause its collapse.
From «Surviving Together» P.P.Micklin, Ph.D.EXERCISES:
1. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
большие экономические потери, за последние 4 десятилетия, переоценить, быть уверенным, социально-экономическая выгода, перевесить, с осторожностью.
2. Form verbs from the following nouns and translate them into
Russian:
change, loss, suffering, development, irrigation, work, planner, weight, result, creation, appeal, proposal, correction, management, cut, freedom, approach, cause.
3. Translate this text in written form.
4. Make up 10 questions connected with the Aral Sea problem.
5. Use the following suggested topics for discussion:
1. Environmental consequences of the Aral Sea recession.
2. Economic consequences of the Aral Sea recession.
3. Future of the Aral Sea.
4. My specialty – applied ecology.
6. Read the texts again and make a report about the Aral Sea problem.
UNIT VIII
New words and expressions:
effect – следствие, действие, эффект
blast – взрывная волна, струя
leak – утечка, течь, просачиваться
allowable – допустимый
facility – оборудование, приспособление
topsoil – верхний слой почвы
scrap – остатки
strew (strewed, strewn) – разбрасывать
disintegrate – разлагаться
deformity – уродство
rim – край
disability – неспособность, бессилие
Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:
nuclear, test, resident, radioactive, radiation, radionuclides, atmosphere, cubic, region, portion, territory, toxic, specialist, dose, material, nitrates, identify, locate, local, substance, atomic, import, crater, airplane, infection, national, incident, psychiatric, chemical, medical, medicines, socially, global, civilian, military, active, control, utilize, operate, official, period, polygon, metal.
FACING THE EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR TESTING
TRYING TO SAVE NATURE AND HUMAN LIFE
Many global environmentalists have heard of the effects on the civilian population of the nuclear testing that took place over several decades in Semipalatinsk. Few, however, are aware of the other five military testing sites in Kazakhstan. The conditions in the Kapustin Jar region are described here.
The environment of Western Kazakhstan has been devastated by the Azgir polygon (nuclear testing range), which was active from 1966 to 1979. Two other military testing programs remain active on this territory. Previously under the control of the Soviet Union, they are now utilized for weapons testing by Russia and have been operating for more than 45 years.
According to official data, 29 explosions occurred over this time period. 24000 missiles and 180 battlefield weapons have been tested, hundreds of long and medium-range missiles have been destroyed and the CC-20 missile has been fired 619 times, releasing over 30 tons of highly toxic chemicals into the atmosphere with each blast. Consequently, a significant part of the territory of the polygons and adjacent territories are polluted with radionuclides, highly toxic missile fuel and heavy metals.
The first underground nuclear test on Azgir was conducted 160 meters underground, only 1,5 km from residents who live in the village of Azgir. For over 20 days following the explosion radioactive gas from the underground cavities leaked into the atmosphere. During the subsequent blasts the release of poisonous gases continued for two to eleven months discharging 10 million curies of radiation into the atmosphere. Additionally, radioactivity in the underground cavities of the Azgir nuclear polygon which total 1,2 million cubic meters in volume is extremely high. Radionuclides from these cavities can be observed throughout the region's food chain.
Moreover, a significant portion of the territory has been contaminated with highly toxic missile fuel. Specialists have concluded that even extremely small doses of geptil, a compound found in missile fuel, are toxic to human beings. Levels of geptil on a significant portion of the Atyrau oblast exceed 10 to15 times allowable levels. Highly toxic materials such as thallium, strontium, cadmium, bromium, nitrates and others have also been identified on a significant portion of the territory.
Khaki Sor, a large salt lake, is located in Western Kazakhstan oblast. It was used as a storage facility for a variety of poisonous substances. Initial studies by local scientists have shown massive lake contamination. The district's ground water has been contaminated, tens of wells tested for water quality are polluted. Nevertheless, local residents drink from these wells while the atomic scientists working at Azgir import their water from Russia.
Rates of decease, mortality and children born with disabilities are increasing. At the polygon craters have taken the place of forests and topsoil, and scrap from tanks, missiles and airplanes as well as other equipment is strewn across a large area. The scrap disintegrates and dissolves in the water supply increasing the degree of contamination.
Specialists have determined that the health of Azgir residents is significantly worse than average in Atyrau oblast and far worse than that of many Chernobyl victims. Children's infection is 6 times higher than national levels. Cancers of the blood and bone tissue are particularly prevalent. Scientists have proposed that Azgir residents relocate to safer places.
Disease and mortality rates are particularly high in the Kapustin Jar region. Mortality rates have doubled and the incidents of cancer, anemia, psychiatric illnesses and children born with disabilities have risen to 3,8 times. Children are born without limbs or eyes, and many suffer from other deformities. On the southern rim of the polygon a new, incurable "yellow children's disease" is increasing.
The steppes of Naryn are also home to ranchers who suffer from the impact of nuclear blasts and chemical pollutants, yet rarely receive the medical care or medicines required. They are neither socially nor morally protected.
From «Surviving Together» Kristin Suokko, a senior resource specialist.Washington.EXERCISES:
1. Translate the following into English:
form – formation – formulate – formal – deformity, South – southern, increase – decrease, chemistry – chemical – chemist, globe – global, environment – environmental – environmentalist, place – replace – replacement, act – active – actively – activity, utilize – utilization, ground – underground, poison – poisonous, charge – discharge, add – addition – additional – additionally, high – highly – height, special – specialist – specialty, allow – allowable, identity – identify, local – locate – relocate – location, store – storage, vary – various – variety, contaminate – contamination, able – ability – disability, equip – equipment, nation – national – nationality, save – safe – safety.
2. Find in the text equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
ядерные испытания, по официальным данным, значительная часть территории, тяжелые металлы, ядовитые газы, превышает допустимый уровень, местные ученые, местные жители, неизлечимая болезнь, необходимые лекарства.
3. Make the following sentences negative:
1) Nuclear testing took place in Western and Eastern Kazakhstan.
2) Military testing polygons have been operating for more than 45 years.
3) Thirty tons of highly toxic chemicals were released into the atmosphere.
4) A significant part of the territory are polluted with heavy metals and other materials.
5) Disease and mortality rates are high in this region.
6) Radioactive gas from the underground cavity leaked into the atmosphere.
7) A significant portion of the territory has been contaminated with highly toxic missile fuel.
8) A large salt lake was used as a storage facility for poisonous substances.
9) Rates of disease are increasing.
10) The residents are socially protected.
4. Read the following sentences and point out the subject and the predicate in each of them:
1) The environment of Kazakhstan has been devastated by nuclear polygons.
2) Twenty nine explosions occurred over this time period.
3) A great number of missiles have been tested here.
4) Highly toxic materials have been identified on a significant portion of the territory.
5) Studies by local scientists have shown massive lake contaminations.
6) The district's ground water has been contaminated.
7) A new incurable disease is increasing.
5. Answer the questions:
1) What are the territory of the nuclear polygons polluted with?
2) What toxic substances can be observed throughout the region's food chain?
3) What is geptil?
4) What can you say about the water from the wells on the territory of the polygons?
5) Why is the health of Azgir residents worse than average in Kazakhstan?
6) What new disease is increasing on the territory of the polygon?
6. Copy out of each paragraph the sentences containing the most important information.
7. Read the text again and write a brief summary of it.
UNIT IX
New words and expressions:
inland – внутренний
recent – недавний, современный
stage – стадия, период, этап
reduce – уменьшать, сокращать
oscillate – колебаться
range – диапазон, предел, хребет
sediment – осадок
submarine – подводный
weak – слабый
draw off (drew, drawn) – тянуть, извлекать, отводить
accident – случай, катастрофа, авария
film – пленка
seaweed – морская водоросль
heal – излечивать, исцелять
thence – оттуда, из этого
onslaught – натиск, атака.
dump – свалка. сваливать
average – средний
evaporate – испарять
store – хранить
penetrate – проникать
salinity – соленость
migratory – блуждающий
Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:
reservoir, base, accident, transportation, ton, product, film, block, passage, photosynthesis, migratory, company, exploit, guarantee, technology, operation, limit, complex, major, system, problem, organism, regenerate, calculate, cooperate.
THE CASPIAN SEA
The Caspian Sea is the largest inland sea of the world. The basin of the Caspian Sea gas undergone several transformations in recent geologic periods, it was once joined to the Black Sea in the West and the Aral Sea in the East. At another stage its area was reduced to that of its present section. During the last one hundred years the level of the sea has been oscillating within the range of about four feet.
With respect to depth, the Caspian forms three sections. The northernmost and the shallowest is being gradually filled by sediments of the Volga River. Its average depth is 16 feet. The middle and southern sections are two deep basins separated by a submarine range. The middle portion reaches a depth of 2 590 feet, and the southernmost, 3 200 feet. The salinity of the sea is relatively weak. This is due largely to the action of the Kara-Bogas-Gol, which acts as a natural evaporating basin drawing off the water of the Caspian and depositing salt along its shores.
The Caspian Sea is bordered by five countries: Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The fate of the sea was decided in the mid-20 th century when Azerbaijan had to choose whether to base its economy on developing the oilfields on the sea floor or on the valuable fish found in its waters. The country chose oil and thus brought upon itself the ills it now faces.
The sea is polluted by oil drilling and frequent leaks and accidents during transportation. Every year 288,000 ton of oil products are dumped into the sea, covering the entire surface with an oily film. The film blocks the passage of oxygen and light into the water, damaging seaweed and phytoplankton that depends for their existence on photosynthesis and killing fish and zooplankton. The oil film also washes up on the beaches, affecting all those who live along the shore and disturbing migratory birds.
In recent years numbers of foreign oil companies have come to exploit the oilfields of the Caspian. These companies guaranteed that they would use the latest, cleanest technologies in their operations. But their efforts are of limited worth because the Caspian Sea is a closed reservoir with no outlet to any other body of water with no possibility to clean itself.
Large agroindustrial complex is another major source of the Caspian Sea pollution. Vast quantities of pesticides, poorly stored, transported and used have poured into the rivers and penetrated the underground water system, thence finding this way into the sea.
Untreated sewage and wastes create another serious problem for a country whose sewage treatment plants are outdated and which is too poor to purchase new equipment. Large amount of sewage containing oil products, heavy metals, sulphates, chlorides, synthetic surface active compounds, phenols and other toxic substances are dumped in the sea.
The sea is a living organism that is slowly losing its ability to regenerate. Our scientists calculate that the sea will be dead by the beginning of the 21st century if the onslaught of pollutants does not come to an end.
Little attention is being paid to the environment in our country. We are trying to build our future by destroying the natural wealth upon which our future depends.
All five countries that border the sea need to cooperate to solve these problems, they need international support as well. The Earth is a single, living organism. The organism is ill. We must heal it together.
From «Surviving Together».EXERCISES:
1. State to what part of speech the following words belong according to their suffixes and translate them into Russian:
attention, environment, future, natural, cooperate, international, organism, contamination, serious, equipment, toxic, substance, largely, action, economy, valuable, transportation, ability, scientist, product, evaporate.
2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:
тонны нефтепродуктов, масляная пленка, гарантировать, агропромышленный комплекс, главный источник загрязнения, огромное количество, серьезная проблема, приобрести новое оборудование, тяжелые металлы, токсические вещества, живой организм, решать проблемы, международная поддержка.
3. Form verbs from the following nouns and translate them into Russian:
state, part, translation, cooperation, organization, contamination, support, solution, equipment, product, transportation, action, building, dependence, creation, loss, regeneration, storage, penetration.
4. Form nouns from the following verbs and translate them into Russian:
combine, produce, guarantee, situate, border, decide, base, develop, find, water, face, dump, cover, block, pass, damage, exist, affect, exploit, use.
5. Answer the following questions:
1) What three sections of the Caspian Sea do you know?
2) Why is the salinity of the Caspian Sea weak?
3) Why do we call this sea an inland sea?
4) What countries is the Caspian Sea bordered by?
5) Why is the sea polluted? Name two main sources of pollution.
6) In what way does the oily film damage the seaweed?
7) Why does the Caspian Sea have no possibility to clean itself?
8) Why are large amount of sewage dumped in the sea?
6. Translate this text in written form.
7. Copy out of each paragraph the sentences containing the most important information.
8. Express the main idea of the whole text in English.
9. Read the texts again and make a report on the environmental problems of Kazakhstan.
SECTION II
UNIT X
New words and expressions.
to encourage (v.) – поддерживать, поощрять
concession (n.) – уступка
sustainable (adj.) – жизнеспособный
to benefit (v.) – получить, извлекать выгоду
incentive (n.) – побуждение
corrupt (adj.) – коррумпированный
to sacrifice (v.) – жертвовать
to harvest (v.) – сбор урожая
to argue (v.) – спорить
greedy(adj.) – жадный, скупой
imperative (adj.) – императив, насущная необходимость
income (n.) – доход прибыль
ignorance (n.) – невежество
treaty (n.) – договор
plight (n.) – затруднительное положение, проблема
environmentally conscious – экологически сознательный
so far – до сих пор
to be reluctant – делать что– то неохотно
to be keen – сильно стремиться
in theory – теоретически
Part I
Saving the rainforests
In a small group try to think of ways of saving the rainforests. What can be done in rich, developed countries and what can the developing countries do? Report your views to the rest of the class and when all your ideas have been collected, compare your views with those of the author.
We are rapidly destroying the tropical rainforests. What can we do to conserve what is left of them? One important step is to reduce the demand for new hardwood products. Governments could do this by putting a high tax on these products. The revenue from a tropical hardwood tax could fund conservation projects. So far, governments have been reluctant to introduce a tax on hardwood. Like all new taxes, it would make the government unpopular! In fact, until recently, certain Third World countries (notably Brazil) had a tax system that encouraged the destruction of the rainforests. They were so keen to promote the export of cattle that they offered tax concessions to the farmers who burned the forests! Most of these schemes have now been abolished “Sue demand for hardwood in the West is falling even without a tropical hardwood tax. The international timber trade has received a lot of bad publicity because of its role in the destruction of the rainforests. Many environmentally-conscious people today refuse to buy goods that are from tropical hardwoods. Some timber companies now concentrate on selling softwoods such as pine and beech instead. Other companies recycle hardwood by taking apart old furniture. A few companies still cut down hardwood trees but they are also planting new trees to try to rebuild the forests. However, no timber company has yet achieved the goal of sustainable timber extraction (that is, replacing as many trees as it cut down) in the tropical rainforests.
Restricting the activities of the timber trade will not, on its own, save the rainforests. We must also address the other causes of deforestation – lack of alternative fuel, the need to create grazing land for cattle and the widespread public ignorance about the ecological importance of the rainforests. In 1987, several international organizations (including the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and the United Nations Development Program) launched the Tropical Action Plan, a five-year plan to invest money in forestry, conservation and agricultural projects. Their aims were: to plant new hardwood forests, particularly in vital watershed zones; to provide alternative firewood supplies from fast-growing softwood trees (such as eucalyptus), to promote the practice of agroforestry (in which cattle graze within the forests so that farmers do not need to cut down trees); and to encourage research into conservation of forestry in the developing countries. The Tropical Forests Action Plan, and other similar projects, have made some progress toward reforestation. But environmentalists have criticized such projects for spending most of their money on building ugly plantations of fast-growing trees all of the same species. They spend only a small fraction of their funds on conserving the existing forests or on research. The ultimate aim (according to critics) is to grow hardwood trees as a renewable cash crop, rather than to conserve the rainforests and the great diversity of plant and animal life within them. It takes about 150 years for a hardwood tree to reach maturity, but it takes many centuries for the full rainforest ecosystem to become established.
Conservation costs money. The developing countries cannot afford to forgo the immediate revenue that they can by selling timber or raising cattle. But they could, and should, try to develop the economic potential of the rich resources that grow beneath the trees – the non-timber forest products. The medicinal plants in the rainforests have great scientific potential, but they also have enormous economic value. Harvesting medicinal herbs for the pharmaceutical industry is potentially more profitable for the developing countries than selling timber or raising cattle on the deforested land.
If the poor countries are to benefit from non-timber forest products, the distributions of profit must change radically. Everyone agrees, in theory, that the poor nations need financial incentives to conserve what is left of the rainforests, and that these incentives must come from the rich countries. But at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, 1992, delegates from rich and poor countries argued angrily with one another. The delegates from the rich countries agreed in principle with an action plan to save the rainforests, but in the end they were too greedy to sacrifice their own comfortable lifestyles. In addition, they did not trust the poor countries; they believed that money given for conservation projects would be wasted or stolen by incompetent and corrupt officials. Instead of an international treaty signed by all or most countries, UNCED produced only a “statement of principles”. The next few years will probably demonstrate that this statement is not worth the recycled paper it is printed on.
The plight of the disappearing tropical rainforests is one of the most urgent environmental crises in the world today. The “Lungs of the world” are being sacrificed for the rich man’s love of hardwood furniture and hamburgers, and the poor man's need for fuel and a basic income. Conserving the rainforests is an ecological imperative that demands personal sacrifices from rich and poor alike. The rich must change their consumption habits. The poor must find alternative sources of fuel and income so that no longer need to plunder the precious rainforests to ensure their own survival. The destruction of the rainforests is an example of how poverty and environmental destruction are interdependent problems. Both require international dialogue and political action. The Tropical Forest Action Plan and the UNCED statement of principles have been relatively infective. In reality, the fight to save the rainforests has hardly begin.
EXERCISES:
1. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following word combinations:
Пути спасения тропических лесов, сократить спрос, наложить высокие проценты на эти продукты, до недавнего времени, уничтожение лесов, налоговые уступки, рассмотреть другие причины обезлесивания, недостаток альтернативного топлива, всеобщее невежество, развивать практику сельскохозяйственной посадки лесов, изменить потреби-тельские привычки, обеспечивать выживание, взаимозависимые проб-лемы, уродливые посадки быстрорастущих деревьев одного вида, жизнеспособная рубка леса, средства, выделенные на экологические проекты.
2. Translate into Russian:
Rich developed countries, compare your views, to conserve what is left of them, to fund conservation projects, make the government unpopular, encouraged the destruction of the rainforests, a lot of bad publicity, concentrate on selling softwoods as pine and beech, particularly in vital watershed zones, encourage research into conservation of forestry, the recycled paper, incompetent and corrupt officials.
3. Translate into English:
1. Что мы можем предпринять, чтобы спасти то, что осталось.
2. До сих пор правительства не решались наложить налог на древесину.
3. Как все новые налоги, они нанесут урон на репутацию правительства (make unpopular).
4. Международная торговля лесом получило негативное общественное мнение из-за их роли в уничтожении тропических лесов.
5. Многие экологически сознательные люди отказываются покупать товары, сделанные из тропической древесины.
6. Ни одна лесная компания не достигла цели "жизнеобеспечивающей" рубки (sustainable timber extraction) тропического леса (замены новым деревом каждого срубленного дерева).
7. Одной из причин обезлесивания является широко распространенное общественное невежество об экологической важности тропических лесов.
8. План действия по тропическому лесу, и другие подобные проекты, достигли определенных успехов в рефорестации.
9. Охрана природы стоит денег.
10. Делегаты из богатых стран в принципе согласились с планом действия по сохранению тропических лесов.
11. Вдобавок, они не доверяют бедным странам; они считают, что деньги, выделенные на охранные проекты будут потрачены и присвоены некомпетентными и коррумпированными чиновниками.
12. Уничтожение тропических лесов является примером как бедность и разрушение окружающей среды взаимозависимы.
4. Answer the following questions:
1. What is one important step to save the rainforests?
2. Why has the International timber trade received a lot of bad publicity?
3. What is sustainable timber extraction?
4. What is agroforestry?
5. Why did delegates from rich and poor countries argue with one another at the conference in Rio de Janeiro?
6. Why are poverty and environmental destruction interdependent problems?
Part II
5. Biodiversity and genetic resources:
When we think of wildlife facing extinction, we are usually thinking of large majestic animals such as whales, elephants and rhinos or of the “cuddly” black-and-white panda. These creatures are indeed at risk of extinction because of irresponsible and cruel hunting by human predators. It is easy to become angry at the plight of these endearing mammals. But the threat of extinction is not limited to the few species that we can recognize in pictures or visit in zoos. The threat of extinction affects almost every species on earth, down to the tiniest microbe.
A species is a group of animals, plants or microorganisms that share a common genetic structure. Members of a species can mate with one another but not with members of another species. The earth probably contains between 10 and 100 million different species, although scientists have so far only identified 1.4 million of them. Each species is genetically unique. This means that we cannot produce new members of a species by breeding other species. The great variety of different species of animals, plants and microorganisms are the world’s genetic resources. There is a new word in the English language that underlines the importance of conserving these resources: biodiversity, which means biological diversity or, literally, “many different forms of life”. Fifty to seventy percent of all the earth’s animal, plant and bacteria species live in the tropical rainforests. The floor of the forest is a warm, moist, sheltered environment that encourages a great variety of living things to grow. Wild plants and animals in the rainforests already supply us with hundreds of useful materials, foods and medicines. The genetic resources within the rainforests provide a huge potential for new developments. We do not know very much about the balance of nature inside the rainforests. We cannot say that any single species is unimportant to the rest of the ecosystem. Maintaining biodiversity by conserving the rainforests is one of the greatest priorities for environmentalists today. Yet at the present rate of destruction, 7 percent of the earth’s biodiversity is lost every 25 years.
The balance of nature within any ecosystem depends on the complex interaction between millions of species of animals, plants and micro-organisms. The death of one species could threaten the survival of hundreds of others. A second species might lose its food supply and it, too, might become extinct. Another species could lose its predators, so it might become more numerous. The populations of parasites, arid microorganisms that depend on these larger specie will also change. This may lead to the spread of new, virulent disease in the higher organisms. The balance of nature is often a very precarious one. There are many more species of small organisms than of large ones. Insects outnumber all other animal species combined, and bacteria outnumber all the animal and plant species together. These small organisms have a large influence on the microenvironment.
Microorganisms influence important physical properties such as the acidity and mineral content of the soil, the salinity of the sea, and the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air. Changes in the populations of microorganisms may, therefore, cause major changes in the compositions of the earth and its atmosphere.
In general, organisms that live in the wild are stronger and more resistant to disease that domestic strains. They can replace domestic strains that develop disease. In the 1860, the grape vines in Europe were infested with a deadly pest, phylloxera, which threatened to destroy the entire European grape harvest. The wild American vines were resistant to phulloxera, so farmers cross-bred the European vines with these wild strains and the grape harvest survived. A more resent example of the benefits of biodiversity is a species of wild corn discovered a few years ago growing in a Mexican forest. The wild corn was extremely hardy and was resistant to viruses that often attack cultivated corn. The wild strain was a perennial (that is, it grew again spontaneously every year), whereas other forms of corn are annuals (that is, the farmers must sow new seeds every year). Scientists successfully cross-bred the wild strain with domestic varieties and created a new, hardy, perennial strain of cultivated corn. The wild Mexican corn was only growing in a tiny area of forest – about four hectares in total. When the corn was discovered, this small area was threatened by timber traders who were about to cut down the trees.
Today, scientists are trying to store wild strains of all the staple food crops in case the domestic strains develop disease. They have occasionally been successful. A few years ago a deadly virus, Yellow Dwarf Virus, spread through the barley crops in the United States. Scientists at the Center for Plant Genetics in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, had stored wild strains of barley that were resistant to Yellow Dwarf Virus. They sent some seeds to farmers in the U.S. and thereby prevented a complete failure of the harvest. But we cannot always rely on scientists to restore the balance of nature when it goes wrong. We cannot maintain biodiversity in the plant and animal worlds by storing every single species in laboratories. The world’s ecosystem is far too complicated. The best, place to store our genetic resources is in their natural habitat. We must try to conserve what is left of these habitats before it is late.
Conserving biodiversity was one of the most controversial subjects of the UNCED conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The genetic resources in the rainforests, coastal waters, and agricultural landscapes promise financial profits in future years if we invest money in protecting biodiversity today. But the developing countries, which own the rainforests, argued that most research into genetic resources will occur in the industrialized countries, which will protect their discoveries by patent, and most commercial benefits from these discoveries will go to multinational companies in the West. The poor countries therefore demanded that the rich countries pay the full cost of the planned conservation and research programs. The UNCED conference produced the biodiversity treaty (a legal agreement between countries to protect wildlife and conserve genetic resources), but the delegates from the richest country in the world, the United States, refused to sign it because they thought that the financial liability for their country would be excessive.
Extinction is final. It does not just mean death; it means an end to birth. Once the last member of a species has died, that species is lost to the planets forever. Man has the power to upset the balance of nature but he does not have the power to restore that balance. This is why we must try to protect every living species on the earth – even the ugliest insects and the tiny, invisible, unglamorous bacteria. Of all the world’s resources, its genetic resources are the least renewable of all.
6. Answer the following questions:
1. Why is almost every species on earth under threat of extinction?
2. What is a species?
3. Why is each species genetically unique?
4. Why is conserving the rainforests one of the greatest priorities for environmentalists today?
5. What factors does the balance of nature depend on?
6. Why is it important to store wild strains of food crops?
7. Is it in man's power to restore the balance of nature?
7. Render the text in English:
8. Speak on the following topics:
1. The destruction of the rainforests is one of the most urgent environmental crises.
2. Conservation costs money.
3. Extinction is final.
4. The balance of nature within ecosystem.
5. Each species is genetically unique.
UNIT XI
seal (n.) – тюлень
aimlessly (adv.)– бесцельно
pregnant (adj.)– беременные
to recall (v.)– напоминать
plague (n.)– чума, бедствие
to devastate (v.)– опустошить
to weaken (v.)– ослаблять
vulnerable (adj.)– уязвимый
to argue (v.)– доказывать, убеждать
adverse (adj.)– вредный
remarkably (adv.)– удивительно
complacent (adj.)– благодушный, спокойный
reproductive (adj.)– репродуктивный
former (adj.)– бывший
suppression (n.)– подавление, поражение
judiciously (adv.)– рассудительно
to bear on (v.)– преодолеть
by the middle/ end/ beginning of – к середине, концу, началу…
to take steps – предпринять шаги
making matters worse – что усложняет дело
recorded history – историческая летопись
due to – из-за
to come to grips with – вступить в борьбу
personal commitment – личное обязательство
The Case of the Dying Seals
In the spring 1988, the harbor Seals in the North Sea began to die. Adult seals floated aimlessly in the water, too weak to eat or play. Pregnant females aborted their fetuses. The mysterious disease began off the coast of Denmark and spread quickly to seal colonies throughout the North and Baltic seas. By the middle of the summer, seals were dying along hundreds of miles of North Sea coastline. By September, the disease had spread to the Atlantic coast of Ireland.
Some people called this scourge the "Black Death of the sea", for it recalled the epidemics of bubonic plague, or Black Death, that devastated Europe in the 1300s. In this tragic turn of events, a population of harbor seals once containing 18,000 animals has been cut to only 6000. This, the largest die-off of seals in recorded history, may be caused by the canine distemper virus. Biologists believe, however, that the virus is not working alone. Pollution in the seas, they say, may have greatly weakened the immune systems of the seals, making them vulnerable.
The North and Baltic seas have been polluted for years. The North Sea alone annually receives 60 billion liters (15 billion gallons) of waste water from factories and waste-treatment facilities in bordering industrial nations.
Germany's environmental minister argued that the industrial pollution is a principal cause of seal deaths and many biologists who are studying die off agree. The pollution problem in the North and Baltic seas, however, is compounded by the nature of the seas themselves. Both are shallow and cleanse themselves very slowly. The North Sea, in fact, renews itself only twice every ten years. The Baltic Sea turns over once every 20 to 30 years. Because of this, pollution levels can increase locally, causing adverse impacts on fish and wildlife, and, possibly, people.
Seals living in the waters off the coast of West Germany and the Netherlands are heavily contaminated with a toxic chemical called PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl), a substance once used as an insulator in electrical devices. The PCBs and possibly other chemical contaminants are believed responsible for the reproductive problems and the suppression of the seals' immune systems.
The seal plague may be the latest manifestation of a chronic pollution problem in the North and Baltic seas. Northern Europe and Scandinavia have taken steps to clean up the seas, but many key nations seem uninterested in helping. Great Britain, for instance, has been remarkably complacent about the seal deaths. East Germany and Czechoslovakia, two principal polluters, failed to attend the conference held in 1987in which most North Sea states agreed to cut industrial emissions to the rivers of Europe by half. Seal deaths off the coast of Europe are a symptom of a global problem. Similar events are occurring elsewhere. Since June of 1987, as many as four out of every ten dolphins off the Atlantic coast of the United States have perished. Studies of gulls in the Great Lakes have shown an alarming reproductive failure due to PCBs and other organic pollutants.
Despite an outpouring of laws to control pollution, America has hardly come to grips with the problem. Tens of thousands of hazardous waste sites litter the American landscape. Pollution control laws passed in the 1970s initially decreased water pollution nationwide, but since the early 1980s, pollution levels have remained more or less constant. Making matters worse, regulation and enforcement of hazardous waste laws has been lax.
William K. Reilly, Jr., former president of the World Wildlife Fund and the Conservation Foundation, notes that despite the successes of pollution control laws, America "faces an array of environmental problems even more daunting than [the] pollution crises of the past generation". Global climate change, acid precipitation, worldwide deforestation, and ozone depletion be says, are all unanswered by current policies.
Solutions to global problems require new laws and tighter controls. Critical thinking demands a search for additional solutions. New technologies, for example, can help us reduce waste and use the earth's resources more judiciously. Individuals can also chip in. A personal commitment to conserve, to recycle, to use renewable resources (for example, paper rather than plastic), and to limit family size can go a long way in helping to solve the environmental problems facing this nation. Individual actions, multiplied many times, must be a part of the solution. All of these efforts must be brought to bear on the global environmental crisis, making the world a healthier place for all life.
(From Internet)EXERCISES:
1. Translate into Russian:
Mysterious disease; bordering industrial nations; suppressions of the seals; immune system; pollution control laws; require new laws and tighter control; manifestation of a chronic pollution problem; face an array of environmental problems.
2. Find in the text sentences containing the following word combinations and phases and translate into Russian:
К середине лета; напомнил эпидемию бубонной чумы; не приняли участие в конференции; сократить промышленные выбросы; всемирное обезлесивание (вырубка леса); озонное истощение; преумноженный в несколько раз; превратить мир в более здоровое место для всей жизни; беременные самки тюлени; бубонная чума; трагическое стечение обстоятельств; собачья чума; очистительные сооружения; вредное воздействие; репродуктивная несостоятельность; засоряют американский ландшафт; мусорные полигоны; использование земных ресурсов рассудительно; поиск дополнительных решений; преодолеть кризис окружающей среды.
3. Answer the questions:
1. What tragic event was the Spring of 1988 in the Baltic Seas marked by?
2. What were the consequences of this event?
3. What was the principal cause of seal deaths?
4. What adverse impact toxic chemical PCP has on sea organists?
5. What solutions to global environmental problems does the author of this article offer?
4. Read and render the following text:
Mass Death of Dolphins Worry Experts.
During a normal year , ten or twelve dead dolphins are found washed ashore on beaches between New Jersey and Virginia. However, in one recent year the death toll climbed to more than 200, and scientists believe that hundreds more may have died offshore. Since this represents a large part of the Atlantic dolphin population, some experts are worried that this population may ultimately be destroyed. Moreover, alarmed swimmers have asked whether they themselves are also in danger from whatever is killing the dolphins. The U.S. Office of Naval Research is continuing to fund marine mammal research at colleges and universities to find the cause of the dolphins` death.
Large numbers of opportunistic pathogens, including Edwardsiella tarda and 55 species of Vibrio, were found in the dead dolphins. These bacteria are a part of the normal flora of dolphins and of coastal waters and can cause disease only if the animals immune system, its normal defense against infection, has been weakened. To find the ultimate cause of the deaths, scientists must find out what has weakened the animals immune systems. One possibility is a chemical spill. High levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are chemical pollutants, have been found in the 53 dolphins tested. Daniel Martineau of Cornell University says that PCBs are strong immunosuppressants. Another possibility is a virus infection that affects the immune system. The cause of thousands of seal deaths in northern Europe in April 1988 is now known to be a previously undiscovered virus. Could a new virus be infecting dolphins as well?
(From Internet)Speak on the following topics.
1) The death of marine animals is a symptom of a global environmental crisis.
2) The role of a personal commitment and individual action in the solution of environmental problems.
UNIT XII
New words and expressions.
unpredictable (adj.)– непредсказумый
cause (n.)– причина
combustion (n.)– горение
to call (v.)– призывать
to sign (v.)– подписать
enforcement (n.)– проведение в жизнь
seemingly (adv.)– на вид
to introduce (v.)– вводить
to fluctuate (v.)– колебаться
to rehabilitate (v.)– восстановить
to undertake obligations – взять обязательство
to adjust to new conditions – приспособиться к новым условиям
to render support to – оказать помощь
public utilities – коммунальные услуги
on the whole – в целом
to be in smb's interest – быть в чьих то интересах
Bad heating strengthens the hothouse effect.
The international community considers the steadily warming climate a real threat that could bring unpredictable consequences. The burning of organic fuel is the main cause for global warming. Combustion materials, called hothouse gases (HG) are thrown into the Earth's atmosphere. These gases block heat escaping Earth's surface. Major climatic changes may reduce Kazakhstan's grain crops and cause more storms and hurricanes.
In 1992 at the global conference in Rio-de-Janeiro, the international community adopted the U N Frame convention on changing climate that called all countries to take measures to prevent the warming climate process and reduce hothouse gases expelled to the atmosphere. Countries are to reduce fuel consumption and burning.
Kazakhstan has signed and ratified the document. That means Astana has voluntarily undertaken obligations to take steps preventing changes to the climate and promoting the reduction of HG discharges.
Seemingly, the problem concerns us only indirectly. We are neither the industrial giant America nor Japan. But the Republic of Kazakhstan is a considerable producer of global HG. The survey of hothouse gases in Kazakhstan done from 1994 to 1998 with the support of some international organizations showed that the annual volume of HG production had been equivalent to about 350 million tons of bicarbonate gas.
The International Energy for 1993 provides Kazakhstan's HG standing. Kazakhstan is the first in the world by indicators related to hothouse gas production per unit of gross product. Per capita we are the thirteenth. The main fuel consumer and thus the main source of HG in Kazakhstan is the energy sector. The country with its distinctly continental climate and severe winters consumes a great volume of fuel for heating. Most cities in Kazakhstan have centralized heating systems, which annually consume about 30 million tons of fuel. Immediate expenses towards fuel can be about USD 600 million per year. The heating systems are inefficient. Excessive fuel is consumed and considerable amounts of HG are released. Improving the efficiency of the heating systems is in Kazakhstan's interest both to fulfill its obligations under the UN Frame Convention on the changing climate and to reduce costs.
The global environment and local economic problems are linked. Kazakhstan's policy of economic reforms and liberalizations are aimed at introducing market mechanisms to the economy including the public utilities. Heat consumers ought to pay all costs associated with public utilities. But when fuel prices are fluctuating while incomes remain low many citizens cannot afford to pay heating costs. When consumers cannot pay for the utility service, the heating utility becomes unprofitable and is subsidized. In some towns the centralized heating systems are paid for entirely from local budgets.
The centralized heating systems and other subsidized branches are stagnant. The systems' poor technical condition causes more expenses in fuel, worsening the problem on the whole. This situation in the public utilities field is characteristic of all CIS countries. Experts it is necessary re-equip of the heating systems to improve their efficiency and adjust them to the new conditions. The standard and legal base of these utilities must also be changed to deal with the market reality.
Taking into consideration the current situation, The Global Environmental Fund (GEF) has been rendering technical support to Eastern European countries as well as to newly independent countries to increase the efficiency of their centralized heating systems, via the UN Development Program (UNDP).
According to the agreements with the Kazakh Government, with the support of UNDP and GEF a project is being implemented in Kazakhstan. It is supposed to aid in solving problems related to the rehabilitation of the centralized heating systems. The project is being implemented in two cities: Almaty and Kokshetau. Corresponding research proved that the technical and economic state of the centralized heating systems in both cities is poor. The total loss of heat within the systems is to 40-50 %. In western countries this figure is 15-25 %. Low efficiency of the centralized heating systems is largely caused by the technical condition of the facilities. Investment is required to rehabilitate them.
There are a number of problems related to investment in the rehabilitation of the systems. First of all concern the tariff legislation and the necessity of guarantees for credits. Under the current tariff legislation, when heating companies are unprofitable, it is impossible to attract investments to improve the technical condition of the heating systems. So tariff legislation aimed to protect the consumer from excessive heat tariffs also prevents measures designed to improve energy efficiency, which ultimately affects consumers.
Nevertheless, UHDP-GEF experts, successful in similar projects implemented in some countries including post-Soviet republics with the support of the Global Environmental Fund, believe the reforms can be implemented in Kazakhstan.
(Central Asian Times)2002EXERCISES.
1. Translate into Russian Paying attention to the Pattern Noun + Participle I and Noun + Participle II.
hothouse gases, expelled to the atmosphere; indicators, related to hothouse gas production; costs, associated with public utilities; problems, related to; legislation, aimed to protect; measures, designed to improve energy efficiency;
2. Find in the text sentences containing the following word combinations:
В течении последних 20 лет; устойчивое потепление; реальная угроза; непредсказуемые последствия; бури и ураганы; потребление топлива, на вид; промышленные гиганты; годовой объем; показатели; отчетливо континентальный климат; субсидироваться; ухудшая проблему; новые независимые страны, всеобщая потеря; при существующем тарифном законодательстве; включая; соответствовать рынку; выполнять обязательства; защитить потребителя; в конечном счете; введение рыночного механизма в экономику;
3. Translate into English:
1. Казахстан подписал и ратифицировал документ.
2. Это означает, что Астана добровольно берет обязательство принять меры по решению данной проблемы.
3. Улучшение централизованной отопительной системы в интересах Казахстана.
4. Глобальная окружающая среда и локальные экономические проблемы тесно взаимосвязаны.
5. Потребители тепла должны оплачивать все расходы, связанные с коммунальными услугами.
6. В ситуации, когда цены на топливо колеблются, доходы остаются низкими квартиросъемщики не в состоянии платить за отопление.
7. Когда потребители не могут платить за коммунальные услуги, отопление становится неприбыльным, а потому субсидируется.
8. По мнению экспертов необходимо переоборудовать отопительную систему чтобы улучшить эффективность и приспособить ее к новым условиям.
9. Фонд охраны глобальной окружающей среды оказывает техническую помощь странам Восточной Европы.
10. Программа приводится в действие в двух городах Казахстана: Астане и Кокчетаве.
11. Соответствующие исследования показали, что техническое и экономическое состояние централизованной отопительной системы находится на низком уровне.
12. Для восстановления отопительной системы нужны инвестиции.
13 .Привлечение инвестиций невозможно, когда отопительные компании являются неприбыльными.
14. Тарифное законодательство, нацеленное на защиту потребителей от чрезмерно высоких цен на отопление.
4. Answer the questions:
1. What is one of the main causes of global warming?
2. What did the global conference in Rio-de-Janeiro Call all countries to?
3. What did the survey of hothouse gases in Kazakhstan show?
4. What is the main source of hothouse in Kazakhstan?
5. What measure can reduce hothouse production in Kazakhstan?
6. Under what conditions can heating costs be afforded?
7. What causes more expenses in fuel?
8. Thanks to which measures can the situation be improved?
9. Why is it crucial to develop adequate tariff legislation?
5. Make sentences using the pattern: It is + adj. + inf.
e. g. It is impossible to attract investments.
It is desirable
It is dangerous
It is wonderful
It is worth while
It is useful
6. Speak on the following topics:
1. Consequences of the global warming.
2. Interdependence of the global environmental and local economic problems.
UNIT XIII
New words and expressions:
to retain (v.) – удерживать, задерживать
consumption (n.) – потребление
assumption (n.) – предположение
to sign (n.) – подписать
effort (n.) – усилия
reliability (n.) – надежность
deviation (n.) – отклонение
prediction (n.) – предсказание
precipitation (n.) – осадок, осадки
mitigation (n.) – ослабление
unfortunately (adv.)– к сожалению
to create (v.) – создавать
unfavorable (adj.) – неблагоприятный
waffling (n.) – сомнение.
to take into consideration – принять во внимание
it is common knowledge – общеизвестно
in connection with – в связи с
to be connected with – связано с
to give rise to – вызвать
at present – в настоящее время
Part I
What is Climate Change?
Present state and history of the problem
As early as in the 19th century scientists discovered that carbon dioxide retains the heat from the sun in the atmosphere, affecting the Earth's surface temperature. With the beginning of the industrial revolution and scientific and ethnological progress the world consumption of various fuels grew, raising respectively the atmospheric carbon dioxide level.
Nevertheless for many years scientists didn't take this problem into consideration because it was common knowledge that excessive atmospheric CO2 sinks into the world's oceans. In 1957-1958, during the International Geophysical Year, scientists decided to check that assumption through a number of investigations on the peak of the Hawaii volcano Mauna Loa. The data from Mauna Loa show that the concentration dioxide rises evenly.
In connection with the political instability in the world during the Cold War, up to the middle of the eighties, international cooperation in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions was unfeasible. Measures for nature protection policy of most countries did not extend beyond the frameworks of the national level. However attitudes of states started changing due to huge efforts of scientists from many countries with regard to the ozone crisis when in 1987 in Montreal a Protocol on Restrictions was signed and finally follows with a ban on emissions from CFC production. The success of the Montreal Protocol has contributed to the prospects for international cooperation relating to other problems of global nature protection.
When one of outstanding climatologists of the United State James Hansen from NASA declared to the Congress in 1988 that with a high degree of reliability warming (increase in the mean global temperature by around 0.5 0C in this century) can be connected with the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, he stirred up a storm of critics. «It is time to stop waffling so much and say the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here». – he said in his interview to a journalist from New York Times. This, the statement of Hansen had an unusual political effect and drew many scientists and politicians of the world to this problem.
At that time many climatologists did not agree with Hansen and considered that recent hot years were normal deviation from mean temperatures. However data confirming the opinion of Hansen are being accumulated. And in 1989 A. Strong from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the measurements of the ocean surface temperatures conducted from a satellite during 1982-1988… showed that the world's oceans gradually but noticeably grew warmer by about 0.1 oC a year. Later on, some scientists agreed with Hansen that physical manifestations of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect are already definite. Richard Houghton and George Woodwell stated that the heat and drought that affected North America and other regions of the Earth in resent years concurred with the predictions of possible global warming. There were also other signs of increasing warming. These included information on decreasing size of the area of permafrost in Alaska and Canadian Arctic, on rising mean temperatures in Canadian laces, on decreased maximum yearly extension of ice cover in Antarctica and Arctic, as well as on the diminishing number of icebergs in Europe and other regions. Unusual climatic phenomena in recent years – the Hugo Hurricane, floods in Africa and South – Eastern Asia, storms in Europe, – have given rise to the warming that is «a signal» of the growing greenhouse effect. According to ex-director of the US National Center of Atmospheric Research Dr. Walter Roberts [Source: Robert, Walter Orr, «It is time to Prepare for Global Climate Changes». Conservation Foundation Letter, April 1983.], «the dust bowl in the USA in the middle of 1930s was the greatest climate disaster in the history of our country. However it could seem a childish game in comparison with the dust bowl of the 2040s. As a result of warming natural precipitation can decrease by 40 %, summers get hotter, evaporation from the earth's surface will increase, soils will dry out, and winds will raise soils to the sky».
In December 1988, having revised the strategy for the policy of climate change, the UN General Assembly approved the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And in 1989 at an annual meeting the heads of seven large democratic states recognized the necessity of adopting a world convention on global climate change aimed at mitigation of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
For millenniums one natural human desire was to change the environment. At present all of a sudden we find ourselves on the verge of huge climate change resulting from human activities. Unfortunately these climate changes are unplanned and often uncontrolled and can entail catastrophic effects.
Climate on the Earth is determined by intricate interactions between the atmosphere, world oceans, ice caps, animals, vegetation and sedimentary rocks. When speaking of "a climate system" scientists mean all natural factors, which form the climate in interaction. This systems includes at least four main components: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. When a climatic system is in equilibrium – as it had been before the technological revolution – the solar radiation absorbed is balanced by the surface radiation of the earth and atmosphere. The anthropogenic factors that produce an accumulation of solar energy impact the thermal balance, changing the climate. The factors, which actively influence the solar energy balance, include technological gases called greenhouse gases.
(From Internet)EXERCISES:
1. Form verbs from the following nouns and translate them into Russian:
Consumption, consideration, concentration, assumption, reduction, emission, extension, mitigation, circulation, precipitation, evaporation, accumulation.
2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word – combinations:
С началом; топливо; соответственно; проверять; политическая нестабильность; за пределы рамки; относительно; запрещение; перспектива; высокая степень; заявление; политическая сила; привлечь; заметка, детская игра, по сравнению с; в результате; позиция; предсказания возможности потепления климата; уменьшения количества айсбергов; на грани; быть в равновесии; тепловой баланс; накопление солнечной энергии; постепенно но заметно; признали необходимость принятия мирового соглашения;
3. Translate into English:
1. В связи с политической нестабильностью в годы холодной войны и до середины восьмидесятых международное сотрудничество в области уменьшения выделения парникового газа было невозможно.
2. Мероприятия по охране природы во многих странах не выходили за рамки национального уровня.
3. Тем не менее, позиция многих государств начала изменяться благодаря большим усилиям ученых из многих стран.
4. Необычные климатические явления последних лет – Ураган Хуго, наводнение в Африке и Южно-восточной Азии и в Европе, являются сигналом растущего парникового эффекта.
5. Пыльный кубок в США в середине 1930-х был самым большим климатическим бедствием.
6. В результате потепления природные осадки могут сократиться на 40 % , лето будет жарким, испарение из поверхности земли увеличится, почва будет иссушаться и ветры поднимут пыль в небо…
7. В настоящее время мы вдруг обнаруживаем себя на грани катастрофического изменения климата вследствие деятельности человека.
8. К сожалению, эти климатические изменения неконтролируемы и могут привести к непредсказуемым последствиям.
9. Антропогенные факторы которые вызывают накопления солнечной энергии оказывают воздействие на тепловой баланс.
4. Answer the question:
1. What did scientists discover in the 19 th century?
2. What is the industrial revolution and scientific and ethnological progress accompanied by?
3. What assumption did scientists decide to check in 1987 – 1988?
4. Why did not nature protection policy extend beyond the frameworks of the national level?
5. What did the Montreal Protocol contribute to?
6. What did Games Hansen declare to the Congress in 1988?
7. Which data confirmed Hansen's opinion?
8. What were signs of increasing warming?
9. What is climate on the Earth determined by?
Part II
Greenhouse gases create a screen in the atmosphere that retains the infrared radiation resulting in the heating of the Earth, the surface and lower layers of the atmosphere. Traces of these gases were present in the atmosphere almost through the whole history of the Earth. The most significant natural greenhouse gas is water vapor. The next in this row of greenhouse gases-carbon dioxide (CO2) – has either natural or anthropogenic origin. Through the entire history of the Earth it entered the atmosphere from volcanic activities, and its balance was kept on by the biota due to natural circulation. Without CO2 the temperature of the Earth surface would have been by around 33o C lower than at present creating extremely unfavorable living conditions for animals and vegetation.
Scholars know how the chemical composition of the atmosphere has been changing during the last 160 thousand years. These data were obtained from the analyses of air bubbles in the ice cores pulled from a depth of 2 km at the "Vostok" station in Antarctica and in Greenland. The data indicate that in warm periods concentrations of CO2 and CH4 were some 1.5 times higher than in cold drift periods. These findings support the assumption expressed in 1861 by John Tyndall that the history of Earth's climate changes can be explained by changes in the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere not only in the natural way, but also due to human activities, mainly from combustion of fossil fuels and forest destruction. Therefore it is necessary to differentiate between the natural greenhouse effect and anthropogenic enhanced greenhouse effect (or global warming).
The natural greenhouse effect keeps the thermal balance of Earth's atmosphere favorable for animals and vegetation. The biota is also a natural temperature regulator because it can emit or absorb CO2 due to complex feedback mechanism formed and «adjusted» over millions of years.
The anthropogenic greenhouse effect, on the contrary, disturbs the established thermal balance in the atmosphere-hydrosphere-lithosphere system and therefore can produce a catastrophic rise in the temperature of the Earth. The anthropogenic greenhouse effect is caused by increases in the atmospheric carbon dioxide. This will entail climate warming and hence increased melting of glaciers and rise in sea levels as well as drastic weather changes throughout the world.
Greenhouse effect. A car or greenhouses are heated under the sun, because light energy sinking inside through the glass is absorbed and converted into the thermal energy that cannot pass through the glass. When the heat is trapped in this way, temperature rises. The Earth's atmosphere is heated likewise: light goes through the atmosphere while greenhouse gases, that act as "a blanket" holding heat, absorb infrared radiation. For instance, the temperature and climate we are used to are ensured by carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere at the level of 0.03 %. By raising this concentration, we increase the tendency for climate warming. Thus, the higher the greenhouse gas concentration, the stronger the greenhouse effect.
Greenhouse gases make up around 0.1 % of the atmosphere, which is mainly comprised of nitrogen –78 % and oxygen – 21 %. The main greenhouse gases enhancing anthropogenic changes in the atmosphere are carbon dioxide (CO2) methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O)and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Forests on the Earth occupying around 28 percent of the land and the world's oceans occupying 70 % of the total surface of the Earth can influence the global carbon cycle, the level of atmospheric CO2 and the climate. While growing, forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and accumulate it in phytomass and forest humus. According to assessments of the World Wildlife Fund, forests account for 80 % of carbon contained in vegetation and 40 percent of the total soil carbon. Scientists estimated that every year 1.6+1.0 billion tons of carbon are emitted into the atmosphere due to destruction of forests and land use change.
Carbon dioxide concentration in the world's oceans is several times higher in the deep than at the surface. This is because the level of inorganic carbon dissolved in water in the form of bicarbonate ions in equilibrium with CO2 is almost two orders more than in the atmosphere. If life in the ocean ceases, concentration of inorganic carbon in the depth and at the surface will become equal, leading to manifold increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration. Therefore, the ocean biota regulates atmosphere CO2 concentration and through this regulations maintains the surface temperature within the limits optimal to the life. A number of climatologists suggest that the world's oceans have a great potential to absorb CO2, and when water temperature rises, the capability of the ocean to absorb carbon increases. Thus, we can infer that the world ocean will probably play a stabilizing role in the carbon dioxide balance in global warming.
5. Answer the following questions:
1. Which gases are greenhouse gases?
2. Why is it necessary to differentiate between the natural greenhouse effect and anthropogenic greenhouse effect?
3. What changes does the anthropogenic greenhouse effect entail?
4. In what way do forests and oceans influence the global carbon cycle?
5. Which role does the World Ocean play in the carbon dioxide balance?
6. Read and render the following text.
Treat of Global Climate Change.
Some scientists believe that the global climate warming can have positive effects. For instance, agricultural crops and livestock yield can increase. That means the local climate change. However, despite these assumptions, it is as yet unknown how microorganisms will behave that can impact the quality of water, soils and air. We all are witnesses of hurricane winds, dust storms, and soil salinization and flooding even in quite safe areas.
Modeling of climatic processes shows that this concentration of greenhouse gases will entail an average warming of the Earth's surface by 1.5-4.5 oC. Warming will probably be stronger in polar areas (up to10 oC) and less – near the equator (1-2 oC). Significant differences arise relating to how this warming will influence cloudiness and how it will affect the distribution of solar radiation. However no one repudiates the probability of warming.
At first sight warming seems moderate. However, air temperature increases by 4.5 – 5.5 oC above the peaks of 38o C can be catastrophic. Moreover such warming will entail melting of mountain and polar ices sufficient to raise the world ocean level by 1.5 m. This will cause flooding and more exposure of vast littoral areas to storms, i.e. it will force people to leave settled coastal areas and migrate deep inland. In this connection many countries of the world face a number of vital questions. To what extent are we ready to rearrange and re – equip all seaports with regard to rising sea levels? Are the inland cities and towns ready to receive millions of resettled people? These and other acute questions require answers.
The effect of global warming on precipitation and agriculture seems to be even stronger. Different temperature at the poles and equator is the main driving force of anthropogenic circulation. Stronger warming at the poles will weaken the circulation. This will change the picture of anthropogenic circulation and therefore – the precipitation distribution.
For North Africa, as it is currently a desert, increase in precipitation will probably have a positive effect. However the USA and Canada will lose under these conditions. The central part of North America is one of the most important agricultural regions in the world, producing huge amounts of maize and wheat. Precipitation in region, already a minimum for its current crops, is expected to reduce significantly. Irrigation will hardly remedy the situation because the level of ground water is already going down in most of this territory because of agricultural consumption. Agriculture will probably manage to adapt to another climate, e.g. by shifting areas under crops to the north. However the main difficulty is in the lack of knowledge – what to expect. Farmers now lose on average every fifth yield because of unfavorable weather. In climate shifts the weather inconstancy will be even more tangible and crop losses may increase catastrophically.
7. Speak on the following topics:
1. Physical manifestation of the greenhouse effect.
2. The natural greenhouse effect.
3. The anthropogenic greenhouse effect.
UNIT XIV
New word and expressions:
inland (n.)– внутренний, территориальный
depression (n.) – впадина
approximately (adv.) – приблизительно
sediment (n.) – осадок
to range(v.) – колебаться
currently (adv.) – в текущее время
to cover (v.) – охватывать, покрывать
border (n..) – граница
permanent (adj.) – постоянный
inflow (n.) – приток
numerous (adj.) – многочисленные
to reflect (v.) – отражать, reflection (n) отражение
to prevail (v.)– преобладать
to derive (v.)– происходить
to spawn (v.) – метать икру
prolific (adj.) – плодородный, изобилующий
salient (adj.) – заметный, выпуклый
Part I
The Caspian Environment
a) Physical environment
1. The Caspian Seal, called the jewel of continents, Asia and Europe, is the world's largest inland body of water, encompassing some 44 % of the volume of all inland laces and seas. The Caspian occupies a deep continental depression within the largest catchment basin in Europe (about 3.100.000 km2). it is width ranges from 435km to a minimum of 196km. It has no natural connection to the world's oceans and its surface level is currently around -26.5m below MSL. At this level, its total coastline is some 7.000km in length, its surface area 386.400km2 and its water volume about 78.700km3.
2. The Caspian can be divided into three parts: the northern, middle and southern. The border between the northern and middle parts runs along the edge of the North Caspian shelf between Chechen Island (near the Terek river mouth) and Care Tiub-Karagan (at Fort Shevchenko). The border between the middle and southern parts runs from the Apsheron threshold connecting Zhiloi Island in the west with Care Kuuli in the east (north of Turkmenistan). The northern part covers about 25 % of the total surface area, while the middle and southern parts cover about 37 % each. However, water volumes in the northern part account for a mere 0.5 %, volumes in the middle part make up 33.9 %, while southern part contains 65.6 % of the Caspian waters. These volumes are a reflection of the bathymetry of the Caspian: the northern part is very shallow, being mainly less than 5m in depth; in the middle part the main feature is the Derbent Depression, which reaches depth over 500m; and the South Caspian Depression, with its deepest point being 1025m below the surface.
3. Around 130 large and small rivers flow into the Caspian, nearly all of which flow into the north or west coasts. The largest is the Volga River, which drains an area of 1.400.000km2 into the northern part of the Caspian. Over 90 % of the inflowing freshwater is supplied by the 5 largest rivers: Volga, Kura, Terek, Ural and Sulak. The rest is accounted for by the Iranian rivers and the smaller streams on the western shores, since there are no permanent inflows on the eastern side. The Volga water is fresh (total ionic content from 200 to 400 mg/1), and enters the Caspian through the west part of the delta, flowing south along the west coast. Because the Caspian is so shallow there, no saline stratification can become established. The Volga and Caspian waters mix rapidly, causing a marked increase in salinity as on moves away from the delta. The Caspian s average salinity is slightly over 1/3 that of seawater, such that it may be classified as brackish and mesohaline, a rather unique hydro chemical environmental.
4. Apart from the extensive shallows of the northern part, the other two physical features that characterize the Caspian are the delta of the Volga and the Kara Bogaz Gol gulf.
5. The Volga Delta covers about 10.000km2 and the apron has a width of about 200km. A feature of the delta region are the so-called Bear knolls, which are hillocks between 3-20m in height, formed by the action of onshore winds on the river sediments that are discharged into the delta at a rate of 8 million tones per year. Numerous small laces are found between the knolls, and there is a complex system of channels with many islets. The Volga – Caspian shipping canal traverses the delta, and is dredged to a minimum 2m depth.
6. The Kara Bogaz Gol is situated on the eastern coast of the Caspian and comprises a shallow depression with a surface area of 18.000km2, annual precipitation between 75-100mm and over 1.000mm evaporation per year. As a result, under natural conditions, water flows the main Caspian into the Gol at a rate of about 18-25km3 per year. This significant volume of water moves through a 8km long channel at speeds of 50-100cm/sec and influences water levels of the Caspian by about 6-8cm. In 1980, in an attempt to stem the impact of dropping water levels, the channel was blocked by a permanent dam and the Gol lost its supply of Caspian water. Its volume shrank immediately and its physical characteristics changed. Some water (around 2km3) has been allowed to flow into the Gol again since 1984, and more recently a full and free flow has been restored.
7. The most salient physical characteristic of the Caspian from the human point of view is the continuous fluctuation in its surface level. Modern observations began in 1830, and for the next 100 years the water level was recorded as fluctuating within a range of 1.0m with a mean level of-25.83m below MSL. In 1930 the level began to fall abruptly, and by 1941 it had gone down 1.9m. The dropping level continued to the mid – 1950s and 1960s, probably as a result of the major reservoirs that were built then on the Volga, and an increase in the amount of water drawn for irrigation. Without this draw-off, the Caspian waters would probably have started to rise again. But by 1977, the levels went down to the lowest and reached over the past 500 years or so, -29.0m. However, from 1978 the trend was suddenly reversed, and the levels started rising again. By 1993 in had reached -27.0m, that is, it had gone up 2.0m in 15 years. In 1995, Caspian, water levels stood around – 26.5m and were still rising.
8. The long term changes in Caspian water level have a complex character and have aroused great interest in scientific and economic quarters. The calculations of long –term forecasts of water level is not thought reliable, and it seems more expedients to plan for a further rise in water level, bearing in mind the levels that prevailed in the early 1900s.
d) Biological resources
9. The Caspian region lies in the center of the Paleoarctic zoogeographical realm and is comprised of two major biomes – cold, continental deserts in the north and east, and warmer mixed mountain and highland systems with complex zonation in the south-west and south. There is also a small area around the Volga Delta in the west where the temperate grasslands biome is represented. Caspian living resources reflect the range of climatic conditions that prevail around its perimeter, resulting in a significant degree of biological diversity. This is further enhanced by the existence of extensive wetland systems such as the deltas of the Volga, the Ural and the Kura rivers, and the hyper saline Kara Bogas Gol.
10. The biodiversity of the Caspian aquatic environment is derived from the long history of the existence of the sea and its isolation, allowing ample condition. The number of endemic aquatic taxa, over 400, is very impressive. There are 115 species of fish, of which a number are anadromous and migrate from the Caspian up the rivers to spawn. The best known of these are the seven species and subspecies of sturgeon, which have provided a valuable economic resource for over a century. There is also a Caspian freshwater seal, one of only two species that occur worldwide, with the other one found in Lake Baical.
11. A recently noticed phenomenon that could lead to the potential loss of diversity among the sturgeon species is the hybridization that has occurred between sturgeon from the Black Sea and those in the Caspian Sea. This has come about through the connection now possible via the Don-Volga Canal. The Canal also permits the accidental introduction of exotic species from the Black Sea and, via ballast water discharge, from the world s water. While its precise effects are currently hard to evaluate, it is a cause of concern.
12. Coastal wetlands attract a variety of birds that are prolific throughout the year in and around the Caspian, with their numbers swelling enormously during the migration seasons when many species visit the extensive deltas, shallows and other wetlands. It is at these times that ecologically-motivated visitors could be guided into carefully selected vantage points and allowed to experience the beauty and the bounty of protected ecological resources. Such ecotourism, carefully planned and managed, has tremendous potential both as an income earner and as an excellent mechanism to educate and inform the interested public, whether they are local or foreign visitors. Terrestrial flora and fauna are quite diverse as well, and include several thousand flowering plants, with a rate of endemicity locally reaching 20 %. A similar range of diversity is seen among insects, reptiles, birds and mammals.
c) Socio-economic features
13. The Caspian basin, together with the Ural Mountain chain, is considered the boundary between Europe and Asia and has seen centuries of commerce along ancient caravan routes such as the Great Silk Road. The current total population around the Caspian is estimated at about 5million, with the main urban centers concentrated on the western and southern shores. In the west, Baku is the largest city on the Caspian coast, with a population of 1.7 million. The balance of the Caspian basin population resides in cities or towns ranging in size from 20,000 to 670,000, plus about 1, 000,000 rural inhabitant and. In 1995, the annual GNR per capita was as follows: Azerbaijan US$1240; Iran US$2030; Russian US$3470; Turkenistan US$1440. As such, all Caspian countries qualify for GEF assistance.
14. The principal economic activities in the Caspian basin are fisheries, agriculture, petroleum production and related downstream industries. The sea contains over 80 % of the world's sturgeon stock as well as substantial stocks of other commercially valuable species. Revenues to the littoral countries from sturgeon, including caviar, are thought to total US$6 billion annually. Rice and vegetable cultivation and cattle and sheep husbandry are the prime agricultural activities in the catchment area. Oil exploration and production are increasing along the northern and eastern shelves of the Caspian and are already well established in the Baku and Tenghiz regions. Oil production is expected to increase substantially over the next few years, with several western companies and consortia bidding for concessions.
EXERCISES:
1. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word – combinations:
территориальная водная масса; объем воды; так называемые Бояровские бугры; отражение измерения глубины; в естественных условиях, колебание на поверхностном уровне, жизненные ресурсы, водная среда, обеспечивать ценные экономические ресурсы, обнаруживаемый на Байкале, недавно замеченные явления, экзотические виды, трудно оценить, причина серьезного беспокойства, мотивированные посетители, тщательно планированный и управляемый, источник дохода, просвещать и информировать заинтересованную общественность, зеленая флора и фауна, выращивание риса и овощей, скотоводство и овцеводство.
2. Translate into Russian paying attention to the pattern Noun + Participle I and Participle II.
The Caspian sea, called the jewel of two continents; body of water, encompassing; Apsheron threshold, connecting zhiloi island; the west part of the delta, flowing south; Caspian waters mix rapidly, causing a marked increase; rise in water level, bearing in mind the levels … prevail around its perimeter, resulting in a significant degree of biological diversity, such ecotourism, carefully planned and managed.
3. Translate is English:
1. Около 130 больших и малых рек впадают в Каспий, почти все из них впадают в северное и западное побережье.
2. Средняя соленость составляет выше 1/3 морской воды.
3. Значительный объем воды протекает через пролив длиной 8 км. скоростью 50-100 см/ сек.
4. В 1980 году пролив был прегражден дамбой, после чего Кара Богаз Коль лишился, воды Каспийского моря.
5. аиболее выпуклой физической характеристикой Каспия – это постоянное колебание его поверхностного уровня.
6. В 1930 году уровень Каспия начал резко снижаться и к 1941 году он достиг 1,9 м.
7. Каспийский регион расположен в центре Палеарктической зоогеографической зоны.
8. Биоразнообразие Каспийской водной среды происходит от долголетней истории существования моря и его изолированности, что создает благоприятные условия для обитания биологических видов.
9. Побережная территория привлекает большое разнообразия птиц, которые изобилуют в течении всего года над и вокруг Каспийского моря.
4. Answer the questions:
1. What are the length, width and water volume of the Caspian sea?
2. What rivers flow into the Caspian?
3. What is the most salient physical characterize of the Caspian?
4. Why is the calculation of long – term forecasts of water level thought not reliable?
5. Which biomes and climatic conditions determine the biodiversity of the Caspian.
6. How many and which species of fish constitute the endemic aquatic taxa?
7. Which phenomenon can lead to the potential loss of diversity?
8. What are the principal economic activities in the Caspian basin.
Part II
suffering (n)– страдание
comprehensive – всесторонний
to alleviate (v) – облегчать ослабить
approaches – подход
profound – глубокий
decline – спад
dissolution – распад
to resume – возобновлять
bottom – дно
neglect – пренебрежение
spill – выброс
contention –
feasible – возможный
oil – extraction – добыча нефти
fingerling –
to inundate –
reversible – обратимый
beyond doubt – несомненно
to pose a threat – представлять угрозу
in turn – в свою очередь
a urgent need – срочная необходимость
the highest priority – высший приоритет
ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
15. During the Joint Mission and in other consultations, the Caspian governments repeatedly emphasized the primacy of the impacts of sea level rise as the leading environmental problem facing them. While response to the environmental impacts of sea level rise may well be considered the most urgent in terms of alleviating human suffering, protecting valuable infrastructure and preventing pollution incidents, other types and sources of environmental problems must also be considered in a comprehensive environmental program for the region. The Caspian Sea Environment Program seeks to address environmental problems due to human activity in or near the Sea and in the catchments of rivers draining into the Caspian, as well as problems caused by fluctuations in water levels. The measures to address these problems will be most successful if they combine long term, integrated and strategic approaches with short term emergency resources.
a) Pollution
16. The ecological integrity of the Caspian is under significant threat from pollution by particulate organic matter and excess inorganic nutrients (eutrophication) and by various toxic materials (radionuclides, heavy metals, pesticide residues, and persistent synthetic organic compounds such as phenols, PCB s and dioxins). As in other countries undergoing similar profound economic change, the economic decline that accompanied the dissolution of the former Soviet Union substantially reduced contaminant loading to the Caspian. However, as economic activity picks up, previous discharge and non-point source contamination levels can be expected to resume. The potential impact of a changing industrial profile should also be examined in order to understand how future degradation patterns may differ from those of the past.
17. Except for oil products from oilfields or transportation by ship or pipeline , all other sources of pollution that are quantitatively important are well localized point sources. The Volga is beyond doubt the single major source: it drains the sewage of half the population of Russia, and of most its heavy industry. Much of the Volga pollution is broken down en route, or deposited on the bottoms of the Volga reservoirs, but sufficient amounts still reach the Caspian to cause major imbalances especially in the shallow north basin, which has limited absorption capacity. While the Volga is a point source for the Caspian, it is itself a complex mix of point and non-point sources along its course. Coordination between the CSEP and the Upper and Middle Volga Components of the World Bank –funded Russian Environmental Management Project should be pursued as feasible and useful.
18. Major land-base point sources of pollution are oil extraction in Baku and Sumgait (Azerbaijan), the site of a century of oil production and environmental neglect, and radioactive solid and liquid waste deposits near the Gurevskaya nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan. The Sumgait industrial area, currently operating of at only a fraction of capacity, has been partly constructed in a flood-prone zone. Large quantities of toxic waste run-off and spills have been generated by on-shore oil fields, refineries and petrochemical plants. The shorelines and near-shore water are heavily polluted in many areas, most prominently in Baku Bay.
19. The Gurevskaya nuclear power plant, which generates both power and desalinated drinking water, has been constructed sufficiently above sea level not to be immediately threatened by flooding. However, solid and liquid radioactive waste has been dumped in a number of depressions over karstic formations, which may be leaking radioactivity via the subsurface. Hard data on this problem are lacking.
b) Biodiversity and depletion of bio-resources
20. The Caspian is noted for its fluctuations in water level throughout times. At present, water levels are rising at a rate of up to 20cm per year. This is claimed to pose a threat to Caspian biodiversity, but this contention is easily disproved since the lacustrine and littoral biota have had a long history of adaptation to such event. The rising water level does threaten the sturgeon hatcheries that were constructed as a response to declining natural recruitment (itself a consequence of upstream dam building). These hatcheries were built too close to the shore and now need to be relocated (and modernized) if the sturgeon is to be saved. While data are incomplete, secondary contamination from flooding of industrial sites and other coastal facilities may also contribute significantly to the threat to biological resources.
21. Maintenance of the biological diversity of the Caspian, including its endemics, depends on the maintenance of a healthy ecosystem which, in turn, depends on the distinctive conditions to which biota are adapted. This includes in particular, the north-south salinity gradient, which influences animal and plant assemblages and distributions. There is an urgent need to address contamination of the Caspian environment by waste products of human activities (heavy industry, agriculture, weapons development, power generation, etc.). In parts, this pollution is quite evident and levels of heavy metals, pesticide residues and other pollutants in fish already reach levels making their consumption hazardous. Massive bird and seal kills have also been reported, and although the causes area not known for certain, pollution is suspected as the cause.
22. The sturgeon fishery is a traditional and well-known activity because of the value of caviar and fish. However, in recent times, there has been a drastic decline in the sturgeon catch. Landings have decreased from around 30,000 tonnes in 1985 to 13,300 tonnes in 1990, down to 2,100 tonnes in 1994. A quota system that was introduced together with a ban on pelagic fishing does not seem to have had the desired effect. While fishing methods have become more efficient and overfishing has occurred, the greatest impact on the sturgeon and other anadromous species is thought to arise from the construction of numerous dams on the Volga river, and to a lesser extent, on the Kura river. These dams have effectively barred the fish from their main spawning grounds, reducing such areas to a small fraction of their previous size. In addition, the development of industrial complexes on the river banks with their subsequent discharges, coupled with non – point source run – off from intensive agriculture, have led to pollution of the remaining waterways.
23. In recognition that the Volga dams had reduced the spawning areas available for sturgeon, and after the necessary research into the biology of the species, a system of hatchery production was developed. Millions of fingerlings have been produced and liberated annually from these hatcheries, and the system functioned successfully until the current rise in water levels flooded a number of hatcheries. The hatcheries system should be preserved, as the continued decline of wild sturgeon may require artificial breeding and full domestication in the very near future if the species is to survive.
24. The Caspian basin is also rich in hydrocarbon deposits, with proven extensive reserves of oil and gas. Production of both oil and gas is significant, and a great deal of exploration activity is underway. This activity increases the risks to aquatic resources, in part through the constant shipping traffic generated. To the oil industry transport must be added the fishing fleets of each country, passenger traffic, and cargo shipping that crosses the Caspian, and, by entering the Volga Don Canal, can reach the worlds oceans via the Black Sea. This traffic volume in an enclosed body of water has a number of potential impacts on Caspian biota. Stringent measures (both legal instruments and active, physical controls) are urgently needed to prevent the accidental introduction of exotic species into the Caspian through ballast water carried by ships using the Volga – Don Canal between the Black Sea and the Caspian.
c) Sea level rise
25. Historically, the level of the Caspian Sea has fluctuated greatly. The lowest level for the last five hundred years has reached in 1977 (-29m below sea level); therefore, it is a fair assumption that the level could continue to rise from the current level (-26m) until it reaches at least the 1900 level (-25m), presenting the littoral states with many urgent investment needs. In less than two decades, water levels have risen two and half meters, inundating residential areas, transport, telecommunication and energy infrastructure, chemical and petrochemical industries, croplands and hatcheries. Thousands of residents have been evacuated from flooded homes, and up to 100,000 people in coastal cities and towns in Azerbaijan alone have been affected by the spread of toxic wasters, contamination of water supplies, loss of infrastructure, and inundation of workplaces and settlements.
26. The problems associated with the changing sea level can be seen as falling into two main categories:
I) those that are exacerbated by the rising water, such as the spread of toxic contaminants into ground and surface waters, the collapse of vital fisheries due to the loss of natural and artificial hatcheries, and increased pressure on fragile lands because of displaced activities and communities; and
II) those that are caused by changing water levels, such as residential flooding, saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers and the submersion of productive infrastructure (coastal factories, farms, roads, railways, etc.).
27. In view of the history of fluctuating water levels in the Caspian, the current problems posed by the high water level are considered transitory. The best solutions are therefore those that are temporary and reversible. For this reason, increasing the rate of evaporation is thought to be a better solution, since it is reversible, and has in fact already been done through the re– opening of the channel leading into the Kara Bogaz Gol.
28. Investments in homes and factories or farms are painful to lose, and loss of infrastructure such as roads and railways has strategic a importance because economic growth depends on it. The protection of railways has the highest priority because railway lines are usually built on dike, and can therefore be protected more cheaply. Telephone lines, electricity transmission lines and pipelines are also of strategic importance and need to be protected, although the cost of moving telephone and power lines is relatively small compared to the cost of moving pipelines.
EXERCISES:
1. Find in the text the following phrases and translate them into Russian.
To alleviate human suffering, preventing pollution incidents; combine long term, integrated and strategic approaches, undergoing profound economic change, to cause major imbalances; toxic waste run-off and spills; adaptation to such events; sturgeon hatcheries; contribute significantly; suspected as the cause, available for sturgeon.
2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word combinations:
Спад в ловле красной рыбы; запрет на браконьерство, не дали желаемого эффекта, экономический спад, добыча нефти, перерабатывающие и нефтехимического заводы, колебание уровня воды, поддерживание здоровой экосистемы, тяжелая индустрия, производство энергии, производство оружия, массовое уничтожение птиц и тюленей, искусственное выращивание, справедливое предложение, менее чем два десятка лет, по этой причине, вторичное загрязнение, предотвратить случайный ввоз экзотических видов, богатый залежами углеводорода и запасами нефти и газа, рыболовные судна.
3. Answer the questions:
1. Why is the sea level rise considered as the leading environmental problem?
2. Why is the Volga the major source of pollution for the Caspian?
3. What is the second major long-base point source of pollution?
4. In what way do the rising water level threaten the sturgeon hatcheries?
5. What was the major reason for a drastic decline in the sturgeon catch?
6. Which problems are associated with the changing sea level?
7. What is the best solution of problems which stem from the rising water level?
4. Speak on the following topics:
1. The most salient physical characteristic of the Caspian.
2. The Caspian biodiversity.
3. The major environmental problems.
4. The principal economic activities in the Caspian basin.
5. Caspian sturgeon.
SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS FOR READING AND DISCUSSION
Plumes of oil – струи нефти
Oil well fires – огонь от нефтяных скважин
Environmental destruction – разрушение окружающей среды
Sensitive marshland – чувствительная болотистая местность
Scorecard of environmental damage – протокол результатов о вреде окружающей среде
Soot and vapor – копоть и пары
Spewed – извергать
Environmental assessments – оценка окружающей среды
Oil slicks – пятна нефти
Shoreline – линия побережья
Herds of wild camels – стада диких верблюдов
It was like a bad San Francisco fog, but you knew it wasn't fog," said Naud, an environmental consultant who visited Kuwait and surrounding regions in the spring following the 1991 Gulf War.
The "fog" was, in fact, plumes of oil soot that had wafted from more than 600 environmentally devastating oil well fires throughout Kuwait.
If the previous Gulf War is any indication, the environmental destruction any new conflict could cause is daunting. And since Iraq is home to two vital rivers and sensitive marshland, some fear the damage could be even more severe.
"The worst thing about war is it kills people," said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, an independent nonprofit environmental organization. "But the potential scorecard of environmental damage in Iraq is also catastrophic."
Lessons From an Oiled and Scarred Kuwait
Upon the Iraqis' retreat from Kuwait in 1991, Saddam Hussein instructed his troops to set fire to more than 600 oil wells in their wake. Soot and vapor drifted through the air for up to a 1,000-mile radius.
The resulting fires spewed millions of barrels of oil, releasing 500 million tons of carbon in the air and, according to environmental assessments released after the war, resulting in the largest oil spill in history.
Massive lakes of oil pooled in once-fertile croplands – one oil lake in southern Kuwait was a half-mile long and 25 feet deep. The World Resources Institute said it contained nine times as much oil as the Exxon Valdez spill. It took fire crews nine months to put out the blazes.
Some 6 million to 8 million barrels of oil dumped into the Indian Ocean created oil slicks that coated the shoreline. BirdLife International, a global partnership of nongovernmental conservation organizations, estimates the layers of thick, black goop killed 35,000 wintering birds and tens of thousands of wading birds.
The U.N. Environmental Program deemed the catastrophe "one of the worst engineered disasters of humanity."
Meanwhile, movement of heavy machinery by U.S., allied and Iraqi troops altered up to 90 percent of the Kuwaiti desert's surface. A quarter of the desert was covered in oil or deposits of oily soot. And unexploded bombs left on the desert sand have since killed herds of wild camels and other animals.
This time, Saddam has denied he would set fire to oil wells or blow up Iraq's dams to impede invaders.
"Iraq does not burn its wealth and it does not destroy its dams," he said in a recent interview with CBS' Dan Rather.
But few are willing to take Saddam at his word.
More Vulnerable Terrain
"I think there's every chance there will be purposeful environmental terrorism despite what [Saddam] has said," said John Hillen, a former U.S. Army captain who served in the 1991 Gulf War. "In this conflict – if it happens – his state is at stake. I think that measure of desperation could lead him to do almost anything."
Others point out that there may be much more at risk in a war staged within Iraq's borders. If, for example, Saddam reneges on his promise and orders troops to light his nation's oil wells, the damage could be far greater – Iraq hosts 1,500 oil wells, more than any other nation except Saudi Arabia.
And unlike Kuwait's mostly desert environment, terrain around Iraqi oil wells includes some sensitive ecosystems.
Some scholars believe the Iraqi region – called Mesopotamia in ancient times – was home to the lush, biblical Garden of Eden. If true, the description of Eden likely stemmed from the once-fertile croplands and marshlands that are fed by two majestic rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates.
Saddam’s Additional Damage.
Saddam's government has already inflicted massive damage on Iraq's marshlands by inserting more than 30 dams along the rivers and draining much of their flow. Lash says a war could lead to even more problems.
He fears that oil spills or possibly fallout from a chemical weapon could enter one of Iraq's rivers and infect these vital resources. Tainted water in the Tigris or Euphrates could then end up in the Gulf, where currents would spread the pollution ever further.
At stake are Iraq's fisheries and an already hurting bird population.
"Waders and waterbirds will be particularly at risk from oil spills because Iraq is at the northern end of the Arabian Gulf [another name for the Persian Gulf], which is one of the top five sites in the world for wintering water birds and a key refueling area for hundreds of thousands of migratory waterbirds during the spring and autumn period," according to Mike Evans of BirdLife International.
Among the threatened species are wading birds like the sacred ibis and the Goliath heron, as well as at least 66 species of wintering birds, including the Iraq babbler and Dalmatian pelican. Marshland animals like the smooth-coated otter would also be threatened.
Quashed Resources Affect Human Populations, Too People would also be affected by environmental damage wrought in a war.
"A war can hurt people in more than one way," pointed out Naud, the environmental consultant. "If the environment is damaged, so is their livelihood."
Lash says contamination of water sources from a war in a region where water is already scarce could lead to widespread starvation. Fumes from oil fires can lead to cancer and oil-soaked croplands can seriously deplete food resources.
Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., maintains troops will try, as always, to mitigate damage to the environment if the United States and allies stage an attack in Iraq.
"In the event that we should go to war in Iraq, anytime we do anything like that we're concerned about environmental damage," he said.
Former Army captain Hillen further argues many Army personnel are actually "closet environmentalists [who] might not show up at the next Greenpeace rally, but they have a protective mentality about the environment because they spend a lot of their time outdoors."
But no matter how careful a staged attack might be, it is the fallout from the unknown – such as fighting in urban centers or destroying possible chemical weapon facilities or an unexpected act of intentional environmental damage by Saddam – that concerns Naud.
"We may be trying to make good decisions," said Naud, "but it's the things we don't yet have a handle on that worry me”
What is the reason for writing this article?
1. Where did this accident happen?
2. What was the harm of this catastrophe for environment?
Organic food products – экологически чистые пищевые продукты
Toxic and persistent pesticides – токсические и устойчивые пестициды
Organic farming – экологически чистое фермерство
Productive – продуктивный
Persistent chemicals – устойчивые химикаты
Organic fiber products – экологически чистые устойчивые продукты
Pest control and lawn care – борьба с эпидемией и уход за газоном
Genetic and environmental factors – генетические факторы и факторы окружающей среды
Mercury and organophosphate pesticides – ртутные и органофосфатные пестициды
Organophosphate exposure – органо-фосфатное воздействие
Harsh chemicals and synthetic fertilizers – раздражающие химикаты и синтетические удобрения
Boost crop yields – поднятие урожайности
Biological cycles and soil biological activity – биологические циклы и биологическая активность грунта
The production and use of organic food products has taken firm root today as a serious alternative for consumers and farmers. Particularly since the early 1990s, a growing number of North American farmers have taken steps to minimize the use of, and consumers' exposure to, toxic and persistent pesticides by establishing organic agricultural practices.
Organic farming is about building a sustainable, healthy and productive future for every aspect of our planet: the soil, water supply, animals and humans. Consumers who want to minimize their – and the environment's – exposure to toxic and persistent chemicals can do so by buying organic foods and organic fiber products, and by choosing organic agricultural methods for home pest control and lawn care. It's simply putting nature to work while removing many potential health risks that exist from certain food production today, mainly the use of pesticides.
In March 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released findings showing measurable amounts of residual organophosphateorganophosphate pesticides in a group of people who were studied. The National Academies of Sciences has indicated that one out of four developmental and behavioral problems in children may be linked to genetic and environmental factors, including exposure to lead, mercury and organophosphate pesticides. When you put these two studies together, the conclusions could be cause for concern. Still, it should be noted that there is still more scientists and doctors need to learn about the long-term health effects of the low-level presence of organophosphates in humans.
Interestingly, a separate study to assess preschool children's organophosphate exposure in the Seattle Metropolitan area showed that one child who showed no measurable pesticide residue lived in a family that buys exclusively organic produce and does not use any pesticides at home. While this does not conclude that there were any serious health risks to the remainder of the group, it does indicate that use of organic food and non-food products can reduce the presence of those products in humans.
Food Production Demands
With increasing demands for food supplies during the past 60 years, we saw the introduction of the use of harsh chemicals and synthetic fertilizers as a way for farmers to boost crop yields. This subsequently has been followed by the more recent adoption of planting genetically modified cropsgenetically modified crops.
Even today, there are toxic and persistent pesticides still used in agriculture. CDC noted that organophosphate pesticides account for approximately half of the insecticides used in the United States. An estimated 60 million pounds of organophosphate pesticides are applied to about 60 million acres of U.S. agricultural crops annually, and an additional 17 million pounds are used per year for nonagricultural uses, such as in household pest control products and in lawn and garden sprays.
Organic Practices
The National Organic Standards Board defines organic agriculture as an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony.
Despite the fact that less than 1 percent of U.S. agriculture research dollars are spent on organic practices, organic production has been shown to have yields comparable to, and sometimes higher than, conventional systems (American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 1999; Organic Farming Research Foundation Information Bulletin, Summer 2001). In addition, because organic production improves soil quality as measured by soil structure, organic matter, biological activity, water infiltration and water-holding capacity, organic systems generally produce higher yields than crops grown using conventional high-input methods during drought, leading to production stability year after year.
Organic agriculture is a collection of tested agricultural practices by diligent farmers intent on preserving the health of our planet. Organic agriculture is sustainable, keeping soils healthy and alive, and helping to minimize contamination of the earth's precious water supplies.
Organophosphates are not allowed in organic agriculture. Instead, organic growers use biological and cultural practices as their first line of defense against pests. Methods used include crop rotationcrop rotation, the selection of pest– and disease– resistant varieties, nutrient and water management, the provision of habitat for the natural enemies of pests, and release of beneficial organisms to protect crops from damage. The only pesticides allowed in organic agriculture must be on a USDA approved list, with restricted use.
In addition, organic practices prohibit the use of genetic engineering, irradiation, sewage sludge, antibiotics, and hormones. These practices are allowed in other forms of raising and producing our food, and other agricultural products.
Because organic agriculture respects the balance of microorganisms in the soil, organic producers use composted manure and other natural materials, as well as crop rotation, to help improve soil fertility, rather than synthetic fertilizers that can result in an overabundance of nitrogen and phosphorous in the ground. As a result, organic practices protect ground water supplies and avoid runoff of chemicals that can cause "dead zones" in larger bodies of water.
The Global Scene
Comparisons in Europe, for instance, have shown nitrate leaching rates on organic farms are 40-57 percent lower per hectare (roughly 2.5 acres or 12,000 square yards) and carbon dioxide emissions are 40-60 percent lower per hectare than conventional systems, according to the report Environmental and Resource Use Impacts of Organic Farming in Europe.
On the other hand, current conventional practices have led to some measurable problems, including a high level of toxic metals in commercial fertilizers (Waste Lands: The Threat of Toxic Fertilizer). An analysis of 29 fertilizers found that each contained 22 different heavy metals. In 20 of the products, levels exceeded the limits set on wastes sent to public landfills, with disturbing quantities of arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and dioxin, among others.
Furthermore, polluted runoff from farms and cities went largely unabated and actually increased over the past 30 years according to a 2001 report from the Pew Oceans Commission. The report noted that many of the nation's coastal environments exhibit symptoms of over-enrichment from these run-offs. Symptoms include harmful algal bloomsharmful algal blooms, loss of seagrasses and coral reefs, and serious oxygen depletion. Coastal regions, as a result, have suffered reduced production of valuable fisheries and threats to biodiversity and ecosystems less resilient to natural and human influences.
Species Diversity, Conservation & World Food Demands
Because organic practices help safeguard the environment and protect habitats, organic production conserves and promotes species diversity. In the United Kingdom, a study comparing biodiversity in organic farming and conventional farming systems found that organic farms had five times as many wild plants in arable (farmable) fields and 57 percent more species (Source: The Biodiversity Benefits of Organic Farming)..
The organic farms also had 25 percent more birds at the field edge, 44 percent more in the field in autumn and winter, and 2.2 times as many breeding skylarks and higher skylark breeding rates. In addition, they had 1.6 times as many of the invertebrate arthropods that make up bird food; three times as many non-pest butterflies in the crop areas; one to five times as many spider numbers, and one to two times as many spider species. They also showed a significant decrease in aphid numbers.
Buying organic products is also a way to support conservation of our land. Organic products, whether foods or fiber, are produced through a system of farming that maintains and replenishes soil fertility in an ecological way. There were approximately 1.3 million acres in certified organic production in the United States in 1997. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service estimates 2.6 million acres were in production in 2001.
As far as feeding the world, the late Donella Meadows, who served as director of the Sustainability Institute, wrote: "We already grow enough food to feed everyone; the excess simply is not distributed where it is needed. Industrial agriculture, far from being the salvation it promises, is actually undermining the resource base-healthy soil, clean water, and diversity of plants and animals-needed to sustain the world's growing human population in the long term. If anything can restore that resource base and at the same time eliminate hunger it is organic methods."
Organic foods and products are making a healthy comeback from a by-gone era, but in more of the light of what's healthy for ourselves and Earth's ecology. And the production and use of these products have become the choice of a rapidly growing number of farmers and consumers today. It does prove that the connection between human health and our ecology are indelibly intertwined.
Food Production Demands
With increasing demands for food supplies during the past 60 years, we saw the introduction of the use of harsh chemicals and synthetic fertilizers as a way for farmers to boost crop yields. This subsequently has been followed by the more recent adoption of planting genetically modified cropsgenetically modified crops.
Even today, there are toxic and persistent pesticides still used in agriculture. CDC noted that organophosphate pesticides account for approximately half of the insecticides used in the United States. An estimated 60 million pounds of organophosphate pesticides are applied to about 60 million acres of U.S. agricultural crops annually, and an additional 17 million pounds are used per year for nonagricultural uses, such as in household pest control products and in lawn and garden sprays.
Organic Practices
The National Organic Standards Board defines organic agriculture as an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony.
Despite the fact that less than 1 percent of U.S. agriculture research dollars are spent on organic practices, organic production has been shown to have yields comparable to, and sometimes higher than, conventional systems (American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 1999; Organic Farming Research Foundation Information Bulletin, Summer 2001). In addition, because organic production improves soil quality as measured by soil structure, organic matter, biological activity, water infiltration and water-holding capacity, organic systems generally produce higher yields than crops grown using conventional high-input methods during drought, leading to production stability year after year.
Organic agriculture is a collection of tested agricultural practices by diligent farmers intent on preserving the health of our planet. Organic agriculture is sustainable, keeping soils healthy and alive, and helping to minimize contamination of the earth's precious water supplies.
Organophosphates are not allowed in organic agriculture. Instead, organic growers use biological and cultural practices as their first line of defense against pests. Methods used include crop rotationcrop rotation, the selection of pest– and disease– resistant varieties, nutrient and water management, the provision of habitat for the natural enemies of pests, and release of beneficial organisms to protect crops from damage. The only pesticides allowed in organic agriculture must be on a USDA approved list, with restricted use.
In addition, organic practices prohibit the use of genetic engineering, irradiation, sewage sludge, antibiotics, and hormones. These practices are allowed in other forms of raising and producing our food, and other agricultural products.
Because organic agriculture respects the balance of microorganisms in the soil, organic producers use composted manure and other natural materials, as well as crop rotation, to help improve soil fertility, rather than synthetic fertilizers that can result in an overabundance of nitrogen and phosphorous in the ground. As a result, organic practices protect ground water supplies and avoid runoff of chemicals that can cause "dead zones" in larger bodies of water.
The Global Scene
Comparisons in Europe, for instance, have shown nitrate leaching rates on organic farms are 40-57 percent lower per hectare (roughly 2.5 acres or 12,000 square yards) and carbon dioxide emissions are 40-60 percent lower per hectare than conventional systems, according to the report Environmental and Resource Use Impacts of Organic Farming in Europe.
On the other hand, current conventional practices have led to some measurable problems, including a high level of toxic metals in commercial fertilizers (Waste Lands: The Threat of Toxic Fertilizer). An analysis of 29 fertilizers found that each contained 22 different heavy metals. In 20 of the products, levels exceeded the limits set on wastes sent to public landfills, with disturbing quantities of arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and dioxin, among others.
Furthermore, polluted runoff from farms and cities went largely unabated and actually increased over the past 30 years according to a 2001 report from the Pew Oceans Commission. The report noted that many of the nation's coastal environments exhibit symptoms of over-enrichment from these run-offs. Symptoms include harmful algal bloomsharmful algal blooms, loss of seagrasses and coral reefs, and serious oxygen depletion. Coastal regions, as a result, have suffered reduced production of valuable fisheries and threats to biodiversity and ecosystems less resilient to natural and human influences.
Species Diversity, Conservation & World Food Demands
Because organic practices help safeguard the environment and protect habitats, organic production conserves and promotes species diversity. In the United Kingdom, a study comparing biodiversity in organic farming and conventional farming systems found that organic farms had five times as many wild plants in arable (farmable) fields and 57 percent more species (Source: The Biodiversity Benefits of Organic Farming)..
The organic farms also had 25 percent more birds at the field edge, 44 percent more in the field in autumn and winter, and 2.2 times as many breeding skylarks and higher skylark breeding rates. In addition, they had 1.6 times as many of the invertebrate arthropods that make up bird food; three times as many non-pest butterflies in the crop areas; one to five times as many spider numbers, and one to two times as many spider species. They also showed a significant decrease in aphid numbers.
Buying organic products is also a way to support conservation of our land. Organic products, whether foods or fiber, are produced through a system of farming that maintains and replenishes soil fertility in an ecological way. There were approximately 1.3 million acres in certified organic production in the United States in 1997. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service estimates 2.6 million acres were in production in 2001.
As far as feeding the world, the late Donella Meadows, who served as director of the Sustainability Institute, wrote: "We already grow enough food to feed everyone; the excess simply is not distributed where it is needed. Industrial agriculture, far from being the salvation it promises, is actually undermining the resource base-healthy soil, clean water, and diversity of plants and animals-needed to sustain the world's growing human population in the long term. If anything can restore that resource base and at the same time eliminate hunger it is organic methods."
Organic foods and products are making a healthy comeback from a by-gone era, but in more of the light of what's healthy for ourselves and Earth's ecology. And the production and use of these products have become the choice of a rapidly growing number of farmers and consumers today. It does prove that the connection between human health and our ecology are indelibly intertwined.
1. What is the number of the farmers who minimize the use of pesticides?
2. How much money approximately is used for pesticides in USA?
Earth system – земная система
Understanding and prediction – понимание и прогноз
Global Change Research Program – Программа по Исследованию Глобальных Перемен
Scientific findings – научные находки
Surface chemistry – химия поверхности
Major program review – основной обзор программы
Social and economic development – социальное и экономическое развитие
Extreme climatic events – экстремальные климатические события
Flooding and droughts – наводнения и засухи
Global environment – глобальная окружающая среда
Natural and human factors – природные и человеческие факторы
Natural resources – природные ресурсы
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Overview of the U.S. Global Research Program
The Earth's environment is constantly changing. Scientific evidence indicates that these changes are the result of a complex interplay among a number of natural and human-related systems.
While the complexity of the Earth system and the interconnections among its components make understanding and prediction a very difficult challenge, the development of scientific knowledge and research capabilities are greatly advancing the understanding of global environmental change and the role of human activities in contributing to and responding to change.
Humans have come to play a powerful and expanding role as agents of environmental change and human activities are also substantially impacted by global-scale environmental changes. The current and future state of the Earth system is inexorably linked to human activities.
The United States, through the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), along with other nations, supports the research needed to characterize and understand global environmental change and to provide answers to important questions about the Earth system (including human activities), how it is changing, and the implications of global change for society and the natural ecosystems and managed resource systems on which society depends.
To assess the state of scientific information and identify research needs, the United States participates actively in national and international evaluations of the scientific understanding of global change issues. These assessments bring together large numbers of scientists representing a broad spectrum of research specialties and viewpoints to prepare carefully and widely reviewed reports that encompass the range of qualified scientific findings and perspectives.
This follows on 1994 scientific assessments of ozone depletion organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which found that the “conclusion that anthropogenic chlorine and bromine compounds, coupled with surface chemistry on natural polar stratospheric particles, are the cause of polar ozone depletion has been further strengthened”.
Since its establishment as a Presidential Initiative in the FY90 budget, the USGCRP has been responsible for directing Federal support for scientific research to address key uncertainties about global environmental change and the Earth system.
The goal of the U.S. Global Change Research Program is:
· To observe and document changes in the Earth system
· To understand what changes are occurring and why
· To improve predictions of future global change
· To analyze the environmental, socioeconomic, and health consequences of global change
· To support state-of-the-science assessments of global environmental change issues.
The USGCRP budget request for Fy97 is 1.73$ billion, with 10 agencies participating in the program. A few agencies support research on the broad range of scientific areas relating to the global environment, while others support research that has a more mission-orientated focus. The programmatic contributions of the USGCRP agencies are coordinated and closely matched to agency missions and areas of expertise.
In response to requests from the Subcommittee on Global Change Research and from Congressional committee chairs in both the House and Senate, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has been conducting a major program review of the UCGCRP.
In a September 1995 interim report, the NRC concluded, “The scientific and societal motivations of the program remain compelling, and the USGCRP should be aggressively pursued.” The report stated that, “A great deal of extremely high-quality science that is recognized worldwide for its excellence and leadership has resulted from the USGCRP.”
The NRC also made a number of recommendations. The Subcommittee on Global Change Research and the USGCRP participating agencies have been moving aggressively to respond to the NRC recommendations on program integration and strategic research directions.
Key Global Change Environmental Science Issues
In response to the development of scientific understanding and research capabilities that has occurred over the life of the program, the USGCRP is moving to focus research efforts on what the NRC has termed “…priority issues in four mature areas of Earth system science that are of great scientific and practical importance.” These priority environmental science issues follow:
1) Seasonal to Interannual Climate Variability, with the goal of obtaining a predictive understanding and the skills to produce forecasts of short-term climate fluctuations and to apply these predictions to problems of social and economic development in the United States and abroad.
Progress toward this goal will provide improved predictions that can, among other direct benefits, help farmers maintain their agricultural productivity in spite of extreme climatic events such as droughts and floods, help water resource managers to ensure reliable water deliveries and optimal reservoir levels, help in planning fishery harvests, and help foresters allocate resources effectively to safeguard forests (and the public) from fire during droughts.
Scientists can now predict with reasonable certainty, up to 1 year in advance, the onset of episodes of the phenomenon known as the El Nińo/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the tropical Pacific Ocean. This interaction between the ocean and atmosphere is linked to fluctuations in precipitation and temperature throughout the tropics and into higher latitudes, including the United States. These fluctuations can result in severe flooding and harsh droughts. As evidenced by the 1996 drought in the southwestern United States, extreme climatic events have serious implications for economic and social systems. The USGCRP plays a leading role in ongoing global endeavor to develop and enhance prediction capabilities, and to apply experimental forecasts to real problems of economic planning and development in climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, and public health.
2) Climate Change over Decades to Centuries, with the goal of understanding, predicting, assessing, and preparing for changes in the climate and the global environment that will result from the influences of projected changes on population, energy use, land cover, and other natural and human-induced factors.
Progress toward this goal will provide information needed by decisionmakers considering adaptive or mitigative responses to the projected changes in climate and associated environmental and societal impacts. The information will also assist planners and managers with responsibilities for the design of infrastructure and other major facilities, sustained management of natural resource-based systems, and long-term planning in the financial sector.
The scientific community, through the IPCC Second Assessment Report, projects that during the next century and beyond human influences will alter the climate to an extent almost as great as the changes associated with going from past glacial to interglacial periods. This unprecedented rate of change will likely have significant impacts on forests, agriculture, water supplies, and human health. While much scientific progress has been made over the past few decades in developing a broad-scale understanding of the causes of global climate change, significant gaps remain, particularly with regard to estimating regional changes and understanding potential consequences and how society can mitigate or adapt to these changes. The USGCRP will continue to play a leading role in reducing scientific uncertainties in the understanding of the physical climate system while broadening research to improve the understanding of the impacts of climate change on natural resources and socioeconomic sectors.
3) Changes in Ozone, UV Radiation, and Atmosphere Chemistry, with the goal of understanding and characterizing the chemical changes in the global atmosphere and their consequences for human health and well-being.
Progress toward this goal will provide information to assist policymakers in protecting human heath, preserving the cleansing and protective qualities of the atmosphere, and ensuring that new compounds do not lead to inadvertent environmental consequences.
The USGCRP provides a framework for a comprehensive and integrated research effort that provides information of great value to policymakers. For example, through USGCRP-supported research, emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from human activities have been unambiguously identified as the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole. Projections that large increases in CFCs emissions would lead to large losses of stratospheric ozone underline the agreement to phase out CFC use and observations of declining demonstrate the efficiency of policies adopted to protect the ozone layer.
Changes in land Cover and Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystems, with the goal of providing a stronger scientific basis for understanding, predicting, assessing and responding to the causes and consequences of changes in terrestrial and marine ecosystems resulting from human-induced and natural influences.
Progress toward this goal will provide a stronger scientific basis for developing environmental and natural resource practices that are environmentally sound and practical and that will ensure ecosystems yield sustainable benefits to humankind.
The USGCRP supports research projects to inventory the current and cover of the Earth and to document changes; to improve understanding of the dynamics of land and land-use change and how terrestrial ecosystems react to change; and to document and understand chemical, physical, and biological processes in the oceans and their relationship with the carbon cycle and marine life.
1. What does U.S. Global Change Research Program provides?
What are the functions of this Program?
2. What are the goals of U.S. Global Change Research Program?
3. What priority issues has NRC formulated?
A new economy for a new century
Today, at the dawn of the next century, faith in technology and human progress is almost as prevalent in the writings of leading economic commentators [as at the end of the 19th century]. Their easy optimism is bolstered by the extraordinary achievements the 20th century, including developments such as jet aircraft, personal computers, and genetic engineering, that go well beyond anything predicted by the most imaginative futurists of the 1890s. But like their predecessors, today's futurists look ahead from a narrow perspective – one that ignores some of the most important trends now sharing our world. And in their fascination with the Information Age that is increasingly prominent in the global economy, many observers seem to have forgotten that our modern civilization, like its forerunners, is totally dependent on its ecological foundations.
Since our emergence as a species, human populations have continually run up against local environmental limits: the inability to find sufficient game, grow enough food, or harvest enough wood has led to sudden collapses in human numbers and in some cases to the disappearance of entire civilizations. Although it may seem that advancing technology and the emergence of an integrated world economy have ended this age-old pattern, they have simply transferred the problem to the global level.
The challenge facing us at the dawn of a new century begins with scale. Human numbers are four times the level of a century ago, and the world economy is 17 times as large. This growth has allowed advances in living standards that our ancestors could not have imagined, but it has also undermined natural systems in ways they could not have feared. Oceanic fisheries, for example, are being pushed to their limits and beyond, water tables are falling on every continent, range lands are deteriorating from overgrazing, many remaining tropical forests are on the verge of being wiped out, and carbon dioxide concentrations on the atmosphere have reached the highest level in 169,000 years. If these trends continue, they could make the turning of the millenium seem trivial as a historic moment, for they may be triggering the largest extinction of life since a meteorite wiped out the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.
As we look forward to the 21st century, it is clear that satisfying the projected needs of an ever larger world population with the economy we now have is simply not possible. The Western economic model – the fossil – fuel – based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy – that so dramatically raised living standards for part of humanity during this century is in trouble. Indeed, the global economy cannot expand indefinitely if the ecosystems on which it depends continue to deteriorate. We are entering a new century, then, with an economy that cannot take us where we want to go. The challenge is to design and build a new one that can sustain human progress without destroying its support systems – and that offers a better life to all.
The shift to an environmentally sustainable economy may be as profound a transition as the Industrial. Revolution that led to the current dilemma, was. How successful we will be remains to be seen. Yet we have always stood out from other species in our ability to adapt to new environmental conditions and challenges. The next test is now under way.
Aside from the growth of population itself, urbanization is the dominant demographic trend of the century now ending. In 1900, some 16 cities had a million people or more, and roughly 10 percent of humanity lived in cities. Today, 326 cities have at least that many people and there are 14 megacities, those with 10 million or more residents. If cities continue to grow as projected, more than half of us will be living in them by 2010, making the world more urban than rural for the first time in history. In effect, we will have become an urban species, far removed from our hunter – gatherer origins and more separated from our natural underpinnings than ever before.
Our growing population has required ever greater quantities of food, and growing incomes have led many societies to diversify and enrich their diets. These burgeoning food demands have been met by a continuing proliferation of new technologies, including the development of more productive crop varieties, the expanded use of fertilizer and irrigation, and the mechanization of agriculture. Grain use has increased nearly fivefold since the century began, while water use has quadrupled. With the acceleration of history have come escalating pressures on the natural world – on which we remain utterly dependent, even in the Information Age. New forms of environmental disruption – stratospheric ozone depletion and greenhouse warming – have begun altering natural ecosystems in the past two decades, doing particular damage to coral reefs and suspected damage to species ranging from frogs to trees. In addition, the continuously growing global economy has collided with many of the Earth's natural limits. These collisions can be seen in such trends as the shrinkage of forests, and the collapse of fisheries.
Our ancestors survived, multiplied, and advanced by continually adjusting their economic patterns and finding new balances with the natural word. The accelerating in the 20th century has led us to new frontiers and wondrous changes that our ancestors could not have imagined. But the economy that has been created cannot be sustained for another century. It is worth noting that the Fertile Crescent, where the first humans settled and cities emerged, was turned into a virtual desert by ancient farmers and herders, and now supports only a small human population.
History will undoubtedly continue to accelerate, but if our descendants are to prosper, historical trends will have to move in a new direction early in the 21st century.
The Growth Century
Growth is a defining feature of the 20th century, and has become the de facto organizing principle for societies around the world. Although growth rates have risen and fallen, the total scale of human activity has expanded continually, reaching levels that would have been unimaginable in earlier centuries.
This growth story starts with human numbers. It took all of human history for world population to reach 1.6 billion [thousand million] in 1900; the total did not reach 2 billion until 1930.the third billion was added by 1960, the fourth by 1977, and the fifth in just 12 years, by 1989. World population passed 6 billion in 1999. If population growth follows the U.N. midlevel projection, human numbers will grow by another 4.6 billion in the next century. There is a key difference, however. During the 20th century, growth occurred in both industrial and developing countries; during the next century, in contrast, almost all the increase will take place in the Third World – and mainly in cities. Indeed, the population of the industrial world is expected to decline slightly.
The annual rate of population growth climbed from less that 1 percent in 1900 to its historical high of 2.2 percent in 1964. From there it has slowly declined, dropping to 1.4 percent in 1997. Despite this, the number of people added each year kept increasing – from 16 million in 1900 until a peak of 87 million in 1990. Since then the annual addition has also declined, falling to roughly 80 million in 1997, where it is projected to remain over the next two decades before starting downward again.
Population is one area where detailed projections are not only available, they are revised biennially by the United Nations, giving us some sense of where the world is headed. According to the 1996 update, population projections for individual countries vary more that at any time in history. In some 32 countries, human numbers have stabilized, while in others they are projected to double or triple. With the exception of Japan, all the countries in the stable group are in Europe. The number of people in a dozen or so countries, including Russian, Japan, and Germany, is actually projected to decline somewhat over the next half – century. In another 40 countries, which account for nearly 40 percent of the global, fertility has dropped to at least replacement level – roughly two children per couple. Among the countries in this category are China and the United States, the world's first and third most populous nations.
In contrast to this group, some developing countries are projected to triple their populations over the next half-century. For example, Ethiopia's current population of 59 million is due to reach 213 million in 2050, while Pakistan's 147 million are likely to become 357 million, surpassing the projected population of the United States before 2050. Nigeria, meanwhile, is projected to go from 122 million today to 339 million – more people than in all of Africa in 1950. The largest absolute increase is anticipated for India, which is likely to add nearly 600 million by 2050, eclipsing China as the most populous country. Scores of smaller countries also face potentially overwhelming population growth.
Some developing countries have followed China, dramatically lowering birth rates and moving toward population stability. But others are showing signs of demographic fatigue, a result of the effort to deal with the multiple stresses caused by high fertility. Governments struggling with the challenges of educating numbers of children, creating jobs for swelling ranks of young job seekers, and dealing with the environmental effects of population growth are stretched to the limit. When a major new threat arises – such as AIDS or aquifer depletion – they often cannot cope.
As recent experience with AIDS in Africa shows, some countries with rapid population growth are simply overwhelmed. While industrial countries have held HIV infection rates among their adult populations under 1 percent, a 1998 World Health Organization survey reports that in Zimbabwe a staggering 26 percent of the adult population is HIV – positive. In Botswana the figure is 25 percent, and in Namibia, Swaziland, and Zambia, it is 18-20 percent. Barring a miracle, these societies will lose one fifth or more of their adult population within the decade from AIDS alone. These potential losses, whish could bring population growth to a halt or even into decline, are the most demographically catastrophic human losses from an infectious disease since European smallpox decimated Indian population in the New World in the 16th century or since bubonic plague from Central Asia devastated Europe in the 14th century. These high AIDS mortality trends in Africa are more reminiscent of the Dark Ages than the bright new millennium so many had hoped for.
Although the nation that population growth can continue unaltered in the next century is now questioned by many, faith in the feasibility – and desirability – of unending economic growth remains strong. During this century, the global economy has expanded from an annual output of $2.3 trillion in 1900 to $39 trillion in 1998, a 17 – fold increase. Income per person, meanwhile, climbed from $1,500 to $6, 600, a rise of just over fourfold, with most of this rise concentrated in the second half of the century.
The growth in economic output in just three years – from 1995 to 1998 – exceeded that during the 10,000 years from the beginning of agriculture until 1900. And growth of the global economy in 1997 alone easily exceeded that during the 17th century. Growth has become the goal of every society, North and South. Indeed, it has become a king of religion or ideology that drives societies. From the posh penthouses of Manhattan to the thatched huts of Bangladesh, human beings strive to raise their standard of living by expanding their wealth. Aspiring politicians promise faster growth, and the performance of corporate CEOs is judged by how quickly their firms expand.
Economic growth has allowed billions of people to live healthier, more productive lives and to enjoy a host of comforts that were unimaginable in 1900. It has helped raise life expectancy, perhaps the sentinel indicator of human well-being, from 35 years in 1900 to 66 years today. Children born in 1999 can expect to live almost twice as long as their great-grandparents who were born around the turn of the century.
While one – fifth of humanity lives better than the kings of yore, another one-fifth still lives on the very margin of existence, struggling just to survive. An estimated 841 million people are undernourished and underweight, 1.2 billion do not have access to safe water. The income gar between the more affluent and the more poverty-stricken in the world is widening each year. While growth has become the norm everywhere since mid-century, some countries have been more successful in achieving it than others, leading to unprecedented income disparities among societies.
As the century comes to a close amidst financial crises from Indonesia to Russia, doubts about the basic soundness of the global economy have mounted. The needs of billions are inadequately met in the best of times, and as Indonesia's recent experience shows, even a brief reversal of economic growth can leave millions on the brink of starvation. More fundamentally, our current economic model is overwhelming the Earth's natural systems.
Depleting the Earth's Resources
Easter Island was one of the last places on Earth to be settled by human beings. First reached by Polynesians 1,500 years ago, this small island 3,200 kilometers west of South America supported a sophisticated agricultural society by the 16th century. Easter Island has a semiarid climate, but it was ameliorated by a verdant forest that trapped and held water. Its 7,000 people raised crops and chickens, caught fish, and lived in small villages. The Easter Islander's can be seen in massive 8– meter –high obsidian statues that were hauled across the island using tree trunks as rollers.
By the time European settlers reached Easter Island in the 17th century, these stone statues, known as ahu, were the only remnants of a once impressive civilization – one that had collapsed in just a few decades. As reconstructed by archeologists, the demise of this society was triggered by the demotion of its limited resource base. As the Easter Island human population expanded, more and more land was cleared for crops, while the remaining trees were harvested for fuel and to move the ahu into place, the lack of wood made it impressible to build fishing boats or houses, reducing an important source of protein and forcing the people to move into caves. The loss of forests also led to soil erosion, further diminishing food supplies. As pressures grew, armed conflicts broke out among villages, slavery became common, and some even resorted to cannibalism to survive.
As an isolated territory that could not turn elsewhere ran out, Easter Island presents a particularly stark picture of what can happen when a human economy expands in the face of limited resources. With the final closing of the remaining frontiers and the creation of a fully interconnected global economy, the human race as a whole has reached the kind of turning point that the Easter Islanders reached in the 16th century.
For us, the key limits as we approach the 21st century are fresh water, forests, range land, oceanic fisheries, biological diversity, and the global atmosphere. Will we recognize the world's natural limits and adjust our economies accordingly, or will we proceed to expand our ecological footprint until it is too late to turn back? Are we headed for a world in which accelerating change outstrips our management capacity, overwhelms our political institutions, and leads to extensive breakdown of the ecological system on which the economy depends?
Although our ancestors have struggled with water shortages from ancient Mesopotamia onward, the spreading scarcity of fresh water may be the most underestimated resource issue facing the world as it enters the new millennium. This can be seen both in falling water tables and in rivers that run dry, failing to make it to the sea. As world water use has tripled since mid – century, over – pumping has led to falling water tables on every continent.
China and India, the world's two most populous countries, depend on irrigated agriculture for half or more of their food supply. In China, water tables are falling almost everywhere that the land is flat. The northern half of the country is quite literally drying out. The water table under much of the north China Plain, a region that accounts for nearly 40 percent of China`s grain harvest, is falling by roughly 1.5 meters a year. Projections by the Sandia National Laboratory in the United States show huge water deficits emerging in some key river basins in China as the new millennium begins.
In India, the water situation may be deteriorating even faster. As India's population approaches the 1 billion mark, the country faces steep cutbacks in the supply of irrigation water. David Seckler, head of the International Water Management Institute in Colombo, the world's premier water research body, observes: "The extraction of water from aquifers in India exceeds recharge by a factor of 2 or more. Thus almost everywhere in India, fresh – water aquifers are being pulled down by 1-3 meters per year. " Secler goes on to speculate that aquifers are depleted, the resulting cutbacks in irrigation could reduce India`s harvest by 25 percent – in a country where food supply and demand are already precariously balanced and where another 600 million people are expected over the next half – century.
At present, 70 percent of all the water worldwide that is diverted from rivers or pumped from underground is used for irrigation, 20 percent is used for industry, and 10 percent goes to residences. The economics of water use do not favor farmers. A thousand tons of water can be used in agriculture to produce one ton of wheat worth $ 200, or it can be used to expand industrial output by $ 14,000-70 times as much. As the demand for water in each of these three sectors rises and as the competition for scarce water intensifies, agriculture almost always loses.
As the history of Easter Island suggests, wood has been essential to dozens of human civilizations, and the inability to manage forests sustainably has undermined and destroyed several of them. Today, we have a global forest economy in which the demands of affluent Japanese or Europeans are felt thousands of kilometers away – in tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, and Canada. Since mid – century, the demand for fuel wood has nearly tripled, while paper use has gone up nearly six times. In addition, forestlands are being cleared for slash – and – burn farming by expanding populations and for commercial crop production and livestock grazing. As population pressures intensify in the topics and subtropics, more and more forests are being cleared for agriculture
A combination of logging and clearing land for farming and ranching has weakened forests in many areas to the point where they are vulnerable to fire. A healthy rainforests will not burn. But large segments of the world's rainforests are no longer healthy. During the late summer and fall of 1997, forests burned out of control in Indonesia. For month, heavy smoke filled the air in the region, causing millions of people to become ill. Some 1,100 airline flights were canceled. Earnings from tourism dropped precipitously.
Although the fires in Indonesia captured the news headlines, there was even more extensive burning in the Amazon, which received much less attention because it was more remote.
And in the spring of 1998, forests began to burn out of control in southern Mexico. The nearby state of Texas had several dangerous air alerts as the smoke moved northward. At times, it drifted as far north as Chicago. In early summer 1998, fires also started burning out of control in Florida. Even with personnel and equipment from some 23 states brought in to help, efforts to tame the fires failed. One entire country was evacuated along with parts of several others – and this in a country that probably has the most sophisticated fire – fighting equipment in the world.
No one could have of the burning around the world during this 12 – month span. But in retrospect, there was a human influence in each of these situations. A combination of forests weakened by the forces just cited, EL Nino – related droughts, and in some cases, as in Florida, record high temperatures contributed to this wholesale burning.
Fisheries actually preceded agriculture as a source of food, but ours is the first generation to reach – and perhaps exceed – the sustainable yield of oceanic fisheries. In fact, in just the last half century the oceanic fish catch increased nearly five times, doubling seafood availability per person for the world as a whole. Marine biologists doubt, however, that the oceans can sustain a catch much above the 95 million tons of the last few years.
According to the U. N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 11 of the world`s 15 most important fishing areas and 70 percent of the major fish species are either fully or overexploited. The welfare of more than 200 million people around the world who depend on fishing for their income and food security is threatened.
If the biologists are right, then the decline in seafood catch per person, which started in 1989, will persist for as long as population growth continues. Those born shortly before 1950 have enjoyed a doubling in seafood availability per person, whereas those born in recent years can expect to see a halving of the catch per person during their lifetimes. The beginning of the new millenium marks the turning point in oceanic fisheries, a shift from abundance to one where preferred species become scarce, seafood prices rise, and the conflicts among countries for access to fisheries multiply.
Although the yield data are not as those for oceanic fisheries, the world`s range lands cover roughly twice the area of croplands, supplying most of the beef and mutton eaten worldwide. Unfortunately, as with fisheries, overgrazing is now the rule, not the exception. Sustaining future yields of meat, and in some cases milk as well, and providing livelihoods for ever – growing pastoralist populations will put even more pressure on already deteriorating range lands. Yet another of our basic support systems is being overwhelmed by continuously expanding human needs.
Biodiversity and Climate Change
Perhaps the best single indicator of the Eart`s health is the declining number of species with which we share the planet. Throughout most of the evolutionary history of life, the number of plant and animal species has gradually increased, giving us the extraordinarily rich diversity of life today. Unfortunately, we are now in the early stages of the greatest decimation of plant and animal life in 65 million years.
Of the 242,000 plant species surveyed by the World Conservation Union – IUCN in 1997, 14 percent, or some 33,000 are threatened with extinction. Some 7,000 are in immediate danger of extinction and another 8,000 are vulnerable to extinction. The principal cause of plant extinction is habitat destruction, often in the form of land clearing for agriculture and ranching, for housing construction, or for the drainage of wetlands for agriculture and construction. Large – scale species migration – propelled by growing trade – is compounding that threat, as is climate change, which could eliminate whole ecosystems in the decades ahead.
The status of animal species is equally worrisome. Of the 9,600 bird species that populate the Earth, two-thirds are now in decline, while 11 percent are threatened with extinction. A combination of habitat alteration and destruction, over – hunting, and the introduction of exotic species is primarily responsible. Of the Earth`s 4,400 species of mammals, of which we are but one, 11 percent are in danger of extinction. Another 14 percent are vulnerable to extinction if recent trends continue. Of the 24,000 species of fish that occupy the oceans and freshwater lakes and rivers, one-third are now threatened with extinction.
The globalization of recent decades is also reducing the diversity of life on Earth. Mushrooming trade and travel have broken down ecological barriers that existed for millions of years, allowing thousands of species – plants insects, and other creatures – to invade distant territories, often driving native species to extinction and disrupting essential ecological processes. Recent "bioinvasion" have forced the abandonment of more than one million hectares of cropland in South America and devastated the fisheries of East Africa`s Lake Victoria.
The presence of chemicals in the environment is affecting the prospects for some animal species as well. In 1962, biologist Rachel Carson warned in Silent Spring that the continuing use of DDT could threaten the survival of predatory bird`s, such as bald eagles and peregrine falcons, because of its effect on eggshell formation. More recently, there is growing concern that a family of synthetic chemicals associated with pesticides and plastics, so-called endocrine disrupters, could be affecting the reproductive process in some species of birds, fish, and amphibians.
The global atmosphere also faces growing stress. As our fossil – fuel – based global economy has expanded, carbon emissions have overwhelmed the capacity of natural systems to fix carbon dioxide. The result it a buildup in CO2 from roughly 280 parts per million at the beginning of the industrial era to 363 parts per million in 1998, the highest level ever experienced. This buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is responsible for rising temperatures over the last century, according to leading scientists. The 14 warmest years since record – keeping began in 1866 have all occurred since 1998 is projected to be both the highest ever and the largest annual increase ever recorded.
If the world stays on the present fossil fuel path, atmospheric CO2 concentrations are projected to reach twice pre – industrial levels as soon as 2050 – and to raise the Eart`s average temperature 1-3,5 degrees Celsius (2-6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100. This is expected to bring more extreme climate events, including more destructive storms and flooding, as well as melting ice caps and rising sea levels. A new computer simulation by Britain's Hadley Centre for Climate Change in late 1998 projected major reductions in food production in Africa and the United States as a result of climate change. The Hadley scientists also identify the potential for a «runaway» greenhouse effect after 2050 that could turn areas such as the Amazon and southern Europe into virtual deserts.
The global climate is an essential foundation of natural ecosystems and the entire human economy. If we are entering a new period of climate instability, the consequences could be serious indeed, affecting virtually all of Earth`s ecosystems, accelerating the pace of extinction, and leaving few areas of economic life untouched.
Even in a high – tech Information Age, human societies cannot continue to prosper while the natural world is progressively degraded. Our food crops and medicines are derived from wild plants, and even genetic engineering is based on rearranging the genes that nature has created. Moreover, our crops, industries, and cities require healthy ecosystems to store our water and to maintain a nurturing climate. Like the early residents of Easter Island, we are vulnerable. But them, we can see the problem coming.
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