Great challenges of the global environment

There are many environmental definitions . According to the ' Law on Environmental Protection of Vietnam ',: 'The environment consists of natural elements and artificial material elements that are closely related to each other, surrounding people, affecting life, production, existence and development of people and nature '.

According to economics: 'The environment is the entire physical and biological areas, the physical conditions - natural as a long-term product of creation, before human beings, have interaction with each other. , and impact on the formation, survival and development of people, and their social activities. In terms of structure, the environment consists of the biosphere (air, water, land, light .) and the living system, which interacts with each other, and affects the life of each other. people'.

However, the global environment has tended to deteriorate and has a certain influence on human survival. And people are facing big global environmental challenges.

The first challenge: Soil pollution. Worldwide, there is a tendency to increase the level of contaminated soil, because: one is because of overuse or side effects of the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and substances. Other growth stimulation. Every year, thousands of new chemicals are introduced into the world, while people still do not fully understand their side effects on the organism. Secondly, do not properly handle industrial waste and other activities of people and animals, or dead organisms that cause . Soil pollution reduces crop productivity and quality, destruction the life of some organisms in heavily polluted areas and at the same time threatens human health through livestock and plants, and even causes heavy ecological and genetic deformities for living systems. .

The second challenge is the problem of water pollution . Pollution of water sources is in danger of increasing due to the lack of necessary treatment measures for domestic and industrial waste; due to agricultural chemicals and sources of contamination, contamination from other materials used in production; pollution caused by strong floating water plants makes marine animals die massively due to lack of oxygen. Some floating plants can also produce dangerous toxins for the fauna and humans; pollution by exploiting the seabed to get oil and other rare and precious minerals; pollution is also caused by natural wastes (it is estimated that more than 60,000 tons of air emissions from the atmosphere every year are hydrogen from the atmosphere - called atmospheric rain).

Currently, there are 40-50% of the stable flow of rivers on contaminated soil. Water pollution in the world can increase 10 times in the next 25 years. Besides, according to scientific estimates, it is estimated that about 96.5% of the water on the earth is salt water located in the oceans. Only 2.53% of total water is fresh water that can be used for human cultivation and living. But the demand for clean water is increasing rapidly due to population growth and production development requirements. It can be said that after the risk of oil, humanity has been and will be facing the common risk of lack of clean water needed to maintain and develop its socio-economic life.

Currently, it is estimated that over half of the countries and regions in the world are suffering from water shortage at different levels, of which about 50 countries lack serious water. Up to 80% of diseases are directly related to contaminated water, 25 million children die each year from using unclean water.

The third challenge is air pollution . Industrial development and urban life based on 'oil civilization' are polluting the air by SO ₂ , NO ₂ , CO, lead vapor, ores, ash and dust. Other suspended in the combustion of fuel or other inflammable substances .

According to UN statistics, up to 50% of the urban population in the world live in an atmosphere with SO2 levels exceeding standards and over 1 billion people living in environments with coal dust and chalk dust. exceeds the permitted standard. In recent years, emissions have increased (in the next 20 years, it will increase 15 times compared to the present). Air pollution can directly kill or destroy the health of living organisms, causing a 'greenhouse effect' and borderless acid rainstorms that distort and degrade the environment, destroy the system Ecological.

The fourth challenge is that marine resources are being exploited indiscriminately, and the forest is gradually narrowed along with the increase in deserted land. The sea became increasingly the biggest trash bin of the earth, which became increasingly polluted. Add to that the indiscriminate, blind exploitation beyond the permissible level of human beings. Currently, due to the pressure of socio-economic issues, countries have been simultaneously moving to the ocean so the depletion of marine resources and pollution problems are becoming more serious.

Along with the sea, the forest is increasingly narrowed. The rate of deforestation in many countries around the world is at a dizzying level. Shrinking forests entail huge global disasters such as distorting ecosystems, increasing the risk of water scarcity, climate change and increasing natural disasters.

Desertification results in many unpredictable consequences. In addition, the problem of noise pollution, radioactive pollution, radiation, climate instability . all directly and permanently damage the health and genetics of living organisms and plants, including people. The consequences will be terrible and unpredictable. Human and material losses caused by environmental degradation have already exceeded human and human losses due to social changes and from war.

Predictably, in the early years of this century, the number of victims of the environment will reach at least 50 million people. People are facing new warnings: Except for nuclear war, climate change will be the biggest threat to the survival of humanity and the future of the earth. These are warnings for people to quickly act positively to the environment, for the environment and for their own lives.

TRUNG GIANG (General)