Environmental Impacts of Development

What is the relationship between environmental impact and development?

Development has had many positive impacts globally. However, the environment has also suffered due to the effects of increased urbanisation and industrialisation.

Sociologists argue that development is not a new phenomenon - the industrial revolution of the 19th century also caused environmental damage, but mainly in Europe. The current environmental degradation, though, is on a global scale.

The main contributors to environmental degradation are connected to global development.

• Growing population

• Economic necessity

• Corruption and human greed

• Debt and poverty
• Increased Western consumption e.g. large-scale use of non-degradable plastic

• Industrial and agricultural development

• Higher levels of pollution

• Global warming and climate change

1. Deforestation as an impact of development on the environment

This can happen for many reasons. The three most common are:

Forests are responsible for carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption and the production of oxygen. Deforestation reduces the levels and efficacy of both these processes.

Processes of deforestation also mean the destruction of the natural habitats of many animal and plant species, which can lead to the extinction of those species.

Fig. 1 - Deforestation is one of the biggest global environmental issues.

2. Pollution as an impact of development on the environment

The most significant forms of pollution today are air and water pollution. They mainly affect the developing world. The source of the problem is the increasing number of manufacturing and production facilities in these developing countries.

Although many environmental activists fight for clean air and water for everyone, environmental regulations and policies are very difficult to implement as they are not in the interest of transnational corporations, which hold great political power.

TNCs aim to keep high-profit margins and refuse to invest in expensive measures and technologies that can help reduce air and water pollution. As a result in 2012, 800 million people had limited or no access to clean water (Kingsbury, 2012).

3. Desertification as an impact of development on the environment

Sociologists argue that farmers in developing countries are forced to over-farm certain crops, due to the imbalance in trade with the West. Food aid sent from developed countries also reduces the prices of local food items in the developing world.

This means that farmers must produce and sell more items, at increasingly lower prices, to make a living. This process exhausts the land which becomes infertile.

4. Extinction of species as an impact of development on the environment

Ellwood (2001) claimed that the combination of deforestation, pollution, and desertification has resulted in another major environmental concern: the extinction of some wildlife species.

When species lose their natural habitat or have no access to clean water and food supplies, they eventually go extinct. According to ecologists, 816 species have gone extinct in the past 500 years. They claim that while the rate of extinction was relatively low decades ago, an average of 1.6 species go extinct each year today.

Sociologists and ecologists assert that the four major environmental issues identified above are only the most severe ones. Global development has resulted in many environmental pressure points that must be acknowledged.

Fig. 2 - Snow leopards are in danger of extinction due to the loss of their natural habitat and pollution.

Ehrlich (1968) believed that if the population grows at the rate it has so far, resources will run out. There will not be enough food to feed all people on Earth.

Extreme consumption, especially by Western countries, contributes to environmental degradation. Currently, the biggest consumers are the U.S. and China. Sociologists argue that the culture of mass consumption must be changed in order to improve the situation.

Capitalism generates environmental pressure points in more ways than one. Pollution, for instance, is increased by the transport of products of labour from factories to the distribution centres. Over-extraction of resources due to over-consumption in capitalist societies also contributes to the destruction of nature.

The growth of manufacturing industries worldwide uses coal, oil, and gas in great amounts. Scientists warn that these natural resources will run out if used so extensively.

Looking at the environmental issues and pressure points, Elkington theorised in 1999 that the human population will go extinct if it continues to degrade the environment, and does not adopt more sustainable policies.

Most major environmental movements started in the 1980s. People started to recognise the need to adopt more sustainable measures in order to protect the Earth.

The United Nations created the Brundtland Commission to establish policies and agreements on environmental issues and reform.

The main points of the Brundtland Commission

In the 1990s, 178 UN nations agreed to aim for sustainable development.

Korten (1995) included environmental degradation among 'the global threefold human crisis', along with poverty and social disintegration.

Although the 1980s and 1990s witnessed a growing awareness of environmental problems and a growing interest in sustainable development, governments both in the developed and developing world continue to put profit above the environment. Therefore, only a few environmental policies were implemented in practice and with limited success (Foster, 2004).

In recent decades, the idea of sustainable development has been replaced by the concept of appropriate development.

Three main theories assess global development’s impact on the environment. Let's examine them below.

According to this theory, the degradation of the environment by global economic development will circle back to the economy and affect it negatively. Sociologists who follow the 'limits' theory believe that economies will be forced to deal with the environmental damage they created to keep the economy growing.

This is a more pessimistic approach. Proponents of this perspective claim that no matter how well we solve pressing environmental issues, there will always be new and more pressing ones because that’s just how economic development is.

The higher the growth rate, the more toxic the output it generates. According to this view, the problems will just pile up for future generations who will not be able to deal with them.

According to sociologists who hold this perspective, at the beginning of economic growth, there is little concern about environmental degradation. The only thought is to gain an advantage over competitors.

However, just like the ‘limits theory’ suggests, economies will eventually be forced to deal with environmental issues. The ‘race to the bottom theory’ claims that it is possible to slow down environmental degradation after the turning point; however, past mistakes can not be corrected.