What is an environment ?

The circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded. In natural word, one can say that climate, soil, and living things that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival.

Components of an Environment :

The basic components of the environment are atmosphere or the air, lithosphere or the rocks and soil, hydrosphere or the water, and the living component of the environment or the biosphere.

Indian Environment

The environment of India comprises some of the world's most bio-diverse eco-zones.

Major Geographical Features - . The Deccan Traps, Gangetic Plains and the Himalayas. India faces some of the major pollution issues as its major environmental problem.. India has laws protecting the environment and is one of the countries that signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty.

BIO-DATA :

India has some of the world's most bio-diverse eco-zones—desert, high mountains, highlands, tropical and temperate forests, swamplands, plains, grasslands, areas surrounding rivers and an island archipelago(an area that contains a chain or group of islands scattered in lakes, rivers, or the ocean)

In 1992, around 7,43,534 km² of land in the country was under forests and 92 percent of that belonged to the government. Only 22.7 percent was forested compared to the recommended 33 percent by the National Forest Policy Resolution (1952). Majority of it are broad-leaved decidious trees which comprise one-sixth sal and one-tenth teak. Coniferous types are found in the northern high altitude regions and comprise pines, junipers and deodars.

FAUNA SPECIES :

There are 350 species of mammals, 375 reptiles, 130 amphibians, 20,000 insects, 19000 fish and 1200 species of birds in India. The Asiatic Lion, Bengal Tiger and leopard are the main predators; the country has the most species of cats than any other. Elephants, the India Rhinoceros and eight species of deer are also found.

FLORA SPECIES :

There are over 17000 species of flowering plants in India, which account for six percent of the total plant species in the world. India comprises seven percent of world's flora. Wide range of climatic conditions in India gave rise to rich variety of flora. India covers more than 45,000 species of flora, out of which several are endemic to the region. India is divided into eight main floristic regions: North-Western Himalayas, Eastern Himalayas, Assam, Indus plain, Ganga plain, the Deccan, the Malabar and the Andamans.

MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

• WATER POLLUTION - It is the major concern in the country. The major sources of water pollution are domestic, industrial, agricultural and shipping waste waters. The largest source of water pollution in India is untreated sewage. Other sources of pollution include agriculture runoff and unregulated small scale industry. Most rivers, lakes and surface water are polluted in the country. It affects the marine life of the country's environment.

• AIR POLLUTION - It is the another major concern in the country. A major source is the matter released by the combustion of fossil fuels(petroleum, coal, etc). Airborne particles like soot, fumes and dust are potentially harmful depending on the pollutant's chemical and physical structure. They can affect climate and reduce scattering of solar radiation in the atmosphere.

• LAND POLLUTION - The main causes of soil (or land) pollution is soil erosion, excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, accumulation of solid and liquid waste, forest fires, and water-logging. Due to increasing population and enhanced food grains consumption, more and more rain fed crop lands are brought under intensive cultivation by ground and surface water irrigation. The irrigated land is losing gradually its fertility by converting into saline alkali soil.

•NOISE POLLUTION - As India is a developing country, more and more industries and factories are setting up and Urbanisation is increasing at a massive scale by which noise pollution is increasing, noise pollution can be defined as the state of discomfort or stress caused by unwanted high intensity sound. It increases in proportion to urbanisation and industrialisation.

CLIMATIC CHANGES IN INDIA

Being a developing nation, India is more vulnerable to the effects of climatic change due to its dependence on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture and forestry. Low per capita incomes and small public budgets also lead to low financial adaptive capacity. The nation is vulnerable to the immediate socio-economic effects of climate change. A 2002 study indicated that the temperature over the country increased at around 0.57° per 100 years.

Although India still has low average incomes per person, the country is now the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas emission after China and the USA. The central government has pledged to reduce the emission intensity of GDP by 20-25%, relative to 2005 levels, by 2020.

India has also made major pledges to expand its renewable energy supply, enhance energy efficiency, build mass transit and other measures to reduce its emissions.

There is evidence that many of these climate actions could generate substantial benefits in addition to reducing India's carbon footprint. Many low-carbon measures are economically attractive, including more efficient air conditioners, parking demand management, gasification and vehicle performance standards.

Indian cities might see substantial improvements in air quality if the country were to promote renewable energy technologies( E-Rikshaws, Electric cars, etc.) instead of fossil fuels and walking/cycling/public transport instead of private vehicles.

To protect FLORA & FAUNA Indian government has built - 100 national parks, 514 sanctuaries, 41 conservation reserves and four community reserves.

Renewable energy in India comes under the purview of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. India was the first country in the world to set up a ministry of non-conventional energy resources, in the early 1980s. Its cumulative grid interactive or grid tied renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro) has reached 33.8 GW, of which 66% comes from wind, while solar power contributes 4.59% along with biomass and hydro power.