On July 10, 1976, a terrible disaster occurred in the small Italian town of Seveso. An accident at a local chemical plant producing trichlorophenol released a huge toxic cloud containing more than 2 kg into the air. dioxins are one of the most toxic substances on earth. (This amount of dioxins can kill more than 100 thousand people). The cause of the accident was a failure in the production process, the pressure and temperature in the reactor sharply increased, the explosion-preventing valve operated, and a deadly gas leaked. The leak lasted two to three minutes; the resulting white cloud began to spread to the southeast with the wind and stretched over the city. Then it began to descend and cover the ground with fog. Tiny particles of chemicals fell from the sky like snow, and the air was filled with an acrid, chlorine-like smell. Thousands of people experienced attacks of coughing, nausea, severe pain in the eyes and headaches. The plant management believed that there was only a small release of trichlorophenol, which is a million times less toxic than dioxins (no one imagined that they could be contained there).
Plant managers provided a detailed report on the incident only on July 12. Meanwhile, all this time, unsuspecting people continued to eat vegetables and fruits, as it turned out later, from areas contaminated with dioxins.

The tragic consequences of what happened began to fully manifest themselves on July 14. Hundreds of people who were seriously poisoned ended up in hospitals. The victims' skin became covered with eczema, scars and burns, and they suffered from vomiting and severe headaches. In pregnant women, there has been an extremely high rate of miscarriages. And doctors, relying on the company's information, treated patients for poisoning with trichlorophenol, which is a million times less toxic than dioxins. Mass death of animals began. They received lethal doses of poison much faster than humans due to the fact that they drank rainwater and ate grass, which contained large doses of dioxins. On the same day, a meeting of the mayors of Seveso and nearby Meda was held, at which a priority action plan was adopted. The next day, it was decided to burn all the trees, as well as the fruits and vegetables harvested from the contaminated area.

Only 5 days later, a chemical laboratory in Switzerland found that as a result of the leak, a large amount of dioxins was released into the atmosphere. All local doctors were notified about the contamination of the area with dioxins, and a ban was established on eating foods from the contaminated region.
On July 24, the evacuation of residents from the most contaminated areas began. This area was fenced with barbed wire and police cordons were placed around it. After that, people in protective overalls entered there to destroy the remaining animals and plants. All vegetation in the most contaminated area was burned, and in addition to the 25 thousand dead animals, another 60 thousand were killed. Healthy human existence is still impossible in these areas.

Scientists from the University of Milan conducted a study to study the incidence of cancer in the population of settlements nearby the city of Seveso.
More than 36 thousand people were monitored and a significantly higher incidence of cancer was detected in them. From 1976 to 1986, about 500 people died from cancer in the disaster area. In 1977, 39 cases of congenital deformities were recorded there, which is significantly more than before the disaster.

The largest Hungarian industrial and environmental disaster occurred on October 4, 2010 at an aluminum production plant (Ajkai Timfoldgyar Zrt) near the city of Ajka (150 km from Budapest). An explosion occurred at the plant, destroying a platform that held a container containing toxic waste. As a result, 1,100,000 cubic meters of highly alkaline red mud leaked. The territories of the regions of Vas, Veszprem and Gyor-Moson-Sopron were flooded. There are 10 known victims of the accident (one more is considered missing); in total, more than 140 people received chemical burns and injuries due to the accident. Most of the local flora and fauna died. Toxic waste has entered many local rivers, significantly affecting their ecosystems.

Chronology of events:

October 4 at 12.25 – dam destruction. Leakage of 1.1 million cubic meters of toxic chemical - red mud.

October 7 – the norm for alkali content in the Danube was exceeded (according to the Hungarian Water Resources Control Service). A threat is created to the entire Danube ecosystem.

October 9 – the evacuation of the population of the affected city of Kolontar begins due to the existing threat of a repeated sludge spill.

October 12 – a decision was made to nationalize the company that owns the plant. All victims will receive compensation. According to monitoring data, the amount of toxic substances in the soil is decreasing, although their level still remains at a dangerous level

Perhaps the most important environmental problem of the Nile River is the overpopulation of the countries located on the river. The life of the population of these countries completely depends on the Nile. Every year people's needs are growing. The river provides the people with water and electricity resources. Many wars in the old days were fought over oil, but in the modern world they can be fought over water. It is the Nile, the great river of the world, which has passed through the history of mankind through its streams, that will find itself at the epicenter of the conflict.

Fresh running water has always nourished life on our planet, but now its value is greater than ever. It is expected that over the next 20 years, the amount of water available to each person will be reduced by three times. We are talking about Egypt. Since Egypt is located downstream from Ethiopia, the issue of rational use of the Nile’s water resources is of a conflicting nature. The situation is extremely serious and Egypt has already announced the possibility of war, referring to Ethiopia.

The Nile in Egypt flows almost all the time through the desert, not counting the narrow strips of green irrigated lands bordering the river on both banks, the entire territory of the country is a homeless desert. In the struggle for survival in this desert, the river plays a key role.

Giant platinums were built upstream of the Nile in order to satisfy the need for electricity, but they also began to delay the flow of the river and ruined the lives of Egyptian peasants. This country used to have some of the best soil in the world, but the construction of dams has disrupted the silt deposition that has naturally enriched the land for many thousands of years. Now the fields are producing an extremely meager harvest.

A direct result of modern dam construction methods was the decline of agriculture in Egypt for the first time in history. The peasants are forced to abandon the way of life that has supported the nation for many thousands of years. As the river approaches the southernmost point of Egypt's border, it becomes difficult not to notice that this people is rapidly modernizing and that tourism is displacing agriculture as the mainstay of the Egyptian economy, while the old way of life is gradually becoming a thing of the past.

The construction of a giant dam in Ethiopia can solve many problems for the population of this poor country, including providing full electricity. If the outcome of this project is positive, it is planned to build several more dams, which in turn will reduce the flow of water resources located downstream in Egypt by approximately half.

Undoubtedly, every country wants to use the priceless wealth of the Nile to the maximum. If a compromise is not found, the future fate of the Nile will be sad. Be that as it may, the river acquired such a specific environmental problem due to population growth, its modernization and increased needs.

Which spread and live in various natural areas. Such biodiversity is not the same in different climatic conditions: some species adapt to the harsh conditions of the Arctic and tundra, others learn to survive in deserts and semi-deserts, others love the warmth of tropical latitudes, others inhabit forests, and others spread across the wide expanses of the steppe. The state of species that currently exists on Earth was formed over 4 billion years. However, one of them is the reduction of biodiversity. If it is not solved, then we will forever lose the world we know now.

Reasons for the decline in biodiversity

There are many reasons for the decline of animal and plant species, and all of them directly or indirectly come from people:

• expansion of the territories of settlements;
• regular emissions of harmful elements into the atmosphere;
• transformation of natural landscapes into agricultural sites;
• use of chemicals in agriculture;
• pollution of water bodies and soil;
• construction of roads and position of communications;
• , requiring more food and territory for life;
• experiments on crossing plant and animal species;
• destruction of ecosystems;
• caused by people.

Of course, the list of reasons goes on. Whatever people do, they influence the reduction of habitats of flora and fauna. Accordingly, the life of animals changes, and some individuals, unable to survive, die prematurely, and the population size is significantly reduced, often leading to the complete extinction of the species. Approximately the same thing happens with plants.

The value of biodiversity

The biological diversity of different forms of life - animals, plants and microorganisms is valuable because it has genetic and economic, scientific and cultural, social and recreational, and most importantly - environmental significance. After all, the diversity of animals and plants makes up the natural world all around us, so it needs to be protected. People have already caused irreparable damage that cannot be repaired. For example, many species across the planet were destroyed:

Quagga

Silphium

Solving the problem of biodiversity conservation

In order to preserve biodiversity on earth, a lot of effort needs to be made. First of all, it is necessary that the governments of all countries pay special attention to this problem and protect natural objects from encroachments by different people. Also, work to preserve the world of flora and fauna is carried out by various international organizations, in particular Greenpeace and the UN.

Among the main measures that are being taken, it should be mentioned that zoologists and other specialists are fighting for every individual of an endangered species, creating nature reserves and natural parks where animals are monitored, creating conditions for them to live and increase populations. Plants are also artificially bred to expand their ranges and prevent valuable species from dying.
In addition, it is necessary to take measures to preserve forests, protect water bodies, soil and atmosphere from pollution, and apply them in production and everyday life. Most of all, the conservation of nature on the planet depends on ourselves, that is, on each person, because only we make the choice: kill an animal or save its life, cut down a tree or not, pick a flower or plant a new one. If each of us protects nature, the problem of biodiversity will be overcome.

14.The problem of reducing biological diversity: causes, environmental consequences, possible solutions to the problem.

During the period of the scientific and technological revolution, the main force transforming the flora and fauna is man. Human activity in recent decades has led to the fact that the rate of extinction of many animal species, primarily mammals and birds, has become much more intense and significantly exceeds the estimated average rate of species loss in previous millennia. Direct threats to biodiversity are usually based on socio-economic factors. Thus, population growth leads to an increase in the need for food, a corresponding expansion of agricultural land, intensification of land use, use of land for development, a general increase in consumption and increased degradation of natural resources.

According to the latest surveys compiled by UN experts, about a quarter of a million plant species, i.e., one in eight, are at risk of extinction. The survival of approximately 25% of all mammal species and 11% of bird species is also problematic. The depletion of fishing grounds in the World Ocean continues: over the past half century, fish catches have increased almost fivefold, while 70% of ocean fisheries are subject to extreme or exorbitant exploitation.

The problem of preserving biological diversity is largely interconnected with the degradation of forest resources. Forests contain over 50% of the world's biodiversity, provide landscape diversity, form and protect soils, help retain and purify water, produce oxygen, and reduce the threat of global warming. Population growth and the development of the world economy have led to growing global demand for forest products. As a result, over the past 300 years, 66-68% of the planet’s forest area has been destroyed, and forest cover has decreased to 30%. Harvesting of a limited number of wood species leads to changes in the species composition of large forests and is one of the reasons for the overall loss of biological diversity. In the period 1990-2000. In developing countries, tens of millions of hectares of forest land have been lost to over-logging, conversion to agricultural land, disease and fire. The situation is especially dangerous in tropical forests. At the current rate of deforestation in the 21st century, in some regions (Malaysia, Indonesia), forests may disappear completely.

Awareness of the unpredictable value of biological diversity, its importance for maintaining the natural evolution and sustainable functioning of the biosphere has led humanity to understand the threat posed by the reduction of biological diversity resulting from certain types of human activities. Sharing the concerns of the world community, the UN Conference on Environment and Development (1992), among other important documents, adopted the Convention on Biological Diversity. The main provisions of the convention are aimed at the rational use of natural biological resources and the implementation of effective measures for their conservation.

For thousands of years, people have sought to obtain as much of nature's riches as possible and have not helped nature restore them. But a series of environmental crises has become a good lesson for people, and they are gradually learning to correct their mistakes. Nowadays, an increasing number of countries, with great difficulty, are still learning to agree among themselves on how to jointly save the planet from air and water pollution, from desertification and the disappearance of forests. The number of specially protected natural areas is growing. In 2000, there were already 11.5 thousand such territories in the world, and their total area exceeded 12 million km2. This means that together they occupied approximately 9% of all inhabited land. At the end of the twentieth century, man created industrial technologies that did not produce toxic waste and pollution, began to build effective wastewater treatment plants, and developed numerous methods for safe farming. All this means the fulfillment of the motto put forward by the UN back in the 1970s: “There is only one Earth!”

Currently, biodiversity refers to all species of plants, animals, microorganisms, as well as the ecosystems and ecological processes of which they are part.

Quantitative assessments of biodiversity are based on the use of various indicators: from the simple number of species in a community to calculations of various dependencies and indices based on mathematical and statistical approaches. In this case, the time factor must be taken into account, since biodiversity can only be assessed at a certain point in time. Diversity indicators that reflect not only the total number of species, but also the characteristics of the composition of biocenoses have become very popular.

There are three levels of biodiversity: genetic, species and ecosystem. Genetic diversity represents the entire amount of genetic information contained in the genes of the organisms that inhabit the Earth. Species diversity is the variety of species of living organisms living on Earth. Ecosystem diversity refers to the different habitats, biotic communities, and ecological processes within the biosphere, as well as the enormous diversity of habitats and processes within an ecosystem.

An indicator of biodiversity at the global level is considered to be the ratio of the areas of natural complexes to varying degrees subject to anthropogenic impact and protected by the state.

Biodiversity is the basis of life on Earth, one of the most important life resources; it is considered the main factor determining the stability of biogeochemical cycles of matter and energy in the biosphere. Cause-and-effect relationships among many species play a large role in the cycling of matter and energy flows in ecosystem components that are directly related to humans. For example, animals - filter feeders and detritivores, which are not used by humans for food, make a significant contribution to the cycle of nutrients (in particular, phosphorus). Thus, even species of organisms that are not part of the human food chain can be beneficial to him, although they benefit him in an indirect way.

Many species played a major role in shaping the Earth's climate and continue to be powerful climate stabilizers.

Evolutionary processes that took place in various geological periods led to significant changes in the species composition of the inhabitants of the Earth. About 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, many species disappeared, especially birds and mammals, and dinosaurs became completely extinct. Later, biological resources were lost more rapidly, and, unlike the Great Cretaceous extinction, which was most likely caused by natural phenomena, species loss is now due to human activity. According to experts, approximately 25% of all species on Earth will be seriously threatened with extinction in the next 20 to 30 years.

The threat to biodiversity is constantly increasing. It is predicted that between 5 and 15% of species could become extinct between 1990 and 2020. The most important causes of species loss are:

Habitat loss, fragmentation and modification;

Overexploitation of resources:

Environmental pollution;

Displacement of natural species by introduced exotic species.

The loss of species diversity as a vital resource can lead to serious global consequences, as it threatens human well-being and even his very existence on Earth. The stability of ecosystems can be compromised when biodiversity decreases; species that are not currently dominant may become dominant when environmental conditions change. It is not yet possible to predict how the loss of biodiversity will affect the functioning of the ecosystem, but experts suggest that such losses are unlikely to be beneficial.

Active measures are being taken to preserve biodiversity. The Convention on Biodiversity was adopted in 1992 at CBSR-2. Russia ratified the Convention in 1995; A number of laws related to the conservation of biodiversity have been adopted. Russia is a party to the CITES convention (1976) as the legal successor of the USSR.

The following measures are being developed for the conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use:

1) protection of special habitats - the creation of national parks, biosphere reserves and other protection zones;

2) protection of individual species or groups of organisms from overexploitation;

3) preservation of species in the form of a gene pool in botanical gardens or banks;

4) reducing the level of environmental pollution.

The implementation of the planned measures is carried out through the development of international and national programs aimed at implementing these measures (for example, the DIVERS1TAS program). The Pan-European Strategy for Biological and Landscape Diversity was developed (1995). The BioNET information database is being created (in the UK), where data on all species of plants and animals known on Earth is concentrated; The world's first data bank on endangered animals and plants was created (in Germany).

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Biodiversity refers to the variety of species of living organisms and their genetic variation on land, seas and other aquatic ecosystems. Unfortunately, biodiversity is continuously declining. This phenomenon is based on various reasons: selective use by humans of plants and animals of only certain, preferred species; pollution and destruction of habitats (biotopes); changing of the climate; the deliberate or accidental introduction of competitive species into the natural habitat of a plant or animal.

Agriculture plays a major negative role in reducing biodiversity, which not only consumes a significant portion of water, but also pollutes and salinizes the soil with fertilizers and insecticides. The diversity of marine life is suffering from overfishing, polluted sewage and habitat loss. In addition, temperature-sensitive corals, for example, are negatively affected by climate change.

Declining biodiversity has a significant impact on humans, who benefit from the many benefits of diverse animal and plant species in terms of food choice, wood fuel, plant oxygen production, nutrient cycling, and travel and recreation opportunities in a variety of natural settings.

According to some studies, the cost of natural diversity consumed by humans is 10-100 times higher than the cost of preserving it.

In 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted at the UN Assembly in Rio de Janeiro, the goals of which are its conservation, the balanced use of its components, as well as the balanced and fair distribution of benefits and profits from the use of genetic resources.

Although many improvements and innovations have been made to protect biodiversity since then, they are still insufficient to halt the decline in species diversity.

2010 was declared by the UN as the Year of Biodiversity. And in October of the same year, the 10th meeting of the countries participating in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) took place in Japan, at which 193 countries (except the United States, which did not ratify this convention and did not take part in the meeting) signed the “Strategic plan for 2011-2020,” a 20-point program for the conservation of biological diversity. The meeting participants set themselves many tasks.

Thus, in particular, by 2020 the decline in species diversity must be stopped, the area of ​​protected land areas must be increased by 4%, and the seas by 8%, while the economic value of biological diversity must be recorded in national accounting systems.

In addition, profits from the use of biologically active substances of plant origin in the future should be fairly distributed between producing and consuming countries. Brazil would benefit the most from this move, as it has the richest biodiversity, but other developing countries would also benefit economically.

On the other hand, industrialized countries in this case would not have to make huge compensation payments. Environmentalists welcome the program, although the international organization Greenpeace warns that there has been a history of non-compliance with similar plans and agreements.