Showing results by author "Sivakumaran Sivaramanan" in All Categories

Major sources of ground water contamination are fuel oil, chemicals such as pesticides, leakage from storage tanks, uncontrolled hazardous wastes, landfill leachate, road salts and atmospheric contaminants. Soil nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate can also contaminate in from inorganic fertilizers or chemical production plants, these factors make the ground water unsuitable for human consumption. Treating ground water is more complicated process as the aquifers are interconnected. In-situ bioremediation can be done in case of nitrate, perchlorate and sulphate contamination, microbial ...

Agrochemicals are well known for their ill effects on non-targeted organisms and their persistency in nature. 99.9 per cent of the pesticide residues remain in the soil, water and air environment or consumed by the non-targeted organisms, with time they undergo physiochemical changes, undergo evaporation, volatilization, photodecomposition, breakdown by microbial activity, plant uptake and travel through the food chain (bioaccumulation and bio magnification). Persistent compounds such as organochlorine pesticides may concentrate in tissues of organisms and also its concentration through the...

Consequences of poverty are well pronounced all over the world. About 705 million people live at the poverty line of “international $” 1.90 a day in 2015worldwide. According to the estimates of United Nations Food and Agriculture organization (FAO), about 795 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world or one in nine suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2014-2016. United Nations reported, about 21,000 people die every day due to hunger or related causes. FAO finds about 60% of the victims of hunger are women. Annually 3.5 million of children die from acute malnutrition ...

Rising human population has given birth to so many environmental problems, noise, vibration and light pollution to the environment is an ever increasing threat. Increased road traffic noise including vehicle horns and sirens, construction activities of massive building structures, road construction, city development, ultra sound of the radars, noisy air crafts and blasts during the war and mining activities have malefic influence on the other living things as well as humans. In humans noise level at 45 dB disturb the wellbeing, the hearing damage begins at 85 dB, causes pain by 120 dB and ...

Soil degradation is one of the major global threats. Mainly in countries like Africa, Australia, China and some part of US effects of top soil erosion are being increasingly realized. According to UNCCD, globally 2.6 billion people depend on agriculture but 52% of the land used for agriculture is moderately or severely affected by soil degradation, land degradation affects 1.5 billion people globally, due to drought and desertification annually 12 million hectares are lost where 20 million tons of grain could have been grown, 74% of the poor are directly affected by land degradation, about ...

Coral reefs undergo bleaching and other apocalyptic effects which are caused both naturally and from anthropogenic means. This book reviews on stresses on corals such as coral mining, over fishing, using harmful methods for fishing, pollutants and waste deposits, destruction of reefs by boat grounding, natural factors such as elevated temperatures, radiation, acidification of oceans, diseases which cause bleaching and efforts taken to save the corals, in brief. Corals can be reproduced from vegetative fragments, several propagation and handling methods are being practiced in natural and ...

Environmental planning involved in protection of environment while promoting the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of ecological services and natural resources. It is a cooperative approach with the participation of government, communities, landholders, relevant stakeholders and indigenous people. Planning often associated with the evaluation tools such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Kyoto (CDM) project cycle are used to estimate and avoid the impact. Many planning policies remains in words without accounting the fact (...

World population clock has reached 7.307 billion when I start writing this part, increasing population is the no. 1 environmental problem to date. More people more consumption thus more environmental degradation. This book reviews impacts of population crises on the environment as well as various theories and predictions of population ecologists and population control methods and their implementation, it is also proved with evidences that women education and upgrading status of the women mitigate the increasing birth rate to a certain extent as well as strict government policies such as one...

Heavy metal pollution due to various sources such as from agro chemicals, ballast water, electronic waste, vehicle exhaust, industrial effluents, coal power plants, sludge wastes, medicinal chemicals, laboratory waste and domestic wastes are become a major threat to the environment. WHO has found there is a health risk due to long-range transboundary air pollutants containing heavy metals. Arsenic, Beryllium, radium, chromium and cadmium are well known carcinogens. Some of them(As and Cd) found in well waters (north central province of Sri Lanka, India, Korea, Chile and Bangladesh) or ...

A country’s status and reputation is more importantly determined by its cleanness. Sectors such as tourism, financial strength, public health and education all depend on clean environment. Clean environment also gives positive attitude to a human being as well as providing a glorious aesthetic environment. Though countries have achieved the successful waste management practices technically, many countries (particularly developing countries) not yet reach the objective clean environment even proper management strategies and technologies are available, the major reason is behavior of public...

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is becoming major thread to the whole world. Its toxic emissions mixed with virgin soil and air and causing harmful effects to the entire biota either directly or indirectly. Direct impacts include release of acids, toxic compounds including heavy metals, carcinogenic chemicals and indirect effects such as bio magnification of heavy metals. Many private firms are involved in collecting, dismantling, separation and exporting e-wastes for recyclers. However, strict regulations are currently being followed as on approval of such firms such as e-...

Water is an essential renewable resource, increasing population, deforestation, soil degradation and desertification, soil and water pollution and the effects of climatic change and consequences such as droughts, changes in weather pattern have ultimately increases the demand for fresh potable water, thus the need for reclamation of used water is being realized. Several countries successfully recycle the water up to the consumable standards. Though it varies depending on the treatment systems, limiting the uses, public acceptance, social and health related controversy is still an ...

Increasing nutrient loading from agro-fertilizer effluents, industrial effluents, municipal and domestic effluents including black water contamination and urban runoff accelerates the eutrophication in many parts of the world, many developing countries discharges grey water directly to the coastal water which increases the coastal eutrophication. According to Dr.Robert Diaz (VIMS and WRI) there are 762 coastal areas affected by eutrophication and/or hypoxia, algal blooms are removed by methods such as magnetic separation (Acid modified fly ash and magnetite (Fe3O4)), using beach sand or ...

According to IUCN (2009) global mangrove cover is estimated to be between 167,000 and 181,000km2. Among 40 % of them are found in South and Southeast Asia. More than a third of the mangrove plants are vanished due to over exploitation and destruction of their habitats, as global annual mangrove deforestation ranges 2-8%. Shrimp culture account for 20-50% of mangrove destruction worldwide. It has been predicted if rehabilitation or conservation activities not prevail developing countries will lose 25% of their remaining mangrove cover by 2050. This book comprises habitats of mangroves, their...

Thinning of Antarctic ozone layer during spring season has been observed since 1980s, largest depletion occurred during the period between 1980 and 2000. Incoming UV (particularly UVB & UVC) during the Antarctic spring causes deleterious effects such as cataract, skin burns, melanoma, reduction in agricultural food production and climatological changes. After 1987 Montreal protocol significant efforts are made mainly by UNEP, WMO and WHO to reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone depleting substances (ODS), protocol established an international time frame on reducing ...

According to Global Economic Symposium (2016), in the past two decades proven gas reserves have increased by 70% and proven oil reserves by 40%, with the emergence of advanced technology new oil and gas fields are being discovered all the time, technology also opens up potential unconventional sources such as tar sands, shale gas and ultra deep waters, use of renewable energy sources also increases day by day. However, still 80% of the world’s total energy needs rely on fossil fuels and it is also confirmed that we have sufficient energy for next three decades. The energy crisis does not ...

Wetlands are transitional ecosystem falls between terrestrial and aquatic systems. About 4-6% of the earth’s surface are wetlands. Wetlands are unique for its biodiversity and functions such as trapping sediment, water purification, flood regulation and mitigating global warming as carbon sink. Coastal wetlands such as seagrass beds, mangroves and salt marshes are known as “blue carbon” as carbon is stored in the sea. In this review edition, wetlands are classified based on their water source such as wetlands with predominantly precipitation inputs (Pocosins, Cypress, domes, Prairie ...

Human population in a hike, thus deforestation and establishment of new agricultural lands are unavoidable, at the same time environmental hazards such as global warming, climate change, desertification of land and various types of pollution are threatening the human society today. In 1960 the scientists first began to understand that agroforestry systems could provide a sustainable land use and to solve most of the environmental issues by its environmental services such as sequester greenhouse gases, improve soil fertility and conservation of the soil, conservation of biodiversity, provide...

Managing nuisance aquatic vegetation consist physical, biological and chemical methods. Among physical control, techniques such as mechanical operation from bank to the control of Aponogeton, Nymphaea, Nymphoides and Potamogeton, floating machinery for free-floating weeds such as Eichhornia sp. are in practice. Among chemical weedicides, flumioxazin (clipers) are widely used due to its broad spectrum activity, chemical herbicides are often applied with a gel adjuvant to increase its efficiency and avoid chemical wastage. Carps and Tilapia fishes are used in biological control methods; more ...

We live in a changing planet. Nature has its own agenda. But man tries to keep it unchanged by his activities based on so called 'sustainability'. This situation makes such ecosystems under human control more fragile than resilience. Even changed novel ecosystems do continue to provide its ecological functions but human efforts to make such ecosystems to look untouched is not always a meaningful solution. Success of modern environmental reforms can be clearly evaluated by evidencing the relationship between Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and the Gross National Happiness (GNH). This ...