Sustainable Management
HOT ARID
BURKINA FASO – LOCAL ACTIONS
Siguin Vousse is a small village in Burkina Faso in the Sahel, Africa. Soil is poor so villagers cannot grow enough food. The main reasons for the poor soil are:
• Trees that protect the soil from wind erosion are being deforested for fuel wood.
• Grassland is under pressure from overgrazing.
• Farmers have to grow food for more people – more intensive on land so soil is degraded.
NGOs/charities like Oxfam can help African countries to adapt to climate change by using diguettes. Local farmers (with the help from the NGO Oxfam) have built diguettes which are a line of stones laid along gently sloping farmland.
They slow down rainwater and give it a chance to soak into the hard ground. Diguettes reduce soil erosion by trapping soil which builds up behind the stones. Over 400 villages in Burkina Faso have built diguettes. One test showed that soil depth in an area without diguettes decreased by 15cm, while in a field with diguettes, soil depth increased by 18cm.
BANGLADESH – LOCAL ACTIONS
Non-governmental organisations (NGO’s), such as WaterAid or Practical Action, often develop small scale sustainable solutions to local problems in developing countries. They set up low cost projects using appropriate or intermediate technology. Local people are then trained to take responsibility for the development and management of the schemes.
1.Rainwater harvesters – roof gutters are arranged so that rainwater flows into storage barrels. The best barrels will have purification systems in them-the water soaks through filters and layers of sand or gravel to remove any impurities.
2.Hand dug wells – the most common way of obtaining water in LEDC rural areas. The wells are dug by hand and then lined and covered with a concrete slab when not in use.
3.Tube wells – raising water from the ground using a pump is preferable to using a bucket and rope. A large tube is bored down to underground stores and a pump used to pull water up. There is less chance of contamination from mud or dirty hands.
GLOBAL ACTIONS – INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
The Kyoto Summit was an international meeting held in 1997. A global agreement was made to mitigate (reduce) climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% by 2012. By 2008, 181 countries had signed up. An example of a mitigation strategy is the congestion charge in London which aims to reduce the number of vehicles in the city. This will reduce the pollution produced from emissions and hopefully reduce the rate of global warming and climate change.
The increasing number of wind farms in many countries including the UK, the USA and Germany also hope to help with reducing the greenhouse effect by harnessing renewable energy rather than producing carbon emissions when burning fossil fuels.
POLAR
ICELAND - LOCAL ACTIONS
Iceland is an excellent example of a cold region where every effort has been made to use sustainable energy supplies. Thanks to the upwelling magma underneath Iceland, groundwater becomes heated and sometimes pressurised to form steam. This steam can be harnessed to drive turbines that generate electricity while hot water can be used directly to heat buildings. It is a renewable energy resource that can be used to heat and light greenhouses, allowing Icelanders to grow fresh fruit and vegetables and heat water for fish farms all through the year.
ALASKA and GREENLAND - LOCAL ACTIONS
In Alaska, similar technology has been installed in many places close to the coastal tectonic boundary. Unlike Iceland, this is a destructive plate boundary where dangerous, unpredictable and explosive activity takes place. However, it still produces beneficial resources such as hot springs and renewable energy –a tourist resource situated near Fairbanks is entirely powered by geothermal power. Another example of sustainable living in Alaska is the construction of houses on stilts which preserves the permafrost in its pristine state for future generations.
In Greenland and Alaska, sustainable hunting quotas are used to make sure that polar bears and seals are not over hunted and the locals get scientific advice and recommendations to make sure they stick to this principle.
GLOBAL ACTIONS - INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
The World Heritage Site and Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland is managed to minimise threats from tourism. The locals and workers make sure no damage is done, no pollution is left and that no cultural artefacts are removed.
International efforts have also been made to try and ensure polar regions have a sustainable future. The best known is the 1961 Antarctic Treaty which has successfully restricted commercial exploitation of the Antarctic. The success of this has led to the 1998 Protocol on Environmental Protection which provides one of the toughest set of rules for any environment in the world. Under the agreement no new activities are allowed in Antarctica until any potential impacts on the environment have been assessed and minimised.