Indian Traditions for Decision Making and Management of Stress

There are four stages in rational and logical decision making.

  1. Identify and Define Decision Stimulus and Identify Decision Objectives

A decision stimulus can be a problem (a situation that causes difficulties) or an opportunity (a chance to do something). Problem solving is a type of decision making in which the decision stimulus is a problem.

After identifying the problem, sufficient information should be obtained to clearly define the problem, classify the problem (urgent or nonurgent; routine or nonroutine) and understand its causes.

Ineffective reactions to a problem include complacency (not seeing or ignoring the problem), defensive avoidance (denying the importance of the problem or denying any responsibility for taking action) and panic reaction (becoming very upset and frantically seeking a solution). The effective reaction to a problem is deciding to decide. The bias of giving too much weight to readily available infor­mation precludes the search for additional information and prevents clear definition of the problem.

After defining the problem, the desired end-results, the expected outcomes or decision objectives of problem solving should be identified.

  1. Develop Decision Alternatives

Alternative courses of action that are appropriate to the problem should be identified. The more important the problem, the more time and effort should be devoted to the development of decision alternatives. Brainstorming is a technique for creative generation of as many decision alternatives as possible without evaluating them.

Bounded rationality means that the rationality of decision makers is limited by their beliefs, values, attitudes, education, habits and unconscious reflexes and incomplete information. Hence, decision makers usually satisfice or accept the first satisfactory alternative they uncover, rather than maximize or search until they find the best alternative.

  1. Evaluate the Decision Alternatives and Select the Best Alternative

Each decision alternative should be evaluated for its fea­sibility, effectiveness and efficiency (cost-effectiveness analysis). The alternative which has the highest levels of these qualities should be selected.

Decision makers use heuristics, rules of thumb or judg­mental shortcuts in decision making to reduce informa­tion processing demands. These shortcuts can lead to biased decisions. Availability heuristic is the tendency for people to base judgment on information that is readily available to them. Recent, vivid and emotional events are more easily recalled. Representative heuristic is the ten­dency to assess the likelihood of an occurrence by trying to match it with a pre-existing category. Anchoring and adjustment heuristic is the tendency to be influenced by an initial figure even when the information is largely irrelevant. Framing is the tendency to make different decisions de­pending on how a problem is presented. Prospect theory means that decision makers find the prospect of an actual loss more painful than giving up the possibility of a gain.

Intuition is an innate belief about something without conscious consideration. Escalation of commitment is staying of a decision maker with a decision even when i appears to be wrong.  Risk propensity is the extent to which a decision maker is willing to take risk in making a decision.  

  1. Implement the Decision and Evaluate Outcomes

The best decision alternative is implemented and its ef­fectiveness is evaluated. If the people who implement the decision are involved in decision making they understand and accept it and are motivated to implement it.

Management of Stress

Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person’s level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning. In this context, the term ‘stress’ refers only to a stress with significant negative consequences, or distress in the terminology advocated by Hans Selye, rather than what he calls eustress, a stress whose consequences are helpful or otherwise.

Stress produces numerous physical and mental symptoms which vary according to each individual’s situational factors. These can include physical health decline as well as depression. The process of stress management is named as one of the keys to a happy and successful life in modern society. Although life provides numerous demands that can prove difficult to handle, stress management provides a number of ways to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being.

Despite stress often being thought of as a subjective experience, levels of stress are readily measurable, using various physiological tests, similar to those used in polygraphs.

Many practical stress management techniques are available, some for use by health professionals and others, for self-help, which may help an individual reduce their levels of stress, provide positive feelings of control over one’s life and promote general well-being. Other stress reducing techniques involve adding a daily exercise routine, spending quality time with family and pets, meditation, finding a hobby, writing your thoughts, feelings, and moods down and also speaking with a trusted one about what is bothering you. It is very important to keep in mind that not all techniques are going to work the same for everyone, that is why trying different stress managing techniques is crucial in order to find what techniques work best for you. An example of this would be, two people on a roller coaster one can be screaming grabbing on to the bar while the other could be laughing while their hands are up in the air (Nisson). This is a perfect example of how stress effects everyone differently that is why they might need a different treatment. These techniques do not require doctors approval but seeing if a doctors technique works better for you is also very important.

Evaluating the effectiveness of various stress management techniques can be difficult, as limited research currently exists. Consequently, the amount and quality of evidence for the various techniques varies widely. Some are accepted as effective treatments for use in psychotherapy, while others with less evidence favoring them are considered alternative therapies. Many professional organizations exist to promote and provide training in conventional or alternative therapies.

There are several models of stress management, each with distinctive explanations of mechanisms for controlling stress. Much more research is necessary to provide a better understanding of which mechanisms actually operate and are effective in practice.

Philosophy of Yoga and its Modern Relevance

Yoga philosophy is one of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism. Ancient, medieval and most modern literature often refers to the Yoga school of Hinduism simply as Yoga. It is closely related to the Samkhya school of Hinduism. The Yoga school’s systematic studies to better oneself physically, mentally and spiritually has influenced all other schools of Indian philosophy. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a key text of the Yoga school of Hinduism.

The epistemology of the Yoga school of Hinduism, like the Sāmkhya school, relies on three of six Pramanas as the means of gaining reliable knowledge. These include Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāṇa (inference) and Sabda (Āptavacana, word/testimony of reliable sources). The metaphysics of Yoga is built on the same dualist foundation as the Samkhya school. The universe is conceptualized as composed of two realities in the Samhkya-Yoga schools: Puruṣa (consciousness) and prakriti (matter). Jiva (a living being) is considered as a state in which puruṣa is bonded to prakriti in some form, in various permutations and combinations of various elements, senses, feelings, activity and mind. During the state of imbalance or ignorance, one or more constituents overwhelm the others, creating a form of bondage. The end of this bondage is called liberation, or moksha, by both the Yoga and Samkhya schools of Hinduism. The ethical theory of the Yoga school is based on Yamas and Niyama, as well as elements of the Guṇa theory of Samkhya.

The Yoga school of Hinduism differs from the closely related non-theistic/atheistic Samkhya school by incorporating the concept of a “personal, yet essentially inactive, deity” or “personal god” (Ishvara). While the Samkhya school suggests that jnana (knowledge) is a sufficient means to moksha, the Yoga school suggests that systematic techniques and practice, or personal experimentation, combined with Samkhya’s approach to knowledge, is the path to moksha. Yoga shares several central ideas with the Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism, with the difference that Yoga philosophy is a form of experimental mysticism, while Advaita Vedanta is a form of monistic personalism. Advaita Vedanta, and other schools of Hinduism, accept, adopt and build upon many of the teachings and techniques of Yoga.

Modern Relevance of Yoga

The modern life tempts us with comfort. And to make our life more comfortable and convenient we pay for it with obesity, hypertension and cardiac problems. Although we have hi-tech medical facilities, we are still leading a stressful, unhealthy and unstable life. In this situation, yoga can bring peace to our body, mind, and soul and add more value to our life. The importance of yoga in modern life is abundant.

Yoga teaches us the knowledge of how to lead a healthy living. It improves our concentration, creativity and sharpens our memory. To maintain a positive physical and mental health, yoga is a must.

In the middle of hustle and bustle of the modern life, our emotional stability declines day by day. But yoga can help to prevent it. So another importance of yoga in modern life can be that yoga improves our muscle strength, stamina and bring immune and mental stability.

Importance of Yoga in Modern Life

(i) Improves concentration and helps to stay focused

The importance of yoga in modern life is endless. One of the best lessons yoga teaches us is to focus on the present. In recent studies, it was found that practicing yoga every day improves our IQ and memory. Everyday our focus and concentration get bombarded by our modern lifestyle in form of cell phones, laptops, TVs and social media. Thankfully yoga can bring our awareness to the present moment and help us to stay focused and improve our concentration.

For the city dwellers, yoga works like magic. Regular practice of yoga can improve the coordination and reaction time and help them with their busy schedule. It also improves their concentration and helps them to be less distracted by their thoughts.

The constant breathing practice of yoga helps to relax and shift the balance from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system. And by doing this it lowers the heart rate and breathing and decreases blood pressure.

(ii) Helps to build strength

Yoga plays a vital role when it comes to strengthening your body. Doctors these days suggest their patients perform yoga on a daily basis. For example, for a new mothers, yoga is essential. Yoga helps to strengthen their body and helps them to get back in shape. The reason behind this is, yoga involves a lot of stretching exercises. So even it’s a total body workout, it is a low-impact exercise.

We start losing muscle mass around 40 and by 50 the process only accelerate. If we don’t do anything to exercise our muscles, we will only get weaker and lose independence later in our life. But thanks to yoga, we can prevent this process. Yoga involves a set of exercise where you constantly transition into different positions. By doing this, we challenge our muscles to support the weight of our body and strengthen it.  Regular practice of yoga tones the muscles and helps us to look more attractive.

Our busy life makes us go through anxiety, low energy level or even in some cases through depression to balance our work and personal life. In such a case, yoga can bring peace and mindfulness to our life. One of the importance of yoga in modern life is it helps to calm our fluctuating energy level. Yoga is not just an exercise to be lean and thin. It helps us to build strong muscle. And strong muscle does more for us than look good. Doctors now prescribe to practice yoga to prevent back pain and arthritis.

(iii) Improves flexibility & posture

Another importance of yoga in modern life is that it helps us to have a more flexible body and as a result, our life becomes just a bit more manageable. Often we suffer from knee joint pain. It’s because tight hips strain the knee joint due to improper alignment of the thigh and shin bones. Another discomfort occurs due to the inflexibility of muscle is back pain and poor posture. Tight hamstring flattens the lumbar spine and causes back pain. Inflexibility in muscle and connective tissue causes poor posture.

Environmental Studies: Nature, Scope and Importance

Environment literally means Surrounding in which we are living. Environment includes all those things on which we are directly or indirectly dependent for our survival, whether it is living component like animals, plants or nonliving component like soil, air water.

Environmental Protection Act (1986) defined “Environment as the sum total of water, air and land, their interrelationship among themselves and with the human beings, other living beings and property.”

Meaning Of Environmental Studies:

Environmental studies are the scientific study of the environmental system and the status of its inherent or induced changes on organisms. It includes not only the study of physical and biological characters of the environment but also the social and cultural factors and the impact of man on environment.

Objectives and Guiding Principles of Environmental Studies:

According to UNESCO (1971), the objectives of environmental studies are:

(a) Creating the awareness about environmental problems among people.

(b) Imparting basic knowledge about the environment and its allied problems.

(c) Developing an attitude of concern for the environment.

(d) Motivating public to participate in environment protection and environment improvement.

(e) Acquiring skills to help the concerned individuals in identifying and solving environmental problems.

(f) Striving to attain harmony with Nature.

According to UNESCO, the guiding principles of environmental education should be as follows:

(a) Environmental education should be compulsory, right from the primary up to the post graduate stage.

(b) Environmental education should have an interdisciplinary approach by including physical, chemical, biological as well as socio-cultural aspects of the environment. It should build a bridge between biology and technology.

(c) Environmental education should take into account the historical perspective, the current and the potential historical issues.

(d) Environmental education should emphasise the importance of sustainable development i.e., economic development without degrading the environment.

(e) Environmental education should emphasise the necessity of seeking international cooperation in environmental planning.

(f) Environmental education should lay more stress on practical activities and first hand experiences.

Scope and Importance of Environmental Studies:

The disciplines included in environmental education are environmental sciences, environmental engineering and environmental management.

(a) Environmental Science:

It deals with the scientific study of environmental system (air, water, soil and land), the inherent or induced changes on organisms and the environmental damages incurred as a result of human interaction with the environment.

(b) Environmental Engineering:

It deals with the study of technical processes involved in the protection of environment from the potentially deleterious effects of human activity and improving the environmental quality for the health and well beings of humans.

(c) Environmental Management:

It promotes due regard for physical, social and economic environment of the enterprise or projects. It encourages planned investment at the start of the production chain rather than forced investment in cleaning up at the end.

It generally covers the areas as environment and enterprise objectives, scope, and structure of the environment, interaction of nature, society and the enterprise, environment impact assessment, economics of pollution, prevention, environmental management standards etc.

The importance’s of environmental studies are as follows:

  1. To clarify modern environmental concept like how to conserve biodiversity.
  2. To know the more sustainable way of living.
  3. To use natural resources more efficiently.
  4. To know the behaviour of organism under natural conditions.
  5. To know the interrelationship between organisms in populations and communities.
  6. To aware and educate people regarding environmental issues and problems at local, national and international levels.

Need of Public Awareness about Environment:

In today’s world because of industrialization and increasing population, the natural resources has been rapidly utilised and our environment is being increasingly degraded by human activities, so we need to protect the environment.

It is not only the duty of government but also the people to take active role for protecting the environment, so protecting our environment is economically more viable than cleaning it up once, it is damaged.

The role of mass media such as newspapers, radio, television, etc is also very important to make people aware regarding environment. There are various institutions, which are playing positive role towards environment to make people aware regarding environment like BSI (Botanical Survey of India, 1890), ZSI (Zoological Survey of India, 1916), WII (Wild Life Institute of India, 1982) etc.

Ecology and Scope of Ecological Studies:

Ecology is that part of environmental studies in which we study about organisms, plants and animals and their relationship or interdependence on other living and non living environment.

The term ‘Ecology’ is derived from Greek word ‘Oekologue’ which is composed of two words:

(a) ‘Oekos’ means surrounding

(b) ‘Logs’ means study on a whole ecology means ‘Study of surrounding’

The scope of ecological study includes:

  1. It deals with the study of flow of energy and materials in the environment.
  2. It deals with the study of nature and its function.
  3. It deals with the exchange of various materials between the biotic and abiotic components of environment. E.g., Biogeochemical cycles.

Sustainable Development

In the year 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) is introduced the term sustainable development in its report our common future (the Brundtland Commission). According to WCED, sustainable development may be defined as a process of changes in which the exploitation of resources, direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and the institutional changes are in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human need as aspiration.

In other words, sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising on the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development considers the impact of environmental changes and tries to minimise the impact.

Sustainable development is based on two fundamental concepts. The first concept considers earth’s carrying capacity and stresses on natural resources like forest, soil fertility, healthy wetlands, ozone layer etc. which provide basic requirements of human being.

This also tells about a critical limit for sustainability. The second concept focuses on balancing of economical, social and ecological goals which include the basic needs like health, literacy, democratic values etc. However, both the concepts are concerned with quality of life and conservation of environment.

There are three pillars of sustainable development namely community development (which includes providing basic needs like food, shelter, clothes, health, education etc.), economic development (which include industrialization creating job opportunity) and environmental protection (which includes providing clean air, safe water, quality environment).

Since development activities are always associated with environmental degradation, sustainability in development has to enter in all our planning processes as an important parameter.

The sustainability in environmental restoration programme considers the following key issues:

(i) Stabilisation of population growth

(ii) Conservation and rational exploitation of forest resources.

(iii) Afforestation in waste lands and deforested areas.

(iv) Control of pollution (Air, water, land etc.)

(v) Maintenance of sustainability in agriculture

(vi) Recycling of waste and residue

(vii) Conservation of biodiversity

(viii) Development of non-polluting renewable energy stems.

(ix) Updating environmental laws and its strict imposition.

(x) Assessment of ecological security.

For the sustainable development, the following points should be considered

(i) The input of matter and energy should be reduced up to their limiting values.

(ii) The exhaustible and polluting fossil fuels should be replaced by less harmful renewable energy.

(iii) Technology should be developed which provides essential goods with minimum waste in a non-polluted manner.

(iv) The population growth should be slow down which will reduce stress on global life support.

(v) There should be strict implementation of environmental laws.

(vi) Steps should be taken for the conservation of forest, conservation of biodiversity, recycling of wastes, control of pollution etc.

(vii) There should be integrated land use planning.

(viii) Environmental education should be made compulsory to create awareness about the basic environmental issues.

Realm of Ecology

The ecological is defined as the practices, discourses, and material expressions that occur across the intersection between the social and the natural realms, focussing in this case on the important dimension of human engagement with and within nature, ranging from the built-environment to the ‘wilderness’.

In other words, the ecological domain is treated as narrower that the natural realm. While the ecological is grounded in the natural and includes a spectrum of environmental conditions from the the profoundly modified, through the relatively untransformed, the natural realm includes all of that, and much more. It includes nature beyond the reach of the Anthropocene: the infinitely big and infinitesimally small. The distinction between the social realm and the natural realm, with the natural as a ‘context’ for human action, is common in traditional (cosmological) and modern (scientific) understandings, but we are adding a further dimension.

Our definition recognizes these understandings without being confined to them. It lays ‘the ecological’ across both terms — that is, across ‘the natural’ and ‘the social’ — as naming the connections of human and non-human engagement with and within nature, ranging from objects and bodies to zones of engagement. This means that the ecological domain pertains to questions of social-environmental interconnection, including the unintended consequences of humans living on the planet. The ecological is thus not treated as a background context for human action but rather a place of being human and non-human.

Perspectives and Aspects of Ecology

  1. Materials and Energy
    1. Availability and Abundance
    2. Soil and Fertility
    3. Minerals and Metals
    4. Electricity and Gas
    5. Petroleum and Biofuels
    6. Renewables and Recyclables
    7. Monitoring and Reflection
  2. Water and Air
    1. Vitality and Viability
    2. Water Quality and Potability
    3. Air Quality and Respiration
    4. Climate and Temperature
    5. Greenhouse Gases and Carbon
    6. Adaptation and Mitigation Processes
    7. Monitoring and Reflection
  3. Flora and Fauna
    1. Complexity and Resilience
    2. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Diversity
    3. Plants and Insects
    4. Trees and Shrubs
    5. Wild Animals and Birds
    6. Domestic Animals and Species Relations
    7. Monitoring and Reflection
  4. Habitat and Settlements
    1. Topography and Liveability
    2. Original Habitat and Native Vegetation
    3. Parklands and Reserves
    4. Land-use and Building
    5. Abode and Housing
    6. Maintenance and Retrofitting
    7. Monitoring and Reflection
  5. Built-Form and Transport
    1. Orientation and Spread
    2. Proximity and Access
    3. Mass Transit and Public Transport
    4. Motorized Transport and Roads
    5. Non-motorized Transport and Walking Paths
    6. Seaports and Airports
    7. Monitoring and Reflection
  6. Embodiment and Sustenance
    1. Physical Health and Vitality
    2. Reproduction and Mortality
    3. Exercise and Fitness
    4. Hygiene and Diet
    5. Nutrition and Nourishment
    6. Agriculture and Husbandry
    7. Monitoring and Evaluation
  7. Emission and Waste
    1. Pollution and Contamination
    2. Hard-waste and Rubbish
    3. Sewerage and Sanitation
    4. Drainage and Effluence
    5. Processing and Composting
    6. Recycling and Re-use
    7. Monitoring and Evaluation

Environmental Management System (EMS)

An environmental management system (EMS) is “a system and database which integrates procedures and processes for training of personnel, monitoring, summarizing, and reporting of specialized environmental performance information to internal and external stakeholders of a firm”.

The most widely used standard on which an EMS is based is International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001. Alternatives include the EMAS.

An environmental management information system (EMIS) or Environmental Data Management System (EDMS) is an information technology solution for tracking environmental data for a company as part of their overall environmental management system.

Goals

The goals of EMS are to increase compliance and reduce waste:

  • Compliance is the act of reaching and maintaining minimal legal standards. By not being compliant, companies may face fines, government intervention or may not be able to operate.
  • Waste reduction goes beyond compliance to reduce environmental impact. The EMS helps to develop, implement, manage, coordinate and monitor environmental policies. Waste reduction begins at the design phase through pollution prevention and waste minimization. At the end of the life cycle, waste is reduced by recycling.

To meet these goals, the selection of environmental management systems is typically subject to a certain set of criteria: a proven capability to handle high frequency data, high performance indicators, transparent handling and processing of data, powerful calculation engine, customised factor handling, multiple integration capabilities, automation of workflows and QA processes and in-depth, flexible reporting.

Features

An environmental management system (EMS):

  • Serves as a tool, or process, to improve environmental performance and information mainly “design, pollution control and waste minimization, training, reporting to top management, and the setting of goals”
  • Provides a systematic way of managing an organization’s environmental affairs
  • Is the aspect of the organization’s overall management structure that addresses immediate and long-term impacts of its products, services and processes on the environment. EMS assists with planning, controlling and monitoring policies in an organization.
  • Gives order and consistency for organizations to address environmental concerns through the allocation of resources, assignment of responsibility and ongoing evaluation of practices, procedures and processes
  • Creates environmental buy-in from management and employees and assigns accountability and responsibility.
  • Sets framework for training to achieve objectives and desired performance.
  • Helps understand legislative requirements to better determine a product or service’s impact, significance, priorities and objectives.
  • Focuses on continual improvement of the system and a way to implement policies and objectives to meet a desired result. This also helps with reviewing and auditing the EMS to find future opportunities.
  • Encourages contractors and suppliers to establish their own EMS.
  • Facilitates e-reporting to federal, state and provincial government environmental agencies through direct upload.

EMS Model

An EMS follows a Plan-Do-Check-Act, or PDCA, Cycle. The diagram shows the process of first developing an environmental policy, planning the EMS, and then implementing it. The process also includes checking the system and acting on it. The model is continuous because an EMS is a process of continual improvement in which an organization is constantly reviewing and revising the system.

This is a model that can be used by a wide range of organizations from manufacturing facilities to service industries to government agencies.

Biodiversity

It has been estimated that more than 50 million species of plants, animals and micro-organisms are existing in the world. Out of these, about 2.15 million species have been identified so far. Each species is adapted to live in specific environment, from mountain peaks to the depth of seas, from polar ice caps to tropical rain forests and deserts. All this diversity of life is confined to only about one kilometer thick layer of lithosphere hydrosphere and atmosphere which form biosphere.

Though the study of environment and ecology is quite old, the term biodiversity has been introduced by Walter Rosen in 1986. Biological diversity or Biodiversity is defined as the variety and variability among the living organisms and the ecological complexes in which they occur.

It refers to the variability’s among species of plants, animals and microorganisms; ecosystems; ecosystem including terrestrial, aerial, marine and other aquatic system and ecological complexes of which they are part. 

Significance of Biodiversity:

Biodiversity, besides its ecological significance provides a socio-economic and monetary asset to the nation. Human society depends on biological resources, their diversity and the ecosystems that sustain them to provide essential goods and services.

Values related to biodiversity can be grouped into three categories as below:

Productive use:

This is assigned to the products that are commercially harvested for exchange in formal markets and is, therefore, the only value of biological resources that is concerned in national income. Biodiversity provides us many products, such as fuel, timber, fish, fodder, skin, fruits, cereals and medicines. In 1994-95 the income from agriculture, forestry and fisheries in India was nearly 30 per cent or 736.88 billion rupees.

Consumptive use:

Consumption value is related to natural products that are consumed directly, i.e., the goods which do not come under normal circulation of trade. For example, a significant number of such non-timber forest products as soft broom grass and cane come under this category.

Indirect use:

Indirect use of biodiversity is of much significance because this value is related primarily with functions of ecosystem and is concerned with national accounting systems. They may provide us indirect benefits as non-consumptive values. Maintenance of ecological balance, conservation of natural resources and prevention of soil erosion may be considered as the examples of indirect use of biodiversity.

Types of Biodiversity:

Biodiversity is of three types:

  1. Species diversity
  2. Genetic diversity
  3. Ecological diversity

1. Species Diversity:

According to Biological Species Concepts (BSC), species is a basic unit of classification and is defined as a group of similar organisms that interbreed with one another and produce offspring’s and share a common lineage. Species diversity refers to biodiversity at the most basic level and is the ‘variety and abundance of different types of individuals of a species in a given area’. It includes all the species on Earth, ranging from plants such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms, angiosperms and all the species of animals including unicellular protozoans to mammals.

Certain regions support a more diverse populations than others. Regions that are rich in nutrients and have well balanced climatic factors, such as moderate temperature, proper light and adequate rainfall, show high degree of diversity in their life forms. The tropical areas support more diverse plant and animal communities than the desert and polar areas, as for examples, tropical forest has a higher species diversity as compared to a timber plantation. The regions that are rich in species diversity are called hotspots of biodiversity.

  1. Genetic Diversity:

‘Genetic diversity pertains to the range of diversity in the genetic resources of the organisms’. Every individual member of a plant or animal species differs from other individuals in its genetic constitution. Each individual has specific characters, which is due to the genetic makeup or code. The genes present in the organisms can form infinite number of combinations that causes genetic variability.

Thus, we find that each human, who is representative of the same species, i.e. Homo sapiens, is distinct from another. Similarly, there are many varieties within the same species such as rice, wheat, apples, mangoes, etc. that differ from one another in shape, size, colour of flowers and taste of fruits and seeds due to the variations at the genetic level.

  1. Ecological/Ecosystem Diversity:

Each ecosystem consists of organisms from many different species, living together in a region connected by the flow of energy and nutrients. The Sun is the ultimate source of energy for all the ecosystems. The Sun’s radiant energy is converted to chemical energy by plants. This energy flows through the different systems when animals eat the plants and then are eaten, in turn, by other animals. Fungi and bacteria derive energy from the decomposing dead organisms, releasing nutrients back into the soil as they do so.

An ecosystem, therefore, is a collection of living components, like microbes, plants, animals, fungi, etc. and non-living components, like climate, matter and energy that are connected by energy flow. Ecological diversity refers to the ‘variability among the species of plants and animals living together and connected by flow of energy and cycling of nutrients in different ecosystems or ecological complexes’. It also includes variability within the same species and variability among the different species of plants, animals and microorganisms of an ecosystem. Thus, it pertains to the richness of flora, fauna and microorganisms with in an ecosystem or biotic community.

Measuring Biodiversity:

There are various mathematical ways of measuring biodiversity, which calculate the number of species diversity in different regions. The measure of diversity of species is also known as species richness.

These are as follows:

Alpha diversity:

This is the diversity in species, i.e. the number of species within a community. This depends on the interaction between the biotic and abiotic factors and also takes into account immigration from other locations.

Beta diversity:

This is the change in the composition of the species with reference to the changes in the environment.

Gamma diversity:

This refers to the overall diversity and is applied to larger areas in which both alpha and beta diversity are measured.

Business and Environment

Environment is closely related with business. There is a constant ‘give and take’ relationship between environment and business. The business receives inputs, information and technology from the environment and gives it back in the form of outputs (goods and services).

If these outputs are accepted by the environment, the environment-business interaction continues but if they are unacceptable to the environment, firms adapt to the environmental requirements and change their operations.

The organisation has to look after the interest of stakeholders like shareholders, consumers, workers, suppliers etc. The environment also offers threats and opportunities to which organisations have to respond positively.

Business and environment interaction takes place in the following ways:

  1. Business is affected by economic conditions of the environment. During recessionary conditions, for example, firms reduce the production or pile their inventories to sell during normal or boom conditions. Business, on the other hand, can create artificial scarcity of goods by piling inventories and force the economic conditions to show signs of adversity while it is not actually so. Both business and environment, thus, affect and are affected by each other.
  2. When financial institutions increase the lending rates, firms may resort to other sources of funds, like bank loans or internal savings (reserves). This may force the financial institutions to lower the interest rates. The financial environment and the business system, thus, act and interact with each other.
  3. The firm’s micro environment consisting of workers, suppliers, shareholders etc. affects the business activities and is, affected by them. Workers demand high wages, suppliers demand high prices and shareholders demand high dividends.

Firms reconcile the interests of diverse groups and satisfy their demands. If management resolves these demands, it will be positively affected by the environmental forces but if it fails to satisfy these demands, it becomes a victim of the environment. Growing firms pay high wages and dividends to their workers and shareholders to maintain harmonious industrial relations and a positive business-environment interface.

  1. Business receives useful information from the environment regarding consumers’ tastes and preferences, technological developments, Government policies, competitors’ policies etc. and provides useful information to the environment regarding its goals, policies and financial returns. This information is transmitted to environment through annual reports as a requirement of disclosure practices.
  2. The basic function of a business enterprise, input-output conversion, is carried through active interaction with the environment. It receives inputs from the environment, converts them into outputs through productive facilities which are also received from the environment and sends them back to the environment. A constant feedback is received from the environment to improve its performance.
  3. The environment offers threats and opportunities to business systems which they overcome and exploit through their strengths and weaknesses. SWOT analysis helps in integrating external environment with the internal environment.

The business and environment, thus, have much to give and take from each other. The economy is structured by effective interaction of the business and its environment. The business-environment interaction is a continuous process. It is like a biological organism that keeps environment and management responsive to each other.

This interaction is shown as:

Environment—————— > Management——————- > Environment——————– >

The continuous interaction of environment with business leads to new expectations of environment from business (in terms of social responsibilities and business ethics) and business from environment (in terms of regular supply of inputs at reasonable prices). This involves changes in business and environmental policies and leads to new level of business-environment interface or business-environment equilibrium.

International Efforts for Environmental Protection

Most of the following agreements are legally binding for countries that have formally ratified them. Some, such as the Kyoto Protocol, differentiate between types of countries and each nation’s respective responsibilities under the agreement. Several hundred international environmental agreements exist but most link only a limited number of countries. These bilateral or sometimes trilateral agreements are only binding for the countries that have ratified them but are nevertheless essential in the international environmental regime. Including the major conventions listed below, more than 3,000 international environmental instruments have been identified by the IEA Database Project

The United Nations is very much conscious of the world-wide problem of maintaining the environment safe for human beings. The United Nations on the conference on the Human Environment was held at Stockholm in June 1972. The conference evolved the principles and action plan for controlling and regulating environment degradation. Institutional and financial arrangements were made for achieving that purpose. The United National General Assembly passed a resolution on December 15, 1972 emphasising the need of active cooperation among the States in the field of human environment. The resolution had designated June 5 as the World Environment day and had urged governments and organisations in the United Nations system to undertake on that day every year, world-wide activities reaffirming their concern for the preservation and enhancement of the environment.

Another resolution was passed, which provided for institutional and financial arrangement for international environment cooperation. Provisions were made for establishing a government council for environment program (UNEP) having global jurisdiction, environmental secretariat and environmental fund. Some of the recommendations of the first conference were regarding long and short term plans at the regional, sub-regional levels in the field of environment relating to the advancement of developing nations.

The international environmental legislation chart included:

‘The protection, preservation and the enhancement of the environment for the present and future generations is the responsibility of all states and they should ensure that the activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment. All states should cooperate in evolving natural laws and norms regulations in the field of environment.’

Recently in 2009, a conference was held in Copenhagen , Denmark relating to the changing environment and climate around the world. Many leaders actively participated in that so as to find solution to rapid environment change.

India’s efforts for Environmental protection

In the Directive Principles of State Policy, Article 48 says “The state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country”; Article 51-A states that “it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.”

India is one of the parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty. Prior to the CBD, India had different laws to govern the environment. The Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972 protected the biodiversity. It was amended later multiple times. The 1988 National Forest Policy had conservation as its fundamental principle. In addition to these acts, the government passed the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act 1992 for control of biodiversity.

  1. Forest cover: As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2015, which was released in December 2015, the total forest cover of the country has increased by 3, 775 square kms in two years. As a result the total forest and tree cover has reached 79.42 million hectare, which is 24.16 percent of the total geographical area.
  2. Wildlife population: As per the estimate released by the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Tiger Forum in 2016, the number of wild tigers has gone up to 3,890, from the earlier 2010 estimate of 3200. It is a good sign since the population of tiger is a keystone species and considered as a better parameter to gauge the state of wildlife population.
  3. Pollution levels: Despite a series of measures, the quality of air and water pollution has been deteriorating due to various reasons. The reports suggesting that nearly 80% of India’s surface water is polluted and worsening air quality index are still the cause of concern and illustrate the need for strengthening of the existing policy measures in this regard.
  4. Administrative Efficiency: The performance of the administration has improved in recent years due to procedural reforms and deployment of technology on a large scale. As a result, the average time needed to give an environmental clearance has declined to 109 days over the last three years from the erstwhile 600 days.

The Court’s directions on environmental issues goes beyond the general questions of law, as is usually expected from the highest Court of a democratic country. The Supreme Court of India, in its order, includes executive actions and technical details of environmental actions to be implemented. Indeed, some critics of India’s Supreme Court describe the Court as the Lords of Green Bench or Garbage Supervisor. Supporters of India’s Supreme Court term these orders and the Indian bench as pioneering, both in terms of laying down new principles of law, and in delivering environmental justice.

The reasons for the increasing interjection of India’s Supreme Court in governance arenas are, experts claim, complex. A key factor has been the failure of government agencies and the state owned enterprises in discharging their Constitutional and Statutory duties. This has prompted civil society groups to file public interest complaints with the Courts, particularly the Supreme Court, for suitable remedies.

Public interest litigation and judicial activism on environmental issues extends beyond India’s Supreme Court. It includes the High Courts of individual states.

India’s judicial activism on environmental issues has, some suggest, delivered positive effects to the Indian experience. Proponents claim that the Supreme Court has, through intense judicial activism, become a symbol of hope for the people of India. As a result of judicial activism, India’s Supreme Court has delivered a new normative regime of rights and insisted that the Indian state cannot act arbitrarily but must act reasonably and in public interest on pain of its action being invalidated by judicial intervention.

India’s judicial activism on environmental issues has, others suggest, had adverse consequences. Public interest cases are repeatedly filed to block infrastructure projects aimed at solving environmental issues in India, such as but not limiting to water works, expressways, land acquisition for projects, and electricity power generation projects. The litigation routinely delays such projects, often for years, whilst rampant pollution continues in India, and tens of thousands die from the unintended effects of pollution. Even after a stay related to an infrastructure project is vacated, or a court order gives a green light to certain project, new issues become grounds for court notices and new public interest litigation.

Judicial activism in India has, in several key cases, found state-directed economic development ineffective and a failure, then interpreted laws and issued directives that encourage greater competition and free market to reduce environmental pollution. In other cases, the interpretations and directives have preserved industry protection, labour practices and highly polluting state-owned companies detrimental to environmental quality of India. Proactive measures should be taken to conserve the depleting environment.

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