Functions of the Environment
The environment performs certain vital functions, like sustaining life. It would be able to function properly as long as the demand for these functions is within its carrying capacity. The rising population in developing nations and the affluent consumption standards of the developed nations has placed a huge stress on the environment. Resources are becoming extinct and waste is being generated beyond the absorptive capacity. As a result, we are on the threshold of an environmental crisis. Due to the overuse of renewable resources, we are compelled to spend on research and technology to explore new alternatives. Added to this are the health costs of the degraded environment, which are higher than the benefits received. Thus, the expenditure on health is also rising. Global environmental issues like global warming and ozone depletion also add up to the financial commitments of the government. These problems are not new, but the problems have escalated due to increased industrialisation and urbanisation. The need of the hour is to take effective steps at both the individual level and at the level of the governments around the globe to combat climate change and to prevent the planet. A UN conference on climate change held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 resulted in an international agreement to fight global warming which called for reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialised nations.
Supply demand reversals of environmental resources account for current _______________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Environmental crisis
In the early days of civilisation people needed far less from the environment than it could supply, and their wastes stayed within its capacity to absorb them. With the population explosion and the industrial revolution, demand for resources went beyond their rate of regeneration. This reversal of the supply-demand relationship, with resources becoming extinct and wastes beyond the absorptive capacity, has brought us to the threshold of an environmental crisis.
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (1) Environmental sustainability — Incorrect. Sustainability means meeting present needs without harming the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It is the goal that the reversal has put at risk, not its result.
Option (2) Environmental improvement — Incorrect. Demand outrunning a limited supply degrades the environment; it does not improve it.
Option (4) Environmental integrity — Incorrect. There is no such term.
NCERT (2025-26): “Functions of the Environment: … Many resources have become extinct and the wastes generated are beyond the absorptive capacity of the environment. … The result — we are today at the threshold of environmental crisis.… …The result was that the demand for resources for both production and consumption went beyond the rate of regeneration of the resources; the pressure on the absorptive capacity of the environment increased tremendously — this trend continues even today. Thus what has happened is a reversal of supply-demand relationship for environmental quality — we are now faced with increased demand for environmental resources and services but their supply is limited due to overuse and misuse.…” |