Environmental Conservation: Water, Water, Everywhere

Water
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Institution
Water
With the present scientific and technological development, environmental conservation is a key issue. People have forgotten the importance of the environment and they have neglected it. Environmental conservation is now viewed as a corporate responsibility rather than a personal. Human overpopulation, hydrology and land issues are some of the major issues affecting the environment. If this issues are not dealt with, they result to climate change, environmental degradation, war and pollution.
Environmental conservation is very important in maintaining biodiversity. Biodiversity is a scientific term used to refer to the variety and variability of life on earth (Leveque, 2003). It is a vital component of nature and ensures survival of human species by providing food, shelter, medicine, fuel and other resources to man. The productivity of biodiversity is dependent on the climatic conditions of a given region. The rapid climatic changes have caused mass extinctions leading to a drop in biodiversity (Pereira, 2012). Increase in human activity and technological advancement has caused an ongoing diversity reduction and an accompanying loss of genetic diversity.
The population growth model postulated by Thomas Malthus posits that the growth of the population is quite different from the growth of food supply due to the reduction of biodiversity (Paster, 2007). He predicted that in future the population was likely to grow significantly to a point where the population would be incapable of feeding itself (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2000). As the population grows the environmental impact become more severe due to increased human activity.
The continuous growth of the human population has great implication. Shortage of resources, wars and social conflicts, limited social freedom and overcrowding are some of the problems brought about by population growth (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2000). Population growth has raised important ethical issues on the balance between reproductive rights and social and environmental responsibility. Environmental ethics is concerned with people’s ethical relationship with the natural environment (Kavka, 1978). Its importance is outlining the moral obligation in the face of moral concerns like overpopulation. Coercive population restraint policies on ethical grounds have been implemented to deal with the issue of overpopulation in order to protect the future generations. (Kavka, 1978)
Four essential chemicals support life on earth: water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. The movement of this chemical through the biotic and abiotic compartments of the earth is known as the biogeochemical cycle (Willey, 2011). The circulation of this chemicals involves the biological, geographical and chemical factors. The biogeochemical cycles comprises of a series of events that make the earth capable of sustaining life.
Among the four, water is the most crucial element that is vital to the survival of all living species. The water cycle explains the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the earth. It involves the process of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff and subsurface flow (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2000). The water chan...