Object structure
Title:

Człowiek i biosfera - u progu nowego stulecia

Subtitle:

Człowiek i biosfera ; Man and biosphere - mediation at the onset of the new century

Creator:

Symonides, Ewa

Contributor:

Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Ekologii

Publisher:

Oficyna Wydawnicza Instytut Ekologii PAN

Place of publishing:

Dziekanów Leśny

Date issued/created:

2001

Description:

Pages 3-31 ; 24 cm ; Bibliographical references (pages 26-30) ; Abstract in English

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

degradacja biosfery ; zmiany klimatyczne ; eksplozja demograficzna ; wylesianie ; wymieranie gatunków

Abstract:

Life on the Earth, sińce its onset about 3.75 billions years ago, was freąuently disturbed by great cataclysms, but the ratę of environmental changes was never as violent as in the past century and never before such changes were caused by a species living on the Earth. The devastation of natural environment and the modern extinction of many plant and animal species had no precedent in the earlier history of the Earth and it is indubitably caused by humans - the most intelligent mammal species. The common history of Earth and humans counts only about 150 thousands years, and sińce then humans devastated the wildlife and naturę wherever they settled. However, the global environmental crisis took place only recently, in XX century, as the result of demographic explosion of human population.Among the most spectacular humans-caused transformations of natural environment the major are: global deforestation, the overall expansion of the deserts, soil degradation, species extinction or drastic decline of many populations of wild plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms. Human activity on the Earth drove the natural, both terrestrial and aąuatic, ecosystems into almost total extinction. The ozone layer is seriously damaged and global warming of the earth climate became the reality. Both phenomena may herald the sixth great extinction in the history of life on the Earth.The perspective of the global catastrophe urged the governments of nearly all countries to undertake the international cooperation to stop the further degradation and to improve the State of the environment. Last years of the past century brought about many conventions and international agreements aimed to regulate the access to the natural resources and to control their exploitation. The states-signatories are obliged to undertake all possible means to preserve the natural resources for present and futurę needs. First outcomes of this awakening were already visible at the end of the century - in many countries, the emission of green house gases was considerably reduced, the input of pollutants to freshwaters, sees and oceans was lowered, the forests surface increased, the habitats of many endangered species were restituted. These actions, though they do not entirely prevent the further environmentai deterioration. at least slow it considerably down. To save the life on our planet, the profound change of our attitude towards environment is needed - from anthropocentric doctrine considering ourselves as the supreme beings to the creed that representing only one of many species inhabiting the planet, we constitute merely the part of biosphere.

Relation:

Wiadomości Ekologiczne

Volume:

47

Issue:

1

Start page:

3

End page:

31

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Resource Identifier:

0013-2969

Source:

MiIZ PAN, call no. P.3259 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

pol

Language of abstract:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY 3.0 PL license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY 3.0 PL] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY 3.0 PL license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Projects co-financed by:

Operational Program Digital Poland, 2014-2020, Measure 2.3: Digital accessibility and usefulness of public sector information; funds from the European Regional Development Fund and national co-financing from the state budget.

Access:

Open

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