ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMICAL EVALUATION OF CONDITION OF ENVIRONMENT
Prof. Dr. Tibor Dobos
doctor of forestry sciences
Dept. of Environment Protection,
University for Forestry and Wood Technology
50pron/Hungary
ABSTRACT
The worsening of societies' living conditions because of intensive exploitation of environment's elements
amidst an accelerating scientific-technical progress is a realistic fact. Therefore the further utilisation, protection and development of renewable and non renewable resources that is the management of environment needs an internationally coordinated activity. The basic problem of this activity is a thoroughgoing
knowing the condition of environment which knowing should be of holistic access and based on human controll
submitted to autoregulation. All these can be realised by the application of global, regional and local monitoring information and evaluating systems compatible to each other.
The paper deals with theoretical and practical application possibilities of a method for ecological and
economical model based on mechanism of operation of environment.
KEY WORDS: Global Monitoring, Non-renewable Resources, Renewable Resource
Recently the relationship between man and nature
became an actual problem. It's a realistic fact,
that living conditions of societies are continuously
worsening due to the intensive utilization of the
environmental elements. Therefore the forthcoming
utilization
of
renewable
and
non-renewable
resources,
the
development
and protection of
environment demand a better coordination between
economy development and environmental protection as
well
as
a
uniform
control in environmental
utilization (Jakucs, Devai, Precsenyi, 1984).
50 the develpoment and protection of environment is
an
activity
which
is
focused on meaningful
organization
of
human-controlled
production,
distribution, turnover, consumption in the framework
of existence and interaction of things, phenomena,
processes
in
a system within the biosphere.
Utilization of regions is based on the operation of
the given environmental system (biotic and abiotic
products). Components of environmental system are
operating
mutually
by
their
natural
state
interaciton
in
autoregulated
form.
A human
controlled environmental system is optimal if it
corresponBs
to its natural state. The optimal
operation is a basic society-, group- and individual
interest.
However, conflict is raised if over
exploitation and environmental damages are caused by
individuals or society groups in behalf of their
present interests. In any branch of environment the
optimal utilization can be realized only by means of
long range planning and harvesting. In a given area
the quality of environmental state is crucial for
the welfare and existence of people living there.
It is essential that the environment's being kept in
operation should be approached from a comprehensive
aspect that contains the points of the whole system
within the given territory or area. That's so
because it isn't sure at all that summarizing the
elements of an ecological problem we obtain the
problem as a whole. In other words the expression of
the whole with the sum of its parts in this case is
uncertain. Thus come we to the conclusion that the
system of interaction between living beings and
their environment can only be described on the base
of system analysis utilizing physical, chemical,
biological, sociological and technical knowledge.
The developing specific stucture and function system
change dinamically in space and time, while within
the environmental system peculiar metabolism and
flow of energy take place. This process must be
examined only like a comprehensive whole. That's why
it's not correct to use the concept 'ecology' if we
want to solve a partial problem. As we can read in
the
book
of Juhasz-Nagy, 1986: "Today almost
everybody speaks about 'ecology' where yesterday
would have told zoo- and phytogeography ... "
Man must not oppose to the nature, like he could
have lived independently of the environment. This
fact unanimously shows the necessity of the environmental management. The material inventory of the
earth is strongly restricted and nowadays almost 5
milliard peolple use it.
Man always loved nature, and as the first in
high-class living beings, he tries to utilize the
environment for himself. But recently we hear more
and
more about the pollution. Natural waters,
particularly lakes and rivers and the atmosphere in
many places are already polluted to such a degree,
that the natural cleaning processes have suffered
considerable deceleration. The entire biosphere is
endangered, that is the whole area between the upper
atmosphere and the depth of sea, wherein life
exists. This hazard must be repulsed by man, if he
wants to preserve life and human life primarily.
It must be born in mind, that first of all the
habitat ensures the vital conditions for people. Of
course it is expanding with human mobility, but
basically the landscape and man living in it, are in
dinamic interaction (Ghimessy, 1984).
A long series of suggestions can prove the necessity
and actuality of environmental management. I think
that from the foregoing we can see the national and
international importance of this problem, but truly
the sentences of Mr. Neil Armstrong express this,
who opined about the earth when stepped on the Moon:
"Our planet seems very small and remote. It's
shocking how it looks like an oasis being lost in
the world of stars, or a small island. And the most
important fact, that we've understood: this small
island is the only planet, which is suitable for
human life. But I was staggered how small is the
green color compared to the brown, more or less
unyielding zones". (Grigorescu, 1976).
People can change the nature, turn back the rivers,
transform the desert into
oasis. But the most
important
question
is
the
result
of
this
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transformation. It would be very useful to foresee
all
the aftermaths of these interventions. The biosphere-studying science
can
be the only real.
base for this comprehensive study. The words of
Mr. Francis Bacon are really true here: "Natura enim
non imperatur nisi parendo." (We can rule over the
nature, if we subject ourselves to it.) And SImIlarly with the words of the Russian writer Mr. Ivan
Turgeniev: "Nature isn't a church, but a workroom,
where man can act as a simple worker." (Grigorescu,
1976).
external and internal effects. The situation of the
moment shows the state of the environmental system.
The essential condition of the life is the systemic
state-quality of the environment. The creation and
survival of living beings depend mainly on the quality, state and change of the environment. The unfa~
vorable processes can become demanding factors. The
environmental protection is a cbncious activity for
changing these unfavorable processes. But the environmental utilization includes the positive transform and development of the environment too.
The qu~lity of the environmental state changes first
of all as a result of the human activity. Man effects on the living beings and their'biotope in two
different ways: indirectly, 8S he changes the physical, chemical and biological .condj;tions of the environment, and directly with his influence on living
beings (e.g. deforestation, chemical processing,
etc.). Man makes every effort to rise his living
standards, but at the same time often endangers his
own life. In historic eras people often left behind devastated lands, proofs of this destroying activity are the deserts of the earth. Where in our
days are deserts, there used to be rich lands, but
man changed the balance of nature with fire, pasturing or inappropriate agriculture. Man can invent
any kind of insecticides, but never will be able to
create a single lady bird!
The relations between the environmental elements are
dinamically mobile in time and space as a result of
The
bed
1020
wandering stock breeder tribes scarcely disturthe natural equilibrium of their habitat. The
agriculture already annihilated the plant species
damaging for the
people. These changes led to
emergence of new ecosystems.
The
concentration of people in industrfal and
commercial regions increased. Also increased the
utilization of natural landscapes, and the claim to
cultivable lands, since the number of populations
have rised, too. Gradually began the structural
reform of cultivated lands and the today's troubles
are seated in it. The deforestation and establishment of monocultures motivated almost all the societies. Man only used his environment, and it was too
late, when he realized, that can't correct the effects of these interventions. These can be moderated
only with e.g. afforestations. The productivity of
the environment depends on this human intervention.
The quantity and level of artificial elements are
not the same in the different places of the earth.
At the same time we can also say, that it makes its
influence felt allover the world, and as the
arificial elements have a lot of negative effects,
they are determinative factors of the environmental
state.
The pollution resistence of living bei,ngs mainly
depends on their immunity. The connections between
living beings and their biotop",can be expressed usu
ally with the functional level of populations. The
adaptability or resistence of poulations depend on
the genetic structure and genetic variability of the
given population. That's why it is very important to
preserve the existing gene-stores. The populations
have a common gene-store, which is characteristic of
the population's vitality and of the ,environemtal
effects. the environmental effects of the genotypes
are
changing,
and this is the base of. the
established phenotypes. The environment can modify
the genotype and phenotype, too, pracitcally may be
an indicator in the given situation.
With the examination of the popu~ations's genetic
variations
we can form a true notion of the
biological function of the environmental state. That
is the greater is the genetic veriaton of the
population, the more probable is the possibility of
the gene-recombination which makes possible the
establishment
of
resistent genotypes.
These
genotypes can already live in a changed environment,
or in other words the populations's tolarence is
increasing. The overstressing of the environment
makes the gene-erosion unavoidable which narrows
down
the
variability of the population, the
individuals either infiltrate to other populations,
or they
are crowded out of the ecosystem. This
phenomenon endangers not only the populations, but
the
most
valuable species of the biosphere
inclusive of the mankind.
The next factors fundamentally influence the quality
of the environmental state:
- air conditions and pollution factors
- water conditions and pollutiun aspects
- waste treatment and utilization
- noise emission.
Of course the mechanisms of this factors modify all
the elements of the environmental system. Fig. 2.
effects of air pollutions on the
shows the
vegetation.
Examining the effects of air pollutions on the
forest, it's advisable to take into account the next
factors:
biochemical changes of living organisms
- changes in bi~mass-quantity
Figure 2. The effect of oir pol1\,tions on
the vegetation (fro~ H.G. D~ssler)
-
resistence
mortality
changes of populations and indicator individuals
examination of produced symptomes.
The quality of environmental state can't be even
estimated from quality of one element. A complex
nethod is needed, which compares the effects, too.
Fig. 3. shows such a mo'del - it is the model of the
environmental state.
The
model
may be suitable for examining the
tolerance of forest against the environmetal stress.
The quality of the environmental state may be
expressed on
the
base of autoregulation and
tolerance of living organisms, with the characteristics and measured data resulted by' the comparison of
the ~ertain territories. This autoregulation and tolerance can be measured on the global-, regionaland local-level environmental syqtems.
So the determination of the environmental state can
be performed, and 5 categories of quality can be
develeped:
overstable - very stable
- above the thereshold
stable
III. indifferenct - transitory state
IV. labile
unstable, changeable, under
threshold
V.
overlabile - collapsing.
I.
II.
the
These categories are segregated ~ith the help of so
called "biotop quality scores"; Really these scores
contain the measure of the autoregulation and the
tolarence (against the environmental stress). The
calculation method of ~hese scores can't be presented here.
The above mentioned categories are applicable for
,the global, regional and local parts of environment,
but this classification can be used for any parts of
environment (e.g. landscapes), first of all for the
agroecological and forestry regions.
These scores render help mainly for comparing the
certain parts of environment, and inform us about
the required improvements. With the computerized
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REFERENCES:
Jakucs, P., Devai, Gy., Precsenyi, I., 1984:
Az okologiarol okologus szemmel (Hungarian), (About
ecology with the eyes of an ecologist) Magyar Tudomany, No.5.
Juhasz-Nagy, P., 1985: Egy operativ okologia hianya, szUkseg1ete es feladatai (Hungarian), (The
lack, necessity and tasks of an operativ ecology)
Akademiai Kiado, Budapest.
Ghimessy, L., 1985: A tajpotencial (Hungarian) (The
landscape potential), Mez6gazdasagi Kiado, Budapest.
Grigorescu, I., 1976 : A szennyezett Eden (Hungarian) (The polluted Eden), Verlag Kriterion, Bucuresti.
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