Mangrove Destruction as a Result of Urbanization

More Anthropogenic Encroachment?? 

Photo 1



Photo 2



Photo 3

From the photos (Photos 1-3) seen above the mangrove area which is in close proximity to Maracus Bay is being destroyed to facilitate room for "development". Not only our forests are at risk but our mangroves as well?? This was an utterly disturbing sight to behold. As stated in Rojas 1989 due to the large population densities generated in urban areas agricultural lands are encroached upon for housing developments. This is similar to the situation at hand except for the fact that persons are not even receiving homes! The encroachment onto the wetland seems to be as a result of plans to better "develop" the beach facility at Maracus. This is hoped to generate income in the form of revenue by beach goers purchasing items...but at what cost??

Mangroves play very important roles in the environment they, like coral reefs and rain forests are extremely productive ecosystems that provides many services to marine organisms. A large variety of fish, shrimp, crab  and mullusk species find their habitat within mangroves. These sites act as large fisheries which act as a source of food for locals. It also acts as nurseries for many fish species including coral reef fish.

The thick rooting systems formed by mangroves also act to protect the coast as they trap sediments and filtering pollutants which flow along rivers and prevent them from entering the sea. They also help to stabilize the coastline and prevent erosion from waves and storms.



Photo 4

Photo 4 shows the machinery used to destroy these mangroves as well as gives an indication of the amount of mangrove already fully destroyed, this bare land was once thriving mangrove vegetation.The destruction of mangroves would lead to adverse effects on the environment, coasts would receive more erosion, siltation would occur as there would be no roots to hold back sediments and pollutants from entering the sea. This would increase turbidity levels and have an effects on the marine life existing in the sea. Also as it acts as a habitat to a large number of species, massive habitat destruction would occur leading to the reduction in biodiversity of the ecosystem. 

The government can assist in protecting said mangroves by initiating re-plantation and rehabilitation of already damaged mangrove sites. Implement laws with strict penalties and fines for anyone found damaging the mangrove or polluting it and stop "development" in these areas. This would yield major positive effects on the environment for our future generations to enjoy as we do. 

More articles on mangrove destruction can be found below:

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-09-08/invaders-bay-land-cleared

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2013-11-10/mangroves-threatened-highway-construction

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Why-demolish--precious-riverbank-trees-and-mangroves-225611002.html

References:

Florida Museum of Natural History. "Importance of Mangroves." Florida Museum of Natural History. March 25, 2016. https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/southflorida/habitats/mangroves/importance-mangroves/.

Petrotrin. Petrotrin A Valued Partner. May 2015. Accessed May 25, 2016.

UKessays.com. "Effects Of Mangrove Destruction In Mumbai Environmental Sciences Essay." UKessays. March 23, 2015. https://www.ukessays.com/essays/environmental-sciences/effects-of-mangrove-destruction-in-mumbai-environmental-sciences-essay.php.

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Negative Impacts of Agriculture on the Environment Due to Large Urban Population

The Environment Pays Greatly For Us To Eat.

Photo 1[1]

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Fires intentionally set to land? Who would do such as thing? Why would they? These are some questions I ask myself when thinking of slash and burn agriculture. As seen from photo 1 above slash and burn agriculture involves intentionally setting fire to a piece of land in order to clear it of existing vegetation for agricultural purposes. It surely has many deleterious effects on the environment, air pollution clearly as there is so much smoke produced, habitat loss for animals as their home is destroyed and aesthetic displeasure as the land is left bare and scorched. Shouldn't it be clear that this practice is largely degrading to the environment and as such not be practiced? Apparently not as this is one of many improper, unsustainable practices used in contemporary society for agriculture. 

Due to the ever growing population of Trinidad and Tobago, food production is essential to sustain the lives of its people and ensure there is food security. In Childe 1950 it was stated that due to the introduction of irrigation cultivation, the social "surplus" were large enough to support a number of resident specialist who had been released from food production. This led to the formation of the first cities "units of settlements ten times greater than any neolithic village". What can be taken from this is that due to the increase in "surplus" of food production, the carrying capacity of the land increase and as such more and more people inhabited the area, forming what was known as cities. This is similar to contemporary society where because of the large population in urban areas, there are lands specified for agricultural purposes to grow food to feed the population. This large demand leads to intensified agricultural practices to meet said needs.

Agriculture plays many important roles for Caribbean countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, most notably are its contributions to foreign exchange, GDP & GNP, food security and employment. Hoever agriculture involves many practices which can lead to deleterious effects on the environment such as deforestation, coastal degradation, water shed degradation, soil degradation, flooding and reduction in biodiversity. The impacts of improper agricultural practices on the environment are described below:

Forests are vital for life as they provide a habitat for animals, protect soil from erosion, create oxygen and store carbon dioxide which helps to control climate . According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP (2010) unsustainable acts of agriculture include the major use of slash and burn (as seen in photo 1) in order to prepare lands for planting. This leads to high levels of deforestation, as seen in the case of Trinidad according to Environmental Management Agency (EMA 2001), there was a net loss of 11.6% of forested area from 1990 to 1998. This is as a result of fires going uncontrolled which according to the UNDP also resulted in protected areas such as El Tuchuche being destroyed after lower hillside areas were ignited for the purpose of preparing land via the slash and burn method by farmers. These forests once destroyed are not able to return to their original state as secondary growth takes place. Slash and burn agriculture also leads to habitat destruction for animals as well as food sources are lost and animals are killed in the process resulting in reduction of biodiversity (UNDP 2010). 

Further negative results of deforestation include water degradation, river and coastal degradation. In a national report done by the Water Resources Agency (WRA 2001) agricultural practices was stated as a major threat to wetlands in Trinidad. These practices included deforestation via slash and burn agriculture and excessive use of pesticides, insecticides and synthetic fertilizers. After slash and burn is performed the protective vegetative layer is removed. This makes the soil highly unstable as there are not roots to stabilize it, no protective layer to reduce raindrop impact and increases surface runoff which all lead to increase levels of erosion. This causes heavy siltation in rivers as were seen to affect the Caroni River, north Oropuche and Aripo Rivers. This siltation runs out to the sea via rivers and in the case of Tobago where the coral reef is present it would have major deleterious effects as corals require clear water to grow as well as the silt could suffocate and kill them as they are highly sensitive. Siltation as a result of poor farming practices also blocks passages causing flooding also seen in an article published by GUARDIAN MEDIA LIMITED, 2014 and  it also affects breeding behaviours of the manatee in the Oropuche River. 

Photo 2 

Photo 2 taken at a farm in Barrackpore Trinidad shows the improper application of fertilizer to crops. This fertilizer was nitrogen and is suppose to be diluted before applying it to plants, however profit oriented farmers throw the undiluted fertilizer onto the land in hopes of gaining faster and bigger yields. On large farms the use of fertilizer is in excess again in order to maximize profits, but at what cost? Sadly major environmental degradation...The WRA report reviewed showed the effects of excessive use of agrochemicals led to eutrophication in rivers and coasts. This was a result of the high nutrient availability which cause algal blooms creating hypoxic conditions when carrying capacity was reached by the algae. As the algae decomposes it reduces the oxygen available and leads to marine organisms such as fish being staved of oxygen so they die. Furthermore agricultural waste produced such as agrochemicals, slurry and faeces from animals also led to coastal eutrophication when washed into waterways after heavy rains seen in Golden Grove Estate Tobago, this also greatly affects Rivers for example the Caroni River basin as illustrated by the report. Also in an article by the UNDP 2016, a Maracas Bay farmer, Mr. Ramnarine Rampray stated that heavy and excessive use of agrochemicals “kills the useful organisms in the soil like earthworms and bacteria that add natural nutrients to the soil” making it less fertile in the long term. 

Photo 3 

Photo 3 shows a tractor used on farmlands at a farm in Barrackpore. This is just one of the many different types of heavy machinery used in contemporary farming. These degrade soil quality as its shear weight running over the soil leads to soil compaction. Soil degradation was also by other means of agricultural practices according to GRACE Communications Foundation (GCF, 2016) and John VanDyk. 2004 of Iowa State University. GCF 2016 showed the environmental impact of monocrop farming was that it resulted in soil degradation as one type of crop is grown and no rotation occurs. Different crops use different nutrients from the soil and as such the practice of monocrop farming leads to soil degradation in the form of nutrient loss from soil. Also stated was the high use of mechanization on commercial farms resulted in soil compaction and erosion.  

Furthermore the effect of high mechanization was also illustrated by John VanDyk 2004 where it was seen that the use of tillage to prepare lands for planting resulted in negative contributions to soil quality. It was stated that fractures are produced in the soil after tillage, this causes disruption in soil structure which coupled with increase raindrop impact due to less crop residue leads to acceleration in surface runoff and soil erosion. Also “approximately half of plant-available phosphorus is concentrated in topsoil as is nearly all of the plant-available potassium” as erosion removes topsoil essential soil fertility levels are decreased. Tillage also leads to soil compaction occurs by the weight of the heavy machines driving over the soil which kills important microorganisms such as earthworms which help aerate the soil. 

The list is endless and something really needs to be done about this as the environmental cost is far too great. The profit driven mentality of farmers need to be changed and the improper practices need to be stopped. More sustainable approaches to agriculture should be conducted such as hydroponics and aquaponics. More sustainable practices can be read in the links provided.

Sustainable Agricultural Practices:

http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/sustainable-farming-practices.php

http://www.wikihow.com/Practice-Sustainable-Agriculture

http://www.iied.org/five-ways-make-farming-more-sustainable

http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,195274.html

More Articles on the effects of agriculture can be viewed below:

http://www.tt.undp.org/content/trinidad_tobago/en/home/ourwork/crisispreventionandrecovery/successstories/smallscalefarmers.html

https://guardian.co.tt/business-guardian/2011/06/30/issue-flooding

Reference:

The Water Resources Agency. "NATIONAL REPORT ON Integrating The Management of Watersheds and Coastal Areas in Trinidad and Tobago." March 2001. http://www.oas.org/reia/iwcam/pdf/trinidad and tobago/trinidad and tobago national report.pdf.

UNEP.org. "'PEOPLE AND THE NORTHERN RANGE'" 2004. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.unep.org/maweb/documents_sga/Trinidad Final Report.pdf.

Environmental Management Authority. "REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY." September 2009. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.ema.co.tt/new/images/policies/national-environmental-policy2006.pdf.

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME. "ISSUES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MARACAS VALLEY TRINIDAD & TOBAGO." July 2010. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://maracasvalley.org/MVAC/Docs/Volume 1.pdf.

"Deforestation." Deforestation and Climate Change. 2014. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.climateandweather.net/global-warming/deforestation.html.

"Soil Quality." GRACE Communications Foundation. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.sustainabletable.org/207/soil-quality.

"Industrial Crop Production." GRACE Communications Foundation. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.sustainabletable.org/804/industrial-crop-production.

Jacobsen, Michele. "Complementary Research Methods." Complementary Research Methods. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dmjacobs/phd/methods/.

Lucas, Floyd, and Mary Alkins-Koo. "WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT A CASE STUDY IN POLLUTION IN A MAJOR RIVER CATCHMENT, TRINIDAD." Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cef-2/FLpollriv.pdf.

Simpson, Leslie Anthony. "POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ON HILLSIDES IN THE CARIBBEAN." Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cef-2/LASagripra.pdf.

"The Issue of Flooding." The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper. Accessed March 24, 2016. https://guardian.co.tt/business-guardian/2011/06/30/issue-flooding.

"Good Agricultural Practices." Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : Newsday.co.tt :. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,195274.html.

Turner, B., and Rachel Catherine Allen. "What Are the Different Types of Crop Plants?" WiseGeek. Accessed April 05, 2016. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-crop-plants.htm#didyouknowout. 

United Nations Development Programme. "Safer Farming Practices Aids in Crisis Prevention." UNDP.org. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.tt.undp.org/content/trinidad_tobago/en/home/ourwork/crisispreventionandrecovery/successstories/smallscalefarmers.html.

"Global Warming Effects on the Economy." Union of Concerned Scientists. 2011. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-effects/economy.html.

VanDyk, John K. "Frequent Tillage and Its Impact on Soil Quality | Integrated Crop Management." Integrated Crop Management. June 28, 2004. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2004/6-28-2004/frequenttill.html.  

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[1] Image taken from http://www.climate-change-guide.com/deforestation-and-climate-change.html Laurent Cousineau, 2016 

Urbanization the Predecessor of Industrialization

Industrialization: Major Negative Effects!!

Photo 1 

Ever since I was a little kid, passing on the highway from my grandmother's house in Chaguanas there was a part of the highway I looked forward too. The Petrotrin Industrial Estate which is seen from afar along the highway seen in Photo 1 above which lights up very beautifully at night. However with time comes wisdom and sadly the innocence of a child is lost... as a child all I saw was the pretty lights and fire, but as an educated adult I now see it for what it really is. A major source of capitalism and pollution! It represents the sad reality we live in where human advancement and our planet is put behind capital accumulation. Day in, day out fire and smoke is seen erupting from the furnaces of the industry... how do people not see this as a major problem? 

As stated by Dear and Flusty 1998 "the most important underlying shifts in the contemporary political economy is from a Fordist to a post-Fordist industrial organization" That is most economies have shifted from agriculture to industrialization. This is followed by major negative impacts, again illustrated by Dear and Flusty 1998 using California as an example they stated that the people of California had no regard for the environment and they have been "energetically, ceaselessly, and sometimes carelessly unrolling the carpet of urbanization over the natural landscape for more than a century". They listed the impacts of this as mainly air pollution followed by habitat destruction for animals. 

In our case the implementation of major industrialization due to our mono-crop oil and gas economy has and will continue to have negative effects on the environment. Firstly there is the issue of habitat loss as forests are felled to produce these sites. The aesthetics of nature are lost and the uprising of modern metallic structures replace the forests as seen in Photo 2 below. Adapted from a booklet received from Petrotrin.com 

Photo 2

These industries occupy large areas where nature once prospered and to me this is a very sad state, is capital worth the environmental degradation these mass producing industries produce?

Industries generate large amounts of air, water and land pollution. Industrial waste are high in toxins and if improperly disposed of can enter the food chain via bio-accumulation and make its way onto our plates hence having direct effects on humans themselves added to the direct effect of respiratory illnesses it causes.   

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which contributes largely to global warming. With the felling of forests more carbon dioxide is left present in the atmosphere as said forests act as carbon carbon sequestration units (filters and stores carbon dioxide from the air). This leads to increasing rates of global warming, to make matters worst these industries PRODUCE carbon dioxide, as seen from photo one the fire and smoke constantly escaping from the furnaces. This not only has negative effects on the country of Trinidad and Tobago, but on a wider scale the world is affected. 

Global warming poses large threats to humans, as temperature rises polar ice caps melt at a faster rate hence rising sea levels. Lands close to the coast are loss and major flooding could occur. Also as a result of the rising sea levels Coral Reefs are greatly affected as they are sensitive to change. The deeper water causes the photic zone to decrease, corals need sunlight to grow so with less sunlight less growth would occur and they could possibly die. The Buccoo Reef is a major tourism attraction in Tobago, tourism generates a large source of Tobago's revenue therefore is completely destroyed less tourists would visit the island and less revenue will be earned. As such in this "hunger" for capital accumulation our own economy is contradicting itself and at the cost of the environment. 

These effects need to be reduced, and it should be of utmost importance for the government to find cleaner ways of producing oil and gas. They can also take measures to diversify the economy into a more environmentally sustainable ways such as tourism. Barbados solely depends on tourism for the majority of their revenue, maybe our government can take a note from their playbook. The environment would highly appreciate it! 

The following are further articles about the effects of industrialization:

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/business-magazine/Latin_America_and_the_Caribbean_in_2013__Building_on_a__decade_of_inclusion_-184772871.html

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-effects/

https://kaitlindeforest.wordpress.com/what-are-the-consequences/

References:

Petrotrin. Petrotrin A Valued Partner. May 2015. Accessed May 25, 2015. file:///C:/Users/Narik/Downloads/Petrotrin-A%20Valued%20Partner%205_15%20(2).pdf

High Municipal Waste Generation In St Augustine Trinidad

Municipal Waste Generated Over ONE Weekend??? 

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

According to WorldAtlas,2016 using World Bank data, Trinidad and Tobago was listed number 1 for "Waste Generation Per Capita" That's right number one! At first I thought this was a lie but then a first hand situation made me question...

Upon returning to my apartment situated at Old Tim St Augustine after a weekend home I was greeted with the sight of literally overflowing garbage bins on the outside of my building. I took a walk down the street only to discover this was apparently a trend... outside of each building were more and more bins being overflowed with garbage! Some buildings had a proper place assigned for their garbage while others simply placed them in garbage bags along the street.  This made me stop and wonder... where had all of this waste come from? How long has it been there? How long would it remain there? Rats and cockroaches were seen in abundance around these garbage which showed it attracted dangerous vectors. I was now extremely worried about my health! not only mind but each student who live around the campus of the University. We walk these streets everyday unknowing that vermin infest these areas and walk on the same street as us. Their bacteria are on our shoes and upon entering our apartments we bring said bacteria in. This to me was serious cause for concern! Again i questioned where had this waste come from? Students such as myself usually leave their apartment on Friday and return Sunday...had this garbage been sitting around since Friday evening? Despite that the quantity of garbage produced in one weekend was very alarming! 

As stated before in the previous post, apart from being aesthetically displeasing there are health risks associated with this accumulation of garbage, the garbage attracts vectors such as cockroaches and rats seen first hand! and for people living in these areas this can be a major problem as it leads to vector related diseases. (A.E. Onyido, P.O. Okolo, M.O. Obiukwu and E.S. Amadi, 2009). Also as a result of this stagnant rubbish the air quality can be diminished by foul smelling odor produced by the garbage.

According to Childe, 1950 urbanization leads to a generation of large "surpluses". This surplus generated leads to major wastage as seen from the above photos. Due to the large population associated with urban areas a large amount of consumption is done and the waste products of this consumption are then discarded. This accumulates to a large amount as seen again in the photos, again this waste was generated over a weekend. 

Something surely needs to be done about this otherwise serious health concerns would arise (see article from express below on the various vector borne diseases). This needs to be a collective effort between not only the government but people themselves. Persons need to adopt better practices such as reducing the amount they use, reusing what can be reused and recycling what can be recycled. Governments can assist this situation by designating more garbage collection for urban areas even throughout the weekend.

Photo 4

It must be noted that not only does the government have to increase the garbage collection days but also ensure better collection is done. As seen in photo 4 waste was left back even after garbage collectors passed the area.

The following article speaks about vector borne diseases due to improper garbage disposal:

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Our_deadly_littering_habit-115333989.html

The following are articles which speak about the amount of waste produced by Trinidad and Tobago:

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160309/news/tt-has-a-trash-problem

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160321/editorial/waste-worse-than-corruption

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Separate_your_garbage-102405714.html

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-generating-the-most-trash-per-capita.html