What are the five main causes of environmental problems?

The five main causes of environmental problems include population growth, unsustainable resource use, excluding environmental costs from market prices, inadequate environmental education, and


a. poverty.


b. natural global climate change.


c. wealth.


d. pollution.|||b





Environmental Constraints to Development


Environmental degradation is a significant and growing threat to development throughout the world, and its effects are felt most acutely by poor families in developing countries. Economic growth, as well as the potential for such growth, is endangered by a natural resource base declining in quality and quantity, while deteriorating economies exacerbate and accelerate degradation of the environment. The rapid and poorly managed growth of cities in many developing countries has led to a serious deterioration in urban environmental conditions, adversely affecting human health and the urban infrastructure necessary for efficient economic development.


USAID has identified five major environmental problems that most directly affect the developing world and the Agency's developmental objectives: 1) loss of tropical forests and other habitats crucial for biological diversity; 2) unsustainable agricultural practices; 3) environmentally unsound energy production and use; 4) urban and industrial pollution; and 5) degradation and depletion of water and coastal resources. Each of these threatens economic progress, biological and other natural resources, and the health and quality of human life. Each also has impacts well beyond national boundaries, often with global consequences.





This strategy focuses specifically on those activities designed primarily to enhance or protect the environment. However, USAID recognizes that other issues, such as rapid population growth, also affect the environment significantly; although in complex and often indirect ways. Therefore, USAID's environment program is coordinated closely with the Agency's family planning program to ensure an integrated approach to addressing the complex relationship between population growth rates and natural resources management.





The five major problem areas listed above include the full range of serious environmental threats to development. Within this overall framework, USAID missions, supported by USAID/Washington, are developing a program targeted to specific problems where assistance will have the greatest impact. Strategic allocation of resources is a basic requirement for an effective program, because USAID simply cannot address every problem in every country it assists.





USAID, therefore, is focusing its resources on environmental problems that most constrain development and on those that, if not acted upon immediately, will likely result in significant threats to human health or irreversible damage to the natural resource base and the economy. The Agency concentrates on problems that host countries are committed to, capable of addressing and have identified as priority issues.





Developing Effective Solutions


http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/200/envi鈥?/a>