160
(dysentery, cholera, hepatitis) are frequent due to
the lack of toilets and they put heavy pressure on
the health system. Around 5–8 million people die
and 300 million people get sick in Africa each
year because of polluted water. Around 80% of
all infectious diseases are related to water (Weiss
2015). The most frequent cause of death among
children is diarrhoea. Diseases related to sanitation and polluted water account for around
2,223,000 deaths each year globally. Financial
losses related to polluted water are also enormous: an annual loss of 82,196,000 Disability
Adjusted Life Years (Weiss 2015).
The above major environmental problem
could be solved simply by supplying clean and
disinfected water for people and by creating
hygienic medical establishments including sewage drainage and treatment. Unfortunately these
all together would require significant investment.
Malik et al. (2012) surveyed the willingness of
people in local communities in Pakistan to support financially such investments. The results
show that on the one hand, 40% of the communities do not even know about the wide range of
possible diseases caused by polluted water and
on the other hand willingness for supporting
financially water supply correlates with the financial conditions of the inhabitants. This means that
realising investments with great costs is hopeless
in poor regions and poor countries. They would
need external help that could come primarily
from rich countries. Up to now, however, no
effective and comprehensive international support has not been established, yet in many countries water scarcity and poor water quality will
hinder sustainable development in the future as
well and this could make the sustainable development of the global society also doubtful.
4.4
Changes in the Biosphere
4.4.1 Carbon Cycle
Life on Earth is based on carbon and every living
being build organic carbon molecules in its organ
out of carbon containing material taken from its
environment. Carbon is present in the form of
CO 2 in the atmosphere (its ratio is 400 ppm) and
it is the source of carbon for photosynthesizing
plants. The concentration of CH 4 (methane) is
also worth mentioning among the carbon containing compounds of the atmosphere. Organic
carbon compounds in the soil and in the biosphere form very variable molecule structures
while CaCO 3 (calcite) and CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 (dolomite) are the most frequent compounds in the
lithosphere.
The carbon content of various natural carbon
reservoirs is given with a fairly large variation by
different literature sources (O’Neill 1985; Bolin
1997; Falkowski et al. 2000; Houghton 2003;
Sarmiento and Gruber 2006; IPCC 2007). This is in
part the result of different calculation methods and
further details in certain sub-processes are found by
scientists (Cole et al. 2007). The authors in this
book use the data published in the fourth report of
IPCC published in 2008 henceforward and using
this data the carbon cycle is presented in Fig. 4.60.
This way of illustration gives carbon content data
of carbon reservoirs for times before the first industrial revolution (1750) as well and changes until the
end of the twentieth century (1994) can also be read
from the figure. It is also important to note that
according to the IPCC the margin of error of large
fluxes is greater than ±20%, however, smaller
material fluxes balance the errors.
The carbon content of the atmosphere is
known most accurately among the carbon reservoirs in part because the concentration of carbon
containing greenhouse gases (CO 2 and CH 4 ) is
monitored continuously worldwide. It is wellknown that atmospheric carbon content increases
continuously thus smaller values can be read in
older publications. Carbon content in the
atmosphere was 597 Gt prior to the industrial
revolution and increased by 165 Gt over the following almost two and a half centuries. As a
result, the carbon content of the atmosphere could
have been 762 Gt by the end of the twentieth century. The increase was far from even, it can rather
be regarded exponential. According to the
International Geosphere-Biosphere-Programme
for the Global Carbon Project, the annual average
growth of the carbon content of the atmosphere
was 4.3 ± 0.1 Gt between 2004 and 2013.
4 Changes on Earth as a Result of Interaction Between the Society and Nature
(dysentery, cholera, hepatitis) are frequent due to
the lack of toilets and they put heavy pressure on
the health system. Around 5–8 million people die
and 300 million people get sick in Africa each
year because of polluted water. Around 80% of
all infectious diseases are related to water (Weiss
2015). The most frequent cause of death among
children is diarrhoea. Diseases related to sanitation and polluted water account for around
2,223,000 deaths each year globally. Financial
losses related to polluted water are also enormous: an annual loss of 82,196,000 Disability
Adjusted Life Years (Weiss 2015).
The above major environmental problem
could be solved simply by supplying clean and
disinfected water for people and by creating
hygienic medical establishments including sewage drainage and treatment. Unfortunately these
all together would require significant investment.
Malik et al. (2012) surveyed the willingness of
people in local communities in Pakistan to support financially such investments. The results
show that on the one hand, 40% of the communities do not even know about the wide range of
possible diseases caused by polluted water and
on the other hand willingness for supporting
financially water supply correlates with the financial conditions of the inhabitants. This means that
realising investments with great costs is hopeless
in poor regions and poor countries. They would
need external help that could come primarily
from rich countries. Up to now, however, no
effective and comprehensive international support has not been established, yet in many countries water scarcity and poor water quality will
hinder sustainable development in the future as
well and this could make the sustainable development of the global society also doubtful.
4.4
Changes in the Biosphere
4.4.1 Carbon Cycle
Life on Earth is based on carbon and every living
being build organic carbon molecules in its organ
out of carbon containing material taken from its
environment. Carbon is present in the form of
CO 2 in the atmosphere (its ratio is 400 ppm) and
it is the source of carbon for photosynthesizing
plants. The concentration of CH 4 (methane) is
also worth mentioning among the carbon containing compounds of the atmosphere. Organic
carbon compounds in the soil and in the biosphere form very variable molecule structures
while CaCO 3 (calcite) and CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 (dolomite) are the most frequent compounds in the
lithosphere.
The carbon content of various natural carbon
reservoirs is given with a fairly large variation by
different literature sources (O’Neill 1985; Bolin
1997; Falkowski et al. 2000; Houghton 2003;
Sarmiento and Gruber 2006; IPCC 2007). This is in
part the result of different calculation methods and
further details in certain sub-processes are found by
scientists (Cole et al. 2007). The authors in this
book use the data published in the fourth report of
IPCC published in 2008 henceforward and using
this data the carbon cycle is presented in Fig. 4.60.
This way of illustration gives carbon content data
of carbon reservoirs for times before the first industrial revolution (1750) as well and changes until the
end of the twentieth century (1994) can also be read
from the figure. It is also important to note that
according to the IPCC the margin of error of large
fluxes is greater than ±20%, however, smaller
material fluxes balance the errors.
The carbon content of the atmosphere is
known most accurately among the carbon reservoirs in part because the concentration of carbon
containing greenhouse gases (CO 2 and CH 4 ) is
monitored continuously worldwide. It is wellknown that atmospheric carbon content increases
continuously thus smaller values can be read in
older publications. Carbon content in the
atmosphere was 597 Gt prior to the industrial
revolution and increased by 165 Gt over the following almost two and a half centuries. As a
result, the carbon content of the atmosphere could
have been 762 Gt by the end of the twentieth century. The increase was far from even, it can rather
be regarded exponential. According to the
International Geosphere-Biosphere-Programme
for the Global Carbon Project, the annual average
growth of the carbon content of the atmosphere
was 4.3 ± 0.1 Gt between 2004 and 2013.
4 Changes on Earth as a Result of Interaction Between the Society and Nature