Changing nature by human economic activity

In accordance with population density, the degree of human impact on the environment also changes. However, at the current level of development of productive forces, the activities of human society affect the biosphere as a whole. Humanity, with its social laws of development and powerful technology, is quite capable of influencing the centuries-old course of biosphere processes.

Air pollution. In the process of their activities, people pollute air environment. Over cities and industrial areas in the atmosphere, the concentration of gases increases, which rural areas contained in very small quantities or completely absent. Polluted air is harmful to health. In addition, harmful gases, combining with atmospheric moisture and falling in the form of acid rain, deteriorate the quality of the soil and reduce crop yields.

The main causes of air pollution are the combustion of natural fuels and metallurgical production. If in the 19th century those entering environment Since the combustion products of coal and liquid fuel have been almost completely assimilated by the vegetation of the Earth, at present the content of harmful combustion products is steadily increasing. A number of pollutants enter the air from stoves, furnaces, and car exhaust pipes. Among them, sulfur dioxide is especially prominent - a poisonous gas that is easily soluble in water.

The concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere is especially high in the vicinity of copper smelters. It causes the destruction of chlorophyll, underdevelopment of pollen grains, drying and falling of pine leaves. Some SO 2 is oxidized to sulfuric anhydride. Solutions of sulfurous and sulfuric acids, falling with rain on the surface of the Earth, cause harm to living organisms and destroy buildings. The soil becomes acidic, and humus (humus) is washed out of it - an organic substance containing components necessary for the development of plants. In addition, it reduces the amount of calcium, magnesium, and potassium salts. In acidic soils, the number of animal species living in it decreases, and the rate of decomposition slows down. All this creates unfavorable conditions for plant growth.

Every year, billions of tons of CO 2 are released into the atmosphere as a result of fuel combustion. Half of the carbon dioxide produced by the combustion of fossil fuels is absorbed by the ocean and green plants, while half remains in the air. The CO 2 content in the atmosphere is gradually increasing and has increased by more than 10% over the past 100 years. CO 2 prevents thermal radiation into outer space, creating the so-called “greenhouse effect”. Changes in CO 2 content in the atmosphere significantly affect the Earth's climate.

Industrial enterprises and cars cause the release of many toxic compounds into the atmosphere - nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, lead compounds (each car emits 1 kg of lead per year), various hydrocarbons - acetylene, ethylene, methane, propane, etc. Together with droplets of water they form a toxic fog - smog, which has a harmful effect on the human body and the vegetation of cities. Liquid and solid particles (dust) suspended in the air reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface. So, in big cities solar radiation decreases by 15%, ultraviolet radiation- by 30% (and in the winter months it may completely disappear).

Fresh water pollution. Extent of use water resources are increasing rapidly. This is due to population growth and improvement of sanitary and hygienic conditions of human life, the development of industry and irrigated agriculture. Daily water consumption for household needs in rural areas is 50 liters per person, in cities – 150 liters.

Huge amounts of water are used in industry. To melt 1 ton of steel, 200 m 3 of water is required, and to produce 1 ton of synthetic fiber - from 2500 to 5000 m 3. Industry absorbs 85% of all water used in cities.

Even more water is needed for irrigation. During the year, 12-14 m3 of water is consumed per 1 hectare of irrigated land. In our country, more than 150 km 3 is spent annually on irrigation.

The constant increase in water consumption on the planet leads to the danger of “water famine”, which necessitates the development of measures for the rational use of water resources. In addition to the high level of consumption, the shortage of water is caused by its growing pollution due to the discharge of industrial and especially chemical waste into rivers. Bacterial pollution and toxic chemicals (for example, phenol) lead to the death of water bodies. The rafting of timber along rivers, which is often accompanied by congestion, also has harmful consequences. When wood stays in water for a long time, it loses its commercial qualities, and the substances washed out of it have a detrimental effect on fish.

Rivers and lakes also receive mineral fertilizers washed out of the soil by rain - nitrates and phosphates, which in high concentrations can dramatically change the species composition of water bodies, as well as various pesticides - pesticides used in agriculture to control insect pests. For aerobic organisms living in fresh waters, the discharge of warm water by enterprises is also an unfavorable factor. Oxygen is poorly soluble in warm water and its deficiency can lead to the death of many organisms.

Pollution of the World Ocean. The waters of the seas and oceans are subject to significant pollution. With river runoff, as well as from sea transport, pathogenic waste, petroleum products, salts of heavy metals, toxic organic compounds, including pesticides, enter the seas. Pollution of the seas and oceans reaches such proportions that in some cases caught fish and shellfish are unsuitable for consumption.

Anthropogenic changes in the soil. The fertile layer of soil takes a very long time to form. At the same time, tens of millions of tons of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, the main components of plant nutrition, are removed from the soil every year along with the harvest. Humus, the main factor of soil fertility, is contained in chernozems in an amount of less than 5% of the mass of the arable layer. On poor soils there is even less humus. In the absence of replenishment of soils with nitrogen compounds, its supply can be used up in 50-100 years. This does not happen, since cultural farming involves the introduction of organic and inorganic (mineral) fertilizers into the soil.

Added to the soil nitrogen fertilizers used by plants by 40-50%. The rest is reduced by microorganisms to gaseous substances, evaporates into the atmosphere or is washed out of the soil. Thus, mineral nitrogen fertilizers are quickly consumed, so they have to be applied annually. With insufficient use of organic and inorganic fertilizers, the soil is depleted and yields fall. Unfavorable changes in the soil also occur as a result of incorrect crop rotations, that is, annual sowing of the same crops, for example potatoes.

Anthropogenic soil changes include erosion (corrosion). Erosion is the destruction and removal of soil cover by water flows or wind. Water erosion is widespread and most destructive. It occurs on slopes and develops due to improper cultivation of the land. Together with melt and rainwater, millions of tons of soil are carried away from fields into rivers and seas every year. If nothing prevents erosion, small gullies turn into deeper ones and, finally, into ravines.

Wind erosion occurs in areas with dry, bare soil and sparse vegetation cover. Excessive grazing in steppes and semi-deserts contributes to wind erosion and rapid destruction of grass cover. It takes 250-300 years to restore a 1 cm thick layer of soil under natural conditions. Consequently, dust storms bring irreparable loss of fertile soil layer.

Significant territories with formed soils are withdrawn from agricultural use due to the open-pit mining method for minerals lying at shallow depths. The open-pit mining method is cheap, as it eliminates the need to build expensive mines and a complex communications system, and is also safer. Dug deep quarries and dumps of soil destroy not only the lands to be developed, but also the surrounding areas, while the hydrological regime of the area is disrupted, water, soil and atmosphere are polluted, and agricultural yields are reduced.

Human influence on plant and animal world. Human impact on wildlife consists of direct influence and indirect changes in the natural environment. One form of direct impact on plants and animals is forest cutting. Selective and sanitary cuttings, which regulate the composition and quality of the forest and are necessary to remove damaged and diseased trees, do not significantly affect the species composition of forest biocenoses. Another thing is clear cutting of trees. Finding themselves suddenly in an open habitat, plants in the lower tiers of the forest experience the adverse effects of direct solar radiation. In shade-loving plants of the herbaceous and shrub layers, chlorophyll is destroyed, growth is inhibited, and some species disappear. Light-loving plants that are resistant to elevated temperatures and lack of moisture settle in the clearing areas. The animal world is also changing: species associated with the tree stand disappear or migrate to other places.

Mass visits to forests by vacationers and tourists have a noticeable impact on the state of vegetation. In these cases, the harmful effect is trampling, compaction of the soil and its pollution. The direct influence of man on the animal world is the extermination of species that provide food or other material benefits to him. It is believed that since 1600, more than 160 species and subspecies of birds and at least 100 species of mammals have been exterminated by humans. The long list of extinct species includes the aurochs, a wild bull that lived throughout Europe. In the 18th century was exterminated, described by the Russian naturalist G.V. Steller's sea cow (Steller's cow) is an aquatic mammal belonging to the order Sirenidae. A little over a hundred years ago, the wild Tarpan horse, which lived in southern Russia, disappeared. Many animal species are on the verge of extinction or are preserved only in nature reserves. Such is the fate of the bison, which inhabited the prairies of North America by the tens of millions, and the bison, formerly widespread in the forests of Europe. In the Far East, sika deer have been almost completely exterminated. Intensified fishing for cetaceans has brought several species of whales to the brink of destruction: gray, bowhead, and blue.

The number of animals is also influenced by human economic activities not related to fishing. The number of Ussuri tigers has sharply decreased. This occurred as a result of the development of territories within its range and a reduction in the food supply. IN Pacific Ocean Every year, several tens of thousands of dolphins die: during the fishing season, they get caught in nets and cannot get out of them. Until recently, before fishermen took special measures, the number of dolphins dying in nets reached hundreds of thousands. The effects of water pollution are very unfavorable for marine mammals. In such cases, a ban on catching animals is ineffective. For example, after the ban on catching dolphins in the Black Sea, their numbers have not recovered. The reason is that many toxic substances enter the Black Sea with river water and through straits from the Mediterranean Sea. These substances are especially harmful to baby dolphins, whose high mortality rate prevents the growth of the population of these cetaceans.

The disappearance of a relatively small number of animal and plant species may not seem very significant. Each species occupies a certain place in the biocenosis, in the chain, and no one can replace it. The disappearance of one or another species leads to a decrease in the stability of biocenoses. More importantly, each species has unique properties that are unique to it. The loss of genes that determine these properties and were selected during long-term evolution deprives a person of the opportunity in the future to use them for his practical purposes (for example, for selection).

Radioactive contamination of the biosphere. The problem of radioactive contamination arose in 1945 after the explosion of atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nuclear weapons tests carried out in the atmosphere before 1963 caused global radioactive contamination. When atomic bombs explode, very strong ionizing radiation is generated; radioactive particles are scattered over long distances, contaminating the soil, water bodies, and living organisms. Many radioactive isotopes have long half-lives, remaining dangerous throughout their existence. All these isotopes are included in the cycle of substances, enter living organisms and have a detrimental effect on cells.

Testing nuclear weapons (and even more so when using these weapons for military purposes) has another negative side. During a nuclear explosion, a huge amount of fine dust is formed, which remains in the atmosphere and absorbs a significant part of solar radiation. Calculations by scientists from around the world show that even with limited, local use of nuclear weapons, the resulting dust will block most of the solar radiation. There will be a long-term cooling (“nuclear winter”), which will inevitably lead to the death of all life on Earth.

Currently, almost any territory of the planet from the Arctic to Antarctica is subject to diverse anthropogenic influences. The consequences of the destruction of natural biocenoses and environmental pollution have become very serious. The entire biosphere is under increasing pressure from human activity, so environmental protection measures are becoming an urgent task.

Acidic atmospheric deposition on land. One of the most pressing global problems of our time and the foreseeable future is the problem of increasing acidity of atmospheric precipitation and soil cover. Districts acidic soils they do not know droughts, but their natural fertility is reduced and unstable; They are quickly depleted and their yields are low. Acid rain causes more than just acidification surface waters and upper soil horizons. Downdraft acidity spreads throughout the entire soil profile and causes significant acidification groundwater. Acid rain occurs as a result of human economic activity, accompanied by the emission of colossal amounts of oxides of sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon. These oxides, entering the atmosphere, are transported over long distances, interact with water and are converted into solutions of a mixture of sulfuric, sulfuric, nitrous, nitric and carbonic acids, which fall in the form of “acid rain” on land, interacting with plants, soils, and waters. The main sources in the atmosphere are the combustion of shale, oil, coal, and gas in industry, agriculture, and everyday life. Human economic activity has almost doubled the release of oxides of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. Naturally, this affected the increase in acidity of atmospheric precipitation, surface and groundwater. To solve this problem, it is necessary to increase the volume of systematic representative measurements of compounds of air pollutants over large areas.

Currently, humanity lives in an era of scientific and technological progress, which has big influence on natural environment. Over the past decades, measures have been taken to protect, preserve and restore it, but still, in general, the state of the natural environment continues to gradually deteriorate. In this era the area of ​​influence economic activity people's impact on the natural environment is becoming even greater.

Economic activity affects not only directly, but also indirectly the atmosphere and the processes occurring in it. Human economic activity has a particularly strong impact on the climate of entire regions - deforestation, plowing of land, large reclamation works, mining, burning of fossil fuels, military operations, etc. Human economic activity does not disrupt the geochemical cycle, and also has a significant impact on the energy balance in nature. As a result of human economic activity, various chemical compounds, which are tens of times greater than the appearance of substances during weathering rocks and volcanoes. In some regions with large populations and industrial production the volumes of generated energy have become comparable to the energy of the radiation balance and have a great influence on changes in the microclimate. Based on the results of studies, checking the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, it was determined that the decrease occurs by more than 10 million tons per year. Therefore, the content carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can reach a critical situation. According to the calculations of some scientists, it is known that doubling the amount of CO 2 in the atmosphere will increase the average temperature of the Earth by 1.5-2 degrees due to " greenhouse effect. Due to rising temperatures, glaciers are rapidly melting, which leads to serious changes in the entire surrounding world, and the level of the World Ocean may rise by 5 m.

Thus, human economic activities have a detrimental effect on the natural environment.

Bibliographic link

Man has always used the environment mainly as a source of resources, but for a very long time his activities did not have a noticeable impact on the biosphere. Only at the end of the last century, changes in the biosphere under the influence of economic activity attracted the attention of scientists. In the first half of this century, these changes increased and have now hit human civilization like an avalanche. In an effort to improve his living conditions, a person constantly increases the pace of material production, without thinking about the consequences. With this approach, most of the resources taken from nature are returned to it in the form of waste, often toxic or unsuitable for disposal. This poses a threat to both the existence of the biosphere and man himself. Let us consider some features of the current state of the biosphere and the processes occurring in it.

The global processes of formation and movement of living matter in the biosphere are connected and accompanied by the circulation of huge masses of matter and energy. In contrast to purely geological processes, biogeochemical cycles involving living matter have a significantly higher intensity, speed and amount of substance involved in circulation.
As already mentioned, with the advent and development of humanity, the process of evolution has noticeably changed. In the early stages of civilization, cutting down and burning forests for agriculture, grazing livestock, fishing and hunting wild animals, and wars devastated entire regions, leading to the destruction of plant communities and the extermination of certain animal species. As civilization developed, especially rapidly after the industrial revolution of the end of the Middle Ages, humanity gained ever greater power, an ever greater ability to involve and use huge masses of matter - both organic, living, and mineral, inert - to meet its growing needs.
Population growth and expanding development Agriculture, industry, construction, transport caused massive destruction of forests in Europe, North America. Livestock grazing on a large scale led to the death of forests and grass cover, erosion (destruction) of the soil layer (Central Asia, North Africa, southern Europe and the USA). Dozens of animal species have been exterminated in Europe, America, and Africa.

Scientists suggest that soil depletion on the territory of the ancient Central American Mayan state as a result of slash-and-burn agriculture was one of the reasons for the death of this highly developed civilization.

Similarly in Ancient Greece Vast forests disappeared as a result of deforestation and excessive grazing. This increased soil erosion and led to the destruction of soil cover on many mountain slopes, increased the aridity of the climate and worsened agricultural conditions.
The construction and operation of industrial enterprises and mining have led to serious disturbances of natural landscapes, pollution of soil, water, and air with various wastes.

Real shifts in biosphere processes began in the 20th century. as a result of the next industrial revolution. The rapid development of energy, mechanical engineering, chemistry, transport has led to the fact that human activity has become comparable in scale to the natural energy and material processes occurring in the biosphere. The intensity of human energy consumption and material resources is growing in proportion to the population and even outpacing its growth.

Warning about possible consequences the expanding invasion of man into nature, half a century ago, Academician V.I. Vernadsky wrote: “Man is becoming a geological force capable of changing the face of the Earth.” This warning was prophetically justified. The consequences of anthropogenic (man-made) activities are manifested in the depletion of natural resources, pollution of the biosphere with industrial waste, destruction of natural ecosystems, changes in the structure of the Earth's surface, and climate change. Anthropogenic impacts lead to disruption of almost all natural biogeochemical cycles.

As a result of the combustion of various fuels, about 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere annually and a corresponding amount of oxygen is absorbed. The natural reserve of CO2 in the atmosphere is about 50,000 billion tons. This value fluctuates and depends, in particular, on volcanic activity. However, anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide exceed natural ones and currently account for a large share of its total. An increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, accompanied by an increase in the amount of aerosol (small particles of dust, soot, suspended solutions of certain chemical compounds), can lead to noticeable climate changes and, accordingly, to a disruption of the equilibrium relationships that have developed over millions of years in the biosphere.

The result of a violation of the transparency of the atmosphere, and therefore heat balance The “greenhouse effect” may occur, that is, an increase in the average temperature of the atmosphere by several degrees. This can cause the melting of glaciers in the polar regions, an increase in the level of the World Ocean, changes in its salinity, temperature, global climate disturbances, flooding of coastal lowlands and many other adverse consequences.

The release of industrial gases into the atmosphere, including compounds such as carbon monoxide CO (carbon monoxide), oxides of nitrogen, sulfur, ammonia and other pollutants, leads to inhibition of the vital activity of plants and animals, metabolic disorders, poisoning and death of living organisms.
Uncontrolled influence on the climate, coupled with irrational agricultural practices, can lead to a significant decrease in soil fertility and large fluctuations in crop yields. According to UN experts, in recent years, fluctuations in agricultural production have exceeded 1%. But a decrease in food production by even 1% can lead to the death of tens of millions of people from starvation.

Photo: Luis Alves

The problem of preserving biodiversity, the gene pool of flora and fauna. The most important task facing humanity is the preservation of the entire diversity of organisms on Earth. All species are closely interrelated, so the destruction of one species leads to the disappearance of related species.

In order to preserve the diversity of plant and animal species, measures are taken to restore the numbers of individual species. For this purpose, rare and endangered species are listed in the Red Book, and hunting of animals or collection of wild plants is prohibited. An important role in the conservation of biodiversity belongs to nature reserves, nature reserves, national parks, botanical gardens, and zoos, where the biological characteristics of organisms are studied and their numbers are restored.

The conservation of biodiversity is facilitated by the restoration of natural communities in areas where they have disappeared due to human fault. Thus, forest plantations are being carried out on the site of former forests, pastures are being restored, and sand is being consolidated in deserts by planting plants.

Desertification of lands occurs under the influence of human activities. One of the causes of desertification is excessive grazing. For example, during grazing, sheep destroy all the vegetation that anchored the sand with its roots. As a result, under the influence of the wind, they begin to move, increasing the area of ​​the desert, filling up fertile lands. To consolidate the sand, it is necessary to carry out work to restore the vegetation cover.

The diversity of living organisms is the basis for the existence of the biosphere, therefore, preserving everything modern views organisms, humans provide conditions suitable for human society to live on Earth. In recent decades, there has been an active search for optimal ways to conduct economic activities in order to cause minimal damage to nature. Let us consider some aspects of the problem of organizing human economic activity taking into account environmental laws.

Man, like any biological being, depends on the state of his environment. Year after year, the impact of human activities on the environment is constantly increasing and causing its changes. Humanity faces an important problem - ensuring the sustainability of the environment.

One of the ways to solve this problem is the rational use of biological resources. Biological resources are all living organisms: plants, animals, fungi, bacteria. Their peculiarity is that they are able to renew themselves during the process of reproduction.

Biological resources determine the stability of the entire biosphere as a human habitat and serve as a source of food products, raw materials, and medicinal substances. As a rule, these resources are used irrationally. To preserve them, it is necessary to take a number of measures: review the principles of location and organization of production, establish monitoring - a service for monitoring the state of the environment; regulate population numbers in natural and artificial ecosystems; study the dynamics of population numbers, their biocenotic connections. The basis for solving these issues is the study of natural succession processes and their management.

It must be remembered that the disappearance of species is of an ecosystem nature. Each extinct plant species takes with it at least five species of invertebrate animals, the existence of which is associated with this species.

The second way to solve the problem is related to the organization of agriculture based on knowledge of environmental patterns. It is necessary to organize crop rotations in agroecosystems in this way in order to create integral systems with the development of all trophic levels. This will eliminate the threat of mass reproduction of pests and reduce the need to use large doses of pesticides. It is advisable to grow not one crop, but several, in the fields, taking into account different environmental conditions. In such fields, a variety of crops can be harvested within one season.

To control weeds, a predominantly biological method should be used, based on the ability of cultivated plants to compete with weeds, outstripping their development in space and time.

Industry must also develop taking into account environmental laws. Already now, people are able to predict the consequences of technogenic transformations of the environment, solve the problem of waste disposal, and carry out biological wastewater treatment. When developing industry, it is important to take into account the patterns that exist in the biosphere. Substances extracted from nature for human needs must be returned to the biosphere in a form suitable for inclusion in the biological cycle, that is, industry must be integrated into the natural cycle of substances in the biosphere. Taking into account environmental patterns is one of the conditions for the survival, preservation and development of human society. 

Instructions

Human influence on nature can be direct and indirect. Direct impact anthropogenic factors occur, for example, when plowing virgin lands, constructing hydraulic structures, when laying highways and other communications. In many cases, such changes irreversibly destroy the familiar landscape, transforming nature.

The indirect impact of civilization on the environment is also widespread. An example is the active combustion of fuel during production activities. In this case, the person himself does not directly interact with biological organisms, but the products of fuel combustion enter the environment, leading to air pollution and negatively affecting plants and animals.

Man, in his activities, very often changes nature, unconsciously, without wanting it. Even an ordinary walk in the forest or a country picnic in nature can be destructive for plants and living organisms. People trample grass, pick flowers, and step on small insects. The worst thing is when garbage remains uncollected at a picnic or tourist stop site, which not only spoils appearance terrain, but also has a detrimental effect on nature.

Purposeful human activities have a much larger impact on nature. A civilization requires the cultivation of vast tracts of land to survive. By cultivating fields to grow cereals, people make changes to nature that are long-term and often irreversible. Agricultural activities can completely change the ecology of large areas. At the same time, the structure of the soil changes and some species of plants and animals are displaced.

The greatest impact of humans on nature is felt where population density is high, for example, in large cities and their environs. Every day people have to resolve issues related to the provision of energy and food, disposal and waste products. And most often such problems are solved at the expense of nature and to the detriment of it. An example is the colossal size of household waste dumps that are set up on the outskirts of megacities.

The human impact on nature can also be positive. For example, to preserve rare and endangered species of plants and animals, nature conservation areas, nature reserves, sanctuaries and national parks are organized in individual states. Economic activity here is, as a rule, prohibited, but effective preventive measures to preserve natural diversity are carried out quite widely.

Never before in the entire history of our planet has its population been as large as it is now. The human impact on nature covers the entire Earth, from the Arctic to distant Antarctica. As the population grows, it requires more and more natural resources.
World consumption of fuel and mineral raw materials leads to irreparable depletion of natural resources. The growth of mining is increasingly exacerbating the need for mineral wealth. Experts believe that in the middle of the 21st century. humanity will use up reserves of all metals, and the mining of lead, zinc, tin, gold and silver will cease in the coming decades.
People are increasingly concerned about the deterioration of nature, especially its pollution and impoverishment, and the depletion of natural resources. Scientists are especially concerned about the state of the atmosphere, in which the oxygen content decreases, but the amount of carbon dioxide and dust increases. The atmosphere is good Sun rays(light and heat), however, due to the increase in carbon dioxide content, it does not transmit earthly heat into outer space. Climate warming could lead to melting ice in the Arctic and Antarctica and rising sea levels, which could lead to flooding of densely populated plains. The area of ​​equatorial forests, the main supplier of oxygen to the atmosphere, has been destroyed by 40% and reduced.
There is a depletion of nature. Many species of animals and plants are endangered. main reason extinction - destruction of their habitats, for example, unreasonable drainage of swamps, deforestation, in addition, excessive hunting, etc.
Along with the pollution of surface waters, atmospheric air and soil, the pollution of the World Ocean, the reduction of its biological wealth, including the pollution of the continental shelf, where fish spawn and grow, are of great concern.
Assess the state of nature in your area. What changes in it do you consider harmful? Name the plants and animals that you would list in the Red Book of your area. It has become clear that the Earth’s natural resources are limited and it is necessary to take into account the possibilities for humanity to satisfy them, protect the atmosphere, forests, wisely use land resources and etc. Not only each of us, all of humanity depends on nature and its condition. The natural world is in balance, and human activities must be such as not to disturb the complex relationships in nature. Current practices in the use of natural resources must be changed. The United Nations has proposed a way to use natural resources that would not only meet the needs of the current population, but also preserve the planet for life in the future. It is necessary to create new nature reserves and national parks, reduce the amount of industrial and household waste, and use natural resources more wisely. Respect for nature should become everyone's rule.
The need for international cooperation in the use of nature and its conservation. The integrity of the geographical envelope requires consistency and unification of efforts in the use of nature and in its protection. The need for international cooperation has become more acute due to the deteriorating state of nature around the globe.
The total area of ​​protected areas (reserves, national parks, sanctuaries, reserves) exceeds 4.5 million km, which is 3% of the land area. Among the reserves, complex or biosphere reserves stand out, which began to be created in 1975 by decision of the UN. The total number of such reserves is more than 300. They are located in all natural areas within 76 countries. The number of protected areas is increasing throughout the world. So, in the 60s. XX century approximately 200 national parks were created, and by the 70s. there were 1204 in the world national parks, and after another 10 years there were more than 2000 of them.
New Zealand has the most national parks (10). They make up 13.6% of the entire country's territory. This is the highest figure in the world.