Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. In ecology, an ecosystem is a community of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms - also referred as biocenose) together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a unit. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations. WRI (the World Resources Institute), UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme), UNDP (the United Nations Development Programme) and the World Bank have made public an important report on health and the environment worldwide on May 1, 1998. The ten threats identified by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations are: Poverty Infectuous Disease Environmental degradation Inter-State War Civil War Genocide Other Atrocities (e. ... The High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations included LtGen Dr. Brent Scowcroft as a member, and produced what may be the single best intelligence estimate with respect to the future of mankind and its habitat. ... UN and U.N. redirect here. ... WRI is an initialism for: Wolfram Research, Inc. ... Klaus Töpfer, UNEP Exec. ... The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the largest multilateral source of grant technical assistance in the world. ... The World Bank logo The World Bank (the Bank) is a part of the World Bank Group (WBG), is a bank that makes loans to developing countries for development programs with the stated goal of reducing poverty. ...

Environmental Change and Human Health, a special section of World Resources 1998-99 in this report describes how preventable illnesses and premature deaths are still occurring in very large numbers. If vast improvements are made in human health, millions of people will be living longer, healthier lives than ever before. In these poorest regions of the world an estimated one in five children will not live to see their fifth birthday, primarily because of environment-related diseases. Eleven million children die worldwide annually, equal to the combined populations of Norway and Switzerland, and mostly due to malaria, acute respiratory infections or diarrhoea — illnesses that are largely preventable. Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. ... Acute viral nasopharyngitis, often known as the common cold, is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system (nose and throat). ... Diarrhoea is the correct way to spell the word Diarrhoea. ...

External links

• World Resources 1998-99 (World Resources)(Paperback) by World Resources Institute
• Ecology of Increasing Disease Population growth and environmental degradation
• Annals of the Association of American Geographers Environmental Change in the Kalahari: Integrated Land Degradation Studies for Nonequilibrium Dryland Environments
• Public Daily Brief Threat: Environmental Degradation
• Focus: Environmental degradation is contributing to health threats worldwide
• Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Systems-Water Reactors
• Herndon and Gibbon Lieutenants United States Navy The First North American Explorers of the Amazon Valley, by Historian Normand E. Klare. Actual Reports from the explorers are compared with present Amazon Basin conditions.

For Environmental Degradation Index by Jha & Murthy (For 174 countries) See [[1]]

See also

• Ten Threats identified by the United Nations
• High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations
• World Resources Institute (WRI)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• World Bank
• malaria
• acute respiratory infection
• diarrhoea