Environmental Issues in Regional Planning | Geography Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction

• Regional planning means a policy framework or a set of decisions or corrective futuristic development goals which can be implemented over specified segments of a country or a region.
• Economic development is oriented towards bringing homogeneity and equilibrium among various regions by distributive justice. Regional planning have developmental goals, thus, planning regions are identified.
• The planning region is an area where the policy applies. They have neither physical boundaries nor cultural. Thus, they are neither naive nor formal nor functional region. They are classified as separate types because of the goals and once the goals have been achieved, they can lose their entity.
• Development and economic growth augment a higher degree of exploitation of resources which introduces a set of environmental issues. Thus planning strategy includes environment as a variable. E.g. Environment Impact Assessment.
• After the Industrial Revolution, environmental dimensions were neglected, due to this many environmental degradation issues in the world are facing today like climate change, pollutions, Plastic waste, etc. It has been proved through experience that environmental dimensions of development can not be ignored. In the long run damage to the environment directly cost economic growth.
• In 1972, with Stockholm Conference, the environment became an important variable in national policies. In India, the Tiwari Committee Report (1980) opened a new chapter in planning strategies of India. Ministry of Environment was opened and EIA, Disaster Management, Hazard Management, etc. were introduced and the environment became an important variable in policymaking.

Regional Development Involves Several Environmental Issues

• Resource development and environment issues: it involves the following issues:
  • Classification of resources
    (i) Coal (fossil fuels) mining/extraction involves issues such as land scarification, land degradation, landslides, burning of coal leading to fire pollution.
    (ii) Forest resource helps in increasing carbon sink, improving of agro-climatic conditions and increase in rainfall. They are adversely affected by overexploitation of forest resources.
    (iii) Overexploitation by robber’s approach (maximum exploitation approach) of marine resources leads to marine pollution, ocean dumping, oil seepage, etc, which adversely affects marine ecology.
• Agriculture development and environmental issues: There is a need for a plan for the sustainable development of agriculture. For example, Green Revolution led to the degradation of soil in Punjab and Haryana, which led to the call for a Second organic Green Revolution
• Industrialization and environment: It requires planning for the issues arising from industrialization such as air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, urbanization, deforestation, etc. The proper Environment Impact Assessment is needed to lower its impact.
• Hydrology and environment issues: It involves the issues related to the construction of dams, submergence vegetation, displacement of the local population, etc.
• Urbanization and environment issues: It involves issues like deforestation, Urban Heat Island, pollution, the emergence of slums, etc.
• Population explosion and environment issues: It includes issues such as overexploitation of resources, man-animal conflict, deforestation, etc. thus, there is a need for a holistic population policy.
• Engineering works and construction-related environmental issues: It involves environmental issues arising from projects such as the construction of dams, tunnels, etc. in hilly areas which put pressure on its fragile environment.

The environmental issues involved because of the faulty regional planning in the following field –

• Agriculture: chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides used
• River project construction of the big dam, diversion of river water, 
• Disposal of untreated sewage
• Mining in hilly area and silting of the river
• Deforestation
• Overpopulation
• Wrong City Designing
• Unplanned Migration

Conclusion

• Regional planning is not a panacea to the problems related to development, but it acts as an antidote to the variety of problems that are identified in a characteristic region.
• It helps in decreasing the magnitude of the problem and persists from further anomalies on the developmental graphics.
• Thus, regional planning and strategies are inevitable for development. But the environmental concerns have to be mitigated and sustainable development strategies with a futuristic vision and a concern for posterity (future generation) are required.