INTRODUCTION
The 20th century has seen a spectacular rise more than ever before in the national activities to try and protect the natural environment. But this is still not enough as the damage has already been done. The natural environment is an environment that is closest to its natural state. It is the climate weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity. It is sad to say that the present day earth is no longer in its natural state. Activities especially as it relates to human have degrade the natural environment of its former glory and it is being carried out daily. The earth is currently experiencing global warming an effect of rise in sea level and lots of other industrial activities that in turn cause pollutions that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The ecosystems are endangered due to overfishing, carbon dioxide emission and other and pollution in their habitat. There areas are a minute of the different areas to consider when dealing with the natural environment and this article will focus on the causes and effect of humans and how their activities have contributed to the exploitation.
CAUSES AND EFFECT OF EXPLOITATION
Humans have always manipulated natural resources in order to produce raw materials needed for the sustaining of the growing human population worldwide. The exploitation of natural resources is usually done in a non-sustainable way and this threatens human existence. The resources which are already scarce are being over exploited with the aim of improving the daily lives of human through technology and innovations. Misuse or overuse of many valuable resources has led to the deterioration & degradation in quality for example: land and water resources have deteriorated in quality and deplete due to pollution. The boundary less human knowledge, creativity and innovative in the areas of technological advancement are playing a vital role in over-exploiting the natural resources. Environmental change is also caused by modifications to the land surface. Human activities cause alterations to the local and global environment by physical intrusion or by altering the nature of the land surface (by urbanization, infrastructure-building, waste tipping), affecting landscapes, land uses and productivity (for example deforestation, desertification, erosion). Furthermore, the building of infrastructure, particularly for transport, uses vast quantities of natural resources and energy during construction, and also generates substantial waste products which imply additional impacts and physical intrusion by quarrying and tipping of construction waste.
The need for these raw materials by humans which causes the manipulation of natural resources has led to serious life threatening effects. Taking a current oil spill situation in China as an example; the need for fuel has resulted in water pollution due to the blast of oil pipeline causing a massive spillage of oil. This has led to a very huge impact on marine life. This also disrupts the food chain, this happens when toxins are in the water, the toxins travel from the water the animals drink to humans when the animals’ meat is eaten. Infectious diseases such as typhoid and cholera (a major concern in the Africa region) can be contracted from drinking contaminated water. This is called microbial water pollution. Land pollution indirectly affects the respiratory system of human beings. Breathing in polluted dust can result in a number of health problems related to the respiratory system. Land pollution, deforestation and desertification have serious effect on wildlife; vegetation, which provides food and shelter to wildlife, are destroyed. Land pollution often disrupts the balance of Nature, causing human fatalities.
CONCLUSION
As mentioned earlier, the natural environment encompasses living and nonliving things occurring naturally on earth such as the climate, weather, and all natural resources. In the end when talking about exploitation of natural environment, human activity is still at the heart of it all. These activities that are being carried out daily contribute to this effect