10 Biggest Environmental Problems of 2024

 While there are numerous variables contributing to the environmental deterioration caused by the climate catastrophe, some deserve more attention than others. Here are some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time, including deforestation, biodiversity loss, food waste, and fast fashion.

1. Global Warming From Fossil Fuels

2023 was the hottest year on record, with worldwide average temperatures 1.46C above pre-industrial levels and 0.13C higher than 2016's eleven-month average, which was already the warmest calendar year on record. Six months and two seasons set records this year.

Furthermore, CO2 levels have never been higher. After hovering around 280 parts per million (ppm) for over 6,000 years of human civilization, CO2 levels in the atmosphere have risen to more than 420 ppm, more than doubling what they were before the Industrial Revolution began in the nineteenth century. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Rick Spinrad, the consistent annual increase is a "direct result of human activity," primarily from the use of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity generation, but also from cement production, deforestation, and agriculture.

2. Poor Governance

According to economists like Nicholas Stern, the climate problem is the outcome of numerous market failures.

For years, economists and environmentalists have urged policymakers to raise the price of activities that emit greenhouse gases (one of our most serious environmental problems), the absence of which constitutes the largest market failure, such as carbon taxes, which will stimulate innovation in low-carbon technologies.

To reduce emissions fast and efficiently, governments must not only increase support for green innovation to lower the costs of low-carbon energy sources but also implement a variety of other policies that address each of the other market failings. 

3. Food Waste

A third of all food meant for human consumption is wasted or lost, totalling around 1.3 billion tonnes. This is enough to feed three billion people. Food waste and loss account for around one-quarter of annual greenhouse gas emissions; if food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter, trailing only China and the United States.

Food waste and loss occur at distinct stages in developing and developed countries. In developing countries, 40% of food waste happens at the post-harvest and processing levels, whereas 40% of food waste occurs at the retail and consumer levels. 

4. Biodiversity Loss

Over the last 50 years, there has been a tremendous increase in human consumption, population, global trade, and urbanisation, resulting in humans using more of the Earth's resources than nature can replace. 

According to a 2020 WWF research, population sizes of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians declined by an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016. The research connects biodiversity loss to a range of sources, the most important of which is land-use change, specifically the conversion of ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, and mangroves to agricultural systems. The illegal wildlife trade has a substantial impact on animals such as pangolins, sharks, and seahorses, with pangolins becoming critically endangered as a result. 

5. Plastic Pollution

In 1950, the globe generated more than 2 million tonnes of plastic annually. By 2015, annual production had increased to 419 million tonnes, worsening plastic waste in the environment. 

According to a survey published in the scientific journal Nature, over 14 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans each year, affecting ecological habitats and the species that dwell there. The study discovered that if no action is taken, the plastic catastrophe will reach 29 million metric tonnes per year by 2040. If we include microplastics, the total amount of plastic in the ocean might be 600 million tonnes by 2040.

6. Deforestation

Every hour, 300 football fields worth of timber are felled. By 2030, the planet's woods may be reduced to 10%; if deforestation continues, they might be gone in less than 100 years. 

Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia are the three countries with the highest rates of deforestation. The Amazon, the world's largest rainforest, stretches 6.9 million square kilometres (2.72 million square miles) and covers around 40% of the South American continent. It is also one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems, with approximately three million plant and animal species. Despite efforts to safeguard forest areas, legal deforestation is common, with Brazil's Amazon forest accounting for almost one-third of global tropical deforestation, or 1.5 million hectares each year. 

7. Air Pollution 

Outdoor air pollution is one of today's most pressing environmental issues.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, an estimated 4.2 to 7 million people die each year as a result of air pollution, and nine out of every ten individuals breathe air contaminated with pollutants. According to UNICEF, outdoor air pollution caused 258,000 deaths in Africa in 2017, up from 164,000 in 1990. The primary sources of air pollution include industrial sources and motor vehicles, as well as emissions from biomass combustion and poor air quality caused by dust storms. 

8. Melting Ice Caps and Sea Level Rise

The climate catastrophe is causing the Arctic to warm more than twice as quickly as the rest of the earth. Sea levels are rising more than twice as fast as they were for most of the twentieth century as a result of rising global temperatures. Globally, sea levels are increasing at an average rate of 3.2 mm per year, and they are expected to reach 0.7 metres by the end of the century. Melting land ice is the primary driver of rising sea levels in the Arctic, therefore the Greenland Ice Sheet poses the biggest risk.

This is especially worrying given that last year's summer resulted in the loss of 60 billion tonnes of ice from Greenland, which was enough to raise world sea levels by 2.2mm in just two months. 

9. Ocean Acidification

Global temperature rise has not only damaged the surface but is also the primary driver of ocean acidification. Our seas absorb around 30% of the carbon dioxide produced into the Earth's atmosphere. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed back into the sea increases as larger concentrations of carbon emissions are released as a result of human activities such as the combustion of fossil fuels and repercussions of global climate change such as increased wildfire rates. 

The smallest variation in pH can have a huge impact on the ocean's acidity. Ocean acidification has a devastating influence on marine ecosystems and species, as well as food webs, causing lasting changes in habitat quality. 

10. Agriculture

According to studies, the global food system contributes up to one-third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, with livestock and fisheries accounting for 30%. Crop production emits greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide through the use of fertilisers.

Cattle ranching occupies 60% of the world's agricultural land, although accounting for only 24% of total meat consumption.

Agriculture not only takes up a large amount of land, but it also consumes a large amount of freshwater, which is one of the most serious environmental issues on our list. While arable areas and grazing pastures account for one-third of the Earth's land area, they utilise three-quarters of the world's finite freshwater resources.

CONCLUSION

We are all aware that our world is in danger, yet many people, particularly those in positions of power, choose to ignore the issue rather than alienate or fear their supporters. Climate change over the last 50 years has been easy to dismiss because the changes are difficult to see year after year—especially in areas that have yet to experience the devastation caused by climate change—but hard evidence, such as extreme weather and severe droughts, is becoming increasingly difficult to refute.