Inexhaustible resources and environmental problems

Rational use of nature means consuming resources in moderation and restoring them, while irrational use means the natural environment gets worse, which becomes an environmental problem. By scale such problems are global (the whole planet), regional (several neighbouring states) and local (a small area). The “greenhouse effect” is the greater trapping of heat in the lower atmosphere as gases such as carbon dioxide and methane increase, causing warming and melting glaciers. The ozone layer thinned because of freons; the 1987 Montreal agreement restricted them and is helping the layer recover slowly. Desertification is the spread of desert-like land, caused by cutting trees, uncontrolled grazing and wasteful use of water; 17 June is the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Deforestation is especially dangerous in equatorial forests; solutions are limiting felling and planting new forest (Japan, the United Kingdom, afforestation of the dried Aral Sea bed). On climate, after the 1997 Kyoto Protocol the states adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015 to limit warming. Fresh-water shortage is acute in dry lands, including Central Asia; some countries desalinate sea water.