Title Use of Pesticide

Description Pesticides are chemical substance that are used to control pests. The use of pesticides
has become an environmental issue because it has adversely affected the living
things and the environment. Residues of pesticides can pile up in the water systems,
suspend in the air, and easily enter human body or absorbed by plants.
History and
causes

Human have been utilising pesticides to kill pests since 2000 BC. In 2007, more than
5.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used by the world to protect the plants from
pests.
To replace biological pest control method:
Farmers prefer chemical pesticides over biological control because the later needs
longer time to take effect. Also, biological control cannot kill the entire pest
population.
To control and kill pests:
Pesticides are used to control and kill the number of pests not only in agricultural
fields, but also in homes, lawns, forests and so on. Without pesticides, crops will
easily get attacked by diseases, hence decreasing the food source.
Impact on the
environment

Pesticide drift is the term used to describe the situation whereby the pesticides are
being drifted away from intended area by wind or water.
Air pollution:
When the pesticides sprayed by agricultural aircraft to the crop fields are blown by
wind, it will cause air pollution. The pesticides particles will suspend in the air and
contaminate the air. When humans breathe in these particles, it may pose a threat to
human as 17 pesticides have been identified to be most likely human carcinogen, 48
pesticides are known as potential endocrine disruptors.
Water pollution:
Pesticides will run off from agricultural fields by rainwater into nearby lakes, rivers
and seas, contaminating the water sources and then leading to water pollution. These
chemical pesticides will adversely affect the marine life. It may kill the main
producer in the sea which is the phytoplankton, thus affects the food web in the sea,
causing imbalance sea ecosystem.
Case study Great Barrier Reef Case Study:
o Cause: Farming activities in the Queensland is harming the Great Barrier
Reef. The farmers apply pesticides to their farms to reduce the pests.
o Process: When there is heavy rain, the residues of pesticides will run off to
the Great Barrier Reef. These run offs into Great Barrier Reef are harmful to
the marine life especially coral reefs.
o Effects: Pesticides will alter the chemical composition in the barrier reef and
increase the manmade chemical in the barrier reef, causing death to the coral
reefs as they are very sensitive to the changes in the environment. The
increase in nutrient levels in the sea are also often related to the use of
pesticides. This will cause increase in population of crown-of-thorns starfish
which is a coral eating starfish, which further decrease the population of
coral reefs.
Solutions the
problem and
their success

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Area:
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Area are declared in 1975
and 1981 respectively. The declaration has raised public awareness towards the Great
Barrier Reef.
Reduce pesticides in the reef:
Project catalyst, a partnership between the WWF and the Coca-Cola Foundation, has
introduced a more precise pesticide application. It has significantly reduce the
nutrient pollution by 60% and herbicide pollution by 95%.


References
Gbrmpa.gov.au. (2014). Differences between the Marine Park and the World Heritage Area -
GBRMPA. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-the-reef/heritage/great-
barrier-reef-world-heritage-area/differences-between-the-marine-park-and-the-world-heritage-
area2 [Accessed: 11 Apr 2014].
Gbrmpa.gov.au. (2014). Crown-of-thorns starfish - GBRMPA. [online] Retrieved from:
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-the-reef/animals/crown-of-thorns-starfish [Accessed: 11 Apr
2014].
Sitemaker.umich.edu. (2014). Human Impact on the Great Barrier Reef: Pollution. [online] Retrieved
from: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/gc2sec7labgroup3/pollution [Accessed: 11 Apr 2014].
wwf. (2014). Sustainable farmers. [online] Retrieved from:
http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/saving_the_natural_world/oceans_and_marine/priority_ocean
_places/great_barrier_reef/solutions/sustainable_farmers/ [Accessed: 11 Apr 2014].