Q.Explain any three genuine economic causes of environmental degradation.

Environmental damage is not random — it traces back to specific, identifiable economic drivers, each acting through a different mechanism. …

Rapid industrialisation: as the number of factories in an economy grows, they consume more raw materials and energy, and discharge more waste — often faster than pollution-control infrastructure is installed to keep pace, so the volume of untreated waste released rises alongside industrial growth.

Urbanisation: as population concentrates into cities, the demand for water, energy and waste-disposal capacity rises sharply within a geographically limited area, straining local environmental systems (water bodies, air quality, solid-waste-disposal sites) beyond what they can sustainably handle.

Deforestation: clearing forests for agriculture, timber extraction or urban expansion removes a natural carbon sink and wildlife habitat, while also increasing soil erosion and disrupting local rainfall and water-cycle patterns that the forest previously helped regulate. …

Giving vague, unexplained one-word causes ('pollution', 'growth') instead of naming a specific driver and explaining the a …