List of environmental disasters

This article is a list of environmental disasters. In this context it is an annotated list of specific events caused by human activity that results in a negative effect on the environment.

Environmental disasters by category

Agricultural

Africanized bees, known colloquially as "killer bees"

Mismanagement and shrinking of the Aral Sea

Drying up of the Colorado River Delta due to extensive diversion of the Colorado River, mainly for agriculture

"Dirty dairying" in New Zealand

Dust Bowl in central United States (1930s)

Great sparrow campaign; sparrows were eliminated from Chinese farms, which caused locusts to swarm the farms and contributed to a famine which killed 38 million people.

Gulf of Mexico dead zone

Salinity in Australia

Salinization of the Fertile Crescent

Salton Sea California, U.S.

Biodiversity

2006 Zakouma elephant slaughter

Chestnut blight

Indian vulture crisis due to Diclofenac

Deforestation of Easter Island

Destruction of the old growth forests

Devil facial tumour disease

Dutch Elm Disease

Emerald Ash Borer

Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef

Extinction of Australian megafauna

Four Pests Campaign of China, 1958

Ghost nets

Grounding of SS Makambo on Lord Howe Island

Gulf of Mexico dead zone

Invasive species in New Zealand

Introduction of the Nile perch into Lake Victoria in Africa, devastating indigenous fish species

Introduction of nutria to Louisiana

Kudzu in the United States

Loss of Louisiana Wetlands

Mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows

Rabbits in Australia

Red imported fire ants

Reduction in the number of the American bison

Shark finning

The Saemangeum Seawall

The loss of biodiversity of New Zealand

Human health

Agent Orange use by the United States during the Vietnam War, resulting in lasting serious health effects on the Vietnamese population, such as cancer, nervous system disorders, and countless related fatalities

Cancer Alley

Goiânia accident, human deaths resulting from dismantling a scrapped medical machine containing a source of radioactivity

Health effects arising from the September 11 attacks

Introduction of infectious diseases by Europeans causing the death of indigenous people during European colonization of the Americas

Introduction of the bubonic plague (the Plague of Justinian) in Europe from Africa in the 7th century resulting in the death of up to 60% (100 million) of the population.

Introduction of the bubonic plague (the Black Death) in Europe from Central Asia in the 14th century resulting in the death of up to 60% (200 million) of the population and recurring until the 18th century.

Mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows

Guadalajara explosions in Mexico, April 1992

Industrial

1912 Itai-itai disease, due to cadmium poisoning in Japan

1948 Donora smog

1952 The Great Smog in London

1962 to 1970 Mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows

1970 Ontario Minamata disease in Canada

1976 Seveso disaster, chemical plant explosion, caused highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in residential populations

1983 Times Beach, Missouri the town was completely evacuated due to a dioxin contamination

1984 Bhopal disaster (December 3, 1984, India), leak of methyl isocyanate resulted in more than 22,000 deaths.

1986 Sandoz chemical spill into the Rhine river

1989 Phillips Disasters

1990, Release of cyanide, heavy metals and acid into the Alamosa River, Colorado, from the Summitville mine, causing the death of all aquatic life 17 miles downstream.

1991, California's largest hazardous chemical spill: A 19,000-gallon (72,000 L) tank railroad car containing the pesticide/herbicide metam sodium derails from a northbound Southern Pacific freight train, tumbling off the bridge over the Sacramento River at the Cantara Loop near Dunsmuir, California, and rupturing on the rocks below, spilling the car's entire load into the river. Virtually every aquatic organism on a 40-mile (64 km) stretch of river was killed.

2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill of a gold mine in Romania, January 2000

2001 Bellevue hazardous waste fire, Australia, contaminated the Helena River and groundwater used for freshwater by substantial parts of the Perth metropolitan region.