The Impacts of Population Growth

The Impacts of World Population Growth

The rapid growth of population is mainly the result of a higher birth rate than death rate. At the moment, the world population is said to reach 7.5 billion by the end of 2016 (Worldometers.info, 2016). The annual growth rate is actually declining, as it has been estimated that the population will continue growing by 1.13% per year (Worldometers.info, 2016) compared to a growth of 2% and above during the 1960s. However, this doesn’t mean that the population won’t continue its dramatic growth; as a matter of fact the world population should reach 10 billion by 2056 (Worldometers.info, 2016). The causes of such a population growth are mainly the decline in death rate, the lack of family planning and also the improvement in health care and sanitation. Even though population growth can bring benefits to our society; such as progression in technology and an economic boost, most impacts are detrimental for our world. The negative environmental impacts of population growth include the depletion of the natural resources, the rise in climate change and the increase in deforestation. Moreover, the negative social impacts combine an increase in food and water insecurity, a more important inequality between populations and finally an increase in conflicts and wars.

To start off, population growth is contributing to the increase in deforestation, which brings out detrimental impacts to the environment. The main causes of deforestation include agriculture, urbanization and logging. The rise in population is resulting in a higher demand in food. In consequence trees are cut down so that farmers can have more land to plant crops so the food production increases. Then, as there are more people there needs more land for construction. This includes the construction of roads and highways, homes for the population and so on. Lastly, in order to provide the population with paper and wood, trees have to be cut down. For these reasons especially, 7.3 million hectares of forests are lost each year (Alina Bradford, 2015) and it is actually estimated that about 17% of the earth’s forests have been lost in the past 50 years (Kerry Cesario, 2016). Deforestation brings about a couple of detrimental impacts for our earth, this includes a loss in habitat which affects the biodiversity and also an increase in climate change. As around 70% (Alina Bradford, 2015) of the plant and animal species live in rainforests, when trees are cut down these species lose their habitat, in consequence, this can lead to species extinction. As a matter of fact, forests contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but when they are burnt, cut or removed in any other way they become carbon sources. Deforestation is actually the source of around 15% of greenhouse gas emissions (Kerry Cesario, 2016), causing climate change, which will be seen in the next paragraph.

So, population growth is contributing to the increase in pollution and climate change. For instance, because of the increase in urbanization, meaning the increase in the use of vehicles, pesticides and smoke from chimneys or factories, the amount of pollution is increasing as well. In consequence, this also gives a rise in climate change. Already, given that humans use fossil fuels to power all the new technology, there will be an increase in the demand of oils, gases, coal, etc. This means that more fossil fuels will be mined or drilled from the earth’s surface and when burned, so much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere that it traps warm air inside creating the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect leads to climate change which impacts not only us and our environment, but also many species which cannot adapt to the new conditions. In the pole north and south, there is an increase in ice melting, reducing the habitat of certain animals and this could lead to their extinction. Also, it causes a rise in sea level which has a number of impacts such as an increase in contaminated water and floods. However, pollution and climate change would not take place if it weren’t for the increase in the demand of natural resources, which are in reality diminishing in supplies.

Indeed, another one of the impacts of population growth for the environment is the increase in the demand of natural resources. Due to the increase in population, there is also an increase in the need of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gases. These fossil fuels are used to power the new technology that more and more people start to use. However, many fossil fuels are finite resources, meaning that after being mined or drilled and then used, they cannot be used again. The issue here is that these fossil fuels are being consumed much faster than the earth can produce them, this leaves a chance for certain resources to run out of supply. Considering that oil is the most important energy source in the world at the moment, the supply of oil will become very scarce before 2030 (Richard G. Miller, 2014) and the dispute over oil will lead to a state of war and conflicts. In fact, this environmental impact isn’t the only one concerning natural resources, food and water are also impacted by population growth but they affect socially.

The issue of water and food insecurity has been one rising even more with the population growth. Water insecurity is when there isn’t a sufficient amount of water, this could mean a lack of quantity or the lack of quality meaning safe water. As a matter of fact, water covers a bit more than 72% of earth (Brett Israel, 2010) but around 97% of that is salty water, meaning it is not suitable for drinking (Brett Israel, 2010). In consequence, there isn’t as much available freshwater as expected, especially that a significant amount of freshwater is not safe or not accessible. The quantity of water can strongly depend on the climatic or geographical conditions of the country. In certain cities, such as Sao Paulo, certain citizens only get access to water two days a week (Robin McKie, 2015) and this harms the population. It is well known that water comes with the most important uses to ensure our survival. This combines an everyday use (such as sanitation and drinking water) and uses for agriculture and industry. Lacking quantity of quality water actually harms more than 2 billion people in the world (Judith Rees, 2014). In fact, it has been estimated that by 2025, half of the world’s population (National Geographic, 2015) will be living in water stress. However, another issue is food security which relies on water security itself. There has been an increase in food demand because of an increase in population, so food production will need to increase by 70% (E.L, 2015). At the moment, there are grave disparities around the world with one in nine people undernourished (WFP, 2016). This is not due to a lack of food quantity, but of an inequitable distribution of food between rich and poor countries which leads us to the issue of inequality.

Global inequality is also another social issue due to the population growth. There are different types of inequalities, but the most important one is the income inequality throughout the world. A rising population creates a rising gap between the richest and the poorest citizens, but also between the wealthy and developing countries. According to Oxam, the 62 richest people have as much wealth as the 50% poorest (Larry Elliott, 2016). Whilst the rich tend to take water or food for granted, the poorest even have a hard time to feed or clean themselves. As a matter of fact, the poorest citizens, tend to live in slums with terrible conditions : high rates of diseases, very little sanitation and overcrowding (Alexandra Phillips, 2014). The inequalities found in the social class also affects the next generation as a child’s educational opportunities are mostly determined by their parent’s wealth. Then, the wealthy countries prosper economically with a population growth. First of all, they have the financial assets to invest in urbanization, to create new jobs and to provide better education for their citizens. On the other hand, the countries who are still developing struggle with such an important population growth. It becomes even harder for them to improve their country, or to create jobs for the unemployed, as they have to support an increasing amount of unprivileged inhabitants. Likewise, they do not have the wealth to import water or food, creating an unequal and an insufficient distribution of these essentials. In addition, many of the citizens find themselves unemployed as mechanization starts to replace the jobs for the more uneducated class. In fact, the priorities are to take care of the incompetent economy instead of the creation of education or jobs. With such an important amount of inequality throughout the nations, some people struggle to survive and in consequence this leads to be part of conflicts and wars.

Most of the social effects of population growth, then lead to an increase in conflicts and wars. As the population perceives an inequality concerning the distribution of food and water and also an inequality in income, this makes the people displeased or desperate. First of all, this leads to an increase in crime rate. As the poor need to ensure their survival, some rely on theft or get involved in the distribution of drugs in order to afford or get hold of their basic necessities : this includes the need for food, water, education or shelter. In addition, there will most probably be rising conflicts surrounding the fight for natural resources due to its constant depletion. As an increasing part of the population will become infuriated by the chaotic effects of population growth, there might be uprisings which could go as far as wars.

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