Impact of Population Growth on the Environment

Technological advances during the last century led to low mortality rates and high birth rates across countries around the world. In addition to this, increased migration and concentration of population clusters in selected locations have put extreme pressure on the surrounding regions.

Scientists are now predicting that unless we bring a healthy balance in the growth rate many countries will be facing acute food shortage and our environment may face irreversible damage that will jeopardize our future. According to a UN report, the world population is predicted to grow from 6.5 billion to 9.1 billion by 2050. Can you imagine the pressure this will put on our scarce resources?

Some common definitions of Population
For a brief overview of world population, read this. This article gives a brief history of the unprecedented growth in population since the last century. It also provides reference for different theories on population growth. You can also visit this website for a look at the population statistics for countries and their major cities.

Population Growth and the Environment
According to the wikipedia dictionary, 'Overpopulation indicates a scenario in which the population of a living species exceeds the carrying capacity of its ecological niche.

In common parlance, the term usually refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment (the planet Earth). Read this article on overpopulation to know how overpopulation can lead to acute shortage of resources.

Though the birth rate has fallen in some economically advanced countries, it has increased alarmingly in other countries, leading to increased pressure on land and other resources.

Since human habitat and livelihood are closely interconnected with the surrounding ecosystem, increased pressure from population can cause irreversible damage to fragile ecosystems. Significantly, in some cases, technological advances of developed countries lead to more exploitation of natural resource than the so-called developing countries.

So the problem is not simply population growth but finding the right balance between population growth and sustainable development. These issues are discused here. Visit this website for a more comprehensive look at population issues.

Pressure on Scarce Resources
There is a growing imbalance between the demands of human populations and the resources that support human life. Fresh water, land, finite resources like fossil energy are depleting very fast because of increased pressure to meet the growing demand of an expanding population.

According to a study most replacement of eroded agricultural land is now coming from marginal and forest land. The pressure for agricultural land accounts for 60 to 80 % of the world's deforestation. The fresh water that is consumed or used up by agriculture is not recoverable.

Already daily news and reports tell us that competition for water resources among individuals, regions, and countries and associated human activities is already occurring with the current world population. Overfishing has led to almost complete extinction of some species of fish as even the smallest fish gets caught in the net to meet market demands.

In regions like eastern Canada, for instance, overfishing has been so severe that cod fishermen have no fish to catch, and the economy of that region has been devastated. For details visit this webpage.

The Future
Current trends in population growth indicate that fertility rates have been decreasing in some high-risk regions. But the growth rate is still not stable enough to provide relief. According to reports, more than 99 % of that growth occurs in the poorest countries already torn by strife. For projections of world populations, download this file.

You can also visit this site to know more about issues related to population growth and environmental concerns. What are the current trends in population growth across the globe? Do we consume more than we can regenerate? Will there be enough food to go around? Will climate change lead to droughts and disrupt agriculture? These are some of the key questions discussed in the report here.