Environmental degradation in the greater horn of africa. It could reach 8 billion by 2025, 9 billion by 2040, and a whopping 11 billion by 2100. This damage can occur as the loss of health, life, andor property during socalled natural disasters and humanmade ones. These include heavy pressure on land, land degradation, forests, habitat destruction and loss of. Environmental impacts pollution soil degradation deforestation global warming population growth would not be sustainable if it has important negative impacts that will jeopardize the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Environmental pollution refers to the degradation of quality and quantity of natural resources. One of the main causes of environmental degradation is population explosion or rapid growth of population. Sustainable development means a emphasizing the role of the market. Population growth, resource consumption, and the environment. It is often suggested that rapid population growth, especially in developing countries, correspondingly intensifies environmental degradation, which must therefore be mitigated by reducing the rate of population growth. Paul shaw skip to main content accessibility help we use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Population is an important source of development, yet it is a major source of environmental degradation when it exceeds the threshold limits of the support systems. The world bank joined the consensus when in the 1992 world. Assessment of linkages between population dynamics and.
Population growth and the resultant human activities generate. As chapter 4 showed, in europe, japan, and north america economic growth has been accompanied by moderate population growth, which. These staggering numbers are the result of being within the exponential phase of population growth since last century, such that some 14% of all. The birth is a chief natural factor affecting the population change. With a conventional household model, we demonstrate that the socalled environmental kuznets curve may arise when the restrictive assumption of a set of perfect markets for factors and commodities is relaxed. Industrialization and its subsequent fast population growth and concentration are the chief contributors to environmental troubles in both developed and developing countries. Meaning and relation population growth is the main cause of the socioeconomic problem including environmental degradation, pollution, desertification, deforestation, intensive cultivation, over utilization of grazing and other environmental problems. A conclusion is made that environmental change is as an important factor to demographic and economic factors as it is population growth to economic development and environmental conservation. Population growth and environmental degradation in india by dr. As indicated by the ipat equation, environmental impact i or.
The following are the prominent factors which plays an important role in increasing population, they are. Before world war ii the colonial administration was concerned that land degradation was becoming severe under the pressure of population, aggravated by drought. Land degradation and population growth in subsaharan. The magnitude of the problem varies from country to country. Population growth is also one of the drivers of the growth in greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. This increased the frequency of cultivation on a specific landholding which diminished fallowing. This means that we are predicted to exceed 9 billion people by 2050, with no peak in site this century and a world population of up to 12 billion by 2100. Poverty, environmental degradation, sustainable development, northsouth dichotomy, debtresource hypothesis.
Population summit of the worlds scientific academies. Population growth and economic development are contributing to many serious environmental calamities in india. Growth of population in india and its impact on natural. Essays on environmental degradation and economic development.
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil. Impact of population growth on environmental degradation. From the western coastal plain of the namib desert to the eastern kalahari zone, namibia is characterized by aridity. Jul 31, 2007 the world health organization who and other organizations report that the prevalence of human diseases during the past decade is rapidly increasing. Environmental degradation perpetuates environmental injustice by making the damage and losses suffered by poor and marginalized people worse than would otherwise be the case. The scholarly literature on this issue labels this view, which stresses the mixed and ambiguous impacts of population growth on economic change, revisionism. Objective the objective of this paper is to assess the effect, relationship and situation analysis scenario on population growth and environmental degradation in ethiopia. Environmental degradation has been cited as one of four root causes of refugee flows, together with political instability economic tensions and ethnic conflict unhcr 1993. In other words, the population exceeds the region or planets carrying capacitythe number of people, other living organisms, or crops that can be supported without environmental degradation. Environmental degradation contributes to poverty through. The interplay between population growth, resource depletion, and environmental degradation has been a matter of debate for decades. Is overpopulation the root cause of environmental degradation. The role of environmental degradation in population displacement1.
Economic development and population growth in the poor areas of the earth is a subject of an essential concern for the environmental economists. To answer these questions we estimate the effect of population growth on two dimensions of environmental degradation in europe, greenhouse gas co 2 emissions and urban land use, for 1062 european nuts3 regions. Pdf population growth and environmental degradation. The main reasons responsible for environmental degradation are as follows. Higgitt encyclopedia of life support systems eolss 352 countries are, at the present time, overshooting the sustainable resource base. Pdf the implications of population growth on environmental.
What are environmental problems due to population growth. Global concerns the impact of human activity on the natural resources. Introduction there is an increasing recognition of the linkages between rapid population increase and the quality of the environment. Environmental degradation is a result of the dynamic inter play of socioeconomic, institutional and technological activities. Developing countries are facing and suffering by the serious problem of high population growth which is causing environmental degradation. Ultimate versus proximate factors volume 16 issue 3 r. National academy of sciences, national academy of engineering, and institute of medicine.
Demographic trends, particularly population growth, decline, aging, urbanization and international migration, are contributing to the many challenges facing humanity, including food production, water shortages, poverty, housing, climate change, environmental degradation, human rights, civil unrest, displacement and armed conflict. The role of environmental degradation in population. High fertility contributes to population growth, which further increases demands for food and resources from an essentially static resource base. Pdf rapid population growth effects on environment. Rural poverty, food insecurity and environmental degradation. Urbanization and environmental degradation in jordan. Economic growth and environmental degradation in a global. Ray 2011 investigated the contribution of population pressure to land degradation and soil erosion and found that it affects the productive. The regions population has more than doubled since the early 1960s.
Demographers expect the 8 billion milestone in 2023, with global population projected to reach 9 billion by 2037 and 10 billion by 2056. A major cause of environmental degradation in african countries is a population growth. Human population as a dynamic factor in environmental degradation mahb. Does the simultaneous occurrence of population growth and environmental decline over the past century indicate that more people translate into greater environmental degradation. Perhaps rural poverty contributes to environmental degradation on the very small proportion of the worlds forests, soils and water to which the poor have access so it is not a major contributor to global environmental degradation but a serious contributor to environmental degradation in particular places alder, graham 1995, tackling. Conveying the issue of population growth to the general public is further troubled by skepticism from historical flipflops about the significance of overpopulation lee 2009, environmental generational amnesia or the process through which declining baselines over generations reduce levels of concern miller 2005, knowlton and jackson 2008. Rapid population growth, environmental degradation, and inefficient practices led to increasing scarcity of both cropland and water by the early 1990s. Environmental scarcity and the outbreak of conflict. In the environmental implications of population dynamics, lori hunter synthesizes current knowledge about the influence of population dynamics on the environment. The growing size of the global population is not an issue that appeared within the past. Population growth is the increase in the number of people living in a particular area.
Chinas environmental crisis council on foreign relations. Controlling the regional human activities, which contribute to the degradation by changing land use and land cover. The challenge for environmental management david pimentel, x. Population growth and the pollution of water, air, and soil are contributing to the increasing number of human diseases worldwide. Others argue that, while the concept has some utility in indicating global unsustainability, it is. This growth is slightly faster than projections from just a few years ago. Bansi lal university, bhiwani keywords population, environmental degradation, urbanization, industrialization, economic development, pollution, deforestation, sustainable development. Overpopulation and the impact on the environment by doris baus advisor. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Population and the environment the impact of population growth on economic development is a complex issue. Meaning and relation population growth is the main cause of the socioeconomic problem including environmental degradation, pollution, desertification, deforestation, intensive cultivation, over utilization of grazing and other environmental. Among them is the rapid population growth that has occurred over the last half a century. Rapid population growth and environmental degradation.
I urbanization and environmental degradation in jordan david l. Rural poverty, food insecurity, and environmental degradation in ethiopia. Impact of a growing population on natural resources. Malawis only resources are its people and fertile soil, which comprises about 55% of land area. The current population growth rate in the region appears to be greater than the agricultural production rate contributing to the food insecurity and environmental degradation. This study discusses the use of double time growth analysis in the explanation of the need for population control in nigeria and the potential danger that might emanate from the continuous neglect of environmental issues presented by environmentalists and population demographers in nigeria and the world at large. Poverty, environmental degradation and sustainable. Dec 05, 2017 abstract the rate of global environmental degradation ed has led to focus on population control as a means of securing our species sustainability. The impact of population on environmental degradation in south. The analysis is based upon the environmental kuznets curve ekc model, which posits an invertedu relationship between incomes per capita and environmental quality. The effect of population growth on the environment. At its simplest, it describes how human impact on the environment i is a result of a multiplicative contribution of population p, affluence a and technology t. Environmental depredations pose a serious threat to chinas economic growth, costing the country roughly 3 to 10 percent of its gross national income, according to various estimates.
Pimentel introduction a h e a l t h y and prudently managed environment is a major benefit to humans and other species. In developing countries, production and consumption patterns of rural households are the main cause of environmental damage. Unesco eolss sample chapters human settlement development vol. Population growth and environmental degradation population is an important source of development, yet it is a major source of environmental degradation when it exceeds the threshold limits of the support systems. The growing pressure rises from population growth, urbanisation, higher living standards, mining and large numbers of livestock. First, lets look at the evidence about resource scarcity and environmental change, and see what. The pressure of population on land has increased at a high speed. Malawi has been ranked by the world bank as one of the poorest countries in africa. The major causes of the environmental degradation are modern urbanization, industrialization, over population growth, deforestation etc. What are causes and effects of environmental degradation. Here we briefly outline the conclusions of this school of thought as expressed in an overview of the population. The ecology of increasing diseases has complex factors of environmental degradation, population growth, and the current malnutri.
A case study from south central ethiopia summary this paper addresses the challenge of reducing poverty, food insecurity, and natural resource degradation, and abolishing recurrent famines in ethiopia. The number of environmental refugees is estimated to be 10 million out of the 17 million official refugees and. The report analyzes the changes which have taken place in the land resources, agricultural systems, and social structures of the district over the period since 1930. Migration can contribute to sustainable development by expand. Nagdeve abstract the present paper examined the relationship of population to the environment and with growing population, poverty and urbanization the environment is degrading.
Environmental degradation is t he deterioration o f the environment throu gh depletion of resources s uch a s ai r, water and soil. Environmental degradation affects agricultural productivity through land degradation, climatic change, and declining land per capita. Under certain conditions moderate population growth can be beneficial. Notes on causes of population growth extra references. Namibia environmental and climate change policy brief. Population is growing rapidly, far outpacing the ability of our planet to support it, given current practices. Population growth and environmental degradation in malawi. This scarcity, along with the spread of agricultural technologies that favored large landholders, helped concentrate valuable land in the hands of the countrys economic and military elite i. Since populations can grow exponentially, resource depletion can occur rapidly, leading to specific environmental concerns such as global warming, deforestation and decreasing biodiversity. Start the discussion today with the notion of sustainability. Population growth, environmental degradation, composition effect and generalised. The overall aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation with particular reference to carbon emissions and deforestation. Growth of population in india and its impact on natural resources dinesh kaushik assistant professor ch.
Rapid population growth and environmental stress barry. All life on earth obtains its food and other necessities from this environment. Rapid population growth exacerbates vulnerability to the negative consequences of climate change, and exposes growing numbers of people to climate risk. Desertification has been defined as land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities11. Currently an estimated 40% of world deaths are due to environmental degradation. Aug 16, 2008 population growth and environmental degradation. Interaction between population and environmental degradation. Environmental changes may be driven by many factors including economic growth, population growth, urbanization, intensification. Aug 31, 2018 the term overpopulation is used to describe a situation in which the world or area has a population so large that the people there are suffering as a result. Conducted an analysis of changes and trends over last fifty years. Populations in developed countries trend toward using substantially. The conclusion that rapid population growth has slowed development is by no means straightforward or clearcut see box 5.
As indicated by the ipat equation, environmental impact i or degradation is caused by the combination of an already very large and increasing human population p, continually increasing economic growth or per capita affluence a, and the application of resourcedepleting and polluting technology t. The ipat equation, first devised in the 1970s, is a way of determining environmental degradation based on a multiple of factors. Environmental degradation an overview sciencedirect topics. Causes and impacts of land degradation and desertification. Population growth and environmental degradation article pdf available in africa insight 224. Environmental degradation is the major problem not only of the local government but also of the whole world. Interaction between population and environmental degradation core. Population pressure contributes to land degradation. As might be imagined population growth has positive and negative effects on development. Clearly there is a relationship between population growth and environmental.
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