Effects of Overpopulation on the Environment - Research Paper Example

Effects of Overpopulation on the Environment Introduction ‘Overpopulation’ is a term that technically refers to the condition where the number of living organisms far exceeds the carrying capacity of their natural habitat. Here we refer to this term in respect to the human population and its natural habitat, the Earth. Overpopulation depends on certain factors like size and density of the world’s human population. Another major factor that contributes to the meaning of this term is the availability of resources. If a certain habitat with all its internal and external resources can provide food and water for only 99 humans, while the population consists of 105 humans, then that particular habitat is said to be overpopulated. Today, with our limited natural resources and the rapid growth of human population worldwide, overpopulation has indeed become a serious problem. Rising population is putting a huge pressure on the earth’s environment and resources, which is fast depleting. There is also the added burden of environmental pollution which is also adversely affecting the earth’s atmosphere. Thus, as Chiras defines and explains overpopulation in a relatively simple manner, “a condition in which populations exceed the ability to of the environment to supply resources and /or assimilate wastes…overpopulation can be explained in six words: too many people, reproducing too rapidly” (Chiras, 452). This article will discuss in length the devastating effects of overpopulation on the earth’s environment as a whole, focusing specially on the effects that the high growth of population has on the world’s natural resources. Body The population of the world at present is 6.8 billion, and is ever increasing at a rate of 1.4% each year, that is, an addition of 84 million people every year. At the current rate it is projected that by 2050, there would be around 9 billion people in this world. The reports of United Nations present quite a Fig 1: Population projection 2150 by the United Nations Population Fund-1992. (Cited in Beilenson, 82) a worrying picture of the future (Fig 1). It has been predicted that even if the fertility rate gets reduced from the present 3.2 to 2.5 children per woman, the world population in 2050 would be around 12 billion, a devastatingly high figure. If the present growth rate continues then by the turn of the century the world population would be a staggering 19 billion. This high rate of growth, in fact, presents a more troublesome scenario than any environmental, or developmental, or for that matter even any terror related incident can ever create. The stress is already showing on the world’s environment with every natural and all renewable resources coming under threat owing to over consumption. As Beilenson would let us know “food production for example, lagged behind in population growth in 69 out of 102 developing countries …the burgeoning of world’s population is having an enormous deleterious effect in other environmental areas as tropical deforestation, erosion of arable land and watersheds, extinction of plant and animal species, pollution of air, water, and land”(Beilenson, 82). Already the world’s population has exceeded the earth’s carrying capacity, and as per the 2006 World Wide Fund for Nature and Global Footprint Network reports we are already using 40% more than what the Earth can resource back, and if the European consumption rates are taken as the world’s average, then we are using around three times more than what the Earth can regenerate (WWF, 2006). Environmental resources: A close look is necessary to understand the environment around us, and the resources that it supplies to sustain our human existence, and the dangers that lie in the rapidly depleting natural resources due to overpopulation. Air, water, plants, animals, various mineral deposits and the fossil bio-fuels, all form a part of these environmental resources. Mankind has been using these resources to their advantage from the ancient times without putting much stress on them. However, in the last two hundred years, especially in the last fifty years, human population has been skyrocketing owing to better living standards like improved sanitation, advanced health facilities, better technology and overall increased life expectancies. All these improvements have however led to overpopulation and a resultant increase in consumption leading to fast depleting natural resources and rampant destruction of the environment. “A large and growing population is regarded as the principal determinant of …water pollution, deforestation, degradation of water quality, and all other forms of environmental stress. As population size increases…renewable resources are consumed at a pace faster than they can replace” (Weinstein and Pillai, cited in Dasgupta, 148). Water shortage crises: As the human population rises, there is an increasing shortage of portable water necessary for agriculture, drinking and other human activities. Rivers and underground water reservoirs are the main sources for the supply of fresh water. Owing to river water pollution often the water is unfit for consumption and agricultural purposes, and depleting underground water levels due to overconsumption have become a source of constant worry for the scientists. Desalination of sea and brackish water is the only solution offered for the water crises, and is not really a very viable one. Land availability: Due to overpopulation, demand for food crops has also increased greatly. This has led to widespread destruction of forests worldwide. As World Resources Institute points out that “Agricultural conversion to croplands and managed pastures has affected some 3.3 billion [hectares] — roughly 26 percent of the land area. All totaled, agriculture has displaced one-third of temperate and tropical forests and one-quarter of natural grasslands” (Mock, Domesticating the World: Conversion of Natural Ecosystems, 2000). As the forests disappear, so do the wild life within them, which causes a major disruption in the ecological balance. Extinction of many plant and animal species from the face of this world, are indeed very worrying signs of the twentieth century. Rampant destruction of forest covers, to make space for farming or for growing cities, would lead to fewer rains, which would in turn increase famines and drought. As rains disappear, agriculture suffers, and much of the land available for farming would also become unfit for growing crops, due to desertification and salinization. Environmental effects: Environmental pollution is another adverse effect of overpopulation on this Earth. From air pollution by the burning of fuels, to depletion of the ozone layer from the emissions by the various household gadgets, to noise pollution, and water pollution caused by dumping human and chemical wastes into the rivers and seas, is fast destroying the world’s environment. Another very harmful effect of overpopulation on the environment is the rising average worldwide temperature, and the resulting ‘global warming,’ which is threatening to melt all the ice caps and glaciers’ worldwide, leading to climatic changes, rising sea levels and increasing frequencies of sea borne hurricanes and typhoons (something which we are already witnessing). Rising sea levels are also threatening to destroy many islands and coastal regions, by submerging and taking these places under the sea. Indeed, the future presents a very grim picture, if the rapidly growing rate of population is not checked very soon. Effects of overpopulation of environment thus can be summarized into: 1. Decrease in availability of fresh drinking water for human consumption and agricultural purposes. 2. Decreasing levels of fossil fuels and mineral resources. 3. Depleting forest covers due to deforestation (there are reported losses of 8 million hectares of forest region every year, worldwide), has resulted in the loss of habitat for the wildlife. This, and rampant hunting has led to the extinction of many species. Loss of forests has disturbed the natural ecosystem balance causing a major upheaval in the oxygen-carbon dioxide ratio in the environment. This has led to less rainfall which has further led to desertification and loss of land for farming. 4. Global warming and resulting climatic change is also caused due to overpopulation. 5. High levels of air, water, soil, noise pollution due to rise in human population. Conclusion The effects of overpopulation on the environment are myriad, and mostly devastating. As population increases and natural resources decrease, there will be more people fighting for less available resources, leading to a general decrease in the standard of living and quality of life (Nielsen, 2006). It is important that we find ways to look for alternative power resources as the fossil fuels are fast coming to an end. Global warming which is threatening to wipe out some parts of the world will have to be controlled by bringing down pollution levels, for which mass education of the common people is necessary. Forests and wild life need to be saved if we swish to save ourselves. However, the root cause of all these evils is overpopulation, which is devastating the entire Earth and its environment. The rising population must necessarily be stemmed, or the extinction of the human species is not far off. The Earth is the only home we have, and our only hope for survival. To save this home and to save ourselves, we have to stop the rising growth of human population, or else when nature strikes back with a vengeance we will not have our Earth to protect us. Works Cited Beilenson, A. ‘Politics and Society: Political Challenges of Confronting Population Growth.’ In Human Population and the Environmental Crisis by Zuckerman, B and Jefferson, D. Boston: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 1996. Print. Chiras, D. Human Biology. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2005. Print. Dasgupta, S. Understanding the Global Environment. New Delhi: Pearson Education India, 2009. Print. Mock, G. Domesticating The World: Conversion Of Natural Ecosystems. World Resources Institute. September 2000. Web. 29th March 2010. http://earthtrends.wri.org/features/view_feature.php?theme=8&fid=34 Nielson, R. The little green handbook: seven trends shaping the future of our planet. New York: Picador, 2006. Print. World Wide Fund. Humanity's Demands Exceed our Planet's Capacity to Sustain Us. 2006. Web. 29th March 2010. http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/ An outline of: Effects of overpopulation on the environment Introduction: 1. Definition of the term ‘over population’ from the works of various authors to get a clear idea of what the word actually refers to. 2. A brief discussion on the relationship between overpopulation and the environment. 3. Theses statement: Overpopulation has a devastating effect on earth’s environment. Body: 1. Representation of the world’s rising population by numbers and graphs from the United Nations records. 2. Prediction of the population growth (from the same) till 2050, to show the worrying picture of overpopulation. 3. A brief discussion on the earth’s carrying capacity. 4. A look at the environmental and natural resources and the effects of overpopulation on these. 5. Water shortage crises due to over usage. 6. Depleting land availability owing to deforestation and imbalance in the eco system. 7. Environmental pollution. 8. Global warming and the largely looming threat of natural disasters. 9. A point wise summary of the main effects of overpopulation on the environment Conclusion A brief summing up of the main points discussed in the body. A reinstatement of the fact, that overpopulation is indeed devastating to the environment, and the immediate need to stem it. Read More