Current and Future Challenges of European Cities - Essay Example

Energy sources are rapidly exhausting even though energy uses are increasing everywhere. Population size is growing rapidly even though freshwater sources and land area on our earth remain a constant figure. In other words, the sustainability of human life on earth may become a big challenge in the future. As in the case of other parts of the world, Europe is also facing severe energy, water and population-related problems. This paper analyses the major problems associated with energy, water, and population facing bay Europe at present.

            In order to find enough food for the current and future generations, it is necessary to prepare more land areas for cultivation. “In industrial regions, agricultural land is projected to increase from its 1990 level by about 3 percent by 2015 and 10 percent by 2050. In Europe, the figures are 4 percent by 2015 and 18 percent by 2050” (Urban Issues). The above fact clearly shows that in order to meet food demands in the future, Europe needs to expand its agricultural land considerably at the expense of other natural resources like forests. The destruction of forests for making more fertile land may cause severe environmental problems in the future.

Population growth occurs as a result of increased birth rates in other parts of the world whereas in Europe it happens because of the aging population. In other words, people in Europe are getting better healthcare than people in other parts of the world, and therefore their life span increases. Population growth in Europe and other parts of the world affects the environment differently. The standard of life in Europe is more than the standard of living in Africa. Therefore, a European may contribute 100 times more to environmental problems than an African. For example, Europeans use automobiles many times more than that in Africa. “A child born today in the UK will be responsible for 150 times more greenhouse gas emissions than a child born in Ethiopia” (Population paradox: Europe's time bomb). Thus population growth in Europe is causing more challenges to the environment than the population growth in other parts of the world.

Per capita consumption of energy by Europeans is more than that of the people in other parts of the world because of the advanced living standards in Europe. “In the period 2001 to 2006 the imports of gas and oil combined increased by 17%, but natural gas imports rose with 34.5%. In 2006 the EU-27 imported 54% of its energy supply, which was dominated by oil and gas” (Hellendoorn). The above statistics reveal that the consumption of energy is increasing day by day in Europe and based on that the import of energy sources is also increasing. The available energy sources in Europe are not sufficient enough to meet even half of the requirement of energy in Europe. Europe relies heavily on the Middle Eastern region for energy imports. At the same time, it should be noted that energy sources are exhausting everywhere even though energy requirements are increasing. In other words, Europe is going to face severe problems in balancing energy supply and demand in the future. The development of alternate energy sources and the enhancements of technology is necessary for Europe to overcome energy problems in the future.

The distribution of water resources in Europe is far from even and is beginning to be the source of some significant problems. Europeans are becoming more concerned with how much water is available, and the quality of the water resources they use. In Iceland, over 600,000 cubic meters of water are available per capita. This contrasts sharply with the densely populated nations of Western Europe. Many countries, such as Malta, also suffer severely from a generally dry climate. In Russia, most of the population relies on water taken from rivers. Belgium uses 70% of the water supplies available to it every year. Different European countries vary in how much water they withdraw from their supplies every year (Europe-Major Water Problems)