POPULATION, MIGRATION AND ENVIRONMENT - Research Paper Example

Population is the total number of people living in the same geographical area such as state or country. Population growth is the increase in the number of individuals in a given time period. Population growth rate refers to the rate at which the number of people increases over a unit time period. Several scholars argued that every individual made an impact on earth, however, the exact impact was influenced by other factors such as the average affluence of the population. Changes in population occur due to factors related to births, deaths and migration.

Increase in population growth can occur due to increasing number of births or through immigration. Migration is the movement by people from one geographical location to another. Population growth is known to have significant negative impact on the environment. Impact refers to the amount of a particular kind of environmental degradation. Environmental impacts are a product of population, affluence and technology. Impact on the environment is understood as the deterioration of the resource base, the decline of ecosystems and production of waste (Robbins, et al., 2010). The role of population growth in environmental degradation differs from place to place, from time to time.

Environmental degradation is a combined result of population growth, the growth in production that is, in economic development and technology applied to the transformation process. Population growth leads to depletion of resources therefore being a trigger to social and economic burden. These resources include food, water, soils and land. People may over-use non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels and renewable resources such as forests to non-existence. Australia and New Zealand environments have been affected by increase in human population.

Social and economic activities may lead to emission of air and water pollutants, greenhouse gases and