How Population Growth Affects Sustainable Development - Essay Example

How Population Growth Affects Sustainable Development

Extensive deficiency, environmental conditions, the use of natural resources, and economic and social development are meticulously related to population growth and distribution. The fundamental objective of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) is certifying that population and growth strategies concede these relations and discourse the complete assortment of linked subjects. Unsanctionable configurations of consumption and production are exhausting natural resources and leading to environmental dilapidation, at the same time strengthening social discrimination and shortage. Meeting the desires of prevailing generations and improving their quality of life in manners that compromise less the eminence generations’ capability to meet their own needs is the current development challenge. It is expected that by 2050 over 2 billion people extra will have to be supported by earth. This demonstrates that population growth has direct impact on sustainable development.

In modern society, population trends are characterized by an increasing divergence across countries and regions. While several of the poorer nations remain to be pigeonholed by swift population growth, others that are more progressive in their demographic evolution are undergoing hasty population ageing and also in some cases population deterioration. Additionally, the world is perceiving progressively multifaceted international relocation configurations and several nations remain to experience very high degrees of development (UNFPA, 2013). These population undercurrents effect growth at the nationwide and sub-national levels, but correspondingly at local and international levels. Therefore, the challenge of the era is to resolve the delinquent of gathering the snowballing necessities and prospects of a mounting population but at the same time adjusting the present production and consumption configurations to realize a more sustainable development prototypical and address the relations amid growth and swift population modification.

Population development, population ageing and degeneration, together with immigration and development, impact practically all growth aims that are uppermost of state and international growth programmes. They impact depletion, production, engagement, revenue dissemination, deficiency and social fortifications, comprising annuities; the three aspects also confound human exertions to certify collective access to wellbeing, education, accommodation, hygiene, water, food and vitality. In precise, population growth, places cumulative burdens on the earth’s resources -- water, plantations, terrestrial and the globe’s atmosphere -- underwriting to climate alteration and thought-provoking environmental sustainability. Though, population dynamics do not only impact serious growth purposes; but the dynamics are themselves influenced by social, economic and environmental variations.

Population dynamics are not only associated with posing challenges, but also providing significant prospects for supplementary sustainable development. For instance, decline in fertility rates leads to slow population growth, in turn, leading to augmented focus of the population in the working age range. This enables nations to gain a demographic advantage and push-start economic growth. So far, significant enablers of economic and social growth have been identified – migration. This is because, in contemporary society, very many people are relying on migration – both internal and international – to circumvent from deficiency and violence, familiarize to environmental and financial tremors, and increase the revenue, health, and education of their relations. Yearly payments to emerging republics alone are almost 500 billion; which is three times the figures of ODA, at the same time possible savings from plummeting migration prices could be of a comparable gauge.

Sustainable development is primarily driven by urbanization. In urban areas, to deliver indispensable services and infrastructure for governments, there has to be high population density. This also enables them to deliver services at comparatively low cost per capita. Civilized and sustainable municipalities have knock-on impacts in terms of offering bucolic populations with superior entree to amenities like education and health care, at the same time sanctioning them parsimoniously. Besides, urban sprawl can yield energy savings, predominantly in the housing and transportation segments. Nevertheless, the welfares of demographic changes, development and migration do not appear mechanically and unavoidably. The policies that have been set determine if population dynamics bring opportunities or pose challenges.

The first nation to adopt policies to tackle population growth matters was India in 1952 when the country adopted family planning programme. However, despite the policy, by 2050, India’s population is expected to surpass that of China (Perveen, 2004). Post-independence, India population has increased with a threefold, and this is positioning the nation in a state where it has to search for viable solution for this abysmal issue. The problem of population growth currently is appalling, and this is more than all other global problems. In India, economic growth is principally viewed in terms of the economic development India is trying to attain. In the procedure, this crazy rush for transformation to a globalized market place pays but modest consideration to other dimensions which the word growth signifies. Liberation policies in India has spurred fruits in economic development, but there still exists long way before the nation maintain a healthy environment. This raises the question whether the economic growth can be sustainable (Perveen, 2004).

To tackle the problem of population growth, political intervention is required. This is because, the existing policies are not working. For instance, in China, one child policy has not worked successfully. The policy has contributed to secondary problems such as prickle in rates of female foeticide and crooked sex ratios. Hence, India or Sub Saharan Africa cannot introduce the same policies. Nonetheless, increase in sex education, outreach programs, planned abortion, access to contraception can result to prevention of birth of unwanted babies. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011), since 1970s, the nation’s life expectancy has augmented considerably. This is because, in those days (1970), after retirement, people would spend more 12 years, but according to Henry (2010), the number has risen to 20 years. China is not less than Australia, as to the aging society, the family planning policy has led to swift demographic change (Wang, 2011). According to China Daily (2011), old age incomes and social security have become a main concern for the ordinary citizen.

Nonetheless, high rates of population growth are been experienced in underdeveloped countries. But still, poor localities in developed countries are having high rates of unwanted pregnancies and births. For this reason, the direct relationship between education, access to contraception and females’ enablement makes a controlling case for avoiding unwanted pregnancies. In Australia, which is a developed country, rate of population growth is decreasing and this is been contributed by proceeds increases, as well as females becoming more educated and gender equality in the nation. On the other hand, the one child policy in China has established a transformation that has not been experienced in other states (Zhao, 2011). The current population in Australia is more than 22 million and 13.6% of this population are at the age of retirement, but the rate is anticipated to reach 16.2% in 2020 and 23% in 2050 (Common Wealth of Australia, 2010). To slow the rate of ageing, Australia has relied more on immigration, which has helped the nation maintain a young population structure.

Nevertheless, China has more than 1.33 million population. But since 1978, the wide ranging economic and social variations together with the family planning rule indicates that the nation has already started its demographic change to the aging society, which is as a matter of fact, much more rapidly than in Australia and other nations. In 2010, China population aged over 60 according to UN (2011) was more than 12.8% and is expected to increase to 33.9% by 2050. Also, the same approximations indicate that the dependency ratio will increase from 12.7% to 18.4% by 2020. However, Zhao and Guo (2007), note that this calculation might be overestimated, but the current demographic momentum indicates that even if China decided to change its policies, the ageing society could hardly be avoided. This is because, the supply of young labour will probably come to an end, and for that reason, the ratio of old to young is expected to rise. And for that, China needs to establish sustainable policies that would offer ageing society increases in retirement incomes.

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which was held on 1992 agreed on the Rio Declaration. On the other hand, in 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agreed on Programme of Action. All this agreements placed humans at the heart of growth. Nevertheless, the declarations recognized and emphasized the necessity to enhance human welfare and increase living standards. At the same time, the declarations stressed and continues to emphasize on the need to conduct those activities in accord with nature. Till now, the declarations, which are more political, see the need for states to adopt policies that enhance more sustainable configurations of production and consumption, as these policies are believed to be the symbol of the green economy, as well as enhance population undercurrents (Inter-Agency Consultation on Population and Sustainable Development, 2011). According to UN (1992), “To realize sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all people, Countries must lessen and eradicate unmaintainable configurations of production and consumption and endorse suitable demographic policies.”

Hence, people choices and opportunities lead to population dynamics, and therefore, to harness and look into the opportunities of population dynamics for sustainable development, nations ought to pursue to expand, not confine, personal rights. Nations ought to work to magnify grassroots selections, ingenuity, originality and flexibility, by implementing policies that are human rights centered and gender approachable. Human rights centered and gender receptive strategies, like endorsing widespread access to sexual and reproductive well-being and rights, comprising controlled family planning, and to learning, comprising all-inclusive sexuality teaching, can probably turn the world a different place for people and societies. Unruffled, these measures can aid to circumvent unsolicited pregnancies, lessen teenage pregnancies, limit infant and parental transience, and lessen gender-based vehemence and dangerous abortions. Additionally, the strategies also aid in fighting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, which remain to assert millions of lives yearly.

Rights centered and gender receptive policies are as well precarious in a framework of low fertility and swift population ageing or population deterioration. Strategies looking up for low fertility must endorse a superior work life stability and safeguard contact to indispensable services, like child care and social fortifications. Moreover, non-prejudiced policies are significant to permit aging people to underwrite completely to society at the same time getting the overhaul, amenities and social fortifications the elderly require. Financial strategies, social fortifications and non-financial sustenance systems for relatives can effect decisions about household size. A human rights methodology is as well as critical in migration strategies, which ought to be premeditated in full respect for, and fortification of, the human rights of emigrants and refugee employees. Such strategies can produce large financial and social advances from immigration, while certifying attired living and working conditions for migrants. A rights centered method is indispensable, as well, in selecting policies for addressing development and sustainable settlement configurations.

Therefore, in conclusion, the study has revealed that there is direct impact of population growth on sustainable development. And despite the existing economic, political and social systems governments have put in place to reduce population growth rate, there still exists need to establish parallel strategies which the states can meet. In recent years, the gap between rich and poor nations as well as inequalities within these states continues to widen, despite the increased efforts in population growth.