Human population, carrying capacity and resource use

3.8 Environmental demands of human populations

Objectives

• Ecological footprint• Socio-economic influences on population

growth

Ecological footprint

• Land area that will meet the needs of a population• To determine footprint, land used to produce:– Food– Energy– Buildings– Ecological support

Factors affecting footprint

• Fossil fuel / renewables• Energy demand• Import / export resources• Disposables / recyclables• Meat / vegetable diet

Carbon footprint

• Easier to determine

Food consumption / food production+Carbon emission / carbon fixation

Differences in footprint

• USA – 10 ha / person• China – 1.2 ha / person– Spending power– Food– Energy– Import / export of resources– Population

Population policies

• Political actions to influence population growth – why?

• Pronatalist• Anti-natalist

Demographic transition model

• Review– ?– ?– ?– ?– ?

Urbanization & demographic change

• Relate this to DTM• From population sink to source• Urban migration to urban births

Technology, resource & population

• Societies may be classified according to– Technological innovation– Population-resource ratio

• Societies go through development paths

Perspectives• Ecological exploitation• Economic prosperity• Ecological awareness

Summary

• Ecological footprint• Socio-economic influences on population

growth