PROBLEMS WITH POPULATION

Thursday, October 22nd, 2015

WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL WITH A GROWING POPULATION?

Lack of food, resources, energy, space, water, and sewage.

Poverty and population growth are correlated.

Poorer societies have higher growth rates than wealthier societies. - Consistent with demographic transition theory - Higher fertility/growth rates, lower contraceptive use

POVERTY RESULTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

- Affluent societies have enormous resource consumption and waste productionPeople use resources from other areas, as well as their ownIndividuals’ ecological footprints are huge

- One American has as much environmental impact as 6 Chinese or 12 Indians or 12 Ethiopians.

WEALTH ALSO PRODUCES SEVERE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.

THE WEALTH GAP AND POPULATION GROWTH CAUSE CONFLICT

The stark contrast between affluent and poor societies causes social and environmental stress The richest 20% use 85% of the world’s resourcesLeaves 14% of the resources for 80% of the world’s people to share

Tensions between “haves” and “have-nots” are increasing

•Affluence: having a lot of wealth such as money, goods, or property. It is created by economic opportunity.

•The per capita ecological footprint is a measure of affluence.

Ecological Footprints

The IPAT Equation• To estimate the impact of human lifestyles on

Earth we can use the IPAT equation:

Impact = Population Affluence Technology x (S)

Environmental impact (I) may be expressed in terms of resource depletion or waste accumulationPopulation (P) refers to the size of the human populationAffluence (A) refers to the level of consumption by that populationTechnology (T) refers to the processes used to obtain resources and transform them into useful goods and wastes.

POPULATION GROWTH AFFECTS THE ENVIRONMENT The IPAT model: I = P x A x T x SOur total impact (I) on the environment results from the interaction of population (P), affluence (A) and technology (T), with an added sensitivity (S) factor

Population = individuals need space and resourcesAffluence = greater per capita resource useTechnology = increased exploitation of resources

Sensitivity = how sensitive an area is to human pressure

Further model refinements include education, laws, ethicsHumanity uses 1/3 of all the Earth’s net primary production

IN SUMMARY The IPAT equation made a contribution to understanding the multiple causes of environmental impact, and it continues to be developed as a method for improving our understanding of these issues. It has not helped in identifying sustainable scale, but it is a useful framework to assist in thinking about ways of reducing environmental impacts by reducing various types of throughput.

UN CONFERENCE ON POPULATION & DEVELOPMENT

September 1994 Saw the relationships between population, development and individual well-being.179 countries adopted a forward-looking, 20-year Programme of Action (PoA) that placed individual dignity and human rights, including the right to plan one’s family, at the very heart of development.Universal education: Universal primary education in all countries by 2015. Urge countries to provide wider access to women for secondary and higher level education as well as vocational and technical training.

Reduction of infant and child mortalityReduction of maternal mortalityAccess to reproductive and sexual health services including family planning