The Impacts of World Population Growth
The rapid growth of population is mainly the result of a higher birth rate than death rate. At the moment, the world population is said to reach 7.5 billion by the end of 2016 (Worldometers.info, 2016). The annual growth rate is actually declining, as it has been estimated that the population will continue growing by 1.13% per year (Worldometers.info, 2016) compared to a growth of 2% and above during the 1960s. However, this doesn’t mean that the population won’t continue its dramatic growth; as a matter of fact the world population should reach 10 billion by 2056 (Worldometers.info, 2016). The causes for such a population growth are mainly the decline in death rate, the lack of family planning and
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The main causes of deforestation include agriculture, urbanization and logging. The rise in population is resulting in a higher demand in food. In consequence trees are cut down so that farmers can have more land to plant crops so the food production increases. Then, as there are more people there needs more land for construction. This includes the construction of roads and highways, homes for the population and so on. Lastly, in order to provide the population with paper and wood, trees have to be cut down. For these reasons especially, 7.3 million hectares of forests are lost each year (Alina Bradford, 2015) and it is actually estimated that about 17% of the earth’s forests have been lost in the past 50 years (Kerry Cesario, 2016). Deforestation brings about a couple of detrimental impacts for our earth, this includes a loss in habitat which affects the biodiversity and also an increase in climate change. As around 70% (Alina Bradford, 2015) of the plant and animal species live in rainforests, when trees are cut down these species lose their habitat, in consequence this can lead to species extinction. As a matter of fact, forests contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but when they are burnt, cut or removed in any other way they become carbon sources. Deforestation is actually the source of around 15% of greenhouse gas emissions …show more content…
As the population perceives an inequality concerning the distribution of food and water and also an inequality in income, this makes the people displeased or desperate. First of all, this leads to an increase in crime rate. As the poor need to ensure their survival, some rely on theft or get involved in the distribution of drugs in order to afford or get hold of their basic necessities : this includes the need for food, water, education or shelter. In addition, there will most probably be rising conflicts surrounding the fight for natural resources due to its constant depletion. As an increasing part of the population will become infuriated by the chaotic effects of population growth, there might be uprisings which could go as far as wars. Overall, we can tell that all the effects of population growth won’t only lead to these effects themselves, but they will also lead to even wider
Population continues to grow and is expected to reach an all time high in future years. There are tons of different reasons for why population is rising so quickly. In document d, it says, "Every second 5 people are born and 2 people die, a net gain of 3 people. This fact from document d shows one reason why population growth is at all time high. Document d, also states "At this rate, the world population will double every 40 years and would be 12 billion in 40 years, 24 billion in 80 years, and more than 48 billion in 120 years." This will create tons of difficulties, like the amount of food and supplies needed for the world, which will make it nearly impossible for supplies to keep pace with the population growth. Document a shows
Alina Bradford from Live Science, explained in her article about deforestation and how there are different causes of deforestation such as, selling trees for products such as paper, homes, house hold furniture, and other house products. She also states that other causes of deforestation are making room for agriculture purposes, and to create room for cattle ranching as well. On the downfall though there are disadvantages of deforestation as well too as she explains. One of them in fact is deforestation is contributing to climate change and also the greenhouse effect too as well by emitting a great amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the earth’s atmosphere. The effect from that happening is carbon dioxide is a greenhouse which absorbs heat from the sun and doesn’t let it escape into space. As that doing so, the Earth is heating up each year due to deforestation. From that, it will cause global warming and climate change too. There are causes and different purposes for deforestation but there are significant effects that could end up due to deforestation based on Alina Bradford’s
Deforestation is the clearing of a forest and/or cutting down of trees for human benefits such as agriculture, wood exports, etc. Deforestation is the cause of numerous environmental impacts such as habitat loss, flooding and soil erosion. It can also cause climate change, by reducing the amount of rainfall and changing the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface and increases the risk of forest . Tree growth is important for biodiversity because they absorb carbon dioxide which is a harmful greenhouse gas . However, since deforestation reduces natural carbon sinks, it disrupts the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air to increase. This poses a serious threat since carbon dioxide traps the sun’s heat and radiated light inside the earth’s atmosphere. So, with the increase in carbon dioxide more heat is trapped and thus adding to the effects of global warming. Among the many places where deforestation takes place, Amazon seems to be one of the most affected ones. More than 20 percent of it is already gone, and much more of it is severely threatened due to deforestation . It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year .
There are many causes of deforestation. For instance agricultural activities, which are one of the major factors affecting deforestation because of the steadily increasing demand for food products. Logging is also another reason that contributes to all the wood base industries of wood suppliers, paper companies, and furniture makers. Wood is also used as fuel, therefore trees are cut for supplies, some examples of wood being used as fuels are charcoal and firewood. As humans, we are expanding and overpopulation is affecting forests.The more people we are , the more land and resources we need. Desertification of land and mining are two causes of deforestation that release toxic chemical that will contaminate the rainforest making it unsuitable for trees to grow. ("Deforestation," n.d.).Overall you environmentalists may have noticed how deforestation is done intentionally. This because out this, industries gain money. Which is one of the main reasons...
Deforestation is fast becoming one of the world’s worst environmental/geographical occurring disasters known to mankind, and is due to humankind’s greed, ignorance and carelessness when considering the future of our environment.
“The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Scaling to 46 years, human have been here 4 hours, the industrial revolution began 1 minute ago, and in that time, we’ve destroyed more than half the world’s forests.” - Unknown. One major environmental problem in our world is deforestation - what is that, you ask? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, deforestation is the action or process of clearing of forests. Some consequences of this include a large contribution to global warming and climate change (about 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year), loss of biodiversity especially in tropical rainforests, and the extinction of many known or yet to be discovered species. But, through some Debt-for-Nature Swaps, leaving forests
As described by Alan F. Arbogast in his book Discovering Physical Geography, deforestation is “the process through which large tracts of land are cleared of trees by humans” (270). Today, deforestation is described as quite a major issue because the amount of forest cover in our global society is being reduced dramatically. In fact, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, continents South America and Africa experienced a -5.2% and -11.7% change in forest cover from years 1990-2010 respectively (Arbogast 271). South America and Africa’s forestland cover have declined these percentages, which many researchers believe contribute to deforestation. Too much forest cover is being used and not much attention is being paid to taking care of the land. When these natural lands are cleared, many problems can emerge, such as biodiversity in the tropical forest biomes, global warming, and ultimately, the “extinction of plant and animal species that have yet to be discovered” (Arbogast 271). Deforestation is an ongoing issue in our society today and has many reasons why it is caused in the first
The past many decades have revealed a dramatically large increase in the global population. For example, the population increased from about 2.5 billion in 1950 to over 7.3 billion in 2015. This huge increase in population resulted in a need for many changes to be made in society. Global population growth is leading to deep changes in the demographics, economies, ecology, health, and governments of the world.
The world’s rain forests could completely vanish with in a hundred years due to the rate of deforestation (Deforestation). Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to money or to people’s need to provide for their families. Not all deforestation is intentional. Deforestation can be split up among 4 main factors: 5% caused by cattle ranching, 19% over-logging, 22% from palm oil plantations, and 54% from slash-and-burn farming. They are not the only thing that is causing harm to the rainforest though. There are many other things such as Cash Crops, Shifted Cultivators, Cattle Ranching, Mining Operations, Government interest, and Hydroelectric Projects, and Plam Oil
The world population is growing at an alarming rate. According to the United Nations, the world population is projected to exceed nine point seven billion people by the year 2050 with an estimated six countries to surpass
Overpopulation Problems in China In spite of the great achievements that China has achieved in the recent years, our country is still a developing country, which is facing many serious social problems. The most serious of all is overpopulation, for it has a passive influence on the national economy, education and environment. First and foremost, overpopulation is the main obstacle to the economic development in China. The limited natural resources in China can hardly support the excessively large population.
The deforestation of the Earth has been done for thousands of years, with the intention of clearing land to enhance farming crops or any type of livestock. Tropical forests are considered to be contributed with developing countries and our needs for them are not being met. Neither local nor national needs are being met, which influences economic globalization. This means that the needs and wants of our population are contributing to the bearing of these. Deforestation, by definition is referred to as “the removal of forest cover as a result of human activity.”(Gove 593). Direct causes for deforestation are the interest in infrastructure expansion such as building or altering roads, the interest in agricultural expansion, and wood extraction for sources of fuel or coal. A single direct cause is typically rare for deforestation. Many processes work together to cause the deforestation of our lands, which leads to no direct cause, most of the time.
People have been deforesting the Earth for thousands of years, primarily to clear land for crops or livestock. Although tropical forests are largely confined to developing countries, they aren’t just meeting local or national needs; economic globalization means that the needs and wants of the global population are bearing down on them as well. Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood extraction (e.g., logging or wood harvest for domestic fuel or charcoal), and infrastructure expansion such as road building and urbanization. Rarely is there a single direct cause for deforestation. Most often, multiple processes work simultaneously or sequentially to cause deforestation.
An increase in human population can influence our economy. Some of the factors that are affected are unemployment, poverty and the restriction of economic expansion. When the population increases, the cost of health, education, and other areas of urban growth are affected. Unempl...
Human population growth is the leading factor we have in place to sustain a more perfect ecosystem for future generations. Over development has led to extinction, habitat loss and climate change that scars the Earth and will never be recovered again. According to the Center for Biological and Diversity we are adding 227,000 more people on top of the 7 billion everyday which is causing species to disappear 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the rate of natural selection. It is time we get over our greed, religious biases and having more children equal’s more money mentality. The Earth and its ecosystem should be protected by every individual to keep it as pristine as the day they were born to pass off on future generations to inherit.