Thessaly master plan- WWF presentation_18.04.24.pdf
Population growth & its effect on environment
1. Problem of Population growth,
poverty and environment,
Population Explosion,
Family Welfare Programme,
Women & Child Welfare.
2. • Human population impacts environment science in many ways:
• Rising populations put increasing demands on natural
resources such as land, water, and energy supplies.
• As human communities use more resources, they generate
contaminants, such as air and water pollution and greenhouse
gas emissions
• They also increase larger quantities of waste
Focus of study on Demography, the science of human population.
We shall explore environmental impacts of population growth and
also considers questions such as:
•How does population growth or decline influence economic and
social well-being?
•Does population growth enhance or diminish economic growth?
•Do specific aspects of population growth, such as age structure or
sex imbalance, have bigger impacts on economic development and
environmental quality than other aspects?
3. • Estimate Earth's carrying capacity? or the maximum
population that it can support on a continuing basis.
• Dependencies:
• Food production
• Total arable land
• Amount of energy available to do work
• Resources are not allocated equally around the world. In
some areas such as the Sahel in West Africa (between
the Sahara desert and more humid woodlands to the
south), population growth is putting heavy stresses on a
fragile environment, so food needs are outstripping food
production
4. • Everyone who is alive one year from now will be one year
older at that time than s/he is today.
• Ages 15 to 49 are humans' prime childbearing years,
biologically speaking (although resource constraints and
social and political factors shape childbearing decisions
differently from one country to another).
• Human mortality is relatively high among infants, children,
and adults over age 60, compared to other age groups.
• Putting these observations together, population analysts can
develop a reasonably accurate map of how a society's
population size, births, deaths, and age structure are likely to
evolve in the next several decades.
5. • Birth and death rates are the most important determinants
of population growth; in some countries, net migration is
also important in this regard.
• To calculate population growth rates, demographers take the
difference between births and deaths in a given time period,
add the net number of migrants (which for the world as a
whole is 0), and divide that number by the total population.
• For example, there are now about 136 million births and 58
million deaths worldwide annually, adding a net of 78 million
new inhabitants to a global population of 6.7 billion, a
growth rate of nearly 1.2%
6.
7. • Mechanization of agriculture enabled societies to produce
more food.
• As food supplies expanded, average levels of nourishment
rose, and vulnerability to chronic and contagious diseases
declined over succeeding generations.
• Improvements in medical care and public health services—
also helped people to live longer, so death rates fell. After
several decades of lower mortality, people realized that they
did not have to have so many children to achieve their desired
family size, so birth rates began to fall as well.
• Family size tended to decrease as women found opportunities
to enter the labour force.
• The costs of raising children also increased, as slightly
wealthier families living in urban areas faced higher expenses
for a larger array of physical and social necessities.
8. Phased reduction in death and birth rates is called demographic transition.
Because death rates fall before birth rates, population growth initially speeds
up. Population momentum is still significant despite decline in global fertility
rate from 5 children born per woman in 1950 to a little over 2.5 in 2006.
9. • Developed nations have passed through the demographic transition, and most
developing countries are at some point in the process today.
• Expanded work forces can help nations increase their economic output, raising living
standards for everyone. They also can strain available resources and which in turn may
cause shortages and economic disruption. (Source: habitable planet)
10. • Fertility rate :
• Physical factors : Woman’s child bearing years.
• Non-physical factors: Relationship status; use of contraception
• Fertility levels are lower in developed countries than in developing nations because
more women in developed countries work outside of the home and tend to marry later
and to use contraception and abortion to delay or prevent childbearing.
11. • Mortality rate :
• Mortality is the second major variable that shapes population trend.
• Death rates are highest among infants, young children and the elderly
• To assess longevity in a society, demographers calculate life expectancy -the age
that a newborn would, on average, live.
12. • Life Expectancy:
• It is trending upward around the world, but a substantial gap remains between
• developing and developed countries. In 2006, life expectancies at birth ranged
from the mid-30s in some African countries to the high 70s or low 80s in the
United States, Australia, Japan, and some European countries
Reason for longevity: Satisfaction of many basic human needs such as adequate
nutrition, clean water and sanitation, as well as access to medical services like
vaccinations. However, New threats to health are continually emerging viz. Aids , TB
13. • Early decades of the Industrial Revolution: life expectancies were low in western
world.
• Thousands of people died from infectious diseases such as typhoid and cholera, in
the crowded due to filthy conditions in factory towns or due to poor nutrition.
• But. from about 1850 through 1950, a cascade of health and safety advances
radically improved living conditions in industrialized nations.
• Major milestones included:
• improving urban sanitation and waste removal;
• improving the quality of the water supply and expanding access to it;
• forming public health boards to detect illnesses and quarantine the sick;
• researching causes and means of transmission of infectious diseases;
• developing vaccines and antibiotics;
• adopting workplace safety laws and limits on child labor; and
• promoting nutrition by providing milk, breads, and cereals with vitamins
By the mid-20th century, most industrialized nations had passed through the
demographic transition. As health technologies were transferred to developing
nations, many of these countries entered the mortality transition and their
population swelled. The population growth rate peaked in 1960s at 2%/yr (2.5%
in developing countries).
14. Dependency ratio: (people who are too young or too old to work vs. working population
Dependency ratios by region, 2005. Source: UN, World Population Prospects
Region
Total (Dependents
per 100 working-age
people)
Children per 100
working-age people
Old-age per 100
working-age people
World 55 44 11
Africa 81 75 6
Latin
America/Caribbean
57 47 10
Oceania 54 36 16
Asia 52 43 10
North America 49 31 18
Europe 47 23 23
Dependency ratios are key influences on economic growth. Nations with high
dependency ratios spend large shares of their resources taking care of dependents, while
those with lower ratios are able to devote more resources to investment in capital,
technological progress, and education.
15. Dependency ratios are key influences on economic growth. Nations with high
dependency ratios spend large shares of their resources taking care of dependents, while
those with lower ratios are able to devote more resources to investment in capital,
technological progress, and education.
16. • Earth's population by 2050 will reach
• ~9 billion, if fertility decline to 2 children/woman in 2050. with max. growth
occurring in developing countries
• 7.7 billion, if the rate falls more sharply, to 1.5 children/woman,
• 10.6 billion, if there is slower decline to 2.5 children/woman
Is the population
growth
out of control ?
17. • Growth rates peaked in late 1960s. The world's total population is still rising because
of population momentum in developing countries in ‘50s and early 1960s.
• Fertility rates are falling as many developing countries pass through the demographic
transition, due to factors like:
• Lower infant mortality rates; education, and work opportunities for women; and
increased access to family planning services.
18. • World population growth in the 21st century will be different from previous
decades in several important ways.
• First, humans are living longer and having fewer children, so there will be more
older people (age 60 and above) than very young people (age zero to four).
• Second, nearly all population growth will take place in urban areas. Third, fertility
rates will continue to decline
• Senior citizens can be active and productive members of society, but they have
many unique needs in areas like medical care, housing and transportation.
• Growing elderly populations will strain social services, especially in countries that
do not have well- developed social safety nets.
• As societies age, demand for younger workers will increase, drawing more women
to work outside of the home, thereby decreasing fertility rate.
• some countries have already dropped below replacement level (2.1): # of
children per woman that keeps population levels constant when births and deaths
are considered together over time.
• Fertility rates in most European and some Asian and Caribbean countries
currently range from about 1.2 to 1.8, well below replacement level. shrinking
populations might drain national savings and reduce tax revenues.
19. • One widely-cited formula proposed by Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren in 1974
• "I = PAT" i.e.
• Environmental Impact=Population x Affluence (or consumption) x
Technology
• Technology is sub-divided into two factors:
• Resource-intensity (how much used to produce each unit of consumption)
• Waste-intensity (how much waste generated for each unit of consumption)
• Environmental impacts take two major forms:
• First, we consume resources such as land, food, water, soils, and services from
healthy ecosystems, such as water filtration through wetlands. Over-consumption
uses up or severely depletes supplies of non-renewable resources, such as fossil
fuels, and depletes renewable resources such as fisheries and forests if we use
them up faster than they can replenish themselves
• Second, we emit wastes as a product of our consumption activities, including air
and water pollutants, toxic materials, greenhouse gases, and excess nutrients.
Some wastes, such as untreated sewage and many pollutants, threaten human
health. Others disrupt natural ecosystem functions: for example, excess nitrogen
in water supplies causes algal blooms that deplete oxygen and kill fish.
20. • Rising population spurred worries that developing countries could deplete their
food supplies. Starting with India in 1951, dozens of countries launched family
planning programs with support from international organizations and western
governments.
• National programs were particularly effective in Asia, which accounted for roughly
80% of global fertility decline from the 1950s through 2000.
• However, that this conclusion is controversial. Some researchers have argued that
desired fertility falls as incomes grow—and that family planning has essentially no
independent influence
• These programs convince citizens that having large numbers of children was bad
for the nation and for individual families. Generally they focused on educating
married couples about birth control and distributing contraceptives, but some
programs took more coercive approaches.
• China imposed a limit of one child per family in 1979.
• In some parts of China the one-child policy reportedly has been enforced through
methods including forced abortions and sterilizations. Forced sterilizations also
occurred in India in the 1970s.
• These policies have spurred some Indian and Chinese families to practice selective
abortion and infanticide of female babies, since boys are more valued culturally
and as workers.
21. • Population sex ratios in both countries are skewed as a result. In 2005 there
were 107.5 males per 100 females in India and 106.8 males per 100 females
in China, compared to a worldwide average of 101.6 males per 100 females.
• Females slightly outnumber males on every continent other than Asia
• Large societies consume more resources than small ones, but consumption
patterns and technology choices may account for more environmental
harms than sheer numbers of people. The U.S. population is about one-
fourth as large as that of China or India, but the United States currently
uses far more energy because Americans are more affluent and use
their wealth to buy energy-intensive goods like cars and electronics.
• But China and India are growing and becoming more affluent, so their
environmental impacts will increase. For example, in 2006 China
surpassed the United States as the world's largest emitter of carbon
dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas produced as a result of human
activities
22. • Nutritional deficiencies cause common illnesses like being underweight,
while dirty water and poor sanitation spread infectious agents such as
cholera and typhoid.
• New threats to health are continually emerging, and often are spread
across international borders through trade and human or animal
migration. Recent examples that are severe enough to affect life
expectancy in large areas include the HIV/AIDS pandemic and
potentially avian flu and multi-drug-resistant malaria and tuberculosis.
• Researchers are also gaining new insight into existing threats, such as
indoor air pollution from combustion of primitive biomass fuels like crop
waste and dung.
• Common diseases: Pneumonia, Gastrointestinal conditions, Diarrhea,
Measles, Malaria, Malnutrition etc.
• Environmental investments, such as providing cleaner energy sources
and upgrading sewage treatment systems, can significantly improve
public health.
23. Case Study:
Chula ( cooking stove) issue:
• WHO estimates that 16 lakh early deaths occur
annually from cooking stove pollution.
• ~4- 5Lakh women and children less than 5 years die
each year in India due to indoor smoke.
• Chula smoke is 3rd highest cause of death after dirty
Water and lack of sanitation.
• What should be done to address the issue?
24. India and Natural Disasters
India is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world.
Over 65% land area vulnerable to earthquakes;
70% of land under cultivation prone to drought;
5% of land (40 million hectares) to floods;
8% of land (8,000 km coastline) to cyclones.
A Major Disaster occurs every 2-3 years;
50 million people affected annually
1 million houses damaged annually along with human,social
and other losses
During 1985-2003, the annual average damage due to natural
disasters has been estimated at 70 million USD
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, GOI: BMTPC, Ministry of Urban Development, GOI
25. GENERAL EFFECTS OF DISASTER
LOSS OF LIFE
INJURY
DAMAGE TO AND DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY.
DAMAGE TO AND DESTRUCTION OF PRODUCTION.
DISRUPTION OF LIFESTYLE
LOSS OF LIVELIHOOD.
DISRUPTION TO ESSENTIAL SERVICES
DAMAGE TO NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE
DISRUPTION TO GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEMS
NATIONAL ECONOMIC LOSS
SOCIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL AFTER EFFECT.
26. The Myths
It Can’t Happen to Us.
The Nature’s forces are so Deadly the
Victims will Die anyway.
There is Nothing We Can Do.
27. A phenomenon or event which constitutes a
trauma for a population/environment.
A vulnerable point/area that will bear the brunt
of the traumatizing event.
The failure of local & surrounding resources to
cope with the problems created by the
phenomenon.
Types of Disasters
Natural - Manmade
Ingredients of a Disaster
30. RESPONSE
Response measures are usually those which are taken
immediately prior to and following disaster impact.
Typical measures include :
Implementation of plans
Activation of the counter-disaster system
Search and Rescue
Provision of emergency food, shelter, medical assistance etc.
Survey and assessment
Evacuation measures
31. RECOVERY
Recovery is the process by which communities and the
nation are assisted in returning to their proper level of
functioning following a disaster.
Three main categories of activity are normally regarded as
coming within the recovery segment:
Restoration
Reconstruction
Rehabilitation
32. PREVENTION & MITIGATION
Prevention : Action within this segment is designed to impede
the occurrence of a disaster event and/or prevent such an
occurrence having harmful effects on communities or key
installations.
Mitigation : Action within this segment usually takes the form of
specific programs intended to reduce the effects of disaster on a
nation or community. For instance, some countries regard the
development and application of building codes (which can reduce
damage and loss in the event of earthquakes and cyclones) as
being in the category of mitigation.
33. PREPAREDNESS
It comprises of measures which enable governments,
organizations, communities and individuals to respond
rapidly and effectively to disaster situations.
34. PREPAREDNESS (Contd)
Examples of Preparedness measures are :
The formulation & maintenance of valid, up-to-date
counter-disaster plans
Special provisions for emergency action
The provisions of warning systems
Emergency communications
Public education and awareness
Training programs, including exercises and tests.