It is often claimed that the constant increase in the population is the sole cause of environmental degradation. The population is indeed a concern and so is the environmental degradation but there is no concrete reason why it is blamed upon the growth in the population or rather the poor underdeveloped parts of the world instead of the other actions carried out by humans that damage and deplete the resources and hamper the process of concluding to a solution of the environmental problems. Moreover, another myth that holds the wrong end of the stick is the belief that too many people cause hunger. This is not true and it would be justified in the following discussion.
Discussion
With the passage of time, the world is expanding in terms of the people that it holds. As the years’ progress, the total number of people is growing and thus the population, on a general basis, is on the rise. A higher growth rate means that a country has a high birth rate and a low death rate which means that the ratio of the number of births is more as compared to the number of deaths. This could be due to a number of reasons: most developing countries have a high growth rate because there is no awareness about family planning, and the need to control the number of births also, countries that have better medical facilities and living environments tend to have a low death rate which contributes to an increase in the population size. A low growth rate may be due to a high literacy rate and a low fertility rate among women and it may also be influenced by a high infant mortality rate.
It is a fact the overall population rate of the world is at a rise however, there is no evidence that population increase in poorer countries is a cause for their poor economical development. In fact, it is not even a major cause of the poverty and environmental devastation in these regions. Poverty is a result of colonialism and social inequality that rests in regions where there is a large gap between the higher class and the lower class. Social inequality is caused by the citizens and officials themselves, who do not attempt to bridge the gap between the social classes and this leads to a colonized state with an expanding capitalist world economy. Population growth depends upon the decisions made by men and women upon how further they want to expand their family. These decisions are based upon the economic and social conditions of their country and the factor of whether they can afford to raise the family. It certainly is not dependent upon their motive to disrupt the overall well-being of other people. A woman may have more children if they provide her with economic stability or the size of a family may be large if they need more labor supply to bring in additional wages (Robbins, p. 177).
However, it is clear the smaller families hold benefits such as educational opportunities, better attention on the provision of facilities, and gain economic independence.
According to Oxfam, which is a confederation of organizations that works to find a solution for poverty and injustice, large families are defended by the fact that families that are poor need to have more children that would support the family, bring in additional income, and provide security. Again it is pointed by Oxfam that although larger population rates cause a strain over the financial and natural resources of a poor country, it is yet not a cause for poverty, rather poverty is caused by the unequal distribution of resources among the people.
It is no doubt natural that if the populations are large, there would be more demand for the resources, it is not the sole cause for the depletion of resources. Rather, factors having an even greater impact on the environment, society, and resources are over-consumption and unsustainable development. The structure of the Consumption patterns can disrupt the natural and environmental resources leading to an impact on society. Consumption patterns are driven by current economics that having their main focus on expansion can be a source for promoting production and the purchase of more material assets and thus, satisfaction. The increased need to obtain inputs such as raw material also has a considerable effect on the environment. Another factor for environment degradation and hampered sustainability is the misuse of land and resources. For example, fast-food franchises, such as KFC and Pizza Hut, are under pressure from major environmentalists in the United States and other developed countries because of the impact that they lay over the environment through the rigorous breeding of livestock and poultry for such restaurants which leads to deforestation, the degradation of the land, and contamination of water sources and other natural resources (Shiva, pp. 70-71). Moreover, other issues that cause this environmental depletion include unsustainable development which causes a disruption in the management of resources, reproduction-related issues, and economic, social, and political environments.
As far as the myth of hunger caused by increased population goes, too many people sharing the same land is not what causes hunger. For example, the lowest percentage of underdeveloped children under five are seen in Trinidad and Tobago, and the highest is observed in Guatemala (almost twelve times greater); but still, the cropland per person -which is a key indicator of the human population- of Trinidad and Tobago’s is less than half of that of Guatemala’s. another example could be Costa Rica that has half the cropped acres per person as compared to Honduras, yet its life expectancy is eleven years longer than that of Honduras’. (World Resources Institute)
Considering the examples from all around the globe there is no substantial evidence that would suggest that hunger and population are correlated with each other and are directly proportional. For example, Nederland is a country that has very little land per capita and it has not prevented it from eliminating hunger and being a large exporter of food. (FAO: food and agriculture organization)
In the end, it is important to note that it is not always large populations that are ultimately the main cause of environmental stress. There are a number of factors involved including larger populations, as well as global warming, high-tech agriculture, industrial pollution, even misplaced development priorities. Also, issues such as the over-consumption of resources and non-sustainable development are responsible for putting pressure over the environment for it to provide the resources land and freshwater. But it is certainly not enough to say that it is only “over” population that is the root cause of environmental problems of this nature.
Works Cited
- Bengtsson, Tommy, and O. Saito. Population and economy: From hunger to modern economic growth . Oxford university press, 2003.
- Robbins, Richard. H. Global problems and the culture of capitalism. Prentice hall, 2007.
- Shiva, Vandana. Stolen Harvest: The hijacking of the global food supply. Zed books, 2001.
- Report on world population and hunger. University of Georgia, 1975.