PART FOUR: POPULATIONUnit 1: Our Environment

LEARNING EXPECTATIONSOVERALL

Explain how population growth affects the sustainability of global ecosystems;

SPECIFIC

explain how growth in population and economic activity around the world increases pressure on natural resources and natural systems (e.g., the effects of urbanization and loss of agricultural land on food production)

PLANNING AHEAD Intro

The Population-Development Debate

Factors Affecting Human Population Change

The Response to 7 Billion People on the Planet – “Population 7 Billion”

(National Geographic)

But Should We Worry? – “Don’t Panic: The Truth About Population” – Dr. Hans

Rosling

Demographic Change

INTRO The coinciding of human population growth and environmental damage has led scientists to claim that the human population issue is the environmental issue.

The worry about human population has been around for a long time.

In 1798 English clergyman, politician and historian Thomas Malthus worried that our capability to multiply would exceed our resources.

INTRO Malthus believed that we had to find a humane way to curb the human population or disease, famine or warfare would do the job.

Malthus’ prediction hasn’t come true, as the human population has increased sevenfold since his time.

Contemporary writers argue that the link between human population and environmental degradation is too simple.

INTRO Emphasis on human population numbers allowed developed countries to blame developing countries for environmental degradation, while they fail to examine what they have done wrong.

However population growth coupled with technological development has resulted in the depletion and degradation of resources.

The question being asked if this happens because of the rise in human population or because of the way humans use their environment?

INTRO The answer may be that development practices (technological, economic and social) may degrade, enhance or maintain environmental attributes.

This part of unit one will look at: the fundamental concepts about human population and factors affecting

population Examine the debate about population, environment and development Debates about human development Measures of well-being that suggest there are different cause and effects

of using the Earth’s resources.

THE POPULATION-DEVELOPMENT DEBATE

About 78 million people are added to the Earth’s population every year.

About 90% of these are born in developing nations (Africa, Asia and Latin America).

From 1995 to 2000 the average annual population growth in these regions was about 1.4% while it was .25% in Canada, America and Japan.

However, Canada, America and Japan consume greater resources than the developing regions combined.

THE POPULATION-DEVELOPMENT DEBATE

In order to achieve a stable human population and stable consumption to help sustainable development, population dynamics have been to understood.

FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN POPULATION CHANGE

Historical growth of the human population is described four major stages: Hunters and gatherers Early pre-industrial agriculture The machine age (Industrial Revolution) The Modern era

FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN POPULATION CHANGE

Hunters and Gatherers Time Period: From the first human on earth to the beginning of agriculture

Human Density: About 1 person per 130 – 260 KM2 in most habitable areas

Population: as low as 250 000 to less than a few million

Average Rate of Growth: average annual increase was 0.00011% per year

FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN POPULATION CHANGE

Early, Preindustrial Agriculture Time Period: 9000/6000 BCE – 16 Century CE

Human Density: Domestication of plants and animals, rise of settled villages led to a

human density of 1 or 2 people per KM2

Population: 100 million by 0 CE and 1 and 500 million by 1600 CE

Average Rate of Growth: average annual increase was .03%

FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN POPULATION CHANGE

The Machine Age (Industrial Revolution) Time Period: 1600 CE in Europe – 1950’s in the Western world

Human Density: Transition from agricultural societies to literate societies; better

sanitation led to decreased death rate; urban density increased

Population: 900 million in 1800 and 3 billion by 1960

Average Rate of Growth: by 1600: .1% annually, increasing .01% every 50 years until

1950

FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN POPULATION CHANGE

The Modern Era Time Period: 1950s onwards

Human Density: Increased urbanization

Population: 7 billion+

Average Rate of Growth: 2.1% annually between 1965 and 1970; declining to 1.7% and

1.8% in the 1980s and 1990s; HIV/AIDS pandemic health threat.

RESPONSES TO REACHING 7 BILLION The population growth of the modern era has some worried. When the

population reached 7 billion, alarm bells went off.

SHOULD WE WORRY? As the National Geographic article suggested, the problem may not be

population explosion, but how we use our resources.

Dr. Han’s Rosling agrees in his documentary “Don’t Panic”