...Global Issues, Role of United Nations and Japan’s International Contributions Contents Introduction 3 History of Overpopulation 3 Industrial Revolution 3 Invention of Birth control 4 Risks of Overpopulation 4 Food 4 Water Shortage 4 Civil Conflict 5 Poverty 5 Case Study 5 Government policies 6 Taxation policy 6 Education Subsidies 6 Government Transfers 6 Effectiveness Of Government Policies 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction Overpopulation as defined by Dhirubhai Ambani is “where an organism’s numbers exceed the current carrying capacity of its habitat” (Ambani, 2013) There are many causes of overpopulation and overpopulation occurs when the number of organisms is of too great a number compared to the relevant resources and as a result, resources such as the water and essential nutrients they need to survive are inadequate. This can be a result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, an increase in immigration, or an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. This paper seeks to discuss how overpopulation began as well as the risk it carries. History of Overpopulation Industrial Revolution Prior to the industrial revolution, the world’s population did not change much. This was probably due to the fact that resources were difficult to come by. People were worried their ability to provide for their families would not be adequate. Furthermore, poor nutrition and famines were common. The average life expectancy...
Words: 1588 - Pages: 7
...a particular geographical area, and have the capability of interbreeding. Overpopulation: Overpopulation is a function of the number of individuals compared to the relevant resources, such as the water and essential nutrients they need to survive. It can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, an increase in immigration, or an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. Causes of Overpopulation: Decline in death rate: Root of overpopulation is the difference between the overall birth rate and death rate in populations. If the number of children born each year equals the number of adults that die, then the population will stabilize. Population increases due to increases of birth rate for long period of time then death rate. Improvement of agriculture provides nutrition without hunting. Better Medical facilities: Better medical facility is another reason of overpopulation. Science invents different vaccines and treatments for life threatening diseases. Due to this this death rate decreases. Rise in Illiteracy rate: Uneducated people do not know about the harmful effects of overpopulation. They give birth to large number of child and do not provide them the basic needs of life. Technological Advancement in Fertility Treatment: Advancement of technological facilities also play important role in overpopulation. Medical sciences discoveries provide different methods for child birth to those...
Words: 645 - Pages: 3
...Negative Effects of Overpopulation Depletion of Natural Resources The effects of overpopulation are quite severe. The first of these is the depletion of resources. The Earth can only produce a limited amount of water and food, which is falling short of the current needs. Most of the environmental damage being seen in the last fifty odd years is because of the growing number of people on the planet. They are cutting down forests, hunting wildlife in a reckless manner, causing pollution and creating a host of problems. Those engaged in talking about overpopulation have noticed that acts of violence and aggression outside of a war zone have increased tremendously while competing for resources. Degradation of Environment: With the overuse of coal, oil and natural gas, it has started producing some serious effects on our environment. Rise in the number of vehicles and industries have badly affected the quality of air. Rise in amount of CO2 emissions leads to global warming. Melting of polar ice caps, changing climate patterns, rise in sea level are few of the consequences that we might we have to face due to environment pollution. Conflicts and Wars Overpopulation in developing countries puts a major strain on the resources it should be utilizing for development. Conflicts over water are becoming a source of tension between countries, which could result in wars. It causes more diseases to spread and makes them harder to control. Starvation is a huge issue facing the world...
Words: 388 - Pages: 2
...There are many environment problems, such as pollution, untreated sewage, and overpopulation. Although all of these issues have an impact on our society, overpopulation stands to have the greatest impact on our environment. Overpopulation is excessive human population in an area to the point of overcrowding, depletion of natural resources and environmental deterioration. The three most negative impacts overpopulation on the environment are water pollution and overconsumption One of the major sources of water pollution is organic pollution, which is becoming more and more pressing on the environment because of the growing population of the world. It's a simple concept, the more people there are in one area, the more waste they will produce. For example, in a city there are so many people that the sewage plants and the environment can't take care of all of the waste and function in its usual manner. The sewage plants do their best, but the secondary discharge that gets into the water supply causes great problems. The excess waste acts as a food source for algae and the growth rate is uncontrollable. Everyone has been in a lake where there is a lot of dead algae on the shore and the water is clouded with algae. This situation is known as eutrophication, where algae growth is out of control and the water becomes oxygen depleted. There are natural cycles of eutrophication in the spring and fall, but the body of water can deal with those amounts. When excess waste is added to the...
Words: 871 - Pages: 4
...10/15/12 Eng 201H Overpopulation Since the year of 2011, the world population climbs up the ladder to seven billion people. According to a survey given out by SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, overpopulation is the world’s top environmental issue, followed by climate change (Science Daily). Overpopulation started through the third world countries, where most people are not being educated or given the option of contraceptives due to cultural reasons. With the rate of the human population growing, the risks of human going through starvation and illnesses due to environmental issues increase every day. Environmental risks due to the depletion of forests, fresh water, fossil fuels, and land that all consumed by humans. Overpopulation might not seem as a serious issue to people that disagrees about human overpopulating the Earth has causes major damage and tragedy around the world, but because of overpopulation, we are a step closer to turmoil. Traditionally, human population increases because people are eager to pass on genes and or last names to the next generations; especially those people that in countries that in extremely poor conditions follows those traditions. Mary Ellen Harte, a journalist from the Los Angeles Times mentions about how females are “culturally conditioned daily to welcome the idea of having children – plural, not one or none” (Harte). Many women whether being under cultural influence or not, lack the idea on how to support those children...
Words: 2454 - Pages: 10
...Overpopulation and its Contenders Population has become a challenge in the world today. In recent years, there has been a significant amount of growth in the world population. According to the Census Bureau, at the start of this year, the United States population will have reached a new record of more than 317 million people. That makes us the third most populous country on the planet, behind only China (1.35 billion) and India (1.23 billion) (Schlesinger 2013). This has led to sever problems for poor nations developing and developed countries all around the world. Therefore, government of these countries need to take immediate action to control population. There appears to be many problems caused by overpopulation. The first of these is the depletion of resources. The Earth can only produce a limited amount of water and food, which is falling short of the current needs. Degradation of Environment, rise in unemployment, and a higher cost of living are among the additional problems that are caused by overpopulation. Furthermore, a number of solutions might be made to control birth rates by the government. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge that I do not support the government in taking actions to limit the number of children we are allowed to have. I believe that this type of control violates a much-cherished personal freedom in starting a family and passing your genes on to your offspring. Instead of limiting us, they can educate residents about...
Words: 708 - Pages: 3
...Global Context of Business Overpopulation & Overconsumption As a species, we tend not to talk too much about population growth, but we all know it is there. Modern man first showed up on earth over 50,000 years ago, and by 1850 we had reproduced to such amount that we reached the 1 Billion people mark. The next billion took only 100 years, compared to over 50 thousand years for the first one. In 2011 world population reached 7 billion. According to the Population Institute, which focuses on raising awareness about overpopulation, we add around 220,000 people per day, which amounts to around 80 million people per year, or 1 billion every 12 years. Currently, for every two people who die, four more are born. Many experts argue that population growth will cap at around 10-11 billion by the end of the century, and therefore we shouldn’t concern ourselves too much with this issue. This may very well be true, however, 11 billion people leading the lifestyle of a middle class citizen in a developed country is nowhere near sustainable, and this is certainly a big cause for concern. Therefore, as humans we need to define what is the underlying problem and how do we tackle future challenges. There are plenty of arguments for and against overpopulation. Many argue that population controls have to be applied in order to stop grown, such as China’s one child policy. Others say that population growth is unstoppable and therefore we have to focus more on how we deal with it rather...
Words: 2458 - Pages: 10
...Overpopulation in India, Causes, consequences, solutions Felipe Benjumea Juan Casares EAS Overpopulation occurs when the number of people living in an area exceeds the limit the area is capable of having. In other words the relationship between the human population and its local environment is unbalanced. This is problematic because as individuals, we rely on a local area for subsistence; therefore, we are limited by the productivity of a given area. If productivity does not meet our demands, nature will be in charge of balancing the scale. However, we as humans are animals of reason. Therefore we are capable, through technology and culture, of living in an area that should, in theory, be unable to support us. And what makes it worst is the fact that, regardless of political (countries) and geographical barriers, we all share a common home called mother earth. Therefore overpopulation affects the individual area suffering from it, and, because of globalization, the rest of the world. However, the countries most affected by extreme population are of course the countries suffering from it. In our world there are many countries, principally, Asian countries that reside under this “deplorable” conditions of overpopulation. To understand overpopulation, it is necessary to analyze the underlying reasons behind it, the consequences of it, and most importantly the solutions for it. Like mentioned above, culturally and geographically, Asian countries are more prone to suffer...
Words: 1458 - Pages: 6
...Is overpopulation a cause for concern in todays’ modern society? Concern sorrounding the topic of overpopulation has been expressed since 200AD by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, at a time when the world populace amounted to only 190 million. Today in 2016 this concern is still ever present and the world population amounts to a total of 7 billion, this massive leap in the human population has caused major concerns in both the public and scientific society with regards to its possible effects on the environment and the worlds’ future economic structure and gives great reason to believe that yes, overpopulation is a valid concern in todays’ society. Reasons for Concern Mankind reached the population of 1 billion in 1804 after 200 000...
Words: 1660 - Pages: 7
...During my expedition through the Museum of Modern Art in San Jose I saw a photograph that hit me like a bolt of lightning and got me thinking about probably the world’s biggest problem, overpopulation. The photograph I saw was called Architecture of Density and it was taken by photographer and artist Michael Wolf. The photograph portrayed a massive building in Hong Kong that looked as if it was built to house thousands of people using the least amount of space possible. The apartment building seemed to be designed to have people crammed together with no room to move. Although Wolf’s main focus of his picture was to show viewers that the culture of Hong Kong starts in the homes of the people, I saw Wolf’s photograph as a look into the far more complicated issue of overpopulation, whose effects are currently felt worldwide and are slowly getting worse. Human overpopulation on earth is the leading cause of many of the planet’s problems. Overpopulation is defined as “excessive population of an area to the point of overcrowding, depletion of natural resources, or environmental deterioration”, (Answers). The problems caused by the overpopulation of humans range from the extreme of global warming/climate change, pollution, water shortages, desertification and depletion of other resources to other smaller problems such as deforestation, species extinction and overcrowding. However unfortunately, few governments or government officials around the world are willing to look...
Words: 3637 - Pages: 15
...Jessica Carling 10/28/2010 Tues/Thur. 2:00 - 3:15 Overpopulation and Environmental Degradation The planet on which we live is dying, harsh: yes, but true. The sustaining capacity of the globe is shrinking a little bit every year and soon, if the population trend continues at the current rate the sustaining capacity will have reached its peak. The ignorance of humanity has lead all to believe that the planets resources are infinite well, I'm here to tell you that research, study, and observation has proven that it is in fact very finite. The population explosion has its roots in developing countries such as China and India, the two most populous countries in the world. The basic fact is people are having more children than their surrounding environment can support. Overpopulation is creating severe problems to the air quality, water supplies, and cropland sustainability; cultural views pose as road blocks to taking steps toward destroying this epidemic. Should the population continue at its current rate of expansion there will be an estimated 50 billion people on the planet by the dawn of the next century according to Arthur McCormack in his 1970 book The Population Problem (9). The question now is are we as a species destined to die from resource depletion or are there ways to stop this growth before it becomes a global catastrophe? Walter K. Dodds, author of Humanities Footprint, mentions...
Words: 1786 - Pages: 8
...Various Countries Currently, the world population is reaching an estimated number of 7,094 million people or about 7 billion (Population Connection, 2013) and is growing by 145 people every minute or 2.4 every second (CIA World Factbook, 2012). The increase in world population happens usually because of the faster decline in death rate than the birth rate due to more availability of antibiotics, immunization, clean water and increased food production which improved child lives and decreases infant mortality. Too much population growth in a region, a city or a country can result as overpopulation. Overpopulation refers to a condition when the number of the population exceeds the capacity of their living habitats and the existence of their resources, it normally occurs from the unbalanced rate of birth and deaths, an increase in immigration, or an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. Overpopulation is generally considered as a disadvantage as it may contribute to multitudinous problems such as environmental deterioration, low life qualities, good deficiency, and fatal issue such as population collapse. This essay will emphasize on the diversity of negative aspects of population growth in various countries on their environments, economy, and society. The major and largest factor related to my idea of too much population growth as a disadvantage towards most countries is its effects on the countries’ environment and natural resources. According to the Population Connection...
Words: 1789 - Pages: 8
...Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “2BR02B” a doctor named Dr. Hitz invented the idea of population control to solve the world’s problems. A man named Edward Wehling Jr. is in the hospital, because his wife is having triplets. In order for the family to keep the babies, they must find three volunteers willing to die to maintain the population, because the government is controlling the right for the citizens to have however many babies they want to have. The power of the government is described by prohibiting overpopulation. The government enforces the law by limiting the number of offspring, taking away individuality, and encouraging suicides. Body Initially, the government limits the amount of offspring that a family can have. Dr. Hitz explains...
Words: 1094 - Pages: 5
...The population explosion in the last one hundred years is a well-documented, and well-examined subject matter. All sorts of agencies have devoted time and resources to studying, problematizing, and strategizing in order to deal with the threat of overpopulation. Diverse groups, including the United Nations, have developed plans to encourage population control and decreased fertility rates. I will not go into the specifics of these plans here, as I will be examining them in detail in my presentation next week. However, I will say that population control in Third World nations have become an essential component of public policy, and have taken on many forms around the world. However, it seems possible that we are all jumping the gun. What if the population explosion is a self-correcting problem? There is some evidence that global fertility rates are naturally declining, even in areas without family planning and population control. Could the improved health and education in many countries be achieving this goal without specific population control measures? Or else, are changes in the environment simply lowering human’s fertility? In addition, some people argue that it doesn’t matter how whether the population is exploding. There are those proponents of the “tech-fix,” who believe that human ingenuity is capable of dealing with any human population, and therefore the population explosion is not a problem. Malthusians are faced with many opponents in the modern day, and it does not...
Words: 1222 - Pages: 5
...overconsumption is a larger threat to the world than over population. Overpopulation has long been seen as a hindrance to world development, in 2014 the world population is currently 7 billion, there is no doubt that the world has experienced a mass rise in population. Most of this increase has occurred in the developing world, the world population rises by approximately 83 people annual and 99% of this increase happens in the less developed regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. For example, Africa’s population, despite the AIDS epidemic has tripled to 926 million from 1960 to 2005, whilst Asia’s population doubled to 3.9BN in this period. Six countries account for half of this total increase in world population; these are; India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Contrasting to this the population of the developed world has actually fallen. The United Nations predict that by 2050, the world’s population will reach 9.2 billion, the population of less economically developed countries is expected to rise from 4.9BN (2001) to 8.2BN (2050). Thomas Malthus (1766-1843) argued that populations increase in size at a much faster rate than the ability of those same populations to feed themselves. He concludes that these limits on food supply lead to natural checks on the population, such as famine and malnutrition, perhaps even war and increase death rates. He argues that overpopulation needs to be avoided by delaying marriage and abstaining from sex....
Words: 1152 - Pages: 5
