Examine the Relationship Between
Human Population Size and Climate Change
This paper will focus on analyzing the relationship or connection between population size and climate change. Thus, the author focuses on the two-way relationship between global change and increasing population size. Population size can change affect the environment because of the fact that increasing population means increasing consumption of energy and emission of different substances and chemicals that can affect the environment. On the other hand, climate change can affect population, particularly due to mass migration; this is because different developed countries will be having a hard time to manage their citizens due to the changes in the environment which can affect the resources. Therefore, population change can affect climate change, the same way how the second can affect the first.
“According to the 2006 Revision of United Nations Population Division, the world population will likely to increase by 2.5 billion over the next 41 years, passing from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050” (Friedman 2008). The rapid rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and average global surface temperatures in the twentieth century was escorted by the most striking or remarkable increased of human population in history – almost 300% between 1900 and 2000. Even though the casual links between these rising trends are considered as complex, the underlying facts are considered as straightforward. As the global population increased from 1.6 billion in 1900 to 2.5 billion in 1950 and 6.1 billion in 2000, people progressively consumed greater quantities of fossil fuel. At the same time, the world had expanded agriculture, deforestation, the production of certain chemicals and other activities which produce carbon dioxide and other gases that could create green house effect.
Through the 1960s, the global emission had increase were the product of both rising population and per capita increases. "Since 1970, average per capita emissions have been stable, so that on a global scale the rise in industrial carbon dioxide emissions over the last three decades correlates closely with population growth. Population trends and policy therefore have played a major part in the trajectory of past emissions, and they could have an even greater role in the future. The size of the human population and its activities in the 21st century will be a key factor which affects the extent of emissions, biotic carbon sinks and climate change.” Similarly, the impact of warming on humanity will be greatly affected by population size. Larger numbers of humans will effectively reduce the options for mitigating or adapting to sea level rise, changes in precipitation patterns and other projected byproducts of warming (Hyndman 2009).
Based on that, it can be said that the problem of population growth and climate change are considered as highly interactive. The more rapidly population increases, the more difficult it will be to deal with the different impacts of the rapid climate change. All of the people will be affected to some extent, however, in general, the greatest damages will mostly likely to be visited on the poor – those with fewest options for adapting quickly in order towards the changing climates. Among different nations, the developing countries are considered as the common vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This is particularly vital for those with broad, flat coastal plains, those which are economically dependent on agriculture, and those which are currently protected from open-ocean storms by coral reefs and will become less so if these reef’s deteriorate. Within countries, the poorest of the poor – those with little or no land and often dependent on the subsistence agriculture – may be seriously at risk (Harris 2007).
Global warming affects the lives of poor people, because it can affect the different resources. Lake Chad is considered as the largest freshwater sources in Africa, and there are about 20 million people that are dependent on the said body of water. However, due to climate change, it has shrunk to 5% of its original volume. As a result, the lives of African dependent on Lake Chad have been affected. In connection, it is important to consider the fact that population growth, particularly in the poor cities or nations in the world is driving explosive demand for water, which prompt rivers in thirsty countries to be tapped to about every drop, thus water is connected with the aspect of climate change. Thus, boosting water stress in developing countries, where hydrological researchers are commonly not enough. Thus, like what have mentioned, the number of people around the world is growing, accordingly the demand for water is also increasing. Climate change can affect the supply of water in the world.
On the other hand, the growing number of population creates a great impact over the energy consumption. This is because of the fact that the bigger the number of people in a given place can create greater needs or demands for energy, particularly those that are being used in households and those that are being used in order to maintain the different public facilities, particularly the aspect of transportation. This is applicable in developed countries particularly the US and the UK. In Europe, Niger is considered as one of the most populated countries in the said region, thus the said population size is predicted to increase by mid-century. Although, the said population will not have the direct influence over the climate change, it will affect the future policies and activities of the government towards informing the public about the impact of climate change.
As of now, despite of the growing awareness of the people and companies in the world regarding green process and manufacturing, there are still different factors in the world which can greatly affect the environment. It include products which are commonly used at home, and products that are being used by those organizations or companies that are not following the policies and standards that have been set by the local and national government, together with the international authorities. As a result, the bigger the number of people in the world, the hardest it will be for the officials to evaluate and monitor activities and products that are related to the environment. This scenario is still visible in different developing countries that are not that fully aware of the current environmental issues and global conditions.
On the other hand, climate change has a great impact over the lives of every individual. This is because climate change will create a domino effect in different industries and different departments of any country. Particularly, the environment has a great influence over the life of each individual, group, organization which will affect all the internal activities, together with their personal or group efforts. One of the common negative impacts of climate change is the growing loss in terms of natural resources. In simple scenario, climate change can greatly affect the performance of small-sized enterprise, particularly those that are connected in business of crops. Furthermore, it can affect the supply of foods for the people, particularly the poor people of developing countries. Particularly, climate change can affect the price of the different products and services due to the changing processes and factors in gathering and manufacturing raw materials. Thus, again, it can affect the lives of poor people. Above all, in a world of extreme weathers, where land is being lost due to the rising temperatures, desertification, floods and rising sea levels, the world will not be able to feed, water and sustain its current population.
Like what have mentioned, climate change can cause mass migration. Historically, climate change and human migration have been indescribably linked. Natural climatic variation has been a driving force behind human migration for many thousands of years. Moreover, climate shifts often occur within the context of preexisting social, demographic or economic challenges. According to Astri Suhrke “environmental degradation appears as a proximate cause of migration, while the underlying factors are population pressures and patterns or resource use. As climate change and its associated processes result in more intense storms, sea level rise or other cataclysmic environmental events, as some scientific studies are predicting, these events are likely to generate large numbers of environmental migrants or refugees. As a result, migration may increase as populations on the margin begin to seek less vulnerable livelihoods in new places or as they are potentially forced from their homes by catastrophes.” As a result, by 2010, the world may have to cope with as many as 50 million people escaping the effects of environmental deterioration. Thus, “China may see as many as 20 to 30 million environmental migrants by the year 2020” (Russo 2008). Many people are force off their land by climate change, mass migration movements may be joined by up to 200 million refugees, and the poorest people will be most affected (Stern 2007).
The study, In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Human Migration and Displacement, researchers questioned more than 2,000 migrants in 23 different countries which focuses on the areas that are likely to hit hardest by the climate change including desert regions, river deltas and islands. The study shows that in the Maldives, a group of 1,200 atolls in the Indian Ocean are showing danger. Some of the 40 islands states could disappear if the sea level rises by 6 feet. As a result, the government of Maldives is already taking security measures by planning fortifications and raising buildings. Furthermore, rising sea levels would also threaten global agricultural resources. In the densely populated Ganges, Mekong and Nile River deltas, sea level rises of just 3 feet could reduce land used for agriculture by at least 3.7 million acres. Above all, if the glaciers in the Himalayas will continue to melt, then there will be 1 billion people who live near the rivers including Ganges, the Mekong and the Yangtze would have to get ready for repeated flooding. On the other hand, in the summer, expect droughts due to the fact that there won’t glacier runoff anymore. Already arid regions will become drier, thus it will force the people to migrate north or away from agriculture in the cities. As a result, different experts warned that the climate change will injure or damage the different natural resources that are available and the increase in wars about the different natural resources. Thus, like what have mentioned, water will become scarcer in different regions in different parts of the globe. Therefore, countries of India and China will be affected because of their large population (Stern 2007).
Conclusion
As of now, both developing and developed nations in the world must focus on the growing impact of climate change in the lives of the world. The different reasons and scenarios that have been presented in this paper show that it is vital for different nations in the world to control the population. This is because of the fact that warming in 21st century is already causing different changes in terms of season timing and weather events that can be considered as extreme that are affecting in the agricultural yields and causes damages to the infrastructure in different countries.
It is important for different European countries, particularly in the UK region to focus on its current role and part in emissions. It has nine tones of CO2 emissions every year for a population of 60 million, which already exceed the average of the world of about 4 tones every year and a sustainable limit of 1.44 tones per capita at the current level of population. As a result, if the population continues to grow, the said situation can only get worse because of the fact that UK citizen is likely to create more than 750 tones of carbon dioxide over a lifetime (Stern 2007). Therefore, aside from focusing on the different policies, standards and procedures which focuses on the different activities that will decrease or reduce the emission and other negative chemicals that could harm the environment, it is also important for every government and different international environmental groups to focus on how the people will be informed about the impact of population towards climate change.
References
HARRIS, P. (2007). Europe and global climate change. Edward Elgar Publishing
HYNDMAN, D. (2009). Climate change on natural hazards and water resources. Springer, Netherlands
STERN, N. H. (2007). The economics of climate change. Cambridge University Press
RUSSO, M. (2008). Environmental management. SAGE Publications
FRIEDMAN, T. (2008). Hot, flat and crowded. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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