Overpopulation or population overshoot may be conceived as a situation whereby the human population in a locale exceeds the carrying capacity of that place occupied by the group.
In the long run however, overpopulation may be viewed as a situation whereby the non-renewable resources in a locale cannot suffice the human population in the area. The aforementioned definitions pressuposes that the status of overpopulation is largely affected, especially in the long run, by changes in lifestyle. Thus, if in a particular locality, the people's lifestyle increases affluently, such that the resources in that area suffices them, we cannot say there is overpopulation in the area. However such a positive increment in the lifestyle of a people seldom happens.
It is worthy of note that human population refers to the relationship between man and his environment, thus the entire human population and its environment. How we react to changes in our environment and use our resources go a long way to affect the population status in a locality.
It is submitted that overpopulation does not result entirely from increase in births, decline in mortality rates and increase in immigration as it may also stem from the depletion of resources. The latter is very dangerous because a sparsely populated area may attain the status of an overpopulated area when the resources in the area lags behind the consumption rate in the area. Thus, when resources are depleted to the extent that what's left cannot or does not suffice the human population, there is what we call overpopulation.
OVERVIEW OF OVERPOPULATION
Since the Black Death around 1350, the world population has been on a continuous increase negating the rather punctuated declines around the 1980s. It is submitted that in recent times, places which were enjoying steady declines have seen rate increases which has contributed to the total increase in the world's population.
As of 10th April, 2018, the United States Census Bereau pegs the world population at 7.165 billion while the United Nations chalks it at 7 billion.
The United Nations has expressed concerns on the continued increase in population in sub-saharan Africa as it goes a long way to affect the entire human population.
Research submits that the carrying capacity of the earth may be well between 4 billion to 16 billion. Therefore depending on which mark one decides to use, overpopulation may or may not have occurred. However concerns have been raised on the continuous increase in population as it is feared by the UN, that world population could reach 9.8 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. However what is more concerning is the fact that the world population, based on recent parameters, is expected to be pegged at 10.5 billion between 2040 and 2050.
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF OVERPOPULATION
Recent increase in population has raised well-grounded concerns that the planet may not be able to sustain present or future numbers of inhabitants. The InterAcademy Panel Statement on Population Growth, circa 1994, stated that many environmental problems naming, rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide , global warming , and pollution, are aggravated by the population expansion.
Others problems associated with overpopulation are :
- Increased demand for resources such as fresh water and food
- Starvation and malnutrition
- Consumption of natural resources (such as fossil fuels ) faster than the rate of regeneration
- A deterioration in living conditions.
- Emergence of epidemics due to areas being clogged up with people and its associated unsanitary conditions.
PROJECTIONS OF POPULATION GROWTH
The world population is expected to grow until at least 2050, with the population reaching 9 billion in 2040. Some predictions slate the population as high as 11 billion by 2050. However the world population could reach an insane 15 billion by 2100 which would make it 1 billion shy of the earth's maximum carrying capacity of 16 billion.
In the 1950s Water Greiling submitted that would reach a peak of about 9billion in the 21st century, and stop growing, after a readjustment of the Third World and a sanitation of the tropics.
In 2000, the United Nations hinted that the world population increases by 75million per year(1.14%), and according to data from the CIA's factbook, the population of the world increases by 145 per minute.
CAUSES OF OVERPOPULATION
Throughout history, technological revolutions have coincided with population explosion. There have been three major revolutions-- the tool- making revolution, the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution- all of which humans more access to food thence resulting in population explosion. For example primitive hunters were aided by arrows and bows such that they had greater access to food thereby leading to the birth of population increase.
Overpopulation is also caused by increase in births and decline in deaths. This is called a natural increase in population- where the result of the forces of nature, thus death and birth, leads to an increase in population. When death rates fell during the 19th and 20th century due to medical advancements, population shot up due to increasing fertility rates.
Overpopulation may also be caused by poverty. While the intervention of the birth control pill and modern methods of contraception resulted in a drastic decline in the number of children per household in developing and developed countries, poverty-stricken countries saw population increases due to their inability to adapt such birth control measures.
Throughout history, humans have accessed the easiest and most accessible resources first-the richest farmland was plowed and the richest mineral ore mined first. Such an undue exploitation of the environment has led to overpopulation. Ceballos, Ehrlich and Ehrlich stated that overpopulation is demanding the use of environmentally destructive means in order to exploit resources which are more difficult to access and are poorer in quality to satisfy consumers.
CONCLUSION
The population of the world is bound to increase at least until 2050. Much ink has been dispensed on the need to keep a population which is within the carrying capacity of the earth, however world activities continually contrast such theories. The Malthusian theory with regard to the world's population is very unsettling as it suggests that if the world population increases unchecked, there'd come a time when people would resort cannibalism to survive.
It therefore behoves all of us to make sure that our use of the environment and the number of children we decide to have do not go a long way towards inflating an already inflated world population. Birth controls have failed to be end of increasing population therefore I believe the best way to resolve issues of population is to communally agree to institute measures which will help to set the population of the world on a decline. Population matters should be treated with the uttermost seriousness because if this planet is populated to the rafters, it could trigger a death pandemic which will shake the umbilicus of human history.
Reference : wikipedia.org
PLEASE UPVOTE, COMMENT AND RESTEEM