Environmental Impacts Of

Population Growth

What Happens Next?• As the population of the world continues to grow at an ever

increasing rate, the pressure on natural resources such as food and fuel also increases.

• In 1798 Thomas Malthus produced an interesting theory on how population and food resources might continue.

• He said that as the population continued to grow at a geometric rate, it would slowly catch up the food supply, which only grew arithmetically.

• This meant that at some point the food supply would not be enough to support the population and so the population would have to be curbed in some way.

• Malthus theorised that this would either be by policies to reduce the number of children being born, or by war, famine and disease.

Reality

• In 1965 Esther Boserup put forward a different theory claiming that humans will develop new technologies to increase food production whenever they need to.

• This is because humans are the most resourceful animals on the planet, and so have developed new technologies and methods to cope with the increasing resource demands of a growing population.

Boserup’s Basic Theory

Technological Advancements

• The Agricultural Revolution, which included breeding cattle and sheep, which produced more milk, meat and wool.

• They also developed new technologies to evenly sow seeds, plough more efficiently and use their land more effectively.

• The Green Revolution. • This introduced high yield seeds to developing world

areas, such as India. • The seeds could also be developed to cope with the drier

conditions that they might experience in some of these areas.

Technological Advancements

• The introduction of irrigation systems into developing countries. • Both large scale and small scale projects have been used to

increase irrigation of crops in countries in Africa and Asia. • Wells and canals are now commonly built to help communities

to make the best use of their land.• Better technology allowing more intensive farm yields. • Faster growing plants varieties have allowed farmers to have

two harvests a year from a single field. • More effective fertilisers have meant that soil has been made

more fertile.• Genetically Modified crops could also prove to be one of these

advancements, although they are in only the early stages of development at the moment.

LEDC’s: Rapid Population Growth

• The destruction of large areas of rainforest, for use as farming land.

• This has particularly occurred in Brazil and in central Africa. • The impacts of destruction like this, can not be easily calculated

as it may well add the global warming problem.• Farming areas are being put under increasing pressure, and are

being over-used, either for crops or cattle. • This is leading to a reduction in the nutrients available in the soil

and to soil erosion, both of which mean the land is less likely to produce enough food.

• The increasing use of technologies such as fertilisers is causing problems of water pollution, which may endanger the lives of people who use the rivers for drinking water and for washing in.