Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution from Overpopulation


Richard Vernon, July 2024


The Problem


With a population of 8 billion increasing by 80 million annually, on a planet that scientists have repeatedly warned could sustainably support, with a modest western lifestyle, less than 2 billion, we have a serious overpopulation problem.  Each of us needs food, clean water, clothing, a home, health services, employment and more, which are already in short supply for so many of the existing people.  This overpopulation, and its increasing resource use through both people numbers and increasing demand for material wealth, is the main driver of a triple planetary crisis of Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution.  (United Nations Environment Programme, 2024) 


1. Climate change – driven largely by the human generation of carbon dioxide

 


A meeting of climatologists in 2022 concluded with a statement that in order to achieve the cessation of rising temperature before it was too late, we had to stop using fossil fuel now.  A glance at our increasingly overcrowded roads and airports shows that humans are at this time unable to respond appropriately.


2. Biodiversity loss

Humans comprised less than 1% of the world’s mammals 10,000 years ago.  Now at 31%, and with our domestic animals at 66% totalling 97%, wild mammals are reduced to just 3%. (Vaclav Smil 2006)



Similar dramatic reductions and extinctions are seen in a great many other species of plants and animals.


3. Pollution

Humans pollute the air, the land and the seas, broadly in proportion to their numbers or population density. It took us until 1800 to reach a world population of 1 billion. Now we add another billion every 12 to 14 years, and the global population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. The WHO advises a maximum of 25 micrograms per cubic metre of air of particles < 2.5 micrometres diameter, yet many cities exceed 500μg/m3. We’ve seen the alarming reports of widespread sewage contamination of rivers here in the UK - a technologically advanced country. The pollution is even worse in developing countries, the more so in countries with high population densities.  An AfricaNews article underscores the environmental challenges confronting Nairobi, particularly the pollution of the Nairobi River. The unchecked sewage and industrial pollutants in the river are a severe threat to the health of the community.  


Prospects for Resolution


Resolution of the devastating multiple consequences of human overpopulation is daunting. The following are examples of attempts to resolve them.

1.     Population Health Environment (PHE) is a development approach started in the 1960s that recognises the links between local communities, their health, and the natural resources they depend on. PHE projects focus on providing voluntary family planning information and services, environmental conservation, and education on sustainable natural resource management in a coordinated manner. See more at https://populationmatters.org/news/2024/04/what-is-population-health-environment/.

 

2.     There are charities that focus on education for girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa where poverty is widespread, and girls and young women face extensive exclusion from education and the opportunities it offers. They are typically married off at a young age leading to 5 to 7 children per woman. Early marriage, teenage pregnancy and female genital mutilation are prevalent. Limited access to health services is compounded by patriarchal norms that can restrict women’s access, and there is a high unmet need for family planning. I believe these charities do great work. An example is:

CAMFED International, FORA, 20 Station Road, Cambridge, CB1 2JD. https://camfed.org/ Registered Charity Number: 1029161

 

CAMFED works in rural areas across Africa, where 95% of girls from poor families never complete secondary school. CAMFED has developed a proven solution that enables marginalized girls to enrol and thrive in secondary school, then graduate into secure livelihoods and positions of leadership. Young women once supported by CAMFED are now at the forefront of driving change for the better in their communities.


3.    The Optimum Population Trust, aka Population Matters, 135-137 Station Road, London, E4 6AG, Tel 020 8123 9116. Registered Charity No.1114109. Population Matters are active at home and abroad. Their website https://populationmatters.org/ is a rich source of population-related information.

  

4.     David Attenborough’s book A Life on Our Planet – My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future. Few of us have seen so much of the planet as David Attenborough and he has done so with remarkable perception and depth of thinking, as now laid out so clearly in this book. The future of all life on Earth, including our own species, can only be more hopeful with it being widely read and acted on.

 

Conclusions


Reduction of our 8 billion to a sustainable size in time to avoid the damage described above, seems impossible. A very significant reduction in resource consumption per capita would help. Dedicated activists strive on both fronts. But governments and, to a large extent, the media, ignore the overpopulation issue, and so the general population remains largely uninformed, and ignores it too – to the chagrin, sometimes despair, of scientists, who have been warning of the dangers of human overpopulation for many decades. That’s where we are today. Meanwhile it seems wise to advise one’s children/grandchildren not to have children themselves, when they would very likely face a world much more troubled than ours.



Comments

Post a Comment