"Driven by unprecedented growth in human numbers and wasteful
consumption, many of the basic resources upon which future generations
will depend for their survival are being depleted."
- Dr. Nafis Sadik
Executive Director, UN Population Fund
Key Facts on Population
and Consumption
Click on link to go directly to sub-section, or scroll down to read entire chapter.
Population, Consumption and the Environment
Urban Migration
Reasons for Population Growth
Food Consumption Patterns
Seeking Solutions to Unsustainable Population Growth
Taking Action to Address Population Growth
Seeking Solutions to Unsustainable Consumption Patterns
Taking Community Action
The current population explosion, combined with increasing consumption rates and inequitable distribution of resources, is a serious environmental concern because it is directly related to the carrying capacity of the planet. Quite simply, there is a limited amount of resources being consumed by an increasing number of people. To make matters even more difficult, each person's individual impact is increasing due to rising consumption rates that often accompany unsustainable development.
The interlinked issues of unsustainable population growth and consumption were addressed by the world's governments in Rio de Janeiro at the Earth Summit in 1992, and again two years later in Cairo at the International Conference on Population and Development. Numerous proposals were tabled at these meetings, many of which stirred significant controversy. Those countries with relatively low population growth but high rates of consumption said that population was the main problem; those with high population growth but low rates of consumption said consumption was the problem. The fact is, both are serious issues, and need to be addressed at the community level in order to be effectively mitigated.
By the time it takes you to finish reading this chapter, about 2,000 more people will be sharing your planet. The human population, now 5.6 billion, is increasing by an average of 250,000 people a day-the equivalent of another Switzerland every 30 days, and a new China every 10 years. By the end of the millennium, there will be more than six billion people on this planet. More than five billion of these people will live in the developing South, where at least 95 per cent of population growth occurs. Although the rate of population growth has declined, annual population growth is still increasing, in part because unprecedented numbers of young people are entering their reproductive years.
Population growth is not even throughout the world. After growing rapidly in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the population of the industrialized countries has stabilized. In the less developed regions of the world, rapid population growth began later but has not yet leveled off. As a result, the developing countries are home to an increasing proportion of the world's population. In 1950, North America, Europe and the former Soviet Union contained almost 30 per cent of the world's people. By 2025, these regions of the world will contain only 14 per cent.
Scientists used to believe the world's population would stabilize at about 10.2 billion-provided immediate action was taken to slow it down. New indicators are putting that number at about 14 billion. However, if nothing is done to address the population problem, and if current birth and death rates remain unchanged, world population could reach 27 billion by the end of the next century.
The human population has clearly exceeded local and regional carrying
capacities in many parts of the world, as shown by an increasing
failure of food production to keep pace with population growth.
Population, Consumption and the Environment
While population growth rates are definitely an issue, the size of the human population is not the only determinant of its impact on the environment. The impact of people on their environment depends not only on their numbers but also on their location in the biosphere, their levels of consumption of energy and materials, and the technology used to attain a given standard of living.
As pointed out by Alan Durning of the Worldwatch Institute, population acts as a multiplier. The total human impact on the global ecosystem can therefore be reduced by moderating either human consumption or human numbers. Ideally, the impact can be reduced the most by doing both. However, much of the responsibility for reducing the amount of environmental stress exerted by human activity rests on industrialized societies in the North.
Any pursuit of sustainability that merely seeks to limit population growth will ultimately fail. Large populations do exert considerable stress on their ecosystems. However, smaller populations with high and unsustainable rates of consumption can have a greater and more negative effect than larger populations operating at much lower rates of consumption.
Rapid population growth often corresponds to a growth in consumption
in the community, and increased demands for energy, transportation,
food and water. By far the greatest part of population growth
is occurring in developing countries where people today consume
far less per person than people in the developed world. However,
there is a rush to industrialize in many developing countries.
Thus, while the populations of the developing world are increasing
dramatically, so is their rate of consumption, and the levels
of waste being produced. The result is a rapid increase in the
developing world's share in global environmental degradation.
Especially troubling for developing countries are the likely consequences
of population growth on soil, urban areas and water quality, all
necessary components for the support of their populations.
A rapidly increasing number of people are being forced to move
to cities because of economic necessities or environmental reasons
such as land pressures and desertification. This urbanization
of the global population brings with it numerous environmental
demands. Urban migration is especially prevalent in developing
countries, where the growth necessitates the development and improvement
of the urban infrastructure-transportation services, food supply,
energy supply, employment opportunities, water supply and shelter.
The cities of the world already are faced with great difficulties
meeting the needs of current populations. If present trends continue,
it is unlikely they will be able to cope with the future. Currently,
1.2 billion people in cities lack safe drinking water and 1.4
billion have no sanitary waste treatment system.
Some of the Reasons for Population Growth
One of the main reasons world population has grown so rapidly over the last 200 years is that mortality rates have declined faster than fertility rates during this time. Improved sanitation, health care, medicines, shelter, and nutrition have all led to dramatic increases in life expectancy. Fertility rates, on the other hand, have declined more recently than mortality rates, and they have declined more slowly.
In developing countries, there are a number of socio-economic realities that lead women to have more children. In economies that depend on family or communal agriculture, children are an economic asset; they provide valuable labour, and the costs of raising them are low. In more industrialized societies, in contrast, children are generally an economic burden. Where there are fewer educational and career opportunities, there tends to be earlier marriage and child-bearing. In some societies, women often start having babies when they are as young as 15 years old. This leads, in turn, to more children being born per couple.
Standards of living also have a direct relation to a region's population growth rate. Societies with high population growth rates usually have a relatively low standard of living. In countries where the standard of living has improved, studies have revealed a decrease in population growth rates, in some cases to negative levels.
In countries where social services for the elderly are scarce or nonexistent, children are seen as a source of financial support for parents in their old age. In many countries, there are no or very few social welfare systems to provide unemployment support or pensions. These considerations outweigh the relatively low costs of having babies in these countries and therefore people tend to have larger families.
Many communities around the world still have limited access to adequate health care facilities, which often results in high infant mortality rates and low life expectancy. When families lose, on average, one in three or four children, they usually choose to have as many as possible to maximize the number that will survive into their productive years.
The increased availability of health care and housing around the world is leading to a decreasing death rate, especially among the new-born, the very young, and finally the oldest and infirm sectors of the population. However, this decrease in mortality has not been accompanied by an equal decline in birth rates.
In less developed countries, there is often a lack of readily available, safe, acceptable and effective contraceptives, and a knowledge of how to use them. When they are available, they are sometimes too expensive. Also, a large number of people in the world have not been educated about family planning. According to the Worldwatch Institute, less than 30 per cent of women in developing countries use family planning.
Attitudes also play a role in many countries. In some regions
of the world, some religious and cultural values discourage the
use of contraception. Others even project the model of large families
as a status symbol. As a consequence, limiting population growth
can be a very sensitive moral, emotional and cultural issue. Some
people distrust family planning programmes because they believe
they are motivated by racism and other prejudices, such as a perceived
desire of the "North" to control the "South"
by limiting the size of its populations.
Mahatma Gandhi said 50 years ago that there is enough in this world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed. Nowhere is this truer than in the realm of global food production.
There are numerous countries where governments use inappropriate incentives for food production. These improper incentives, such as excessive subsidies, may result from poor policy planning or the influential political power of agricultural organizations.
Inappropriate technology can be blamed for much of the inefficient use of land resources for food production. In the developed world, high-tech agriculture has boosted production beyond what is needed, while many developing countries, which sorely need to increase agricultural yields, do not have access to the technologies. Moreover, the overuse of new production methods involving pesticides, fertilizers and lack of crop rotation can cause severe environmental degradation.
The lack of funds to obtain new technologies and the need for education on their use, prevents many farmers in developing countries from being able to use their land to its maximum efficiency. This absence of education may perpetuate the use by small-scale farmers of unsustainable techniques resulting in low yields and in the long-term overuse and destruction of land.
Most people are unaware of the effects their consumption patterns have on the Earth. In developed nations, people are are mostly unaware of, or disinterested in, the amount of energy which they consume, or the manner in which they consume it. In many cases, individuals are also unaware of the effects of their overeating, poor diet, food wastage and preference for better packaged goods. This absence of awareness may stem from a lack of education about the effects of consumption patterns and a lack of initiative for them to change these patterns. It may also stem from unscrupulous advertising on the part of manufacturers and distributors of packaged products.
It takes approximately 10 calories of grain to produce one calorie of grain-fed beef, and about eight kilos of that grain to produce one-half kilo of beef. This makes consumption of beef and other meats a very inefficient use of resources and source of nutrients. According to the environmental organization, EarthSave, about 40 per cent of world cereal production goes to feed livestock. In industrialized countries, such as the United States, the figure is sometimes as high as 75 per cent.
The clearing of land for raising livestock is a major cause of
deforestation. In Costa Rica and Panama, 70 per cent of the land
has been cleared for pasture. In Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia,
the primary reason for clearing forest is to raise livestock.
According to EarthSave, for every pound of beef that is produced
in a rainforest environment, approximately 660 pounds of living
matter is destroyed and 2,500 gallons of water consumed.
Seeking Solutions to Unsustainable Population
Growth
It is estimated that the planet's probable carrying capacity-provided humankind develops a more sustainable relationship with the Earth-is around 10 billion people. In order to limit population growth at this level, all of the reproductive-age couples in the world will need access to reliable and affordable contraception by the year 2000. Of those who have access to contraception, it is estimated that 75 per cent will probably use it. If 75 per cent of reproductive-age couples practice family planning and actively use contraceptives, average family size will drop to just over two children per couple within about 15 years. A worldwide average of 2.1 children per couple by 2015 would result in a world population of approximately nine billion in 2050 and a stable population of 9.3 billion at the end of the 21st century.
Most encouragingly, the fertility rate in developing countries
has declined over the past 40 years. The average fertility rate
in developed countries is now below the population replacement
level. This progress is a result of advances in four critical
areas, all of which must continue if the global population is
to stabilize. Incomes of poor households must rise, child mortality
must decline, educational and employment opportunities for women
must increase, and access to family planning services must expand.
Of these, investments in female education have proven to be the
most effective in reducing population growth and promoting sustainable
human development as a whole. Experience has shown that better
educated women have fewer, healthier and better educated children.
Taking Action to Address Population Growth
There are a number of things that can be done by both individuals
and organizations to help slow high population growth rates. Following
are a few ideas to get your community organization started in
developing its own action plan to address this critical issue.
Seeking Solutions to Unsustainable Consumption
Patterns
Lowering a community's population growth rate may not necessarily lessen its impact on the environment. In the industrialized countries, family planning is practiced as a way of life, and in many societies average family size is lower than the population replacement level. However, because of unsustainable consumption patterns that enable the average Northerner to consume 77 times more than the average Ethiopian, the collective impact of Northern societies can be much greater. Therefore, solving the planet's ecological crisis is not just about having smaller families; it is about evaluating our community's collective impact on the Earth's ecosystem.
The developed world should be most concerned about the collective planetary impact of its levels of consumption. However, consumption patterns in the South are quickly catching up with those in the North. Developing countries, which may already have difficulty harnessing enough resources to meet current needs, will have an even harder time as their growing populations consume increasing amounts of limited resources.
A form of development is needed that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This is needed not only in the developing world, but also in the developed, where people must learn how to shift their methods of production to ways that are economically, socially and ecologically sustainable.
Consumers also need to take responsibility. People need to understand
the basic connections between their actions and choices as consumers
and the environmental degradation that often results. The personal
freedom to enjoy material benefits today should be tempered with
a sense of shared responsibility for the welfare of both present
and future generations of humanity. It also should take into the
account the long-term effect that those actions could have on
ecosystems at both local and global levels.
Taking Community Action to Address Unsustainable
Consumption
Many different types of actions can be taken to promote the concept
of sustainable consumption, and to help individual consumers and
nations learn how to achieve both better living standards and
ecologically sustainable lifestyles. Many of these methods are
suggested in other chapters of this book that deal with specific
environmental problems that are a result of unsustainable consumption.
Following are a few general ideas to consider when drawing up
your organization's action plan to address consumption issues
in your community:
Population Growth Declines in Kenya
A Success Story
International trends showing rapid population growth should not give reason for pessimism and despair as to the future of our world. While some of the figures may be discouraging, especially for Africa, significant accomplishments have been recorded in the areas of lowering birth and death rates, and in improving the general levels of education and incomes, including the education and status of women. More importantly, positive changes have occurred in attitudes, greater demand for family planning information and services at the grass-roots level. All these accomplishments have contributed positively towards slowing down the global population growth rate.
In his address to the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, the Kenyan vice-president and minister for planning and national development, Professor George Saitoti, said his country's success in combating population growth hinged primarily upon the integration of the participation of women in the solution. Kenya used to have what was considered one of the highest population growth rates in the world, until the concern was addressed from many different sectors of society. Saitoti said that all efforts to reduce population growth need to address how to improve the rights and status of women, "which we have found to be the first step towards a successful reduction in fertility in our country."
The Kenyan experience found that the use of modern contraceptives is strongly associated with higher levels of education. Fifteen per cent of married women with no formal education use a modern method in Kenya, compared to 29 per cent of those with at least some secondary education. These data provide important evidence that Kenya's investment in girls' education is having a strong positive influence on fertility decline.
Another reason for the success is that Kenya's population programmes
are decentralized through the use of local and community organizational
structures, such as NGOs. Government support for NGOs has enabled
the organizations to perform their work better and more efficiently.
Such NGOs, especially women's groups, are often in the field working
with the very people who are in need of information concerning
population issues and their available options.
The Global Action Plan for the Earth
A Success Story
The Global Action Plan (GAP) for the Earth is an international NGO initiative to substantially contribute to the reversal of high resource consumption and pollution, especially in the developed world. GAP's primary goal is to empower a critical mass of global citizens to permanently redesign their lifestyles so that they are ecologically more sustainable.
Realizing that the highest rates of consumption exist in the developed world, GAP set to work first in this region of the world, establishing 15 local councils in countries from Poland and Finland to Canada and the United States. In each country, the organization's manual, The Household EcoTeam Workbook, was adopted to the cultural, societal and political realities of the particular society. Its coordination, publishing and regional distribution is carried out by a local chapter of GAP in partnership with local NGOs.
Since the culture of consumption has been exported to nearly every corner of the world, GAP is now working with communities in less developed societies to establish similar programmes. Working with the Information and Public Affairs Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme, the first Southern programme was set up in Kenya.
The Programme fills the gap between positive attitude and positive action. It provides people with a simple blueprint for how to take practical action to reduce consumption in their daily lives, together with the support and feedback system to help them sustain their good intentions.
So far, more than 8,000 households have participated in the EcoTeam
Programme, with reported consumption reductions of 40 per cent
in rubbish, 12 per cent in water, 15 per cent in energy and 18
per cent in carbon emissions.
Contact:
References
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