CHALLENGES OF RAPID POPULATION GROWTH

Introduction

While the population growth rate remains different globally, the considerable speed with which the population continues to grow is cause for concern. Governments across the world are tasked with the enormous work involved in addressing this population explosion. Interestingly population growth has been directly linked to the level of affluence enjoyed by the country in consideration. Countries with higher affluence levels tend to have conservative figures for population growth, whereas those with a higher number of people below the poverty line tend to have a higher rate of population increase. Thus, while countries like Japan fall on one end of the spectrum with a low population growth rate; others like Russia and America tend to fall on the other end of the spectrum (Turner, 2009).

The General Challenges Arising from a Rapidly Increasing World Population

The challenges of a fast-increasing world population, in general, include higher pollution levels and carbon footprints, a sharp increase in consumption of very fossil fuels which would have a negative impact on global warming as well as a lack of jobs and unemployment in the country. Poverty and population expansion have been identified as part of a vicious cycle with one feeding off the other (Whitmore, 2016). Thus, while poverty leads to population explosion, the continued fast-paced rise in population is identified as one of the root causes of poverty. Each challenge is individually analyzed below.

Challenge 1: Fast Increasing Population Leads to Fast Pollution

Leading to this challenge is Italy’s big population in a small area. In such cases, it is observed that pollution is increasing alongside the population. The behavior of the general population points to the rather saddening fact that they no longer care about the environment anymore. (The growth of world population, 1963). Individuals are more focused on personal comforts and gains which would eventually lead to the destruction of our planet as we know now it. This point is bought home by Italy, a wonderful country occupying a small area of the world. The increase in its population has increased pollution alongside.

Challenge 2: The More the Population Grows the More it Consumes Fossil Fuels

Consumption of fossil fuels is a habit that is very tough to stop. We tend to consume considerable amounts of fossil fuels each day. This daily consumption is more than what is needed to meet our daily needs. This is a never-ending process and needs to be tackled on a war footing in order to preserve the carbon reserves for future generations. The war on coal witnessed widely across the United Kingdom is a positive initiative to combat this issue and is an example of how governments are taking forceful initiatives to help cut down the consumption of limited natural resources thereby preventing Global warming that is slowly taking over the planet (Abelvik-Lawson, 2017).

Challenge 3: Fast-Increasing Population Makes Poverty

There exists an inverse relationship between population and poverty. As the population increases, the number of jobs available decreases, and as unemployment increases, the homeless people on the street increases thus leading to poverty (Un.org, 2017). This is a vicious cycle that feeds off one another. The world population conference held a few decades back has laid the foundation to tackle this problem head-on. The various initiatives by governments in each country are based on and supported by this path-breaking global initiative by the United Nations as far back as 1974. While various social, political, economic, and demographic conditions have undergone a sea change from the 1970s; thus alleviating the issues considerably, although there still remains a long way to go.

Recommendation

Based on the challenges being faced by mankind in the aftermath of the rapid increase in population across the world, the following recommendations are expected to help in resolving these issues at the earliest. Generating awareness about the potential problems of a population explosion would contribute significantly to this cause and help bring down the poverty that is currently associated with the present scenario. Similarly, an increase in population is the primary factor that contributes to poverty and hence needs to be addressed simultaneously.  A scientific breakthrough like electric cars as well as environmental restrictions like minimizing the use of carbon fuels is also recommended for the alleviation of poverty (Un.org, 2017).

Conclusion

Since the root cause of the global population expansion has been identified as a lack of awareness, various governments across the world have initiated activities aimed at educating the economically backward sections of society about the need to voluntarily plan the size of the family so as to ensure better opportunity for all citizens (The growth of world population, 1963). (Un.org, 2017).

References

Abelvik-Lawson, H. (2017). Daily dispatch: War on coal, fracking spies, UK and Australia roll back green policy – Energydesk. [online] Energydesk.

The growth of world population. (1963). 1st ed. Washington, D.C: National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Science and Public Policy.

Turner, A. (2009). Population priorities: the challenge of continued rapid population growth. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1532), pp.2977-2984.

Un.org. (2017). Recommendations for implementation of World Pop. Plan of Action. [online]

Whitmore, H. (2016). World economy, population growth, and the global ecosystem. 1st ed. [Place of publication not identified]: Palgrave Macmillan.