The Impact of Overpopulation on the Environment

Environment, Development, and Peace Overpopulation is a modern-day problem that the world grapples with without a clear solution. For the past three decades, rapid population growth has presented a wide range of societal challenges. The demand for food, housing, water, fuel, transport infrastructures, and other systems to support human life has increased. As society struggles with meeting the needs of a growing population, the eyes turn on natural resources. The natural environment's ability to meet the needs of the human population is limited to the number that can be effectively accommodated. Overpopulation is a threat to environmental conservation, development, and peace.

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The Impact of Overpopulation on the Environment Climate change is linked to wildfires that have consumed millions of forest lands across the world, impacting environmental conservation. Long droughts in forest areas create necessary conditions for wildfires. In 2020, widespread wildfire was witnessed in the U.S. and was triggered by long natural factors. High temperatures caused by the destruction of forest cover increase risks of wildfire outbreaks. About 55% of forest fires in Canada are caused by lightning, which lights up a dry organic matter ("Explainer: How climate change is affecting wildfires around the world," 2020).

On the other hand, the Western United States is prone to wildfires because of too high temperatures that prepare the ground for fires. Dry organic matter easily catches fire, leading to the uncontrolled burning of forest land. Humans are responsible for global warming by cutting down forests and air pollution (Hedberg, 2020). The higher the population growth, the higher the pollution, and climate change.

Overpopulation has contributed to a reduction in forest cover across the world to pave the way for human settlement, construction of roads and communication networks, and harvesting timber and wood. The need for farms and space to construct homes and towns has seen humans continue to cut down forests. For instance, in Australia, farmers burn forests to expand their farmlands, leading to air pollution and shrinking of forest cover (Mcleish, 2010). In the Amazon region, the same problem of wildfires is witnessed as the expansion of agricultural land is done using orthodox means. Individuals deliberately set forest land on fire to create opportunities for gabbing forest land ("Explainer: How climate change is affecting wildfires around the world," 2020). The encroachment in forest land is caused by pressure on existing agricultural land. As

the population increase, the need for an alternative land increase. As a result, the population looks as the forest is an easy catch to meet the insatiable appetite for more land.

Overpopulation also contributes to the problem of pollution due to the increased production of waste. In the Philippines, waste disposal is a national problem that is yet to be addressed. The country is small but has a huge population. Households are the major contributors to pollution in the Philippines due to the dense population (Sanlad, 2020). Across the world, growing urbanization has created a problem of waste management that governments and yet to tame. Cities and towns with a huge population of people continue to grapple with how to dispose of residential and industrial waste. The high population in urban areas is linked to the purchase and use of more automobiles, which are significant contributors to air pollution in urban areas (Hedberg, 2020). While the developed countries are trying to embrace electric cars and automobiles that use fuel efficiently to cut down pollution, the efforts are negligible.

Poor disposal of waste has led to contamination of water bodies, threatening animal and human life. The discharge of industrial and household waste into rivers and oceans is a growing environmental challenge in the Philippines and the rest of the world. Contamination of inland water bodies that serve as a source of drinking water is responsible for waterborne disease and an increased percentage of heavy chemicals in human bodies (Dinar, 2012). Although governments and the international community are trying to combat water pollution, the efforts are frustrated by growing populations and uncontrolled dumping. Water pollution is set to increase as the world population grows.

Moreover, the high population in urban areas has contributed to the extreme depletion of green cover in towns and cities. Hedberg (2020) affirms that the percentage of forest cover in cities such as Beijing is insignificant to maintaining a healthy environment, which has

contributed to adverse air conditions that are a threat to human health. Population growth is connected to industrialization and the heavy use of transport networks in cities. In Chinese cities like Beijing, face masks are becoming common to deal with the problem of poor air. Forest help to purify the air, increasing the supply of fresh and safe air for human use. However, depletion of green cover around major cities coupled with industrial activities, has made life around industrial cities challenging due to air pollution (Hedberg, 2020). Consequently, respiratory diseases are rampant in societies, affirming the adverse effects of depleting green cover in urban areas.

Extensive use of agricultural land contributes to pollution of the soil, resulting in the massive destruction of organisms that live in the soil. The intensive use of chemical om farms kills weeds and pests and destroys living organisms in the soil (Matjaž, 2018. Farmers have also used pesticides to kill termites, nematodes, warms, moles, and other organisms. This has contributed to the destruction of the natural habitat for soil organisms. It is important to note that killing or termites are likely to lose naturally growing edible mushrooms. Population pressure compels human beings to use too many chemicals on the farm to enhance their productivity (Cassou, Steven, and Jiang, 2017). However, this does not take care of living organisms whose habitat is the soil. In the long run, the use of the agricultural chemical has led to a surge in soil pollution, destroying the environment for soil life.

Overpopulation has increased conflicts in the world as people, communities, and governments fight over scarce resources. According to Dinar (2012), population growth amid shrinking opportunities contributes to increasing crime in urban areas. Slums and ghettoes across the world harbor hardcore criminal who resort to crime to fend for themselves. The rapid surge in the human population, coupled with unemployment, is a big challenge to governments across the world. Population growth should be controlled to match with economic development. A

surge in crime due to unemployment and population pressure results in extrajudicial killings as the government tries to maintain law and order. Therefore, overpopulation contributes to crime in urban areas.

Moreover, inter-community clashes in third-world countries such as Congo and Somalia are partly triggered by competition over scarce land and water resources. Pastoralist communities rely on water and pasture to feed their animals (Dinar, 2012). An increase in the population of the community members and livestock means increased demand for more grazing land.

However, land does not grow, which means that the extra population has to be accommodated in the same space that the community used when it was small. The pressure to live on a shrinking land leads to both intra-community and inter-community conflicts as clashes emerge on how to accommodate each member’s interests.

The rapid growth of urban populations had led to a shortage of water resources in towns and cities, leading to extensive extraction of underground water. Sinking boreholes to supplement piped water in urban areas demonstrates how overpopulation is a big challenge to the environment and development (Matjaž, 2018). The use of boreholes in cities makes it challenging for the planning and development of urban areas. Too many boreholes affect the stability of the soil structure, exposing housing infrastructures to risks of collapse. It is also important to note that underground water sources in urban areas are a health hazard because the water is likely to be unfit for human consumption. Water from boreholes is more likely polluted with chemicals, which puts the users at risk of developing health complications if they continue using it for long (Howard & Israfilov, 2002). Consequently, the high population in urban creates challenges of water supply and sanitization.

Population pressure has resulted in encroachment on marine environments such as coral reefs. The Australian reef is under sustained assault from human activities due to the growing population (Hedberg, 2020). The demand for development along the coast has led to construction into the marine environment as government authority and communities prioritize economic development over environmental conservation. The scarcity of land around coastal areas for further development is the impetus behind human encroachment on the marine ecosystem (Ehrlich, 2015). Subsequently, this has created hurdles to efforts to protect marine life and their habitat. The need to provide alternative protein to what farms and industries can offer has led to an increase in Whaling and fishing threatening marine life.

Moreover, population growth has increased human activities in oceans and seas, resulting in to increase in the marine population. Ships and motorboats contribute to the marine population (Hedberg, 2020). Oil leakage and sinking of water vessels in water bodies are dangerous to the protection of the marine environment. Discharge of oil in oceans by water vessels is an increasing problem in modern society as the number of water vessels increases due to the growing water transport use. Marine pollution is a problem for marine life and human life. The consumption of seafood where marine pollution is a challenge presents health-related risks (Mcleish, 2010). Food consumption from the contaminated environment leads to the accumulation of harmful substances in the body, resulting in adverse health challenges such as cancer.

Development The rapid growth of the population hampers development due to the increased need to spend on the provision of basic needs welfare programs. Countries with huge populations can effectively manage to spend much of their budgets on service sectors such as health and transport

at the expense of the development project (Matjaž, 2018). At the same time, families that have many mouths to feed than their capacity to produce do not save enough funds to invest in development projects. Development is achievable when individuals, communities, and states increase their investment in development projects.

Overpopulation hampers sustainable development because of the over-extraction and use of natural resources. For instance, heavy use of wood for fuel and timber leads to depletion of forest cover at a high rate that can result in desertification and lack of enough wood and timber supply for future generations (Dinar, 2012). The same applies to the extraction of other natural resources such as minerals and water. Population growth must be controlled to ensure that that the available resources are used sustainably. Future generations will face more challenges if the populations continue to grow uncontrolled (Ehrlich, 2015). Consequently, overpopulation does affect not only current development but also future development.

Population pressure in urban areas is the major contributor to unplanned development, which hampers progress. According to Hedberg (2020), infrastructures such as transport, sewerage system, water supply, and telecommunication networks are critical in any developing society. However, these systems are overwhelmed where the rate of population growth is higher than they can support. Unplanned housing in urban areas, especially in the developing world, results in the growth of informal settlements (Mcleish, 2010). For urban areas with systems designed to serve a limited number of people, overpopulation results in pressure that creates effects such as traffic jams and water shortage.

Moreover, overpopulation leads to the conversion of arable land into industrial complexes, homes, and business houses, leading to low agricultural output. The development of any given society goes hand in hand with the ability to feed the population. Food shortage

hampers development, especially if the country has to rely on foreign supplies to feed its population (Mcleish, 2010). Shrinking arable land due to population pressure and urbanization explains the challenges the global community is facing in ensuring that there is enough safe food for the population. Organic farming is no longer attractive because intensive farming practices are promoted to ensure that the available agricultural land produces enough to feed the population (Hedberg, 2020). In turn, this has led to the heavy use of chemicals that are harmful to the environment and human life.

In conclusion, overpopulation is a concern for environmental conservation, development, and peace. Rapid population growth exerts pressure on scarcely available resources, creating an environment for conflict over resource control. Overpopulation creates challenges in the disposal of waste materials, resulting in increased pollution around urban areas and water bodies. The depletion of forest cover to create room for agricultural land, urban centers, and space for the construction of the transport system has augmented with the increase in the world population.

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