Contemporary

Issues in
UNIT 15 POPULATION AND
Environment
and Society
ENVIRONMENT

Structure
15.0 Introduction
15.1 Objectives
15.2 Population Explosion And Its Impact On Environment
15.2.1 History of Population Increase

15.2.2 Population Estimates and Projections

15.2.3 The Most Populous Countries of the World

15.2.4 Projected Growth of the Global Population

15.2.5 Population Age Structure and Population Pyramids

15.2.5 Impact of Population on Environment
15.3 Food Security
15.3.1 Dimensions of Food Security
15.3.2 Causes of food insecurity

15.3.3 Challenges of food security

15.4 Materialism And Consumption
15.4.1 Materialism

15.4.2 Consumption
15.5 Let Us Sum Up
15.6 Terminal Questions
15.7 Keywords
15.8 References and Suggested Further Readings
15.9 Answers to Check Your Progress

15.0 INTRODUCTION
Population in the world is currently growing at a rate of around 1.08% per
year, the current average population increase is estimated at 81 million
people per year (UN 2019). At present the world's population is growing
rapidly in developing countries, whereas the rate of population increase has
slowed down in industrially developed nations. The ever increasing global
human population has its impact on the environment. Natural resources of
the planet earth are finite, and there are greater risks from over-population.
Humans have used natural resources to fulfill their needs even at the expanse
of environmental degradation. It is widely accepted that humans are directly
responsible for the sixth mass extinction and the global climate
change. Biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, deforestation, water and
food shortage have been caused by our huge and ever-increasing population.
Human population has grown beyond Earth's sustainable means to regenerate
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the resources. Rapid human population growth has caused several Environmental
Ethics and
environmental problems. Humans impact the environment because of Resource
unsustainable consumption pattern and ever increasing population. Management
According to Global Footprint Network, humans require 1.75 earths to
produce enough natural resources to match our consumption rates and ever
growing population. Food is at the core of the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), the second of the UN's 17 SDGs is to "End hunger, achieve
food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture."

15.1 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit you will be able to:
• Describe the History of Population Increase;
• Explain Population Estimates and Projections;
• Describe Population Age Structure and Population Pyramids;
• Discuss Population Impact on Environment; and Food security;
• Discuss Materialism and Consumption; and
• Explain Quantification of the overall ecological impact of consumption.

15.2 POPULATION EXPLOSION AND ITS

IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
15.2.1 History of Population Increase
The history of the human population growth can be viewed in four major
periods (Fig1). An early period of hunters and gatherers, in which human
population was probably less than a few millions. During the prehistoric era,
the world population was stable. During the neolithic transition, about
8,000BC, there was a significant increase in population when humans began
to practice agriculture. The estimated world population was approximately
five million, ''increasing to 50 million by 1000 B.C.' Until the Middle Ages,
human populations grew very slowly because of the prevalence of diseases,
famines and wars. By 1650, world population had expanded from 10 million
to 500 million.
.During industrial revolution, there was improvement in healthcare and
availability of more food, which led to rapid increase in population, and
human population was around one billion in 1820. The trends in population
increase beyond 1800 are summarized as follows:
• Until the 1800s the world's population grew slowly for thousands of
years.
• In 1820 the world's population reached one billion.
• In the early 1970s, the world's population reached three billion.
• In October 1999, the population doubled to six billion; being an historic
milestone.
• On October 31, 2011, world population reached seven billion
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Contemporary • Annual growth rate of human population attained its peak in the late
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1960s, when it was at around 2%.
and Society

Fig 15.1. World population growth through history, the graph shows the extremely rapid
growth in the world population that has taken place since the 18th century. ( adapted from
McFalls Jr., J.A 2007.US Population Reference Bureau)

15.2.2 Population Estimates and Projections

The 2019 Revision of World Population Prospects is the twenty-sixth round
of official United Nations population estimates and projections; which have
been prepared since 1951 by the Population Division of the Department of
Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. that have
been prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic
and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. The world population
was 6 billion at the end of 1999. In just the next 12 years, i.e., in the year
2011, global population reached 7 billion (UN 2011). The global human
population is estimated nearly 7.713 billion as of mid-2019(Table 1). This
marked growth of human population has been brought about largely by
increasing numbers of people surviving to reproductive age, major changes in
fertility rates, increasing urbanization and accelerating migration (UN 2019).

Population is unevenly distributed in different regions of world (Table 1). It

is estimated that 62.79% of the global population lives in Asia (4.843
billion), 13.82% in sub-Saharan Africa (1.066billion), 14.44% in Europe and
north America (1.114 billion), 8.40% in Latin America and the Caribbean
(0.648 million), and0.56 % in Oceania (0.043 million). China (1.44 billion)
and India (1.39 billion) are among the two largest countries of the world,
representing 19% and 18% of the world’s population, respectively. Current
projections indicate that India will surpass China as the world’s most
populous country around 2027 according to World Population Prospects
2019.
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Table 15.1. Population of the world in different regionsin 2019, 2030, and Environmental
Ethics and
2050, according to the medium-variant projection (UN, 2019). Resource
Management
https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Highlights.pdf

Population (billions)
Region 2019 2030 2050
World 7. 713 8. 551 9 735
Sub- 1. 066 1 400 2 118
SaharanAfrica
Asia 4 .843 5.263 5. 661

Latin America 0.648 0.706 0.762

and the Caribbean
1.132 1.136
Europe and 1.114
Northern America
Oceania 0.012 0.015 0.019
Least developed 1.033 1.314 1.877
countries

15.2.3 The Most Populous Countries of the World

The 2019 Revision of World Population Prospects shows that currently
China and India are the two most populous countries of the world.

Demographics of China according to UN data :

• The population of China 2020 is estimated at 1.439billion people.
• population accounts for 18.47% of the total world population, 58.2 % of
the population is urban
• China ranks number one in the list of countries by population.
• The population density in China is 153 per Km2
• The median age in China is 37.0 years

It has been reported that population in China is rapidly aging. The “One
Child Policy” was enacted in 1979, which was primarily aimed to slow the
country’s rapid population growth. Since early 2016, families have been
allowed to have two children, but even with this change in place. The aging
population in China is going to impact its future economic growth prospects
and will have large impact on finances of the country.

Demographics of India
India is the second most populous country of the world after China.
Population of India is 1.366 billion in 2019. India population is equivalent
to 17.71% of the total world population
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Contemporary • The population density in India is 460 per km2.
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Environment • 68.86% population lives in rural areas and 31.14% lives in urban areas;
and Society
• median age in India is 27.0 years.

15.2.4 Projected Growth of the Global Population

Today, the world’s population continues to grow, more slowly than in the
recent past. The world’s population reached 7.7 billion in mid- 2019, having
added one billion people since 2007 and two billion since 1994. The growth
rate of the world’s population peaked in 1965-1970, when it was increasing
by 2.1 per cent per year, on average. Since then, the pace of global population
growth has slowed by half, falling below 1.1 per cent per year in 2015-2020,
and it is projected to continue to slow through the end of this century. The
global population is expected to reach 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050
and 10.9 billion in 2100, according to the medium-variant projection, which
assumes a decline of fertility for countries where large families are still
prevalent, a slight increase of fertility in several countries where women have
fewer than two live births on average over a lifetime, and continued
reductions in mortality at all ages.

15.2.5 Population Age Structure and Population Pyramids

Population structure: Population structure is usually shown using
a population pyramid. A population pyramid can be drawn up for any area,
from a whole continent or country to an individual town, city or village. A
population pyramid, or age structure graph, is a simple graph that conveys the
complex social narrative of a population through its shape. The overall shape
of the pyramid tells us about the present balances between the different age
groups and between males and females.
Population can be categorized into three types: expansive (young and
growing), constrictive (elderly and shrinking), and stationary (little or no
population growth).The three basic shapes of population pyramids are
described as follows:
Expansive: Expansive population pyramids are used to describe populations
that are young and growing. They are often characterized by their typical
‘pyramid’ shape, which has a broad base and narrow top, representative of
developing countries like India and Indonesia (Figure 15.2a). These types of
populations are typically.
Constrictive: A constrictive pyramid has fewer people in the younger age
categories, whereas more people are elderly (Fig 15.2b). Constrictive
pyramids typically have an inverted shape with the graph tapering in at the
bottom. Constrictive pyramids have smaller percentages of people in the
younger age groups; for example, the population pyramid of Japan.
Stationary: Stationary, or near stationary, population pyramids are used to
describe populations that are not growing (Fig 15.2c). For example, Sweden
show stationary age categories because of relatively low, constant birth rates,
and a high quality of life.
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 Environmental
JAPAN: SWEDEN:
INDIA Ethics and
POPULATION POPULATION Resource
POPULATION IN 2020 IN 2020 Management
IN 2020

MALE FEMA
FEMA MALE FEMA
MALE LE
LE LE

A
g
e

Population thousands Population Population

thousands thousands
Constrictive (b) Stationary ©
Expansive (a) Population
Population pyramid Population pyramid
Japan pyramid Sweden
India

Fig 15.2. Three Types Population pyramid structures, (a) expansive, (b) constrictive and (C )
stationary . Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population
Division (UN 2019). World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision. New York:
UnitedNations. Source :
https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/DemographicProfiles/Pyramid/752

The graphic representation of the distribution of the world’s population by

age and sex, 2019 is shown in Figure 15.3. According to UN report, 2019
(United Nations, 2019) the male population being slightly larger than the
female population at the global level. The demographic profile of world and
India are given in Table 15.2.

Fig 15.3. Distribution of the world’s population by age and sex, 2019. (Source: United
Nations, 2019).

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Contemporary Table 15.2 The demographic profile of world and India(UN Department of
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Economic and Social Affairs, 2019).
and Society https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Highlights.pdf

world India
Total population (billions) 7.7 1.4
Percentage of population under age 15 25.6 26.6
Percentage of population aged 15-24. 15.6 18.1
Percentage of population aged 65+. 9.1 6.4
Annual rate of population change 1.1 1.0
(percentage)

Crude birth rate per 1,000 population 18.2 17.6

Total fertility (live births per woman) 2.45 2.20
Life expectancy at birth (years) 72.6 69.7
Life Expectancy at age 65 (years) 17.1 14.7

15.2.6 Population Impact on the Environment

The impacts of population on environment in terms of solid waste
generation, biodiversity loss, deforestation, air pollution, and climate change,
are discussed as follows:
A classic attempt to explain the relationship between a human population and
its impact on the environment is the IPAT equation. The equation maintains
that impacts (I) on ecosystems are the product of the population size (P),
affluence (A), and technology (T) of the human population (Figure 15.4).
This equation was developed by biologist Paul Ehrlich and environmental
scientist John Holdren in 1971,IPAT is an equation that expresses the idea
that environmental impact (I) is the product of three factors: population (P),
affluence (A) and technology (T).

Affluence

World
population ENVIRONMEN Technolog
T y

Ecological IMPACT I= PxAx T

Footprint

Fig 15.4. The impacts of human growth on the environment. The population, affluence,
and destructive technology impact the environment according to the IPAT equation.
An analogous model is the ecological footprint which increases with development.
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Loss of Biodiversity: Research suggests that the growth of human Environmental
Ethics and
population, technological change and unequal consumption in different Resource
regions of the world mainly contribute to the loss of biological diversity. Management
WWF's Living Planet Report (2018) has reported that there is loss of 60%
of all vertebrate wildlife populations since 1970. The Living Planet Index
(LPI) is a measure of the natural wealth of earth’s forest, freshwater, and
oceanic/coastal ecosystems. The Global Living Planet Index shows a decline
of 60 per cent (range: -50 to -67 per cent) between 1970 and 2014, Fig.15.5.
That's more than half of all birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish
have been lost in just 50 years. During that time, human population has more
than doubled, increasing from 3.7 billion to over 7.7 billion.

Fig. 15.5 The Global Living Planet Index shows a decline of 60 per cent (range: -50 to -
67 per cent) between 1970 and 2014;The white line shows the index values and the
shaded areas represent the certainty limits surrounding the trend. From Living Planet
Report 2018: Aiming Higher . (WWF 2018). WWF (panda.org) © 2018 WWF

Deforestation: Many of the worlds’ most threatened and endangered animals

live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including
food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter. Deforestation is
the large-scale removal of trees in forests. Trees are usually removed to make
way for agriculture, roads, and urban development. Deforestation is a
particular concern in tropical regions because these forests contain much of
the world’s biodiversity.

The problem of Pollution: Air quality is one of the leading environmental

threats to public health. Air pollution issues are especially acute in rapidly
urbanizing and industrializing nations such as India and China. About 90 per
cent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa are exposed to indoor air pollution,
impacting both economies and livelihoods while contributing to increased
emissions of greenhouse gases.
Climate Change: Human population growth is a major contributor to global
warming as humans use fossil fuels for their economic growth and to support
improved lifestyles. When fossil fuels are burned, these emit carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere which traps warm air inside like a greenhouse. The UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its Fourth and Fifth
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Contemporary Assessment Reports (IPCC 2007; IPCC 2014), has provided a strong
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Environment
scientific evidence of global warming. It is now clear that climate change is
and Society being caused by increasing human population, especially during the last
century. In recent times, atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has
increased from pre-industrial levels of 280ppm to about 417.41 ppm on 30
April, 2020primarily from fossil fuel emissions and secondarily from net land
use change emissions (Fig15.6).

Urbanisation: It is an increase in the number of people living in towns and

cities. Urbanization occurs mainly because people move from rural areas to
urban areas and it results in growth in the size of the urban population and the
extent of urban areas. The regular increase in the proportion of people living
in urban areas is because of increase in employment and easy access to
education. The world has urbanized rapidly since 1950 and projections
indicate that it will continue to urbanize in the coming decades (Table 15.3).
In 1980, 1.731 billion people worldwide, i.e. 39% of the world population
were living in cities. In 2015, the number had increased to 3.968 billion
(54%). The most urbanized regions include Northern America (with 82% of
its population living in urban areas in 2018), Latin America (80%), Europe
(74%) and Australia/Oceania (71%)(http://www.urbanet.info/world-urban-
population/). The level of urbanization in Asia is now approximating 48% of
the total population. In contrast, in sub-Saharan Africa, only 38% of its
population lives in urban areas.

Table 15.3 The world urban population in 1980, 2014 and 2050
(http://www.urbanet.info/world-urban-population/)

Year Billion people Share of urban

population
1980 4.439 39%
2014 7.349 54%
2050 9.725 66%
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Land degradation: Land degradation is the long-term loss of production Environmental
Ethics and
capacity of land and ecosystem services, affecting the livelihoods and food Resource
security of billions of people. The main causes of land degradation are Management
inappropriate land use and management, loss of soil organic carbon, soil
erosion, salinization, acidification, waterlogging, desertification, mining, soil
compaction, loss of soil biodiversity, nutrient imbalance, and loss of soil
biodiversity (FAO and ITPS 2015). Rapid expansion and unsustainable
management of croplands and grazing lands in different regions of the world
are the most extensive direct drivers of land degradation, which causes
significant loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The annual cost of
land degradation has been estimated at 10% of global gross domestic
production in terms of loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES
2018).

Check Your Progress 1

Note: a) Write your answer in about 50 words.
b) Check your progress with possible answers given at the end of the
unit
1) The global human population and the most populous countries of the
world according to The2019 Revision of the World Population Prospects
are
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2) Explain the importance of age structure of human population

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15.3 FOOD SECURITY

Food security is one of the greatest challenges facing society today, the term
‘food security’ has been used in different contexts. According to the
FAO: “food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and
economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. (World
Food Summit, 1996). The United Nations has set target for ending hunger,
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Contemporary achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable
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agriculture as the second of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
and Society for the year 2030.

15.3.1 Dimensions of food security

The widely accepted World Food Summit definition emphasizes the
multidimensional nature of food security and includes food access,
availability, food use and stability. These dimensions of food security are
briefly described as follows:

Food availability: The availability of sufficient quantities of food of

appropriate quality, supplied through domestic production or imports.

Food access: Access by individuals to adequate resources for acquiring

appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.

Utilization: Utilization of food through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation

and health care to reach a state of nutritional well-being.

Stability: To be food secure, a population, household or individual must have

access to adequate food at all times. The concept of stability can therefore
refer to both the availability and access dimensions of food security.
In simple terms, food security emphasizes three interconnected concepts, i.e.
food access ensuring everybody across the world gets enough food to eat;
food safety has a focus on healthy, nutritious food that is free from
contamination, and food sovereignty empowers people to make their own
choices about the food they eat.
India achieved self-sufficiency in food grains in the 1970s. Since the mid-
1990s it has made efforts to ensure that there is enough food available to feed
its entire population. India is the world’s largest producer of milk, pulses
and millets, and the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane,
groundnuts, vegetables, fruit and cotton. To strengthen the efforts to address
the food security of the people, the Government of India has enacted the
National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. This act marks a paradigm shift
in approach to food security from a welfare to rights based approach. The Act
legally entitles up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban
population to receive subsidized food grains under Targeted Public
Distribution System. About two thirds of the population of India therefore is
covered under the Act to receive highly subsidized food grains in all the
States/UTs, on an all-India basis.

Causes of food insecurity

A person is food insecure when they lack regular access to enough safe and
nutritious food for normal growth and development and to lead an active and
healthy life. According to the latest estimates, 9.2 percent of the world
population was exposed to severe levels of food insecurity in 2018, which
means reductions in the quantity of food consumed possibly experienced
hunger(FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2019). Some causes of food
insecurity are briefly described as follows:
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Population growth: The growth of population varies considerably in Environmental
Ethics and
different countries of the world. Africa is expected to double its population Resource
from 1 to 2 billion by 2050. According to projections, the urban share of the Management
world population will grow to 6.419 billion (66%) by 2050. The latest data
indicate that about 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas.

Changing tastes and diet: The diet of human population is changing as

people become more affluent and start consuming food that is richer in
processed foods, meat and dairy products.

Climate change: There are a range of climatic factors that have substantial
influence on societies and economies, both past and present, with important
implications for the future (Carleton and Hsiang 2016). Climate impacts on
agriculture, income, health, and conflict could be substantial.
Water scarcity: According to the International Water Management Institute ,
agriculture accounts 70% of total freshwater withdrawal for production of
food and fibre: cereals, fruits, meat, cotton etc. Rainfed agriculture is the
most common method of agriculture in developing nations. India’s Green
Revolution, for example, relied on irrigation to greatly improve productivity,
but it also massively reduced groundwater reserves.
India ranked 72th in 113 countries assessed by The Global Food Security
Index (GFSI) in the year 2019 based on four parameters, i.e., affordability,
availability, quality, safety and natural resources and adjustment
(https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Country/Details#India). India needs to
take needed initiatives to improve its food security and overcome the
constraints such as supply, water scarcity, small landholdings, low per capita
GDP and inadequate irrigation.

Strategy to improve food security

Food systems and the environment are highly interconnected. With the right
choices, innovations and public commitments, agriculture could shift from
being a major stress for environmental degradation to a leading force for
improved climate change adaptation and mitigation. There is need to
integrate integrated with biophysical aspects of the system (through the
preservation of biodiversity, maintenance of healthy soil systems,
maintenance of buffering capacity in water bodies, etc.) and socioeconomic
aspects of the system (knowledge transfer, development of organizational
capacity, elimination of poverty cycles, etc.).

Check Your Progress 2

Note: a) Write your answer in about 50 words.
b) Check your progress with possible answers given at the end of the
unit

1) Explain dimensions of food security

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Contemporary …………………………………………………………………………..
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and Society
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2) Strategy to improve food security.

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15.4 MATERIALISM AND CONSUMPTION

Materialism refers to an individual characteristic for the material well-being,
while consumerism is the promotion of the consumer's interests in a modern
consumer society. The contemporary culture of consumerism and
materialism affects our everyday happiness and psychological health of
people (Kasser 2002).

15.4.1 Materialism
Materialism can be considered to be a personal value, as it affects the
priorities in people’s lives and the choices made by them. According to
Ricinis (2010), there are three elements constituting materialism, i.e. (i) the
belief that acquisition is necessary for happiness, (ii) the tendency to judge
the success of one's self and others by their possessions, and (iii) the
centrality of acquisition and possessions in one's life. The focus is solely on
the acquisition of money, material possessions and the status that comes with
them. Materialism has important implications for society as a driver of
personal consumption, as well as economic growth. Materialism is associated
with many variables including a preference for status goods and unique
products, the visual aesthetics of a product, impulse buying, and other
decision variables (Richins 2010). Materialism is a personal attitude which
attaches importance to acquiring and consuming material goods. Generally,
there is negative correlation of materialism with well-being, strength of
personal relationships, and altruistic behavior (Richins 2010). Materialism is
negatively related to environmental concern and pro-environmental
intentions. From the materialism perspective, it is striking to note that 82%
of global wealth is in the hands of just 10% of the richest people in mid-
2019; and the top one percent alone own 45%of global wealth
(research.institute@credit-suisse.com; https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-
us-news/en/).Richest 10% of Indians own over 77.4% of total wealth in India
according to Credit Suisse 2018 Global Wealth Report
(https://www.livemint.com).

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15.4.2 Consumption Environmental
Ethics and
In developed nations, the unsustainable patterns of consumption and Resource
Management
production are of great concern. The mass production of goods is using large
amounts of energy, creating excess pollution, and generating huge amounts
of waste. Individuals living in developed countries have, in general, a much
bigger ecological footprint than those living in the developing world. The
increasing unsustainable consumption patterns have resulted in increasing
problems of air pollution, water scarcity and waste generation, and human
health in south-east Asia (UNEP 2016).

Quantification of the overall ecological impact of consumption

The most comprehensive attempt to quantify the overall ecological impact of
consumption is the ecological footprint measure. The Ecological Footprint
compares actual human consumption of renewable resources and ecological
services against nature’s supply of such resources and services). Nature
supplies us with the resources we need to live, including food, water and raw
materials. It also provides ecological services such as climate regulation, air
quality regulation, and disease regulation. Ecological Footprint accounting
measures our supply of, and demand on, nature, ecosystems, and the
biodiversity that inhabit them. Bio capacity is a measure of the area of
biologically productive land and sea available for human use. Ecological
Footprint considers six demand categories including cropland footprint,
grazing land footprint, fishing grounds footprint, forest product footprint,
built-up land footprint(see Mancini et al., 2016).. Bio capacity relates to
supply, whereas ecological Footprint is representative of demand; These two
parameters are measured in Global hectares (gha). It is clear that human
population is using more natural resources and services through overfishing,
deforestation, and emission of more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than
forests can sequester. At current population levels, humans use as much
ecological resources as if we lived on 1.75 Earths. The Ecological Footprint
is the only measure that compares the resource demand of individuals,
governments, and businesses against what Earth can renew.
The Ecological Foot print per capita: It is a nation's total Ecological
Footprint divided by the total population of the nation. Ecological footprint
per capita of some countries in the year 2016 are shown in Table 15.4. It is
high for Luxembourg (12.9) and United States( 8.1) , whereas very low for a
less developed country like Nigeria (1.1) (http://data.footprintnetwork.org).
To live within the means of our planet's resources, the world's Ecological
Footprint would have to equal the available bio capacity per person on our
planet, which is currently 1.75 global hectares.

Total Ecological footprint(in global hectares x106) is high for China, India
and USA (Table 15.3).

It is very low for Luxembourg(7.43).

Table15.4. Ecological footprint per capita and total ecological footprint

of some countries ( From Global Footprint Network National Footprint

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Contemporary Accounts, 2019 Edition Downloaded [27 April 2020] from
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http://data.footprintnetwork.org)
and Society
Countries Ecological footprint Total Ecological
per capita in global footprint(in global
6
hectares in 2016 hectares x10 )
Luxembourg 12.9 7.43
United States 8.1 2610
Japan 4.5 574
China 3.6 5200
India 1.2 1550
Nigeria 1.1 202

Aggregate ecological footprint: total ecological footprint of country's

population (in global hectares). The countries with the highest aggregate
ecological footprints have high population. The Ecological Footprint of the
top five countries makes up about 50% of the global total ( Fig7). Analysis of
the 2014 National Footprint Accounts reveals that China (16 per cent) and the
USA (15 per cent) have the greatest aggregate ecological footprint. China
with its largest population shows high ecological footprint , whereas total
Footprint of USA is high because of its greater per capita consumption. \

Fig15.7.Share of total Ecological Footprint among the top five countries with the
highest demand and the rest of the world (based on Global Footprint Network, 2014).

Patterns of consumption per income level

Ecological Footprint analyses can allocate total Footprint among
consumption components, typically food, shelter, mobility, goods, and
services. The patterns of consumption vary among countries. In low-income
countries like Tanzania, for example, 94 per cent of the Ecological Footprint
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is determined by food and housing demand (Fig 15.8). In the case of the Environmental
Ethics and
USA, with the increase of disposable income, consumption increased Resource
because of greater mobility, possession of goods and services accounting Management
for a larger share of the population’s Ecological Footprint.

Fig.15.1(a)

Fig. 15.8. Ecological Footprint breakdown by consumption activities for (a) USA and
(b) Tanzania in 2012.
http://awsassets.wwfhk.panda.org/downloads/2019_footprint_eng_20190318.pdf

According to the National Footprints Accounts (2014), India has an

ecological footprint of 1.12 global hectares (gha) per person and a bio
capacity of 0.45 gha per person which means it is an ‘ecologically deficit
country’. There are ways in which ecologically deficit countries can balance
themselves including by increasing their net imports over exports,
minimizing the overuse of their ecosystems and using the global commons by
carbon debiting. In recent times, green consumerism is increasing: More
people are recycling, using reusable shopping bags and water containers,
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Contemporary buying hybrid or electric cars etc. keeping in view the environmental criteria.
Issues in
Environment
Ecolabeling is also helping consumers to make environmentally conscious
and Society decisions.

Check Your Progress 3

Note: a) Write your answer in about 50 words.

b) Check your progress with possible answers given at the end of the
unit

1) Explain The Ecological Footprint per capita

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2) Describe the patterns of consumption per income level

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15.6 LET US SUM UP

According to a new United Nations report, the global human population is
estimated nearly7.713 billion as of mid-2019 which is expected to reach 8.5
billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.9 billion in 2100. China (with
1.439billion people) and India (1.366 billion people) are the two most
populous countries of the world. India accounts for a 2.4% of the world
surface area yet it supports and sustains a 17.71% of the world population.
Population structure is usually shown using a population pyramid.There are
the three basic shapes of population pyramids, i.e. expansive, constrictive,
and stationary. Population explosion has impacts on the environment because
of high consumption, urbanization, biodiversity loss, deforestation,
environmental pollution, climate change, , and waste generation. Food
security occurs when all people can access enough safe and nutritious food to
meet their requirements for a healthy life. According to the latest estimates,
9.2 percent of the world population was exposed to severe levels of food
insecurity in 2018.The focus of materialism is solely on the acquisition of
money, material possessions and the status that comes with them; has
negative relationship to environmental concern and pro-environmental
intentions. The overall ecological impact of consumption has been quantified
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by measuring the ecological footprint. Humans require 1.75 earths to produce Environmental
Ethics and
enough natural resources to match their consumption rates and population Resource
growth according to Global Footprint Network. Management

Terminal Questions
1) Describe the trends in population increase beyond 1800
2) Describe human population distribution in different regions of the world

3) How to explain relationship between a human population and its impact

on the environment

4) What is Living planet Index

5) What is Urbanisation

6) What is the best way to quantify the overall ecological impact of

consumption?

15.8 KEYWORDS
Bio capacity is a measure of the area of biologically productive land and sea
available for human use.

Consumer Society: a society in which a large part of people’s sense of

identity and meaning is found through the purchase and use of consumer
goods and services

Consumerism: having one’s sense of identity and meaning defined largely

through the purchase and use of consumer goods and services.
Deforestation: Deforestation is the large-scale removal of trees in forests.

Ecological Footprint: an estimate of how much land area a human society

requires to provide all that the society takes from nature and to absorb its
waste and pollution.

Eco labeling: product labels that provide information about environmental

impacts, or indicate certification.

Living Planet Index (LPI): It is a measure of the natural wealth of earth’s

forest, freshwater, and oceanic/coastal ecosystems.
Materialism refers to an individual characteristic for the material well-being
Population Pyramid: The graphic representation of the distribution of the
world’s population by age and sex,

15.9 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED FURTHER

READINGS
Carleton, T. A., and Hsiang, S. M. (2016). Social and economic impacts of
climate. Science, 353(6304), aad9837–aad9837. doi:10.1126/science.aad9837

297
Contemporary FAO and ITPS (2015) Status of the World’s Soil Resources (SWSR) – Main
Issues in
Environment
Report. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and
and Society Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, Rome, Italy

FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2019. The State of Food Security
and Nutrition in the World 2019. Safeguarding against economic slowdowns
and downturns. Rome, FAO.

Global Footprint Network (2014). Global Footprint Network ANNUAL

REPORT 2014. www.footprintnetwork.org

IPBES (2018) Summary for policymakers of the assessment report on land

degradation and restoration of the Intergovernmental Science- Policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. R. Scholes, L.
Montanarella, A. Brainich, et al. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany.
44 pages

IPCC (2007). Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis.

Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning,
M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., Tignor, M. and Miller, H.L. (ed.).
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York,
NY, USA. pp. 996.
IPCC, (2014).Summary for Policymakers. In: Field CB (ed) Climate change
2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral
Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, UK/New York, pp. 1–32.
Kasser, T. (2002) The High Price of Materialism, MIT Press, Cambridge.

Mancini, M.S., Galli, A., Niccolucci, V., Lin, D., Bastianoni, S.,
Wackernagel, M. and N. Marchettini (2016). Ecological Footprint: Refining
the carbon Footprint calculation. Ecological Indicators 61: 390-403. Doi:
10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.09.040.

McFalls Jr J. A.(2007). “Population: A Lively Introduction, 5th Edition,”

Population Bulletin62, no. 1 (Washington, DC: Population Reference
Bureau).
Richins, M. L. (2010). Consumer Materialism. Wiley International
Encyclopedia of Marketing.doi:10.1002/9781444316568.wiem03001
UN (2011). World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision. Population
Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN, New
York:United Nations. Secretariat.http://www.esa.un.org/wpp/
UNEP (2016). GEO-6 Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific. United
Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya.

WWF 2016. Living Planet Report 2016. Technical Supplement: Living

Planet Index. WWF International, Gland, Switzerland.

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WWF. 2018. Living Planet Report - 2018: Aiming Higher. Grooten, M. and Environmental
Ethics and
Almond, R.E.A.(Eds). WWF, Gland, Switzerland. Resource
Management
15.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Answers to check your Progress 1
Your answer should include the following points
1) The global human population is estimated nearly 7.713 billion as of mid-
2019. It is estimated that 62.79% of the global population lives in Asia.
China (1.44 billion) and India (1.39 billion) are among the two largest
countries of the world, representing 19% and 18% of the world’s
population, respectively.

2) A population pyramid can be drawn up for any area, from a whole

continent or country. A population pyramid is a simple graph that
conveys the complex social narrative of a population through its shape.
Population can be categorized into three types: expansive (young and
growing), constrictive (elderly and shrinking), and stationary (little or no
population growth).

Answers to check your Progress 2

Your answer should include the following points
1) “food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and
economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy
life”. World Food Summit definition emphasizes the multidimensional
nature of food security and includes food access, availability, food use
and stability.

2) Food systems and the environment are highly interconnected.

Approaches for improving food security include the preservation of
biodiversity, maintenance of healthy soil systems, maintenance of
buffering capacity in water bodies, development of organisational
capacity, elimination of poverty cycles, nutrition, and food safety
performance, support for the livelihoods and well-being of people.

Answers to check your Progress 3

Your answer should include the following points

1) It is a nation's total Ecological Footprint divided by the total population

of the nation.. It is high for Luxembourg (12.9) and United States( 8.1) ,
whereas very low for a less developed country like Nigeria (1.1). The
available bio capacity per person on our planet is currently 1.75 global
hectares.

2) Ecological Footprint analyses can allocate total Footprint among

consumption components, typically food, shelter, mobility, goods, and
services. In the case of the USA, with the increase of disposable
income, consumption increased. In low-income countries like Tanzania,
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Contemporary 94 per cent of the Ecological Footprint is determined by food and
Issues in
Environment
housing demand.
and Society
Answers to Terminal Questions
Your answer should include the following points

1) Until the 1800s the world's population grew slowly for thousands of
years. In 1820 the world's population reached one billion. In the early
1970s, the world's population reached three billion.In October 1999, the
population doubled to six billion; being an historic milestone.
On October 31, 2011, world population reached seven billion.

2) Population is unevenly distributed in different regions of world. It is

estimated that 62.79% of the global population lives in Asia, 13.82% in
sub-Saharan Africa, 14.44% in Europe and north America , 8.40% in
Latin America and the Caribbean, and0.56 % in Oceania.

3) The IPAT equation explain the relationship between a human population

and its impact on the environment. The equation maintains that impacts
(I) on ecosystems are the product of the population size (P), affluence
(A), and technology (T) of the human population. This equation was
developed by biologist Paul Ehrlich and environmental scientist John
Holdren in 1971
4) LPI is a measure of the natural wealth of earth’s forest, freshwater, and
oceanic/coastal ecosystems. The Global Living Planet Index shows a
decline of 60 per cent (range: -50 to -67 per cent) between 1970 and
2014. That's more than half of all birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians
and fish have been lost in just 50 years.
5) It is an increase in the number of people living in towns and cities.
Urbanization occurs mainly because people move from rural areas to
urban areas. The world has urbanized rapidly since 1950 and projections
indicate that it will continue to urbanize in the coming decades. The level
of urbanization in Asia is now approximating 48% of the total
population.
6) The most comprehensive attempt to quantify the overall ecological
impact of consumption is the ecological footprint. Ecological Foot print
considers six demand categories including cropland footprint, grazing
land footprint, fishing grounds footprint, forest product footprint, built-
up land footprint. The countries like India with the highest aggregate
ecological footprints have high population.

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