Population Explosion& Variation

among Nations.
 Family Welfare Programs
 and
 Role of Technology in Environment &
Human Health.
 A leading environmental
problem: Overpopulation
 Pollution (unspecified):14.7%
 Global warming:14.5%
 Air pollution:13.5%
 Habitat destruction:13.1%
 Resource depletion/degradation:11.8%
 Population growth/Overpopulation:7.9%
 Natural disasters:6.2%
 Water pollution:6.6%
 fossil fuels (oil spills/ANWR):6.0%
 Waste management:3.5%
 Miscellaneous (famine, poverty, ignorance, etc):2.3%
Domino Effect!
 Unemployment,
 Low living standard of people,
 Hindrance in the process of development of economy
 Pressure on agriculture land,
 Low per capital income,
 Lack of basic amenities like water supply and sanitation,
education, health, etc.,
 High crime rate
 Environmental damage,
 Migration to urban area in search of job,
 Energy crisis,
 Overcrowding of cities leading to development of slums.
What’s Behind Population Growth

 Three Factors  Industrial Revolution

 Fertility  Growth of Cities and
 Infant Mortality Infrastructure
 Longevity  Water
 Energy
 Transportation
 Animal Domestication  Increased Productivity
and Agriculture  Nutrition
 Provided for a few to  Sanitation
feed many
 Medicine
The Human
Population
Over Time
The time it takes
our population to
double has
decreased sharply.

It only has taken

about 12 years to
go from 6-7 billion
people.

We are projected
to hit 9 billion near
the year 2050.

Estimates say
stabilization
around 2100. (10.5
billion)
 What factors affect birth and fertility rates?
 Labor force
 Cost of raising and educating children
 Urbanization
 Infant deaths
 Education for women
 Marrying age
 Access to contraceptives

 What factors affect death rates?

 Access to nutrition, medical care, clean water
 Community support for elders
 Increased life expectancy
 Usually higher for women
 Decrease in infant mortality
Demographic Transition
 Movement of a nation from high population growth to low
population as it develops economically (from subsistence
economy to affluence).
 Traced through graphs of a population change over time (birth rates
and death rates)
 Illustrates how countries will influence the environment as they
transition
 most countries will go through this transition in the next few decades
due to technological and economic development
 Transition as a result of five stages
 Stage 1—Birth and death rates are both high
 Stage 2—Death rates fall; birth rates remain high; growth rate rises
 Stage 3—Birth rates fall as standard of living rises; growth rate falls
 Stage 4 and 5—Growth rate continues to fall to zero or to a negative
rate
 Resource Limits - Land (7)
 Deforesting to
acquire more arable
land
 Would run out in
next century at
current yields
 Probably need to
double yields
Resource Limits - Water (8)
 In 1950 people used
half of accessible
water
 Are now dependent
on dams
 Pollution loses 33%
of potential water
 Getting close to
limits
 Energy Consumption (9)
 Energy growth
very high last
fifty years
 Mostly
hydrocarbon
fuels
 Nonrenewable
resource
consumption
and climate
change issues
Our ‘Commons’ are in Danger
 Atmospheric pollution and climate change
 Water pollution, including ground aquifers
 Deforestation and loss of oxygenation
 The oceans, coral reefs and their bounty
 National parks, wildernesses and wetlands
 Nonrenewable natural resource depletion
 Fossil fuels, mineral ores, topsoil…..
Biodiversity is in Danger (13)
 Humanity has spawned a species extinction to
rival the 5 great extinctions of 65 - 440
million years ago
 Recovery times from the great extinctions
took 10’s of millions of years
 Biodiversity is essential to life on Earth and
holds untold treasures for the future
 An ecological ethic is emerging
Global Warming - A Good Example
 Atmospheric CO2 is increasing, and creates
greenhouse effect.(14)
 3-5°C rise predicted by computer models for
this century would have major environmental
impact. (15)
 Observed change of 0.25-0.4°surface and 0.0-
0.2°C troposphere rise in last 20 years doesn’t
agree with models and may or may not be due 0.6°C rise in last 100 years
to CO2.(16)
 Humans - 6 billion tons/year of CO2 (up 500%
from 1950, and increasing) (17)
 Other sources 200B tons/year
 Total atmosphere load - 775B tons
 Total earth load with oceans - 42,000B tons
Family Planning
 Concept
 Designed to help families achieve a
Result of Pregnancies, World 2000 desired size.
 1/3 of the population growth in the
world is the result of incidental or
22% unwanted pregnancies.
 210 million pregnancies in the world
per year, of which 100 million are
unwanted pregnancies (47%).
15%
 46 million abortion per year.
63%  500,000 women die each year from
unsafe abortions.
 49% of pregnancies in the US are
unwanted.
Live births
 If women could have only the
Miscariages
number of children they wanted, the
Abortions TFR in many countries would fall by
nearly to 1.
 Family Planning
 Contraceptive use
 Significant increase in the 1960s and 1970s.
 From 10% to 50% in the 1990s..
 Modern methods
 Oral contraceptives.
 Intra Uterine Devices (IUD; e.g. diaphragm)
 Injectables and implants.
 Male and female condoms.
 Spermicides.
 Emergency contraception (day after pill).
 Voluntary sterilization.
 Abortion.
Main Events Related to Family
Planning
19th century Malthusian idea. Moral restraint.

1873 Comstock Law. Family Planning labeled as indecent. Diffusion of contraception

information made illegal.
1916 Comstock Law judged anti-constitutional. First birth control clinic opened by
Margaret Sanger in Brooklyn.
1951 India adopt an official family planning policy.

1952 International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) founded.

1954 First World Population Conference, Rome.

1960 First oral contraceptive.

1967 Founding of the UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Population Activities).

1979 China’s One Child Policy

1994 International Conference on Population and Development. Importance of

woman in controlling reproduction (rights and reproductive health).
 Family Planning
 Efficient Family planning activities
 Strong government support.
 Must be medically, economically and culturally acceptable.
 Counseling ensures informed consent in contraceptive choice.
 Provision of contraceptives.
 Training of staff and education of public.
 Monitoring the results.
 Research for new or improved methods.
 Privacy and confidentiality are ensured.
 Impact
 Much evidence to support the idea that family planning
programs have been having a great affect.
 Economic development and socioeconomic transformations are
a necessary precondition for family planning programs to have
an impact?
 Sex Ratio (males per 100
females), 2000

Less than 90
90 - 95
95 - 100
100 - 105
105 - 110
More than 110
NA
 Missing Female Population, 2005
Philippines 1.5

Indonesia 2

Bangladesh 2.9

Pakistan 6.5

India 43.7

China 54.9

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Female Population
Female population (millions) Missing females (millions)
 Engineers are vital
 Developing and applying
 the means by which to measure, analyze and predict
future conditions
 the technologies by which to mitigate and eliminate
undesired effects
 Describing, explaining and communicating
 To policy makers
 To the non-technical public
 Creating the framework for a sustainable
environment
 Technology’s Roles
 Detailed explicit information and understanding
of what is occurring
 Sensors, data processing, computers, models,
predictions, communication, information…...
 Alternate technologies that mitigate and eliminate
deleterious effects
 Energy, water, transportation, communication…
 Sustainable Development
 Summary
 Major increases are occurring in human
population and affluence.
 Major stresses result in our society, natural
environment, and ecology.
 Technology and engineering are central to the
creation and the mitigation of problems.
 Predicting the future is difficult (17). The next
twenty five to fifty years will be decisive.