It's time for scientists to sue overpopulation.

 Unobtrusive population growth accelerates global warming and mass extinction

It took about 200,000 years for the world population to top 1 billion. But in just 200 years the population has grown to 7 billion. In fact, in the last 40 years there has been an increase of 1 billion people every 12 years.

And according to United Nations forecasts, the world population will reach 11 billion people by the end of this century by 4 billion more. Nevertheless, scientists, policy makers, and even environmentalists, are associated with dramatic population growth and climate change, loss of biodiversity, resource depletion, or the global environmental crisis in general. It is a good idea to proclaim that there is

"We have already reached an unsustainable population," Ohio State University Jeffrey McKee tells us that . "In other words, it's more than the biological concept of carrying capacity. Millions suffer from hunger every day and countless people get even clean drinking water. The world where 11 billion people live will be devastating to humanity and other species. ”

McKee conducted a study on the relationship between population and biodiversity loss, and found that the domestic population growth rate and the number of endangered species are closely related.

Meanwhile, the University of Hawaii geographer Camilo Mora is an article published in the journal Ecology and Society, in which excess population exacerbates global warming and the biodiversity crisis, causing global socioeconomic problems. Claimed to be.

But if the global population is already above sustainable levels, why is this topic treated like a taboo? Not only among politicians, but also among environmentalists?

"There are multiple reasons for this, one of which is that the view on the importance of overpopulation has been repeated over time," Mora told us . "But when we avoid talking about it doesn't mean it's less important."

Biological diversity                                       

IUCN recently announced that 94% of the world's lemurs are endangered and are the most endangered taxa. Lemurs only inhabit Madagascar, an island country. While lemurs are disappearing, the population is rapidly increasing. The current population growth rate in Madagascar is about 2.8%, with over 40% of the population under 15 years of age.

Scientists have warned for decades that the world has entered a era of mass extinction, which has serious consequences for human society and the natural world. The causes of global biodiversity loss are diverse and complex-for example, habitat destruction, deforestation, overfishing, climate change, ocean acidification-but there is one simple fact that goes through A: There is a constant population growth

"It's a simple calculation. The world's resources and space we live in are limited. The more we use, the less we can use other species. Currently, only due to habitat loss. There are 20,000 species of endangered species, "Mora told us".

In fact, a McKee et al. Study published last year in Human Ecology found a direct link between the population density and population growth rate in the country and the number of endangered species of mammals and birds in the IUCN Red List.

"The variables that best explain the number of endangered species per area have been shown to be two of population density and species diversity," the authors said in a paper. The model fit improved with the addition of gross domestic product (GDP), the farmland rate, and the number of endemic species, but the most important explanatory variable was the population.

Furthermore, in the average population with growing population (this is the case for most countries on earth), focusing only on the population, the number of threatened species of mammals and birds will increase by 3.3% in the next 10 years The authors predict that they will increase 10.8% by 2050.

But the reverse was also true. In 21 countries where the population is expected to decline in the future, the number of endangered species is expected to decrease by 2.5% by 2050. The number of threatened species decreased in nine countries in 12 countries where population declines were already observed.

"I'm a little relieved that the number of endangered species of mammals and birds has decreased slightly in most of the countries with declining populations," McKee said. The paper does not rationalize why population density and population growth rates are related to the number of endangered species, but the answer may be obvious.

"Everyone uses resources for food, shelter and comfort. Even if resources are used efficiently and wisely, every single person is depleting the resources needed for the survival of other organisms. That's what McKee says. "So, the more we homo sapiens on the planet, the more biodiversity will be sacrificed."

Global warming                                             

Most scientists agree that global warming is currently the largest environmental crisis on earth, and many scientists consider global warming to be the greatest crisis in human history. ing. A long-term focus on global warming solutions has been the immediate renewable energy revolution, the conservation of existing forests, and the resurgence of agriculture. However, according to Mora, it is extremely difficult to reduce the necessary carbon emissions while ignoring population growth.

Lets learn together about global warming and its effects in detail.

Reference artilce : GLOBAL WARMING

"In the United States, every single child has about 9,441 tons of carbon heritage for parents, equivalent to 5.7 times their parents' lifetime emissions," Mora said in a paper. "Even if the population growth rate is modest, achieving GHG emission reductions will be extremely difficult given the prospects of improving living standards and increasing energy consumption."

Although population growth is a cause of worsening climate change with rising consumption, Mora says the world is looking away from this issue.

"In the most authoritative report on climate change [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report], there is little mention of population growth, family planning and related issues," he said. It added that financing for the diffusion of instruments is overwhelmingly cheap as a means of controlling climate change.

According to the United Nations Population Fund study, more than 200 million women are unable to obtain a family-planning tool while they want it. And the result is over 70 million unwanted pregnancies.



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