Key connections between population and the welfare of the planet

Rapidly Increased population has very tough role on the welfare of this eco-planetary system. in this green earth. The main key connections between population and the welfare of the planet are:

• Rapid or persistent population growth can force farmers and fishermen to over-exploit fragile ecosystems with damaging results.
• It can also increase pressures on local infrastructures and services.
  
• It speeds the rate of urbanisation (itself not a bad thing), often leading to dangerous, overcrowded and unplanned settlements, with poor sanitation, a lack of clean water and health threatening air pollution.
  
• In some rural settings increased population growth appears to have stimulated new farming methods, but elsewhere it has resulted in the over-use of slash and burn techniques, and unsustainable land clearance on fragile, sloping and forested land and destructive coastal development.
  
• Its leading to pressure on land and water resources has been increasing food production. In 2008, food is needed for some 2.5 billion more people than in 1972. The trend in recent years has shown population growth drawing ahead of food production in some regions of the world, particularly Africa. Some commentators believe that China may soon become a major food importer.
  
• One billion new jobs must be created over the next decade just to maintain current employment levels. The availability of a young, educated labour force can be a bonus in newly industrialising countries, but jobs are especially hard to create in countries with high levels of under-employment, poor educational standards and limited infrastructure - and these are often the ones with rapid increases in population.
  
• Progress in reducing hunger in the developing world has slowed to a crawl and in some regions the number of undernourished people is actually growing. In 2006, FAO estimated there are still 820 million hungry people in developing countries - 20 million more than in 1996. In addition, there are 25 million hungry people living in transition countries and another 9 million in industrialised countries, bringing the total number of malnourished people in the world to 854 million.
  
• To achieve the World Food Summit goal of halving the number undernourished in developing countries by 2015, the average annual decrease required is 24 million - almost 10 times the current level of performance.
  
• According to estimates by Harvard entomologist, Edward O. Wilson, some 27,000 plant, animal and insect species become extinct every year (the vast majority being insects). About 24 per cent (1,130) of mammals and 12 per cent (1,183) of bird species are currently regarded as globally threatened. Most species extinction can be traced to human encroachments on habitat, including forests and coral reefs, which results from population growth and economic development.
  
• Where resources are already limited, rapid population growth can make it more difficult to eradicate poverty, because the economy, infrastructure and the necessary pool of teachers, doctors and other professionals all need to grow faster than supply.
  
• Worldwide the number of people in developing countries living on less than one dollar a day dropped to 980 million in 2004, from 1.25 billion in 1990. Though this represents a reduction of 9 per cent since 1990 (from 28 to 19 per cent), it means that in the poorest countries abject poverty is still endemic. Indeed, between 1990 and 2004, the consumption of the poorest fifth of the world�s population actually fell from 4.6 to 3.9 per cent. And close to 3 billion people are still subsisting on two dollars a day or less.
  Source: The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, UN, December 2007, NY.
  
  
• More than any other resource, water shortage is becoming critical issue both for agriculture (which makes up about 70 per cent of demand)and industry.
  
• A safe water supply is also one of the most important factors in improving the health of poor families. Up to 7 billion people, in 60 countries, will face water scarcity within the next half centrury, according to the UN World Water Development Report released in March 2003.
  
• Human activities have destroyed 11 per cent of the globe's arable land, the size of China and India combined, and over 40 per cent is now degraded in some way. As a result, every year, the world's farmers must feed 77 million more people with 27 billion fewer tons of topsoil.
  
• Humanity will have to undergo a "revolution in thinking" in order to deal with the doubling of urban populations in Africa and Asia by 2030, the United Nations warns in a 2007 report which shows that over 30 years, the population of African and Asian cities will double, adding 1.7 billion people , or more than the present populations of China and the United States put together.