Sharing this paper regarding the relationship of population with the environment.


The World Environment

Year 2006 when the former United States presidential aspirant Al Gore made a documentary film entitled as “Inconvenient Truth.” This was received by different reactions of the people, some of these were bad criticisms; but one thing was unanimously agreed, our environment is in bad shape and is getting worse.

Water scarcity could be the worst scenario in our present era. The world consists of 71% water, but only 3% of it can be used for human consumption. From this 3%, 17% would be needed for food production (World Water Council 2000; UNEP 2002), adding to the fact that high yielding crops would need more water. Irrigation also gets 40% share. Right now, the world is experiencing drought, creating a record with the hottest temperature ever in the history. By 2020 an estimated 2/3 of the world’s people will be living in water-stressed countries (CSD 1997 as cited in UNEP 2002). Most of these would be coming from Africa. There are currently 1.1 billion of the 7 billion people who lack access to safe water. Deforestation is one contributing factor to lack of good water.

“Total forest area in 2005 was just under 4 billion hectares. YELLOW”16 million hectares of forest area disappear annually since 2001. This disappearance has tremendous effect on the carbon cycle which is needed to sustain life; forest is the Earth’s lungs because it provides us oxygen for us to breath. Africa and Latin American continents have the most environmentally stressed countries while Europe is expanding in a slower rate. Rain forests in South East Asia are the fast shrinking forests. Asia could have lost more of it if not for the reforestation project of China. Tropical forests are also fast disappearing due mainly for land settlement of the growing number of population. These people would clear the forest to settle and to plant seasonal crops. Despite this, crop yields are expected to decline in most tropical and subtropical regions as rainfall and temperature patterns change with a changing climate (IPCC 2001). Land suitable for rain fed agriculture may shrink by 11 percent in developing countries by 2080 (FAO 2005)

The Impact
Right now, the Philippines is experiencing tremendous impact of environmental degradation. The archipelago can be considered as having one of the richest natural resources. We have 12 different forest formations; all of them share a variety of species that we can use for our living, but many of which are fast disappearing. In the present, there are at least 194 animals and 193 plants as among those considered as endangered species. This is mainly a result of the loss of the country’s forests and the destruction of coral reefs.

The increasing number of population creates massive stresses on the natural environment. Land, water, and air are being affected with the kind of culture that we follow, and the kind of technology that we use. As the population increases, land use conversion also increases. Because there would be more people who would need more land areas for cultivation and settlement, our environment suffers. We can measure the effect to our environment by measuring the population growth, affluence of each country, and technology used by the people.

Despite rapid urbanization in most regions, almost half of the world’s population still lives in rural areas. In South Asia, 70% people live in rural areas and there is an estimation that 75% of poor people live in rural areas (environment changes and their impact,). Many of the population increases are in rural areas, which would give more stresses in the environment. People would consume more energy; agricultural production would expand hence would use more land areas. People in the rural use more agricultural land than in the urban areas as the main source of their income.

Agricultural production is still the major source of livelihood to many under developed countries. People rely on the use of land for consumption. Globally 44 % of the active workforce is engaged in agriculture, the importance of this sector as a source of employment varies by region and income. Population growth in developing countries will put further pressure on agriculture as rising demand for food requires more land and more forests to be turned to agricultural use. (Environment Changes and their Impact). With the conversion of forests for agricultural production, the environment deteriorates even worse.

Western economies are using massive amounts of energy and land areas that cannot be matched by simply expanding standard economic growth in poor countries. The environmental resources in the poor countries are being exported and exploited by the USA and Western Europe. These economies are already destroying rain forests and depleting oil deposits. The affluence of living in a first world country simply adds to the detriment of the environment. There isn't much left for the rest of the world.

In an island nation like the Philippines, we have a microcosm of coming global environmental disaster. The Earth is an island in the solar system. The massive destruction of the rain forest and overpopulation in the Philippines will soon be matched by the Earth itself in the larger venue.  

The Filipinos are now experiencing the effect of the burgeoning number of people. “Although Philippines has abundant natural resources, these resources are compromised by a number of factors, including population pressures and poverty,” Philippine Reference Bureau, 2007. One of the livelihoods that we depend upon is fishing. About 75 percent of the fish we catch live in the mangroves, hence make mangroves the vital source of our seafood. Today, the Philippines have lost almost 90% of its mangroves, the vast majority since 1970 (DM, Melana, et al, Mangrove Management and Development in the Philippines 2000). Many of these mangroves have been cleared for human settlements, agricultural and industrial developments. Because the Filipino population have been tripled since the 70’s, more demand for fishing is needed while the government have not made enough policies to safeguard these mangroves.

The global economy is not sustainable. It will collapse if economists continue to act and speak as if the Earth is a limitless barrel of oil and rain forest. Soon, this century, the oil will be gone and our forests, as well. One direct devastating consequence is the increase in flooding and mud slides. The Philippine country has experienced far worse calamities in the history due mostly to the depletion of our environment. We can still recall with horror the tragedy when an entire village in southern Leyte was buried, and in it hundreds of children and teachers buried alive, due to a massive mudslide that was incontrovertibly caused by deforestation in the watershed above the school (private communication, 2007).  This is the usual case in the country, calamities brought about by massive deforestation. Those children and teachers died because of multiple factors-- overpopulation in Leyte with too many people cutting down too many trees, and the larger responsibility lies with the government agencies and individuals who failed to stop illegal logging and also those parties domestically and internationally who benefited from the logging in that watershed.

Ecological Footprint

Malthusian theory has received overwhelming criticisms from different theorists, especially from the point of view of the old Marxists. While Sir Thomas Robert Malthus have erred in some of his predictions, he was right in the long run. Our ecological footprint is simply exceeding beyond the limit line. The environment is definitely not getting any better, not in the coming decades or so. If we would listen to the cries of the rivers, to the echoes in the forests, to the anger of our natural environment, we would know then that they are in helpless position.

For us to be able to determine the environmental degradation that we are experiencing, we need to measure the population, affluence of the people, and the technology that these people use. We all know that nature was a lot better centuries ago as compared today, because it never had the issue of over population, and that people never used such vast amount of oil for the machineries. But it does not and should not end like this. The world needs strong environmental polices to control further weakening of our soil.
Growing from 76.5 million in 2000 to 85.2 million in 2005, the population of the Philippines is increasing more rapidly than most countries in Southeast Asia(Population Reference Bureau, 2007). In urban areas, 90 percent of the Filipinos still have good source of water, while the rural areas have 77 percent. But since the urban centers are rapidly growing too, this results to more water pollution. Between 1996 and 2001, four major rivers in NCR were found to contain such high levels of pollutants that they were considered biologically dead (Population Reference Bureau, 2007).

What we need to do

In the Philippines, we do not want any more tragedies like Leyte mudslide, Quezon disaster because of typhoon. The heat we experience is too much, we can see too many flooded areas in Manila because they do not have enough trees to control the flooding. We all detest these calamities, it hinders are economic recovery. What the Philippines need, as a microcosm of the world, is strong policies for the protection of the environment, study all those factors that affect this; for then may we realize that growing number of population is among those factors that destroys the environment we live in. Only then may we all realize the interdependence of humans and our environment, to stop reducing the issue of population growth to just mere numbers.


Reaction Paper on Population and Environment

Just sharing this paper for my socio subject.

Population and Poverty
(A Policy Paper)


by:
LIZT
MS Development Communication
Sociology 291


University of the Philippines – Los Baños
School Year 2007-2008

Rationale

Majority of the people in the world today is in poverty, even more extreme in some parts of the globe. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the problem is not just about the lack of food, but the inadequate access to water and other basic necessities. The third world countries in Asia suffer from food shortages and wide unemployment. Education becomes the privilege of the few elite, while the basic sectors remain to be under impoverishment.

The wealth is unequally distributed. To give you the view, the wealth of the 41 most underdeveloped countries is less than what the world’s seven richest people have. The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income; the richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income. The United States of America spends $ 8 billion for cosmetics, a $ 2 billion more to give free education for all. Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day, while more than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening (http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp, 2008).

Overpopulation exacerbates poverty. In a country where there is a higher birth rate compared to other countries, it is expected that they also have the higher number of poor people. The worst case scenario is that the disparity among the rich and the poor is widening. Due also to overpopulation problem is the decreasing support to education, health, and other basic services to their citizens. Whenever there is fiscal crisis, the most vulnerable of in the nation are the poor, the sector composing the great majority of the people. The more people we have, the more likely that these services would decrease.

The Philippines is among those with both higher birth rate and higher poverty level. According to National Statistical Coordination Board (2006), poverty in the country worsens in 2006, from 24 poor families out of 100 in 2003 it climbs to 27 in 2006. As of year 2006, there are 4.7 million families who are poor.
The poorest province according to survey is Tawi- Tawi, a province in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The province continues to deteriorate their economic status, Tawi-Tawi has the record of being the poorest in the country among 81 provinces during the 2006 survey of NSCB from being the 31st in the rank during 2003. Their poverty incidence had risen up from 17.8 to 36.0 during 2003 to 2006, respectively; there was an increase by more than 40 percentage points between 2003 and 2006. This means that almost eight out of ten families in this province do not earn the minimum income to meet their food and non-food needs. Agriculture, fishing, and agar-agar farming are the leading source of livelihood of the people of Tawi-Tawi, with quite a number engaged in the barter trade business. In this sense, most of the people are dependent on smaller income, with less opportunity to better livelihood.

We cannot just allow these poor people live forever in poverty. It is like allowing them to transfer their impoverishment to the next generation. The cycle of poverty will continue to roll if we cannot do something about it.


Goals and Objectives

If we want to alleviate the people from poverty, we would need to set our goals and objectives. We can start implementing measures to each country, to all the countries in the world where there is poverty. We should start with addressing the root of poverty so that we would know what to solve. We should know what factors contribute to poverty, in all the aspects of society.

In the Philippines, and this is true to other countries, poverty is not just an economic issue, but also a political and cultural one. Even long ago when our resources were still flourishing, majority of the Filipinos have really been poor. They were poor because they could not escape from the colonialism of the super power countries, most prominent of this is the United States of America; from the worsening cases of graft and corruption coupled with the public officials running the big businesses in the country; and from the concentration of the land to the few where the farmers were never given the opportunity to own the land they till.

Today, the cultural aspect is playing the role to misery. From 1970’s up to the present, the number of Filipinos has been tripled, but the government was not able to deter this problem. Inculcated in the beliefs of the Filipino people is the catholic view that it would be a moral sin to promote birth control, thus it would be hard for the government to implement programs for birth control because the church plays the biggest role in the cultural beliefs of the Filipinos. Hence, population continues to be out of control which further worsens the poverty situation.

We need to create solutions for this problem. We should arouse the awareness of the individuals for them to realize these aspects that explain why they cannot alleviate themselves from poverty. We have to organize them in finding solutions to the problem of poverty, and in reducing the country’s population growth. In doing so, we would likely mobilize them to act as one in pursuing the common goal, to achieve a better standard of living.

Target

After having laid down the possible goals and objectives, there would be a need to set the optimum target to implement these. We need to set up a holistic approach in meeting our goals and objectives, and set the expected time that we can finally see an achievement for these.

The 40% increase of poverty incidence in a matter of just three years in Tawi-Tawi is telling us that more can happen in a few years time. Taking all the considerations by hand, we can expect this province to perform better if we can face and give solutions to the problem. We would need a thorough study of the province, learn which aspect they can perform better in terms of their economic capabilities. By the year 2010, they can start acting on the problem of poverty, and by the year 2015, we should expect that their poverty incidence would decrease by at least 45%. This can be possible.


Policy and Program Measures

The problem of poverty cannot be separated from the issue of overpopulation for we know how the increasing growth of population exacerbates poverty. We can therefore launch programs to create awareness among the families to educate them that it would rather be immoral to produce children that they can no longer support even the basic needs of these children. They should realize that having smaller number of family would give them a better economic opportunity. They should also learn how to use the most effective methods in controlling pregnancy, and not just the abstinence method that their cultural norms dictate.

In the current trend of population growth, most of this is a result of the unmet need of the parents. Majority of the mothers with a lot of children would not agree to give those births but were just “victims” of the circumstances. These women have lesser power in the society of macho, hence usually gives them lesser option in times when their husbands would need them. This is especially true in the poor provinces like Tawi-Tawi. Empowering women could be a good cure in giving remedy to our birth rate.

Literacy and health are among the factors being considered in measuring the poverty level of a given place. The government must allocate more budgets for the education and health sectors to help them improve the situation of the citizens. Education is needed to give the youth the opportunity to create a better future for the nation, especially in making them productive citizens and not a burden.

If Tawi-Tawi registers one of the lowest rates of education, we must therefore put a remedy to this problem. Instead of focusing in infrastructure and modernizing the equipment of the military, the local government of Tawi-Tawi must allocate a bigger part of their fund to education. The poor people need better education more than better roads and bridges to create a better future among them.

Every year, the Philippines bring hundred thousands of the Filipinos to be among those millions of unemployed citizens. What is even more alarming is that even the professionals are not spared from unemployment. Some of them are even graduates of the best universities in the country. Majority of the people in Tawi-tawi are working in farm areas, or in some small industries; while the bigger number of them have seasonal work or not working at all.

The government must be creative enough in giving the citizens the opportunity to have income, or at least anything that could feed their families. A small entrepreneurship perhaps, or micro-finance, can be a good option to help them sustain a livelihood for their families. This kind of project would be most welcomed to small provinces like Tawi-Tawi. I believe that these jobless and low-income earners only need the opportunity to free themselves from the chain of poverty; they need something to start with, like a small capital from public or private corporations. Give them choices on how they can act as people struggling for a better living. But it must be sustainable for longer period of time.

One group cannot do this task alone. There must be a holistic approach where one cannot stand alone without the others. All the private and public officials must be tapped because poverty is the concern of everybody.

If we need to create development, let all the aspects of society show what development is. Let the people enrich their social awareness, have an economy which is based on equity, a political climate where people could expect better service from the public servants, a culture which would educate the populace in alleviating themselves from poverty, and an ecological environment that is well taken care of, and that which will not create devastating calamity to people.

If we can bring this kind of living to the people, we can then assess if development is really the best contraceptive. People need to be diverted from bringing more children to this world to making themselves as productive citizens of the world. The real essence of development might be achieved; one where less people are hungry and more people have better access to basic necessities, and where the environmental resources will not be maximized in order to feed the populace. A socially distributed wealth gives justice to everyone, a justice towards development.