Population Crisis

Introduction

This report is about the population crisis. It describes little about the population of the world but its focus is on overpopulation in Pakistan. The purpose of the report is to make awareness that the base all the crisis in the country is the huge increase in population. The food crisis, health crisis, etc are all due to overpopulation. On independence, the population of Pakistan was just 3 crore but within the last few decades, there was a huge increase in population. Overpopulation is a condition where an organism’s number exceeds the carrying capacity of its habitat. In common parlance the term to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth. A society is called overpopulated when the resources are less than the number of individuals there.

Overpopulation

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Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. In common parlance, the term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth. Overpopulation does not depend only on the size or density of the population but on the ratio of population to available sustainable resources. It also depends on the way resources are used and distributed throughout the population If a given environment has a population of 10 individuals, but there is food or drinking water enough for only 9, then in a closed system where no trade is possible, that environment is overpopulated; if the population is 100 but there is enough food, shelter, and water for 200 for the indefinite future, then it is not overpopulated. Overpopulation can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates due to medical advances, an increase in immigration, or from an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. It is possible for very sparsely-populated areas to be overpopulated, as the area in question may have a meager or non-existent capability to sustain human life (e. g. the middle of the Sahara Desert).

The resources to be considered when evaluating whether an ecological niche is overpopulated include clean water, clean air, food, shelter, warmth, and other resources necessary to sustain life. If the quality of human life is addressed, there may be additional resources considered, such as medical care, education, proper sewage treatment and waste disposal. Overpopulation places competitive stress on basic life-sustaining resources, leading to a diminished quality of life. The rapid increase in human population over the course of the 20th century has raised concerns about the Earth's ability to sustain a large number of inhabitants.

In 2009, the estimated annual growth rate was 1. 10%, and the world population stood at roughly 6. 7 billion. Current projections show a steady decline in the growth rate and a population of around 9 billion by the year 2050. The scientific consensus is that the current population expansion and accompanying increase in the usage of resources is linked to threats to the ecosystem. The InterAcademy Panel Statement on Population Growth, which was ratified by 58 member academies in 1994, called the expansion in human numbers "unprecedented", and stated that many environmental problems were aggravated by the population expansion.

At the time, the world population stood at 5. 5 billion, and optimistic scenarios predicted a peak of 7. 8 billion by 2050, a number that current estimates show will be reached around 2030.

History of the population of the world

If you were to take a standard sheet of writing paper. 1mm thick and cut it into two sheets, placing one atop the other, it would then be 2mm thick. Then, cutting the stack of two and making a stack of 4 sheets, it would then be 4mm thick. Believe it or not, if you continued to do this just one hundred times, doubling the size of the stack each time, the thickness of the stack would be 1. 334 x 1012 light-years. This is an example of exponential or geometric growth, where the rate of growth is always proportional to its present size. Exponential growth also applies to the human population. It begins growing very slowly, but over generations, the growth rate increases more and more rapidly, similar to a snowball effect. It took the human population thousands of years to reach 1 billion in 1804. However, it took only 123 years for us to double to 2 billion by 1927.

The population hit 4 billion in 1974 (only 47 years), and if we continue at our current rate, the human population will reach 8 billion in 2028. Doubling from our present count of 6. 8 billion to 13. 6 billion will have a much greater impact than our last couple of doublings combined. Overpopulation isn't just population density (amount of people per landmass). Overpopulation applies even more so to the number of people in an area exceeding the resources and the carrying capacity of the environment necessary to sustain human activities.

So much focus is placed on the rapid population growth in third-world countries. However, when we compare the lifestyles of the rich countries vs. the poor countries, the rich countries are a much greater problem. For example, Americans constitute only five percent of the world’s total population, but consume 26% of the world’s energy. Just as much as the population size, we need to consider the resources consumed by each person, and the damage done by technologies used to supply them.

Overpopulation is when the number of people can not be permanently maintained without depleting resources and without degrading the environment and the people's standard of living. Because we are rapidly using up resources around the world, virtually all nations are overpopulated. This applies even more so to the rich nations. As we use up the resources, the earth's carrying capacity continues to decrease.

Population of Pakistan

The first Pakistan Census after the proclamation of independence of Pakistan was conducted in 1951. It was decreed that censuses have to be carried out once in 10 years.

The second census was conducted in 1961. However, the third one was conducted in 1972 because of the war with India. The fourth census was held in 1981. The fifth census was conducted delayed in March 1998. The sixth census of Pakistan is planned for October 2008.

Population by province/region since 1951

Today’s Snerue The above tables summarise the figures for the population from the first day till now. It is clear from above that in 1951 population of Pakistan was not a very large drastic change in population occurred after 1971. Now the growth rate of the population is 1. percent which is the worst growth rate in the world. Now Pakistan is not in terms of the population all over the world.

Major crisis due to overpopulation

Following are some major crises and problems which we facing due to overpopulation:

1. Food Crisis
2. HealthCrisis
3. Pollution
4. Diseases Terrorism
5. Governance Crisis
6. Poverty Unemployment

Now we will discuss all of them one by one:

Food Crisis

World financial experts have placed Pakistan on a list of 36 countries that face a serious food crisis, warning that if the situation worsens people may raid storage facilities for food.

Like the rest of the world, Pakistan is also facing a food crisis, and it has two sides; one is the unavailability of edibles and second is soaring prices due to a gap in demand and supply of edibles. According to the website of UN International task force on global food crisis the price of food commodities has risen by 83 percent over the last 36 months on international markets, and it is estimated that 854 million people are in a state of food insecurity around the world.

World prices of food grains have risen manifold in the last several months due to varied reasons including increased demand in emerging economies, to poor harvests and farming methods, oil prices, massive diversion of food grains for making bio-fuels, provision of land for bio-fuels, global warming, high population growth, changed eating habits, manipulative role of international financial markets with reduced role of national government.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lead a concerted effort by 27 key UN agencies to tackle the growing crisis caused by a worldwide sharp rise in basic foodstuff prices at a conference in the Swiss capital Bern. In case of Pakistan, the food crisis comes hand in hand with an energy crisis and in uncertain political environment along with the extremist threats. It is expected that food and energy shortages could become worse this summer. Food shortages do not make a companion to long periods of energy outages (load-shedding).

This dangerous mix can bring the political plans of political shenanigans to dogs if these basic needs remain unmet. More problem appears to those economies that are not agriculture based and Pakistan is a wheat and rice producing country and should not have had to face an acute shortage. a very important question arises here how did it get to this stage? It is believed that Agriculture scientists will have to introduce modern technologies for high yield at low price to enable the government to cope with the persistent crisis of food shortage.

Even the UN Secretary general has said that agriculture is need to be improved for coup up current food crisis all over the world. After a quarter century of relative neglect, agriculture is back on the international agenda, sadly with a vengeance, Mr. Ban said in an address at the start of the three-day high-level segment of the annual meeting of the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD). The onset of the current food crisis has highlighted the fragility of our success in feeding the world’s growing population with the technologies of the first green revolution and subsequent agricultural improvements, he added.

According to Daily Times an Economic analyst, Khalid Mahmood underlined the need for increasing agricultural yields though usage of hybrid seeds, better water management, increased role of government for ensuring effective safety and support mechanisms such as making a reservoir of food grain, and also public-private partnerships to overcome the crisis. The skyrocketing prices are jeopardizing the purchasing power of financially crumbling consumers. The price of food items such as vegetables, chicken and meat has increased by more than 20 percent just in one month, which has further made the half of the population of country food insecure.

It is stated that 50 percent of the population is talking less calories recognized for average human need, 20 percent out of those 50 percent population, bottom line people were the greater suffers and were miserably struggling to meet their basic food needs even by compromising on their non-food expenses. The current crisis would further worsen if the government is failed to come up with an informed policy and decisions, the majority of the people particularly the poor would be the greater sufferer, however their attention is more towards the political issues and people are suffering due to energy and food shortage.

There are several lacunae in domestic policy recognized and role of the previous government primarily for not realizing the strength of the crisis that was coupled with poor decisions making including the management failure in the worse crisis of 2007 when even international oil prices were not so high, unavailability of fresh seeds and finally the export of rice which directly increased the need of wheat.

The previous government paid less attention to demand and supply management, rather tried to address the issue properly and developing long term measures; it waged ineffective ad-hoc measures such as subsidies while oil-driven economy of Pakistan is facing serious shortage of energy resulting in increased cost of production and transportation. The situation of food shortage in Pakistan calls for a multi-sectoral strategy to address this serious issue. it is also important to note that the Ministry of Finance alone cannot provide a solution to the worsening problem.

Pakistan needs a cohesive strategy including a focus on revising the import parity; pricing formula and revised structure of taxes levied on petroleum products, further demand and supply management in the energy sector, agriculture, and communication. it is also suggested that the Planning Commission of Pakistan should take lead in formulating proposals in this regard. The culture of accountability of the political leadership which was responsible for the current energy deficit and the resultant price hikes; is also needed.

Another important point in this regard is atta smuggling to Afghanistan though NWFP atta dealers say that the atta was exported to Afghanistan under the trade policy and a regulatory tax of Rs500 is charged on every bag of 100 kg exported to Afghanistan. It is also said that Currently, there is no smuggling on the Afghanistan level and whatever is transported to Afghanistan is legal, and is on accordance with an agreement signed between Pakistan and Afghanistan, that is an open lie. Interestingly President George W. Bush has urged Afghan Govt. o gain self-food sufficiency to reduce food pressure on Pakistan in SHARM El-SHEIKH Egypt. The government is taking steps to curb this situation; Minster for Privatization and Investment Syed Naveed Qamar has directed Utility Stores Corporation (USC) to ensure sufficient supply and other necessities on its outlets across the country. Syed Naveed Qamar, The minister said that the government was making all-out efforts to provide essential items like atta, ghee, and sugar to the people in sufficient quantity.

Furthermore, the government has warned the wheat hoarders to offer their wheat by Monday (May 19) to the public sector procurement agencies; otherwise, their stocks will be confiscated. A detailed briefing on the current wheat situation was given to the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Mr. Nazar Muhammad Gondal by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

Health crisis

According to a report approximately there are 15000 births per day in Pakistan. For these children at least 15 hospitals each with 400-500 beds are required which is not possible.

No rich state can provide such a huge facility on daily basis then how can Pakistan? After all it is a developing country. We are facing a health crisis nowadays just due to such a large birth rate. In the 1970s health facilities were available to everyone because at that time our population was just 1. 5 crore which is nothing compared to today’s population.

Pollution

For the first time ever human enterprise may be impacting planet earth in a permanent way. How is this possible? What are we doing now that humans have not been doing for millennia? Several obvious things come to mind.

We are creating some very long-lasting waste material as a by-product of generating energy. This includes radioactive waste, and it also includes carbon dioxide, the major contributor to the planetary greenhouse. We are putting gases into the atmosphere and substances into the ground that take a very long time to be absorbed into the general biosphere. We are removing old growth timber faster than it can replace itself. We are flushing substances into the world ocean that can affect the entire oceanic food chain. Only three of these items are “new,” radioactive waste and manmade long-lasting gases and waste materials.

Humans have been doing the remainder for as long as humans have existed. Why, then, are we only now experiencing a global impact? The simple answer is—too many people. Planet earth has an amazing ability to absorb and take into stride incredible amounts of “stuff. ” Our biosphere has evolved an entire range of mechanisms for cleaning itself up after both non-human and human input. Overload the system, however, and it grinds to a halt. A stream continuously surrounded by a herd of bison will become as contaminated and unfit for further use as one overloaded with human sewage.

Yet each can handle reasonable levels of contamination. The problem usually is not what, but how much. The remaining problems are not really problems—they all are just symptoms of an underlying problem: too many people. So long as we address only the symptoms, the problem will remain unsolved, and—because of its nature—will continue to grow. Worldwide we are extending the average human life p; worldwide we are reducing infant mortality; worldwide, across the human spectrum, we are reducing disease and death. With the exception of some industrialized nations, however, the worldwide birth rate is going up.

It doesn’t take an advanced degree to see where all this leads. An overflowing world population will ultimately overload our planet’s short-term ability to handle everything we throw at it. Increasing greenhouse temperatures, polluted groundwater, single species forests, dying abyssal food chains—these may just be the beginning. In the final analysis, fortunately, planet earth is self-regulating. Unfortunately, this self-regulation is on a time scale that dwarfs human experience.

Diseases

Disease is not a severe problem when it is on a small scale. We can handle them easily when few people are affected. Now as our population is very huge diseases spread very rapidly because everyone has a social life also. When diseases become common in a large number of masses then it is very difficult to provide sufficient treatment to all of them. Attack of “ Dangi” last year is the obvious example.

Terrorism

Terrorism is simply a state of insecurity. There are a number of causes of terrorism one of them is poverty which is due to overpopulation. Thus, we can say that overpopulation is one of the causes of “ Terrorism “.

In our country, basic biological needs ( food, shelter, and cloth ) are not being satisfied. Some extremists and Mullahs ensure people that they will satisfy their basic needs if they come with them. The poor people have no other choice thus they shake hand with Mullahs. When the state is not providing basic needs to the masses and these extremists are providing then people will go with them. Thus people feel no hesitation in destroying their country on the command of these people. Terrorism started majorly during and after General Zia’s Era and there was a huge increase in population during the period of Zia. There were only 500 “ Madrasas” in 1977 but in 1987 their number reached 2000.

Governance crisis

When people are not getting proper food, health facilities, etc, and other basic facilities then it means that the government is doing nothing in other words, we can say that government is unable to govern the state. Nowadays this all is happening in Pakistan. Most people blame the government for this but the government is not solely responsible for it. It's a major reason for overpopulation. Government can run a state with a small population very smoothly but it is very tough to handle millions of people.

Poverty

Poverty is majorly due to overpopulation. When there are scarce resources and a population of billions then how people can live a life of boom? Pakistan has a population of approximately 17 crore and resources for only 12. 5 crores then the remaining people have to lead a life full of poverty. In the 1970s the resources were more than the number of individuals but afterward we just increased our population not resources. Therefore, we are facing such a worst situation.

Unemployment

Employment is very important for any individual to live a happy life. But unfortunately it is not available to everyone in Pakistan, its major reason is overpopulation. 60% of our population is less in 25 years in age. The population of Pakistan is considered as most young population of the world. It is impossible for any government to provide jobs to such a huge number of people. When a large number of people have no jobs then economic growth would be nothing.

Major causes of overpopulation

• The decline in the Death Rate: he fall in death rates that is decline in mortality rate is one fundamental causes of overpopulation. Owing to the dvancements in medicine, man has found cures to the previously fatal diseases. The new inventions in medicine have brought in treatments for most of the dreadful diseases. This has resulted in an increase in the life expectancy of individuals. Mortality rate has declined leading to an increase in population. Owing to modern medications and improved treatments to various illnesses, the overall death rate has gone down. The brighter side of it is that we have been able to fight many diseases and prevent deaths. On the other hand, the medical boon has brought with it, the curse of overpopulation.
• Rise in the Birth Rate: Thanks to the new discoveries in nutritional science, we have been able to bring in increase in the fertility rates of human beings. Medicines of today can boost the reproductive rate in human beings. There are medicines and treatments, which can help in conception. Thus, science has led to an increase in birth rate. This is certainly a reason to be proud and happy but advances in medicine have also become a cause of overpopulation.
• Migration: Immigration is a problem in some parts of the world. If the inhabitants of various countries migrate to a particular part of the world and settle over there, the area is bound to suffer from the ill effects of overpopulation. If the rates of emigration from a certain nation do not match the rates of immigration to that country, overpopulation makes its way. The country becomes overly populated. Crowding of immigrants in certain parts of the world, results in an imbalance in the density of population.
• Lack of Education: Illiteracy is another important cause of overpopulation. Those lacking education fail to understand the need to prevent excessive growth of population. They are unable to understand the harmful effects that overpopulation has. They are unaware of the ways to control population. Lack of family planning is commonly seen in the illiterate lot of the world. This is one of the major factors leading to overpopulation. Due to ignorance, they do not take to family planning measures, thus contributing to a rise in population. Viewing the issue of increasing population optimistically, one may say that overpopulation means the increase in human resources. The increase in the number of people is the increase in the number of productive hands and creative minds.

But we cannot ignore the fact that the increase in the number producers implies an increase in the number of consumers. Greater number of people requires a greater number of resources. Not every nation is capable of providing its people with the adequate amount of resources. The ever-increasing population will eventually leave no nation capable of providing its people with the resources they need to thrive. When the environment fails to accommodate the living beings that inhabit it, overpopulation becomes a disaster.

Summary

This report is about the population crisis which is the most severe problem of present world. Pakistan is one of those countries whose population has increased dramatically and now the population of Pakistan is approximetly 20 crore. All major crisis and problems which Pakistan is facing are majorly due to overpopulation. The big reasons of overpopulation are decline in death rate, increase in birth rate and lack of education. If population growth would not be controlled then Pakistan will have a population of 40 crore in 2030.

Conclusions

From all above discussion it is concluded that overpopulation is the most important problem that we are facing now a days. If it is not controlled now then we have to face some severe crisis in near future. Our population is increaing rapidly and if it keep on growing at the same rate then in 2030 the population of pakistan will become largest population fo the world. It is obvious that that with all our efforts we can not manage such a huge population. Thus, we have to take some steps to control population. Our resources are not as much to feed such a large population due to which we are facing food crisis, health crisis, etc. Pakistan is a developing country and it can not increase its resources to such a graet extent. Due to overpopulation in the near future Pakistan will have to face civil war.

Recommendations

• Following are some recommendations to control overpopulation:
• Educate people regarding the population crisis
• Encourage Immigrations Career Opportunities For The Women
• Develop policies like one or two children each
• Do not allow refugees to enter Pakistan

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