Consequences of Human Population Growth

Directions Using the information from the PowerPoint, respond to the questions concerning the negative impacts of human population growth.

What is the impact? The rapid increase in the human population has had many impacts on the environment. In this activity, you will explore 2 of the negative effects that human population growth have on the environment.

Negative Impact 1: Depletion of resources The Earth has a finite (limited) amount of resources As the number of people increases, more resources are being used. Some of these resources such as water are limited and no more can be produced

Depletion of Resources: Water This map shows a picture of where water is becoming scarce. Unfortunately, the countries in red and orange are the same countries that are experiencing a rapid increase in their population.

Depletion of Resources: Food In the picture, you can see children waiting to get food. Unfortunately, not all of these children will get food.

Negative Impact 2: Decrease in Biodiversity As more and more people populate the Earth, we have to find a place to put these people This has led to the destruction of forests and other ecosystems that once belonged to other organisms (animals and plants) These ecosystems end up dying out or being relocated In the end, there is a less diversity of life (biodiversity) on this planet

Rainforest…before

The rainforest after deforestation This is a picture of the remains of a rainforest that has been cleared. A majority of the trees have been cut down. This human activity is known as deforestation. An entire ecosystem has been destroyed in order to meet the needs of human growth and expansion.

Forest ecosystem…before

Forest ecosystem after deforestation This was once a forest, which was home to many different types of organisms. These organisms are either dead or had to relocate. This forest was cleared to build new homes for people.