Our population is increasing faster than ever

The average American consumes 300 times as much energy as the average Bangladeshi The UN states that food supplies might be adequate to feed the world’s population if they were distributed evenly! In many LEDCs, scarcity of food among the poor is partly due to an uneven distribution of land ownership & people power: S. Africa, 47% of land is owned by 2% of the population!

Thomas Malthus: An Essay on the Principle of Population Predicted a pessimistic view on the dangers of overpopulation & claimed that food supply was the main limit to population growth Malthus believed the popn increases geometrically (2,4,8,16,32, etc) whereas food supply can only grow arithmetically (2,4,6,8, etc) being limited by available new land

 Esther Boserup, a Danish economist, asserted that an increase in population would stimulate technologists and scientists to increase food production:  ie. Any increase in population would increase the demand for food & so act as an incentive to change agrarian (farming) technology & produce more food. ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ Since 1798 there have been many ways in which food production has increased:  Draining marshlands bringing them into agricultural productivity  Land reclamation from the sea  Cross breeding cattle  Developing high yield varieties of plants (especially rice)  Terracing of steep slopes  Creating artificial environments – greenhouses  Using more sophisticated irrigation techniques  Creation of new foods such a s soya  Creation and extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides (agro-chemical)  Farming native species of crops and animals  Fish farming …But are some of these methods unsustainable and resource-hungry?

What’s your vote: Theory 1 … or 2? What are some examples ? Theory 2: (Boserup)  Increased food production (both more efficient, & more of it!)  Adaptation  Advanced Technology & Innovation to improve: ▪ Medicine & Healthcare ▪ Agricultural efficiency ▪ Energy production ▪ Waste treatment / Recycling Theory 1: (Malthus)  CRISIS!  Resource shortages: drought, famine, disputes over land & fuel  Unsustainable consumption & waste  Population-Resource imbalance