Population–Resource Relationships

Key terms
Carrying capacity is the largest population that the resources of a given environment can support. (see
also Lenon et al pg 100)

Population ceiling is the theoretical maximum number of people who can be supported by the
available resources and level of technology in a geographical area.

Ecological footprint is a sustainability indicator, which expresses the relationship between population
and the natural environment. It accounts for the use of natural resources by a country’s population. (see
also Nagle pg 110)

Biocapacity is the capacity of an area or ecosystem to generate an ongoing supply of resources and to
absorb its wastes. (see also Nagle pg 111)

Global hectare: one global hectare is equivalent to one hectare of biologically productive space with
world average productivity (see also Nagle pg 111)

Carbon footprint is ‘the total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly
by an individual, organisation, event or product’ (UK Carbon Trust, 2008). (see also Nagle pg 112)

Overshoot occurs when humanity’s demand on nature exceeds the biosphere’s supply, or regenerative
capacity.

Green revolution is the introduction of high yielding seeds and modern agricultural techniques in
developing countries (see Nagle pg 108).

Perennial crops are crops that do not die off once harvested (annual crops), existing for years before
reseeding may be required.

Optimum population is the one that achieves a given aim in the most satisfactory way (see also Lenon
et al pg 101-102, Nagle pg 113).

Economic optimum is the level of population that, through the production of goods and services,
provides the highest average standard of living.

Underpopulated is when there are too few people in an area to use the resources available efficiently
(see also Lenon et al pg 101-102, Nagle pg 113).

Overpopulated is when there are too many people in an area relative to the resources and the level of
technology available. (see also Lenon et al pg 101-102, Nagle pg 113)

Optimum rhythm of growth is the level of population growth that best utilises the resources and
technology available. Improvements in the resource situation and/or technology are paralleled by more
rapid population growth.

Population pressure is when population per unit area exceeds the carrying capacity.

Neo-Malthusians are the pessimistic lobby who fear that population growth will outstrip resources,
leading to the consequences predicted by Thomas Malthus.
Anti-Malthusians are the optimists who argue that either population growth will slow well before the
limits of resources are reached or that the ingenuity of humankind will solve resource problems when
they arise.

Population-Resource Relationship Theories:

Introduction question: What is your view on the relationship between population and resources?

Summarise the following:

1) Rev. Thomas Malthus’ Theory (see Lenon et al pg 99-100, Nagle pg 113-114, Waugh pg 378)

2) Easter Boserup’s Theory (see Lenon et al pg 100-101,

http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/population/boserup.htm https://www.pnas.org/content/107/51/21963)

3) The concepts of over population, under population and optimum population (see Lenon et al pg101-
102, Nagle pg 113)
(see also the uploaded videos on Teams)

1.3.1 Food Security (also see Nagel and Guiness pg 104-108)

Security: when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious and affordable food to
maintain an active lifestyle. A lack of food security can push more people into poverty, erode
developmental gains and threaten political stability.

o Availability: sufficient food quantities available on a consistent basis.

o Access: having enough land/money to obtain appropriate food for a nutritious diet.

o Use: appropriate use of food using basic knowledge of nutrition, care and having adequate
water/sanitation.

Causes of shortages: (see also Lenon et al pg 104)

o Soil Exhaustion: desertification occurs with the overuse of a patch of soil – soil erosion occurs.
o Drought: dry period that lasts longer than usual,
o Floods: severe flooding can kill an entire crop yield.
o Tropical Cyclones: flatten crops, limit export ability.
o Pests: insects destroy 25% global crops. Can also destroy stored grain.
o Disease: fungal diseases damage stored cereals, and foot-and-mouth disease reduces milk/meat
yields.
o Low capital investment: poor productivity as a result of poor investment into new technologies.
o Poor distribution: rising transport costs, poor infrastructure limits a farmer’s ability to export.
o Conflict: people stop producing food to flee/fight.
o Biofuels: farmers can earn more to produce rapeseed and elephant grass to be used for fuels.
o Rising population: grain demand outstrips supply, high BR and falling DR causes population
growth.
Consequences of shortages:
o Malnutrition: people unable to work/resist disease. 800 million suffer from chronic malnutrition.
o Starvation: ultimately leads to death. 30 million die from starvation each year.
o Death: 1 million died in Ethiopia. Animals will die too when there is a food shortage.
o Aid dependency: farmers can’t sell their food, so stop producing, whole country relies on aid.
o Migration: people may move to access food aid, reducing food production capacity.

CASE STUDIES:
A Country With Inadequate Food: Yemen see Lenon et al pg 105
Causes of famine in Sudan and Suth Sudan Nagle pg 107

1.3.2 Technology and Innovation (also see Nagel and Guiness pg106-108, Lenon et al pg 102-103)

The Green Revolution: India in 1966. A high yielding variety programme was introduced, with
hybrid varieties of Rice, Wheat, Maize, Sorghum and Millet, the latter 4 were drought resistant. All
were fertiliser responsive and had a shorter growing season.

o 90% of Asian wheat fields are HYVs. Fertiliser use ↑ 360%. Rice HYVs ↑ from 12% to 67%.

o + short growing season, varied diets, 2/4x higher yields, employment increases.

o – high fertiliser inputs, more weed control required, high debts, salinisation, diets low in vitamins
and minerals.

Genetic Modification: taking DNA from one species and adding it to another - such as pest-resistant
genes from soya beans.

o + helps solve food shortages, reduces chemical inputs, improves development.

o - uncontrolled pollen spread means modifications may spread to other crops, organic status lost,
poor farmers cannot afford, possible human health impacts.

o Integrated Pest Management: pest control strategy causing least hazard to people, property,
environment.
o Use of mechanical traps, natural predators, insect growth regulators, pheromone distribution.
o Pennsylvania saved $20m on pesticides in the 1990s. Irrigation: controlled watering. Sprinklers =
wasteful.

o Drip irrigation: drips at the roots, evaporation and runoff are minimised, therefore very efficient.

o Micro-Propagation: use of tissue culture to rapidly produce disease free, ready to grow, robust
plants. Expensive and infections will spread quickly.

Caribbean banana industry uses such methods. Growth Hormones: improve weight gain,
feed conversion efficiency, carcass quality.
o Possible public health/animal welfare issues.
o Improve USA milk yields by 10%.

Appropriate/Intermediate Technology: small scale, sustainable, low-tech ideas, that are relevant
to local climate and environment. Eg: choosing drip irrigation over sprinklers, dung over fertilisers,
local tools, to balance profit and subsistence crops.
 Land Colonisation: exploitation of land not previously used for agriculture. Used to grow
commercial crops or provide new land for subsistence farmers.

o Drain land, reclaim land from the sea, take advantage of dry areas by providing irrigation.

Land Reform: Brazil in the 1990s. Redistribution of land by the consolidation of small fragmented
farms, state ownership, or land colonisation.

Commercialization: TNCs source food from less developed countries. Small farmers are drawn
into contracts - increasing output by intensification, but this results in a decline in staple foods for
the locals. o 100,000 smallholders in Kenya. Biggest veg supplier to the UK.

Indoor Farming: Farms without soil in warehouses and shipping containers. UV lights used,
controlled climates created, heavily managed growth, but high in nutrients and little environmental
impact. High costs - electrical energy.

o New Jersey/Brooklyn and Western cultures are taking advantage of modern technologies and
sciences.

1.3.3. Constraints in Sustaining Populations (also see Nagel and Guiness pg108-109)

Poverty: lack of money means an individual cannot sustain themselves, and the country cannot
afford infrastructure for economic development.

Famine: soils get overused, and droughts kill crops. Soil exhaustion increases with the food
demand that an increasing population applies (See also Lenon et al pg 102).

Plague: controlling disease affects the most vulnerable (poorest, youngest and oldest) first.

War: kills people in the conflict over shortage of resources, such as oil and foods.

Natural Disasters: earthquakes, floods, droughts, volcano eruptions and storms all have huge
potential to cause large scale catastrophe and deaths.

Political Instability: discourages foreign investment that would help to sustain a population and
develop. Any money that is received/made will be misused if the government is corrupt.

Trade Barriers: many LICs subject to tariffs, quotas and regulations that limit their exporting ability.
In some countries one product makes up a huge proportion of their income, if the price drops on that
one product, then the whole economy suffers.

1.3.4 Carrying Capacity (also see Nagel and Guiness pg109-112)

The largest number of people an environment can support without damaging the environment, and
living standards deteriorating.
Ecological Footprint: a measure of natural resource consumption, measured in global hectares per
person. For a country, it is the sum of all cropland, grazing land, forest and fishing grounds needed to
produce the wood, fibre and timber it consumes, to absorb wastes emitted and provide space for
infrastructure. Allows comparisons to be made between countries (see also Waugh pg 379.) Visit
https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/ to calculate your own ecological footprint. What do you think you could
reasonably do to reduce this figure? How does your ecological footprint differ from other people’s in
your class?

o Global average is 2.7gha per person. To be sustainable, it can only be 2.1gha per person.

Biocapacity: is the capacity of a biologically productive area to produce a continuing supply of

renewable resources and to absorb wastes.

o Unsustainability: occurs when ecological footprint exceeds its biocapacity.

1.3.5 Optimum Population (also see Nagel and Guiness pg113-114)

Overpopulation: available resources are unable to support population. Often a result of

unsustainable development and occurs when a population outstrips the resources or resources
dwindle. Causes low incomes, high unemployment, emigration and low living standards.

Underpopulation: occurs when there are too few people in an area to use all the available
resources efficiently for the current level of technology.

Optimum Population: an economic concept for where population is in balance with the available
resources, given a level of technology. Overpopulation occurs when the optimum population has
been exceeded. High average living standards show optimum population. Hard to achieve as
populations and technology/resources are constantly changing.

Optimum rhythm of growth: states that population growth responds to technological

advancements, any movement astray will cause excess capacity (more carrying capacity than
population) or population pressure.

Population Pressure: population per unit area exceeds carrying capacity. Most severe in LICs. May
be due to pure overpopulation, or just underdevelopment.

Thomas Malthus: stated that food supply increases arithmetically, while population increases
geometrically (if unchecked). Population increase causes increased food demand, so less food per
person. Increased mortality and decreased fertility, so population decreases.

Ester Boserup: state that population increase causes an increased food demand and then a technology
improvement in response, allowing population growth to remain unchecked.
Topic summary
● Carrying capacity is the largest population that the resources of a given environment can support.
● Carrying capacity is not a fixed concept as advances in technology can significantly increase the
carrying capacity of individual regions and the world as a whole.
● The enormous growth of the global economy in recent decades has had a phenomenal impact on the
planet’s resources and natural environment.
● The ecological footprint has arguably become the world’s foremost measure of humanity’s demands
on the natural environment.
● The ecological footprint is measured in global hectares. A global hectare is a hectare with world-
average ability to produce resources and absorb wastes.
● Human demand on the Earth has more than doubled over the past 45 years due to a combination of
population growth and rising living standards that have involved greater individual consumption.
● About 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger. The problem is mainly concentrated in
Africa but also impacts on a number of Asian and Latin American countries.
● Food shortages can occur because of both natural and human problems.
● The effects of food shortages are both short and longer term.
● The global usage of resources has changed dramatically over time.
● As society has changed, attitudes to certain resources and their use have also changed.
● Innovation in food production has been essential to feeding a rising global population. The package
of agricultural improvements generally known as the Green Revolution was seen as the answer to the
food problem in many parts of the developing world.
● The answer to many of the world’s current agricultural problems may lie in the development of
perennial crops.
● There are a significant number of potential constraints in developing resources to sustain changing
populations.
● The idea of optimum population has been mainly understood in an economic sense. At first, an
increasing population allows for a fuller exploitation of a country’s resource base, causing living
standards to rise. However, beyond a certain level, rising numbers place increasing pressure on
resources, and living standards begin to decline.
● The most obvious examples of population pressure are in the developing world, but the question here
is: Are these cases of absolute overpopulation or the results of underdevelopment that can be rectified
by adopting remedial strategies over time?
●The neo-Malthusians (resource pessimists) see the world entering a new phase of intense population-
resource pressures which may result in serious consequences.
● The anti-Malthusians (resource optimists) argue that human ingenuity will overcome resource
problems as it has done so many times in the past.
● Studies of the growth of animal and fungus populations show that population numbers may either
crash after reaching a high level or reach an equilibrium around the carrying capacity. These contrasting
scenarios are represented by S and J-growth curves.

Suggested websites
● www.earthtrends.wri.org – Earth Trends
● www.footprint.wwf.org.uk
● www.prb.org – Population Reference Bureau
● www.statistics.gov.uk – National Statistics (UK)
● www.fao.org/WorldFoodSummit
● www.oxfam.org
● www.newscientist.com
● www.greeneconomics.ca
● www.overpopulation.org
● www.optimumpopulation.org