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  • Title: Population change, resources and environment.
    Author: UNESCO. Regional Office for Education in Asia and the Pacific.
    Journal: Bull Unesco Reg Off Educ Asia Pac; 1982 Jun; (23):269-88. PubMed ID: 12265660.
    Abstract:
    Environmental pollution is a problem of crisis proportions in today's world, presently more visible in technologically advanced than in the developing countries. Progress and affluence in the technologically developed countries has been achieved at the expense of depletion of natural resources and deterioration of the environment at the global level. Each of the 3 important factors responsible for environmental pollution--population growth, increase in affluence, and industrialization--are reviewed. There are direct and indirect effects of population growth on the environment. Other things being equal, the greater the population, the more significant are the changes brought about in the environment. More people increases demands on food, energy, housing, clothing, and transportation, all of which lead to environmental pollution. Poor quality or insufficiency of food supply, sanitation, water supply, housing, employment, and health and other services are common problems in countries with high rates of population increase. Problems of domestic sewage and solid waste disposal are directly related to the number of people. Economic growth means more consumption of resources. The effect of affluence can possibly be better understood in the context of the problem of food. With the improved economic status of the peole in many countries, the composition of their diet has been changing. Examining the grain requirements in different countries is a way to understand the effect of increased affluence on the demand for food. During 1969-70 the high income countries with 30% of the world population accounting for 51% of the total consumption of cereals. The higher rate of consumption of cereals in the developed countries is due to indirect utilization. Cereals which can be directly consumed by humans are fed to cattle. The per capita amount of direct and indirect grain consumption continues to increase as per capita income climbs. Developing countries, in their anxiety to realize a higher level of industrialization to raise the standard of living, may be tempted to consider ecological problems as having relevance only for the developed nations. This may result in severe problems of environmental deterioration which will be beyond the economic capacity of many developing countries to solve. The type of development that will solve the problem initially must have its focus on rural development, with emphasis on land reform, on producing enough food, on community agriculture, and on labor intensive technology. For both developed and developing countries, the basic challenge is to design a developmental strategy that will provide a relatively satisfactory standard of living for everybody with a minimal level of resource consumption.
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