Human population growth is the number one threat to the world's environment. Each person requires energy, space and resources to survive, which results in environmental losses. If the human population were maintained at sustainable levels, it would be possible to balance these environmental losses with renewable resources and regeneration. But our population is rapidly rising beyond the earth's ability to regenerate and sustain us with a reasonable quality of life. We are exceeding the carrying capacity of our planet.

We need to limit our growth voluntarily, and promote contraceptive use, before Nature controls our population for us with famines, drought and plagues. Our children's future depends on us.

The population reached 6.1 billion in 2000. The United Nation projects that world population for the year 2050 could range from 7.9 billion to 10.9 billion, depending on the actions we take today.

Population Facts - The future in just 22 years

Scarce Water --- Currently, 434 million people face either water stress or scarcity. Depending on future rates of population growth, between 2.6 billion and 3.1 billion people may be living in either water-scarce or water-stressed conditions by 2025.

Scarce Cropland ---The number of people living in countries where cultivated land is critically scarce is projected to increase to between 600 million and 986 million in 2025.

Fisheries --- Most of the world 's ocean fisheries are already being fished to their maximum capacities or are in decline.

Forests --- Today over 1.8 billion people live in 36 countries with less than 0.1 hectare of forested land per capita, an indicator of critically low levels of forest cover. Based on the medium population projection and current deforestation trends, by 2025 the number of people living in forest-scarce countries could nearly double to 3 billion.

Global Warming --- In 1998, the last year for which global data are available for both population and heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, per capita emissions of CO2 continued the upward trend that dominated the middle 1990s. When combined with growing world population, these increased per capita emissions accelerated the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the global atmosphere and, thus, future global warming.

Species Extinction --- More than 1.1 billion people live in areas that conservationists consider the most rich in non-human species and the most threatened by human activities. While these areas comprise about 12 percent of the planet's land surface, they hold nearly 20 percent of its human population. The population in these biodiversity hotspots is growing at a collective rate of 1.8 percent annually, compared to the world's population 's annual growth rate of 1.3 percent.

Consumption Plus Population

When population growth is coupled with excessive consumption of resources, problems multiply. Currently, 20 percent of the world's people in the highest-income countries account for 86 percent of the total private consumption expenditures, while the poorest 20 percent consume only 1.3 percent. The unequal distribution of wealth and resources leads to oblivious waste and excess in the wealthy nations, and suffering in the resource-starved regions. For more information on this problem and some suggested remedies, visit these websites:

* Take an Ecological Footprint Quiz! Learn about your personal consumption habits.

* The Center for the New American Dream

More Population Information

* Wisconsin Population Growth - Clean Water Action Council

# Population and the Environment - Population Action International

# Population Reference Bureau

# Resources for the Awarness of Population Impacts on the Environment - The Futures Group

# Population and the Environment - National Council for Science and the Environment

# Population Resource Center

# Human Population Impacts on Biodiversity

# Population-Environment Research Network

# Atlas of Population & Environment - American Association for the Advancement of Science

# Population & Environment - Conservation International

# Global Environment: Population & Environment Linkages - Union of Concerned Scientists

# People and the Planet

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