World population and consumption is rising at a rate that is threatening the wellbeing of people and the planet, a report published last week by the United Nations Population Fund said.
Over the last 70 years the global population has tripled, from two billion to 6.1 billion, and it continues to grow by about 77 million people a year. By 2050 it will reach 9.3 billion. The 49 least developed countries, already straining to provide basic services to their people, will nearly triple in size, from 668 million to 1.86 billion people by 2050.
The report said that there now exists "a huge consumption gap" between those who live in industrialised countries and those living in developing countries. The 20% of the world's population who live in high income regions account for 86% of total private consumption.
According to the report, the "ecological footprint"—the productive area of earth necessary to support the lifestyle of an individual in a given population—is nearly four times as big in industrialised nations as in developing countries and double the level that is sustainable.
Rising energy consumption will lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to climate change, the report warned. Poor countries will be particularly affected and are most vulnerable to damage from increasing storms and floods.
The United States alone, with only 4% of the world's population, emits nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gasses. Its population is expected to rise by 111 million over the next 50 years, and the report predicted that energy consumption will then be equivalent to the current total consumption of Africa and Latin America combined.
The report warned that the developing world faces the double challenge of population growth with potentially severe water and food shortages. Currently 508 million people experience water shortage, and by 2050 the number is likely to rise to three billion. Water tables under some cities in China, Latin America, and south Asia are falling by over one metre a year.
The report said that over half the world's population does not have enough food to eat. Over-fishing by industrial nations for animal feed also now threatens the main source of protein for almost a billion people in the developing world. To meet the expected population increase, food production needs to double over the next 25 years, the report concluded.
But it advised that such increases should come from yield increases rather than the cultivation of new land. The report also warned, however, that the specialised fertilisers and pesticides needed by high yielding crops may further disturb the ecological balance.
The report called for urgent action to reduce poverty, slow population growth, reduce wasteful consumption, and protect natural resources. It said that international agreements, such as the Kyoto accords on climate change, should be upheld, and it called for increased funding of reproductive health and family planning programmes.
Full details of the report, The State of the World Population 2001 , are accessible at http://www.unfpa.orgwww.unfpa.org