Whitepaper On The Impact Of Population
Assignment 1: Whitepaper on the Impact of Population
Due Week 4 and worth 110 points
There is no question that the world’s population will grow dramatically in the next decade. The members of the United Nations are working to understand the impact that population growth has in developing countries. For this assignment, imagine you have been hired by the UN to help assess the social impact of population growth. Your first project as a consultant with the UN is to develop a whitepaper on three issues related to the population growth faced by a developing country of your choosing. Read the overview below, then write a whitepaper addressing the questions below.
I. Overview
Our obsession with continual economic growth deters us from studying the role that an expanding population plays in global warming. (1)
About 3 billion years ago, the earth suffered a mass extinction caused by catastrophic volcanic activity in Siberia and wildfires that covered the entire planet. Since then, four more mass extinction events eradicated up to 80% of all species each time. The world’s community of climatologists and scientists overwhelmingly agree that we are now on the verge of a sixth mass event that, over the next few tens of thousands of years, will wipe out nearly all living species on Earth, including mankind. This is not the stuff of science fiction or speculation, but rather the studied view of the experts who are most qualified to make this kind of assessment. As anthropologist Richard Leaky, author of The Sixth Extinction, wrote in 1995, “Homo sapiens might not only be the agent of the sixth extinction, but also risks being one of its victims” (2).
This leaves us with two issues worth reflecting on:
1. Does the rate at which people are reproducing need to be controlled to save the environment?
2. To what extent does human population growth impact global warming, and what can be done about it (3)?
The answer to the first is quite simply “yes,” but the solution to the second is more problematic. The damage humans do to the climate is ruining the atmosphere surrounding the planet; at the rate this damage is increasing, there will eventually be no atmosphere left to protect life on Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Compared with other planets in our solar system, Earth has mild temperatures, thanks largely to an atmosphere protected from harmful gases. However, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (around 1775), damaging gases have become stuck in the atmosphere. This causes some of the heat radiating from the sun—that which does not exit into space—to reflect back to Earth. The result is that oceans have become warmer, and glaciers are melting, including parts of Antarctica. If we think of Antarctica as the stopper in a bottle, its disappearance by melting away will release the water it holds, raising sea levels to uncontrollable levels and flooding coastal regions for miles inland. The two main culprits for this warming trend are carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). These gases, called “greenhouse gases,” are trapped by the earth’s atmosphere and, in turn, heat up the entire planet. It is worth noting that warming oceans are killing off kelp beds throughout the earth's oceans and coastlines at a prodigious rate. Not only do hundreds of millions of people depend on the fish that thrive on this ecosystem, but kelp is a natural absorbent of CO2 and purifies both the water and the air we breathe.
A growing population that consumes natural resources is partially to blame for the release of greenhouse gases, as are deforestation, soil erosion, and farming (overturned dirt releases CO2). However, the real issue is the burning of fossil fuels (hydrocarbons) such as coal oil and natural gas, which is produced by the organic remains of prehistoric organisms. The release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) such as refrigerants, propellants in aerosol sprays, and solvents contributes heavily to the depletion of the ozone layer in the earth’s stratosphere. At the current rate at which these gases and CFCs are released into the atmosphere, affecting the earth’s ecosystems and level of biodiversity, the earth’s surface temperature will increase by about two degrees Fahrenheit. This will cause a change weather patterns across the globe. In December 2017, the World Bank stated, “Climate change is an acute threat to global development and efforts to end poverty. Without urgent action, climate impacts could push an additional 100 million people into poverty by 2030” (4).
Sources:
1. George Gitlitz. 2018. Opinion: The pernicious climate dictum–don’t mention population. https://www(dot)berkeleyside(dot)com/2018/06/19/opinion-the-pernicious-climate-dictum-dont-mention-population
2. Gemma Tarlach. 2018. Mass Extinctions. http://discovermagazine(dot)com/2018/jul-aug/mass-extinctions
3. Larry LeDoux. 2018. Does Population Growth Impact Climate Change. https://www(dot)scientificamerican(dot)com/article/population-growth-climate-change/
4. Bill McKibben. 2018. A Very Grim Forecast. https://www(dot)nybooks(dot)com/articles/2018/11/22/global-warming-very-grim-forecast/
II. Assessment
The world’s population is expanding at a such a fast rate that some natural resources are being stripped from the environment. Global institutions are working to prevent both the loss of these resources and the consequences of not having access to them.
In this first assignment, research the impact of population growth on society. Write a whitepaper for the UN that consists of a minimum of four pages (not including the cover letter). Your assignment is to assess the impact of population growth, citing at least five credible sources in your research. As you compose the whitepaper, review the United Nations list of developing countries (available on the United Nations website).
Select one country from the United Nations list of developing countries to use as an example throughout your assignment. The completed version of this assignment will include the following items:
Cover page: Include your name, course title, the country you have selected from the UN list of developing countries, current date, and the name of your instructor.
Introduction: Introduce the topic of the whitepaper (half-page minimum).
One-page (minimum) answers (for a total of three pages) to each of the following questions:
What are greenhouse gases, and how do they contribute to global warming?
What economic, security, political, and other challenges do these emissions pose to the people of the developing world, and who are the biggest offenders?
Is there a way to control the growth of population on a global level?
Note: Give examples in your responses to each of the above questions as it relates to the developing country you have chosen.
Conclusion: Provide a minimum of a one-half page conclusion.
Cite at least five credible sources excluding Wikipedia, dictionaries, and encyclopedias for your assessment. A brief list of suggested resources has been provided at the end of the course guide.
This course requires use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different compared to other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. (Note: You’ll be prompted to enter your Blackboard login credentials to view these standards.)
The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:
Evaluate the impacts of population growth and its negative impacts on global societies while considering multiple perspectives.
Name
Course Title
Philippines
Current Date
Name of Instructor
For every second that a clock ticks, there are four babies that are born in this world. As of today, the global population had already reached 7.7 billion (Worldometers, 2019). This number has spiked, from a total of 1.6 billion just a century ago (Ledoux, 2018). Synchronous to this population growth is the rapid industrialization and upsurge of energy consumption that has generated harmful emissions to the environment. For instance, on the same time period, researchers recorded a 12-fold increase of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide (Ledoux, 2018).
In this regard, the United Nations (UN) has initiated efforts and policies to address climate change and the most recent was the Paris Agreement signed by 175 world leaders last April 22, 2016. Paris Agreement aims to strengthen the global actions on the issue of climate change by maintaining the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius and to limit further increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, it has mandated different mitigation strategies on nations depending on their economic status. Developed countries are called for absolute reduction of emissions immediately while developing countries are also tasked to follow incremental mitigation efforts on the basis of their economic capacities (UN, 2019). According to Wei, et al. (2016), developing countries contributed an estimate of 39-47% of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions from 1850- 2005. However, statistics were expected to less likely decrease as carbon-intensive infrastructures would be warranted to alleviate the existing poverty on these nations (A-id, 2019). Moreover, 97% of the global population growth by 2030 would come from third world countries (Consultancy.uk, 2015). As population growth was associated to increase gas emissions, it is believed that improvement of population control would resolve this issue on global warming.
Meanwhile, Philippines is one of the developing nations in East Asia Region that is signatory to the Paris Agreement. It ranks 13th on the most populous country list in the world with 107 million population based on the latest UN estimates (Worldometers, 2019).
This paper aims to discuss greenhouse gas emissions on a developing nation, particularly in the Philippines. Furthermore, the impact of gas emissions, mitigation strategies and population control programs will be explored in this paper.
Greenhouse Gases
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are termed as such as they trapped the heat and radiation from the sun into the Earth’s atmosphere, like a glass in a greenhouse (European Commision, n.d.). Examples of greenhouse gases produced from human activities include carbon dioxide (CO2), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) (NIWA, 2016).
CO2 is the primary GHG that accounted for 64% of man-made climate change (European Commission, n.d.). Majority of emissions comes from burning of fossil fuels by the energy and transportation sectors. Moreover, deforestation and land developments has added to the atmospheric CO2 concentration. Meanwhile, CO2 may remained for a thousand of years in the atmosphere because of the complex process of carbon cycle (EPA, 2019; NASA, 2019).
Chlorofluorocarbons and other fluorinated gases are considered as the most robust GHGs as it can destroy the earth’s ozone layer. It is also the most enduring with a maximum atmospheric lifetime of 50,000 years. Hence to limit its further effects, most of these gases were already banned in accordance to the Montreal Protocol. These compounds were used then as refrigerants, semiconductors and in other electrical equipment (EPA, 2019).
Methane is another GHG that has 25 times greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Even though it can only stay for twelve years in the atmosphere, it is much powerful in keeping radiation. Agriculture, domestic livestock and natural gas processing are the major sources of methane emissions worldwide (EPA, 2019).
Nitrous oxide emission is responsible for 6 percent of the global warming today. While it may be few, its potency is 300-fold much greater than carbon dioxide and it can remained in the atmosphere for 114 years. Some human activities that contribute to this gas emission include the use of agricultural fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion and treatment of domestic wastewater (EPA, 2019).
On the other hand, the Philippines’ total GHG emissions amounted to 157.6 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent which is 0.33 percent of the world total last 2012. Portions of these emissions came from the energy sector (54%), agriculture (33%), industrial processes (8%) and waste (7%). Notable contributors in the energy and agricultural sectors were increased consumption of electricity, land transportation and rice cultivation (USAID, 2016). And in line with Paris Agreement, the country pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030 targeting the energy, transport, waste, forestry and industry sectors (Flores, 2018).
The Impacts of GHG on Developing Nations
Total GHG emissions are by-products of economic activity per capita and population energy use (Merilo, 2001). Thus, abrupt and large reductions of GHG emissions could hurt the economies of developing nations, which focus on industrialization and poverty alleviation. For instance, in developing countries located in the East Asia and Pacific, the number of people living below poverty line decreased to 85% from 1981 to 2011. Simultaneously, the carbon dioxide per capita of the region skyrocketed to 185% (Davey, 2016). Moreover, it was revealed that global warming raises cities’ vulnerabilities and complicate the conditions of the poor (UN, 2013).
HSBC study revealed that developing nations are the most vulnerable countries to climate change with countries from the South and South-East Asian Region dominating the top ten spots. On this study, vulnerability was assessed using four indicators: 1) physical impacts, that include temperature changes, water availability and extreme weather conditions; 2) damages and casualties on extreme events; 3) transition risks based on consumption of fossil fuels; and 4) potential resources in responding to climate change risks. Philippines ranked 3rd as the most vulnerable (Paun et al., 2018).
Philippines identified its energy sector as one of the major challenges on meeting its carbon reductions. Most of the electricity is still sourced from burning of coal, natural gas and oil. Likewise, residential and commercial buildings consumed most of the electric and water supply of the country that generated significant GHG emissions. Additionally, the lack of full implementation on waste management and conservation of biodiversity augmented to the climate change risks of the country—with increased incidences of flash floods and landslides that have threatened human security (Climate Change Commission, 2010).
On the other note, the agricultural sector is seriously deteriorating from the climate change. Extreme weather events such as heat waves lessened the number of arable lands while hurricanes and super typhoons destroyed crops. Temperature and precipitation changes had negative effects on staple crops such as wheat and rice that can directly affect global food security. However as current agricultural practices still contribute to GHG emissions, global initiatives on climate-responsive agriculture should be widely adapted (UN, 2013).
In the Philippines, agriculture comprises 18% of its total economy and provided 33% of the jobs in the country rice production enlarged to 82% from 1990-2012, thereby contributing an increase of 13.19 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent GHG emissions (USAID, 2016). Meanwhile, the country has also experienced agricultural losses as a consequence of climate change. ...