The Human Population and the Planet

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The ever increasing size of the planets human population is having significant impacts on the world's physical landscape and atmosphere. Pressures from human consumption and production patterns have exacerbated the planets finite resources. This is because everything we consume comes from the natural world.  Resources on the planet are limited, meaning that while some resources can naturally replenish, they can also run out if not extracted in a sustainable manner. Currently, stresses on the planet caused by human practices have resulted in the erosion of soil, the melting of glaciers, the decline in fish stock and the fall in water tables. These practises on the earth's land and waters have brought us to the 6th mass extinction, called the Holocene, were at least 10,000 species are going extinct every year and many ecosystems have become degraded or collapsed (WWF, 2016). This current extinction event is different from past extinction events as it has been driven completely by anthropogenic events (human activity).

 On a social level, nearly one billion people go hungry a day. Currently, 80% of the world's resources are used by only 17% of the world's population. This leaves the rest of human society (83%) to live off a lot less. In the decades to come there will be approximately two billion more mouths to feed, mostly in poor countries. Billions more people will attempt to pull themselves out of poverty. If attempts to be lifted out of poverty follow a western society approach that heavily relies on fossil fuels and environmentally degrading practices (e.g. the clearing of forests, etc.), this will further exacerbate the pressures put on the world's resources as well as the wellbeing of society (National Geographic, 2011).

It is therefore necessary to consider the social and environmental impacts population size will have in the future when making global and national plans. For example,  Ireland published the National Spatial Strategy in 2002 in the context of urban, rural, coastal settlement and developments. This strategy provided a twenty year planning framework designed to strike a balance between the countries projected population growth and further social, economic and physical development between regions. The creation of strategies and plans such as the one mentioned above are necessary in improving the sustainability and  welfare of society and the environment, in any given location.