A recent report by United Nations revealed that the human population touched the eighth billion thresholds. In mere 11 years, the world population jumped from seven to eight billion. It is a huge blow to the world’s sustenance which is already fragile owing to the prevailing winds of chaos.
The world population was never as much as it is now. The population was a mere one billion in 1800; 2.3 billion in 1940; 3.7 billion in 1970; 7.4 billion in 2016 and a whopping 8 billion in the middle of November 2022. The reasons behind this ever-increasing population are the Industrial and Scientific Revolution which paved the way for death reduction and fertility all along. Ever since, the unbridled rise in population was never restricted, of which consequences may be mass migration, overcrowded slums and mega cities covering continents, diseases and pollution, chaos and violence for energy, water and food shortages and the list goes on.
As the human family becomes larger, the number of other species living on the planet is dwindling. More worryingly, some species came on the verge of collapse. Other than population and pollution, the rest of things, either living or non-living continue to be smaller and scarce. Species extinction, dwindling natural resources, devoid of environmental-friendly arenas and destruction of land, marine and Arial world are the side effects of human overpopulation.
The Industrial Revolution hit upon modern ways to make interlinked energy sources and accelerate good production, massively liberating humans from the chains of the surrounding ecosystem. Amid the so-called modernization of humans, they chopped up forests, drained swamps, dammed rivers, and built skyscraping metropolises. Midst moulding the world in accordance with humans’ needs, the mighty genes of species went extinct by human-driven habitat destruction.
Human overconsumption and overpopulation put life on planet Earth on a way to be extinct. Scientists believe that this extinction would be the sixth and last one. The sole ones responsible for this malaise condition are humans. The human-driven destruction. Today, more than 28,000 species are on the way to be extinct.
The multidimensional destruction by humankind has no end. From ground to marine to Arial, every species’ habitat is not sound and safe. The excessive emissions of greenhouse gases by many means trigger the globe to warm, not only does it warms the Earth but it also impacts the oceanic environment by causing ocean acidification which eventually leads to coral bleaching. According to the IUCN red list, 33 per cent of Reef Coral are threatened with extinction. Plastic pollution, extra use of non-biodegradable products, excessive use of pesticides for more production which through many ways reach the ocean environment, and marine ships emitting CO² are leading species to vanish.
The deforestation of the remaining mere 25 per cent of forests continues. According to the website of World Wildlife reveals that 18 per cent of Amazon forests have been wholly lost, and an additional 17 per cent is degraded. And data from the first half of 2022 show the loss continuing to grow. The biodiversity of the Amazon forest is on an epic scale, however, the destruction is even higher. The Amazon is home to a stunning array of the world’s species: nine per c of mammals; 14 per cent of birds; eight per cent of amphibians; 13 per cent of freshwater fish species; and 22 per cent of vascular plant species. Many of these species are found nowhere else in the world, and scientists estimate there are places in the Amazon where up to 90 per cent of the species are yet to be discovered. This depicts the delicate structure of life on Earth shrinking.
Other than the Amazon forest, life in the Congo Basin and Indian Asian rainforest is also under threat owing to the endeavours for spacing unsustainable agriculture, logging, mining, dam building and castle ranching. The news is very bad for the species which call rainforests their home since a research paper shows that there less than merely 400 Sumatran Tigers are left and the Sumatran Rhinos just 80. The Californian Golden Bear, Great Auk, Passenger Pigeon, Tasmanian Tiger, Pinta Island turtle and golden toad are already added to the extinction list. The end is not yet.
By evolution, this world has become human-centric since the rest species are not treated as properly as they had been treated in archaic eras. For now, they are not treated unless the productivity they produce is dwindling.
A multidimensional approach to overpopulation depicts extinction, destruction and deforestation. Given the pace of the above-mentioned, the world seems on the verge of collapse. Once blue and green planet is, slowly and gradually, becoming a concrete and plastic shopping centre.
On the consequences of a whopping human population, the world needs to raise an eyebrow before it is too late since the already fragile world may not be able to bear more destruction by humans for humans. Already suffering from population-driven predicaments like poverty, plagues and pandemics, further negligence may result in drastic repercussions. The prolonged and comprehensive cooperation and holistic pragmatism can help humanity escape forthcoming dilemmas.
The writer is a freelancer based in Kandhkot, Sindh.