Population & The Environment

How does a population support itself? By what means can it do this?

>By providing an adequate food supply. This can be achieved by production or trade. E.G:

>Making use of flat, fertile soil to grow arable crops. Rearing livestock on pastures.

>Importing food from abroad.

How does the environment affect people? (& Vice Versa)

>Climate, water availability, shelter availability, soil quality.

>Carbon footprint, creation of urban areas, deforestation, sewage disposal.

What is the natural increase of Nigeria? Why?

>2.6 per 1000 increase/year.

>Caused by high birth rate and high, but declining, death rate.

>The fertility rate of Nigeria is high (4.5) due to high infant mortality.

Which factors affect mortality?

>Access to potable water

>Sanitation

>Quality and accessability of healthcare

>Natural hazards frequency and magnitude

>Accidents

>Air Quality

>Diet/Lifestyle

>Education

>Social Class/Income Group

>Conflict

>Infectious Disease

>Economic Development

Which factors affect fertility?

>Infant mortality/death rate

>Prevelance of strong religious values

>Prevelance of traditional values

>Access to contraception

>Population policies

>Social Class/Income Group

>Age structure

>Female literacy rates

>Conflict

>Urbanisation

>Economic Development

What are 2 effective population policies? How and why did they work?

>China’s 1 child policy worked as people would be penalised for having more than 1 child with fines or jail time. This was effective for the majority of the population, however the higher income groups were essentially exempt as they could afford the fines. The policy was repealed in 2016, however China now has a population collapse in its future as the fertility rate has dropped to 1.00 because it has become standard for families to have only 1 child after many years of the policy being in place.

>Thailand introduced education programmes and increased accessability and availability of contraception to reduce family sizes. This was not a law, however helped to reduced the fertility rate to be the second lowest in the world today, behind only South Korea.

How much will food production have to increase by 2050 to support the population?

>A 70% increase in food production would be needed to ensure food security for all 9.6B people.

What challenges does the physical environment pose to food production?

>Droughts can reduce crop yield.

>Steep topography can make it impossible to grow arable crops.

>Floods can leach soil and drown crops.

>Desertification can reduce arable land.

>Climate change can make weather patterns less predictable.

>Pests can kill crops.

>Acid rain can reduce crop yield.

What are the pillars of food security?

>Availability - Production, Trade, Water Supply, Affordability

>Accessability - Transport, Distribution, Storage, Access to Markets

>Utilisation - Clean Water, Sanitation, Food Waste, Storage

>Governance/Stability - Conflict, Standards, Aid, Education

What is purchasing power?

>How much your money can buy. E.G:

>Higher food costs = Lower purchasing power.

Why is food security becoming an increasingly important issue?

>The rapid increase of world population means food production must increase.

>Around half of all exploitable land on Earth is already in use.

>Food is distributed very unequally

>Due to climate change, harvests of important crops such as maize and rice could drop from 20-40% in tropical regions.

>Severe food shortages are likely to become more common.

>Current technology and agriculture systems are outdated to be able to produce sufficient food in the future. It could take decades to develop crops suited to warmer global climates.

How does malnutrition affect people globally?

>Undernourishment is very prevelant in Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries such as Namibia or the DRC often consume below 1890kcal/day/capita.

>In 2014-2016, 1 in 9 suffered from undernourishment.

>Undernourishment is protein-energy malnutrition (lack of calories & protein) & micronutrient deficienct (vitamins/minerals)

>Although many suffer from undernourishment, enough food is produced across the world to feed everyone. However, it is produced more in developed nations, and 1/3 is wasted. Many developing nations cannot self sustain by production nor trade.

>Overnutrition is exceedingly common in developed nations. In 2014, >1.9B adults were overweight, 600M of which obese.

>Overnutrition can cause diseases of affluence such as diabetes and coronary heart disease.

How do agricultural systems work? What are they affected by?

>Inputs - Determines the type of farming.

Human (Labour), Physical (Climate, Relief, Soil), Economic (Seeds, Energy, Agro-chemicals, Fodder, Machinery).

>Processes - Activities carried out to turn inputs into outputs.

Farming Decisions, Growing Crops, Rearing Livestock, Seasonal Patterns.

>Outputs - Products from the farm.

Crops, Livestock Products.

>Changes may be due to climate (drought), demand, politics etc.

>Of all factors, physical-environmental factors are the most important.

Temperature determines the length of the growing season. Precipitation determines the water supply. Failure of regular climate patterns can result in famine. Other factors include wind, soil quality, and relief.

What types of farming are there? What do they involve?

>Arable - Involves the production of cereal and root plants. Usually grown on flat, fertile soil. Can be done on all scales

>Pastoral - Involves rearing of livestock. Can be done on all scales.

>Mixed - Involves production of arable crops and livestock. It is more flexible, and is the most common type in the UK.

>Intensive farming. Involves high investment, and produces high yield per hectare.

>Commercial - Agribusiness specialising in the production of one type of crop/livestock. High investment, high yield. Examples include maize in the USA, and tea in East Africa.

>Extensive - Low investment, low yield per hectare. Seen commonly in the UK, with the rearing of hill sheep.

>Subsistence - The production of food to support the community. Excess is sold/used as compost. Examples include slash-and-burn in the Amazon and nomadic pastoralism in West Africa.

What are the general global patterns of food supply?

>Much food is still produced and consumed locally/domestically

>The amount of food sold globally is increasing, largely due to TNCs and the need for LICs to export more to grow their economy.

>Food miles are increasing
>Many countries are net importers of food, though those that are net exporters are very rarely undernourished.

>Agriculture is more central to the economies of LICs/developing nations, and often only makes up a small percentage of GDP in HICs.

What is free trade vs protectionist policies?

>Free trade is when goods can be sold internationally between countries without hinderences. Free trade is often deteriorated however during conflict, trade wars or the introduction of protectionist policies.

>Protectionist policies are laws which are introduced by a country in order to try to protect its own industries from being outcompeted by international ones. Examples may include tariffs on certain products/countries.

What was the Green Revolution?

When high-yielding staple crops such as wheat and rice were introduced in the mid 20th century in an attempt to boost productivity in farmlands. It increased food security however purchasing the seeds often left many farmers in debt.

What is aquaculture?

The cultivation of aquatic animals in a controlled environment. Yield is more reliable than traditional fishing, and it prevents overfishing, however due to the amount of fish in a small space, disease can spread quickly.

What are hydroponics?

Growing plants without soil by delivering nutrients straight to the roots of the plant. It results in incredibly quick growth and high yield compared to growing in soil, but is very capital intensive.

What is micro-propagation?

Involves using plant tissue to establish multiple plantlets. Materials can be quickly replicated and can result in disease free plants. They are developed in labs, so can often be expensive, and are infertile so cannot reproduce.