w the Edge -November 16 WORLD POPULATION REACHES 7 -BILLION Finite Resources Pose a Serious Challenge HANNA PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR ur little planet, Earth, is now home to seven billion people. As of Octo- ber 31st, the United Nations global population figures indicated that there are around seven billion of us alive in the world. This is an extraordinary large number, but it becomes even more extraordinary when the fact that in 1987 there were only five billion of us kicking around. That is an increase of two billion people in just over twenty years. In fact, the world population has doubled since 1968. Doubling of the population used to take a very long time; for example, in 1804 when there were only one billion people in the world it took 123 years for the population to double. This time around it’s only taken forty-three years. When the population reached the five billion milestone on July 11th of ’87 the UN declared every July 11th to be World Popula- tion day as an awareness message about issues related to overpopulation. The UN expects the world’s population to keep growing even though many countries have very low fertility rates. This is because much of the world’s population growth is oc- curring in the Global South. Global South is a term used to refer to countries generally lo- cated below the equator that have lower stan- dards of living than industrialized countries which are generally located above the equator in the Global North. “Developing nations” is a term that has often been used to describe this division. Population growth is mainly occur- ring in the Global South because of inadequate access to family planning education and servi- ces, gender inequalities, poverty, and a lack of maternal heath care among other issues. The United Nations Population fund (UNFPA) has created seven key issues to address that are meant to fight the rising world population. UNFPA has dubbed it the “7 Billion Actions” campaign. Some of the campaign’s main goals are: to break the cycle of poverty and inequality to help slow population growth; to protect reproductive rights to ensure every child is wanted and every birth is safe; to plan for an increasingly urban planet; and to plan for an aging population as population growth slows. Though seven billion is a very challenging and daunting number the 7 Billion Actions campaign is very positive. The campaign en- courages people to share their stories and take action to make a positive difference in their communities. More information on this cam- paign can be accessed at 7billionactions.org. There are not only social considerations to having such an enormous population but environmental ones as well. The world is, of course, a place of limited resources. Are there enough resources in the world to sustain 7 Bil- lion people and counting? There is definitely a limit to the physical amount of people the world can hold without destroying most of the natural systems that sustain life, however, the issue is more complex than this. The number of people in the world is not the only daunting factor, but how those people are living is what really impacts the environment. In an article about this very issue David Suzuki says, “...supporting more people on a finite planet with finite resources is a serious challenge. But in a world where hunger and obesity are both epidemics, reproduction rates can’t be the main problem. And when we look at issues that are often blamed on overpopula- tion, we see that overconsumption is a greater factor in rampant environmental destruction and resource depletion.” Suzuki also notes that North Americans, Europeans, Japanese and Australians who make up only 20% of the world population actually consume 80% of the world’s resour- ces. Extreme environmental degradation really begins to rear its ugly head when the people in “industrializing” nations begin to want the same luxuries and lifestyles of the 20%. The Overpopulation leads to urban sprawl, which can create Slums like this on in Rio, Brazil UNBC RECEIVES GREEN RESEARCH FUNDING Looking at the Best Uses for Pine Beetle-Infested Wood | ' HANNA PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR project to aimed to study the best uses for timber killed by the mountain pine beetle will be receiv- ing $100,000 dollars in research funding. The pro- ject is led by Ecosystem Science and Management profes- sor Art Fredeen, and involves joint research with UBC and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The project homes to guide policy-makers and those using forest based products to understand the utilizations of beetle kill wood. The project specifically aims to “increase understanding of when and where it makes sense to harvest beetle-attacked forests” as is stated on a UNBC media release. The award was given by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) and is intended to be split over two years. “Many parties, including the BC government, independent power producers, and the forestry industry, have advocat- ed for the production of energy from wood, driven largely by the mountain pine beetle outbreak and the fate of an estimated 65 million cubic meters of pine in the province,” says Dr. Fredeen. “However, new research indicates that these attacked pine stands are far from lifeless, and in many cases are already carbon sinks, in addition to their providing quality lumber and bio-energy fuel.” A carbon sink is a reservoir that accumulates and stores carbon- containing chemical compounds for an extended period. These carbon sinks remove harmful CO2 from the atmosphere. Almost 15.5 million hectares of BC’s forested areas are currently affected by the mountain pine beetle outbreak. The decomposing wood of the beetle kill ac- tually releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. “Global warming hangs like a sword over BC’s for- ests and dealing with it presents a big challenge,” says PICS Executive Director Dr. Tom Pedersen. “PICS is very pleased to support collaborative research between and among our leading, universities, industry, and federal re- search labs that will improve long-term stewardship of our remarkable forest resource.” PICS is a collaboration of BC’s four-research intensive universities - the University of Victoria, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and UNBC. Dr.Art Fredeen world simply cannot accommodate the over- consumptive culture that Canada and its peers are so used to. “The best way to confront these problems is to reduce waste and consumption, find cleaner energy sources, and support other countries in finding ways to develop that are more sustain- able than the way’s we’ve employed,” says Su- zuki. “Stabilizing or bringing down population growth will help, but research shows it’s not the biggest factor.” Though population growth is not the only problem the world has to contend with, a population growing as fast as ours on a planet with only certain amounts of food and water is nevertheless an uneasy fact to swallow. The only way to really combat population growth is through social-justice. “Population, environ- mental, and social-justice issues are inextric- ably linked. Giving women more rights over their own bodies, providing equal opportunity for them to participate in society, and making education and contraception widely available will help stabilize population growth and cre- ate numerous other benefits,” says Suzuki. “Reducing economic disparity - between rich and poor individuals and nations - will lead to better allocation of resources.” ONLINE SOURCE UNBC MEDIA