Population and Global Warming

“The overriding challenges facing our global civilization as the new century begins are to stabilize climate and stabilize population. Success on these two fronts would make other challenges, such as reversing the deforestation of Earth, stabilizing water tables, and protecting plant and animal diversity, much more manageable. If we cannot stabilize climate and we cannot stabilize population, there is not an ecosystem on Earth that we can save. Everything will change.”
— State of the World 2000, Worldwatch Institute

Global warming is one of the greatest threats ever to confront the precious but fragile ecosystems that make our Earth inhabitable. Global warming is not only altering wildlife habitat and changing the face of our planet, but it also poses a significant threat to human health and security. The rapid depletion of rain forests to meet the ever-increasing demand for forest products is just one example of how humans are irreversibly altering the Earth’s ecosystems.

In order to preserve the well-being of human and wildlife populations that depend on healthy, functioning ecosystems, we must address the root causes of this very real threat. Rapid and unchecked human population growth and the resulting increases in resource consumption lie at the heart of most, if not all, environmental problems. Global warming is no exception. The unprecedented increase in human numbers is paralleled by the highest levels of fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas production in history.

While industrial nations have been primarily responsible for high emissions levels in the recent past, the rapidly growing population of the developing world will be a major factor in future emissions levels. As we look to the developed world to curb and reduce emissions, many in developing countries need to increase their energy use to meet basic needs and improve their quality of life. Countries such as India and Brazil are looking for solutions to balance the needs of people and the planet. Therefore, all national policies and international agreements on global warming must take population growth into account.

With half of the current population either in or entering their reproductive years, the choices we make today will greatly impact the path that population takes in the future. Access to voluntary family planning and reproductive health care will dictate future fertility and mortality trends. How quickly the human population grows over the next fifty years will have a direct and significant impact on the extent of global warming and its social, economic, and environmental impacts.