OVERPOPULATION & HUNGER.   Term Paper ID:17830 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes truths & myths of this relationship. Food supply, birth rates & control, etc.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analyzes truths & myths of this relationship. Food supply, birth rates & control, etc. Paper Introduction: Overpopulation and world hunger have been discussed as interrelating factors since the 1950s, when concern about the exploding "baby boom," particularly in developing countries, was considered in light of the growing international trade market following World War II. The purpose of this paper will be to analyze this relationship today, the truths and myths surrounding it and how elements such as food supply, technology, birth rates and birth control figure into the equation. The world's population in 1950 was about 2.5 billion; some time in the late 1980s it passed five billion (Keyfitz, 1989, p. 119). This increase in the last forty years equals the total population growth over the millions of years from when man first emerged as a species. Further, the population is increasing by 80 million a year and it is expected that by the year 2025 the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. (1988, September). The growing human population.Scientific American, 119-126.----------------------- 3 Widespread hunger makes for politicalinstability. 87). Some cities such as Mexico City or New Delhi havegrown due to other industries or uses and some have nothing to exchange forfood, thus becoming dependent on foreign aid to mitigate power and, in theprocess, increase the population further. But with surpluses existing in many nations today, famines can becontrolled because most of the problem is not the absence of food but moreits maldistribution, often accentuated by politics and civil war (Keyfitz,1989, p. The general view is that the agriculturaltechnology is available to feed the growing world, but because ofinadequate distribution brought about by such issues as political,monetary, and moral concerns, food cannot get to those who need it and thuspopulation growth and hunger remained intertwined. Though the idea ofestablishing a "supranational" system for distributing food has beensuggested, national governments have raised objections. Misery incites anger, aggression, and ultimately threatenspeace between nations. Thus, population explosions under these conditionscause not only starvation, but also inadequate clothing, housing, medicalcare, transportation systems and opportunities for employment. These figures are about twice those achievedbetween 19 and 195 due to the fact that technology has allowed all majordeveloped countries and many undeveloped ones to develop excess productioncapability. 73).He believes developed countries must be concerned about this fact, and notjust for moral considerations. High birth rates in the countryside force manysubsistence farmers onto marginal lands while more and more people aremoving to cities, causing extraordinary urban concentrations around theworld ("The New", 1988, p. In addition, manypredict that it won't be until the mid-21st century before the absolutenumber of births will come down even to the high levels of today (p. 49). Inaddition, agriculture is facing the difficult challenge of making thetransition from being a renewable industry based on land, water and laborto a largely non-renewable one based on land, water and labor inconjunction with non-renewable resources such as fertilizers, fuels and awhole list of considerations outside of farm interests that are subject tothe supply and demand of the rest of the economy and our limited resources(O'Brian, 1984, p. TheFuturist, 49. References The new causes of world hunger. You can't build peace on emptystomachs: A conversation with Norman Borlaug, father of the GreenRevolution. . 87). As a result, the causes of hunger today are different from a decadeago. Technology, though it may beavailable to solve these problems for the future, must be used by society.Getting countries to implement the necessary resource tools to expand foodproduction while preserving land, water and genetic diversity andsimultaneously controlling the birth rate, is the real challenge fortomorrow. Heand others believe that the world food situation has never been better, orworse for the matter. Keyfitz, N. 119). Food and Agriculture Organization and the USDA,agriculture has achieved unprecedented increased growth over the lastthirty plus years. 119). Of that number, the United Nations estimates that over ninetypercent will be born in Third World countries (p. Both men's opinions match what appears to be today's truths aboutpopulation and hunger. 88). Allthat has changed today. Further,the population is increasing by 8 million a year and it is expected thatby the year 2 25 the human race will total 8.5 billion (Keyfitz, 1989, p.119). the total volume of food has grown by three percent peryear which means that the amount of food in the world has doubled inabsolute terms since 195 (O'Brian, 1984, p. However, surplus stocks are continuing to grow, demonstratingthat agriculture has become so successful it actually has put itself out ofits job and has weakened its position relative to other sectors of theeconomy (O'Brian, 1984, p. 75). Included in thisis population growth and its relation to poverty and relating problems suchas lack of birth control and infant mortality. Davidson, M. 122). From 19 to 195 foodproduction increased by only 1.5 percent per year. Thisincrease in the last forty years equals the total population growth overthe millions of years from when man first emerged as a species. (1988, September-October). Conversely, there has been growth in population, but, even after theeffect of this growth has been deducted, there has still been a .5 to .75percent growth per year in per capital food supplies around the world(O'Brian, 1984, p. According to the U.N. the Population Monster isbeing tamed. USA Today, 73-75. Along with this are neededtransportation, storage and distribution networks. In otherwords, the ability to produce a sufficient food supply does not mean acountry will get rid of hunger. O'Brian believes, based on physical land inventories, that prospectsfor the next twenty to thirty years look good. William (Eds.), Science, technology and foreign affairs:Global environment communications and agriculture. 49; Keyfitz, 1989, p. World food Balance 196 -2 . 122; Davidson, 1988, p. Those of us who work on the science and technology of foodproduction realize that our job becomes even more difficult whenpopulations are exploding" (Davidson, 1988, p. In 196 , the U.N. 119). An example is the United States wherefarmers are paid to produce less because of the great surpluses and yettwenty million people live on food stamps ("The New", 1988, p. According to Patrick O'Brian, with the U.S. 12 ). 86). Inthe United States this figure is between seventy to eighty percentutilization. 49). However, it meansnot only must the food supply expand, but it must expand in a way that doesnot destroy the environment. In Diane B. Further, in all major developed countries, well below one hundredpercent of the agricultural land is being utilized for food production. Chaos isone result with civil war a distinct possibility. Inaddition, droughts have plagued several countries there bringing with itthe inevitable famines. Food and Agriculture Organizationestimated that about 2 million people were going hungry. Before moderntransportation and the international grain trade, the size of a city wasdetermined by its ability to survive off the surrounding farmland. The technology has advanced, thus allowing for production to outpacedemand in many regions, but hunger persists because of poverty. However, achieving food security for all has been an elusive goal,despite the accomplishment made in agriculture. World researchers believe there maybe 3 -5 million people who are malnourished and 1.5 billion peoplesuffering from a milder form of malnutrition (O'Brian, 1984, pp. 87-88). It has always been as that the limit to all this growth would befood. The inventories show thatthere is enough of a lend resource base available to double food productionin the next twenty years and to triple it in the next thirty to forty years(O'Brian, 1984, p. In the final analysis, food production can meet the needs of the tenbillion people that will be around in one hundred years. Learning what the balance is between population,food and resources necessary for survival demands ongoing considerationfrom not only the physical aspects but from the social and political. . Thus, thoughagricultural production can feed the world, rapid population growth andhunger remain a problem. Domestic policiesto foster self-reliance and self-sufficiency in food supplies, thoughneeded, have not been forthcoming. The world's population in 195 was about 2.5 billion; some time inthe late 198 s it passed five billion (Keyfitz, 1989, p. The purpose ofthis paper will be to analyze this relationship today, the truths and mythssurrounding it and how elements such as food supply, technology, birthrates and birth control figure into the equation. Overpopulation and world hunger have been discussed as interrelatingfactors since the 195 s, when concern about the exploding "baby boom,"particularly in developing countries, was considered in light of thegrowing international trade market following World War II. (1984). Further, the technology is there to see suchincreases become a reality. Land and water management is becoming a very serious problem. Further, the land's resources have never been under as much pressure. Now theestimates are around half a billion. Population increases threaten social and political structures inunderdeveloped countries. However, agricultural progress does not make up for otherproblems such as suitable living space constraints on production and thelimited capacity of the environment to absorb man's poor treatment.Therefore, many argue that society must seek ways to curb population growthtoday so as to make man's environment more benign. Therefore, more important than production, is "the extent of popularaccess to gainful employment, to arable land, to suitable technologies, andto other production resources" ("The New", 1988, p. Washington D.C.:Foreign Service Institute, 86-91. However, there have never been more hungry people in the world thanthere are today. O'Brian, P. Dr. Borlaug says: "Within the next forty to eighty years, dependingon the projected population growth, world food production must be increasedby at least as much as was achieved during the 12, years since thebeginning of agriculture" (Keyfitz, 1989, p. Food shortages, poverty and world populationgrowth are all parts of the same scenario. andMcClintock, & D. On the other hand, Dr. Normn Borlaug, a geneticistwho won the 197 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in developing high-yieldand disease-resistant strains of wheat, has spoken out often about the needto control what he calls the "Population Monster." "I've repeatedly pointed out that increased food production can, atbest, be only a holding operation while . When considering Dr. Borlaug's population monster, one has only tolook at African countries and the fact that over the last two decades thepopulation has been increasing at a rate of about three percent a year butfood production has been increasing at only about half that rate. 87). (1989, September). The question is, how does this exponential growth of populationimpact the World's food supply and the problem of hunger? Department of Agriculture(USDA), there is reason to be optimistic and pessimistic at the time. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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