The major emphasis is on meeting the basic needs of all and making possible a life of dignity. This requires such development strategies as anticipate environmental problems. Eco-development by respecting natural laws and processes needs to be encouraged. In order to resolve the population environment conflicts, a major shift in our attitudes and development priorities is a must.

            POPULATION growth is seriously threatening the balance between humans and their environment. Deforestation, desertification and water scarcity are already having devastating effects. Much of the environment degradation is the result of the desperate search of the poor and the landless for such basic needs as fuel, food and water. Economic problems and widespread poverty are the major consequences of rapid population growth.

            In 1900 less than two billion people lived on the earth, but by the end of this century, there will be over eight billion. There were over 200 million people living in urban areas in 1900; by the year 2000 the figure will be three billion.

            Our stakes in this game of human numbers are very high. Today India accounts for 15 per cent of the world’s population while the land area constitutes only 2.4 per cent. The per capita availability of land in the country is 0.48 hectares as against 4.14 hectares in the USA and 8.43 hectares in the former USSR. The manland ratio in relation to arable land is only 0.27 hectares and it is likely to reduce further in the coming years. Already, India is twice as densely populated as China, putting heavy pressure on the environment, infrastructure and basic services.

            The size of the earth is fixed and its resources are used rapidly while their per capita availability decreases proportionately. The rapid population growth is leading to the shrinking of resources and degradation of environment.

            Apart from the shrinking of the resource base, population pressure affects the quality of air, water and soil. Pollution of air, soil and water is growing throughout the length and breadth of the country. All our major rivers are highly polluted and are being freely used as sewers. Air in almost all urban industrial comp lexes is unfit for, breathing. Dust loads in Indian cities are the maximum in the world. Pesticide residues, specifically DDT, in the body tissue of Indians are the highest in the world. In our anxiety to accelerate the pace of economic development against resource scarcity and mounting debt crises, environmental aspects are not adequately stressed. Environmental legislation      and the various guidelines issued by the government are poorly implemented.

            Rapid urbanisation presents the environment problem in its most dramatic form. More and more of the world’s people want to live in cities. At the beginning of the industrial revolution only three people Out Of every 100 lived in urban areas. Today the figure has gone up to 40. By the year 2000, about helf  of the world’s population will live in urban areas.

            Urban population is growing about twice as fast as rural population. The rate of population increase in industrialised countries has declined rapidly, while the least developed countries continue to have a high growth rate. Between 1920 and 1985, the proportion of the world’s inhabitants living in urban areas increased from 14 to 41 per cent.  The projected ratio of urban-to-rural population is apt to increase so that the urban population will be 47 per cent of the world population in 2000 and 57 per cent in 2020.

            By the year 2000, the world’s cities will be much larger and more in number. There are now about 230 cities in the world with a population of one million or more; by the turn of the century there will be 440, 284 of them in the developing countries. By the year 2000, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. 22 of the world’s cities will have a population of 10 million or more. Half of them will be in Asia.

            Based on “global average”, it has been roughly calculated that a city of one million inhabitants consumes every day about 5.25,000 metric tonnes of water, 2000 metric tonnes of food, and 9,600 metric tonnes of fuel, while at the same time generating 5,20,000 metric tonnes of waste water, 2000 metric tonnes of solid wastes and 950 metric tonnes of air pollutants.

            The impact of population increase on till biosphere: A recent study based on per capita energy consumption in varions countries of the world shows that 42 countries with 24 per cent of the world population consume78 per cent of commercial energy and 128 countries having 76 percent of the world’s population manage wit] 22 per cent of commercial energy. As a result the impact of the people in high energy countries is far greater than the people in the low energy countries. Global warming, Ozone depletion an, acid rain are symptomatic of the collective impact of the activities of human beings on the lifesupport system of our biosphere.

`          Carbon dioxide is a natural constituent in the atmosphere. It has a concentration of over 0.32 per cent by volume having a ratio of 1:450 with oxygen. In spite of its relatively small proportion, carbon dioxide plays a very important role i the biosphere. On account of industrialization, fossil fuel consumption is growing and as a result carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is steadily increasing.

            Carbon dioxide absorbs heat radiation. It lets the sunrays pass to the earth but traps the heat which would otherwise be radiated back into space. The global warming phenomenon is the cause of the global greenhouse effect. The green house effect is, in fact, normal to the earth and essential to life; without it, the earth will be over 30 degrees celsius cooler, and   life will not exist.

            The best model Studies indicate that due to the global increase in carbon dioxide the temperature of lower atmosphere is likely to increase by 1.5 to 4.5^o C by the year 2030. This will lead to the melting of polar ice caps which may ultimately result in the rise of the sea level from 20 to 165 cm. Such an increase will bring about floods in many coastal areas, induce salt water intrusion into aquifers and submerge coastal wetlands. At least 10-15 per cent of the arable land and economic productivity of such area can be lost. With the likelihood of the rising ocean level, the proposed location or expansion of ports, cities, agricultural activities, coastal development, etc. should be reconsidered.

             One metre rise in ocean level by 2035 may cause the seas to move inland along shores, thus reshaping the coastline. Millions of people will get relocated and human stress, anxiety and discomfort will be severe. It has been estimated that a sea level rise of one metre before the end of the next century will affect up to 300 million people. Global warming due to the greenhouse effect has a great potential of creating environmental refugees over wide areas.

             Acid rain, which has emerged as the biggest scourage of industrialised countries, is an increasing threat to India, where the emission of acidic gases is increasing sharply.         A vast expansion of thermal power generation and other industrial activities contribute highly to environmental acidification. The release of sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen are rapidly increasing in the Indian environment, and this trend is going to intensify in the future on account of two main reasons: the growling demand of energy and the extensive use of coal as the primary source of energy. Systematic and sufficient data on the acidity of rainwater in India are sadly lacking, but occasionally acid rain has been reported from Bombay, Delhi, Nagpur, Pune and a few other areas.

            Ozone depletion: Ozone, a deep made gas made up of chemically bonded oxygen atoms, is a minor constituents of the earth’s atmosphere. It is found everywhere in varying concentrations between sea level and a height of 60 km. In the air we breathe ozone which is a health hazard, a constituent of air pollution that has a caustic effect on human beings. However, in the stratosphere ozone forms a delicate veil and it filters out harmful radiation from the sunrays entering the earth’s atmosphere.

            Human activities have influenced the environment since the first settlements were built and land was cultivated. At that time the chances were relatively small and were absorbed by the resilience of the environment. Today, however, it is cleat that the effects of the unlimited growth of human population and the recent unrestricted technological advances have had much greater impact on environment, and may well exceed its capacity to absorb them. The environmental problems get further complicated through the urban/lindustrial expansion coupled with the increasing demand for energy which will cause further harm to the physical environment. Formost people, however the problems become more cruelly apparent in the social environment. The problem of poverty, malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, inadequate housing and clothing are common to all developing societies. In the affluent societies, a breakdown of tradition values, drug abuse, etc. are the responses to the unpredictable environment.

            The major emphasis is on meeting the basic needs of all and making possible a life of dignity. This requires such development strategies as anticipate environmental problems. Eco-development by respecting natural laws and processes needs to be encouraged. In order to resolve the population-environment conflicts, a major shift in our attitudes and development priorities is a must.   

            The author is Director, State Institute of Education, Chandigarh.