Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Accessed October 6, 2014.
Notes
1
The increase was mostly in West Asia and in Africa according to UNEP
estimates (United Nations Environment Programme, 2011a).
2
Carrying capacity is the theoretical limit of population that the (Earth)
system can sustain.
3
There is a regional dimension for the argument as well. In the US, the
birth rates are on the decrease, which will in the future result in lower
productivity. Adding to the population in a resource-poor region (say,
Sub-Saharan Africa) will result in lower standards of living as the
available meager resources have to be now distributed over a larger
population.
4
In 2007, for the first time, global urban population outnumbers the rural
populations. The figures for land area degradation are quoted from the
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2008).
5
Major catastrophes that lead to mass extinction of species occurred five
times in Earth's history during the last 540 million years; the last one
was 65 million years back (end of the Mesozoic) when the dinosaurs
disappeared. The high rate at which species are disappearing has led
scientists to suggest that the sixth mass extinction is already under way;
