basic issues and values of environmental science

1. Outline
Lecture 2; MrL
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 Human population in the world
 Human population in Bangladesh
 Sustainability and sustainable development
 Millennium Development Goals
 Carrying capacity
 Ecological footprint

2. Human population in the world
 Figure. Long-term world population growth, 1750-
2050. Source: United Nations Population Division
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• Human population
has grown about
ten-fold over the
past 300 years
• Nearly four-fold in
just the last century
Lecture 2; MrL

3. Human population in Bangladesh
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More population
means more
interactions with
environment;
means more
impacts on
environment
Lecture 2; MrL

4. Sustainability and sustainable development
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 Sustainability means capability of being maintained
over the long term.
• More specifically – Sustainability is "meeting the
needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own
needs” (United Nation 1987).
Sustainable development refers to the "Development
that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs” (United Nation 1987).
Lecture 2; MrL

5. Sustainability and sustainable development
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Dimensions/components of sustainability/sustainable development
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6. Millennium Development Goals
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Millennium Development Goals by 2015:
1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. To achieve universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality and empower women
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability
8. To develop a global partnership for development
Lecture 2; MrL

7. Carrying capacity – what is it?
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 The carrying capacity is
the maximum population
size of the species that the
environment can sustain
indefinitely, given the
food, habitat, water and
other necessities available
in the environment.
 The carrying capacity is
the number of
individuals an
environment can
support without
significant negative
impacts to the given
organism and its
environment.
Lecture 2; MrL

8. Carrying capacity –characteristics and facts
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 Below carrying capacity - populations increase
 Above carrying capacity - populations decrease
 The carrying capacity of an environment may vary
for different species and may change over time due
to a variety of factors, including: food availability,
water supply, environmental conditions and living
space.
At the global scale, scientific data now indicates that humans
are living beyond the carrying capacity of planet Earth and
that this cannot continue indefinitely (according to the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of the UN, 2005).
Lecture 2; MrL

9. Ecological footprint
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 The Ecological footprint measures
human consumption in terms of the
biologically productive land needed to
provide the resources and absorb the
wastes of the average global citizen.
 In 2008 it required 2.7 global hectares
per person, 30% more than the natural
biological capacity of 2.1 global
hectares (World Wide Fund for
Nature, 2008).
The resulting ecological deficit must be met from
unsustainable extra sources such as taken from the
past (e.g. fossil fuels); or borrowed from the future as
unsustainable resource usage (e.g. by over exploiting
forests and fisheries).
Lecture 2; MrL

10. Figure below examines sustainability at the scale of individual
countries by contrasting their Ecological Footprint with their UN
Human Development Index (a measure of standard of living).
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Lecture 2; MrL

11. References for today’s lecture
 http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153596/
 http://www.tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/pop
ulation
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrying_capacity
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Lecture 2; MrL

12. Any
question?
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Lecture 2; MrL