Pressure on resources

Question 1

Population and demand

Answer 1

• world population has grown exponentially

- more people = more demand on resources - food, energy and water

Question 2

What other trends influence increase resource demand?

Answer 2

Urbanisation, industrialisation and affluence

Question 3

Urbanisation

Answer 3

More people are living in urban areas - 54% of world in urban and it’s set to increase to 66% by 2050

Question 4

Food production

Answer 4

Current levels of food production will need to double by 2050 to feed the population

Question 5

Water shortage

Answer 5

Demand for water will increase by 55% by 2050

Question 6

Affluence

Answer 6

Number of middle class people will grow from 1.5 bill to 4.9 bill by 2050

Question 7

Malthus’ theory

Answer 7

Population was increasing faster than supply of resources, so eventually there would be too many people for that resources available. Food supply will run out and famine would result, reducing population size.

Question 8

Boserup’s theory

Answer 8

However big the world’s population grew, people would always produce sufficient resources to meet their needs through new techniques to increase food production.