Global warming, which is a concern with continuous growth, is adversely affecting the world through its adverse impacts on our environment. Among the different factors that contribute to climate change, population growth has been found to be one of the major contributors of global warming. Humans are consuming natural resources at a higher rate affecting the environment through activities such as farming, deforestation, soil erosion, and burning of fossil fuels like natural gas, coal and oil. These activities leads to release of CO2 and methane, known as greenhouse gases, are two major factors contributing to global warming. They are trapped in the atmosphere, which in turn heat up the earth and lead to death of natural resources such as plants and drying of water bodies and coastlines. Continuous release of greenhouse gases on earth will have disastrous impact on the level of biodiversity and earths ecosystem (Philander, 2018). Therefore, global warming is a huge threat to global development.
Greenhouse Gases and their Impact on Global Warming
Greenhouse gas refers to any gaseous component in the atmosphere that has the capability of absorbing ultraviolet radiation, thus trapping heat in the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases cause greenhouse effect, which in turn result in global warming. The major greenhouse gases emitted because of human activity include chlorofluorocarbons, nitrous oxides, carbon dioxide (CO2), and water vapor. These gases are trapped in the atmosphere, thereby blocking the heat from escaping into the space thus contributing to the global warming. Changing the natural atmospheric gases have adverse consequences on the environment such as increasing the atmospheric temperatures thus warming the earth. Warmer conditions are more likely to result to more precipitation and evaporation causing some regions to become dryer. Stronger warm conditions might partially melt glaciers and warm oceans thereby increasing the sea level. Shifting climate patterns and higher temperatures may cause changes in regions where crops thrive best thus impacting negatively on the makeup of natural plant populations ( Blasing, 2016).
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According to Blasing (2016), h uman activities have resulted in increased concentrations thereby changing the natural greenhouse. For instance, Rwanda has faced significant impacts of global warming in the recent years such as droughts especially in the eastern lowlands and floods in the northwestern highlands. The high rate of unevenness in patterns of rainfall can have a significant effect on agriculture, which is the major source of livelihood for people in Rwanda. Reports indicate that the annual mean temperature in the country reveal a substantial rising trend every decade, with ranges being higher compared to the global average, and is projected to increase with continuous release of greenhouses gases into the atmosphere. Evidence reveals that the increasing global warming in Rwanda has been contributed by human activity that generates methane, carbon dioxide, and strong greenhouse gases. Since agriculture is the main source of livelihood for most populations in the region, it is evident that activities such as deforestation and erosion contribute significantly to climate change (Haggag, Kalisa & Abdeldayem, 2016).
Challenges that Greenhouse Gases Emissions Pose to People in Developing Countries
Greenhouse gas emissions pose significant challenges to the people in developing nations. Examples of these challenges include political, security, and economic. Global warming poses health challenges to the people in developing nations. Urbanization and rapid economic development exposes individuals to health hazards from global warming. Example of the common susceptibility factors include poor sanitation, high population density, high levels of air pollution both indoor and outdoor, heat wave, communicable diseases, floods and storms (Honegger et al., 2017).
Additionally, global warming poses economic challenges to developing nations. For instance, a country like Rwanda depends on agriculture as a source of livelihood. Changes in climate patterns may affect the production of agriculture thereby resulting in poverty and food insecurity, which in turn affect their economic growth and development. In addition, developing nations lack more resourceful technologies to minimize emissions of greenhouse gas (Haggag, Kalisa & Abdeldayem, 2016). Therefore, technological and economic disparities makes it challenging for nations to reduce emissions.
Moreover, global warming can result in risk of political tensions due to failure of developing nations to prevent or adapt the climate changes. The international communities may feel that the major problems facing nations globally has been contributed by developing nations thus cause political frictions and pose challenges to security as well (Honegger et al., 2017).
The biggest offenders of global warming are developing nations. Evidence reveals that although they have smaller economies generally, they are responsible for emissions of 47% of carbon dioxide globally (Honegger et al., 2017). The reason for high rate of CO2 emissions is due to transportation systems and inefficient energy. Most of these nations make use of small and out of date facilities in their industries, which use fossil fuels that have high rate of pollution. Another major contributing factor to emission of high amount of CO2 is increased activities of forests logging or wildfires. Other factors such as rapid economic growth, population growth, and urbanization contributes to climate change at a very fast rate. Evidence reveals that the collective emissions of developing nations will surpass that of developed countries in a period of 30 years (Honegger et al., 2017). Therefore, developing nations are estimated to be accountable for over 75 of the increase in global emissions.
Controlling the Growth of Population on a Global Level
The high rate of population growth is a growing global concern. Experts project that the global population will rise from the current 7 billion people to 9 billion in 2050. The fast changes in the global human populations’ means high level of consumption of natural resources, which pose significant challenges to the environment and human health. This calls for an urgent need to control population growth to reduce overpopulation and promote a sustainable environment (Carley & Christie, 2017).
The good news is that population growth can be controlled at a global level without requiring laws that would infringe in the rights and freedom of individuals. Examples of ways in which population growth can be controlled include offering universal access to contraceptive options that are effective and safe for both sexes. This will help to minimize cases of unwanted pregnancies. Another way is to guarantee education especially for girls through to secondary school. Evidence reveals that on average women with post-secondary education have less children compared to those with less education. Women empowerment allows women to focus more on pursing their career and building their life than childbearing. Evidence shows that women who are career focused have fewer children compared to those who lack a career because pursing career results in delayed marriages hence fewer children. Furthermore, spreading awareness by providing sexuality education that is age-appropriate for all students will expose them to comprehensive knowledge regarding respecting sexual rights, alternatives of birth control and abstinence, details on intercourse and puberty (Carley & Christie, 2017). Therefore, implementation of these strategies would play a crucial role in controlling population growth at global levels hence facilitate creation of sustainable population.
Conclusion
It is evident that population growth has profound impact on global warming. Increased population results in consumptions of more natural resources, which in turn have more impact on the environment. For instance, more population means need for more food. These results in increase in human activities such as clearing land for agriculture causing deforestation and soil erosion. These human activities lead to concertation of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that end up trapped in the atmosphere hence leading to global warming. Global warming poses various challenges to developing nations such as economic effect, political, security, and health hazards, which have adverse impact on the population. The effect of global warming necessitate the need to address the issue urgently through controlling population growth. Population growth can be controlled through women empowerment, education, spreading awareness, and providing universal access to effective and safe contraceptives.
References
Blasing, T. J. (2016). Recent greenhouse gas concentrations . Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States).
Carley, M., & Christie, I. (2017). Managing sustainable development . Routledge.
Haggag, M., Kalisa, J. C., & Abdeldayem, A. W. (2016). Projections of precipitation, air temperature and potential evapotranspiration in Rwanda under changing climate conditions. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology , 10 (1), 18-33.
Honegger, M., Münch, S., Hirsch, A., Beuttler, C., Peter, T., Burns, W., ... & Lederer, M. (2017). Climate change, negative emissions and solar radiation management: It is time for an open societal conversation. St. Gallen: Risk-Dialogue Foundation. Retieved from (https: //www. zora. uzh. ch/id/eprint/137059/1/Risk_Dialogue_Foundation__CEDialogue_White_Paper_17_05_05Publ. pdf) .
Philander, S. G. (2018). Is the temperature rising?: the uncertain science of global warming . Princeton University Press.
