Earth now has 8 billion people—and counting

[buksida]

The UN is declaring November 15 as the “Day of Eight Billion” because there is no mistaking the import of this moment. Humans everywhere are living longer, thanks to better health care, cleaner water, and improvements in sanitation, all of which have reduced the prevalence of disease. Fertilizers and irrigation have boosted crop yields and improved nutrition. In many countries, more children are being born, and far fewer are dying.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/envi ... ion-people

As world population hits 8 billion, China frets over too few babies
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/wor ... 022-11-14/

How has the world’s population grown since 1950?
https://www.theguardian.com/global-deve ... since-1950





Not quite there yet according to this: https://www.worldometers.info/

It has doubled in my lifetime ...

[pharvey]

Fertilizers and irrigation have boosted crop yields and improved nutrition.

Decimating rivers and wildlife in Wales amongst numerous countries due to nitrates from increased chicken farming and crop farming in paticular (here anyway).

In many countries, more children are being born, and far fewer are dying.

In paticular the poorest countries, those crying out for aid, low education. Not to be racist, but perhaps we should provide condoms rather than cash - the latter of which tends to be stolen by corrupt governments.

[Dannie Boy]

One of the predicted largest birth growths is on the continent of Africa where at the same time they have been experiencing years of drought and increased starvation due to crop failure - Somalia being particularly badly affected - not pretty reading/viewing!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-63597221


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[buksida]

Interestingly, the UN has predicted that population growth will slow down from now on and plateau, presumably due to the food supply crisis.

It could take another 15 years to reach 9 billion and the UN doesn't expect it to reach 10 billion until 2080.

[HHTel]

How Many People Can Earth Support?

Aside from the limited availability of freshwater, there are indeed constraints on the amount of food that Earth can produce, just as Malthus argued more than 200 years ago. Even in the case of maximum efficiency, in which all the grains grown are dedicated to feeding humans (instead of livestock, which is an inefficient way to convert plant energy into food energy), there's still a limit to how far the available quantities can stretch. "If everyone agreed to become vegetarian, leaving little or nothing for livestock, the present 1.4 billion hectares of arable land (3.5 billion acres) would support about 10 billion people

The 3.5 billion acres would produce approximately 2 billion tons of grains annually, he explained. That's enough to feed 10 billion vegetarians, but would only feed 2.5 billion U.S. omnivores, because so much vegetation is dedicated to livestock and poultry in the United States.

So 10 billion people is the uppermost population limit where food is concerned. Because it's extremely unlikely that everyone will agree to stop eating meat, Wilson thinks the maximum carrying capacity of the Earth based on food resources will most likely fall short of 10 billion.

Fortunately, we may be spared from entering the end-times phase of overpopulation and starvation envisioned by Malthus. According to the United Nations Population Division, the human population will hit 7 billion on or around Oct. 31, and, if its projections are correct, we're en route to a population of 9 billion by 2050, and 10 billion by 2100. However, somewhere on the road between those milestones, scientists think we'll make a U-turn.Fortunately, we may be spared from entering the end-times phase of overpopulation and starvation envisioned by Malthus. According to the United Nations Population Division, the human population will hit 7 billion on or around Oct. 31, and, if its projections are correct, we're en route to a population of 9 billion by 2050, and 10 billion by 2100. However, somewhere on the road between those milestones, scientists think we'll make a U-turn.

Globally, the fertility rate is falling to the "replacement level" — 2.1 children per woman, the rate at which children replace their parents (and make up for those who die young). If the global fertility rate does indeed reach replacement level by the end of the century, then the human population will stabilize between 9 billion and 10 billion. As far as Earth's capacity is concerned, we'll have gone about as far as we can go, but no farther.

An interesting read.
More at:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44860924

That article was published in 2011.

[PeteC]

The world wastes more than 1 billion meals every day as hundreds of millions go hungry, UN report finds

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/27/clim ... index.html

More than 1 billion meals are wasted across the world each day while nearly 800 million people go hungry, a new United Nations report has found.

The world wasted 1.05 billion metric tons of food in 2022, meaning about a fifth of the food available to people was squandered by households, restaurants and other parts of the food service and retail sectors.

This is on top of the 13% of the world’s food lost as it makes its journey from farm to fork. In total, about a third of all food goes to waste during the production process.

These waste figures are particularly stark when contrasted with the report’s findings that about a third of the world’s population faces food insecurity and 783 million are affected by hunger.

The staggering statistics, published Wednesday in the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2024, raise questions about the world’s ability to distribute the food it produces and highlights the role of food waste as a driver of climate change, according to UNEP Director Inger Andersen.

“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted across the world,” Andersen said. “Not only is this a major development issue, but the impacts of such unnecessary waste are causing substantial costs to the climate and nature.”

The report distinguished between food “loss” — food discarded early in the supply chain, for instance vegetables that rot in fields and meat that spoils when unrefrigerated — and food “waste,” food thrown out by households, restaurants and stores.

Households wasted 631 million metric tons of food in 2022 — 60% of the total — while the food service sector accounted for 28% of the waste and retail 12%.

The average person wastes 79 kilograms (174 pounds) of food each year, meaning at least one billion meals of edible food are wasted in households each day, the report found.

Even these estimates are conservative, according to the report. While data collection has improved — with the number of data points at the household level almost doubling since the UN’s 2021 food waste report — it criticized countries for patchy monitoring.

Just 21 countries have included food loss and waste in their national climate plans, it said, despite the fact that it generates 8% to 10% of global planet-heating emissions – almost five times more than emissions from the aviation sector.

While the climate impact of gas-guzzling flights has been well covered, the report suggested the impact of the more mundane issue of food waste has been overlooked.

Food is resource-intensive to produce, requiring huge amounts of land and water, and food systems are responsible for about a third of global planet-heating emissions.

The vast majority of food waste goes to landfill, generating methane as it breaks down. A potent greenhouse gas, methane has about 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years.

Food waste not only fuels climate change but may be exacerbated by it, the report said. Hotter countries were found to waste more food than cooler ones, as higher temperatures make it more challenging to store and transport food before it spoils.

The report also said food waste is not just a “rich world” phenomenon. The amount of food wasted in high- and middle-income countries differed by just 7 kilograms (15 pounds) per person each year.