Given this equation, what drives environmental decline?

Yemen 1. Given this equation, what drives environmental decline? Using the IPAT equation without numbers, we can deduce the larger the P, A, and T variables are the bigger the impact will be on the environment. Increasing or decreasing any of the variables will change the impact on the environment. If the amount of consumption is greater than the amount of resources a country has, there will be a deficit in biocapacity. Population growth and high levels of consumption will drive environmental decline. It was also noted that technology use or T, can have a positive or negative effect on the IPAT equation. 2. Compare the United States with a developing country of your choice and conduct some research. How do the factors given in the I=PAT equation differ for these two countries? Can you calculate or find actual calculations of the value I? Country Population Growth Rate Fertility Rate Population Density GDP per capita US 330, 824, 946 0.6% 1.8 per woman 93 people per sq mi $62,606 Yemen 29, 765, 944 2.28% 3.8 per woman 143 people per sq mi $1,052.27 *US land area 3,617,827 square miles/ Yemen land area 203,796 square miles The differences between the United States and Yemen are drastic in every category. Both countries have a greater ecological footprint than can be supported. The GDP per capita for Yemen is one main difference from the United States GDP per capita. The 2016 images below display the Biocapacity per person – the Ecological Footprint per person = the Biocapacity Reserve/Deficit for each country. (Retrieved from World Bank Group, 2019). Both countries have a larger ecological footprint than what is allotted for that countries resources. https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/485497/discussions/posts/61339945/ViewAttachment?fileId=19281138 https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/485497/discussions/posts/61339945/ViewAttachment?fileId=19281139 3. Describe one or two of the most pressing environmental issues faced by the developing country you selected. How are these issues related to population growth and affluence in this country? Consider age structure, population growth rate, and standard of living here. Yemen is the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula due to widespread poverty, unemployment, and diminishing supplies of oil and water resources. Oil accounts for nearly 85% of Yemen’s exports and 75% of its GDP. Aside from oil production, agriculture is also important for the country employing over 45% of the country’s workforce. (World Bank Group, 2020). Agriculture relies on groundwater reserves and these reserves are expected to be depleted within two to three decades. Other factors effecting Yemen include constant civil unrest, war, and violence. This has cause disruption through the lack of jobs and business expansion further contributing to poverty levels. The conflicts in the country have resulted in minimal access to essential public services such as water, electricity, and waste management. This is combined with limited access to supplies for healthcare and a reduction in the number of imports coming to the country including food. Solar Power is a possible solution to the lack of electricity in the country. It will also add jobs and contribute to the financial standings of the country. Improvements in the power sector will allow for improvements in other areas of the environment for Yemen. (Kojo & Althibah, 2020). Resources: Global Footprint Network. (2019). Ecological Footprints 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2020 from http://data.footprintnetwork.org/#/ IEA. (2019). Total primary energy supply (TPES) by source, Yemen 1990-2017. Retrieved May 27, 2020 from https://www.iea.org/countries/Yemen IEA. (2019). Total primary energy supply (TPES) by source, United States 1990-2018. Retrieved May 27, 2020 from https://www.iea.org/countries/United-States Kojo, N., Althibah, A. (2020, March, 31). Yemen Monthly Economic Update. Retrieved May 28, 2020 from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/339571587498517757/pdf/Yemen-Monthly-Economic-Update-March-2020.pdf World Bank Group. (2020). Yemen. Retrieved May 28, 2020 from https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country/yemen/impacts-agriculture World Population Review. (2020). United States Population 2020 (Live). Retrieved May 27, 2020 from https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/united-states-population/ World Population Review. (2020). Yemen Population 2020 (Live). Retrieved May 27, 2020 from https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/yemen-population/ Papa New Guinea Greetings, Given the IPAT equation, it appears that environmental decline (I) is driven by some combination of population size (P), level of affluence/consumption per person (A), and impact of technology use (T). This is a sliding scale; for instance, a significantly lower human population would be able to afford greater affluence per and greater technological use per capita with lower environmental decline. Similarly, a moderate human population with comparatively lower affluence and less technological use would create balance as well. It appears that what’s happening, in reality, is all three variables of the equation are rising simultaneously, resulting in detrimental environmental decline. The developing country that I chose to compare the United States to is Papua New Guinea. For population I scaled the number down to 1 = 1,000,000. I used United Nations 2018 estimates: https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Highlights.pdf For affluence, I used World Bank data for GDP per capita: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=US For technology, I used millions of tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe) per capita. Source (US): https://yearbook.enerdata.net/total-energy/world-consumption-statistics.html Source (Papua New Guinea): https://books.google.com/books?id=MT8JBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT291&lpg=PT291&dq=papua+new+guinea+mtoe&source=bl&ots=v_kyELRc6P&sig=ACfU3U2wmMnLPc7KENxnwKr5vu2W9e73aQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjX0NDHhtTpAhWJiOAKHVxJA3kQ6AEwCnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=papua%20new%20guinea%20mtoe&f=false https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/485497/discussions/posts/61315710/ViewAttachment?fileId=19274107 https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/485497/discussions/posts/61315710/ViewAttachment?fileId=19274108 I couldn’t find a universally accepted unit for measuring I in the equation, but no matter how you slice it, the United States’ number is orders of magnitude greater than that of Papua New Guinea. Looked at in another way, I made this table based on 2016 information obtained from this website: http://data.footprintnetwork.org/#/ https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/485497/discussions/posts/61315710/ViewAttachment?fileId=19274109 According to the Australian Parliamentary Secretary of Pacific Island Affairs, Parliamentary Secretary of Foreign Affairs in 2012, Papua New Guinea had the seventh fastest-growing economy in the world in 2011. This prosperity came due to Papua New Guinea’s wealth in minerals, fossil fuels and natural resources such as timber and fish (Marles, 2012). Deforestation is a major environmental issue facing Papua New Guinea. The rainforests of Papua New Guinea are among the largest in the world, ranking third behind the Amazon and Congo. As such, this has attracted many international logging companies to this lucrative natural resource. There seems to be very little international attention on this subject; the most recent data I could find for now are from 2001 which stated that Papua New Guinea’s rainforests were being degraded at a rate of 362,000 hectares per year. It’s estimated that by next year 83% of PNG’s accessible rainforests (53% of all forests on the island) will be severely damaged or lost (Burness Communications, 2008). The issue does not appear to be related to population growth or affluence in Papua New Guinea; as stated in the previous paragraph, most of the issues related to deforestation come from foreign companies. In 2018 only about 55% of the rural population had access to electricity (The World Bank, 2019); since this represented 86.7% of the total population, this means that over 39% of the population has no access to electricity or technology (Knoema, 2019). Given Papua New Guinea’s relatively low population, high biocapacity reserve, and low ecological footprint, I do not believe that their indigenous population has much of an environmental impact on that nation at this time. -William References Burness Communications. (2008, June 2). As Papua New Guinea Pushes for Payments for Forest Conservation, New Analysis Says Nation May Be Running Out of Forests to Protect. Retrieved from Science In Public: https://web.archive.org/web/20110927112154/http://www.scienceinpublic.com/png_forests.htm Knoema. (2019). Papua New Guinea – Urban population as a share of total population. Retrieved from Knoema: https://knoema.com/atlas/Papua-New-Guinea/Urban-population Marles, R. (2012, March 9). Raising the profile of PNG in Australia. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20140211201645/http://ministers.dfat.gov.au/marles/speeches/2012/rm_sp_120309.html The World Bank. (2019). Access to electricity, rural (% of rural population) – Papua New Guinea. Retrieved from The World Bank: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.RU.ZS?locations=PG&view=chart Afghanistan 1. Given this equation, what drives environmental decline? As described in this weeks IPAT equation, a country with a higher population will also have a higher level for consumption and technology use. Since more people in a society means more food/land consumption. Usually through the means of greater tools and technology. These factors are what is driving the decline in our environment. 2. Compare the United States with a developing country of your choice and conduct some research. How do the factors given in the I=PAT equation differ for those two countries? Can you calculate or find actual calculations of the value of I? Country Population GDP per Capita (US$) Electricity Generated Yearly Access to electricity United States 328.2 million 62,886 1,072,000,000,000 Watts 100% Afghanistan 38.42 million 513 3,100,000,000 Watts 84.10% United States: I = 328,000,000 x 62,886 x 1,072,000,000,000 = 22,111,723,776e+25 I = 38,420,000 x 513 x 3,100,000,000 = 6.1099326e+19 3. Describe one or two of the most pressing environmental issues faced by the developing country you selected. How are these issues related to population growth and affluence in this country? Deforestation is a huge problem in Afghanistan. Many factors are in play for this environmental issue. Poverty and a rural population play a big role on the destruction of Afghanistan’s trees. Trees are being felled to create material for construction or for the illegal timber markets in Pakistan. Without the planting of new trees to replace those that were cut down. Secondly, creating more usable space for livestock and farming is also accelerating this issue. With an annual population growth of 2.4%, the people of that country need more land to support their livestock. Having such a small number of households with sustainable energy source, more of their trees are cut down to create fuel for heat and cooking. As of today, Afghanistan only as 2.1% of its forests remaining. (Mongabay 2010) This issue is affecting all developed and undeveloped countries. Since the 1600’s the United States has cut down 75% of its forests. As with Afghanistan, this has been to facilitate construction, furniture, and energy. Logging companies offer large amounts of money to have access to dense woodlands. (Greenliving n,d) Once these lands have been stripped of its trees, these plots are then sold to real estate developers for new housing. This is also becoming more prevalent in rural America and not just urban areas. (Greenliving n,d) Our country is also expanding land for farms and animal husbandry to meet the demand of a higher population. As a nation, we produce more to not only feed ourselves but a big part of the world. We are the largest producer of corn, third-largest for wheat, tenth in development of sugarcane while also being the twelfth for rice. (Investopedia 2019) Unlike Afghanistan the United States has had a better time of enforcing its logging laws. In 1900 the Lacey Act was passed. This law was updated in 2008. It helps fight deforestation by banning the trade of illegally sourced wood or plants. This act is fact-based statute with strict liability. It goes as far as punishing any violators with civil and criminal penalties even if these individuals did not know they were dealing with illegally harvested wood or plants. (Forest Legality Initiative n,d) This law has not only helped to stopped deforestation in America but also around the world. Afghanistan has been trying to replant its depleting forests. In 2011 420,000 trees were planted with help of Coalition Forces. (DVIDS 2011) With the current state of war for the last three decades the reforestation program has been not been as successful as it hopes to have been. Hopefully with a peace treaty on the horizon, replanting their forest will have greater success. References: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=AF https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/USA/bank_assets_GDP/ https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2019/popest-nation.html https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/AFG/afghanistan/population-growth-rate https://tradingeconomics.com/ https://beahrselp.berkeley.edu/newsletter/factors-destroying-the-environment-in-afghanistan/ https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/United_States_Deforestation https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/043015/who-produces-worlds-food.asp https://www.google.com/search?q=Has+the+Lacey+Act+help&oq=Has+the+Lacey+Act+help&aqs=chrome..69i57.3749j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Afghanistan.htm https://www.dvidshub.net/news/67152/reforesting-afghanistan-top-priority-with-420000-trees Sent from Mail for Windows 10