Klimaatverandering 44

Inter Press Service bericht:

'WORLD POPULATION DAY:Crowded Planet Feels the Heat.

Consider the following statistics: at the beginning of the 20th century, the world population was less than two billion, but at the dawn of the 21st century, there were more than six billion people on earth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's population clock, the world's population is now 6,527,525,419. Every 14 years, one billion people are added to the planet. At this rate, the total number of people in the world will be a little more than 9.1 billion in 50 years. Although the population growth rate has slowed, the world's population is still growing. The U.S. population is projected to reach 300 million by October. According to a report by the Washington-based group Population Connection, more than half of the world's population will live in cities by 2007, "Making us, for the first time, an urban species." Emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming have also increased significantly since the 20th century. There are greater concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the chief contributors to global warming, in the atmosphere as a result of continued burning of fossil fuels. "We have to look at the overall contribution of human activities as it relates to increased CO2 emissions since industrialisation," said Jay Gulledge, senior research fellow for Science and Impacts at the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change. "There has been a 35 percent increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO2, up from 280 ppm (parts per million) pre-industrial times to a current 380 ppm." As the population increases, particularly in urban areas, the demand for more energy requires power plants that already emit huge volumes of greenhouse gases to produce even more. And as people in lesser developed countries gain access to electricity, more power plants that emit greenhouse gases are built. Population growth also goes hand-in-hand with deforestation and clearing of land to make way for urban sprawl. While living forests act as "carbon sinks", absorbing greenhouse gases, dead and decaying trees emit carbon into the atmosphere. "A third of all current CO2 emissions come from automobiles," Gulledge added. "Coal-fired power plants and heavy industry also accounts for much of the greenhouse gas emissions." "Population growth and global warming are definitely intertwined," Janet Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute, told IPS. "A growing population means a growing use of energy." The U.S. currently has five percent of the world's population, but produces 25 percent of the world's global warming pollution, according to a report by the U.S.-based environmental group Sierra Club. Together, the most industrialised nations consume 60 percent of the world's fossil fuels. The George W. Bush administration has not offered any indication that it will accept the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, which has been ratified by 163 nations, because it believes that the treaty to reduce CO2 emissions would put a strain on the economy, resulting in a decline in GDP.' Lees verder: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33923