China Population And Natural Resources

CHINA POPULATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES

With more that 1.3 billion people living in China it is one of the most populous countries in the world. With the worlds population currently at aprox 6.6 billion people China makes up 20% of the worlds population. This means one in 5 people in the world are from China. With this huge population China must find ways to sustain their natural resources in order to maintain all of these people. Chinas population is expected to peek in 2030.

One of the most important natural resources China is seeing being depleted do to overpopulation is water. The more people a country has the more industrial needs, agricultural needs and consumption needs arise. This means that the amount of water in China needs to increase to meet demand. Instead the water is being depleted and could hit the danger zone by 2030.

In China the freshwater natural resources are inadequate and unevenly distributed. Chinas per capita water resources are only one fourth of the world average. With the population growth and industrial growth of the country water shortages have not only affected the arid and semi arid areas it is also impacting the major cities. It is starting to slow down Chinas Economic growth.

The other major natural resource that has been depleted is the forests. Right now China only has 3-4% of the world's forest area. This creates major environmental problems such as soil erosion and land desertification. There also becomes an increased occurrence of natural disasters such as drought, high winds, and floods. All of these problems are directly linked to the lack of the forest and the uneven way it is currently distributed.

After writing this paper it seems to me that China is in real trouble if they don't start implementing reforms. They need to figure out ways to save their natural resources before it is to late. Also as I did research to write