The Greenspace Insider

Volume 2, Number 4 May, 2002

POPULATION, WATER AND WILDLIFE Finding a Balance

Water is life. Without it, lifehuman life and wildlife is impossible. Water is also an indicator of the health of the land. Right now, Cambria, parts of California, the United States, and the world are facing a water crisis. Freshwater and seawater resources are limited. Per capita water supplies and other water-dependent resources are declining as the worlds population increases by approximately 80 million people per year. curred over the course of the last 50 years. In order to satisfy the needs and wants of ever-increasing numbers of people, humans chop down forests, bulldoze mountains, divert streams, spray poisons, introduce invasive species, overharvest wild animal populations, and pave over agricultural land and land upon which wild creatures depend. To find a balance among population, water, and wildlife, it is essential that we address population growth. Even if in the coming decades there is a slowing of the rate at which human population grows, some population growth will occur. The fate of our community, agriculture, freshwater ecosystems, and wildlife depend heavily on the rate of population growth in the coming decades.

Caught between limited and increasingly polluted water supplies and rapidly rising demand from population growth and development, many cities, states and countries face difficult choices. Greenspace wants to illustrate the important and often overlooked relationships between population growth Some thoughts on how to reduce the and environmental degradation in this human impact on water and wildlife are: issue of the Insider. The lack of fresh water is one of the major conflicts fac1) Address population growth. We ing our community at this time. One need to develop local, regional, and naof the first casualties of these conflicts tional policy that recognizes the populais often wildlife, the voiceless segment tion connection as a contributor to freshand least represented interest group water, seawater, and wildlife decline. on our planet and one upon which our lives are d e p e n d e n t . Photo Credit: National Wildlife Federation 2) Develop common watershed agendas on freshwater and seawater managePeople and Water ment. The global nature of problems Over the course of the 20th century, world population more than relating to freshwater is increasingly tripled from 2 billion in 1927 to 6 billion in 1999. As the hu- recognized both because water flows man population continues to grow at an annual growth rate of across planning areas and political 1.2%, this translates to an increase equal to the combined popu- boundaries and because conflict belations of California, Texas, and New Jersey each year. Look- tween water use and ownership will ing closer, Cambrias population has increased from 1,700 increase locally and globally. people in the late 1960s to over 6,000 by the year 2000. Cambrias growth rate, from a percentage point of view, has 3) Adopt national and local exceeded the worlds population growth rate!! smart water management initiatives. Policymakers at all levels Some 60 percent of the worlds population now lives within must be educated on the links be35 miles of a coastline. Through a combination of population tween population and water and growth, migration, and urbanization, this figure is likely to rise the critical need for preserving to 75 percent by the year 2020. healthy freshwater and seawater These trends will certainly affect ecosystems and biodiversity. our lives in Cambria, and planning 4) Follow a personal water for the consequences of this un- conservation ethic. We must paralleled growth is critical to our follow a water conservation ethic health, welfare, and wildlife. that recognizes the finiteness of freshwater and seawater and the The destruction of the natural world d e p e n d e n c e o f h u m a n s a n d we see locally and across the world w i l d l i f e o n h e a l t h y w a t e r s . today is fallout from the human Information Source: National Wildlife Federation Population and Environment Program Publications and The Audubon Photo Credit: Audubon population explosion that has ocSociety

Canary In The Coal Mine

Birds have served as one of mans most important early warning systems. Birds have helped predict the change of seasons, the coming of storms, the presence of land and sea, and the rise of toxic levels of pollution in the food chain. Now birds are telling us that something is terribly wrong with the environment. California has experienced a 40% decline in neotropical migrant bird species over a 10-year period. It is our opinion that the year round and migratory bird population of Cambria has been adversely affected by habitat loss driven by human population pressure.

Information Source: Population & Habitat, Making the Connection, Audubon

Local Land Conservation Since 1988 Post Office Box 1505 Cambria, California 93428 (805) 927-2866 - Phone (805) 927-7530 - Fax e-mail: rick@GreenspaceCambria.org www.GreenspaceCambria.org

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