Carrying Capacity

Question 1

What is carrying capacity?

Answer 1

• the max. pop. that resources of a given envi. can support w/o the envi. being severely degraded

Question 2

Why is carrying capacity not a fixed concept?

Answer 2

• advances in tech can sig. inc. carrying capacity

Question 3

What were the ideas of Thomas Malthus?

Answer 3

• that CC is a fixed concept + pop. inc. faster than supporting food resources
• believed pop. resource balance is maintained by a series of checks (famine, disease, war, moral restraint) + inc. food supply was achieved by bringing more land into arable production

Question 4

How is Somalia having a Neo-Malthusian crisis? (Evidence to support TM)

Answer 4

• climate crisis, ongoing conflict, political instability + soaring food prices
  
  • due to war in Ukraine, bringing hunger + food insecurity to critical levels as Somalia relies on grain imports from Ukraine: affected by inc. food + fuel prices
• climate crisis of 5 consecutive yrs of drought + flash floods in central Somalia: continued food crisis
• water washed away homes, crops + livestock + disrupted local schooling + health care services
• > 500,000 children <5 are severely malnourished

Question 5

What were the ideas of Esther Boserup + what examples can support this?

Answer 5

• that CC is not a fixed concept
• argued as pop inc., more pressure placed on existing agri. system, stimulating invention
• e.g. green revolution dev. tech which made new crop strains + inc. yields in many LICs
• tech innovations in Kenya made Maziwa+ dec. spilling + spoiling of milk, inc. yields

Question 6

What are the examples of innovation + tech that support Boserup’s theory + disprove Malthus theory?

Answer 6

• dev. of artificial fertilisers + pesticides
• irrigation techniques
• HYVs of crops
• cross breading of cattle
• greenhouse farming
• hydroponics

Question 7

What are the limitations of Boserup’s theory?

Answer 7

• nearly all of world’s productive land is alr exploited
• some resources are fixed: e.g. thin/stony soils, mountainous landscapes or lack of land area