Human population growth by 2083 will double the current population of the earth which is 7.9 billion (Worldometer, 2021). This will cause topsoil to be destroyed by human population growth. As the population grows cement will be put over the soil as new business project developments. When this occurs it is rarely a situation that this land would be remotely ever returned to the natural state that it was in before the destruction of the soil (Franzmeier, D., McFee, W., Gravel, J., Kohnke, H., 2016). This would affect city locations more than rural areas at first. However, after a period of time and more populations seeing exponential growth annexation is possible into rural areas. This would cause the destruction of soil that has hardly been tampered with. Not only would the soil, trees, and water be polluted but animals would lose their sheltered environment. This could cause more interactions with humans in the city structure like what has occurred a few years ago in Ironwood Michigan. Wolves were coming into the city and had to be shot dead by the Department of Natural Resources in Michigan (Barnes, 2021).
Population growth will cause a massive effect on starvation which in 2014 was 11% across the world (Franzmeier, D., McFee, W., Gravel, J., Kohnke, H., 2016). The increase in population, more demand for products, and fewer areas to grow food will cause an even larger percentage of the world population to be classified as starving. One solution to the food problem could be synthetic food sources. Some research has been done to develop synthetic foods from synthesizing milk to lab-grown hamburgers (Advantage Environment, 2015). If this research continues to be fruitful then the food may not be a problem at all and synthetic food sources could be the answer to starvation. Regardless if something of this nature is not developed then land taken away for development will be destroyed and agriculture for food sources will be scarce.
References:
Worldometer. (2021). Current World Population
World Population Clock: 7.9 Billion People (2021) - Worldometer (worldometers.info)
Franzmeier, D., McFee, W., Gravel, J., Kohnke, H. (2016). Soil Science Simplified.
Soil Science Simplified, Fifth Edition - Google Play
Advantage Environment. (September 29, 2015). Synthetic Foods.
Synthetic foods - Advantage Environment (advantage-environment.com)
Barnes, J. (2021). Michigan Environment Watch