Environmental scarcity occurs when natural resources are unavailable to a significant portion of the population, leading to a major divide between the wealthy and poor, economic decline, and civil unrest. It can be caused by population growth, environmental damage, and commercial concerns. This can lead to increasing poverty and a breakdown of society.
Environmental scarcity refers to a situation in a specific area where natural resources are unavailable to a significant portion of the population. This can occur when population growth depletes the pool of available natural resources or when environmental damage wipes out a large portion of the resources. The existence of environmental scarcity in an area often leads to a major divide between the wealthy members of a society who are willing to control the dwindling amount of resources and the poor who are sorely deficient. In such cases, the entire nation or state can begin to fall apart due to economic decline and civil unrest.
One of the growing concerns environmental activists lament is the depletion of the world’s natural resources. Necessities such as land to live on or fresh water to drink are becoming increasingly rare in some of the world’s poorest nations. The problem is even finding its way into nations that are considered world leaders, as the separation between rich and poor widens. Environmental scarcity is at the heart of many of these troubling developments.
There are many ways environmental scarcity could occur. When the population of a given area becomes too dense, it obviously decreases the share of available natural resources that each person can receive. In conjunction with this, population increases often lead to excessive environmental degradation, usually caused by commercial concerns trying to meet citizen demand.
All of this can evolve into a situation where some members of society, who have the financial means to do so, acquire a large portion of natural resources. As such, environmental scarcity can be seen as a cause of increasing poverty for less fortunate members of society. The problem gets worse when richer people who control the scarce supply of resources keep prices at a rate that the poor cannot pay.
These events can eventually lead to a complete breakdown of society. The poor have no money to buy goods and no land to live on. While the wealthy may have an advantage, they too are affected by economic decline caused by depleted resources. In its most extreme form, environmental scarcity can lead to such dissatisfaction that people become angry and even violent. In some cases, civil unrest could lead to changes in society, but often it generates such volatility that the state in question cannot possibly recover.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
