Case Study: Impact of Additional Population on Australian Economy

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Environmental Management
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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT1
Introduction
Australia is sixth country of the world by total area. The total land area of the country is
7,692,024 km2. The population of the country grew steadily. According to the census of 2016,
the population of the country was 23,401,892. Moreover, the density of the population was
3.3/km2. The human demand on nature is measured by the ecological footprint (Australia.gov.au
2019). It denotes the quantity of nature, which is required to support the population of a country.
The human demand on nature is tracked by the ecological accounting system. It is measured in
global hectares. The ecological surplus of a country is also measured with the help of global
hectares. Per person ecological footprint of a country is subtracted from the per person bio
capacity of a country to get ecological surplus of a country.
Impact of additional population on Australian economy based on ecological footprint and
surplus
Natural resources are limited and exists without human intervention. It is used by the
humankind for economic gain. Moreover, there are two types of natural resources such as
renewable resources and non-renewable resources (Uddin, Alam and Gow 2016). As all natural
resources are limited, it is important to consume it efficiently. Otherwise, it would create serious
ecological disruption. The ecological footprint in the Australia registered at 6.8. In the world,
Australia had the 13th largest ecological footprint per person. Moreover, being a high-income and
developed country, the ecological footprint per person in the country is five times greater than
the less developed and low-income countries (Ridoutt et al. 2014). Therefore, the area of
biologically productive water and land required to produce the goods consumed and to assimilate
the wastes generated is very high in Australia. Thus, the human activities in the country is
already hampering the ecological balance. It is estimated that if the rest of the countries of the