Question

Explain how resource utilisation as per carrying capacity is an important control measure for sustainable development.

Answer 1

Resource Utilization as per Carrying Capacity:

• Carrying capacity refers to the number of individuals who can be supported in a given area within natural resource limits, and without degrading the natural, social, cultural and economic environment for present and future generations.
• The carrying capacity for any given area is not fixed. The carrying capacity of an environment may vary for different species and may change over time due to a variety of factors, including: food availability, water supply, environmental conditions and living space. As the environment is degraded, carrying capacity actually shrinks, leaving the environment no longer able to support even the number of individuals who could formerly have lived in the area on a sustainable basis.
•  No population can live beyond the environment's carrying capacity for very long.
•  In case of human beings, the carrying capacity concept becomes all the more complex. It is because unlike other animals, human beings, not only need food to live, but need so many other things to maintain the quality of life. Technology is an important factor in the dynamics of carrying capacity. Carrying capacity can be altered by improved technology, but mostly it is changed for the worse by pressures which accompany a population increase.
• Thus carrying capacity is mainly governed by number of population, their needs & consumption and the technology adopted to cater the needs of population; this led Paul R. Ehrlich to develop the equation:
• I = P ∙ A ∙ T where:
   I is the impact on the environment (resource depletion or waste accumulation) ,
•  P is the population (size of human population),
•  A is the affluence (consumption by population),
•  T is the technology (processes used to obtain resources and transform them into useful goods and wastes)
•  Sustainability of a system depends largely upon the carrying capacity of the system. If the carrying capacity of a system is crossed (say, by over exploitation of a resource), environmental degradation starts and continues till it reaches a point of no return.
•  Carrying capacity has two basic components:
  i. Supporting capacity is the capacity to regenerate. That is it is the ability to allow withdrawal (water, raw materials) of resources without causing lasting damage to the environment.
  ii. Assimilative capacity is the capacity to tolerate stress. That is it is the ability of the environment to absorb without ill-effects.
  In order to attain sustainability it is very important to utilize the resources based upon theResource Utilization as per Carrying Capacity: