POPULATION GROWTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Summary

South Africa's most pressing environmental problems are being experienced in those areas of the country experiencing most rapid population growth: our large towns and our African homelands. In urban areas we have high levels of air and water pollution, problems of litter and waste removal and noise abatement, and little planning to reduce the stress of urban living. In the homelands population pressure is high and focused directly on the natural environment because of a general lack of alternative resource bases. South Africa's ecosystems will support a growing population for a considerable time but we must recognize that some areas of our country are already under stress and our concern should be to alleviate existing problems while ensuring that new ones do not come about because of excessive growth in our population.