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| | | Human Settlements on the Coast |
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| | The ever more popular coasts | | |  | Photo courtesy of Topham, UNEP. Historically, cities have been located on coastlines because there are many transport, food, and ecological benefits. Products, and therefore, money traditionally flows into countries through their ports. This has set a precedence for populations to naturally migrate towards coastal areas. Eight of the top ten largest cities in the world are located by the coast. Top Ten Largest Cities: - Tokyo, Japan - Coastal
- Mexico City, Mexico - Inland
- Mumbai, India - Coastal
- Sáo Paulo, Brazil - Inland
- New York City, USA - Coastal
- Shanghai, China - Coastal
- Lagos, Nigeria - Coastal
- Los Angeles, USA - Coastal
- Calcutta, India - Coastal
- Buenos Aires, Argentina - Coastal
On or around October 12, 1999 there were six billion people on Earth. At the beginning of this century the world's population was less than two billion, the human population has tripled this century. In 1987, there were five billion people; the sixth billion took a record low of 12 years to be born. And we just keep on going! The global population is on course to increase to ten billion (10,000,000,000) by 2030 (or sooner). | | | | 44 % of the world's population (more people than inhabited the entire globe in 1950) live within 150 kilometres of the coast. In 2001 over half the world's population lived within 200km of a coastline. The rate of population growth in coastal areas is accelerating and increasing tourism adds to the pressure on the environment. One example of this incredible growth could be Casablanca. Casablanca's population soared from 600 in 1839 to 29,000 in 1900, and to almost 5 million today. The United States has clearly mapped its population expansion. In the United States, around 53% of the population lives near the coast and since 1970 there have been 2000 homes per day erected in coastal areas. In China alone, where the urban population is expected to increase by over 125% in the next twenty five years, over 400 million live on the coast. The more people that crowd into coastal areas, the more pressure they impose both on land and sea. Natural land-scapes and habitats are altered, overwhelmed and destroyed to accommodate them. Lagoons and coastal waters are 'reclaimed', wetlands are drained and covered with rubbish, the floodplains around estuaries are built over and reduced, and mangroves and other forests are cut down. Ecosystems are damaged, frequently lost forever. Fish stocks, fresh water, soils and beach sands are often overexploited, at great economic and ecological cost. | | | | Increasing volumes of waste, particularly sewage, are sluiced out into coastal waters; this can cause eutrophication and endanger public health. Rubbish is often dumped on important habitats, like wetlands and mangroves; they are destroyed, and contaminants leach from the rubbish into coastal waters. The waste itself is increasingly getting into the sea, either by accident or design. Coastal areas are some of the most productive and biologically diverse on the planet. Of the 13,200 known species of marine fish, almost 80% are coastal. The world's oceans play a crucial role in maintaining the health of the planet's ecosystems and serve as a valuable current and future food source for humankind. The oceans provide the only means of subsistence for many communities around the world, particularly the expanding coastal populations. Ironically, the great wealth of coastal areas, whether in terms of fishing, tourism, international trade, or natural resources, is what attracts these abundant populations, making them the seeds of its own destruction.
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