Philippines is the 13th country with the largest population in the world and 7th in Asia. With the area of 115,831 square mi, we can conclude that the number of population that resides here in our country and the size of the land is not in proportion. Overpopulation affects us big time. It results to different environmental problems like pollution. As of 2017, there are roughly 104.9 million people in our country.
Why is there a large case of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines? According to Philippine Statistics Authority, there is one in ten young Filipino women age 15-19 has begun childbearing. 8 percent are already mothers and the other 2 percent are on their first pregnancy. The number one reason I have in mind is the lack of education about sexual and reproductive health and rights. Sexual violence is also in the list of the many causes of teen pregnancy in our country. This topic may come off as one but it encompasses a lot of major and even minor issues in our country. For example, a 15 year old is a victim of rape and ended up being pregnant; the only option is to keep the baby and bear the consequence for a lifetime. The minor victim can’t decide for herself. There is no option like abortion. According to Articles 256, 258 and 259 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, it mandate the imprisonment of women who undergo abortion, as well as for the person who assists in the procedure. This law shall protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception. But this law is not protecting the life of the mother nor the unborn at all in most cases. Why women are getting abortion? There are lots of reasons.
Lack of education about reproductive health that results to teenage pregnancy is one of the topics that I see often with my two eyes or in the internet. Most of the cases of teenage pregnancy are abundant in the slum. I’ve seen a lot of this case that one day I am not even surprised with it. It became a norm, and it is alarming. I’ve encountered a lot of teen moms that they opt for a family instead of getting an education. Some are influenced by their environment, and the others are results of unwanted pregnancy because of lack of information. The most affected person here is the child, with the current situations in our country and even with our environment.
Overpopulation results to things like pollution, lack of water, shorter life expectancy, abundant resource consumption, faster climate change and increased intensive farming. This must make you fret. Lack of education results to branches of different issues and results to something big like what I’ve listed above.
Overpopulation creates a greater demand in resources like water, food, and other miscellaneous. Roughly 1 percent of the world’s water is fresh and accessible and this creates a major issue. Another is the resources needed by the people to survive and keep them alive. As the population grows, the demand and need is also grows. We all know that not all the resources are replaceable. According to a study, the world’s ecosystem is rapidly changing in the latter half of the twentieth century than at any other point in history because of increased use of these resources.
Over population may result to extinction. The demand for land grows, so too destruction of natural habitats, such as forests. As I’ve tackled above, this may result in dropping of natural resources that the people need. Like for example, the need for a land requires destruction of certain places. Residential houses in the Philippines mostly came from deforestation and rice fields. This factor affects us in all aspects. If there will be no forests, where all of the animals that the ecosystem needs for the Earth to survive will reside? If there will be no rice fields, where can we get our staple food? Our country must not expect from imports from another countries. It will affect the economy and it will decrease the importing nation’s Gross Domestic Product. Developing rice fields into residential areas also affect our fellow Filipinos, most importantly our farmers. The rate of a seed of rice(binhi) here in Philippines is low that the farmers are having a hard time surviving with just farming. When population grows rapidly, farming practices will also evolve to produce enough food to the larger number of people. Intensive farming methods causes’ damage to local ecosystems and the land that may cause problems in the future. It is also a major contributor to climate change due to use of machineries. This effect will most likely intensify if the population will continue to grow. Overpopulation directly correlates to climate change. 97 percent of the scientific community agrees that human activities are changing global temperatures. These activities involves usage of machines and the likes.
It is estimated to be dangerous for humans to live in Earth in just few years. We must have a major change for this not to happen. Things like lack of education leads to a bigger problem that is why we must not take this issues lightly. Even the smallest things can lead to something bigger someday. We’ve tackled above about overpopulation, teenage pregnancy, poverty, etc. These things can be solved by these potential solutions. First is better sex education. At a very young age my parents unintentionally put in my mind that talking about sex in the household is taboo and awkward. This situation may be the same with any of the other people, may be the same with my age or not. Better education will help people, more importantly those of a young age, understand more about the potential consequences of having sex as they relate to child birth. It will also do away with many of the myths that surround the sexual act and introduce scientifically-proven methods of birth control. Second is change policies. Like in our country, it is criminalized to have or undergo an abortion. Personally, I am against with this at first. I believe that life is something you should not waste. But with all of the things that are happening in our environment and the things that are happening on the mother’s body, it serves as a wakeup call for me. There are cases that I think a pregnant woman must take an abortion: 1) if when the unborn child inside a mother have a disease that will only put the life of both of them at risk. 2) we must take consider the cause of the woman’s pregnancy. If she is subjected to any sexual abuse or rape it will help to get an abortion. 3) we also must take into consideration the situation of the environment that your child will live on. Today, there are lots of natural disasters that are happening. These are all effects of the rapid changing in the climate. 4) the capacity of the family to provide for the unborn child. Poverty rate here in the Philippines is high. Giving birth to a child when you know you have been poor and would not be able to provide for him/her will only result to another problem. You are subjecting your child to the same fortune that you have. Third is access to contraceptives. Access to birth control must go side-by-side with better sex education. Without the contraceptives, people won’t be able to put what they learn into practice.
I will say this as often as I can; I am a believer of Newton’s third law of motion which is “if there is an action, there will be a reaction”, this is not the exact phrase but it does have te same meaning. I started my paper with population and as we go deeper we found ourselves to different paths connected with what we started. It’s all connected. By being pregnant in such a young age will most likely lead to poverty, unless you’re well-off. Poverty will lead to poor understanding and lack of information that people need to survive and cope up with the rapid change of the environment. Climate change directly affects us and the resources that we need in order to survive.
Philippines is a third world country what do we expect? But is this a valid reason to make yourself clueless about the issues circulating in our surrounding? The answer may be yes and no. poverty, it’s there. It is sad that we know that our country is rich with natural resources, but we can’t make use of them in maximum. The Philippines is primarily considered a newly industrialized country, which has an economy in transition from one based on agriculture to one based more on services and manufacturing.
Overpopulation is a crisis that potentially stands alongside climate change as one of the biggest challenges facing humanity today. If this doesn’t change, the issues highlighted in this essay may continue to grow unabated.
Sopya 