As a waste of human resources

[user_gary]

As a waste of human resources, it is both cause and effect of a country's poverty

[here : it refers to `population explosion']


Please explain the highlighted phrase.

[Anglika]

As a waste of human resources, it is both cause and effect of a country's poverty

Population explosion will absorb all available resources such as housing, food supply, utilities, and transport, resulting in poverty for the general population - by absorbing all available resources, it wastes them.