UN demands action to combat hunger
In the 19th century and before, widespread hunger was common, caused by war, crop failure and simple inability to produce affordable food. Hence Malthus. Since then, it has become rare, occurring only due to drought or disastrous governmental policies. Improvements in agricultural techniques has sustained a six-fold increase in world population since his time.
Now [...]
Are supercities the future for urbanising populations?
McKinsey, the consultants, recommend 15 supercities of 25m people and 11 city clusters of 60m people, for China. This is in response to a predicted doubling of the urban population to 1bn in the next 25 years, mainly due to internal migration. There will be over 200 cities with 1m or more inhabitants. Comment seems [...]
Can only vegetarianism solve the food crisis?
Rosie Boycott in the Guardian rightly points to the links between resource scarcities in her case for reduced meat consumption. The food industry worldwide is dependent on fuel for transport, fertilizers and pesticides, and on water for irrigation and processing. Both fuel and water are in increasingly short supply as population grows and [...]
Two stage migration boosts incoming numbers
OPT believes Britain is overpopulated and migration should be balanced, with the numbers settling here matching those moving abroad.
The recent government decision stopping immigration of unskilled workers from non-EU countries may have a limited effect. Britain is one of the few EU countries offering full worker rights to the Eastern European countries which joined the EU in 2004. And many from outside the EU [...]
Resource constraints/ population growth threaten future
The Wall Street Journal hosts a debate on the theme that population growth and resource constraints may limit future economic growth.Read/ join the debate here
Key food resource threatened by climate change
Half of the world’s population depend on rice as a source of nutrition. And production will have to rise significantly if it is to sustain the growing global population. Yet a meta-analysis of eighty studies suggest that climate change will hit yields, particularly in hotter regions such as Africa. The beneficial effect of [...]
World Bank predicts sustained high food, fuel, prices
Higher fuel and food prices are currently a problem for 30-40 countries and a cause of disturbances in 12, according to a senior official. Despite a possible recession, high prices are likely to be sustained, he says. Food and fuel prices are increasingly related through fertilizers and biofuel production while growing meat [...]
Shed a tear on World Water Day
Or perhaps not…we need all the water we’ve got. Not just for drinking, washing and sanitation, but also for irrigation to help feed all those extra hungry mouths as we head from 6 to 9bn. And with climate changes causing glaciers to shrink and disrupting weather patterns, water becomes scarcer as demand rises: [...]
OPT debates population growth on Nightwaves
The OPT’s Rosamund McDougall was part of a Radio 3 debate on the relevance of the ideas of Malthus today. Listen again till about 27.03.08 here
Listen again
Podcast
Govt. fails to address root cause of security threats
The new UK National Security Strategy mentions population growth, in passing, along with urbanisation, climate change and rising affluence, as contributing to food and water shortages, extremism, instability, conflict and migration (3.49 onwards). But the proposed policies in the report are security led and address symptoms rather than causes. There are no proposals [...]
Un Adviser Calls for Population Stabilisation
In his new book, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, UN Special adviser and noted economist, Jeffrey D. Sachs notes that human pressures, unless mitigated substantially, will cause dangerous climate change, massive species extinctions and the destruction of vital life-support functions, and that the world’s population continues to rise at a dangerously rapid pace, [...]
Record glacier melt threaten food production
Latest measurements show glaciers melting at the fastest rate for 5,000 years. Loss of glacial water for irrigation threatens food security for millions in China and India.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/16/glaciers.climatechange
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/16/glaciers.climatechange1
EU warns climate change leading to migration, conflict
An EU report warns climate change could lead to significant resource shortages. Food and water shortages, particularly in Africa, could lead to radicalisation and regime instability, as well as increased pressure to migrate to Europe. Competition over energy resources could also increase, with the Arctic being one potential arena.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7287168.stm
New report warns of population growth drivers
A new report by the US based Worldwatch Institute points to the uncertainty associated with population growth forecasting but notes some important factors. The number of women of childbearing age is double that in 1970 and 40% of women are at risk of unintended pregnancy.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5645
Rising affluence greater danger than climate change
Incoming Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor John Beddington, says rising worldwide affluence is a greater threat to food resources than climate change or rising population. Moving to a more meat based requires significantly more grain input for a given level of nutrition. As with food prices at their current high level, diet quality may [...]
Points based immigration system fall short of cap
In response to mounting public concern, the new points based immigration system comes with a range of other policies designed to control and limit immigration. But it falls short of a comprehensive strategy, including a cap on absolute numbers, urged by many.
International Women’s Day - still much to do
Women have come a long way since the first International Women’s day in 1909. However, the lack of reproductive rights still hold women back, and are a leading factor in global population growth.
Worldwide, 80 million women have unintended pregnancies and 20 million women risk abortion. 68,000 of these women die as a result. [...]
OECD says world needs more land, water, species
My comment - Perhaps we need to look at the demand side of the equation, too, the projected 50% growth in population…
“…The 2008 OECD Environmental Outlook is a pathbreaking report that marries economic and environmental projections for the next few decades and simulates specific policies to address the key challenges. It identifies four priority [...]
Human activity is a health hazard
A recent BMJ article by Professor McMichael and others of Australia concludes that human actions are changing many of the world’s natural environmental systems, including the climate system. These systems are intrinsic to life processes and fundamental to human health, and their disruption and depletion make it more difficult to tackle health inequalities. Indeed, we [...]
Brit teen pregnancy rate falls again (by 1%)
28 February 2008 Figures published today show the biggest drop for five years in teenage conception rates, confirmation that the Government’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy is working.
The Office of National Statistics figures show teenage pregnancy rates continuing to fall with a reduction in both the under 18 and the under 16 rates during 2006: • A [...]
We’ll starve before we freeze/ fry?
The Government’s new chief scientific advisor warns that food security is more of a threat than energy shortages or global warming. As population rises from 6.5 to 8.5bn and the trend in developing countries to urbanisation and ‘western’ lifestyles continues, enormous pressure will be put on water and food supplies. Meat and processed foods [...]
Is eight children something to aim for?
Yes! says the President of Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan women are being offered a cash bonus and lifetime perks if they give birth to eight or more children. The president of the gas-rich former Soviet nation, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, wants to start a baby boom and announced plans to reward women with a single $250 (£120) payment, free utilities [...]
Peak coal may be hard on the heels of peak oil
A report this month forom energywatchgroup.org states that coal reserves might be as overstated as oil reserves are believed by many to be, meaning that the IEA’s strategy of replacing declining oil production with coal may be optimistic at best. And with uranium for nuclear also being in short supply, opposition to wind farms [...]
40% of oceans affected by human activity
Fishing, climate change and pollution have left an indelible mark on virtually all of the world’s oceans, according to a huge study that has mapped the total human impact on the seas for the first time. Scientists found that almost no areas have been left pristine and that more than 40% of the world’s oceans [...]
75% of fishing grounds threatened
Climate change is emerging as the latest threat to the world’s dwindling fish stocks a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) suggests.
At least three quarters of the globe’s key fishing grounds may become seriously impacted by changes in circulation as a result of the ocean’s natural pumping systems fading and falling they suggest.
These [...]
People and carbon emissions
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph (24 July 2007), OPT patron Professor Chris Rapley said “if there were a billion fewer people in 2050 there would be a big reduction in carbon emissions. Saving a gigaton of carbon that way, through education for women and birth control programmes, would cost 1,000 times less than [...]
Population growth as a cause of conflict
A forward looking document produced for the Pentagon and published in December 2007, The future Joint Operation Environment, expresses concern over the impact of forecast population growth. Some key points: “…massive human movements as stressed populations in poor nations seek better lives elsewhere…massive increase in urban populations…competition for resources, notably food, water and energy. [...]
Record resource prices - the shape of things to come?
Prices of many commodities, cereals and oil to name but two, are currently at record levels. Prices do go up and down and there may be particular reasons for this. Alternatively, continued population growth and economic development may be putting pressure on the ability of the earth to sustain us. Forecasts for [...]