LONDON, 26 March 2009

The OPT Environmentally Sustainable Populations Conference: The scientific case for population policy

The conference examined the scientific case for a decrease in human population, globally and nationally, to levels which are more likely to be environmentally sustainable in the long term. Speakers from a variety of disciplines suggested possible solutions to the population-environment crisis, and expert delegates were invited to join discussion on policy proposals. By invitation only, at The Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX. People from differing academic disciplines and ethnic backgrounds were invited. Click titles for links to slides or speech texts. In some cases speeches may reflect the personal views of the speaker rather than those of OPT.

DHAKA, 25 FEBRUARY 2009

Are there too many people in the World?
The World Debate, BBC World News

Broadcast on 26 April 2009 - watch it online at: The World Debate

Can technological advances and economic growth provide for all? Should we worry about population shrinking? Should we control population numbers and if so how? Might migration help population imbalances around the globe? Moderated by Zeinab Badawi.

Panel

Matthew Connelly- Professor at Columbia University, Historian and Author of “Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population"
Rosamund McDougall- Policy Director of the UK based 'Optimum Population Trust'
Professor A K M Nurun Nabi - Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Wang Shuo - Managing Editor of the Beijing based 'Caijing Magazine'
Dr. Eliya Msiyaphazi Zulu, President, Union of African Population Studies & Director of Research, African Population and Health Research Center

LONDON, 23 October 2008

The Operational Research Society 2008 Blackett Memorial Lecture: The Sustainability of Human Populations

Speaker: Dr Martin Desvaux PhD CPhys MInstP (Optimum Population Trust)

Lecture: Following a short introduction to the Optimum Population Trust, the talk commences with an overview of the development of human world population from prehistory up to the present day. The speaker will explore and seek to answer the following questions: How many people can the earth support today? Where are the limits and on what do they depend? Have we yet to exceed the sustainable population size or is a collapse around the corner? What will be the effect of global warming on our prospects and will cutting carbon emissions solve the problem? If not, does anything? Martin Desvaux shows how the sustainability of populations can be assessed using recently-developed footprinting methods and data from the Global Footprinting Network. He will use a novel graphical way to present complex footprinting data.

Details Lecture at 4.30 pm, Thursday 23 October 2008, The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG. (Tea and biscuits at 4.00 pm; Drinks reception after the lecture). There is no charge for attendance at this event. To register and receive joining instructions, please e-mail Chris Barrett, Operational Research Society Chris Barrett or complete the online booking form.

BOURNEMOUTH, 16 September 2008

Liberal Democrat Conference, Bournemouth International Centre:
Time for a population policy?

Chair: Chris Davies MEP

Guest speakers: Professor John Guillebaud and Rosamund McDougall (Optimum Population Trust)

Details: Time: 20.00 - 21.15 at BIC, Bay View 1.

Debate: The need for environmentally sustainable population policies for the world, for the EU and the UK, and what these policies might be. The three speakers will be followed by an open debate.

(Open to members of the Liberal Democrat party attending Conference)

LONDON, 19 April 2007

Royal Statistical Society:
Environmentally sustainable population - why the statistics matter

Full texts available from Royal Statistical Society

Chair Philip Turnbull, RSS

Speakers (Optimum Population Trust) Martin Desvaux PhD CPhys MInstP and Rosamund McDougall

Discussant: Professor David Coleman, Oxford University

Details: Thursday 19 April 2007. Tea 4.30 pm, Lectures 5.00 - 6.00 pm, followed by discussion 6.00-7.00 pm.

Venue: Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX.

Issues: Rosamund McDougall will cover the ways in which population statistics are gathered globally and in the UK and how they are interpreted, used, and abused in policy formulation. She will explore the reasons for persistent UK government failure to consider population policy as part of environmental strategy and suggest how this might change in the future. Martin Desvaux will describe population development since 10,000 BC and factors which controlled them. He will discuss how ecological footprint statistics can be used to assess sustainable population sizes. Possible scenarios will be examined to underline the challenges facing the development of sustainable populations.

MANCHESTER, 6 November 2006

Cafe Scientifique UK:
Population - the issue that dare not speak its name?

Speaker: David Nicholson-Lord (Research associate, Optimum Population Trust)

Date: 6.30 pm, Monday 6 November 2006

Venue: Cafe Muse, The Manchester Museum, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 7QQ. Tel: 0161 275 3220. See also Café Scientifique's website.

HONITON, 27 October 2006

The Tenth Annual Offwell Lecture:
Population: the unmentionable problem

Speaker: Dr Pippa Hayes (Optimum Population Trust)

Date: 7.30 pm, Friday 27 October 2006

Venue: Mackarness Hall, High Street, Honiton, East Devon (next to St Paul's Church). For tickets phone the Offwell Woodland and Wildlife Trust. Tel: 01404-831 375

BBC WORLD TV DEBATE Saturday 14 & Sunday 15 October 2006

The BBC World Debate:
Advancing sands: deserts and migration

Broadcast dates 12.10 and 19.10 GMT 14th October and 01.10, 07.10, 17.10 GMT 15th October 2006, BBC World

Moderator Zeinab Badawi

Panellists: Sunita Narain (director of India's Centre for Science and Environment); Fatima Jibrell (executive director of Horn Relief, Somalia); Dr Christian Mersmann (managing director of the Global Mechanism established under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification); Martin Sommer (director of the Natural Resources and Environment Division of the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation); Ibrahim Thiaw (acting director-general of IUCN, the World Conservation Union); Rosamund McDougall (advisory council, Optimum Population Trust).

Discussion points: Why is the world ignoring desertification? Is competition for dwindling resources in dryland areas a major contributor to ethnic conflict? To what extent does desertification contribute to illegal migration to rich countries? There is a human and livestock population boom in the drylands - what will happen if it's business as usual? Is it a creeping disaster or an age-old phenomenon that vested interests deliberately exaggerate?

See also BBC World Desertification Debate and dev.tv

LONDON, 14 MAY 2006

Ethical Society:
Population and the Environment: the greatest good for the greatest number?

Speaker: Rosamund McDougall (Advisory Council, Optimum Population Trust)
Text of talk here

LONDON, 22 MARCH 2006

Global Development Forum:
Human population growth is a bigger threat than climate change

Chair: Dr Camilla Toulmin, Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development

Panel: Dr Saleemul Huq (IIED), David Nicholson-Lord (Research Associate, Optimum Population Trust), Professor Chris Rapley (Director, British Antarctic Survey and Patron, Optimum Population Trust).

A few years ago slowing down the growth of population was seen as the key issue of world poverty. Is this one of the hidden issues that cannot be mentioned?

A summary of this debate is available from the Global Development Forum website.

LONDON, 15 FEBRUARY 2006

CSFI-OPT-NEF Round Table: Reconsidering population growth

On 15 February 2006, 60 experts attended a Round Table on the economic, financial and environmental implications of population growth, sponsored by the Optimum Population Trust, the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation and the New Economics Foundation .

Speakers were The Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP, Professor David Coleman (Oxford University), Rosamund McDougall (Optimum Population Trust) and David Nicholson-Lord (Optimum Population Trust/New Economics Foundation). The meeting was chaired by Dr Andrew Hilton (CSFI).

SUMMARY

Peter Lilley MP, a former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer who is currently working on the issues of globalisation, focused on the effects of immigration on overpopulation and explained the severe flaws in economic arguments made in favour of mass immigration, pointing out that the government denies the true costs of population growth. David Coleman, professor of demography at Oxford University, discussed the prospect of population decline - environmental relief or economic threat - and concluded that modest and slow decline might be welcome, provided it can be halted. Rosamund McDougall drew attention to some similarities between systemic risk in financial systems and the bankrupting of ecosystems by human activities, concluding that policies to allow populations to stabilise and gradually decrease cannot be excluded from environmental policies. David Nicholson-Lord introduced the concept of the ecological footprint into the discussion, which dramatically increase when an individual moves from a poor society to a rich one, or from a developing country to a developed one. He concluded that human beings as individuals must be responsible for the state of our own societies and nations. Experts present at the meeting were able to put questions during the presentations, though time for concluding discussion unfortunately proved too short.

OXFORD, 23 SEPTEMBER 2003

Population pressure: the need for sustainable populations

This seminar was held at the Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding, Oxford

Speakers: Dr Brenda Boardman (Environmental Change Institute), Dr Jim Currie (Former Director-General, DG Environment, European Commission), Professor John Guillebaud (Co-chair, OPT), Professor Aubrey Manning (Natural History Broadcaster and Patron, OPT), Rosamund McDougall (Co-chair, OPT), Sir Crispin Tickell (Former UK Ambassador to the United Nations, Director GCC, Patron, OPT).

Note: The Optimum Population Trust is a registered charity (No 1114109). It is funded by its members, receives no political or government funding and is independent of any political or commercial interests.