How to Control World Population: The Pros and Cons of Population Policies
Although population growth in the 20th and 21st centuries has skyrocketed, it can be slowed, stopped and reversed through actions which enhance global justice and improve people's lives. Under the nited ations’ most optimistic scenario, a sustainable reduction in global population could happen within decades.
Section 1: The Problem
1.1 Current problems of over-population
There is too much wealth. There is not enough food. It's too much pollution. It's too many internal refugees. There is not enough money, medical care, or modern infrastructure to take care of the people. There are too many wars. There is not enough education. There are too many people crammed together in cities. There is not enough land to grow enough food. There are too many people living in squalor. There is not enough education for them to get a decent job. There are not enough decent places to live in. There are not enough clean water, energy, or sewage facilities. There is not enough medical care for them. There are not enough parks, forests, and beaches for them to enjoy.
Population Policies
The International Year of the Family 2009 created awareness about the United Nations' family-planning agenda and urged a "global public discourse." Government family planning programs, however, continue to operate in countries with some of the largest and fastest- growing populations. Millions of women are alive today as a result of family planning services introduced in the 1960s and 1970s. By 2016, an estimated 260 million pregnancies each year could have been prevented, saving nearly 8 million lives.
In the 21st century, rapid population growth in poor countries, coupled with rapid advances in information technology, make it possible for governments to educate and provide people with birth control.
The Pros and Cons of Population Policies
ome call it olation control some call it redistrition but as discussed below, the two terms are amios. he term olation control has a lon history. t oriinally meant limiting the growth of population through birth control. In recent decades, however, it has taken on a more sinister meaning, typically referring to coercive population policies that limit the growth of people in an effort to control population growth. However, population control is a serious issue which should not be taken lightly.
The World Population Watch (WPW) organization, one of the sponsors of this website, sees the positive side of population growth.
Conclusion
The key to resolving the crisis is a combination of incentives and responsibilities. There is no alternative.
Other posts on sustainable solutions to overpopulation.
Gearan, Chris. 2010. The Best of Chris Gearan: War, Climate Change, and Human Health. Used with permission of The Atlantic Monthly Press. Originally published in December, 2010.
McGovern, James. 2009. The Greatest Generation: Five Lessons from the Second World War. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Solon, Walter and Steven Levitt. 2004. Freakonomics. New York: Riverhead Books.
Valeriano, Scott. 2005. State of Doomsday. Free Press: New York.
Soren, Michael. 2010. Sick of Being Human: The Problems of Overpopulation in an Age of Globalization. Washington: World Future Society.
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