Issue #43
Last Update December 24, 2005
International Population and Habitat by Sten Grynir Werner Fornos, President of the Population Institute and winner of the 2003 United Nations Population Award, drew a direct line between population growth and environmental degradation in a talk July 28 at the Chautauqua Institution. In his talk, “ A World Without Borders”, Mr. Fornos stressed the importance of balancing the world's population with the world's resources. The impact of an ever-growing population on the environment is not confined to the countries with high population growth; in a world without borders, environmental change in one part of the world spills over to other, far distant areas.
The population surge is the result of medicine and technology bringing down the death rate faster than its has brought down the birth rate. An additional 2.4 billion people will be added to the world total by 2050 if present trends continue.The pressure of growing population on the environment makes itself felt in a number of ways, especially deforestation, desertification, top soil erosion and scarcity of usable water.
Deforestation is proceeding at a rapid rate; over 70% of the population of developing nations depend on wood as their sole source of fuel. New deserts are being formed at such a rate that deserts will have expanded by an area equal to 1 ½ times that of the US by 2010, with the main areas of expansion being China, where the Gobi now reaches to within 90 miles of Beijing, and Africa, where the desert advances 6 miles each year. Dust from the Gobi now reaches Washington, Oregon and California; winds that previously were moderated by African trees now blow unimpeded across the desert and roar across the Atlantic, causing gales and hurricanes along the US coast. Top soil erosion amounted to 26 billion tons last year, from urbanization, marginal farming and desertification. The US is losing farmland faster than any other industrialized nation. As for usable water, 97% of the world's water is salty, 2% is locked up in glaciers, and the remaining 1% is what is left to share among all the human beings on the planet. Desalination is expensive. 58 areas in the US are regarded as being water-stressed; Turkey is damming the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the sole source of water for Syria and Iraq, and Lebanon is damming water that flows to Israel; water wars are a distinct possibility in the near future.
Does Mr. Fornos think that all is hopeless? Not at all. He noted that in 1972 the average family size was 6; now it is less than 3. 61 nations have balanced their population, with 21 of these being developing nations, including Thailand, South Korea, Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica and Tunisia. With the exception of the Catholic Church's staunch anti-contraceptive stance (largely ignored by its laity), and what Fornos refers to as “voodoo evangelists” who believe that effective contraception will increase female infidelity and teenage sexual activity, he sees no religious impediment to contraceptive use (or the rhythm method, if that is more congenial to the couple involved). The Koran explicitly states that children should be spaced no more frequently than 30 months apart; if this rule was followed in Islamic countries, their birth rate would be cut in half, according to Fornos.
Four goals should be lobbied for to control population in a way that empowers the individual and keeps government coercion out:
1.Eradication of female illiteracy. Women with at least an eight-grade education have half the number of pregnancies as their illiterate sisters.
2.Full employment for women, with pay. Women with economic power complete their family size sooner and are subject to less abuse from their husbands.
3.Reduction in infant mortality. This would eliminate the need to get pregnant annually in the hopes that some of the large family would survive to adulthood.
4.Universal access to knowledge of family planning techniques and access to the means to prevent unintentional pregnancy. In Mr. Fornos’ view, abortion is not a family planning technique: it is a symptom of the failure of family planning. Many birth control methods must be available, including over-the-counter “emergency contraception” pills.
The Population Institute was founded by the Methodist Church to promote family planning. Anyone wishing to join can become a member by contributing ten hours per year writing or calling their elected officials on behalf of these issues. The Population Institute's web site is www.populationinstitute.org .
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