Promoting Sustainable Population Growth, Key to Raising Human Rights Standards

Two women and a baby in a village near the city of Makeni, in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Credit: UN Photo/Martine PerretBy Dr. Hanif Hassan Al QassimGENEVA, Switzerland, Jul 11 2017 (IPS)The world population has witnessed a remarkable growth during the recent decades. In 1965, it stood at 3.3 billion people. In 2017 –52 years later– the global population reached a staggering 7.5 billion people corresponding to more than a doubling of the Earth’s residents over the last half-century. Humans have been blessed with access to natural resources such as water, food and rare minerals that have been indispensable to the evolution and to the progress of humanity since time immemorial.Nonetheless, the rapid increase of the world population is raising again Malthusian concerns. The Earth’s resources are finite and cannot sustain the current population growth rate in the long run; the Earth’s population is set to grow to 9.8 billion people by 2050. “When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.”This is tantamount to saying that world population during the post WWII century will increase 3 times as much since man’s appearance on our planet. A Native American saying reminds us that uncontrolled population growth and excessive use of resources can leave the world empty-handed:“When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only t...

Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - July 11, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Hanif Hassan Al Qassim Tags: Aid Democracy Global Headlines Health Human Rights Migration & Refugees Peace Population Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news