We cannot push population growth under the carpet- it is a huge problem.

 A report made in 2019 from:

By Jane Goodall - 29 Apr 2019 14:30:0 GMT

 

 

Panthera tigris altaica; Credit: Shutterstock

We use the tiger (this is a prime Siberian example) to show up our failure to conserve wild species, but while we monopolise all the food that animals require, we could remember that it is not only their conservation we urgently need to cover. It is also our own indulgences.

Dame Jane Goodall is responsible for many primate initiatives, but here she switches to the main primate involved in our current problems – ourselves. The food crises that beleaguer many nations is also obviously close to her argument here, as we consider reducing meat intake. Reducing the people who are doing the eating obviously has an almost equal effect to reducing the intake!

Jane Goodall issued a stark warning on the effects of human population growth on the planet.

Dame Jane criticised the ‘absurdity of unlimited economic development on a planet of finite natural resources’.

In the last 50 years the global population has doubled to 7.8 billion and is expected to increase to 11.2 billion by 2100 according to the UN.

The message was delivered amidst global calls for people to have smaller families to halt the destruction of nature.

Delivering a video message to the Population Matters 2019 conference, in London, Dame Jane said: “The fact that human populations are still growing on this precious planet of ours is something everybody should be aware of.

I would encourage every single conservation organisation, every single government organisation to consider the absurdity of unlimited economic development on a planet of finite natural resources.

“We can’t go on like this. We can’t push human population growth under the carpet.

Dame Jane said that empowering women and girls was key to addressing unsustainable population growth.

She said: “It’s been shown all around the world that as women’s education improves family size tends to drop.”

Population Matters campaigners are calling for action to reduce human population growth by voluntary means to be included in the post-2020 Convention on Biodiversity.

Following an initial set of targets to be met by 2020, governments are now negotiating the next stage of the Convention’s work.

Dame Jane’s message was delivered at Population Matters 2019 where the speakers included: environmentalist Jonathon Porritt; WWF director of science Dr Mark Wright; and Dr Winnie Kiiru of Stop Ivory.

Porritt believes the post-2020 Convention on Biodiversity should incorporate measures to end the crisis of unsustainable human population growth.

Speaking ahead of Population Matters 2019 Jonathon Porritt OBE said: Over the last fifty years, human population has doubled and wild animal populations have halved - undoubtedly, if we'd taken steps to prevent that population explosion then, biodiversity would be in a less perilous state today. 

We can no longer sit passively back, treating one of the fundamental drivers of species loss as something over which we have no control: we can't expect to add billions more humans to the planet and arrest the sixth mass extinction.

Population Matters Director Robin Maynard said: “Grave news about the biodiversity crisis is coming thick and fast, and studies, scientists and conservationists are now increasingly willing to identify human population growth as one of its key drivers.

It’s time for population to assume its proper place in the extinction debate and, most importantly, among its solutions.

 Report from the Conference in 2019:

Population Matters’ public conference in London on 27 April 2019 left attendees feeling enlightened and inspired. Following a successful first conference last year on human population and climate change, this year’s theme was the crucial link between population growth and biodiversity loss. With an incredibly knowledgeable international panel of speakers from diverse backgrounds, it was a fantastic event that highlighted the interconnectedness of environmental and social issues and the urgent need for the conservation community to address this.    

Farming, elephants and educating girls

Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming, kicked off the presentations by talking about the devastating impact of factory farming on wildlife. Philip pointed out that humanity’s environmental footprint is hugely exacerbated by our unsustainable numbers and food systems: for every one billion additional people, 10 billion more farm animals are reared and slaughtered every year.

Dr Edu Effiom, Director of Biodiversity at Nigeria’s Cross River State Forestry Commission, presented her fascinating research on how Nigeria’s rapid population expansion is increasing demand for bushmeat and endangering key mammal species, in particular primates, which provide criticial ecosystem services such as seed dispersal. Edu emphasised the need to address both consumption and population in conservation efforts and the importance in educating girls to bring down high fertility rates in the Global South.

Next up we had Dr Mark Wright, Director of Science at WWF UK, whose presentation ‘Population Does Matter’ gave a refreshingly holistic overview of the extinction crisis. With WWF International’s Living Planet Report repeatedly shying away from the issue of human population pressure, it was great to see Mark speak about the need to address our numbers as well as our consumption habits. His authoritative and impassioned presentation highlighted the huge global inequality in our consumption of resources and climate change emissions, with people in wealthy countries having disproportionately large environmental footprints and a corresponding responsibility to take action.

“The ‘population’ community and the ’consumption’ community have got to work together.” – Dr Mark Wright, WWF UK

Dr Winnie Kiiru, Senior Technical Adviser at the Elephant Protection Initiative in Kenya, provided some grim statistics on the impact of the ivory trade on African elephant numbers. While the situation for elephants remains grave, she noted significant positive changes in the banning of ivory in many markets, and how other pressures on elephants, including high human population density in a number of their range countries, must now be addressed.

Our Director Robin Maynard rounded off the presentations session by providing a clear overview of the problem, opportunities, and key solutions: education, family planning, women’s empowerment, poverty alleviation and promoting smaller families. He highlighted the current review of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the need to include that kind of positive action to address population in its provisions.

Bella Lack’s moving speech

Our youngest conference speaker, 16-year-old environmental activist Bella Lack, was sadly unable to attend the event in person but we were thrilled to be able to share a recorded speech she sent us. An ambassador for the Born Free Foundation and Jane Goodall Institute, Bella gave an impassioned plea for our planet:

“For my generation, every moment of natural beauty is overshadowed by the grim truth. The grim truth of apathy, of empty commitments, of overconsumption and of decimation.” […] “Our leaders are striving for economic growth, for reputation growth, and for population growth, but they’re missing the point.” – Bella Lack  

Bella’s speech was followed by a panel discussion, expertly chaired by Population Matters Patron Sara Parkin. It was great to see so much willingness to confront the facts about overpopulation and overconsumption and all of our speakers emphasised the need for holistic approaches and urgent action.

Robin concluded the conference by highlighting the progress being made in recognition of the importance of population to biodiversity and the need for future action. He thanked an enthusiastic audience for their engagement.

"Earth is our home. Our mission - indeed our survival - depends on altering our trajectory to live in harmony with the still extraordinary diversity of life it supports, as well as our own."– Robin Maynard

Yet again the fate of our wonderful and only home is in our hands, let´s hope we don´t mess it up like it seems our ancient forefathers did. Yes it is everyone´s right to have children but there are stories of people having families with 21 kids in, come on, what is that all about? and giving tv interviews and appearing in the papers, can they not see what it will do in the future? 

 

I know it is a very touchy subject to talk about but a necessary one nevertheless, if we don´t get it under control then we our world for our grandchildren and their grandchildren will be ruined.  We are the first generation to know what a slippery slope we are on and therefore it is OUR responsibility to do something about it.

The blog song for today is " Never too late" by Elton John from the Lion King

TTFN