Overpopulation: Efforts to Reduce the World’s Population

The issues of human overpopulation and related issues of climate change, global hunger, and mass migrations have now caught the attention of the world. The following is a brief overview of the human overpopulation and some of the efforts and activities that are now being taken to contain and reduce the world’s population to a more sustainable level.

Human Overpopulation

Overpopulation can be viewed as existing when a population cannot be maintained given the rapid depletion of non-renewable resources or the degradation of the capacity of the environment to give support to the population. More specifically, the term ‘human overpopulation’ refers to the relationship between the entire human population and the planet Earth - or to smaller geographical areas such as particular nation-states.

Global population is projected to hit 8 billion around the year 2023 and 9 billion by 2050. Unfortunately, the planet can only realistically sustain a global population of 3 billion over the long term. So… You Do The Math! However, many experts now predict the rapid decline in world population starting in 2050. You might want to go to Population Connection web site.

Human Population Planning

So what do we do? Human reproduction planning is the practice of intentionally controlling the rate of growth of the human population. Historically, human population planning has been focused on increasing the rate of human population growth. However, in the period from the 1950s to the 1980s, emerging concerns about global population growth and its effects on poverty, environmental degradation and political stability led to increased organized efforts to reduce human population growth rates. There are now a growing number of deliberate and organized efforts to reduce the human population. These include some of the following actions:

Abortion Sterilization Initiating Wars Family Planning Contraception Sexual Abstinence Environmental Disasters Deadly Contagious Diseases Infanticide  Starvation

Taxation of Parents One-child & Two-child Policies Migration from Rural to Urban Areas Immigration & Emigration Policies Education & Training Marketing & Public Relations Changing the Status of Women Ethnic ‘Cleansing’ and/or Eugenics. New Technology: Robotics, Killer Drones, Artificial Intelligence...

Organizations dealing with Overpopulation

If the topic of overpopulation interests you, the following is a listing of numerous organizations dealing with overpopulation and related issues:

• Center for Biological Diversity
• Global Footprint Network
• Negative Population Growth
• The Overpopulation Project

• Population Matters

• Population and Sustainability Network
• Population Action International
• Scientists & Environmentalists for Population Stabilization

Like it or not, the topic of human overpopulation concerns us all. This brief blog/article is meant to serve as a good starting point to help you become more informed and learn about some of the many activities already underway. It’s time to get more involved.