Reassessing population policy

Excerpt

With fishers and farmers no longer able to expand output systems enough to keep up with population growth, it is time to reassess population policy. New information on the carrying capacity of both land and oceanic food systems argues for a basic rethinking of national population policies, an accelerated international response to fill unmet family planning needs, and a recasting of development strategies to address the underlying causes of high fertility.

As national demands cross the sustainable-yield thresholds of local fisheries, rangelands, and aquifers, the resource base itself is being consumed. In some situations, the question may not be what rate of population growth is sustainable but whether growth can continue without reducing living standards and jeopardizing the prospects of future generations.

The seafood catch is unlikely to expand beyond the recent level of 100 million tons, so the seafood supply per person will decline for as long as population grows. A decade hence, the same amount of fish that is caught today will be shared among an additional 900 million people; prices will be far higher and on average each of us will eat much less seafood. Similarly, it is now difficult to see how farmers can keep …