by David Birchall

Created on: June 18, 2008

Overpopulation, or more accurately scarcity of resources, is undoubtedly is real global issue, and one that needs to be considered. I agree with some of the points made by Nathaniel Ascali, and would add that an increasingly rich Chinese and Indian population will contribute to a massive burden on land and oil in the next few years.

I have little doubt that, to some, overpopulation will become threat. But it is not a global threat on the scale of nuclear war or (debatably) global warming. Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis argues that our current use of resources is unsustainable and that Gaia (Earth) will correct our mistakes. In much the same way that famine creates a new equilibrium, so will our activities in general.

Food, particularly meat, is fast becoming unaffordable, as is oil. Abusive WTO policies will continue to ensure that the poor will suffer first and most. Lovelock believes a population of less than a billion is the maximum Gaia will permit in the long run. While this could be pessimistic it seems inevitable that a new balance will be struck by nature, not by man.

However I do not see this as a problem that will ever be treated as a 'global threat', and this is why I am in the 'no' camp. Our globalised, ignorant world will lead to a situation whereby the West will hear more regularly of 'African tragedies' but will not link them to the continual unfair distribution of resources. With globalisation comes the opportunity to completely ignore the fate of those we rely on to live our lives.

Though it is not unimaginable that, in the future, legislation will be passed that dictates how children Western couples may have, that day does seem along way off. Contraception is slowly becoming more acceptable and available in Catholic Africa but any measures like this will prove too little, too late. It has always been the fate of humanity to expand until most are barely above the poverty line anyway.

It is the fate of democracy to be hamstrung by committee decision making and the electorate's fickle desires. If left up to us only when the last drop of oil was extracted would alternative energy sources be fully invested in. Slowly famines, disease and war will reduce our numbers, and they will not fear UN platitudes in the slightest. While the rich debate, the poor will starve. That is why overpopulation is not a global threat, but like so much, a third world threat.

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