Too many people

The world's populations continues to grow alarmingly.

Human numbers - 6.8 billion in 2010, over 9 billion by 2050 – have increased over the past 40 years almost equal to the entire world population in 1950, with most growth occurring in the developing world. Every week, at nearly 10,000 an hour, 1.58 million more people are added to the planet. Not surprisingly we face unprecedented global challenges, including food and water shortages, a looming energy crisis and climate change, all driven by population growth. Long-denied consequences of ever more humans on ecosystems - biodiversity loss, deforestation, soil exhaustion, vanishing fisheries and higher greenhouse gas emissions -are increasingly evident. Typically, conflicts and human suffering that dominate media headlines are caused and/or exacerbated by these and other associated population related phenomena.

On a globe of finite space – with finite non-renewable resources - infinite population growth is simply not an option. Without effective action to reduce these numbers, all other efforts to save a beleaguered environment are ultimately doomed to failure. Family planning and population reduction programmes can spell the difference between poverty and development, between more global security and insecurity, between a healthy, balanced and sustainable environment and its unconscionable alternatives, including famine, disease and war. Added dividends often include the realization of human rights aspirations and greater gender equity.

PIC seeks to raise awareness of population related challenges but also of the opportunities that exist to address them. It urges Canadians and their governments to confront the facts with intelligence, candour and actions equal to the challenges we face, at home and abroad.

(Some details - e.g. Black Death effects - are not represented.)