ISSN 2053-0412 (Print) for a ISSN 2053-0420 (Online) sustainable future Population Matters Magazine Issue 28 Spring 2016 Our 25th anniversary Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus Raising awareness through film Population Matters Magazine - Issue 28 Population Matters Magazine - Issue 28 Contents Condoms and climate change Simon Ross, Chief Executive From the Chief Executive 3 Highlights from the last year 4 Magazine Our 25th anniversary 5 This magazine is printed using vegetable-based inks on 100 per cent recycled paper. If you are willing to receive Population Matters news 7 the magazine by email, which reduces our costs and Climate change has also been blamed, and it is true Introducing our new Board members 8 helps the environment, please contact the administrator that some countries have faced persistent droughts in Focus on a team member 9 using the contact details below. Additional copies are this water-poor region. Less often mentioned, as we Insights from COP21 10 available on request; a donation is appreciated. have sadly come to expect, is the role of population. The populations of Iraq and Syria have increased seven Leave a legacy 11 Population Matters does not necessarily endorse fold since 1950. Afghanistan and the countries south The People’s Climate March 12 contributions nor guarantee their accuracy. Interested of the Sahara, from where many migrants come, have Interview with Sara Parkin OBE 14 parties are invited to submit, ideally by email, material to be considered for inclusion, including articles, particularly high birth rates. The work of the Speakers Panel 15 reviews and letters. Subjects may include the causes As the population of Africa increases from one to four Raising awareness through film 16 and consequences of, and cures for, unsustainable human billion this century, the pressure for migration can only Supporting Population Matters through recycling 17 population and consumption levels. Submissions should increase. Any expectations that Africa will become a and running be in Word or equivalent and be accompanied by a brief prosperous second Europe may be frustrated. There are Population groups elsewhere 19 description of the writer. plans to drive ‘development corridors’ through Africa, at Update from PopOffsets 20 Publication titles should be shown in italics and a single great cost to biodiversity. However, given the ability of The Reverend Thomas Malthus 21 space used after full-stops. Copy deadlines are 20 June China and, to a lesser extent, India, to produce goods at low cost, there is a question as to whether Africa, with Malthus’ arithmetic ratio 22 and 20 December and a maximum of 700 words per I know that some members The survival game 22 contribution is requested. Submissions may be edited its limited infrastructure, can compete. Even if it can, a and the editor’s decision is final. Please note that it may second question is whether a modern digital economy Reviews 23 challenge the climate change not be possible to include all submissions. will generate the employment needed to satisfy the Letters 26 orthodoxy, notwithstanding the This issue was edited by Kate Duggan; proofread by enormous size of rising generations. Frustrated youth Bay Haseler, Peter Slater, Elisabeth Richmond, Ivan growing consensus around it. may feel, as many do now, that migration or taking up arms are their only options. Cicin-Sain and Claire Coveney; designed and printed It is not necessary for Population Matters to debate the About Population Matters by Printhouse Corporation; and distributed by our technical details. However, given that it is the focus Turning from gloomy scenarios to our immediate administrator, Julie Lewis. If you are interested in Population Matters is a membership charity working of so much environmentalist and political attention, activity: since the last magazine, we have issued our towards a global population size that can provide a helping to produce the magazine, please let us know. If we are involved in the campaign, raising the profile of first film and our first bus advertising campaign. We good standard of living, a healthy environment and you would like to give us any feedback on the magazine, population at London events, the recent conference in have another film under way, this time for adults, and environmental sustainability. Our activities comprise please contact [email protected]. Paris and elsewhere. Our cause is helped by a recent are planning on making more in the future, as part of education, research and policy promotion. Please note that the inclusion of promotional materials from study published by our carbon offsetting project, our communications activity. We are also increasing our We are funded by our members, donations and grants third parties does not imply our endorsement. PopOffsets, which found that family planning with the outreach activities in schools, universities, and beyond. and receive no funding from official or commercial potential of reducing unintended pregnancies was more Our comments on the UK population estimates in the bodies. We welcome new members. Members receive cost effective than other offset schemes in reducing summer and population projections in the autumn were our publications and can take part in our activities. Contacting us carbon emissions. That should not be surprising. Family widely reported in the media. Active members can apply to become guarantor Population Matters planning methods are well established and low risk; their We welcomed the call by British parliamentarians for members and vote at our Annual General Meeting. 135-137 Station Road, London, E4 6AG side-effects are mainly beneficial. As a consequence, 10 percent of aid to be spent on family planning and the Membership fee rates are available on our website; Tel: 020 8123 9116 www.populationmatters.org family planning is inexpensive. Fully meeting the need government’s proposal to limit child tax credits to the first we are grateful to those who contribute higher for modern contraceptive services worldwide would two children per household, although the latter has been fees, donations or legacies. We have a wide range Chair: Roger Martin cost less than £7 billion annually. This is not a great deal withdrawn for the present. We have been campaigning [email protected] of promotional items available, including clothing, of money at a global level. for statutory sex education and against public health cuts, greetings cards and briefing sheets. Chief Executive: Simon Ross alongside other bodies. Both campaigns are important [email protected] Climate change, and environmental degradation more Please visit our website www.populationmatters.org to widely, is like population; politicians can ignore the in limiting unintended pregnancies. We also intend to Administrator/ Membership Officer: Julie Lewis see the full range. underlying trends for some time; that does not mean campaign to raise awareness of the impact of population [email protected] growth on people’s lives, focusing on cost of living and Until 2011, Population Matters was known as that they will go away. Their impact increases to a level Magazine Editor: Kate Duggan where they cannot be ignored. So it is with migration into quality of life, and to hold an event in parliament. the Optimum Population Trust, which remains [email protected] our registered name. We are a registered charity Europe. Much of the recent crisis on Europe’s southern We will be marking our 25th anniversary as an (no.1114109) and a company registered in England and and eastern borders is driven by conflict in Afghanistan, organization this year, together with the 250th Wales (no. 3019081). Registered office: 135-137 Station Contacting you Iraq and Syria. The causes have been variously anniversary of the birth of the Reverend Thomas attributed to sectarianism, foreign intervention and the Road, London E4 6AG. If you do not receive our twice-monthly emailed Update and Malthus. They serve to remind us that the campaign for occasional e-alerts, but would like to, please contact julie. Arab Spring, with some countries alternating between sustainability is a marathon, not a sprint. [email protected]. tyranny and anarchy. 2 for a sustainable future for a sustainable future 3 Population Matters Magazine - Issue 28 Population Matters Magazine - Issue 28 In the run-up to the UK general election, we asked our members and supporters to question candidates 2015 highlights on population and environmental issues, as well as publishing a sustainability assessment of the main Communications Coordinator Lily parties’ manifestos on our website. Chamberlain summarizes the main On 17 June, we attended the largest ever climate developments in our work and change lobbying event: the Speak Up for the Love beyond over the last year. Of… Climate Lobby in London. More than 9,000 people took part in lobbying their MPs for action on climate change, including a number of our members. Alliances We also attended the People’s March for Climate, In January we joined the European Environmental Justice and Jobs in London in November. A contingent Bureau (EEB), which, with more than 150 members, of a dozen or so of our supporters joined more than is the largest federation of European citizens’ 70,000 others on the march. organizations in Europe. With a focus on climate justice and sustainability, the EEB works by promoting On 29 July, the United Nations Population Division David and Yvette Willey during a break at the OPT AGM, 1997. 1 the exchange of information between its members . (UNDESA) released its 24th round of official population estimates and projections for the world and In December we joined the Post Growth Alliance – all individual countries. We released a briefing on the an international group of organizations concerned subject, focusing on UNDESA’s increased estimate Our 25th Anniversary with environmental stability in a post-growth world. that world population will surpass 11 billion by 2100 .