Reducing high population growth was at the top of the international development agenda in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, successful population programmes were implemented in Asia and Latin America and population growth fell from about 2.5 per cent per year in the 1960s to 1.2 per cent today. By contrast, benign neglect from African leaders and elites translated into late, weak and ineffective programmes and the population growth rate in sub-Saharan Africa has remained about 2.5 per cent per year over the past half century, except in southern Africa.

In part because of the success of the Asian and Latin American programmes, international attention has shifted to other urgent issues, such as the HIV/Aids epidemic, humanitarian crises and good governance. Recent concerns about climate change have further overshadowed the demographic dimensions of African development.

For full article, visit:
http://us.ft.com

Greetings from Rwanda, where new 57% of new family planning clients name PMC’s radio serial drama as the reason for seeking services, and where 59% of HIV testing clients are naming our program as the motivator for seeking a test. I would like to do a similar program next door in Uganda.
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Big Population in the Way of Development Goals

After a long day’s work, I hit the road with the hope of catching some rest at home. What I needed the most was to get back to a fine homely environment, quiet and organised, away from the hustle and bustle that had filled my day.

On approaching the vicinity of my neighbourhood, the situation was chaotic.

For full article, visit:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802121069.html

Bruce Sundquist has completed a scholarly analysis of the sustainability of the world’s systems for producing food, wood and freshwater. The paper, “Sustainability of the World’s Outputs of Food, Wood and Freshwater for Human Consumption” is a must read for a thorough understanding of the world situation. It can be found at http://home.alltel.net/bsundquist1/su0.html#A1, with five chapters on separate pages covering soils and croplands, forest lands, grazing lands, irrigated lands and freshwater supplies, and fisheries. Thanks to Bruce for bringing the paper to my attention.

Earth Policy Institute
Plan B Update
For Immediate Release
April 16, 2008

WORLD FACING HUGE NEW CHALLENGE ON FOOD FRONT
Business-as-Usual Not a Viable Option

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update72.htm

Lester R. Brown

A fast-unfolding food shortage is engulfing the entire world, driving food prices to record highs. Over the past half-century grain prices have spiked from time to time because of weather-related events, such as the 1972 Soviet crop failure that led to a doubling of world wheat, rice, and corn prices. The situation today is entirely different, however. The current doubling of grain prices is trend-driven, the cumulative effect of some trends that are accelerating growth in demand and other trends that are slowing the growth in supply.
Continue Reading »

Thanks to Martine Boyer for this article from the New York Times.
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Hunger bashed in the front gate of Haiti’s presidential palace. Hunger poured onto the streets, burning tires and taking on soldiers and the police. Hunger sent the country’s prime minister packing.

Haiti’s hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of reach, spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian staples like beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.

For full article, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com

IF IT S NOT ONE CRISIS, it s another. This month, food is taking the center of the global crisis stage. Deadly riots in Haiti and civil unrest in Egypt have broken out over the skyrocketing cost of food.

In addition to welcome media coverage, the world food crisis has commanded the attention of economists, agronomists and political scientists, each with unique policy recommendations for addressing the situation. Demographers, however, have been strangely absent from the general discussion, as if feeding the world s population has nothing to do with people. As if it is possible to explain the lack of food solely in terms of increased use of biofuels and rising meat consumption while ignoring the fact of rising demand due to population growth.

For full article, visit:
http://www.projo.com/opinion

AMID panic over soaring rice prices and worries about whether the Philippines, the world’s biggest rice importer, can secure enough supplies, the results of the latest census have diverted blame towards a perennial culprit: overpopulation. The figures put the population at almost 89m when the census was taken last August, up from 77m in 2000.

That means it has been growing at just over 2% annually since then. That rate is below the 2.3% annual growth of the 1990s and the 3% of the 1960s. But it is still faster than expected. Some analysts think the census undercounted, especially among poorer Filipinos. The population may now be up to 93m.

For full article, visit:
http://www.economist.com

Thanks to Bob Engelman for this commentary on the situation in the Philippines. See his weekly blog on issues related to his book, More: Population, Nature and What Women Want, at http://morethebook.org/.
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In the Philippines, Less of What Women Want

One of the dozens of countries around the world where hunger is back in the news is the Philippines, where soaring rice prices and long-standing reliance on imported food are raising an old question many people thought was buried for good: Does population growth eventually run into the limits of food production?

For full article, visit:
http://morethebook.org/

Thanks to Marian Starkey for this article.
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Gantallan Plorensio’s farm is a paradox at the heart of Asia’s growing rice crisis. The fields that get enough water have never been more productive, contributing to a 5 percent annual increase in rice production over the past two years.

“We have a lot of rice fields, but no irrigation,” he says. “They’re just sitting there.”

As a regional rice crisis looms, threatening political instability and social unrest, the idle fields in Mr. Plorensio’s village underscore a failure of policy and foresight repeated across the region: For decades, governments have been encouraging a boom in services and skyscrapers, but not the capacity to grow more rice. Financing in agriculture has stagnated, and fewer farmers are expected to produce more rice for exploding populations.

For full article, visit:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0422/p01s03-woap.html?page=1

Thanks to Fred Meyerson for this article. I anticipate we will see growing reports of starvation around the world as a result of population growth combined with the diversion of food grains into biofuel production.
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A UN aid official warned Friday that the Philippines may end up having to feed people to save them going hungry as the market price of rice soars out of reach of ordinary households.

With prices of rice and wheat spiking in recent months, World Food Programme country director Valerie Guarnieri told AFP, “I think there’s a possibility that the government would have to feed more people because of rising prices.”

For full article, visit:

http://www.france24.com