Uncontrolled population is big problem to environment<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Uncontrolled population growth, particularly in
\ndeveloping countries, poses a major threat to the world's
\npopulation, an executive of the Population Council says.<\/p>\n
A rapid population increase will burden the environment and
\nthe world's natural resources, crowding out species which in turn
\nleads to an irreversible change in soils, woods and the habitat
\nof rivers, the council's president, Margaret Catley-Carlson said.<\/p>\n
"Maybe you can produce food for a great deal of populations,
\nbut the question becomes the cost, in terms of the environmental
\nimpacts," Catley-Carlson said at a discussion on Thursday held at
\nthe Widjojo Centre.<\/p>\n
"Each person on earth needs food, needs space, clean water and
\nhas certain amounts of wastes created either by that person or
\nthe products he has used," she said.<\/p>\n
"We think that environmental degradation is bad because it
\ndirectly or indirectly impacts adversely on human welfare. And it
\ndoes," she addressed local experts on population who attended the
\ndiscussion.<\/p>\n
The Population Council is a New York-based science and
\nresearch organization. Catley-Carlson took an active part in the
\nconference of population and development involving 10 developing
\ncountries in Jakarta last week.<\/p>\n
Catley-Carlson said the situation is somewhat different in
\ndeveloped countries where the biggest threat to environment there
\ncomes from the people's pattern of consumption.<\/p>\n
"Population growth and environment have many crossovers.
\nHowever, it's absolutely the case that the Western world very
\nmuch needs look at the population issues. And in the mirror of
\nwestern consumption pattern issues, at least after the next
\ndecade, is going to be the chief part of environmental worries."<\/p>\n
She pointed out that people in the West are far more
\nconsumptive, and this has serious implications on the
\nenvironment.<\/p>\n
In Britain, a person's energy consumption reaches the
\nequivalent of 35 barrels of oil each year while in Bangladesh, it
\nis only three barrels. In terms of transportation,
\nthere are 75 Africans per automobile compared to 2.5 North
\nAmericans. "You can see that the mathematics of carbon dioxide
\nemission, global warming, and so on can get fairly complicated."<\/p>\n
Catley-Carlson said the size of the world's population,
\ncurrently put at 5.7 billion is estimated to increase in the next
\n10 years to between 8.5 billion and, under the worst imaginable
\ncase scenario -- 15 billion.<\/p>\n
"And it's quite well known that over 95 percent of the
\nforthcoming population expansion will be in the developing
\nworld," she said.<\/p>\n
Population all over the world increases over a quarter of a
\nmillion every day, day after day. Of the number, Africa alone
\nadds a million every week as population is growing fastest where
\npeople are poorest.<\/p>\n
She said the biggest problems can be found in countries where
\n40 to 50 percent of the population is under 15 years of age. In
\nthese societies, which mostly have very low gross national
\nproducts, development just does not happen.<\/p>\n
Still, 53 developing countries, excluding Indonesia, have an
\nover three percent growth rate which means that their populations
\nwill double in the next 23 years.<\/p>\n
The population growth has been more worrisome as one third of
\nthe world's population is under 15. This means that the
\npopulation of young people coming into reproductive age will
\nexpand by 25 percent in the next decade.<\/p>\n
A research suggests between 25 and 40 percent of fertility is
\nnot wanted. And family planning deals mostly with unwanted
\nfertilities.<\/p>\n
She noted that 150,000 pregnancies are terminated every day by
\ninduced abortion -- about two thirds under legal conditions,
\nwhich does not always mean safe. And every three minutes, a woman
\ndies from unsafe abortion.<\/p>\n
Maternal mortality<\/p>\n
Maternal related mortality is also a problem in developing
\ncountries. In India, for instance, more women die in a week than
\nin Europe in a year from maternity related causes.<\/p>\n
"I know that this is still a worrying issue in Indonesia with
\nthe rate above 400 per 100,000 births," she said.<\/p>\n
However she acknowledged that women and families' acceptance
\nof contraceptive measures as part of their family health has
\nchanged radically in developing countries.<\/p>\n
Contraceptive use has been also accelerating in developing
\ncountries, from 10 percent three decades ago to over 50 percent
\ntoday.<\/p>\n
Indonesia -- the fourth largest country in the world -- is
\nexactly at the mid point of this trend. While contraceptive use
\nin industrial societies is 75 percent.<\/p>\n
Total fertility rate -- measured in terms of the average
\nnumber of children per woman -- has declined in developing
\ncountries, from 6.1 in late 1960s to 3.9 in late 1980s.<\/p>\n
The decline in Indonesia from 5.6 to 3.0 over the past 20
\nyears is very much in line with this trend. While in the whole
\nworld the decline is from 4.9 to 3.4. (rid)<\/p>",
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