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“ For a Sustainable Future”
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The simple fact I find myself repeating most often at conferences and meetings with sceptics is that, on our finite planet, growth in everything physical – consumption and population - will definitely stop at some point. The important thing is when, and how. And the only alternatives for population are sooner by fewer births, or later by more deaths - the nice way or the nasty way. In the Sahel, alas, the die seems already cast. I returned from the African Population Conference in Ouagadougou before Christmas, where I presented two papers on Climate Change and Conflict, deeply depressed by what appears an almost unstoppable slow tragedy taking shape in the region. Population growth rates are among the highest in the world. Without urgent action, they could rise from 100 million to 300 million by 2050. Meanwhile, rapidly growing numbers of herdsmen, with ever-growing herds, are moving south ahead of the Sahara (advancing at up to 5 miles a year), and meeting rapidly growing numbers of farmers still cultivating the marginal lands.