As I have previously posted, the abiity to, and the universal right to, access birth control has been with us on this planet for quite some time.

When a population is clearly unsustainable, remember the law of 70! Perhaps mandatory family planning could become government policy?

We continue to look for intelligent life off this planet, just a pity that we fail to recognise the lack of intelligent life here on planet "overpopulated already".

Popnperish - I'm sorry if the fact that the world is simply not running out of food seems facile to you, although I'm not entirely sure why. Is it simply inconvenient?

I'm intrigued by the notion of making food aid conditional on recipients agreeing to hold family sizes down. How would you propose that happen: Here's a food parcel but before I can give it to you can you please just step into this tent where we can perform a quick sterilisation procedure?

Humanitarian aid occurs on the well established principle of responding to need. Thankfully these organisations do not try to force political and social change down the throats of the people they are helping. Rather they just save lives. I for one think this is admirable.

Ah, the “EeK,- oh, Fascist!” shriek of Cheryl/Malcom King is never far away in response to any suggestion regarding women’s emancipation from the slavery of unwanted births and consequent misery.
With appropriate respect to Rhrosty, what he/she seems to be leaping to is very similar to that of Cheryl: judgment by false and misleading evidence. With application of even a smidgin of impartial inquiry (a proper scientific approach), the Popandperish standpoint is shown to be in keeping with what was attempted to be accomplished at the 1994 Conference in Cairo: the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development. Womens’ emancipation was at the core of its concerns on population and development.
That conference and its findings were effectively sabotaged by the likes of Cheryl/Malcolm King; and as a result the ambulances of Red Cross, Medicines without Borders, and like-minded caring organizations are still assembled at the bottom of the cliff rather than building fences at its top to minimize injury in the first place.

Thanks colinsett. The "mission" for charities should be: "Don't assemble at the bottom of the cliff with band aids, build fences at its top to minimize injury in the first place".Leslie

What Colsett and the whacko UnSustainable UnPeople faction all agree on is that that (a) migrants are invariably eaters of food and therefore unwelcome (b) foreign aid should be used as a weapon to impose our will on others and (c) the end of the earth is upon us all if we don't pay attention to their silly ramblings.

The good thing about the article is that it focused on the one area in the world where population growth is rising - Africa. But the No People lobby don't mention Africa. They are bearded gnomes whose purient interest is focused on what we do in our bedrooms - mainly in Adelaide. Which is about right.

J.A.M.
I said the "all we need to do is redistribute the food" is becoming a facile argument, not as you suggest I claim " that the world is not running out of food" is a facile argument. Farmers need to be paid if only to plant the next crop. They can't simply give it away - it has to be bought. The UN can deal (just) with temporary food crises but they can't deal with the long-term problem of too many people in one region not being able to produce their own food and with no other goods or services to pay for it.
As colinsett implied, those who insist there is no population problem are standing in the way of women getting equal rights and having control over their own bodies and thus limiting the size of their families. Let's put it another way: those who do not actively seek to ensure universal access to reproductive rights are being coercive, because for a woman to have an unwanted baby is a form of coercion.