It is clear that I am not alone in thinking that this article covered too much ground, too thinly argued.

Of course, issues such as climate change will always polarise the readership and cloud all else - they cannot be addressed in an omnibus discussion.

If there is one glaring omission, however, it is the need for peace in troubled countries. Is not peace the single most important missing ingredient? If so, why is it that permanent war is the norm and occasional outbreaks of peace are so rare?

My private thoughts on this lead me to consider the size and political clout of the military industry as against the peace industry - if such even exists beyond NGO's.

Secondly, the continuing concentration of the world's wealth into the hands of the richest 1% of people and the top handful of western nations. Example: the de-industrialisation of Australia over the past 50 years... we are on the way down, not up.

Aidan,
I haven't heard about population coming down, can you give some figures? I cannot visualize it being significant enough to make a great deal of difference.

I do know that both Iran and Thailand have both shown that birth rates can be lowered by government sponsored family planning. In both countries the birth rate went from 6 children per woman to less than 2 per woman. This is what I believe the UN should be concentrating on, especially in those countries subject to famine.

Banjo I didn't say the population was coming down. The birth rate is coming down or has come down in many more countries than the two you mentioned, but as people are living longer, the population is still rising. And encouraging smaller families only works where parents can be confident their children will survive and have children of their own; it wouldn't work in countries subject to famine.

Well I supopose looking at the desert bloom in Israel after being a barren land was just 'luck' for the inhabitants. It seems to me that half of the white population from South africa have fled and its got noting to do with climate change. Surely quoting the IPCC just shows how desperate Guy is for people to join his faith.

Speaking of faiths, Runner... that canoe of the wishful antiscience faithful which you have been paddling for years is becoming less and less seaworthy, but as I stated above, mention of climate change tends to attract off topic comments.

Such as this one and certain others.

Aidan,
These are your words, "Literacy rates have improved and population growth has slowed in most countries, but you seem to have failed to notice".

I would like to know the non-western countries where populations have slowed. I think the amount of food aid we give them effects their fertility far more than literacy rates.

We should be giving free contraceptives if we really want to reduce birth rates. Iran and Thailand have shown the way, if it works there it is worth trying in other places.