Part of this has to do with the ravages of climate change and the consequent desertification of increasing areas.

Agree that high literacy rate among women, reduces/stabilises populations. But even then, there will be millions of drought and desertification refugees.

Simpletons with ultra simple and usually unworkable solutions, will fill the media with noise. Drowning out other saner voices with real workable solutions.

While it's only women who get pregnant, it's men and only men who make them pregnant!

And to quote my sainted Mum, a standing prick has no conscience!

Pool aid? Presumably given to NGOs working independently of corrupt governments/officialdom.

Help enough of the poor people and the government will fall to the power of their own deprived people!

In any case, should such an event threaten or occur? Funds can be frozen by donor countries to ensure tinpot tyrants don't get their hands on it. And without exception!

The rest? Donated, installed and remaining the legal property of the donor countries, power plants producing energy cheap enough to power all manner of cottageindustry/startup co-ops and vast desalination water projets.

All that makes a desert, a desert, is lack of reliable water!

Add water and sustainable food production can begin where potential refugees are now. Pick and chose governments not yet hopelessly corrupt and let them know full bellies and increasing levels of prosperity, are the only real way to hold on to power for a very long time and produce an increasing tax revenue base, as practical experience.

Others will see the evidence of their own eyes and understand this is the only way forward! Anything can be destroyed, should any miscreant decide to "acquire" other folk's property, preferably while he and his minions are standing in it?

Give man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach to fish and you feed him and his family forever!
Alan B.

Very little goodwill here!

Plenty of conditioned, salavating pavlov dog, rabid raging and trying to put what I might say? As if it where the same rubbish most these allegedly inteligent normal human beings contribute, sometimes by replying/verballing, howling, growling in advance, before I've actually written anything!
Alan B.

Great article, Ive been saying for a long time the big white elephant in the
Room at the United Nations is the overpopulation.
Its also responsible for the clearing of the forest so that all those people can use fire
to cook a meal everyday. Id say the clearing of the trees has a lot to do with the
Droughts in Africa. But of course the global warmists, don’t want to hear that
It doesn’t fit their political agenda that global warming should be used as a stick to punish
wealthy, well run countries.

Whilst the overpopulated muslim and black countries blame Western countries for their
failed countries. It should be pointed out to them, that they need to use all foreign aid to set up as many medical clinics providing contraception as well as medical aid to every town and tribal village that they can. It should have been done decades ago but it can still turn the overpopulation, causing poverty, war, drought and famine around.
China did it with their one child policy.

Its time the male leaders in the United Nations, stopped shifting the blame onto Western, European countries. And its time silly, western hippie, communist, ideology driven believers, stopped believing it is the fault of Western countries also. Because frankly, it isnt.

Male leaders in hellhole countries, its time you took responsibility.

The pope who also presides over the catholic religion, with its non contraception policies,
Which they wouldn’t even set aside to prevent aids, is busy blaming Western and European countries too. Shame on him. Now he is a TRUE populist, because he tells his overpopulated followers what they want to hear, to make himself popular.

Regrettably a sensible article on population and migration has once again brought forth some rabid comments from right-wing commenters who offer no solutions.

In response, I'd like to record that I basically agree with you, Guy; though I wouldn't devote the whole of aid program to population restraint.

Your comment about stopping the boats is very apt. At present, this policy only works because of the relatively small number of boats. What happens when rising sea levels make much of Asia's coastline uninhabitable?

A factor not covered by the article is the disturbing trend of dictatorships now using forced migration as a weapon of control. Whether it is by making normal life untenable (Syria) or by direct attack (Burma), it is an effective policy, but only because those adversely affected are letting them get away with it.

From a defence point of view, we should be intervening to stop them. This is where I usually part company with those (like me) who are sympathetic to refugees. Too few people realise that protecting the vulnerable sometimes requires violent action to be taken against their tormentors.

"What happens when rising sea levels make much of Asia's coastline uninhabitable?"

Save us from Left wing crackpots and catastrophe conspirators like this one!

Linking the education of women to reductions in population growth is like linking construction of McDonald's Restaurants to a reduction in famine.

They (female education and reduced population growth) are symptoms of the same thing ie increased economic wealth. As a society increases its economic well-being, populations pressures decline. Its happened everywhere and every time a nations economy takes off. A society wealthy enough to educate its women is one wealthy enough that the need to have large families declines. But its the wealth that caused both.

So putting money into women's education misses the point. Worthy as it may be, if the aim is to reduce population growth, the path is to encourage good economic policies. A Nigeria with the economic policies of a South Korea is a Nigeria that has solved its population problems. That's where the efforts need to be directed.

It won't be because there's no money in it for NGO's and none of the warm inner-glow that the foreign aid industry craves.

As to how we deal with the purported economic refugee avalanche, well the solution is already there. As long as we hold our nerve and refuse to allow the fake compassion of the migrant advocates to weaken our resolve, we are able to hold back any number of refugee boats that might want to infect our shores.

I suspect we will hold our nerve because the alternative is the utter destruction of our society as we know it.

________________________________________________________________

Two tangential points. The warnings from the IPCC are based on economic forecasts that predict that Nigeria in 2100 will be twice as wealth per capita as the USA was in 2000. So if you believe the IPCC predictions, population problem has already been resolved.

" rising sea levels make much of Asia's coastline uninhabitable"

A new paper has found that coastal land areas have INCREASED in the past 30 years:

Here's the paper - http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v6/n9/full/nclimate3111.html

BBC summary - http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37187100

"to the scientists surprise, coastlines had gained more land - 33,700 sq km than they had been lost to water (20,100 sq km). "