Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
DEMOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION
BULLETIN
they turn up. And why I cannot accept t h a t my views should be considered to be of a p o l i t i c a l
character. It
i s r a t h e r the Halthusian
arguments, i n so f a r as they
a main p o i n t t h a t I ought
no
n a t u r a l l y f o l l o w s t h a t one
must be concerned about the land base upon which we depend f o r food prod u c t i o n . N i n e t y - e i g h t percent of the tonnage of food production, w o r l d wide i n 1975, was produced on the land. Anyone engaged i n attempting
to increase world food production soon comes to r e a l i z e t h a t human misery
r e s u l t i n g from world food shortages and world p o p u l a t i o n growth are p a r t
o f the same problem. In e f f e c t ,
are b u i l d i n g at d i f f e r e n t
and
EUROPEAN
DEMOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION
BULLETIN
growth r a t e , and upon the n a t u r a l resource base t h a t sustains the d i f f e r e n t economies. The poverty i n many of the developing n a t i o n s w i l l
become unbearable. There i s also every l i k e l i h o o d t h a t standards of
living
cases r e t r o g r e s s . The t e r r i f y i n g
human p o p u l a t i o n pressures w i l l
v e r s e l y a f f e c t the q u a l i t y of l i f e ,
bald eagle, stork,
if
ad-
not the a c t u a l s u r v i v a l of
the
lion,
tiger,
fact,
world c i v i l i z a t i o n
will
be i n jeopardy.
U n f o r t u n a t e l y , even i n p r i v i l e g e d ,
affluent,
w e l l educated nations
or f i l i n g
l a w s u i t s a g a i n s t com-
f i g h t the under-
unemotional, e f f e c t i v e and
109
EUROPEAN
DEMOGRAPHIC
Ir'.IFORMATIOi"J
BULLETIN
which soon began to reduce the death rote. The third doubling of human
population since the time of Christ,
only 80 years after the second doubling. Then sulfa drugs, antibiotics
and improved vaccines were discovered. They reduced deaths spectccularly.
World population doubled again...to four billion p~ople zn 1975.
That took o n l y 45 years and represents an increase of 256_fold - or _
e i g h t (8) doublings since the discovery of a g r i c u l t u r e .
I t i s obvious t h a t the f o o d / p o p u l a t i o n r a t i o and competition between
species i s worsening d r a m a t i c a l l y a~ the mJmbers o f humans increase so
f r i g h t e n i n g l y . And the i n t e r v a l between doublings of human p o p u l a t i o n
continues to shorten. At the c u r r e n t world r a t e of population growth,
population w i l l
souls by 2015!
This means t h a t in the next 37 years, world Food and f i b e r production
must be increased more than i t
support that has been given to agriculture and forestry during the past
50 years.
We must expand our scientific knowledg e and improve and apply better
technology if we are to make our finite land and water
resources more
Producing
more food and fiber, and protecting the environment can, at best, be
only a holding operation while the population monster is being tamed.
110
EUROPEAN
DEMOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION
BULLETIN
s h i r t l e s s back, a r o o f l e s s d w e l l i n g , the f r u s t r a t i o n s and fear of unemployment and poverty, the lack of education and o p p o r t u n i t y and the
pain, misery and l o n e l i n e s s of sickness w i t h o u t medical care. tty work
has brought me i n t o close contact with such people and I hove come to
believe that all who are born into the world have the moral right to
the basic ingredients for a decent human life. How many should be born
20151
8.0--
I
-,"I
,--I
7.0-
9'~ 6 . 0 -
I
I
rn
"~ 5.019751
ra 4 . 0 ~-i
o. 3 . 0 -
0
n
2.00
1.0-
165o
~
BC
BC
BC
AC
2 000
AC
+ Beginning of Agriculture
~-~ Beginning of Modern Medicine
III Discovery of Modern Drugs
Figure: World Demographic Growth and Food, Fiber and Forest Product Needs.
111