As the next presentation in the Oxford Martin School Michaelmas Seminar Series "Is the planet full?” Professor Sarah Harper will be delivering the lecture on:
"Exploring the demographic transition in the 21st Century"
When: Thursday 24 November 2011, 15:30 - 17:00
Where: Oxford Martin School (Old Indian Institute, on the corner of Broad and Catte Streets)
Summary:
Many countries around the world are experiencing a demographic transition that is occurring due to increased longevity combined with low fertility rates. However, demographic momentum means that the global population is expected to continue to increase until at least the middle of the century, likely peaking near 10 billion.
Despite debates that put population growth at the centre of many global environmental challenges, the demographic transition is less about an increase in population size than about the impacts of population distribution, density and composition. A more sophisticated analysis of demographic change is therefore required in order to understand the complex interactions between people and the environment.
Prof Harper serves on the Royal Society working group on “People and the Planet”, is a member of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Ageing, and on the Advisory Board of the World Demographic Association. She is also a Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute, contributor to the UK government Foresight Programme on Global Migration, and author of “Migration, Ageing and the Environment”.
