Director of Oxford Institute of Population Ageing speaks at UCL and Leverhulme Trust conference on human population growth and global carrying capacity.
London 25th - 26th May 2011
World population will reach 7 billion in late 2011
National Geographic launched in January with a message of fear and doom: “There will soon be seven billion people on the planet. By 2045 global population is projected to reach nine billion. Can the planet take the strain?”
The Guardian opined in January, “It is only 12 years since the six billion mark was reached. And just 100 years ago, the human population stood at 1.6 billion.”
The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution delivered its 29th report ‘Demographic Change and the Environment’ and concluded that even if attempts were made to curb the UK birth rate, “the total population would continue to grow for many decades.”
Catholics for Choice started the year with an edition of Conscience titled People and the Planet, concluding that “we need to participate in the conversation about population growth…let’s explore the issue with nuance and honesty.”
Even the Institution of Mechanical Engineers got headlines in January, stating, “By the end of this century there will be an estimated 9.5 billion people....meeting the demands of these people will provide a significant challenge to governments and society at large…Failure to act will place billions of people around the world at risk of hunger, thirst and conflict as capacity tries to catch up with demand.”
Population Footprints, a UCL-Leverhulme Trust Symposium aims to look at these arising issues with leading international experts looking at Do you agree with the voices of panic? Do you think the problem is severe? Are you worried about food prices? Housing? Eco-systems? Migration? Climate change? Come join the debate…
Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund will be a key note speaker at the UCL and the Leverhulme Trust's Population Footprints symposium to be held in London on 25 and 26 May 2011. Another key note speaker, will be HE the First Lady of Rwanda, Mrs Jeannette Kagame.
Population Footprints will provoke debate on the theme of human population growth and global carrying capacity. High-profile international speakers from multinational and government agencies, NGOs and leading academic institutions will debate in the following sessions:
- Footprints: Environment, Population and Consumption
- Population Impact: Regional Perspectives
- Population Growth – Problem or Hype?
- Moving Further, Living Longer
- Public Health Impacts and Interventions
- Economic Planning Challenges: Beyond 2015
- Policy and Research Directions.
Speakers include Hajiya Amina Az-Zubair (SSA to President of Nigeria on MDGs); Sir John Beddington (Chief Scientific Advisor, UK); Dr Monica Das Gupta (Senior Demographer, The World Bank); Prof Danny Dorling (University of Sheffield); Susan George (Transnational Institute); Dr Richard Horton (Editor, The Lancet); Shireen Jejeebhoy (Population Council, India); Prof Ephraim Kamuntu (Minister of State for Finance/Planning, Uganda); Fred Pearce (Author); Dr Ndola Prata (University of California, Berkeley); Prof Chris Rapley (UCL); Hania Zlotnik (Head of Population Division, UN); Dr Eliya Zulu (Executive Director, African Institute for Development Policy),and Prof Sarah Harper (Oxford Institute of Population Ageing).
For further information on the Conference programme, please click here.
