THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 19, 1994 TAG: 9409170001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Sheldon Richman's Another View (``The U.N. population conference gets it wrong,'' editorial page, Aug. 31), the United Nations population conference does not have it wrong.
With a current total world population of 5.6 billion and with an additional 93 million more each year, we are fast running out of room and multiplying out problems.
Global warming, deforestation, desertification, extinction of species, ocean depletion and the scarcity of fresh water are but a few indicators that we are quickly approaching a maximum sustainable population for the planet Earth.
At the present growth rate, Earth's population will be 40 billion in the year 2110.
With the U.N.-proposed reduced-growth rate, we could still be at 11.2 billion people in 2100 - double today! To achieve this 11.2 billion population, it is proposed that the governments direct their resources to:
1. Family planning services.
2. Health care for mom and children.
3. Education of women to at least secondary-school level.
4. Access for women to credit, jobs and legal rights.
Any attempt to slow population growth is a decades-long process because of the disproportionate number of young people alive today. Population lgrowth is greatly affected by advances in medicine - by reduced infant, child, and maternal mortality and longer lives.
The momentum of population growth will continue far into the 21st century even if fertility rates decrease substantially. Actions taken in this decade will determine whether the number of people doubles or triples before stabilizing.
CHRISTINE MURPHY
Virginia Beach, Sept. 13, 1994 by CNB