7 billionth baby
Nutritious food is in short supply in many parts of the globe. [1]
“We have to raise productivity,” Robert Thompson, who serves on the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council and is former director of rural development for the World Bank. [2]
To some demographers the milestone foreshadows turbulent times ahead: nations grappling with rapid urbanisation, environmental degradation and skyrocketing demand for healthcare, education, resources and jobs. [3]
Climate change could be the greatest impediment to meeting the food target as rising temperatures and droughts dry out farmlands which are then inundated by intense floods and storms. [...] Water usage is set to increase by 50 percent between 2007 and 2025 in developing nations and 18 percent in developed ones, with much of the increased use in the poorest countries as rising rural populations move to towns and cities. [1]
Many of these countries face challenges in terms of migration, poverty, food security, water management and climate change and we need to call attention to it.” [3]
To some demographers the milestone foreshadows turbulent times ahead: nations grappling with rapid urbanization, environmental degradation and skyrocketing demand for healthcare, education, resources and jobs. [...] The world’s 7 billionth person will be born into a population more aware than ever of the challenges of sustaining life on a crowded planet but no closer to a consensus about what to do about it. [4]
“There are parts of the world where the population is shrinking and in those parts of the world, they are worried about productivity, about being able to maintain a critical mass of people,” Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, told Reuters. [2]
“There are parts of the world where the population is shrinking and in those parts of the world, they are worried about productivity, about being able to maintain a critical mass of people,” Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the UN Population Fund, told Reuters. [5]
Newly born babies rest inside a ward at a hospital on the occasion of “World Population Day” in the northern Indian city Lucknow in this file picture taken July 11, 2009. [2]
The United Nations says the world’s seven billionth baby will be born on October 31. [1]
BAGHPAT, India, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The world’s 7 billionth person will be born into a population more aware than ever of the challenges of sustaining life on a crowded planet but no closer to a consensus about what to do about it. [3]
To others, a shrinking population, not overpopulation, could be the longer-term challenge as fertility rates drop and a shrinking workforce is pushed to support social safety for an aging populace. [5]
And while exact predictions vary, most suggest the global population will peak at around 9 billion around 2070 and then start to fall, perhaps very fast. [4]
Sources:
[1] Crowded, stretched world awaits 7 billionth baby - Yahoo! News
[2] Crowded, stretched world awaits 7 billionth baby
[3] wildsingapore news: Crowded, stretched world awaits 7 billionth baby
[4] NewsDaily: Crowded, stretched world awaits 7 billionth baby
[5] Crowded, stretched world awaits 7 billionth baby - Business LIVE …