Global population is expected to double by the year 2020. Presently, the world is straining to support a population of approximately 6 billion. The world population is increasing at a rate of 227,000 people every day. The present population density of the earth is approximately 100 people per square mile. The National Research Council for the National Academy of Sciences estimates 90 percent of the population growth will take place in the tropical Third World. A large percentage of these individuals will rely on slash-and-burn agriculture in forested areas.
Environmental scientists are increasingly concerned that sufficient world resources are not being spent on the population problem. We have little choice in this issue, for if we fail to control population, it will provide its own control. Famine, disease, floods and wars are not a desirable future for any of us. A real decrease in birth rate cannot be achieved until there is an improvement of food supply, child health, education, life span, and overall well-being in Third World populations. If we can do this, we'll be attacking the root causes of tropical deforestation.
