World Population Awareness

Population of European Union States and Those Joining Union May 1, 2004:

Planning Pressure Shows Need for Population Planning

The controversy over the announced changes to the planning framework is just one example of the difficult choices increasing forced upon the UK by an ever rising population in an already overcrowded island, itself just one example of the global problem of population growth. The UK government should urgently consider establishing a population council, as advocated by the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia, to address population growth and seek ways of reducing it and of mitigating its impact.

England is Europe's most densely populated large country, alongside Holland, and has one of the highest population densities of any sizeable country. Yet its population is growing at its fastest rate in fifty years and accounts for fully one third of all European population growth. A combination of increasing longevity, a rising birth rate and historically high net migration means that the population is projected to rise by ten million over the next 25 years.

All these extra people have to live somewhere, and Britain already has gross residential overcrowding and a long waiting list for social housing. The results of population growth are evident in other areas, too: a shortage of primary school places; traffic congestion and transport overcrowding; significant air pollution, especially in London; and the greater impact of low rainfall. Global population growth is also making its effect felt, in rising fuel, energy and food prices and of course in climate change.

Future UK Food Security Uncertain

Britain's food security will become increasingly uncertain as global demand for food rises and as supplies are constrained by environmental factors and input limitations, claims the organization Population Matters. This uncertainty is exacerbated by Britain's rising population.

Population Matters chief executive, Simon Ross, commented "a continued reliance on other countries to meet our basic needs is dangerously complacent. Britain's growing population is creating significant future problems for this country and it would be wise to address population now rather than wait for the inevitable consequences to emerge."

Britain has little scope for increased production from its own heavily exploited agricultural land and marine fisheries. The countries which currently supply Britain with food are themselves facing significant population growth. They also are experiencing input imitations, particularly water, and potential climate change impacts.

A report from the government sponsored Commission on Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture, Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change found that rising global demand and environmental and resource constraints posed significant challenges for future food production.

With 7 billion people today, we face intense consumption and depletion of food and other resources as well as 1.2 billion undernourished people. By 2050 the projected world population will reach 9.5 billion, while the UK population is on course to reach 75 million.

Areas of concern which may conceal risks for the future of UK food supply are: population expansion, shortage of productive land, food waste, ecological unsustainability and natural catastrophes for both the UK and its supplier nations. An additional area of concern for the UK lies with the fishing industry, since domestic landings cannot cope with the increased demand.

The maximum sustainable UK population is around 15 million, meaning a UK overpopulation by 60 million in 2050, unless there was a 80% reduction in consumption If this reduction is not made , the shortage will increase by 70% in cropland, 52% in pasture land and 16% in the fishing grounds surplus. If other countries - faced with their own food supply problems - cannot bail out the UK's needs, the consequences could be catastrophic. The ecological sustainability of many UK food suppliers is shown to be precarious. Approximately 63% of the major suppliers will be facing a cropland deficit or pasture land deficit and 37% will experience fishing ground deficit. The UK is already a net fish importer.

The report says the most effective way to mitigate the vulnerabilities is to reduce the UK population size, eventually to its sustainable level. Policy makers should decide how people can adopt sustainable attitudes towards the environment.

What the UK’s Population Projections Mean for Us

The latest projections for the UK population by the Office of National Statistics (1) are that our population will rise from 62 million in 2010 to 67 million by 2020 and 73 million by 2035. England is already the most densely populated large European country. Over two thirds of the projected increase is due, directly or indirectly, to net migration.

The implications of this increase include the following:

* Housing costs will rise, leading to more overcrowding and homelessness. Already, private rents are unaffordable for ordinary working families in over half of local authorities in England. (2)

* Pressure for development on green field sites will increase, resulting in a further loss of amenity, natural habitat and biodiversity. Currently, draft planning policies are said to threaten the long term health of our countryside. (3)

* Overcrowding on public transport will worsen. Already, many train services are grossly overcrowded. ( 4)

* Traffic congestion will worsen. Already, the average speed of vehicles travelling on key urban roads in England at the height of the school day morning peak is 13 mph. (5)

* Pollution levels will rise. Already 50,000 people a year die prematurely in the UK due to air pollution. (6)

* We will find it much harder to achieve the carbon emissions reductions targets we need to meet to avoid catastrophic climate change. (7)

* Water availability will be under threat, particularly in the South East. (8)

* It will be harder to ensure sufficient energy supplies, something that is already a matter of concern. (9)

* Fish stocks will be further depleted. Already, many are in a poor state. (10)

Simon Ross, chief executive of Population Matters, said, "We have reached the stage where growing numbers simply makes things worse, both for our quality of life and for the environment. We would urge government and civil society to address demand as well as supply and to accept than perpetual growth in our population is neither desirable nor, in the long run, feasible. We believe that the UK, as one of the most densely populated of the developed countries, should take the lead in setting a target maximum for population and strengthening policies which would encourage both a lower birth rate and lower migration in order to meet that target. As climate change increasingly shows, continual growth in the human impact on the environment ends in very real consequences."

1. Office of National Statistics: National Population Projections 2010 based 26 October 2011
2. Shelter: Rent Watch report 2011
3. CPRE response to the draft National Planning Policy Framework consultation 2011
4. Commons Public Accounts Committee: Increasing Passenger Rail Capacity 2010
5. Department of Transport: Road Statistics 2009
6. Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee: Air Quality 2010
7. Department of the Environment and Climate Change: Carbon Budgets 2011
8. Environment Agency: Water Resources Strategy 2009
9. Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee The UK's Energy Supply: Security or Independence? 2011
10. Defra: Fish Stocks 2011

The Pro-choice Point of View in Poland

Poland's anti-abortion law was passed in 1993, due to pressure from the Catholic Church. In theory, the law allows abortion on medical grounds, criminal grounds and genetic grounds. But in practice you can not get an aborttion on those grounds, according to Wanda Nowicka of Poland's Federation for Women and Family Planning.

Today, some people are pushing to try to restrict this law even further. We had already 2 attempts to introduce a full ban on abortion. The first was in 2006 and now in 2011.

A full ban of abortion would include abortion in case of putting at risk of womens life - women may lose their lives. The doctor would choose saving the fetus over saving the womans life. Even now, without this provision anti-choice doctors evoke the conscience clause often. And in the case of conflict between the health of women and the life of a fetus, very often they choose the life of the fetus.

"The anti abortion law in Poland did not stop abortions. It means that women are having abortions, but they are having them in the so-called "abortion underground". It is usually provided by medical doctors which means that they are relatively safe.

The underground may be doing from even 80,000 up to 200,000 abortions per year.

With the chilling effect of this law women must continue pregnancy against their will or against their health status and with all the consequences of that… Or they choose illegal abortion even though they are entitled to have a legal abortion. Or they go to other countries for abortion. Or, a new trend is buying abortion pills by internet.

U.K.: More Teens at Risk

In the UK a new study has shown that 43% of sexually active 16 to 19-year-olds admitted to not using contraception when having sex with a new partner, compared to 36% in 2009.

Of the teenagers who admitted having had unprotected sex with a new partner, 23% said they had done so because their partner did not like using contraception and 15% said they had been drunk and forgotten.

The proportion of girls who said they had a close friend or family member who had an unplanned pregnancy rose from 36% in 2009 to 55% this year.

Only 55%of girls said they considered themselves to be very well-informed about all the contraceptive options available compared to 62% of boys, according to the study.

16% of boys and girls said they believed the "withdrawal method" was an effective form of contraception.

19% of girls and 16% of boys said they did not receive any kind of sex education at school, and about the same number said they did not trust teachers to provide accurate and unbiased information.

The study involved 200 British young people as part of a 29 country study. About 61% of these 200 said they were sexually active.

Jennifer Woodside, of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, said: "What the results show is that too many young people either lack good knowledge about sexual health, do not feel empowered enough to ask for contraception or have not learned the skills to negotiate contraceptive use with their partners to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections."

Parent Network Scotland said it was important for parents to have an open relationship with their teenagers in order to tackle issues such as "safe sex".

Director Jackie Tolland said: "Contraception should be part of a wider talk about sex as there is both the STI aspect and the pregnancy one. Emotions and relationships should also be discussed."

Ireland: Sexual Health Checks Decline as Finances Tighten

The recession is causing women to use fewer services of the Well Woman clinics in Dublin. Testing for sexually transmitted infections and fertility, purchase of contraceptive pills, and counselling sessions, were on the decrease for clients who may be without employment, or working on reduced hours.

Increasing numbers of women attending its pregnancy counselling services in the capital were considering terminating pregnancies as a consequence of the recession.

Many are financially unable to continue with a pregnancy due to the insecurity of future employment or having mortgage related issues.

Tthere had been an increase every year in the number of couples attending for initial infertility investigations but last year the numbers declined..

Recession Makes Educated Women in Rich Countries Postpone Having Babies; Fertility Worldwide Dropped but UK Population Rose by 470,000 in 2010 Because, Say Experts, Less Educated Had More Children

A study for the European Union by the Vienna Institute of Demography shows that, in many rich countries, highly educated young women have delayed having children due to the the global recession, and -- if governments slash public spending -- may wait for an additional five to eight years.

A steep decline in fertility rates occured in the US and Spain in 2009-10, while rates stagnated in Ireland and most European countries.

Britain was an exception, with population rising by 470,000 to 62.2 million in 2010, the highest annual growth rate for nearly 50 years, a rise caused by natural change rather than immigration for the third consecutive year.

Tomas Sobotka, one of the Austrian report's authors. "It is possible this is because the educated women are choosing to delay having while the less educated are having more."

The report claimed that highly educated women delay having children, especially if they are childless, when employment is uncertain, while "less-educated women often maintain or increase their fertility under economic uncertainty."

On the other hand, men with "low education and low skills face increasing difficulty in finding a partner or in supporting their family, and often show the largest decline in first child birth rates."

Rising unemployment, failing consumer confidence, tighter credit and falling house prices have all affected the birth rates, says the study. 26 out of 27 EU countries had rising birth rates the year before the recession started, but by 2009, 13 countries saw their fertility rates decline and another four countries experienced stable fertility rates.

The massive cuts in social spending in Greece, Britain, Ireland, Spain and elsewhere "could lead to a double dip fertility decline," said Sobotka.

The present recession could have a more permanent effect on birth rates. "Women's age at first birth has reached around 28 in most European countries and Japan," Sobotka said. "This leaves women and couples less flexibility to postpone parenthood until a later age."

UK Population Increase Challenges Society’s Goals

The increase of almost half a million in the UK population in just a year illustrates the continuing challenge posed by our growing numbers to society's goals of reducing emissions, protecting the natural habitat, ensuring food and energy security and providing adequate housing and services for all. England is already the most densely populated country in Europe.

The increase, announced by the Office of National Statistics, continues the pattern of recent years and is the highest since 1962, almost fifty years ago. It is made up almost equally of natural change and net in-migration.

Britons are living longer and having larger families than they have had in the recent past. One factor contributing to larger families may be child related changes to the tax system initiated by the last Labour government. At the same time, net in-migration is consistently standing at around 200,000 a year.

Population Matters chief executive Simon Ross commented "The constant increase in our population makes society's goals ever harder to achieve. Whether we talk about carbon emissions, protecting the natural habitat, food and energy security or the provision of housing and services, it is not in our interests for the population of the UK to keep increasing, year in year out. We ask individuals to consider the environment and sustainability when thinking about how many children they have. We also call on the government to look at the relationship between its policies and population numbers and take the action needed to stabilise the population. Specifically, they should look at enhancing family planning services and sex education, limiting automatic tax credits and benefit payments to the first two children per couple and taking more effective action to limit immigration."

Review of "Zero Carbon Britain 2030" Chapter 8, Renewables

Summary of a review by Andrew Ferguson

The goal of Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) when it engaged itself in a project entitled Zero Carbon Britain 2030 (ZCB2030), was to achieve no net emissions of carbon dioxide by 2030.

This goal is, unfortunately, not based on reality, mainly due to CAT relying on a mistaken belief that an electrical system can accommodate an almost unlimited amount of uncontrollable input. But any system delivering electricity to a grid in an uncontrollable manner (i.e. delivering its energy whenever it is available, not when it is demanded), which has peaks of output interspersed with periods of much lower output (as do all uncontrollables), can only be fitted into an electricity system up to the size where the peaks do not exceed the demand for electricity.

Uncontrollables can only contribute 30%, at most, to the total amount of electricity supplied via the grid. Lowest demand for electricity is around 66% of the average demand. So uncontrollables can only fit into the system provided that the peak of their output does not exceed 66% of the average electricity demand.

Let us suppose that the performance of wind turbines in Britain improves, so that instead of the 2005 annual load factor (also known as capacity factor) of 28%, they achieve an average of 35%. With this capacity factor, the wind turbines could contribute 0.35 x 0.66 = 23% of the electricity delivered by the system; but the remaining 77% would need to be delivered by controllable systems.

Assuming that demand flattens, with a 35% load factor the wind turbines could then satisfy 35% of the average electrical demand. But flattening of demand is unlikely.

Other factors enter in: 1. Cogeneration (also called combined heat and power, or CHP) demand for heat is less flexible and thus less likely to flatte and has the difficulty with delivering only heat and no electricity and takes land that the UK needs for food crops to produce the biomass needed (it was not shown if reducing meat intake would alleviate this). 2 Nuclear power input cannot be turned off to accommodate peaks of outputs from the uncontrollables, limiting the size of the uncontrollables that can be fitted in; 3. Widespread wind power deployment is highly dependent on wind variability, meaning the UK would have difficulty in handling more that 25 GW of wind capacity even if the wind turbines were placed all over Britain to try to limit the peaks, and meeting only 20% of electrical demand. 4. Hhydro is often limited in summer because the water in the reservoir is being saved to meet water demand.

Only biogas and biochar are fully controllable.

The author's analysis arrives at 1.98 kilowatt hours per day per person (kWh /d /p) for electrical output from 'renewable uncontrollables' (wind, wave, tidal stream and solar PV) uncontrollables, as opposed to the 33.5 kWh /d /p suggested by the ZCB2030 plan

Vaclav Smil's careful analysis has shown that it would be possible to maintain a civilized life on 48 kWh /d /p, far below the current 125 kWh /d /p total consumption of energy in the UK. In order to get up to this minimum 48 kWh /d /p, it would be necessary to reduce the population from its current 60 million to 22 million.With such a reduced population there is a fair chance that we could feed ourselves, provide ourselves with fibres such as timber, and have sufficient land to spare to grow the biomass ZCB2030 plans for.

The CAT plans also inadequately addresses the need for some liquid fuel, for instance when using tractors and harvesters, which would have to be provided by biofuel using land already needed for food crops, or by using electricity, which eats further into the calculated energy available.

The above is not a rigorous analysis, and indeed it is probably impossible to achieve that as a theoretical exercise. The important point is that those who are trying to cajole us into a sense of security about future energy supplies need to do so on the basis of what is probable, not what just might be; because the quality of life - and in many cases the lives - of billions of people will depend on having sufficient energy once fossil fuels become scarce. If it is uncertain that we will have sufficient energy, then there is one action which will definitely alleviate the scale of disaster should it occur, that is to have a smaller population. But that is a solution which always seems to take a back seat !

Worth reading are David MacKay's excellent book, Sustainable Energy - without the hot air (2008), and t Patrick Moriarty and Damon Honnery's Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation (2010). These two books were reviewed in the April 2011 issue of the OPT Journal - see http://populationmatters.org/in-depth/articles-periodicals-papers/journal/journal-2011/

The Peak Oil Crisis: An Announcement

There are recent concerns in the UK that global oil supply will begin to fall behind demand within as little as FIVE years. During a meeting between Chris Huhne, the UK's Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and representatives of ITPOES - the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy - an agreement was reached that Her Majesty's Department for Energy and Climate will collaborate with ITPOES on a joint examination of these peak oil concerns. This collaboration is seen by the British government as the first step in the development of a national peak oil contingency plan.

The British government recognizes that energy policy and climate change are inextricably linked so that you cannot formulate policies for one without the other. However, it is still a major step forward, after years of denial: the official and semi-public recognition by a major government that global oil supplies will fall behind demand in as little as five years.

There is no more rhetoric about the billions of barrels of oil remaining that will last for so many decades that nobody alive today needs to worry. Official recognition has been given to the concept that the remaining oil will be so expensive to extractor will be locked into the earth by intractable political disputes, so that it simply will not be available in the unlimited quantities or at the prices we have known for the last 100 years.

Also implicit in the announcement is that ever-rising real energy costs will destabilize nearly all of the world's economies and that economic growth in the form we have come to know it will no longer be possible.

This announcement is far from having a plan to deal in a realistic manner with a problem of this magnitude, but it is clearly a step forward. Americans have yet to reach this point.

Some of the problems that the British may have to look at in the post carbon age, are:

There are far too many people in nearly every country of the world that are dependent on a very complex supply chain to bring them the necessities of modern life - food, shelter, clothing, medicine, education, and some form of entertainment and recreation - to make a return to 19th century practicable.

There are simply too many people and not enough arable land left in the world. For the coming decades, the best solution for the world's peoples is to shelter-in-place.

Opportunities to migrate, these will become increasingly difficult to find. Oil-fueled transportation will become expensive and governments will be taking whatever measures are necessary to stem unauthorized cross-border migrations. Some intra-country movement will have to take place as regions become uninhabitable for most due to climate change.

What will be the role of government in holding society together during the transition to the post carbon age? And how well will current systems of finance, industrial organization and capital formation function during what is likely to be a prolonged period of economic decline?

There will inevitably be a period of political controversy between those who have come to recognize that major changes in our civilization must take place if society is to survive in a recognizable fashion and those who will cling to the familiar until overcome by events. Indeed, the opening rounds of this debate have likely started already in the controversies over global warming, jobs, taxes, deficits, and sovereign debts.

In the US a great political debate is focused on reviving economic growth, cutting federal deficits, and stimulating spending. In the 21st century, an era of depleting resources, much of this debate is no longer relevant. Efforts to create jobs in traditional ways in what will soon be a steadily contracting economy will need to be rethought and new ways of creating new kinds of jobs will be necessary to keep complex societies functioning. Whether the lead will be taken by free enterprise or will fall to governments by default is yet to be seen.

There will be many other issues, some of which are not yet apparent, however, the faster people and their governments recognize the real nature of the problem and start working on real solutions the better off we and succeeding generations will be.

U.K.: 22,000 Young Women Have a Repeat Abortion

Over 22,000 women in England and Wales are having two or more abortions by the age of 25. And one-third of all terminations (189,574 last year) are done for women who have had at least one already.

The number of abortions in England and Wales rose 8% more than in 2000, according to Department of Health figures. Increasing numbers of women (76%) are having abortions early in their pregnancy, at under 10 weeks' gestation.

A small number of women who had an abortion last year had already terminated seven pregnancies.

A spokesman for the Prolife Alliance said: "Whatever is being done in the UK in the way of sexual health education, at whatever age, it is clearly not impacting significantly on unplanned pregnancies."

A spokesperson for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said: "Numbers have remained stable despite increasing investment in, and promotion of, longer-term methods of contraception. This shows how difficult it is for women to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Abortion is not a problem in itself. For many women abortion is a back-up to their contraception."

A Department of Health spokesman said: 'We welcome the continued fall in teenage pregnancies. Abortions are traumatic and stressful and should never be seen as a form of contraception. Women and men need to make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and think about contraception before having sex. There is a wide range of information and advice available from GPs and sexual health centres who can advise on the best type of contraception tailored to patients' health and lifestyle needs."

U.K.: How Will We Care for the Centenarians of the Future?

Author Danny Dorling and Bethan Thomas in the social atlas Bankrupt Britain demonstrate how current economic woes have revealed a whole series of potential financial, residential and moral future bankruptcies. By 2048, advances in medicine, a better-ordered society, and even huge amounts of care being provided by the young elderly, will not be enough to help us care for our rising population of the very old.

Last year, the Department for Work and Pensions upped their estimates of future centenarians considerably, to suggest that there will be more than half a million aged over 100 by 2066.

Yesterday the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported that the future potential care bill for the elderly in Britain is so great that it could threaten family ties, with country will spending more than a fifth of its entire national output on services for the elderly by 2050.

Meanwhile, there is confusion about how many young people there will actually be around in the future in Britain, compared to how many we need to take care of the elderly. When the 2011 census results are released we will may be in a better position to accurately predict this number. However the matter is complicated by the way people move around, with immigration patterns changing. And the greatest fall in fertility in the world recently has been in eastern Europe, so we shouldn't expect help from Polish carers in future.

Women Seeking An Abortion Turn to the Internet Rather Than the Boat to England

The number of women from Ireland seeking abortions in England has fallen for the ninth successive year.

Pro-life group Precious Life said the decline in women traveling to England for an abortion shows "the pro-life battle is being won in Ireland". However pro-choice campaigners claim these statistics do not show the full picture.

Many other women go to Scotland or further afield in Europe for an abortion and there is an unknown number of women who obtain tablets over the internet to terminate a pregnancy.

Dr Audrey Simpson, director of the Family Planning Association (FPA) Northern Ireland, said: "These statistics show that criminalising abortion does not stop women having abortions. It is time for politicians to bring Northern Ireland into the 21st century and provide women with the same health care services that are free and available in the rest of the UK."

The 1967 Abortion Act applies only in England, Scotland and Wales, making it virtually impossible for women in Northern Ireland to obtain an abortion on the NHS. Northern Ireland is the only country in the UK where abortion is illegal. There abortion is only permitted for rape, incest, or where the fetus is diagnosed disabled.

More Kids, More Immigrants and Longer Lives: Today's Europe

Europe's women are having more children, according to the Eurostat data agency's Demography Report 2010. The European average fertility rate in 2003 was 1.47 children per woman, but in 2009 Ireland had 2.07, France had 2.00, Britain had 1.96 and Sweden had 1.94.

Fertility rate is rising in all but three states -- Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal. Germany, the EU's most populous and wealthiest state, had the lowest fertility rate at 1.36 children per woman.

Life expectancy across the 27-state European Union has risen by 10 years - to 20 years after the traditional retirement age of 65.

Included in its population of a half a billion are 20 million migrants and another 12 million EU citizens were living in a member state other than the one in which they were born.

Germany had the most newcomers at 7.1 million, followed by Spain with 5.7 million, Britain 4.4 million, Italy 4.2 million and France 3.8 million.

Spain: Older Generations Can't Bank on La Buena Vida in Retirement Any More

"Short on children and short on family policies," is how demographers headlined a recent study, concluding that Spanish women are unlikely to have enough children to stop the country's population falling steeply. With so few children, who will pay for the old in decades to come?

There was such a backlash against General Franco's women-at-home pro-natalism paternalism that governments since have avoided incentives for having children. The birth rate plunged shortly after democracy's return and is now among the lowest in the EU at 1.4 children per woman.

Despite gay marriage and abortion being legalised, many Spaniards are still religious but a third as many British households have three or more children. One child in seven lives in a single-parent family, compared with one in five in the UK.

Nurseries in Spain have universal all-day provision for three to six-year-olds, though little for younger children.

26% of older people live alone in the UK compared with only 10% in Spain. Young people in Spain tend to leave their parents' home later, which helps explain the lower birth rate. They don't have housing to go to: only one in 12 Spanish households live in social rented accommodation against one in six in the UK.

The retirement age is being raised from 65 to 67. Spain has among the highest life expectancy in Europe, 82.2 years for a girl born now, 77.8 years for a boy. The downside is paying for these extra years, especially when social security funds are going into deficit because of high unemployment.

Public spending on pensions is high - 8.1% of GDP compared with 5.7% in the UK.

About 20% are classified as in or near poverty.

Nearly a third of young people leave school early, a rate twice as high as the EU average, and educational attainment levels are low. The Spanish call it "generacion ni-ni" meaning young people neither studying, training nor in jobs - about 15% of under 29-year-olds. If you add in those "poorly integrated" into the jobs market, you get up to 40%, against 10% in the UK.

Unemployment is at a record high of 20.3%, pushing the insurance funds deeper into deficit, a system in crisis.

David Attenborough Talk on Population

Fifty years ago, the World Wildlife Fund was created by a group of dedicated naturalists in the U.K. who had noticed that all over the world, charismatic animals that were once numerous were beginning to disappear.

The WWF bred some of the animals and then took them back to their original home and released them; great areas of unspoiled country set aside as National Parks where the animals could be protected from poachers and encroaching human settlement; in other areas ways were found of ensuring that local people who also had claims on the land where such animals lived, were able to benefit financially from the creatures they were protecting by attracting visitors. The world awoke to conservation. Billions of dollars were raised.

Yet today there are more problems not less, more species at risk of disappearance than ever before.

When the WWF was founded there were about three billion people on earth. Now there are almost seven billion - all of them needing space for their homes, to grow their food, to build schools and roads. Most of the space has been taken from land which, for millions of years, animals and plants had to themselves. The industries of all these people have changed the chemical constituency of the atmosphere. The oceans that cover most of the surface of the planet have been polluted and increasingly acidified.

Thomas Malthus, an Englishman born in the eighteenth century was the first forecaster of our current predicament, in his book, An Essay on the Principle of Population, published in 1798. He said that the human population would increase inexorably until it was halted by what he termed 'misery and vice'. He did not foresee the Green Revolution which greatly increased the amount of food that could be produced in any given area of arable land. But that great advance only delayed things. But there is a fundamental truth to what he said in 1798. There cannot be more people on this earth than can be fed.

Many people think Malthus was wrong and some instead believe in 'sustainable growth.' Kenneth Boulding, President Kennedy's environmental advisor forty five years ago said: "Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet is either mad - or an economist."

The population of the world is now growing by nearly 80 million a year, and in the U.K. by ten million in the next twenty two years, the equivalent to ten more Birminghams, every one of them consuming far more of the earth's resources than an average African.

The last President of the Royal Society has referred to the approaching 'perfect storm' of population growth, climate change and peak oil production, leading inexorably to more and more insecurity in the supply of food, water and energy.

A billion people today - four times as many as the entire human population of this planet at the time of Christ - suffer hunger as part of their daily lives.

The Government's "Foresight Report on the Future of Food and Farming" reports that soil erosion, salinisation, the depletion of aquifers, over grazing, the spread of plant diseases as a result of globalisation, the absurd growing of food crops to turn into biofuels to feed motor cars instead of people - all of these will make it desperately difficult it will be to feed a population that is projected to stabilise in the range of eight to ten billion people by the year 2050.

While the report makes a number of eminently sensible recommendations, including a second 'green revolution', it doesn't state the obvious fact that it would be much easier to feed eight billion people than ten, or that measures to achieve such a number - such as family planning and the education and empowerment of women - should be a central part of any programme of active food security.

Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Laureate and father of the first Green Revolution, said that all he had done was to give us a 'breathing space' in which to stabilise our numbers. The report anticipates that food prices may rise with oil prices and makes it clear that this will affect poorest people worst and discusses various way to help them. But it doesn't mention what every mother subsisting on the equivalent of a dollar a day already knows - that her children would be better fed if there were four of them around the table instead of ten.

In 1960 there was half a hectare of good cropland per person in the world - enough to sustain a reasonable European diet. Today, there is only 0.2 of a hectare each. In China, it is only 0.1 of a hectare, because of their dramatic problems of soil degradation.

Another Government report discusses all the rising pressure on wildlife in the United Kingdom, but it doesn't mention our growing population as being one of them. And yet another report, this by a Royal Commission on the environmental impact of demographic change in the U.K., denied that population size was a problem at all - as though twenty million extra people more or less would have no real impact.

No one - except flat-earthers - can deny that the planet is finite. There seems to be some bizarre taboo around the subject. It remains an obvious and brutal fact that on a finite planet human population will quite definitely stop at some point. That can happen sooner, by fewer human births, or by an increased death rate by famine or disease or war - over oil or water or food or minerals or grazing rights or just living space.

We should make family planning and other reproductive health services freely available to every one and empower and encourage them to use it - though of course without any kind of coercion.

The Global Footprint Network says there are already over a hundred countries whose combination of numbers and affluence have already pushed them past the sustainable level, including almost all developed countries. In developed countries like the UK, the aim should be to reduce over time both the consumption of natural resources per person and the number of people while, needless to say, using the best technology to help maintain living standards. Unfortunately many developed countries are attempting to increase their birth-rate in order to look after the growing number of old people. The notion of ever more old people needing ever more young people, who will in turn grow old and need ever more young people, is an obvious ecological Ponzi scheme.

Wherever women have the vote, wherever they are literate, and have the medical facilities to control the number of children they bear, the birth rate falls. An example is the southern Indian state of Kerala, where in 2007 the fertility rate was 1.7 births per woman, compared with 2.8 in India as a whole.

You as an individual can help break the taboo, in private and in public - as best you can. Wherever and whenever we speak of the environment - add a few words to ensure that the population element is not ignored. If you belong to a Church - and especially if you are a Catholic because its doctrine on contraception is a major factor in this problem - suggest they consider the ethical issues involved. If you have contacts in Government, ask why the growth of our population, which affects every department, is yet no one's responsibility.

All environmental and social problems today become more difficult - and ultimately impossible - to solve with ever more people.

U.K.: Take a Positive Look at Our Ageing Population

For years we have been alarmed over an upcoming "agequake". Life expectancy for many is increasing at the rate of five hours a day, every day - and that is reason to celebrate. However, certain milestones in this demographic upheaval also provoke profound concern.

The European working age population is reaching the point where it will begin to shrink, while the population of those over age 60 will continue to increase by at least 2 million a year. In the past, the pensioner would die only a decade after retiring. In contrast, today's baby-boomers could spend longer in retirement than they have in paid employment. At the same time, younger people face high unemployment and the very real possibility that they will slip several rungs down the ladder of opportunity, and will be expected to contribute to the upkeep of the larger group of pensioners.

This unfair situation could strain the bonds between the generations to breaking point. The problem of sustainable public finances, particularly around health, social care and pensions, as society ages, is a difficult one.

Lord Hutton, the former Labour secretary of state for work and pensions, was asked to make recommendations on how public service pensions for the NHS, the police, local government, the civil service, teachers and the armed forces could be made sustainable and affordable; fair to both the public service workforce and the taxpayer; and ensure they are consistent with the fiscal challenge ahead.

Many ways were discussed to devise a system that would be fair to both young and old.

Perhaps it is time to reframe the "agequake" in less apocalyptic terms. Baby-boomers were net contributors to the economy at £ 30-40bn a year. They spend, give time, care for others, pay taxes and donate. Instead of viewing an ageing population as a threat, why not view it as a chance to recalibrate society so that we invest more in family ties? We embrace innovation in, for instance, work patterns (older people paid for slivers of time?). We resist the warehousing and mistreatment of the elderly and we demand that politicians prioritize an active old age.

Abortion is Safer Than Having a Baby, Doctors Say

In the draft guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for all doctors, nurses and counsellors advising women contemplating terminations, the first recommendation on "what women need to know" says: "Women should be advised that abortion is generally safer than continuing a pregnancy to term."

The guidance also says that women who are deciding whether to have an abortion must be told that most do not suffer any psychological harm. Until now, their advice has been that while rates of psychiatric illness and self-harm in women are higher among those who had an abortion, there was no evidence that termination itself was likely to trigger psychological problems.

The Fall of the European Butterfly

Grassland butterfly populations have declined by 70% in the last 20 years, says a new study from Butterfly Conservation Europe.

Butterfly decline is also a problem in other parts of the world, such as the giant swallowtail of Jamaica, the Atewa dotted border from Ghana, and the Oregon silverspot in the Pacific Northwest.

In Europe, a "Red List of Butterflies" has been created to identify and keep track of all 482 butterfly species of butterflies in Europe. 9% are considered threatened, 10% are near threatened, and only 4% are actually increasing their populations.

Data was taken from 3,000 sites in 15 countries. Researchers concluded that the main cause of population decline was the switch from small sustainable agriculture was being replaced by industrial farming. Large-scale industrial farming does not leave any open spaces along the periphery which contain flower-filled meadows where butterflies thrive.

When people first cleared land for hay production and raising livestock, the butterfly population flourished; this is how most of Europe's grasslands were formed.

Areas of most concern are Eastern Europe, where small-scale agriculture has fallen, and mountainous regions such as the Pyrenees, which are traditionally home to large butterfly populations. The researchers attributed most of the losses to the decline in grasslands on the continent. They also say this can be linked to declines in bees, spiders, birds, and several types of plants.

Because they are so sensitive, butterflies make good indicators of a healthy ecosystem. They also play important roles in their ecosystem through their pollination activities. rw

The Choice is Yours

Saying out loud that you've had an abortion is, even in Britain, a provocative act. Breaking that taboo recently, women are posting on Twitter the phrase #ihadanabortion in their thousands. What started as a trickle of voices soon became a choir; crowds and crowds of women coming out, liberated and noisy.

It's when you see the lists of names scrolling down the page like water spilling from an overflowing bath, and their tiny but similar stories (ignoring, of course, the tweets from male anti-choice activists bemoaning a "silent holocaust"), that you feel how powerful this might really be in unsmearing the pity and pain associated with abortion, an important part of women's lives that so often goes unspoken of and thereby kept hidden, shameful, and weighty with imagined meaning.

This is the pro-voice movement. While it's not ideal that women must expose their personal medical history in order to defend their own choices, judging by the online response, this is a technique that has an effect. Like the opposite of a sonogram (which anti-choice activists like to use to conjure up an image of a baby, lost, smiling and beating-of-heart) the act of tweeting one's experience removes the horror of the decision, not trivialising but normalising; highlighting how common the choice to abort an unplanned or unviable foetus really is, and how life trundles on afterwards without much changing at all. rw

Population Explosion Scrutinised as Scientists Urge Politicians to Act

The Royal Society in Britain has launched a two-year study into global population, establishing a group of leading experts to draw up a comprehensive set of recommendations on human population.

Sir John Sulston, who took a leading role in decoding the human genome, will lead the study. A failure to be open about the problems caused by the global population explosion would set back human development, he warned.

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough, the environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt, who co-founded Forum for the Future, the Cambridge economist Sir Partha Dasgupta and the president of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences, Professor Demissie Habte are also in the group.

The announcement of the study comes on World Population Day, which will be marked by a meeting of science experts at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

They include Sir John Beddington, the Government's chief scientist, who has warned that population is one of several environmental issues that could produce a "perfect storm" of global events in the coming decades.

Today the planet's population is 6.8 billion. Although fertility rates in most countries are falling, the number of young people alive now who are destined to become parents in the future suggests that this figure could rise to 8.3 billion by 2030 and 9.2 billion by 2050 - equivalent to adding nearly two more Chinas or eight more Americas.

In 1800, there were only about a billion people. By 1900 the number had risen to 1.7 billion. Due to advances in medicine and public health, cheap fossil fuels and a technical revolution in food production, world population mushroomed to six billion by 2000.

Much of the coming increase in human numbers will be in the poorest developing countries. In sub- Saharan Africa the population is expected to rise by about 50% over the coming decades. Some of the poorest nations in Africa could see their populations triple.

Food and energy production will have to increase by 50% and water availability by 30% to meet the demand caused by the extra 1.5 billion people living on Earth in the next two decades.

Many countries have already significantly exceeded their capacity to be self-sustainable in providing their people with food, water and land without having to import resources. 77 out of the 130 countries studied are consuming more natural resources than they are producing and depend on other countries for the difference.

Britain is 17th in the league table of overpopulated nations, which are dominated by the high-consuming countries of the Middle East and Europe.

Britain would have to shrink to 15 million from 60 million to be sustainable.

Overpopulation is a much used and abuse word, but we believe the index helps to anchor it firmly in the realm of sustainability; of people living within the limits of the place they inhabit.

"Ecological footprint" is a measure of the demand placed on the biosphere by human activity, calculating the amount of biologically productive land and water area required to produce all the resources that an individual, population or activity consumes, and also to absorb the waste they generate, given prevailing technology and resource management. The "footprint" is measured in global hectares, or average world productivity, allowing one area or population to be compared with another. rw

Spain's Unrestricted Abortion Law Takes Effect

A new Spanish law allowing abortion without restrictions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy was put into effect, but the Constitutional Court could yet intervene to suspend or change it.

The measure will bring this traditionally Roman Catholic country more in line with its secular neighbors in northern Europe.

The Popular Party cited a 1985 ruling from the court that said a woman's rights could not automatically take precedence over those of an unborn child, and could do so only in cases of rape, fetal malformation or when the mother's health is in jeopardy.

The Constitutional Court must also decide whether to suspend the law while it studies the appeal. The court said there was no timetable for either decision.

Under the law, 16- and 17-year-olds can have abortions without their parents' permission, although the parents have to be informed. The law declares an abortion a woman's right and removes the threat of imprisonment for having an abortion.

Previously women could in theory go to jail for getting an abortion after 12 weeks gestation in case of rape and after 22 weeks if the fetus was malformed. Women could also assert mental distress as sole grounds for having an abortion. Most of the more than 100,000 abortions carried out each year in Spain were early-term ones that fell under this category.

Fewer than 1,000 people gathered in Madrid on Saturday to protest the new law, down from the hundreds of thousands of people that have attended protests in recent years. rw

Shrinking and Aging Population Poses Problems for Germany

With an average of just 1.38 children being born to each woman, the birth rate is not high enough to keep the population stable. The aging country will find it hard to secure the tax revenues to support all those pensioners of the future or to maintain economic growth. In fact, demographers expect Germany's population to fall by 17 million from the current 82 million over the next 50 years.

Of the 155,000 Germans who chose to leave their homeland, most favored the US and Switzerland.

And where is the Green Party on what I call the Population Implosion?

Figures show that the country is no longer attractive, particularly to migrants. There are now 10,000 more people leaving Germany for Turkey than coming the other way.

Bottom line: Germany is not sustainable from a demographic perspective. This is particularly true for the senior population that are looking to retirement, and services that come with getting older. rw

Extra Small Condoms for 12 Year-Old Boys Go on Sale in Switzerland

A new, condom, called the Hotshot, is being produced in Switzerland in a size geared to fit 12 year olds as a result of a study which showed more 12 to 14-year-olds were having sex, in comparison with the 1990s.

The UK would be "top priority" if production was expanded abroad, considering that it has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.

In a German study of 12,970 13 to 20-year-olds, a quarter said a standard condom was too large.

The research head said: "The result that shocked us concerned young boys who display apparently risky behaviour. They have more of a tendency not to protect themselves. They do not have a very developed sexual knowledge. They do not understand the consequences of what they are doing and leave the young girls to take care of the consequences."

The age of consent in Switzerland is 16, although if the age difference is not more than three years there will be no punishment.

Europe is Not Heading for a Population Collapse

Europe as a whole is projected to experience a gradual decline of its population, from 732 million now to 691 million in 2050 according to the United Nations. But, although further decline after 2050 will most probably follow, this gets nowhere close to a collapse.

In addition, fertility rates in Europe are currently above 1.5 children per woman. As a rate of 2.1 is needed in the long run to replace population in the absence of migration, each European generation is reproducing about three-quarters of its number, not a half. In some of the richer countries - such as France, the UK and Sweden - the fertility rate is around 2.

Demographer Peter McDonald calculates that if Italy gets stuck with recent fertility levels, and fails to top up with foreign migrants, it will lose 86% of its population by the end of the century, falling to 8 million compared with today's 56 million. Spain will lose 85%, Germany 83% and Greece 74%." I ran such a scenario for Italy, using fertility data for 2007 when the total fertility rate there was at 1.37. This concluded that by 2100 Italy's population would fall to 23 million, almost three times higher than McDonald's reported number.

This is all theory, however, since birth rates are notoriously unstable and Europe is likely to face continued immigration in the coming decades. For example, Spain has had low fertility rates since the 1980s, and many projections assumed its slow population demise.

Instead, Spain witnessed an unprecedented immigration wave, and a gradual increase in birth rates. Despite low fertility, the Spanish population jumped fastest in Europe in the last decade, from 40 million to 46 million. There is no indication, save the short-term impact of the recent economic crisis, that this migration stream is going to end: since 2000 the EU has recorded a net migration gain of 15 million, more than during the previous four decades combined.

There will be countries and regions that will suffer long-term depopulation due to low fertility and emigration - but a combination of the two phenomena is mostly concentrated in eastern Europe, particularly in eastern Germany, Bulgaria and Ukraine. But the European population will also continue to age, and some demographers predict that babies born in the first decade of this century will live to an average age of 100.

Since the late 19th century, when a massive decline in birth rates began in most of Europe, some demographers and long-forgotten futurologists have been busy envisioning an inevitable demise of Europe and "western civilisation". However, it is not population size but affluence and technology that make some countries more powerful than others. rw

Britain Facing Food Crisis as World's Soil 'Vanishes' in 60 Years

British farming soil could run out within 60 years, leading to a catastrophic food crisis. Fertile soil is being lost faster than it can be replenished and will eventually lead to the "topsoil bank" becoming empty.

Chronic soil mismanagement and over farming causing erosion, climate change and increasing populations were to blame for the dramatic global decline in suitable farming soil, scientists said.

An estimated 75 billion tonnes of soil is lost annually with more than 80% of the world's farming land "moderately or severely eroded", the Carbon Farming conference heard.

A University of Sydney study, presented to the conference, found soil is being lost in China 57 times faster than it can be replaced through natural processes. In Europe that figure is 17 times, in America 10 times while five times as much soil is being lost in Australia.

Soil is also a valuable store of carbon and can release the greenhouse gas if it is ploughed or dug up.

This will lead to a global food crisis, chronic food shortages and higher prices, the conference heard. Despite better than average farming practices, European soil might last for 100 years if no further damage occurs worldwide, scientists said.

In reality, however, increased land pressures aimed at compensating global production losses would likely mean it will run out faster, they added.

Last September the government launched new plans to protect the nation's soil which included farmers being asked to use less fertiliser. Britain imports about 40% of all its food it consumes, a figure that has steadily risen over the past few years. Almost £32 billion of food was imported into the UK in 2008 up from more than £27.7 billion the year before.

John Crawford, professor of Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Sydney, who presented the study, said "It is not an exaggeration to say that soil is the most precious resource we have got, and... (we) are not up to the task of securing it for our children never mind our grand children."

Prof Crawford, the former chair of the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council's Agri-Food Committee, said restoring soil required minimum ploughing, improved management and "resting" soil by covering crops which helps replace carbon in soil, which might take decades to significantly increase the amount of useful carbon in soil, which helps make it fertile.

While organic farming could be part of the answer, he said there was "no clear evidence that we can feed the current population using organic approaches, never mind meeting demands in time".

Latest forecasts predict the world's population will grow from 6.8 billion to more than 9 billion by 2050, placing even further pressure on food production and farming.

The world last year faced a cereal crisis as wheat stocks dropped to a 30-year low after demand for wheat and rice outstripped supply for the past six out of the previous seven years. This resulted in grain prices rocketing, which sparked civil unrest in many countries.

Extreme evidence of how soil is being eroded was seen in September when Sydney was blanketed by its worst dust storm in 70 years. rw

Ireland: Access to Contraceptives for Teenagers Proposed in Report

The Law Reform Commission has proposed that teenagers aged 16 or 17 should have access to contraception and be entitled to confidentiality - they should be able to consent to and refuse medical treatment subject to certain conditions. The age of consent for sex is 17.

A child aged 14-16 could, subject to certain requirements, be regarded as capable of consenting to healthcare provided he or she had the capacity to understand the nature and consequences of the treatment.

The requirements include that the medical practitioner should encourage the child to inform his or her parents or guardians.

In the case of children aged 12-14, treatment should be available at their request, but it would be mandatory for the medical practitioner to notify the child's parents.

After Decades of Controversy, Could Abortion Become Legal in Ireland?; the Big Question

A legal challenge is being mounted at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, arguing that the Irish Republic's strict abortion laws has put health of the three claimants at risk because they had to go abroad for abortions; and this amounted to inhumane treatment. One woman was trying to regain custody of her four children when she became pregnant. Another was at risk of an extra-uterine pregnancy, and the third was recovering from cancer and feared a relapse.

The women's lawyers say that the impossibility for them to have an abortion in Ireland made the procedure unnecessarily expensive, complicated and traumatic, and that the experience stigmatised and humiliated them. The lawyers claimed that Irish abortion law breaches several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, including the rights to life, privacy and family life, and further represents discrimination against women.

The Irish government Attorney-General said that the claim that their health was threatened as "a significant attack" on the Irish health service and the treatment, advice and support it offered, including aftercare and post-abortion counselling. Irish laws, he said, were based on "profound moral values deeply embedded in Irish society."

Every year thousands of Irish women travel abroad to have their pregnancies terminated. Last year 4,600 did so. One study concluded that almost one in 10 Irish pregnancies ends in an English abortion clinic.

In some countries, such as Britain, termination is readily available while in others the law allows it in cases such as rape or serious risk to the woman's life or health.

Ireland is an overwhelmingly catholic country, and the right of life for the unborn child has been protected by law for 150 years. Over the years church authority has been in decline, largely because of the child abuse scandals. Much of society has become more secular and cosmopolitan, bringing on a general public acceptance of issues such as divorce, homosexuality, contraception and co-habitation rather than marriage. But abortion has always been a controversial issue.

To change the constitution means having measures supporting abortion approved in a referendum. None of the various referendum campaigns was fought on the basis of legalising abortion, instead centering on amendments which made often confusing adjustments to legal wording. A referendum in 2002, aimed at tightening the law, was rejected by a margin of 50.42% to 49.58%.

With the strong economic downturn and the church abuse scandal, most politicians would probably shy away from the abortion issue.

Lost Youth: Turning Young Girls Into Sex Symbols

In recent years, the sexy little girl has become insistently present in the media - from 15-year-old Miley Cyrus photographed draped in a sheet for Vanity Fair to websites 'counting down' to the day that child stars, such as Emma Watson, reach the age of consent. And there was Britney Spears, aged 16, prancing around in school uniform and pigtails. Lolita has become shorthand for a prematurely sexual girl, deliberate sexual provocateurs, luring adults into wickedness.

But the original Lolita - the 12-year-old protagonist of Vladimir Nabokov's novel - was a powerless victim of her predatory stepfather. Her sexuality has made her into a fantasy, rather than the novel's sexually abused and tragic figure.

Increasingly, young girls are seen as valid participants in a public culture of sex. In the 1933 film, Polly Tix in Washington, four-year-old Shirley Temple played a pint-sized prostitute. And it's striking that the role of child prostitute was the springboard for the careers of many of our sex godesses: 14-year-old Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, 12-year- old Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby, and 13-year- old Penelope Cruz in a French soap, Serie Rose.

The emphasis on youthfulness has led to the use of very young girls as models in fashion and advertising, often in sexually suggestive contexts.

Young girls are increasingly posed as sexual objects of the adult gaze, while numerous clothing ads feature women dressed as little girls, sucking on lollipops, kneeling, crouching or lying in positions of subordination.

The problem is those who knowingly sell products with powerful sexual overtones to young girls, and with adults who then interpret girls' bodies as sexually available.

Why are we so obsessed with fetishising them? A possible answer is a backlash against feminism. Society has been forced to confront women as contenders in the social arena.

But the motivation is also commercial. Cosmetics and fashion designers are finding ways to capture loyal consumers almost from day one. Emphasising girlishness as desirable facilitates the multibillion-dollar sales of anti-aging cosmetics, creams and plastic surgery.

Finally, there's the underground economy of little girls' sexuality : child sex trafficking and prostitution.

We seem incapable of dealing with a child's budding sexuality outside the realm of sexual commodification and commerce. Sexual curiosity and even some experimentation are ordinary features of childhood. Realistic, and non-exploitative representations of girls' sexuality would be a progressive social step, but images of girls posed and styled as objects of the erotic adult gaze can't be. They often employ the conventions of sex work, legitimising the use of young girls for prostitution and pornography.

We must create safe and supportive spaces for girls to understand their sexuality on their own terms and in their own time. rw

U.K.: Sexual Health Team Embrace New Technology to Spread Safe Sex Tips; Text: Experts Use Messaging Service to Answer Wide Range of Questions and Concerns

There is a unique and modern way to get in touch with our sexually conscious teens - text messages.

The Community Safer Sex Project, at John Storer House in Loughborough, receives an average of 780 text messages from young people curious or concerned about sex.

The project was set up to provide sexual health training to schools, colleges and youth groups around the county.

The John Storer House offers an advice service, free condoms and pregnancy tests for all young people.

The goal is to empower teenagers to think about their decisions but also to cut down on the high teenage pregnancy rates.

Nearly one in 50 schoolgirls are falling pregnant in Britain - many having sex before they reach 16.

Text messages can be about STIs or pregnancy, or they can be from people who are under pressure to have sex, which is a problem for both boys and girls.

Some young people think they should be having sex before the age of consent while others believe they cannot pick up sexually transmitted diseases or fall pregnant from their first time.

The project staff thought they saw a clear downward trend in unplanned teenage conceptions in Leicestershire and this service certainly plays a key role in achieving this reduction.

U.K.: Dozens of Girls as Young as 12 Are Being Given Abortions

The statistics from the Department of Health revealed that, in England and Wales, over 450 teenagers below the age of 14 terminated pregnancies in the years between 2005 and 2008. Twenty-three girls were aged 12 and 52 teenagers terminated four or more pregnancies before they reached their 18th birthday.

Some claim that the statistics are evidence that Labour's policies on teenage pregnancy had failed. The Tories plan to introduce policies advocating more targeted use of long-acting contraceptive injections for teenagers who had already had an abortion.

64,715 repeat abortions were carried out across all age groups last year - the highest level on record and a rise of 22% in a decade. 46 women had aborted at least eight pregnancies.

The new figures showed a 16% rise in terminations after at least 26 weeks.

The rates of abortions for teenagers as a whole had fallen by 4.5% in the past year, according to Government officials.

UK Population Must Fall to 30 Million, Says Porritt

One of Gordon Brown's leading green advisers is to warn that Britain must reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society.

Research suggests that UK population must be cut to 30 million if the country wants to feed itself sustainably.

Population and economic growth is putting the world under terrible pressure. Each person in Britain has more impact on the environment than those in developing countries. Population growth is one of the most politically sensitive environmental problems. The issues including religion, culture and immigration policy, have proved too toxic for most green groups.

Humanity was emitting the equivalent of 50 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year and we have to cut this by 80%, and population growth is going to make that much harder.

Such views on population have split the green movement. A prominent writer on green issues has criticised population campaigners, arguing that economic growth is a greater threat.

Many experts believe that Europeans and Americans have a lopsided impact on the environment, and the world would benefit more from reducing their populations rather than in developing countries.

This is part of the thinking behind the call for Britain to cut population to 30m, roughly what it was in late Victorian times.

Britain's population is expected to grow from 61 million now to 71 million by 2031. Some politicians support a reduction.

Government and Conservative spokesmen this weekend both distanced themselves from any population policy. rw

U.K.: Population Growth Not Climate Change is the Real Danger

Britain hosts the G20, the annual get-together of the world's richest nations. Topics include the current economic crisis, international development and climate change. But the most serious problem facing the world today - overpopulation - will not be on the agenda.

Overpopulation has been described as the "elephant in the room", the one issue world leaders refuse to discuss. But it's high time they did. Professor John Beddington, warns that a "perfect storm" will occur in 2030, with simultaneous shortages of energy, food and fresh water devastating an overpopulated planet. Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the world's population leaps to 8.3 billion.

There will be those who argue that we've heard such doom-laden predictions before. But this time the warnings come from the World Bank, the International Energy Authority and the United Nations Environment Programme, which predicts widespread water shortages across Africa, Europe and Asia by 2025.

Population is rising by six million a month and is totally unsustainable. Put simply, there won't be enough food, water and energy to go round.

But instead of getting to grips with the most serious environmental problem we face, politicians prefer to concentrate on climate change.

This gives them an excuse to introduce new "green" taxes and the chance to fine us for putting the wrong sort of rubbish out on the wrong day of the week.

But to tackle global warming without addressing the underlying problem of overpopulation is like prescribing Alka-Selzter to a patient with a serious drink problem.

Political correctness plays its part in politicians' reluctance to discuss overpopulation.

Population growth is fastest in developing countries. In developed countries it is immigrant groups and ethnic minorities whose numbers are growing fastest.

Seeking to control population growth is construed by some as racist. But if we really cared about the Third World we would be championing internationally agreed controls [I would substitute the word 'programs' for 'controls'. It is all voluntary ..Karen Gaia] as overpopulation is the root cause of many of the problems affecting poorer countries.

The UK population, fuelled by immigration, has risen by over two million since Labour came to power in 1997 to about 61 million.

The surge in population has led to transport and public services coming under increasing strain while the Green Belt is under serious threat due to this Government's commitment to build three million new houses to cater for the rising head count.

The Government seems perfectly relaxed for the numbers to carry on rising.

The UK population is projected to rise by 10 million by 2030 and 77 million in 2050. It will reach 100 million before the end of the century, passing 200 million soon after 2200.

Yet anybody who calls for action to stabilise or reduce this trend runs the risk of being labelled a racist.

Politicians, seem unwilling to state the simple truth that Britain, like the world in general, is overcrowded.

Overpopulation is one of the gravest problems which confront us. Our basic problem is whether the human race, expanding as rapidly as it is doing now, can survive in any decent condition, commented Aldous Huxley 50 years ago.

Wise words which the leaders meeting at the G20 summit would do well to heed. rw

Church Denounces Moves in Spain to Legalise Abortion

Spain is preparing to allow women to have terminations on demand in the early stages of pregnancy.

This has put the Socialist government on a collision course with the Roman Catholic Church. A Spanish committee presented recommendations that included legalising early-stage abortions, while imposing more restrictions as pregnancies progressed.

The proposals will form the basis of a draft bill that will bring the abortion law into line with most other European countries.

The move is in an ambitious programme of social change under the prime minister, that has led to him clashing repeatedly with the Church. Since winning power his government has legalised homosexual marriage, eased divorce laws and dropped religious education from the curriculum in public schools.

Abortion in Spain is offered under restricted circumstances and rarely in a public hospital. Terminations are allowed only until the 12th week of pregnancy in cases of rape or until the 22nd week in cases of severe fetal malformation.

Last year, 25 women and doctors were accused of falsifying doctors' certificates after being arrested in raids on abortion clinics. Supporters said it was about treating women with respect, allowing them to make their own decisions rather than seeking a doctor's approval.

The Spanish Bishops reiterated the Church's stance on those who had abortions or performed them. "They face automatic excommunication,". rw

U.K.: Think-Tank Urges Population Inquiry by Government

The Government should hold an inquiry into the number of people the UK can support and enjoy a good quality of life without damaging the environment. Overpopulation puts Britain's security at risk and calls for a Royal Commission to establish an environmentally sustainable level of population. The UK supplies only 30% per cent of its economic needs from within its boundaries. Most people think Britain is overcrowded and record numbers have been emigrating.

The UK's population is projected to increase to 70 million over the next 20 years and 85 million by 2081, with immigration responsible for at least two thirds of projected growth. Immigration feeds rising greenhouse gas emissions; more crowding, congestion and development; and increased pressure on water and energy supplies, farmland and green space.

At least 10 million more flats and houses will be needed for new immigrants and their descendants. A policy of zero net migration, matching incoming to outgoing numbers, could cut the UK's forecast population in 2081 from 85 to 57 million.

Rapid population growth, and in particular immigration on the scale we have witnessed in recent years, raises questions about environmental sustainability that the Government had barely begun to think about until recently. The most recent high-level inquiry into population policy in Britain was in 1973,when a panel appointed by the government reported that there were no arguments for continuing population growth. rw

U.K.: More Units Offering Abortions

The British Government has been trying to find ways to make it easier for women under nine weeks pregnant to gain access to abortions.

The procedure, known as early medical abortion (EMA), involves two trips to a clinic, hours or a day apart, to take pills which induce miscarriage.

Providers argue that women should be allowed to take the second pill at home after receiving medical instructions.

At present, the pills can only be administered at licensed sites. The Health Secretary has the power to change this. But private clinics can use the existing law to work with GPs and offer EMA in GP surgeries.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) runs one abortion clinic within a GP surgery in Wolverhampton.

The charity, has also received approval to run another clinic in a GP surgery in Newcastle.

A pilot scheme for the Government found that none of 172 women who underwent nurse-supervised terminations in a GP surgery suffered any complications or safety problems.

This is a less expensive method for the NHS to provide than a surgical termination and it is suitable for local provision. A Department of Health study showed that there is no reason why the method could not be provided outside of a hospital setting with appropriate back-up care.

Opponents claimed it is going to make it easier for women to have an abortion without counselling. More and more women will have abortions in haste, wake up and then regret it.

Providing EMAs in a community setting is about increasing the choice for abortions, and improving early access that carries less risk of complications. rw

U.K.: Sexual Bullying: Thousands of Pupils Suspended

Around 3,500 pupils in England were given fixed-term exclusions from school for sexual misconduct in 2006/07. In a survey of ages 11 to 19, one in 10 had been forced against their will to take part in sex acts.

This can cover behaviours from a one-off incident of daubing sexually-explicit graffiti to name-calling, inappropriate touching and serious sexual attacks.

Groping and the use of sexually-abusive nicknames have become almost part of daily life for some pupils. Sexual bullying was "relatively common" and a serious problem.

There is a significant number of young people who have told us that they have either experienced it, or have witnessed it in their schools or community. The Anti Bullying Alliance will draw up guidance for teachers on tackling sexual bullying.

The guidance will tackle inappropriate language, advise teachers on how to manage cases of harassment, and encourage healthy friendships between teenage boys and girls amid concerns of misogynistic attitudes linked to gang culture.

This follows widespread publicity last month over the sentencing of nine teenagers in east London for the gang rape of a teenage girl. rw

More Asian Women Having Abortions

There has been a big jump in the number of Asian women having abortions in the UK, from 15,197 terminations in 2007, compared with 10,084 in 2003. More Asian women are having sex whereas culturally it was something they did after marriage.

Health professionals want contraceptive services to be better promoted.

One girl said she did not know how to access contraception other than through her doctor and that was not an option for her.

Health professionals are calling for contraceptive services to be made more accessible and be better promoted in the Asian community. Young Asian people are more likely to have unprotected sex. One of Birmingham's main abortions centres has seen the number of terminations go up by a fifth in the last five years.

The UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe and the government is sending family planning nurses into schools to help pupils access their services better.

A similar campaign is needed within the Asian community.

One Asian girl said she feels that if she knew more about the services, she might not have got pregnant. rw

Italy to Make RU486 Available

The RU486 abortion pill is to be made available in Italy next month despite objections from the Vatican and the ruling centre Right. The pill was censured by the Vatican in a basic document which also condemned artificial fertilization, human cloning, "designer babies" and embryonic stem-cell research.

Holy See's health minister, said "The Catholic Church understands a young woman who is pregnant against her will, but condemns abortion. However a decision to approve the RU486 pill cannot be reversed. The deputy minister of Welfare said there are wide margins of risks, ineffectiveness and complications related to chemical abortion. RU486 would be available only in hospitals, and doctors who disapproved had the option of conscientious objection.

The Minister for Youth said "This is not a contraceptive. This is a drug that interrupts a pregnancy already under way." A gynecologist said that "Worries about the dangers are baseless: studies have proved it is safe". rw

Irish Concerns About Abortion, Neutrality May Scupper Lisbon Again

Ireland will hold a second referendum on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty by October 2009, seeking legal guarantees on the concerns that the Irish people have.

Sinn Fein was the only parliamentary party to campaign against the treaty in June's referendum.

There are concerns amongst Irish people that the proposed declarations would not guarantee the primacy of the Irish constitution on neutrality and abortion.

Irish pro-life groups engaged in an extensive campaign in advance of June's referendum, suggesting that ratification of the treaty would lead to legalization of abortion.

Ireland's constitution maintains a ban on abortion.

The country's right to retain safeguards with regard to the unborn is in a protocol to the EU's Maastricht Treaty of 1992.

However, it is claimed that if the Lisbon Treaty were ratified it could lead to the loss of Irish sovereignty on issues such as abortion and euthanasia.

Pro-life campaigners maintain that a European human rights charter would be interpreted liberally by the European Court of Justice to grant abortion rights on demand. rw

'One Planet' Pledge for Wales

A plan to reduce the impact Wales has on the environment has been announced. Environment Minister committed Wales to use only its "fair share" of the world's resources. This includes an 80%-90% cut in carbon-based energy and a move to recycling waste.

The timescale envisaged is around "30 to 40 years".

The assembly government report said there was a need to "travel less by car, and live and work in ways which have a stronger connection with our local economies and communities".

The Environment Minister said ministers would use their powers to lessen Wales' environmental impact.

"Wales' ecological footprint is currently 5.16 global hectares per person, compared to a global availability of 1.88 global hectares.

Unchecked, this could rise by 20% by 2020. Environment spokesman said: "The minister has yet to fulfill her pledges on the devolution of building regulations and new powers over large energy developments, environmental protection, and waste management. rw

Brit's Eye View: Sustaining Sustainability

'What will the recession mean for sustainability' is a hot topic in the U.K.

More worryingly, there are signs that some forms of ethical consumption have slowed in the last few months. With food prices up around 20% on this time last year the squeeze is on.

Last year's 30% growth in the sales of organic foodstuffs has slumped to 10%, and the "sell it cheap" end of the food sector is booming. Homegrown, low-cost stores are reporting spectacular growth. These stores, which offer 10% to 50% savings on household consumables, are escaping the ethical spotlight that has dubious practice amongst high-street retailers of clothes and shoes.

The doomsayers look back to the last flowering of environmental consciousness in the U.K., in 1989 when a wave of environmentally friendly products hit the supermarket shelves and disappeared in the recession of the early '90s. The worst case scenario is one in which the financial crisis meets the early soaring oil demand and food shortages born of climate change and the race for biofuels, with consequent human misery at unimaginable scale, and a reordering of priorities toward short-term survival.

Many are keen to set up an alternative in which the recession won't be as bad as others. They cite a range of factors that insulate us from the worst case: We're richer, so we can survive more of a correction; house prices will have to fall a long way before we see millions in "negative equity". The authorities have succeeded in keeping away the worst effects of the financial crisis.

Environmental concerns will be politically, culturally, and indeed psychologically difficult to drop. There seem to be good arguments that a significant proportion of the U.K. population will find it hard to put the whole thing on one side again. Sustainable development thinking holds the key to averting and/or surviving the recession.

Organizations need to make sure we're delivering the goods on how green thinking works particularly well in a recession. rw

Scotland: Eat Local ... a Sunday Herald Campaign to Help Feed a Hungry World

As a relatively rich, developed country, Scotland is hardly likely to experience mass starvation, but the average price of all foods has increased by 6.6% over the past year. The biggest increases were for butter, eggs, milk, bread and potatoes.

The cost of a supermarket trolley containing 100 basic food items has risen by £13.63 to £183.28 over the past two years. The prices of chicken, fish, cheese, vegetables and fruit have also increased, along with sugar, coffee and wine. And the prices are forecast to keep on rising. The era of cheap food is coming to an end, and that has huge implications for those on fixed incomes. Global food production could be centred on the belt of fertile land that lies between Bordeaux and Caithness.

Land is going to have to be brought back into production to feed an ever-expanding world population. Scotland is well placed to play its part. Others point out that Scotland has its own problems. Meat is an inefficient way of delivering calories, with eight kilos of grain required for one kilo of beef. Much of the meat consumed in Scotland has been imported.

Eating more fresh and seasonal fruit and vegetables, and less processed and packaged food as well as less meat and dairy produce, will be as good for us as it is for the planet. rw

Vision of a Living Landscape

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Norfolk coast being designated an area of outstanding natural beauty, Steve Downes assesses the changes that will reshape the area in the future.

The Norfolk coast has a timeless feel. When you walk its beaches there is a sense that it has always been the same. When the ancient Seahenge timber structure emerged from the mudflats a few years ago, it seemed to symbolise the constancy of the coast. The truth, of course, is different. Seahenge was first buried and then uncovered because the coast has always been a dynamic place. Global warming and climate change look likely to lead to warmer drier summers, warmer wetter winters and a sea-level rise of up to 80cm by 2080.

This threatens coastal defenses which protect freshwater habitats from saltwater inundation. Some species are almost certain to be lost to the area. But little egrets are becoming more common.

We don't know what lies ahead. The big challenges are the ones we cannot control. It's dynamic and changing. Change shouldn't be a threat to us.

It would be pointless to try to protect things on the coast that are doomed to disappear. We want to manage it but hold on to the sense of tranquillity. The sense of remoteness is very rare in lowland England.

The organisations that work with it are looking to manage the change by allowing the coast and its wildlife to free themselves from the boundaries that act as a straitjacket.

There is a need to move towards a naturally functioning coastline rather than rely on man-made defences. Freshwater habitats that are protected by sea-walls will gradually be replaced by salt marsh and other coastal habitats.

Increased erosion of the dune system means that we need to start considering some form of planned retreat. We will replace coastal freshwater habitats with newly created habitats further inland. We need to ensure that landscapes and wildlife habitats are more resilient in order to cope with the impacts of climate change. The NWT envisages a large area of woodland heath and grassland made up of a network of connected habitats along the whole of the Cromer ridge, which would also provide recreational opportunities.

Another big challenge facing the coast is the pressure put on by it being such a coveted area for visitors. Norfolk's population will increase in the future, particularly in "growth point" communities including Norwich, King's Lynn and Thetford.

The changing coastline is having a big impact on farmers who see the sea gobbling up their land. They are also being forced to ponder how to make their businesses sustainable, while conserving landscape character and bio-diversity.

All of the projects have the people and environment of the area at heart. Reed cutters know that their jobs are secure and beautiful wildlife and vegetable gardens have been created at schools. rw

UK Unable to Sustain Population, Says Study

The UK is over-populated and could support only 17 million people if it had to provide for the current 60 million from its own resources. If global population growth continues the world could be at war over resources in less than 50 years and calls on governments to advocate smaller families and increased use of contraception.

Government targets to cut carbon emissions by 60% by 2050 will have little impact on the UK's sustainability because of the rate of population growth.

The number of people living in the UK is expected to hit 65 million within 10 years, and top 70 million by 2031.

Even if Britain was carbon neutral, it could only sustainably support 40 million people. To live sustainably, British people would have to lead simpler lives, similar to people in China, Paraguay, Algeria and Botswana.

The world was living within its ecological means until the 1980s when populations began to grow rapidly.

By 2050, it will be using up the equivalent of nearly two Earths each year and the UK's overpopulation threatens the environment and people's quality of life.

We need a national population policy. rw

UK Unable to Sustain Population, Says Study

If global population growth continues the world could be at war over resources in less than 50 years and calls on governments to advocate increased use of contraception.

UK government targets to cut carbon emissions by 60% by 2050 will have little impact on the UK's sustainability. The number of people living in the UK is expected to hit 65 million within 10 years, and top 70 million by 2031.

Britain could only sustainably support 40 million people with the same standard of living.

If the world consumed as much and generated the same waste as the UK, it would need three and a half planets to sustain the human race. The world was living within its ecological means until the 1980s when populations began to grow rapidly. By 2050, when the global population is expected to hit 9.2 billion, it will be using up the equivalent of nearly two Earths each year, according to the study.

This shows how desperately we need a national population policy.

Even if the made a 60% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 UK "overpopulation" would grow from 43 to 50 million.

How many people can live on Earth? Evidence suggests that, in 2003, total world population was 6.3 billion but the sustainable figure was 5.1 billion. Global overpopulation was 1.2 billion.

As standards of living rise the number of people the planet can support will diminish. Although the UN forecasts a world population rising to 9.2 billion by 2050, the Earth's long-term sustainable population is in the 2-3 billion range.

For the UK, a sustainable population is between 17 and 27 million, less than half the current total and between a third and a fifth of the 85 million who will be in the country in the last quarter of this century

The size is a result of its affluence combined with a high population density. The ecological footprint is 3.5 times greater than its capacity.

To live sustainably, the current UK population of 60 million would have to live similar to citizens of countries such as China, and the Dominican Republic.

A zero-carbon Britain would have a maximum sustainable population of 40 million if it refused to change its lifestyle. In reality, a ‘zero-carbon' UK could never reach sustainability without population reduction.

Resource wars and starvation "threaten the worst population crash in the history of humankind."

There is an urgent need for national strategies on sustainable population in all countries. Politicians must persuade their nations to accept the necessity of smaller families and provide the means for people to reduce their family size. This study shows how far the UK is from sustainability and what a fundamental role human numbers play. This also shows how desperately we need a national population policy. rw

Italy;: Italians Rally to Defend Abortion Law

Hundreds of women rallied to protest police interrogation and to oppose a campaign by some conservatives to change Italy's abortion law.

One woman was detained by police after protesters scuffled with officers in Rome.

Health Minister showed solidarity with demonstrators. She denounced an incident when police rushed into a Naples hospital to interrogate a woman who had aborted a 21-week-old fetus minutes before. The 39-year-old woman says she had the abortion after learning the fetus had a grave genetic defect. The investigation came amid a drive seeking to limit the point in a pregnancy when abortion should be allowed.

Abortion after three months is allowed in Italy when a pregnancy is deemed a grave danger to a woman's mental or physical health.

Abortion through the end of the third month of any pregnancy was legalized in 1978, despite opposition from the Vatican.

Conservative former premier Silvio Berlusconi wants the UN to approve a worldwide moratorium on abortions. Berlusconi's opponent is defending Italy's abortion law. rw

Italy;: Foetus Seized in Abortion Inquiry

Police in Naples interrogated a woman who had had her pregnancy terminated, and impounded her aborted foetus. The woman, said: "I was still under the anaesthetic. They gave me the third degree: 'why did I have an abortion, who was the father?'"

Her pregnancy was terminated in its 21st week, which was within the period allowed by Italy's 1978 abortion act. The foetus had grave abnormalities.

The health minister said: "The witchhunt is on. What happened mirrors the intolerable climate of tension surrounding one of the most dramatic choices for a woman."

Doctors in Italy can legally perform abortions until about the 24th week if the mother's life is at risk or the foetus is seriously malformed. rw

Ireland: Safe-Sex Drive Gets Condom Price Boost

The price of a packet of condoms is set to fall following an Irish Government decision to reduce the tax on non-oral contraceptives from 21pc to 13.5pc.

This should see the price of 12 condoms reduced from 13.20 to 12.40 and three condoms from 4.20 to 3.94.

The State agency charged with reducing crisis pregnancy in Ireland, welcomed the move.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) said the reduction would make condoms more affordable, and now calls on the Government to reduce the tax on all medicines that are taxed at 21pc.

The Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships found that one in five people between 18-24 say that the cost of condoms would discourage their use. Condoms are the most popular method of contraception. Pharmacy chains and supermarket chains said that if there was a reduction in tax they would pass it on to their customers.

Condoms in Ireland are the most expensive in Europe and are not free under the medical card scheme. Even with the price cut, condoms in Ireland will remain amongst the most expensive in Europe. rw

U.K.: Teenage Pregnancy Rates 'Too High' - Prime Minister

The UK Prime Minister said that teenage pregnancy rates were "too high" and pledged to look at proposals for mandatory sex education in primary schools.

Hen said the whole country would benefit from a "better strategy" over teenage pregnancies and would consider a radical report that calls for free condoms and for sex and relationship classes in primary schools.

All parents should be sent a booklet on their child's 11th birthday, encouraging them to talk openly about sexual matters.

Children could visit sexual health clinics where they could gain information, advice and contraception.

He advocates allowing chemists to give out free emergency contraception.

The most recent figures on teenage pregnancy show that Britain has the highest rate in Western Europe and the map of teenage pregnancy is the same map as that of poverty and deprivation.

The whole country will benefit from a better strategy on teenage pregnancy. rw

Taking to the Water

Nowhere in Britain is further than 75 miles from the sea. A 1000 tonne ship uses a fraction of the fuel in comparison to road transport. The best transport brains in the country warned governments for decades that their policies were unsustainable. The road vehicle population has reached 33 million, while congestion and fuel prices are higher.

Congestion has negative implications in terms of reliability, operational efficiency, increasing cost burdens. However, changes in transport logistics are being driven by rising fuel prices, and the requirement to demonstrate corporate and social responsibility in how they move things around the country.

A northwest shipping company has been pioneering the use of inland waterborne freight transport for almost a decade. In 1998 the company began a long term contract to transport grain from Liverpool via the Manchester Ship Canal to Trafford Park. Each year the mill receives over 100,000 tonnes of grain. Without foresight and initiative this would have been transported by road. Building upon this experience it is now also transporting Welsh slate from north Wales to the port of Garston and Trafford Park. The move to a greener environmental agenda is backed by money and action. This has spilled over towards the use of waterborne freight transport.

The River Severn water transport is being used again for the first time in over ten years to move freight. Barges transport over 200,000 tonnes a year of aggregates. In the future a number of large scale developments, all capable of a water door-to-door delivery, are due to be built.

Planning permission has been granted for a £90 million deep-sea container berth development for the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board that will provide a major gateway for container trade with North America.

Waterborne freight transport is becoming more competitive, with the added bonus of being sustainable and environmentally friendly. rw

Anti-abortion Bill Imperils Italy's Governing Coalition

The Vatican is backing an Italian opposition proposal to make it harder to end pregnancies, threatening to open new divisions in Prime Minister Romano Prodi's coalition.

The proposal was welcomed by the current and previous heads of the Italian bishops' conference and Mr. Bondi has called to ban abortion after the 90th day of pregnancy.

The call has gained support among conservative Catholics across party lines, threatening to undermine efforts to unite the nine-way coalition. rw

U.K.: Sustainable Growth is the Key to Our Future

No discussion of sustainable consumption can ignore the concept of "peak oil". As oil becomes scarcer, so its price rises. The social effects of using up our oil resources might have even a greater impact.

What's not contestable is that we are using our remaining oil at an incredibly fast rate. As our planet's population is forecast to double between 1980 and 2030, the reliance of more and more people on an ever-shrinking resource might well prove calamitous.

Thus profound changes must be made in how we see our own futures.

For instance, we should learn how to grow and cook our own food. Such basic skills are rare today, but will help us survive in a world where the social and environmental impacts of climate change and resource depletion are still unimaginable for most people.

However sophisticated we think we are, all of our activities are dependent on three inches of topsoil!

The possibility of "sustainable consumption" in a world whose population is increasing so quickly, is hotly disputed. China is increasingly blamed for its levels of pollution. But it is demand from countries like the UK which leads to smoke from Chinese factories.

Outsourcing to China creates more greenhouse gas emissions for each product made.

Across Wales, areas of derelict land can be utilised for new community green spaces and for growing vegetables. But local growers will only prosper if they are encouraged – and not ignored or squeezed out – by the power of the supermarkets.

Traditionally in Wales our industry has created milk or wool or coal or slate, but rarely "products" made from that produce. We have left it to others to exploit our wealth.

Thus the new concept involves the population of a distinctive town, such as Lampeter, encouraging individuals to produce local foodstuffs, urging consumers to purchase those foods, whilst appealing to supermarkets in the area to stock these local goods.

If everyone in the world lived like the Welsh we'd need the resources of three planets to meet our needs.

Transport accounts for about a quarter of carbon emissions – cars alone contribute 13% of our CO2. We're raising a generation of children who think it's normal to jump in the back of a car for a short trip to the newsagents. By 2050 over half of all children will be clinically overweight, making them more prone to life-curtailing illnesses.

We need to become more active and to do this Wales needs a truly integrated transport system so people can choose to make their everyday journeys in healthy and environmentally-friendly ways.

Over 60% of the journeys we make are less than five miles, yet even on these short journeys the car is still the preferred way to travel.

Sustrans has been working on projects to help people choose to travel by bike, on foot or by public transport for more than 30 years.

It is the local, everyday journeys, which Sustrans believe offer the most effective strategy to tackle environmental, economic and social issues.

Wales now boasts more than 1,200 miles of National Cycle Network routes, criss-crossing the country north to south and east to west, and last year nearly 31 million trips were made on these routes.

Long-distance routes provide much-needed tourism opportunities as people flock to experience the rugged Welsh mountains and coastline by bike or on foot.

Local links which connect schools, hospitals, shops, leisure facilities and green spaces offer people an alternative to taking the car. In Swansea, a section of Route 4 along the coast has seen a 28% annual increase in cycling and walking trips.

Connect2 aims to tackle a legacy of not prioritising pedestrians and cyclists, making it difficult for people to travel under their own steam, even short distances, as there is no easy route to take them directly where they want to go.

Each scheme will overcome some kind of barrier which has been stopping people from walking or cycling to where they want to go – these may be rivers, railways, roads or tunnels.

DIY Streets takes neighbourhood regeneration back to its roots and looks for affordable, simple and community-led solutions to overcome issues such as speeding cars and small motorbikes. DIY Streets prioritises people, not vehicles, where all users share the street on equal terms, and cars travel at no more then a walking pace.

Developing useful and attractive routes and helping communities reclaim their streets for walkers and cyclists is only half the battle in terms of encouraging people to change their travel behaviour.

We know what works. We know what we need to do to drive down emissions and reduce obesity.

Now comes the hard part – we've got to do it. rw

U.K.: Ministers Fail on Teen Pregnancy Teen Sex Education Backfiring as Numbers Hit Highest Level for Almost a Decade

Every year, 50,000 girls under 18 fall pregnant. The number who conceive is at its highest level since a multi-million-pound teenage pregnancy crackdown almost a decade ago. Britain tops number of teenage mothers in western Europe, despite having a record number of school-age abortions.

The Government invested more than Pounds 150 million in an attempt to stem the tide of conceptions. But the conception rate has dropped by only 11% since 1998. In the 1970s, rates were similar across western Europe, but Britain has a teenage birth rate six times higher than Holland, four times Italy and three times France.

Government policies have allowed girls to obtain contraceptive and morning-after pills at school without the consent of their parents, while new proposals will allow them to go directly to pharmacists. Critics said the policies had made girls feel under pressure to become sexually active. Others expressed fears that popular culture made youth increasingly sexualised.

There is no evidence that easy availability of contraception reduces teenage pregnancy rates, instead it adds to pressure on young girls by normalising under-age sex.

We need a radical change away from a culture which has reduced sex to a casual recreational activity.

Girls who could obtain contraception before the age of consent were more likely to become sexually active.

Sexual images in the media with explicit sex education have broken down the natural inhibitions of children about sex. Between 1999 and 2005 the number of 16- and 17-year-olds becoming pregnant increased from 39,247 to 39,804. When girls aged between 13 and 15 were added, the total rose from 46,655 to 47,277. In 2005, 47% of pregnancies among 16- and 17-year-olds were terminated, compared with 42% in 1998.

It is good that we have reduced some of the shame around sex that there was in the 1950s, but we have replaced it with unwanted babies being brought up by teenage girls. rw

U.K.;: Rising Population Adds to Climate Woes; Socio-economic Factors Play Big Part in Global Warming

Three-quartersu of the problems associated with global warming have to do with factors like rising population, and only a quarter with the climate.

The population debate has gone off the agenda. Climate change is not the major issue. Its a population problem.

Even in the UK, demographers once thought the population would stabilise at 60 million, but the latest projections suggest it could hit 75 million and that would make meeting the emissions obligations that much more difficult. The issue of growing populations and consumer behaviour could prove even harder for governments to deal with. Meanwhile, government policy must accommodate the uncertainty and wide range of climatic predictions.

Ideally, policy should could allow for further steps to be taken after initial mitigation, if outcomes turn out worse than expected.

But neither the UK nor any other government has yet been 'realistic' about the efforts needed to combat global warming. The UK has a target of reducing emissions by 60% by 2050. Its climate change bill will get 'nowhere near' the target, which requires a 9% drop in emissions every year. rw

U.K.;: Women to Be Able to Get Pill on Demand at Local Pharmacy

Women will be able to get the contraceptive pill from their chemist under new plans revealed by the government.

They will be able to walk into the chemist's and obtain the pill after a discreet conversation with the pharmacist.

It had not yet been decided whether girls under 16 would be able to get the pill without their parents being informed. The morning-after pill is already available to women including under-age girls from a pharmacist, if he or she is satisfied that they are competent to make the decision to take it and are in good health.

Any woman getting the pill would involve a questionnaire about her health and other medication she might be taking. It could also mean that the pharmacist would take her blood pressure.

Pharmacists will be given extra training. The move towards pharmacy availability is intended to make life easier for women. Pharmacies could play an increased role in the provision of contraception and other sexual health services because of their accessibility and convenient opening hours.

For the change to come about, strategic health authorities must issue instructions called patient group directions, permitting pharmacists to prescribe specific medicines to specific groups of people.

Not only the morning-after pill but also cholesterol-lowering statins are available from pharmacists, who carry out checks to ensure the drugs are suitable for those who request them. The Department of Health wants to increase the range of medicines available this way. rw

Nigeria;: How to Battle Rising Maternal Deaths

Gynecologists and Obstetricians have a resolve to put an immediate end to the increasing rate of maternal deaths in the country. About 529,000 women die annually globally, Nigeria is said to account for 10%.

Many young women, particularly those from the northern parts of the country go through giving birth for one reason or the other. Some may be that she would not allow a male doctor to attend to her during delivery.

This attitude and belief may have accounted for a good number of maternal and newborn deaths in Nigeria. Though, other factors can account for the high rate of maternal and newborn deaths. Some of those factors include bad roads, absence of health facilities, while the persistent electricity failure could also be said to have contributed to the death of mothers.

Nigeria is the second highest, next to India, with a rate of maternal and infant death. "We have been interacting with Government, International and National donor agencies, the private sector and faith groups to find out why up to now Nigeria has not been able to fashion a way to deal with the high mortality".

It was clear that the only way they can impact the figures was for the stakeholders to work together in a structure that will cover the whole country with their bases rooted in the existing health structure of the states, federal government and private health institutions.

SOGON has come up with a National partnership plan and structure which have integrated all levels of Local State, Federal, Faith and Private health structures into a system that will be able to handle and overcome the high maternal and newborn death rates in the country.

It was important to look at the socio-cultural milieu within which the people live. This, heavily influences not only the health of the population but also more importantly the ability of people to take decisions including decisions on health matters.

"The Nigerian woman, like all African women, is primarily responsible for the health of children. This status of the woman is central to both maternal and infant health and mortality. Thus gender roles from conception, through childhood and adolescence affect this biologic responsibility" In Nigeria 44% of females are illiterates compared to 22% of males. Maternal mortality was the end result of social dynamics that starts way before pregnancy

Maternal mortality is dependent on the age at which a woman gets pregnant, the number of wanted pregnancies as compared to unwanted pregnancies which are associated with high level of abortions, the financial situation of the woman and her ability and level of decision making about her health and those of her children. The ability of a woman to take decisions on issues affecting her and her children was determined by her educational status. Her ability to actualize her decision was determined to a large extent by her economic empowerment. rw

European Union Forests Expanding, Absorbing Carbon at Surprisingly High Rate

The University of Helsinki study says that despite rising population, the EU can meet its obligations post-Kyoto (2012-2020). New technologies and mitigating non-CO2 gasses such as methane; partial credit for expansion of the region's forests could be decisive. A study finds that between 1990 and 2005, expansion of tree vegetation in the EU countries annually absorbed an additional 126 million tonnes of carbon, equal to 11% of the region's emissions.

The rate varied from 10% in the 15 old member states 15% in the 12 new members. The findings were surprising, in 1992 they estimated the rate of increase of CO2 absorbsion through the expansion of forests at no more than 5%.

The study shows that total CO2 sequestered by EU forests varies widely from country to country. Last year they advanced a more sophisticated approach to measuring forest cover that considers not just forested area but density of trees per hectare.

Their calculation also quantifies the biomass and atmospheric carbon stored in forests. They reported that, amid concern about deforestation, growing stock has expanded over the past 15 years in 22 of the 50 countries with most forest, including several EU members.

The good news is that trees are efficient mechanisms for capturing and storing carbon. The better news is that Europe's forests are thriving and expanding and will play an increasingly important role in helping the EU to reach its environmental goals.

Every year, the expanding European forests remove a surprisingly large amount of carbon from the atmosphere. Their impact in reducing atmospheric carbon may be twice that achieved by the use of renewable energy in Europe today.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU commited to an 8% reduction of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. Under the protocol, countries do not get credit for increasing natural carbon sinks through forestry and agriculture. The researchers note the challenge confronting EU nations in order to meet a post-Kyoto commitment to reduce emissions 20% from 1990 levels by 2020. CO2 emissions in EU nations grew by an average of roughly 1% every three years between 1992 and 2004. Europe-wide emissions have not yet started to decline and time is running out for the EU to achieve its 2020 goal.

"Policies that accelerate the expansion of our forest biomass not only represent a win-win for climate change and biodiversity, they also open up economic opportunities," "Land owners can benefit with new industries This could also help to reduce one of the main threats to sustained forest expansion, the need to open land to produce agricultural biofuels as alternatives to fossil fuels." rw

Europe;: Fever Outbreak Linked to Climate Change

An outbreak in Europe of an obscure disease from Africa is raising concerns that globalization and climate change are combining to pose a health threat to the West.

Nearly 300 cases of chikungunya fever, a virus that previously has been common only in Africa and Asia, were reported in Italy. While the outbreak was largely the result of stronger trade and travel ties, some experts believe it is a sign of how global warming is creating new breeding grounds for diseases.

Officials said the mild winter in Italy allowed mosquitoes to start breeding earlier than usual. More mosquitoes mean more disease. With warmer temperatures in the future, Europe and North America might be hit by outbreaks of diseases usually confined to southern continents.

We need to be prepared for more surprises like this in the future.

Italian officials grew suspicious in July, when dozens of people in the country's northeast complained of fevers, joint pain, headaches and rashes. Lab tests confirmed chikungunya fever, a disease spread by mosquitoes.

Officials believe the virus arrived when a tourist from India brought the virus. The Asian tiger mosquito, which can spread the disease, had reached Italy nearly two decades earlier.

The Asian tiger mosquito might be capable of spreading more dangerous diseases. Scientists think Europe's advanced health systems will help avert widespread disease. Malaria was once endemic in much of Europe but disappeared once the swamps that bred mosquitoes were replaced by buildings and medicines to treat malaria became available.

But some species of mosquito prefer breeding sites like rain-filled gutters and plastic containers.

France also saw a few dozen cases of chikungunya last year.

Southern European countries around the Adriatic coast like Greece, France and Spain are also at risk.

As temperatures keep rising, disease detection and response systems need to be reinforced.

With warmer weather, it is likely we will have diseases in Europe that no one had ever expected. rw

Italy;: AIDS Message Takes on Pope by Breaking C-word Taboo

A film director has broken a national taboo by making a series of AIDS awareness advertisements using the word "condom".

A government-backed TV commercial aimed at helping Italians to overcome their embarrassment in asking for contraceptives. Previous campaigns have avoided mention of condoms in the Catholic nation, which records 4,000 new HIV cases each year.

Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholic pharmacists to avoid dispensing contraceptives and pregnancy terminating drugs. The latest adverts have put the administration on a collision course with the Vatican. One shows the airport chemist's shop, where a young man is trying to summon up the courage to ask for condoms. His girlfriend, impatient with his shyness, marches up to the counter and asks for them. An older couple waiting for a flight follow suit, and the chemist is suddenly inundated by passengers clamouring for condoms.

Ambra Angiolini, a well known actress and TV host, will remind viewers of the "terrifying statistics" of AIDS infection. She told the Corriere della Sera that many young Italians thought of AIDS as "something that has passed, like smallpox, and which people don't catch any more".

The Health Minister said that the Pope had the right to "urge young people to be sexually responsible" but had "no business telling professionals such as pharmacists what to do". rw

Spain;: Andalucia and the Strategy for Coastal Sustainability

Madrid announced a radical change in the policy regarding building on Spain's coast. Since the 1960s buildings went up to satisfy the demand of the millions of visitors, with 260,000 hectares of littoral replaced by buildings between 2000 and 2005. The government wants to rid 800 kilometres of coast of constructions illegally erected after the Coast Law of 1988.

Thousands of homes, and other development built on Spain's sands and 100 metres inland face demolition.

At the moment, this is nothing more than a statement of intent, as the government needs the support of town halls and authorities to push the measure through. Today, the socialists are in charge. However, the conservatives run many of the town halls. For many years, the beaches of Cádiz were free from the construction witnessed in Málaga, Granada and Almería. Today, many parts of its coastline are a "carbon copy of Marbella". Under 32% of its 272-kilometre coastline is built up. The government fears this figure would be higher were it not that the province has nine areas of its coastline protected.

But the situation is so out of control that the very survival of Cadiz's coast is under threat. Att Chiclana construction has been under the microscope as the construction of 40,000 new homes has been suspended. Chiclana is a disaster, there are around 25,000 illegal homes many of which do not have electricity or an adequate sewage system. The Costa del Sol is a 200-kilometre stretch of concrete and glass. At Málaga, almost 51% of the first kilometre inland is built up while in some parts of the coast, construction kisses the Mediterranean. There are more than 1,000 beach restaurants that will have to come down under the government's plan. rw

Spain;: Too Close for Comfort

The demolition of Spanish holiday homes is in the headlines, following proposals announced last week by the government aimed at protecting the country's coastline from overdevelopment. At issue are thousands of properties up and down the coast and islands that have been built illegally too close to the coastline.

The initiative, which follows years of construction, is about establishing a new development model. It is also about preparing for global warming. A document entitled A Strategy for Coastal Sustainability argues that Spain should move away from mass tourism and rapid urbanisation. Radical solutions are needed to save the environment and guarantee a sustainable future for the coastal economy. The proposal is evidence of overcrowding and overdevelopment on the coast, where 44% of Spain's population is squeezed into 7% of its territory, which attracts 80% of tourists. According to the document, 40% of the Mediterranean coastline is built up and 57% of its beaches hemmed in by construction. As a result, 30% of the coast, 51% of beaches and 70% of dune areas are now in trouble. Then there is the threat of rising sea levels from global warming, which environmentalists say will shave 15 metres off the average Spanish beach by 2050, rising to 30 meters or more in some areas.

The coastal law, passed in 1988, aims to protect the shore by turning all beaches into public land and prohibiting the building of new residential zones within 100 metres. Urban-planning rules in Spain have often been ignored, and thousands of residential properties have been illegally built close to the beach, often with permission from local authorities. Properties that were built legally before the Ley de Costas are unaffected. Though no figures are available, it is thought many of the illegal homes are owned by Britons, most of whom have never heard of that particular law and have no idea that their properties are at risk. Any new plan will have to deal with these properties, which could in theory involve expropriation or compulsory purchase leading to demolition.

The proposals show that environmental concerns, are moving up the political agenda. This could boost the value of properties that have been legally built. If Gore is right, global warming will bring the waterfront right to your door. rw

U.K.;: Wales Carbon Footprint Shame

With a population just under three million and some of the greatest scenery on earth, many would expect Wales' carbon output to rank among the lowest in the world.

But the nation is producing more carbon dioxide per person than Russia or China.

The Government is facing accusations that it is failing to deal with the problem. Wales has the 12th worst carbon footprint in the world. The latest figures show Wales produces 41.8m tonnes of CO2 every year, 14.2 tonnes per person.

In England, CO2 emissions per person sit at 8.8 tonnes, while in Scotland the figure is 8.5 tonnes and in Northern Ireland it is 9.5 tonnes.

In Europe, Wales is the third worst pollutant, and the problem has steadily worsened over the last 15 years. The Government is working to create a three per cent annual cut of CO2 emissions by 2011.

But it is unlikely to reach these goals.

We have the potential to lead the way because we have all the right resources here, but they're not being used.

Two things must be done, including an awareness campaign so people can understand why it is a good thing to reduce energy use.

Every government should be spending at least 2% of their GDP on addressing issues of climate change.

Everyone needs full insulation in their houses, we need to make sure there is enough public transport and make sure the Carbon Trust gets in and does a lot of work with industries."

There needs to be legislation in place to force local authorities to take action."

"Unless we address the issue of reducing carbon emissions in Wales now, then it will escalate. It could become a total disaster."

"We must become more sophisticated in the targets that we use. We have done a lot with public sector stock and private rental housing, but we need to start focusing on private sector housing."

She said: "Carbon emissions in Wales appear higher because of the amount of heavy industry and electricity generation in Wales. Road transport and residential emissions are in line with the rest of the UK."

The Environment Minister was providing more resources to making sure Wales' reliance on coal and gas fired power stations was reduced. rw

Pope's Appeal to Allow Pharmacists to be Conscientious Objectors

The Pope told an international conference that pharmacists should be guaranteed the right to conscientious objection in cases where medicines they distribute can block pregnancy, provoke abortion or assist euthanasia.

Health Minister Livia Turco said that the Pope could not tell professionals such as pharmacists what to do.

Benedict did not mention any specific drugs but appeared to refer to the morning after pill. It is available only by doctor's prescription in Italy.

He also referred to RU-486, which is available on an experimental basis in some Italian hospitals. It blocks the action of hormones needed to keep a fertilized egg implanted in the uterus.

The head of pharmacists' professional group Federfarma, said that by law pharmacists had to distribute medicine prescribed by a doctor.

While some politicians defended the Pope's right to speak his mind and the right of pharmacists to be conscientious objectors, others criticized him.

The Church teaches that artificial birth control, abortion and euthanasia are wrong. Italian media interviewed pharmacists who are practicing Catholics. Some said they were obliged to put aside their personal beliefs and sell the prescribed medicine, while others said they preferred to ask a colleague to do so.

US family planning groups support wider access, but conservative and religious groups have argued that easy availability of the pill promotes promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases. rw

Europeans More Likely to Buy Environmentally-friendly Products

A survey revealed that Europeans are 50% more likely to buy environmentally-friendly products than Americans. They are 25% more likely to recycle and to try to influence family and friends to buy green goods and be environmentally conscious.

The study divided the adult population of Europe according to people's buying patterns, product use and attitudes to sustainability, corporate responsibility and the use of environmentally friendly products and services.

The results showed that Europeans are 32% more likely to buy products that have organic or environmental stamps of authenticity on them, but 25% less likely than Americans to pay more for environmentally friendly products.

Environmental initiatives carried out by the European Union have played a large role in developing a "green consciousness" among European consumers. The rise in popularity of organic food and natural medicines and therapies, which are publicised frequently in the media, are also contributing to the growing green consciousness. rw

Growth of UK Population is Unsustainable, Says Cameron

In his first speech on immigration and population, the Conservative leader will attack Gordon Brown for failing to tackle the causes of Britain's growing demographic problems. He will call for a "grown-up conversation" about population growth. Britain's population is set to rise by nine million over the next 20 years, because of higher life expectancy and higher immigration. He will say that we need to reduce the level of net immigration and the pressure of household formation.

He will call for an understanding of the challenge, as well as action to ensure that the population grows sustainably. We need to bring policy on housing, skills immigration control, the family, border control, into a coherent long-term population strategy.

In the past 40 years, the population grew by about six million. Over the next 40 years it is expected to grow more than twice as fast.

The country faces a choice. We have to get used to it or most importantly, we will also make clear how our approach joins up and fits together into a coherent long-term strategy. rw

U.K.;: Calls for 'Three Planets' Action

The report, says that if everyone on Earth consumed resources at the rate Wales does, the world's population would need three planets. It sets out a vision for a Wales, with a 75% cut in the nation's ecological footprint by 2050.

It identifies seven key areas.

Food: At present 75% of all food eaten in Wales comes through supermarkets. The agenda sees an agricultural-environmental agenda on the producer side, and a healthy diet on the consumer side;

Buildings: Many towns in Wales are composed of buildings which are inefficient. Policies for new buildings are needed, with a future of low carbon sustainable buildings responsive to the sun and the elements, surrounded by townscapes which are green, clean and human scale.

The vision sees a future of low-impact, high-quality, IT-enabled, responsive public transport; a car fleet which has raised its efficiency by several times; and on the demand side, a coordination of activities and locations to reduce travel needs.

In a new economy, the average product will last longer and be designed for re-use and reconditioning, built from lower-impact materials with higher efficiency, sourced locally or with low-impact distribution. Services the agenda needs to focus on public sector procurement and corporate social responsibility. Wales' energy demand is tapered down and local renewable energy sources are accelerated.

Resource economy is based on re-circulation: recycled, re-manufactured and re-used materials and products. Our very future depends on our ability to live within the limits of the Earth's natural resources, yet since the 1980s human demand has been exceeding the Earth's ability to replenish and absorb. rw

UK Engineers Urged to Tackle Climate Change

The next generation of engineers must lead the world in developing environmentally friendly technologies. Tackling climate change and the effects of population growth could generate at least £700bn globally by 2015.

British engineers should capitalise on the opportunity while helping to mitigate the most damaging aspects of climate change.

The sustainable companies of tomorrow will need engineers that can help them find ethical, environmentally sound solutions to the tough challenges. Companies must ensure that UK engineering has the highly skilled workforce required. If action is not taken in all sectors of industry and the community, global temperatures will rise by up to 6.4 degrees, and sea levels by 20cm to 60cm by the end of this century. rw

France Enjoying State-Supported Baby Boom

France has seen its fertility rate soar, a country that gives presidential medals to its most prolific parents.

It's fashionable," says Marie Carles, 31. An environmental consultant, Carles gets 80% of her salary while on maternity leave for 16 weeks. When she returns to work, her son will go into a subsidized child-care facility costing as little as $350 Canadian a month.

The French system is child-friendly.

Seror, who recently spent five years in Vancouver while her husband taught at the University of British Columbia, said she won't return to her guaranteed high school teaching job until her toddler turns three. At that point she will have been on leave for eight years.

She currently gets the equivalent of about $400 a month in benefits for her three children.

Canada's birth rate this year, will be 1.61 children per woman, in line with that of the UK and Sweden, and ahead of Japan's and Germany's 1.4 children.

France's estimated rate, is two children per woman.

France is expected to grow by 10 to 70 million people by 2050, to become the continent's most densely populated country. rw