By – Dr. N. Munal Meitei
“By improving health, empowering women, population growth comes down.” — Bill Gates
July 11 is the World Population Day as the planet reached 5 billion people on this day in 1987. This day is observed to raise awareness on the impact of growing population and issues including gender equality, the importance of family planning, poverty, maternal health, human rights and environmental problems.
The present world population is 8.30 billion and India’s population is 1.47 billion. Thus one in every 5 persons on the planet is an Indian. The world population will touch 14.2 billion by 2100at the present trend and that will be a population bomb. The theme for 2026 is “Realizing the hopes and aspirations of young people – today and for the future” emphasizes for a global push to shift the focus from raw population numbers to the economic, social and personal conditions that empower youth.
It acknowledges that while young people have ambitions—such as pursuing education, building careers and raising families—they often face severe obstacles like economic insecurity, climate disruption, and limited healthcare access. It also highlights the interconnectedness of these issues with sustainable development and the need for informed choices and equitable opportunities for all.
India was the first country to launch the national family planning program in 1952 to reduce birth rate with the requirement of national economy. Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease. Therefore it implies the rights of men and women to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning at their choice.
It also give the massages that to live together equitably on a healthy planet will depend on the choices and decisions we make today. This is an opportunity to celebrate our common humanity in diversity. It is also a reminder of our responsibility to care for each other and our planet.
Human and environmental health underpins in the millennium development goals which seek to eradicate poverty and hunger and ensure environmental sustainability. But to fulfill such important factorsfor8.30 billion by the mother earth is next to impossible. Thus, almost 821 million people in the world – 1 in 8 – do not have access to enough food. Around 2.2 billion people i.e. 1 in 3 do not assess safe drinking water and 1.6 billion people; i.e.1 in 5 of the world’s populations do not have their adequate housing.
The links between population growth and threats to the environment cannot be denied. Humans living on the earth tend to overlook the obvious facts that increased population lead to a significant increase of consumption that causes harms in the environment. We need a balance with increasing population to the conservation of the earth’s natural resources. People do not realise themselves with the strains that they put on their environment.
At present, globally it is estimated that 5 persons are born and about 2 persons are died for every second resulting an increase of approximately 3 persons per second. This increase is about 9.46 crores population per year. FAO estimates that a person required about 1.57 kg. food per day. Once born, to get livelihood is human right and as such to feed for these increase mouths, a huge forest to the size of 30 football grounds per minute amounting to the size of North-East India are cleared every year. The total of trees so cut will be around 16 billion trees per annum meanwhile the overall afforestation and natural regeneration worldwide are less than 1%. Think may be made; a tree can sink about one ton of CO2 in its life and can also produce the oxygen requirement for 8-10 persons annually. And forests are the most bio-diverse ecosystems in the world which hold thousands of undiscovered species, potential medicines and indigenous peoples.
Due to faster in population growth in forest and tribal areas, naturally available forest resources and non-timber forest produces are becoming inadequate for their basic livelihood. Many tribal people are giving up their traditional lifestyle and taking up farming and cattle ranching in the forest areas causing irreparable damage. Such people, formerly the protectors of forests, are gradually becoming threats to the forests and the wildlife. Thus, we should devise schemes to avert this harm and save the dwindling forests including the flora and fauna.
In Manipur, we also have population impact to our environment. Due to increase in population, the present pressures to our forests are maximized. To feed the increased population, we are cutting forests for jhooming, firewood and timber and turning many wetlands of the state into croplands and fish farms. Large scale poppy plantation has also given a big blow to our natural environment.
Therefore, we need to control the population explosion to save our Environment. This responsibility should be voluntarily accepted by each one of us, then only we can save our environmental for the future generation.
(The author is an environmentalist, presently working as DFO/Chandel, email-nmunall@yahoo.in)