Egypt's burgeoning population is once again in the news.
New baby is born in Egypt every five seconds : Deputy Minister of Health
"The Egyptian government has set a population control target of 112 million people in Egypt by 2030. The plan is through the implementation of a ‘Family Planning’ strategy, that aims to regulate birth rates, Health Minister Ahmed Emad Al Din said."
According to the state-run newspaper of Al-Ahram, the Health Minister stated that not implementing a strategy will lead to the population growth of 128 million people in Egypt by 2030.
The Health Ministry celebration of International Population Day was to stress that Egypt’s progress will not take place without a real family planning policy implemented on the ground."
http://www.egyptindependent.com/target- ... -minister/
Setting a target - plucking a figure out of the air - is all too often the official response to a perceived problem. Tourist numbers is another recent example.
Education is mentioned as the basis of the"new" strategy. Yeah right. That hasn't worked too well in the past and, in any case, relies on another sadly deficient component of the social infrastructure.
The dangers of the population outstripping resources are self-evident. The manner by which population growth can be curtailed, less so.
With a large part of the population poor, the earning capacity of sons is seen as a necessity for survival whilst the statistically equivalent number of girls can be passed on for dowries.
And then, married off barely out of puberty, start reproducing to accelerate the population growth.
Birth control, even subsidised by the state, has failed to catch on in this conservative islamic society. The Chinese solution of penalising families who produce more than their quota is unlikely to go down well in an already impoverished society whilst coerced abortions is a definite no-no. Maybe they could consider 'rewarding' families who stopped at, say, 3 kids. Don't ask me how this could be policed.
Thomas Malthus predicted a grim future for humanity as population outstripped the food to feed it....famine, pestilence, war. But he also felt that population growth would naturally be constrained within available resources.....by famine , pestilence, war presumably. Hedging his bets somewhat.
Later economic thinking was that man's ability to control his environment and scientific advancements in the field of food production would always outstrip the pressure of population growth. Maybe an overly optimistic stance....but one which has held up well in the world so far, despite the rapid growth of world population over the last two centuries.
Egypt might be the exception...unless efforts to reclaim the desert, to curtail water wastage etc. bear fruit.
In the meantime the politicos can wring their hands, draft papers, hold conferences and make predictions in the firm belief that their wishes are self-fulfilling.
They can perhaps take pride and comfort that Egypt ranks near the world top in one statistic.....fertility.
Egypt's population problem....again
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Re: Egypt's population problem....again
Children in poorer countries are often seen as the parents pension plan, to be honest younger people I have spoken to do realize the cost of raising children and say they want to confine their family to 2 children.
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Re: Egypt's population problem....again
Slightly off topic, but picking up on one of newcastles comments, if we stop fighting each other and work together, the Sahara can be reclaimed.
That makes enough space for more than double the present world human population.
Irrigation, solar panels and desalinated water pumped into the desert, making way for plant life, then it eventually sets up its own climate, then animals and humans can move in ... again...
That makes enough space for more than double the present world human population.
Irrigation, solar panels and desalinated water pumped into the desert, making way for plant life, then it eventually sets up its own climate, then animals and humans can move in ... again...
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Re: Egypt's population problem....again
At over 500 trillion sq mtrs, there's no shortage of land mass on the planet for potential human habitation and a lot of it is much more amenable to settlement than the Sahara.
As for creating its own climate, you may be thinking of the rain forest belt girdling the earth which does have some overall climatic effect. Irrigation and crop growth in the Sahara area, even were it possible, wouldn't affect the climate to any significant degree.
I can't see the Sahara being reclaimed.....unless another tilt in the earth's axis rectifies what caused it in the first place. Bits which have significant aquifers,e.g. Upper Egypt, can be reclaimed temporarily....but the underground water is a finite resource.
The idea that our species might unify in order to cooperate in maximising the planet's resources is a truly Utopian dream
I'd give homo sapiens another millennium before it renders the earth uninhabitable....the era of the cockroach approaches
As for creating its own climate, you may be thinking of the rain forest belt girdling the earth which does have some overall climatic effect. Irrigation and crop growth in the Sahara area, even were it possible, wouldn't affect the climate to any significant degree.
I can't see the Sahara being reclaimed.....unless another tilt in the earth's axis rectifies what caused it in the first place. Bits which have significant aquifers,e.g. Upper Egypt, can be reclaimed temporarily....but the underground water is a finite resource.
The idea that our species might unify in order to cooperate in maximising the planet's resources is a truly Utopian dream
I'd give homo sapiens another millennium before it renders the earth uninhabitable....the era of the cockroach approaches
- John Landon
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Re: Egypt's population problem....again
Oh dear, if thats the case, then we may as well nuke the planet now and save a lot of suffering....... Your lack of vision is disturbing.
We have a few more years of war to contend with, then my vision will come into play, and Africa will become our home again.
it wont happen overnight, but happen it will... and we wont be doing to Africa what we did to Europe and America..
You are right though, Humans in their current 'guise have about 1000 years left.
We have a few more years of war to contend with, then my vision will come into play, and Africa will become our home again.
it wont happen overnight, but happen it will... and we wont be doing to Africa what we did to Europe and America..
You are right though, Humans in their current 'guise have about 1000 years left.
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Re: Egypt's population problem....again
Au contraire!John Landon wrote:Oh dear, if thats the case, then we may as well nuke the planet now and save a lot of suffering....... Your lack of vision is disturbing.
We have a few more years of war to contend with, then my vision will come into play, and Africa will become our home again.
You'll note I'm already settled in Africa.
I'm WAY ahead of you peasants
- John Landon
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Re: Egypt's population problem....again
Keep up the good work, as I often say to people who live there.. You are in the right place...
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