• woodrow wilson center
  • ecsp

New Security Beat

Subscribe:
  • rss
  • mail-to
  • Who We Are
  • Topics
    • Population
    • Environment
    • Security
    • Health
    • Development
  • Columns
    • China Environment Forum
    • Choke Point
    • Dot-Mom
    • Navigating the Poles
    • New Security Broadcast
    • Reading Radar
  • Multimedia
    • Water Stories (Podcast Series)
    • Backdraft (Podcast Series)
    • Tracking the Energy Titans (Interactive)
  • Films
    • Water, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (Animated Short)
    • Paving the Way (Ethiopia)
    • Broken Landscape (India)
    • Scaling the Mountain (Nepal)
    • Healthy People, Healthy Environment (Tanzania)
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Contact Us

NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
  • Kenneth Weiss, Worldwatch Institute

    Environmental Researchers and the Touchy Topics of Family Planning and Population

    January 20, 2016 By Wilson Center Staff
    pearl-farming-Australia

    The original version of this article, by Kenneth Weiss, appeared on the Worldwatch Institute’s Family Planning and Environmental Sustainability Assessment (FPESA) blog.

    As a young and promising marine biologist, Camilo Mora led a team of 55 scientists assessing the rapid decline of fish on the world’s coral reefs. It was a global enterprise with broad implications. Hundreds of millions of people rely on reef fish for their primary source of animal protein. Healthy reefs protect coastal communities from devastating storms and provide a multitude of livelihoods, including jobs in the fast-growing tourism industry.

    To figure out why so many reef fish are in trouble, Mora plugged all of the possible factors into a massive data-driven analysis. One reason stood out from all the rest: the density of nearby human population. The more people who live close to the reef, the steeper the plunge in the abundance and diversity of fish. And those countries with coral reefs are all on the fast track to doubling their populations in this century.

    What happened next gave Mora an insight into why population has become a taboo topic – often avoided, if not intentionally ignored – in peer-reviewed literature, scientific conferences, and academic discussions.

    Mora drafted a conclusion suggesting improvements for reef management to confront overfishing, coastal development, and pollution “as well as long-term strategies (improvements in education, empowerment of women, family planning, poverty alleviation, etc.) to curb the growth of coastal human populations.” Then he sent the draft to his colleagues for feedback.

    Continue reading on the FPESA blog.

    Sources: Worldwatch Institute.

    Photo Credit: A pearl farming community in Western Australia, courtesy of flickr user Sascha Wenninger.

    Topics: biodiversity, conservation, consumption, demography, development, environment, environmental health, gender, global health, maternal health, natural resources, PHE, population, protected areas, research, U.S.

Join the Conversation

  • RSS
  • subscribe
  • facebook
  • G+
  • twitter
  • iTunes
  • podomatic
  • youtube
Tweets by NewSecurityBeat

Trending Stories

  • unfccclogo1
  • Pop at COP: Population and Family Planning at the UN Climate Negotiations

Featured Media

Backdraft Podcast

play Backdraft
Podcasts

More »

What You're Saying

  • farmers are planting sweet potato seeds in the fields in Hebei Province, China Microplastics in Soil – Small Size Big Impact on U.S. and Chinese Agriculture
    ♥️MAGACat♥️ We Ultra Win!!!: Biden needs to give us all new washing machines. And masks for the washing machines. "changing the...
  • women_caregivers The Burden of Care: The Impact of Progressive Policies
    ♥️MAGACat♥️ We Ultra Win!!!: The woman on the left looks very Ukrainian. Are we taking care of her too? 5/19/2022
  • Pakistan-fertility-estimate Pakistan’s Population Bomb Defused?
    muhammad rehman: High infant mortality , low life span and immigration should also be taken into account. A TFR of...
  • woodrow
  • ecsp
  • RSS Feed
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Wilson Center
  • Contact Us
  • Print Friendly Page

© Copyright 2007-2022. Environmental Change and Security Program.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. All rights reserved.

Developed by Vico Rock Media

Environmental Change and Security Program

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center

  • One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
  • 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
  • Washington, DC 20004-3027

T 202-691-4000