Dear netters:
On page 7 of the March 1996 issue of "The Forestry Source" (a newspaper
published by the Society of American Foresters: SAF) there was a page
devoted to population growth. I was pleased that SAF devoted at least one
page to our most important environmental problem. I would encourage the
editors to devote more to this topic in the future. In fact, I would
encourage the editors to publish the SAF position statement (see below).
When was the last time this position statement was published in the Journal
of Forestry?
However, I must add I was disappointed in some of the views expressed by SAF
members. Some said we can resolve the pressures by education or
communication,... some recommended conservation. Yes these actions are
needed, but none recommended increasing the rate of tree planting to supply
energy and wood needs of an rapidly expanding population. None said that we
should adopt a population policy which encourages low global population
growth through individual actions. None said governments should change tax
codes away from subsidizing large families. None predicted how much forests
would decrease in the southern hemisphere by the year 2100 through doubling
the demand for wood used for energy (one of the world's renewable energy
resources). Only one voice (Hal Salwasser) said that we should change our
position statement to be more forceful against unconstrained population growth.
It seems to me that many SAF members might be willing to have the SAF
position statement on population growth expire (on June 30th). In fact, I
bet that many have never read the position and are unaware that it is being
revised.
The following is the current SAF position on population growth as well as
the Sierra Club policy. When I read the two, I get the impression that one
organization is more concerned about population growth than the other. For
example, when is the last time the Journal of Forestry put forth (published)
scientific information on the dangers of unlimited population expansion?
When comparing the two position statements, which organization seems to be
more concerned about making specific recommendations on population growth
policies?
I agree with Hal Salwasser view in PointCounterpoint (page 7). SAF's
position statement on population growth SHOULD NOT LAPSE!! It is time to
change our position from a passive role to an advocate role in this issue.
We need more foresters like Peter Salonius (New Brunswick) who are willing
to work on forming a population policy to encourage 2 child families. Peter
has said that "...we can not pretend any longer and, foresters (those
individuals in society for whom a long view should not be so difficult to
generate) should devote a certain percentage of their efforts to pointing
out the ridiculousness of our present course."
Let's bring this topic out of SAF's closet. Will the revised position
statement be stronger or weaker than the current position? I hope it will
be stronger. I hope the SAF will, at least, place before the public
scientific information on the dangers of unlimited population expansion and
the land-management options that will have to be faced.
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A Position of the Society of American Foresters. Adopted by the
Council of the Society of American Foresters on May 2, 1984, and renewed on
November 10, 1987, November 13, 1990, December 7, 1993 and December 5, 1994.
Management of Natural Resources in the Face of an Increasing Human Population
The relationship of human populations to forestland resources is a critical
factor in achieving the full benefits of those resources. As human
populations continue to increase substantially, increased demands of
forestland resources will result.
The United States has the capacity to provide leadership in this
global population challenge—as it has done in the conservation movement.
Our legislative measures to ameliorate air and water pollution and toxic
wastes and to protect endangered species and wildlands have established a
world standard. Yet these measures treat only the symptoms of uncontrolled
population growth. This primary conservation issue has yet to be seriously
addressed by the nation.
Professional foresters are concerned about the destruction and
degradation of habitat for both humans and wildlife. Mounting population
pressures not only lower the quality of life for humans but also contribute
to the extinction of plant and wildlife species. The parallels of current
population trends to wildlife management principles are obvious—in some
places people are overrunning their own habitat and that of other life forms
and making natural-resource management ineffectual. The best science and
technology we can devise will not extricate us from the absolute limitations
of the carrying capacity of our environment.
The relationship of human populations to forestland resources is a
critical factor in optimizing forest benefits. If human populations expand
substantially in the future, considerable increases in the demands on
forestland resources will occur. While recognizing that the much debated
political aspects of population policy are peripheral to the expertise of
professional forestland managers, we also recognize that the long-term
effectiveness of forest management and conservation efforts depends on the
resolution of this major domestic and global challenge. Therefore, the
Society encourages efforts to place before the public scientific information
on the dangers of unlimited population expansion and the land-management
options that will have to be faced.
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Sierra Club Policy: Population
The following policy on Population has been adopted by
the Sierra Club Board of Directors:
Population
The "population explosion" has severely disturbed the ecological
relationships between human beings and the environment. It has caused an
increasing scarcity of wilderness and wildlife and has impaired the beauty
of whole regions, as well as reducing the standards and the quality of
living. In recognition of the growing magnitude of this conservation issue,
the Sierra Club supports a greatly increased program of education on the
need for population control.
Adopted March 13, 1965; amended July 8, 1995
The Sierra Club endorses the objectives of legislation to establish
federal machinery to deal with the problems of rapid human
population growth, . . .
Adopted March 13, 1966
The Sierra Club urges the people of the United States to abandon
population growth as a pattern and goal; to commit themselves to
limit the total population of the United States in order to
achieve balance between population and resources; and to achieve
a stable population no later than the year 1990.
Adopted May 3-4, 1969
1. The Sierra Club urges that the United States and each of its
individual states and lesser political entities abandon all policies,
projects, or programs, including tax exemptions, designed to foster,
subsidize or promote population growth.
2. The Sierra Club urges that the United States and each of its
individual states and lesser political entities actively promote
educational processes aimed at stabilizing the population within the
earliest possible time.
3. The Sierra Club urges that the United States condition the
granting of all economic foreign aid on the actual implementation of
birth control programs in each of the foreign countries receiving
such aid and that wherever possible economic foreign aid be
given primarily for the purpose of funding such control programs
and not for purposes which actually compete with the fundamental
need to limit population growth.
4. The Sierra Club urges that each of the individual states of the
United States legalize abortion.
Adopted September 20-11, 1969
The Sierra Club endorses a resolution from the organization
Zero Population Growth concerning measures to
inhibit population growth. In essence, the resolution
parallels an earlier Sierra Club statement of policy.
Whereas, every human being and every American, present and future, has a
right to a world with a healthy environment, clean air and water,
uncluttered land, adequate food, sufficient open space, natural beauty,
wilderness and wildlife in variety and abundance, and an opportunity to gain
an appreciation of the natural world and our place in it through firsthand
experience, and
Whereas, population growth is directly involved in the pollution and
degradation of our environment -- air, water and land -- and intensifies
physical, psychological, social, political, and economic problems to the
extent that the well-being of individuals, the stability of society, and our
very survival of are threatened, and
Whereas, human populations are making ever increasing demands upon
irreplaceable natural materials and energy sources, and Whereas, the
protection of the quality of our environment is impossible in the face of
the present rate of population growth, including that in the United States,
despite the advanced state of technology and the growing affluence of some
segments of human society,
Be it resolved by the undersigned organizations--
That we must find, encourage, and implement at the earliest possible time
the necessary policies, attitudes, social standards, and actions that will,
by voluntary and humane means consistent with human rights and individual
conscience, bring about the stabilization of the population first of the
United States and then of the world;
That pursuant to this goal, families should not have more than two natural
children and adoption should be encouraged;
That state and federal laws should be changed to encourage small families
and to discourage large families;
That laws, policies, and attitudes that foster population growth or big
families, or that re strict abortion and contraception, or that attempt to
constrict the roles of men and women, should be abandoned;
That comprehensive and realistic birth-control programs should be available
to every member of our society; That environmental, population, and sex
education should be readily available; That there should be increased
research into the sociology of population stabilization and into the
improvement of contraceptive technology;
That private and governmental departments, commissions, and committees
should be created to deal effectively with the population problem; and That
the foreign policy of the United States should reflect the urgent realities
of the population-environment crisis.
Adopted June 4, 1970; amended July 8, 1995
World Population Year
The Sierra Club welcomes the deliberations of the World Population Year
Conference to convene in Bucharest in August 1974, and urges participating
nations to support an action plan designed to cope with problems related to
population levels:
1. The Sierra Club is concerned with the quality of life for all humanity.
Further unrestricted population growth will have unavoidable adverse effects
on present and future living standards and particularly will act to prevent
improvements of standards of living and intensify conditions of overcrowding
and hunger for millions in developing nations.
2. Excessive population density intensifies every environmental problem
associated with lack of adequate living space, lack of sufficient vital
natural resources, and the disposition of wastes. These environmental
problems include the poisoning of air, water and land resources;
insufficient production of the food and energy necessary to sustain life;
and increased susceptibility to disease arising from the debilitating effect
of this pollution and resource exhaustion. The Earth's limited reserves of
arable and habitable land, as well as mineral and energy resources, are
already being so severely strained by the existing population that it is
clear that increased population growth threatens our survival as a civilized
species.
Food and resource scarcity complicates the inequitable allocation of these
resources, promotes competition for these resources, promotes competition
between nations, and can lead to destructive economic and military conflict.
Increased population density creates environmental problems that transcend
national boundaries. Accordingly, regulation of population growth within
nations is a proper subject for policy formulation and other action by the
United Nations.
3. Therefore, the Sierra Club resolves that:
a. The aim of policies adopted by the United Nations Conference on
Population should be that world population should be reduced to a level no
greater than the carrying capacity of the Earth.
b. All individuals should be assured the ability to control reproduction by
the availability of information and facilities, where needed, for the whole
range of reproductive control. Technical assistance should be available to
nations requesting it from the United Nations.
c. An intensive and broad-based educational program should be instituted,
directed at persons in all countries, regardless of economic or educational
level, designed to increase their awareness of the direct relationship
between large family size and the adverse consequences of excessive
population growth, and the material advantages to existing and future world
populations of restraint on growth.
d. A full discussion should be had of the issues of racial or national
genocide. The Sierra Club believes that restraints on population growth are
not incompatible with a rational worldwide control over the distribution and
use of vital resources and that they do not constitute a threat of national
or racial genocide. The Sierra Club recommends that all nations, including
developed nations, help to formulate and participate in international
programs designed to curb population growth.
e. Population growth already overburdens parks, preserves, and other
recreational facilities. The continued enjoyment of natural areas without
irreparably impairing those areas depends on formulation of careful policies
for population reduction and proper land use.
f. The Sierra Club makes the following specific recommendations for action:
(1) The United Nations Conference on Population should urge that all
national programs that provide incentives to large families (tax
relief, financial assistance, etc.) be replaced with programs
encouraging small families.
(2) Each nation should be urged to create a national population
commission to formulate policy on population-growth constraint and
implement any programs that may be developed.
(3) The United Nations or another appropriate international agency
should expand and create a continuing program for the effective
collection and dissemination of data on population-growth trends and
densities, as well as the relation of such data to problems of
resource allocation and conservation. They should develop and to the
extent possible:
(a) implement large-scale educational programs on the hazards of
unrestrained growth and on the mechanisms of contraception and
family planning;
(b) conduct research on contraceptive techniques; and
(c) train personnel to carry out the foregoing.
(4) Those countries with the available re sources should be urged to
contribute funds to defray the cost of population growth restraint
programs initiated by less affluent nations and by international
agencies.
(5) Achievement of these ends should be made a top priority for
United Nations action at all levels, including formulation of
concrete programs for national implementation and funding.
If the above goals are immediately pursued on an international level, we
believe that population reduction may be achieved by voluntary controls on
reproduction.
Adopted May 4-5, 1974; amended July 8, 1995
Population Stabilization
The Sierra Club reaffirms its dedication and
its conviction that:
1. All nations of the world, including developed nations,
should formulate and participate in programs designed to curb their own
population growth, and
2. All developed nations, including the United
States, being the countries with impact on
the world development disproportionate to
their population sites, have an obligation
both to end their population growth as soon
as feasible and to substantially reduce their
consumption of this planet's non-renewable
resources.
U.S. Population policy
The Sierra Club supports the development by the federal government of a
population policy for the United States, as a means of articulating national
goals and coordinating federal efforts to achieve those goals.
U.S. Immigration Laws, Policies, and Practices The Sierra Club urges
Congress to conduct a thorough examination of U.S. immigration laws,
policies, and practices. This analysis should include discussion of
1. The impact of immigration of different levels on population trends in the
United States,
2. The disproportionate burden on certain states, and
3. The effect of immigration to the U.S. on population growth and
environmental quality in this country.
Substantial international migration, whether legal or illegal, arises to a
great extent from the growing desperation in many societies of the world.
With world population increasing at more than 70 million per year, it is
clear that international migration can make only an insignificant
contribution to easing world population pressures.
Currently, only the U.S., Canada, and Australia among all countries accept
more than a handful of permanent immigrants. All regions of the world must
reach a balance between their populations and resources. Developing
countries need to enlarge opportunities for their own residents, thus
increasing well-being, eventually lessening population growth rates, and
reducing the pressures to emigrate. Developing nations must work towards
greater conservation of resources as well as population stabilization in
order to reduce impact on depletion of non-renewable resources, creation of
pollution, and damage to ecosystems. This combination would remove the root
causes of international migration, by providing more equitable opportunities
for people throughout the world.
A major challenge facing the United States is to help influence the world in
this direction. The U.S. foreign assistance program and other U.S.
international activities can be major means to address such concerns.
Therefore, the Sierra Club urges continuing review of U.S. foreign policy
and foreign assistance programs to ensure that their efforts enhance
reduction in population growth rates, improve environmental protection, and
further environmentally sound development in all countries of the world.
Birth Control
The Sierra Club supports legislative efforts
to expand birth control services and research.
Adopted May 6-7, 1978
Policy Code 9.0
David South
School of Forestry
Auburn University, AL 36849-5418
USA
dsouth@forestry.auburn.edu
334-844-1022
334-844-1084 (FAX)
http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/coops/sfnmc/sfnmc.html
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The world population is expected to double by the year 2100. Therefore the
annual demand for wood for energy (etc.) will increase and might double (to
more than 7 billion m3/yr). To provide plantation wood for people in the
future, support the planting of trees on pastureland. Set a goal of
converting 8 million ha of pastureland/yr for the next 55years. This would
increase tree plantations to about 5% of the world's landbase.
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