: Blog

News from Population Matters.

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    Happy birthday, but more to do before we blow out the candles

    We’ve been committed to raising the profile of population and our collective impact on Earth since 24 July 1991, and though a cynic might consider it counter-intuitive for us to celebrate, that cynic would be ignorant of our unerring dedication to help create a better world for people everywhere, and the positive difference we are making.

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    New global plan to save species must tackle population

    Last week, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity published the latest draft of its Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, the international plan to combat global biodiversity loss and ensure that by…

  • Indian policy risks return to the dark ages of population ‘control’

    On World Population Day, 11 July, the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh released a worrying new draft population policy that would include incentives for sterilisation and punishment for couples who…

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    Why we must seize this chance for change

    If we’ve learnt anything from the devastating impact of COVID-19, it’s that life will never be quite the same again, which, according to conservationists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin, opens…

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    China’s changing child policy: what does it mean?

    China’s panic over the consequences of a falling birth rate is typical of concerns across Asia and increasingly, the world’s wealthiest countries. The Chinese government’s response – moving its family…

  • Child marriage in the US: where is the outrage?

    Girls as young as ten are legally getting married in the United States – nearly 300,000 since 2000, according to a new report by Unchained At Last. With no protective…

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    Scotland’s not-so-sustainable population policy

    Scotland has just published its first-ever national population strategy. Population Matters Director Robin Maynard takes a look and laments the disconnect between the country’s many other progressive policy positions and…

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    “Baby drought”? Let’s focus on the real COVID-19 crises

    Mainstream media is rife with alarming headlines about how the world may soon run out of babies because the pandemic has caused people to postpone or rethink having (additional) children….

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    Troubled Waters: Population growth and climate change

    The theme of this year’s World Water Day is ‘valuing water’. The impact of the climate crisis and population growth alongside lack of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6: ‘Water…

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    The Handmaid’s Reality

    Across the world, reproductive rights and women’s rights are being increasingly curtailed by governments which want to boost birth rates. Head of Campaigns Alistair Currie looks at the disturbing linkages between nationalism, “family values” and panic over population loss.