Family planning

It is disappointing that Tiffany Jenkins (Perspective, 15 July) 
misrepresents Population Matters as promoting fear and scaremongering.

We believe that population and consumption growth are central to every environmental issue, from climate change to Cecil the lion.

Malthus, writing in 1800, did not predict the industrial and green revolutions. How confident can we be that technology can feed a projected 11 billion people given the increasing 
depletion of fisheries, water 
resources and fertile land?

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Even if it can, what will be the impact on the planet’s ever-
reducing wild spaces?

Being serious about sustainability means slowing and reversing population growth. Funding family planning services in 
developing countries is highly affordable and such aid should be expanded.

In developed countries, a smaller family is the norm and is the biggest contribution one can make to helping the environment.

Andrew Macnaughton

Convenor

Population Matters
(Scotland Group)