Abstract Letter

This specific resource management project is studying the issue of human overpopulation. It is a growing controversy that is affecting the global community. The official definition is often mistaken to be the amount of people on Earth, but in fact it is the amount of resources consumed by the increasing number of people. With the human population growing, the amount of resources necessary for life grows as well. An imbalance has been created because the Earth cannot replenish the resources at an equal or higher rate than its use.
The anarchy system in the global community makes it impossible to implement an international policy of population control, which leads countries to address the issue within their own borders. China created the One Child Policy to reduce the growth rate the country was experiencing. The policy stated that married, urban couples were restricted to have one child. Since the One Child Policy was enacted in 1979, more than 250 million births have been prevented. India passed legislation requiring poor citizens (determined by job, financial aid and governmental loans) to have involuntary sterilization surgery. After the backlash of the coercion used to force citizens to undergo surgery, India has resorted to softer methods to control its population.
Through research, the project started to focus on three countries handling the issue of human overpopulation: China, India and The Philippines. By examining the policies used to support or devastate each country’s population it was easy to form a holistic view of this prevalent issue. China implemented the One-Child Policy in 1979 to control its growing population. The policy states that married urban couples are only legally allowed to have one child. China created this policy to mitigate social, economic and environmental problems facing the country. The Chinese government supports the policy change by reporting that the implementation of the One-Child Policy has prevented more than 250 million births since 2000. With a quarter of a billion people less in China’s population, the country has had the opportunity to focus on addressing the original problems. The One Child Policy is considered to be successful because 76% of citizens support it and the policy allows for China believes the One Child Policy is still effective in controlling their population and won’t consider changing the policy for at least another decade. India has also taken measures to address the country’s growing overpopulation problem. The first initiative began between 1975 and 1977 when the country forced thousands of poor men and women to undergo sterilization procedures. When citizens applied for government loans, jobs or aid they were required to consent to sterilization procedures. The negative backlash convinced the government to talk a softer approach to tackling the problem. As a result, by 2050 India will become the most populated country with over 1.8 billion people. The Philippines have outlawed any type of abortions and made contraceptives virtually unavailable. Fueled by traditional religious values the Philippine’s government is forcing women to take alternative measures of abortions such as falling down stairs and taking dangerous concoctions of drugs just to terminate pregnancies. Families are unable to provide for multiple children causing women to have unpredictable actions to end their baby’s life. Legislation has been presented numerous times to legalize abortions and increase the availability of birth control, but each attempt has been denied.

There are two possible solutions to take away from each of these countries: one emulating successful policies, such as the One Child Policy, as a way to address overpopulation in our respective country and putting pressure on the government to see the consequences of their behavior. The only way to accomplish either one of these goals, is writing a letter to support the passing of legislation related to human overpopulation. By using your voice, governments will see the importance of the issue, understand that it is even important on the “main street” level and maybe learn more about a predominantly unknown issue.