Climate meetings: no one appears to have spoken about reducing population growth

By NS Venkataraman*
The Glasgow Climate Meet (COP 26) took place in 2021 with much fanfare with leaders of almost all countries pledging to reduce and eliminate global emission as early as possible , to prevent global warming and prevent climate crisis. The Glasgow Meet ended with high hopes that the world climate crisis would be overcome sooner or later and hopefully sooner than later.
Now, Egypt Climate Meet (COP 27) is in progress with the concerns about global climate being not less than what was there in Glasgow Climate Meet. The ground reality is that practically nothing has been done in significant way to improve the global climate scenario in the last one year and on the other hand, it has only further deteriorated due to various man made reasons and conflicts.
The world is already feeling the global climate crisis, as global warming continues to take place with unpredictable climate changes and monsoon conditions. There is huge anxiety in the world today, as no one is able to predict the monsoon conditions and heat level in the different months with any reasonable level of accuracy.
The situation is so desperate now that U N Secretary General at the COP 27 summit in Egypt said that the planet is fast approaching tipping points and the climate crisis is approaching irreversible level. He went on to say with a sense of helplessness that the world is facing stark choices and all countries now have to work together and he 1declared that the world has to choose between “survive or perish” conditions.
So far, globally, the highlight of the discussion on the climate crisis is that the use of fossil fuels like crude oil, coal should be drastically reduced and completely eliminated in the course of time. Further, the goal should be to replace fossil fuels like coal, crude oil for the use as energy source or as feedstock by eco-friendly sources such as renewable energy (wind and solar), use of hydrogen and so on. While scientists are feverishly working to develop eco friendly technologies to substitute fossil fuel, it appears that the world still has a long way to go.
In such circumstances, the statement of the UAE President that his country will keep producing fossil fuel as long as there is a market for it in the world is very significant. The UAE President has been honest enough to confess that he has no plans to reduce the production of fossil fuel and the ball is clearly in the court of consumers of fossil fuel rather than that of the producers. What is particularly curious is that next year’s edition of the climate summit is scheduled to be hosted by the UAE.
Obviously, the demand reduction for fossil fuel is the sure way of reducing the consumption of fossil fuel in the world, that will improve the climate conditions.
One way of reducing the consumption of fossil fuel is to develop alternative eco friendly energy sources, on which development work is under way.
However, one should not ignore the fact that the higher demand for fossil fuel and energy sources are happening due to the steady growth in the world population. With more mouths to feed and more people demanding greater share in the world resource, obviously the demand for fossil fuel as an energy source cannot come down.
It is surprising that in all the climate meetings that have taken place around the world in the past, no one appears to have spoken about reducing the population growth, particularly in developing and under developed countries, to solve the climate issue . While the developed countries like USA, EU, Japan are keeping the population under check, in countries like India, population growth still remains high with India likely to emerge as the most populated country in the world soon.
While the developed countries have a nearly stable population, the industries and production centres in developed countries which have high technology strength are producing more and more to meet the increasing demand in developing countries , where demand is growing due to population growth and at the same time economic development.
In several of the climate meets in the past, steps have been taken to provide financial support and incentives to work towards ozone depletion etc. In the same way, perhaps, it would be appropriate to give some incentives to developing and under developed countries to reduce the population growth.
It is high time to recognize that countries with high population growth are also significant contributors to the global climate crisis.

---

*Trustee, Nandini Voice For The Deprived, Chennai

Comments

10,000 students deprived of classes as Ahmedabad school remains shut: MCC writes to Gujarat CM

By A Representative The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) has written to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, urging him to immediately reopen the Seventh Day Adventist School in Maninagar, Ahmedabad, where classes have been suspended for nearly two weeks. The MCC claims that the suspension, following a violent incident, violates the constitutional right to education of thousands of children.

Gujarat minority rights group seeks suspension of Botad police officials for brutal assault on minor

By A Representative A human rights group, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat, has written to the Director General of Police (DGP), Gandhinagar, demanding the immediate suspension and criminal action against police personnel of Botad police station for allegedly brutally assaulting a minor boy from the Muslim community.

On Teachers’ Day, remembering Mother Teresa as the teacher of compassion

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ It is Teachers’ Day once again! Significantly, the day also marks the Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta (still lovingly called Mother Teresa). In 2012, the United Nations, as a fitting tribute to her, declared this day the International Day of Charity. A day pregnant with meaning—one that we must celebrate as meaningfully as possible.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification.

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).

Is U.S. fast losing its financial and technological edge under Trump’s second tenure?

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra* The United States, along with its Western European allies, once promoted globalization as a democratic force that would deliver shared prosperity and balanced growth. That promise has unraveled. Globalization, instead of building an even world, has produced one defined by inequality, asymmetry of power, and new vulnerabilities. For decades, Washington successfully turned this system to its advantage. Today, however, under Trump’s second administration, America is attempting to exploit the weaknesses of others without acknowledging how exposed it has become itself.

What mainstream economists won’t tell you about Chinese modernisation

By Shiran Illanperuma China’s modernisation has been one of the most remarkable processes of the 21st century and one that has sparked endless academic debate. Meng Jie (孟捷), a distinguished professor from the School of Marxism at Fudan University in Shanghai, has spent the better part of his career unpacking this process to better understand what has taken place.

Counterview

Search This Blog