Meeting the Challenge of Ending Extreme Poverty

Abstract

The human population is undergoing unprecedented growth and demographic change. By the end of this century, there will be an estimated 9.5 billion people living on the planet, 75 percent of whom will be located in urban settlements and developing consumerist tendencies. More mouths to feed and changes in tastes for food types will require doubling world agricultural production in four decades, water consumption will need to increase 30 percent by 2030, and three billion extra people will seek shelter in urban settings by 2050. This article contends that the world’s survival solutions are not so much dependent on science or technology, but rather on the choices that we (or rather our political leaders) make about critical national and global issues. As population rises, millions are living in increasingly marginal places (prone to flooding, desertification, and degraded soil) so we should not be surprised when we have, for instance, food scarcity or famine. Increasing population is forcing millions to live in locations increasingly at risk from natural disasters (e.g., flooding, landslides, and so on). Where poor people are obliged to live must be planned for, far more appropriately, taking into account available resources, their limitations, and the overall implications of global climate change. We betray the future if we do not tackle the problems facing us while we have the opportunity, and that opportunity is rapidly receding.