Global economic turbulence and the prospect of deep recession as we move towards an energy crisis, presents huge challenge. There has been little forewarning and planning. Every local and national authority needs to start now to address these challenges seriously, yet still we carry on with our head in the sands, wasting resources on an epic scale.

Amid a European and global economic crisis, governments are still letting markets get away with little regulation, big bonuses and dubious financial instruments that are distorting financial stability for short-term gain and putting enormous pressure on people to pick up the manufactured debts. (See also "The US Dollar as a weapon: debt and devaluation," which is about a fascinating theory of this kind of economic policy in relation to US debt.)

The supply of the world's most essential energy source is going off a cliff. Not in the distant future, but within two years. Production of all liquid fuels, including oil, will drop within 20 years to half what it is today. And the difference needs to be made up with "unidentified projects" – in other words, we face a potential ‘rank shortage’. According to this graph, we stand on the edge of a precipice, with no prior warning from either the industry or governments, which ostensibly protect the public interest.

According to WWF UK and most other environmental organisations like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, it is demand from wealthy nations that is the real problem and the world’s unsustainable population growth is not a fundamental concern, merely something to ignore, because it is an ‘inconvenient truth’.

Population analyst, Brian McGavin, writes about the silent crisis in our midst, of overpopulation. "Today there is a ‘Silent Crisis’ in our midst. The crisis, still largely unrecognised, is potentially greater than all the other problems that transfix our policy makers. For many decades now there has been a willful blindness in recognising that relentless human population growth is one of the pre-eminent problems we face. Rather than providing solutions and leadership, "More and more developed countries offering new ‘baby bonuses’ make it even less likely that we will achieve the lower figures being quoted in the media."

Despite the near daily news coverage of many poor countries suffering conflict and disaster, critical, underlying issues are almost never mentioned by journalists reporting endless symptoms and predicaments. The issues covered in this article add insight into the key development challenges facing the countries concerned and, by implication, the policies of countries like the US, UK, Australia and Canada, where billions are being spent in aid and military interventions to try and stabilise failing states.

Many population- environment organizations concerned about human population impact on the planet believe they cannot talk about ‘coercive’ population policies, only education and good access to family planning. But are they falling into the same trap as environmental organizations that refuse to acknowledge the overriding evidence that our ever growing numbers are a key part of the problems we face?

Advocates for 20 proposals to mitigate climate change speak at Conference at Manchester Town Hall, UK, with a report on the ten best of the 20 to appear in Sunday's Guardian, UK on Monday 13 July.

As the G20 summit of world leaders tries to resolve the economic crisis, where are we really heading? Many key issues are being ignored in the rush to "restore growth" at any price.

Also published on Online Opinion on 21 Apr 09.

How can we ever meet the needs of a rising number of people with growing energy demands, when fossil fuels are running out and population growth is undermining efforts to substitute green energy supplies for fossil fuels? Governments are planning massive expansion of nuclear power but it is no answer. Energy is a hugely complex issue. Brian McGavin tries to simplify the picture.

No Melanie, the 'humanitarian' vision is better served by promoting sensible policies that promote the need for population stabilisation and reduction before it is too late. Governments increasingly intervene in people’s lives to direct behaviour in many ways – with laws, speed cameras, taxes and sanctions. What is more fundamental than preserving the future of our planet? See also Melanie Phillips takes the offensive for large families where no offense was offered

Why encouraging a baby boom and more immigration to pay for the cost of supporting older people in developed countries is entirely misguided and dangerous for our economic and ecological future.

How can any amount of foreign aid hope to alleviate African poverty if, as (conservatively) projected by the UN, sub-Saharan Africa's population is set to grow from 788 million in 2006 to 1.8 billion by 2050?

Contents: Massive aid programs have not ended African poverty, Wars and genocide in Africa, Population growth ignored, Problems compounded by wealthier nations' land grabs, Botswana, with its stable population, a model to follow?, Can further aid programs solve poverty if population is not stabilised?.

Month by month, immigration chaos at the UK Home Office reveals new depths of incompetence. After more than 11 years in power UK government claims that it is tackling the issues will do little to reassure a worried public. The safety valve of migration is part of our collective history, but large-scale migration now raises vital social, environmental and economic questions about where the world is going and how we deliver reform and a better life for people wherever they are born.

The United States, Australia and Canada have long seen themselves as lands of immigration with endless frontiers, but the space is getting crowded and the US has a major problem with illegal entry. Now Europe is facing similar challenges.

As we face the prospect of ecological meltdown due to the unprecedented demands of 6.5 billion humans on our diminishing natural resources, the United Nations assures us that the world can sustain 9.2 billion in 2050, after which it claims ‘demographic transition’ through rising living standards will lead to population stability and its eventual decline.