It's World Population Day and Victoria is not immune to overpopulation

World Population Day, July 11th is a day to reflect on the population numbers the world will be dealing with 100 years from now. World human population has climbed from just over 2 and half billion in 1950 to over 7 billion today. The human population reached its first 1 billion in 1804 and it took only 123 years to add another 1 billion. Earth is now adding each additional billion in intervals of less than 20 years. The world's population is expected to peak around the middle of this century at 9-10 billion.

While this immense growth has occurred, the populations of other species, not part of human food production have diminished, progressively unraveling Earth's "web of life" and undermining our bio-diverse support system. It is estimated that more than a third of the Earth's biomass is now tied up in only the few species that represent humans, including livestock and crops. Despite this, nearly 1 billion people live with constant hunger and many more are malnourished.

Since the 1970s, humanity has been in ecological overshoot with annual demand on renewable resources exceeding Earth's capacity to regenerate. An illustration of the worsening situation is that in 1992, Earth Overshoot Day (the approximate date our resource consumption for a given year exceeds the planet's ability to replenish) fell on October 21. In 2012, it was on August 22nd. What date will it be in 2013?

"The State of Victoria has nothing to be complacent about, either with its rate of population growth, nor its environmental sustainability", says Jill Quirk, President of Sustainable Population Australia, Victorian and Tasmanian branch. "Victoria's population growth rate of 1.8 % in the year to December 2012 translates to almost 100,000 more people. This high population growth has placed ongoing stress on vital services and infrastructure such as ambulance, hospital, education, housing, roads and public transport. High population growth underlies the state government's successive re-jigging of planning to accommodate growth, to the detriment of its citizens."

"The most devastating pressure of all, however is that placed on the environment by ever increasing human activity. The 2008 Victorian State of the Environment Report enunciated that population growth and human activity has ongoing detrimental effects on coastal areas, river systems, estuaries, soils and biodiversity. It is clear from this, that Victoria has reached the limit of its capacity to support human population without further destruction of the environment." says Ms Quirk.

More than half of Victoria's population growth is invited by Federal and State governments -- (see Live in Victoria at http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/) but it is not the hungry people of the world who are being targeted in the State Government's advertisements for more population.

"The Victorian government should focus on catering for the state's unavoidable, home grown additional population for the next few decades (due to the number of women in their reproductive years,) and a share of refugees. It should alert the Federal Government to the peril in which runaway population growth places present and future Victorians." said Ms Quirk.

Contact: Jill Quirk, 0409742927

(President, Sustainable Population Australia, Victorian and Tasmanian branch)

vic [ AT ] population.org.au

www.population.org.au