THE ISSUE: World Population Day

OUR OPINION: U.S. should be out front in supporting population control

July 11 is World Population Day. It’s a safe bet that nothing much will be done to observe the event. Like any other day, the world’s population will increase by about 250,000. But there’ll be no parades or festivals. So don’t even think of asking the boss for the day off, or of complaining the next day that you’re exhausted because you stayed up late celebrating.

Yet many of us will commemorate the event one way or another. We’ll do it by sitting in rush-hour traffic, by paying $4 a gallon for gas, by paying more for groceries. While prices tend to go up and down, lately it’s been up and up — and then up some more. The food shortage has already reached a crisis point with riots in Haiti, Bangladesh, Egypt and many other places. The Philippines imports 2 million tons of rice every year for a population that is growing annually by 1.7 million. The U.N. World Food Program is short $500 million to address the emergency. But you can’t eat money.

World Population Day arrives at a time when people are more conscious of the impacts of overpopulation than they’ve been in more than a decade. We should focus on doing one thing that we know works to slow population growth: provide family planning to everyone who wants it. Two hundred million women around the world want to delay or end childbearing but have no access to contraception because they simply cannot afford it.

What will happen if we ignore population growth? Reporters are describing water as the “new oil.” Mountain glaciers are melting in Tibet, diminishing the amount available per person in China, the largest country in the world -- soon to be outpaced by India. The American Southwest continues to experience the most rapid population growth in the country despite being a desert with few natural resources to support the new arrivals. As the Colorado River dries up, water will be piped in from farther and farther away, using precious and polluting oil in the process.

As the globe heats up, the poorest people will suffer the worst effects.

In addition to living in the most risky, extreme-weather-prone locations, they have the lowest capacity for adaptation. And, if leaders are ever going to agree on a maximum level of global carbon emissions that is in any way equitable, they will have to address population. The per-capita allowance will be a lot smaller if there are 11 billion people on the planet than it will be if it tops out at 8 billion.

The United States should resume its leadership role on this issue, reaching out to those 200 million women in need of contraception. We should double our annual commitment to international family planning from the current $461 million to $1 billion.

Beyond the debate about abortion, women everywhere want the ability to decide whether and when to have children. They want them to be healthy and they want to remain healthy themselves.

They understand the implications of having many children when they cannot even feed themselves. And they know that where they are far from modern medicine, closely spaced births are life threatening for themselves and for their babies.

Funding universal family planning is the cheapest and most effective way to reduce rising demand for food and water, and to promote development in the poorest places on earth. It is also a critical component of any comprehensive climate stabilization plan. It’s time for the U.S. to resume its role as the leader in population stabilization efforts.

When women control their own fertility, the economy, the environment, and their children will benefit. There’s no need for a parade — though it would be nice.

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