Population Matters, formerly known as the Optimum Population Trust, is a UK-based charity that addresses population size and its effects on

environmental sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

. It considers population growth as a major contributor to

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defin ...

biodiversity loss Biodiversity loss includes the worldwide extinction of different species, as well as the local reduction or loss of species in a certain habitat, resulting in a loss of biological diversity. The latter phenomenon can be temporary or permanent, de ...

resource depletion Resource depletion is the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources (see also mineral resource classification). Use of eith ...

and

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. The group promotes ethical, choice-based solutions through lobbying, campaigning and awareness-raising.

History and background

Population Matters was launched as the Optimum Population Trust following a meeting on 24 July 1991 by the late David Willey and others concerned about population numbers and sustainability. They were impelled to act by the failure of United Kingdom governments to respond to

population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

and threats to sustainability. The Optimum Population Trust prepared analyses and lobbied on issues affected by population growth. It was granted charitable status on 9 May 2006. Population Matters was adopted as its new name in 2011.

Views and aims

Population Matters highlights how rapid human population growth has fueled the destruction of nature and natural resource depletion. The charity promotes positive, voluntary measures to achieve a sustainable human population size that enables everyone to have a decent quality of life while safeguarding our natural environment. The United Nations projects that global population size will reach 9.7 billion in the year 2050 and 10.9 in 2100, which illustrates the urgency of the matter, according to the organisation.

Vision

Population Matters' vision is of a future in which our population co-exists in harmony with nature and prospers on a healthy planet, to the benefit of all.

Mission

Population Matters' mission is to drive positive, large-scale action through fostering choices that help achieve a sustainable human population and regenerate our environment.

Solutions

Population Matters promotes five solutions to slow and ultimately reverse population growth: * Achieve global gender equality * Remove all barriers to modern family planning * Quality education for all * Global justice and sustainable economies * Promote small family size In addition, recognising the disproportionately large environmental footprint of wealthy nations, the charity calls for reducing consumption in high-income countries.

Activities

Population Matters campaigns to stabilise population at a sustainable level through encouraging a culture shift towards smaller family sizes worldwide and improving funding for women's empowerment and family planning in lower income countries. Over the years, the organisation has run various campaigns, including supporting

Caroline Lucas Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elect ...

' Bill to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (

PSHE Personal, social, health and economic education is a school curriculum subject in England that focuses on strengthening the knowledge, skills, and connections to keep children and young people healthy and safe and prepare them for life and work ...

) a statutory requirement in state-funded schools. Current campaign and lobbying activity focuses on biodiversity loss and challenging economic concerns regarding birth rate decline. It also informs the public on overpopulation and positive solutions through its communications, events and outreach activities. Finally, the charity undertakes and commissions research to examine some issues in depth, for example, publishing a report on the rise of coercive pronatalism, or exploring the feasibility of lower future population scenarios. Population Matters publishes the editorially independent Journal of Population and Sustainability, an open access, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal exploring all aspects of the relationship between human numbers and environmental issues. The charity runs Empower to Plan, a crowdfunding programme that offers members of the public the opportunity to donate directly towards family planning and women's empowerment projects around the world. This project superseded the carbon offsetting project called

PopOffsets Pop''Offsets'' was a web-based, carbon offsetting project of Population Matters. In 2018 the project was superseded bEmpower to Plan a crowdfunding project for supporting family planning providers. Population Matters Founded in 1991, Populatio ...

. Population Matters is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and is a member of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance.

Organisational structure

Population Matters consists of an operational team of staff and a board of trustees, who oversee the work and strategy. An Expert Advisory Group provides guidance on key issues and the organisation's patrons provide endorsement and support.

Patrons

Population Matters' patrons are prominent public figures who are outspoken about the impacts of human population growth, including Sir David Attenborough, Chris Packham, Dr Jane Goodall, Leilani Münter, Jonathon Porritt,

Sir Partha Dasgupta Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta (born on 17 November 1942), is an Indian-British economist who is the Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. Personal ...

, Professor Paul Ehrlich, and Professor John Guillebaud.

Immigration

In 2015, Population Matters published a blog post disagreeing with an

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

call on the UK and other EU countries to "significantly increase the number of resettlement and humanitarian admission places for refugees from Syria" while saying that these "countries should continue to support migrants from the Syrian civil war and other conflicts in the countries adjacent to those conflicts". The organization subsequently confirmed that this had never been official Population Matters policy and had been repudiated and withdrawn. The Optimum Population Trust had called for numerically balanced or "zero-net" migration to the UK, but did not continue to support this policy as Population Matters. In 2015, Population Matters advocated stopping child benefit and tax credits for third and subsequent children. In 2017, the organization stopped advocating for specific policy changes, replacing them with a call for a Sustainable Population Policy.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Advocates of women's reproductive rights Charities based in England Nature conservation organisations based in the United Kingdom Human overpopulation think tanks Political advocacy groups in England Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom Population concern advocacy groups Population research organizations Environmental charities based in the United Kingdom