Over the last 100 years, the world’s population has ballooned from less than two billion to 8.3 billion people.
However, researchers say our planet cannot sustain this explosive growth for much longer.
Now, in a proposal that will remind movie fans of Thanos’ plot in Avengers: Infinity War, scientists argue that the population needs to be ‘eased’ down to four billion by 2200.
However, rather than the instant destruction envisioned in that blockbuster hit, the scientists say that this could be managed as a gradual decline.
The researchers believe that most of the change could be brought about simply by providing women in low–income countries with family planning services.
If the global population could be reduced in the next 200 years, this could help ease humanity’s burden on the environment and ensure there are enough resources to go round.
In their paper, published in the journal Sustainable Development, the researchers write: ‘Easing to a smaller and sustainable population would not deprive additional billions of life but instead ensure that when they do arrive conditions will be good.’
The researchers argue that global population growth presents the world with an impossible problem.
They point out that the total impact humans have on the planet is equal to everyone’s individual contribution multiplied by the number of people on Earth.
With ‘per capita’ impact in terms of resource consumption and waste production showing no signs of falling, the only way to prevent humanity’s impact from rising is to lower the population.
The researchers analysed the connection between Earth’s population and various indicators of sustainability.
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