Letter: Civilised, voluntary population control

From David Sanderson, Uppermill, Greater Manchester, UK

Is Ian Angus saying that it is morally wrong to seek a lower human population as we combat climate change (25 August, p 22)? In the Scientists' Warning to Humanity, first issued in 1992 and repeated in the journal BioScience in 2017, the majority of the then-living Nobel laureates signed up to say, among other things, that pressures resulting from unrestrained population growth put demands on the natural world that can overwhelm any efforts to achieve a sustainable future.

The statement goes on to advocate sexual equality and to guarantee women control over their own reproductive decisions – all women, everywhere, with no mention of coercion.

Using civilised, voluntary means, we must rapidly stabilise, then reduce, our population. The means are well-known and cheap: education for women everywhere; free contraception; and removal of social, political and financial incentives for big families. This applies to rich and poor alike.