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Summary A growing population competing for resources could make for an unrecognizable world by 2050, researchers warned at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.
The United Nations has predicted the global population will reach seven billion this year, and climb to nine billion by 2050. Almost all of the growth is occurring in poor countries, particularly Africa and South Asia. Experts say that people tend to move up the food chain as their incomes rise, consuming more meat than they might have when they made less money. By 2050 we will not have a planet left that is recognizable if current trends continue, Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund said at the conference. He said, “More people, more money, more consumption, but the same planet. urging scientists and governments to start making changes to how food is produced. John Casterline, director of the Initiative in Population Research at Ohio State University concurred that the swelling population will worsen problems, such as resource depletion. Population experts, meanwhile, called for more funding for family planning programs to help control the growth in the number of humans, especially in developing nations.
