Number: 1980-49
WHEREAS, world population continues to climb steadily, from a total of over 4.4 billion in mid-1979, at a rate of over 90 million more people each year; and
WHEREAS, with about half of the world’s population lacking an adequate diet and about 500 million being severely malnourished, the pressure of famine, disease and overcrowding contributes to political instability and the threat of war; and
WHEREAS, the fierce competition of more people for limited resources is a major reason behind alarming world trends in deforestation, overgrazing, desertification, soil erosion, illegal wildlife poaching, and overfishing, all indications that human populations are reaching the limit of the earth’s carrying capacity of renewable resources; and
WHEREAS, if these human and environmental impacts continue, hopes for conserving renewable resources will remain an idyllic dream; and WHEREAS, U.S. population is also continuing to increase, from the mid-year 1979 level of about 230 million, at a rate of between 2 and 4 million a year; and
WHEREAS, even though the U. S. uses more than a third of the world’s nonrenewable resources annually while comprising only about a twentieth of the world’s population, we have no clearly established population policy of our own and provide little leadership in support of reductions in the birth rates of developing countries;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 20-23, 1980, in Miami Beach, Fla., hereby expresses its policy that world population should be stabilized at replacement levels through national and global programs of family planning and population limitation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in furtherance of this goal, the U. S. provide tax incentives for family planning of an optimal two in size, make birth control education and resources and sterilization operations widely available at low cost, accelerate medical research into new, safer and more effective contraception and undertake a vigorous effort to stop illegal immigration into this country, while, at the same time, offering necessary help to the countries affected to lessen their population pressures; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a full range of alternatives should be pursued to effectuate this policy through administrative, legislative and judicial avenues as well as educational means; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NWF public statements, magazines and educational materials will accurately reflect the policy of this resolution.