So they all rolled over and one fell out...

The earth’s population is fast approaching seven billion people.
We’ve all heard about over-population and increased stress on
our natural resources. Now we are even counting down to their
demise. Natural gas has been clocked to run out in eight years.
Sometime after 2025 we are set to run out of oil. Yet we continue
to burn, drive, build and consume without a hint of slowing.

In Australia we are running out of eucalyptus forests. Cassowaries and koalas.
Fresh water. As our population increases, the demand for land does too.
With more people living along the edges of our country we knock down more
trees for farming, schools, housing and shopping centers. We are aware of
the destruction involved with deforestation. We know only a few strips of our
country is green, but our government is encouraging population increase
and putting pressure on local councils to use more land. Why?

The Redlands is a small city on the south east coast of Queensland that has held on to native patches of vegetation for longer than most other cities can claim. There are no condominiums or buildings more than a few stories high and it is not unusual to see possums scuttle along fences or a koala asleep in the backyard.

The area is even home to famous trees, including the incredible root networks of the Moreton Bay Figs in Wellington Point and Ormiston. Below are photographs of a heritage fig tree in the heart of Ormiston.

Such an ideal living area does not remain a secret for long and sadly, Redland City is a well known example of overpopulating an area. Only a certain amount of people can be in one area before there are major negative social, economic, and environmental impacts. South East Queensland is Australia’s fastest growing region with an estimated 55, 000 new residents per year.

The tall gums and scenic bushland that attracted people in the first place are slowly being pulled out from underneath them.

Shockingly, the most recent koala survey in the area found a 51% decline in the abundance of the regional koala population in three years. More than half in three years! How is this possible? The answer is the ever increasing urban development and human-related mortalities. Not only are koalas losing their habitat, but they are being hit by cars and mauled by dogs.

Charlee the koala was found in the pouch of her mother who was killed by a car near the Redlands area.

The State Government and the current Redlands City Council are in debate over development and population influx in the Redlands area.

“One of the biggest issues we have in the Redlands is the pressure being put upon us to increase our population.”

- Division 1 Councilor Wendy Boglary

To squeeze more people into the area, the State Government proposes an increase of “in-fill” areas. In-fill is when older larger blocks are bought out and subdivided into four smaller blocks or completely covered in units.

This means fewer backyards, less trees and again less native habitat. The previous council gave way to the pressures of the State Government and developers and an increase of construction resulted. This led to a population decrease in native fauna and a great loss of beautiful bush land.

This brings us back to the question of why?

The Debate...

The Queensland Government is pushing for a population rise as this will lead to "economic growth" needed to support our ageing population. However, there is much argument as to whether or not more people equal more profit. Especially as population growth in turn leads to an increase in costs (for building, infrastructure, roads etc).

Director of Strategic Ideas at the Australian Conservation Foundation Chuck Berger writes; “the truth is we are struggling just to catch up with the huge backlog of infrastructure, social and environmental investments for our 22 million people, let alone planting the foot on the population accelerator to leave many millions more behind in the dust of mismanagement by 2050.”

The Productivity Commission of Australia has interesting figures that find discrepancies with the Queensland Government’s Growth Management Summit Background paper. For example, states with the highest population growth rates had less economic output (Gross State Product) than those with lower population growth rates.

State	Growth of GSP (%)	Population growth (%)	Per Cap Growth of GSP (%)
NSW	0.2	1.7	-1.5
Vic	0.8	2.2	-1.4
Qld	0.3	2.7	-2.3
SA	1.4	1.3	0.1
WA	0.7	2.9	-2.1
Tas	1.4	1	0.4
NT	2.6	2.3	0.3
ACT	1.4	1.9	-0.5
Aus	1.1	2.1	-1

As this table shows, Queensland fared the worst per-capita even though it had the second highest increase in population.

There are other ways to encourage economic growth other than population increase and many countries, such as The Netherlands and Greece, are great examples of this. Norway in particular has a strong economy, despite an ageing population and lower population growth than Australia. A focus on productivity growth rather than population growth may be the friendlier alternative to a better economy, no matter where you live.

So many issues and major environmental impacts arise from population increase. It is time the public are made aware of what governments have in stall for our communities and our country. Redland City, for example, is already struggling with population growth – why push it to the limits? If money talks, then what hard evidence is there to show that further population increases will have any economic benefit for the entire area?

Discuss what YOU think in the comments section below!