Population Matters

The Optimum Population Trust "is the leading think tank in the UK concerned with the impact of population growth on the environment. OPT research covers population in relation to climate change, energy, resources, biodiversity, development impacts, ageing and employment and other environmental and economic issues. It campaigns for stabilisation and gradual population decrease globally and in the UK. OPT is a registered charity and is financed by its members. It receives funding neither from the government nor from any political or business interests, and is not affiliated to any other organisation*.(*Except as a partner in the Global Footprint Network.).

"The Optimum Population Trust was founded in 1991 by the late David Willey, its first chairman. Its purpose was to collect, analyse and disseminate information about the sizes of global and national populations, and their relations with the carrying capacities of different countries and the quality of life of their inhabitants. It was intended that such information should help people to make informed choices about policies affecting their and their descendants' welfare. Special emphasis was given to the situation in the United Kingdom." Aims

Jack Parson's Archive "has been created by the Optimum Population Trust to publicise and preserve Jack Parsons' unique published monographs and articles, which cover a period of more than 40 years, and earned him a sound international reputation."

• Simon Ross - Chief Executive

Media Coverage Journal

• Best online news service - Population Institute Awards 2009/10

Principal policies

OPT recommends the following population policies:

Globally, that full access to family planning should be provided to all those who do not have it, that couples should be encouraged to voluntarily "stop at two" children to lessen the impact of family size on the environment, and that this should be part of a holistic approach involving better education and equal rights for women. In the UK, that population should be allowed to stabilise and decrease by not less than 0.25 per cent a year to an environmentally sustainable level, by bringing immigration into numerical balance with emigration (zero net migration), by making greater efforts to reduce teenage pregnancies, and by encouraging couples to "Stop at Two" children.

Further, the OPT has lobbied for stricter controls on immigration to the UK:

OPT notes the recent House of Lords committee report that immigration has brought no overall benefit to the UK. We welcome recent Government measures to restrict immigration. However, migration monitoring is weak. Additionally, there is no control over intra-EU migration, and no target for net migration has been set. OPT urges the Government to improve monitoring, work with other EU Governments to further limit immigration to the EU, and set a target of zero net migration for the UK.

However, despite campaigning for a stable UK population size, the OPT specifically rejects the idea that any racial, ethnic or cultural criteria should be applied for would be in-migrants and has a neutral position regarding maintaining the UK's existing ethnic make-up

Trustees

Accessed January 2011:

• Janet Boston
• Stephen Bown Professor of Laser Medicine at University College London
• Harry Cripps MA MSc DMS CEng CEnv FIChemE MEI, chemical engineer, energy efficiency consultant and chartered environmentalist
• Colin Gallagher
• Pippa Hayes is a full-time general practitioner in Devon and mother of two teenage boys.
• Roger Martin, CHAIR OF TRUSTEES, was a senior diplomat, resigning 20 years ago; becoming a leading environmentalist in the South-West and serving on many green NGOs and quangos.
• Robin Maynard
• Nick Reeves OBE Executive Director of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) and writer on environmental affairs.
• Alan Stedall is an IT Director and has led a number of large-scale systems projects for several UK businesses.

Trustees (2010)

Accessed November 2010:

• Professor Stephen Bown is Professor of Laser Medicine at University College London
• Harry Cripps MA MSc DMS CEng CEnv FIChemE MEI, is a chemical engineer, energy efficiency consultant and chartered environmentalist
• Pippa Hayes is a full-time general practitioner in Devon and mother of two teenage boys.
• Roger Martin, CHAIR OF TRUSTEES, was a senior diplomat, resigning 20 years ago; becoming a leading environmentalist in the South-West and serving on many green NGOs and quangos.
• Alan Stedall is an IT Director and has led a number of large-scale systems projects for several UK businesses.
• Yvette Willey, Company Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary. Yvette Willey has been with OPT since its foundation and is a businesswoman with treasury and accounts experience.

Patrons

Accessed April 2010:

• Sir David Attenborough Naturalist, broadcaster and trustee of the British Museum and Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew; and a former controller of BBC Two.
• Sir Partha DasguptaFrank Ramsey Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge
• Paul Ehrlich, Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University
• Jane Goodall PhD DBE, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute, and UN Messenger of Peace.
• Susan Hampshire OBE, Actress and population campaigner
• John Guillebaud Former Co-chair of OPT, Emeritus Professor of Family Planning and Reproductive Health, UC London. Ex-Medical Director, Margaret Pyke Centre for Family Planning.
• Aubrey Manning OBE, Emeritus Professor of Natural History, University of Edinburgh
• Norman Myers CMG, Visiting Fellow, Green College, Oxford University, and at Universities of Harvard, Cornell, Stanford, California, Michigan and Texas
• Sara Parkin OBE, Founder Director and Trustee of Forum for the Future and Director of the Natural Environment Research Council and the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and Head Teachers into Industry.
• Jonathon Porritt CBE, Founder Director of Forum for the Future and Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission.
• Crispin Tickell GCMG KCVO, Chancellor of Kent University, Director of the Policy Foresight Programme at the James Martin Institute, and former UK Permanent Representative on the United Nations Security Council

In addition some time after April Dr James Lovelock also became a OPT patron.

Advisory Council

Accessed April 2010:

• Martin Chilcott, Chief Executive, Place Group.
• Patrick Curry PhD lives in London and lectures in Religious Studies at the University of Kent. He is the author of 'Ecological Ethics: An Introduction', Polity, 2006.
• Rajamani Nagarajah, Health and development consultant to the European Commission and former Director of Population Concern
• John Rowley, Founder/Editor of www.peopleandplanet.net and former Editor, People magazine (International Planned Parenthood Federation)
• William Ryerson (USA), Founder and president of Population Media Center, William Ryerson has worked to promote population stabilisation for four decades, with an emphasis on social change communications.
• Alastair Service CBE, former Chairman of the Family Planning Association
• Valerie Stevens former Co-chair and Chair of OPT

New addition at the end of 2010 is Martin Desvaux PhD CPhys is a physicist experienced in life assessment techniques for power generation, petrochemical and plant, and formerly a director of ERA Technology and a Trustee of OPT. He now researches ecological issues.

Contact

Web: http://www.optimumpopulation.org

Criticism

• Richard Seymour, "Eco-malthusianism", Lenin's Tomb, November 18, 2009.

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch articles

• Carter Dillard - Research Fellow
• HONORARY EDITOR, OPT JOURNAL - Andrew Ferguson co-ordinates the OPT Journal's research on eco-footprinting and population carrying capacity.
• Edmund Davey
• Professor Chris Rapley CBE - Director, Science Museum, and former OPT Patron
• PopOffsets