One of the most effective ways of stabilising population growth is to remove insecurity by raising living standards. There's no doubt that a rapidly growing population can strain a poor country's natural and financial resources. In Australia we have droughts as bad as those in Africa, but millions of people don't die. The difference is that poor countries don't have the resources to prepare for, or deal with, nature's onslaughts, and they suffer in proportion. Landless peasants often have no choice but to clear fragile hillside land for farms - increasing the risk of landslides and erosion.
Disasters are a result of poverty rather than a cause of it.
Developing countries like India and Brazil are large industrial powers, yet more and more people slip into poverty. Taiwan and South Korea's export oriented industrial growth is often held up as an example for other developing nations. Environments in both countries have also been devastated and political freedoms suppressed. There is no guarantee that foreign investment will benefit a Third World economy. Profits leave the country and are not translated into benefits for the poor like hospitals or schools.