Why is this huge increase in population taking place? It is really due to the spread of the knowledge and practice of what is becoming known as "Death Control". You have no doubt heard of the term "Birth Control" - "Death Control" is something rather different. It recognizes the work of the doctors and scientists who now keep alive people who, not very long ago, would have died of a variety of then diseases. Through a wide variety of technological innovations that include farming methods and , as well as the control of these deadly diseases, we have found ways to reduce the rate at which we die - creating a population explosion. We used to think that reaching seventy years old was a remarkable achievement, but now eighty or even ninety is becoming recognized as the normal life-span for humans. In a sense, this represents a achievement for our species. Biologically this is the very definition of success and we have undoubtedly become the animal on the planet. However, this success is the very cause of the greatest threat to mankind. If we examine the amount of land available for this ever-increasing population, we begin to see the problem. Not all land is useful to humans as it cannot produce food. We can cut out about one fifth of land because it is permanently covered by snow and ice. Then we can cut out another fifth because it is desert. Another fifth is too mountainous or is too great a height above sea-level. A tenth doesn't have enough soil for crops to grow - it is bare rock. Obviously, with so little land to support us, we should be taking great care not to reduce it further. But are we? Mankind seems to be unable to accept that we live on a planet - we act as if its resources were infinite. Because of overpopulation and over-consumption, humanity is incapable of supporting itself on its "income" - the
‘You name it, we’ll get it for you,’ Baki said, waving his mobile phone as if to show delivery was just a quick call away. ‘Monkeys, birds, turtles, orang-utans, whatever you want. Tigers and rhinos are a bit harder but shouldn’t be a problem.’ What was so shocking about this conversation was not that it was taking place – I wasn’t so naive as to think the problem of illegal animal trading had been solved – but how openly it was happening. The next shock came when we started discussing prices. Most of the species on offer are endangered, and so listed as protected, anyone caught trading them faces five years in prison and up to £7,000 in fines. ‘It’s like this, mister,’ Baki began, clearly trying to justify a very high price. ‘Orang-utans are getting pretty hard to find these days, so I’m going to have to charge you at least two million rupiah.’ Seeing the surprise on my face, he added hurriedly, ‘But we can offer you a discount.’ Baki had completely misunderstood my look. Two million rupiah – a complete bargain, I thought, considering there are perhaps only 15,000–20,000 orang-utans left in the wild. Someone trying to make a difference to all this is conservationist, Yunus Makasau, who runs an animal rescue centre. When I visited, there were three bears, several monkeys and four orang-utans. Two of these were seized in a raid on an illegal animal show at a local zoo. The zoorefused to comment on the case, but Yunus finds it hard to believe the people in charge knew nothing about it. ‘How can they not be aware of what is going on in their own zoo? This just shows the size of the problem we are facing.’