Overpopulation and the Lifeboat Metaphor: A Critique from an African Worldview

Okyere-Manu, Beatrice

doi:10.1080/02698595.2017.1316114

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Applied to consumption, it supports the view that wealthy people should limit “luxury emissions” to preserve ecological room for increased consumption and emissions by the global poor (Shue, 1993); it also undergirds “contract and converge” goals under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Many ethicists apply this view to population matters, arguing that it is unfair to ask poor people to limit procreation to deal with a problem they did not create and their children are unlikely to make worse (Okyere‐Manu, 2016). Since most future population growth is projected for the developing world and much attention focuses on reducing rapid growth in poorer countries, some maintain that population stabilization is largely irrelevant to dealing with GCC (Gaard, 2015).…”

Section: Rights‐based Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate ethics and population policy: A review of recent philosophical work

Cafaro

2021

WIREs Climate Change

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It is well‐established that human population growth is a leading cause of increased greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating global climate change. After decades of neglect, philosophical ethicists have, over the past decade, taken up the issue of climate change and population policy and there are now numerous articles and books which explore the subject. Both rights‐based and consequentialist approaches seek to balance reproductive rights against other human rights and interests threatened by overpopulation and ecological degradation. While biocentric ethicists have additional reasons to advocate for smaller human populations, even anthropocentrists affirm the need to balance reproductive rights against reproductive responsibilities in order to promote the well‐being of future generations. There is a particularly strong consensus on the value of choice‐enhancing population policies that reduce fertility voluntarily, such as securing universal access to modern contraception and promoting equal rights and opportunities for women. There is strong support for government policies that incentivize smaller families, some support for policies that disincentivize larger ones, and little to no support for punitive policies. Many ethicists warn that failure to enact reasonable population policies now may necessitate harsher policies in the future, a common theme in climate ethics generally. This article is categorized under: Climate, Nature, and Ethics > Ethics and Climate Change

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Section: Rights‐based Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate ethics and population policy: A review of recent philosophical work

Cafaro

2021

WIREs Climate Change

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“…The foci of these concerns have been debates around (a) whether population growth rates (largely in the so-called Global South) are unsustainably high in environmental terms (Bartlett, 2006) and (b) whether the shift towards ageing populations (currently mainly in the Global North) is unsustainable in economic terms (Valkonen and Barslund, 2019). Whilst polemics about overpopulation have gained popular currency, they have nonetheless been criticised for deflecting responsibility for the environmental damage created by economic systems in the global north to the supposed ill of higher fertility levels in the global south (Fletcher et al, 2014;Okyere-Manu, 2016). Another oft neglected point in debates about unsustainable demographic growth is that global rates of population increase are already declining and are set to plateau by the end of the current century.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A place-based approach to population sustainability: Demographic and economic change at the local level in Fife, Scotland

McCollum

Nicholson

Duffy³

2021

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit

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Population sustainability is a prevalent yet nebulous concept within academic and policy debates surrounding the nature and consequences of demographic and economic change. This research seeks to add nuance to understandings of population sustainability in ageing societies. The fiscal challenges posed by population ageing mean that more and more states are implementing specific policies in response to it, with limited degrees of success thus far. This investigation examines place-based understandings of population sustainability on the part of local stakeholders in a region of Scotland, a country facing significant demographic challenges and which is enacting policy measures specifically aimed at promoting population sustainability. The findings suggest that the on-the-ground realities of population sustainability are nuanced and complex. As such, there is scope for greater attention to the diversity and complexities of population and economic change at the sub-national scale in broader academic conceptualisations of and policy responses to the increasingly pressing issue of population sustainability.

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Shifting Intimate Sexual Relations from Humans to Machines: An African Indigenous Ethical Perspective

Okyere-Manu

2021

African Values, Ethics, and Technology

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Overpopulation and the Lifeboat Metaphor: A Critique from an African Worldview

Cited by 5 publications

References 7 publications

Climate ethics and population policy: A review of recent philosophical work

Climate ethics and population policy: A review of recent philosophical work

A place-based approach to population sustainability: Demographic and economic change at the local level in Fife, Scotland

Shifting Intimate Sexual Relations from Humans to Machines: An African Indigenous Ethical Perspective

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