Between a rock and a hard place: Australia's population options to 2050 and beyond

The linkages between Australia’s population policy and issues of environmental quality and resource depletion have been obscured during the last 40 years by attempts at partial analysis and by a belief that any negative impacts of population growth will always be solved by technological innovation. In November 2002 the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Future Dilemmas study was released. This examined high, medium and low population scenarios out to 2050 and distilled six important dilemmas which require solutions by the proponents of different population options. The study concludes rather obviously that population growth and rising per capita affluence will place increasing pressure on issues of environmental quality and resource depletion. In addition, artificial demarcations between population policy and environmental policy are at best perverse, and at worst misleading. Copyright. Monash University and the author/s