One Man's View of the World

by Lee Kuan Yew

They are also hungrier for growth, and point out that it is somewhat disingenuous for the wealthier countries, having arrived at their present levels of development through environmentally unfriendly means, to now seek to impose onerous emissions targets on those seeking to catch up with them.

While it may be true that technological advances can improve our capacity for food production and our ability to house more people in compact spaces, at some point we will surely reach a limit. The earth can only hold so many people without serious damage to our habitat and to biodiversity. How do we put a stop to the relentless growth? The key, in my view, lies in educating women – which causes them to want fewer children. The sooner we are able to do this, the sooner we will have a less populated world.

What is to be done in the meantime? First, it may be wiser for countries to devote time and energy to bracing themselves for the human catastrophe that would probably hit us in a matter of decades, instead of getting others to cut emissions. Are there plans in place to deal with a rise in sea levels, more extreme weather, scarcer food and water, and other problems? If the glaciers of Central Asia and China melt, for example, cities living downstream may first experience floods, then droughts as the water supply falls when there is no more ice to melt. River basins will no longer be able to support as many people.

Furthermore, as sea levels rise, people living in low-lying areas will have no choice but to move. A one-metre rise could displace as many as 145 million people worldwide and contaminate drinking water for millions more, according to one study. Large swathes of land – indeed, entire cities – may be submerged under water. Livelihoods will be at stake, since in many ca...

Richer countries will find ways of dealing with this. In London, for instance, there is already a Thames Barrier, so water can be blocked out when the tides are higher. It will not be too difficult to raise the barriers further. But for cities banking the seaside, or for islands like Singapore and the Maldives, the solution will be much less straightforward. Migration within a country is also less problematic than cross-border migration. If the coastal areas of China are affected, for instance, people have the option of moving inland. There will be economic consequences, but the political fallout is less serious. However, in the case of Bangladesh, which occupies a low-lying area, people may be forced to move into India. The long and porous borders mean it will not always be possible to keep them out. In any c...