Coming to our census

“I am one of seven billion. You are also one of seven billion.

Today, we can be seven billion strong - by working in solidarity for a better world for all.” — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s opening remarks on “Day of Seven Billion”

It is but fitting that, a week after we paid homage to the dead, we take a moment to celebrate the living. What better time (or way) to celebrate life than with a birth — the birth of “baby seven billion.” A few days ago, the Philippines became one of the countries that laid claim to the distinction of being the site of the “symbolic birth.” There is, of course, no definite and definitive way to identify the baby whose birth actually ticked the 10th digit on the world’s counter. It is only by assent to the United Nations’ projections and symbolic designation of 31 October 2011 as the Day that we welcomed “baby seven billion”. Still, it is the milestone more than the mile which is celebrated, and perhaps that is just as well. After all, it ought to come as no surprise that weeks from now, people won’t even remember who Danica May Camacho is much in the same way that the same people who “celebrated” this year’s milestone probably don’t even remember little Adnan Mevic, the Bosnian child who was tagged as “baby six billion.” In the latter’s case — 12 years since his “monumental birth,” he has since been diagnosed with a small hole in his heart, and the household’s meager income is barely enough to sustain his terminally ill father and his mother who has been three years out of work.

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Seven billion. Imagine it. With that many human beings on the planet, (plus UN forecasts which predict an increase to 9.3 billion in 2050 and 10 billion by the turn of the century), it is but logical to ask “how long till the weight of our numbers proves more taxing a burden than this planet can shoulder?”

Lest we get caught up in the number and miss the mark, it might be worthwhile to figure out the figure — that is, what other meaning, in terms of relevance and significance, can we divine from the Day?

A portion of the UN Secretary-General’s remarks during the October 31 commemoration provides an eloquent context: Our world is one of terrible contradictions. Plenty of food but one billion people go hungry. Lavish lifestyles for a few, but poverty for too many others. Huge advances in medicine while mothers die everyday in childbirth, and children die every day from drinking dirty water. Billions spent on weapons to kill people instead of keeping them safe.

In this more expansive frame, therefore, it seems wiser to consider the Day, not so much as a mere marker in an ever-widening time horizon, but as a countdown to the crisis point that may come sooner than later. Seen this way, the Day is a wake-up call: for us to do something and act now — not because later might be too late, but simply because we’re running out of time.

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The choice of the Philippines as the birthplace for “baby seven billion” was hardly by divine ordination. After all, what better country to express and exemplify this world’s “terrible contradictions”?

Truly, there is no reason why our country and her people cannot enjoy our fair share of prosperity. Precious government resources are easily diverted, misspent, and wasted when the institutions are weak, and the system “tolerates” corruption (as when, for example, it fails to impose swift corrective or reparative sanctions, or to incentivize good and ethical behavior).

Indeed, there is almost no reason why we cannot improve the welfare of our 94 million-strong population. One avenue worth pursuing is that which Sen. Francis Pangilinan has been championing lately: agriculture and food security. Our farmers are an ageing segment of our population. And it appears that they are a dying breed, literally and figuratively. Given a choice, it is not likely that their children would opt to go into farming.

The rhetoric that “education” is a good investment that paves the way for better opportunities remains hard to dispute. Sadly, however, anecdotally, in the case of the children of farmers, education as a means to get out of the poverty trap simply (and simplistically) means to get out of agriculture. Biases against the stereotype of being a “mere” farmer, reinforced by the experiences of their own parents, dis-incentivize succeeding generations to get into agriculture. A terrible contradiction, indeed, made more unfortunate by the failure to recognize that farming is among the noblest of professions, as well as the inability to reconcile the prospect of an “educated farmer” as a valid telos of education.

Even should the issues concerning reproductive health (and population control) are eventually resolved, we would still have to do something about our present population. In this regard, it might be worth considering a program to incentivize and encourage urban-to-rural migration, as a complementary effort to promote agriculture and ensure long-term food security. The externalities are promising: decongesting the cities could improve sanitation, lower crime rates, increase employment, and drive development southwards, among others.

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As the world’s 12th most populated country, it doesn’t take a seer to see we’re running out of space and resources. Until we figure things out, the figures will speak for themselves. With 10.4 million Filipino families living below the poverty line and over 4 million Filipino families starving, I fear the joyous occasion of little Danica’s birth is tinged with trepidation. One can only look back, to little Adnan from Bosnia, impoverished and famished in the dusty streets of Sarajevo, and then forward, to June 15, 2025, when the world’s eighth billion child is already predicted to follow, and hope.

This is the world that we live in, because this is what we have made of our world. Welcome to our world, “baby seven billion.” You can thank us later. Much later, when we’ve actually done enough (or, at least, something) to fix it.

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“The wise man points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger.” — Lao Tzu

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