Population Matters

This article is part of the Climate project of Spinwatch.

The Optimum Population Trust is a high flying think tank and charity promoting population control (and ultimately population decrease) as an environmental measure, but also as beneficial for the economy, development and for other social reasons.

According to its website as of December 2009 the main aims of the OPT are:

1. "To advance the education of the public in issues relating to human population worldwide and its impact on environmental sustainability;
2. To advance, promote and encourage research to determine optimum and ecologically sustainable human population levels in all or any part or parts of the world and to publicise the results of such research;
3. To advance environmental protection by promoting policies in the United Kingdom or any other part or parts of the world which will lead or contribute to the achievement of stable human population levels which allow environmental sustainability."

Affiliations

The OPT is a partner in the Global Footprint Network.

PATRONS

• Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE, Naturalist, broadcaster and trustee of the British Museum and Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew; and a former controller of BBC Two.
• Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge
• Professor Paul Ehrlich, Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University
• Dr Jane Goodall DBE, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute, and UN Messenger of Peace.
• Susan Hampshire OBE, Actress and population campaigner
• Professor John Guillebaud Former Co-chair of OPT, Emeritus Professor of Family Planning and Reproductive Health, University College, London. Former Medical Director, Margaret Pyke Centre for Family Planning.
• Dr James Lovelock CBE Scientist and environmentalist known for proposing the Gaia theory that Earth functions as an organism, and author of 'The Revenge of Gaia'.
• Professor Aubrey Manning OBE, President of the Wildlife Trusts and Emeritus Professor of Natural History, University of Edinburgh
• Professor Norman Myers CMG, Visiting Fellow, Green College, Oxford University, and at Universities of Harvard, Cornell, Stanford, California, Michigan and Texas
• Sara Parkin OBE, Founder Director and Trustee of Forum for the Future and Director of the Natural Environment Research Council and the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and Head Teachers into Industry.
• Jonathon Porritt CBE, Founder Director of Forum for the Future and former Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission.
• Sir Crispin Tickell GCMG KCVO, Chancellor of Kent University, Director of the Policy Foresight Programme at the James Martin Institute, and former UK Permanent Representative on the United Nations Security Council

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

• Professor Stephen Bown Professor of Laser Medicine at University College London
• Harry Cripps MA MSc DMS CEng CEnv FIChemE MEI, chemical engineer, energy efficiency consultant and chartered environmentalist
• Dr Pippa Hayes is a full-time general practitioner in Devon and mother of two teenage boys.
• Rosemary Horsey is married to a doctor with two children and four grandchildren, two of them adopted. She has worked as a volunteer in environmental NGOs for almost all her adult life.
• Garry Jones BA MA (Cantab) works for a major eNGO, encouraging a greater connection between people and environment. He is also actively involved in the local voluntary sector in Staffordshire.
• Roger Martin, CHAIR OF TRUSTEES, was a senior diplomat, resigning 20 years ago; becoming a leading environmentalist in the South-West and serving on many green NGOs and quangos.
• Simon Ross is an established management consultant providing organisational strategy and performance improvement to the public and private sectors.
• Alan Stedall is an IT Director and has led a number of large-scale systems projects for several UK businesses.
• Yvette Willey, Company Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary. Yvette Willey has been with OPT since its foundation and is a businesswoman with treasury and accounts experience.

POLICY DIRECTOR

• David Nicholson-Lord, Former Environment Editor, Independent on Sunday, Deputy Chair of the New Economics Foundation and Chair of the Urban Wildlife Network.

Funding

OPT claims to be financed by its members.

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