World Overpopulation

I was thinking some more about the problem of world overpopulation and it's effects on the environment and that was when it hit me; why not have a Kyoto like agreement with regard to world overpopulation.

There would be a quota for each country specifying the allowed population growth. And in the same way that Kyoto deals with green house gases, countries would be allowed to have more population growth if they are below their quota and would have to pay dearly if they exceed their quota or make it up in the next cycle.

Additionally, industrial countries with low population growth rates would give some sort of incentives to countries that have a high one. This incentive would be an award based on meeting the targets which would be set for every 10yrs and would be reexamined every 5yrs to make sure they make sense.

Yes, industrial counties are to benefit more in the short run. But in the long run every one would win. Third world countries are in a way like smoking addicts, they know they need to stop their population explosion but do not know how.

The industrial countries probably did not care in the past. But with global warming and the earth's eco system going bankrupt, they should.

Of course, unlike Kyoto, this should be binding and be enforced through the UN.