Frank Götmark and Robin Maynard are right about an upcoming population explosion. They urge the UN to do more by making developing countries more aware of the threat posed to the planet if the world population continues to surge. Yet the UN is reluctant to take national leaders to task, who see such an agenda as an interference in their internal affairs. There are approx. 7.7 billion people on Earth, and the number is expected to rise to 11 billion by 2100.

Ahead of the General Assembly starting next week, the authors says the UN needs to highlight the challenges that humanity faces. In light of “overconsumption and overpopulation” that degrade our planet’s eco systems and deplete its resources, the world’s population needs to be brought under control to save our planet from destruction. The world is already grappling with pollution and climate change. Water, food supply and energy efficiency will become scarce as populations swell.

In 2012 the UN announced that access to contraception is a universal human right that could dramatically improve the lives of women and children in poor countries, as well as curbing population growth. Any legal, cultural and financial barriers to accessing contraception and family planning measures are an infringement of women's rights. But it is not binding and has no legal effect on national laws.

While the 17 Sustainable Development Goals initiated by the UN aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new agenda, to be achieved by 2030, countering population explosion in poorer countries is not part of it. That the 17 goals “imply that there is no longer any need to reduce global population growth, even though it is a serious problem that undermines most of the SDG targets,” is highly controversial.

Curbing population growth requires birth control, which is a tabu issue in countries dominated by religious and fundamentalist forces – Islam, Evangelicalism and Catholicism etc. While Catholics in the West and educated, progressive Muslims see no qualms about embracing contraception, other conservatives do. Religion is often weaponised to subjugate women.

Of the 193 UN member states, 126 of them call themselves developing countries, including China. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development identifies 47 countries as least developed. While Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal are in Asia, and with the exception of Haiti, which is a Caribbean country, all the rest are in Africa, which – with approx. 1.3 bn people – is the world’s second most populous continent.

The Sub-Saharan region is on track to overtake Central and South Asia as the world’s most populous areas, propelling the world population towards 10 bn by 2050. Mired in poverty and conflicts, Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa are twice unlikely as Christians to have a formal education. This development is unsettling, but political leaders shun the issue of birth control, kicking the can down the road, for fear of alienating religious forces, that hold sway over vast numbers of followers.

Despite the efforts the authors suggest the West should make to ensure our planet’s sustainability, there is little the developed world can do to to promote this “wider awareness of the linkage between family size and ecological sustainability” that can “help parents recognize the benefits of having fewer children.”

This requires proper education, not religious brainwashing. There is little appetite in countries ruled by Islamists for “advancing the empowerment of women and spurring economic progress.” Unfortunately what goes wrong in one part of the world takes a toll on the rest of the international community. There is no way for us to dodge any negative consequences in a world of interconnectedness.