Population rise bad for security, says don

New Vision (Kampala)

Friday, July 4, 2008

By Joshua Masinde

THE rapid increase in population is a threat to security, the chairman of the National Bio-security Committee has said.

Prof. John Opuda-Asibo noted that people were not aware that biological threats like global warming and environmental degradation were a threat to security.

“People think that only physical insecurities like wars and the gun are a threat to their lives.”

He said the biological threats were caused by increase in population.

Opuda-Asibo, who was on Monday speaking at a seminar in Kampala, also blamed the increase in diseases on the rising population. Bio-security comprises the policies and measures taken to protect people from biological harm.

It encompasses the prevention and mitigation from pests and diseases.

Prof. John David Kabaasa, the dean of the faculty of veterinary medicine of Makerere University, said a rapid rise in population would cause food insecurity and natural calamities.

“In 2000, the urban population was 47% of the world population.

“Now it is 60%. We are faced with many threats like high temperatures, melting of Rwenzori and Kilimanjaro mountain caps, more mosquitoes and tse tse flies.

“While we are also driving towards industrialisation and globalisation, floods are coming in.”

Kabaasa suggested that nutrition and environmental protection be included on the school syllabus.

Dr. Lawrence Mugisha, the operations director of Ngamba Island, a premier gorilla tourism destination camp, noted that in a crowded world where people travelled a lot, the emergence of complex diseases was common.

“Human activities are the most potent factors driving the emergence of diseases.”