There are approximately six hundred and sixty million people living in less developed countries (LDCs) at present, by 2050 that number will have nearly tripled close to two billion. By 2050 the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) expects there to be over nine billion people on Earth. In 1996, a French woman celebrated her one hundred and twenty-fifth birthday, in her lifetime the global population had increased from just seven hundred million people to approximately six billion. The global population is growing exponentially, and with that growth comes many issues and problems that need to be resolved.

In 1798, English clergyman and intellectual Thomas Malthus warned of a tendency for population to grow exponentially while resource supply grew arithmetically. To put it simply, while resource supply increased at the same rate, the global population grows by an ever-increasing amount annually. Malthus was not the first to explore these ideas, in fact the book of Ecclesiastes, from the Bible, as well as Confucius and Plato all examined the idea of population growth and supply. The World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, issued in 1993 and signed by a number of Nobel laureates, explains the problem best: ‘Pressures resulting from unrestrained population growth put demands on the natural world that can overwhelm any effort to achieve a sustainable future.’ As populations continue to grow exponentially in developing countries, access to basic resources including water and food will be affected.

Currently over one billion people worldwide are without access to safe water. Population Action International (PAI) expect that by the middle of the twenty-first century, over half the world’s population are likely to be living in countries with ‘chronic or recurring water shortages’. Already Pakistan is water-stressed and its population is expected to double to two hundred and seventy-one million people by 2025. Countries are considered to be water-stressed when their annual water supplies are below one thousand and seven hundred cubic metres per person, while water scarcity is when these water supplies drop below one thousand cubic metres per person. At present approximately thirty-one countries face water stress or water scarcity and statistics suggest that by 2025, another seventeen countries will be added to this group. Considering that the amount of freshwater on the earth is finite, then as populations grow, the supply per person decreases. As urbanisation continues, cities increase their withdrawal of water from rivers and lakes. In developing countries where there is already water stress, the effect of future population growth on access to water is a significant issue.

Fresh water is also crucial for the growth of crops, and indeed roughly seventy percent of the world’s fresh water supply is used by agriculture. The issue of food supply and population growth is one of the most debated problems. In 2002, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation announced that there would be enough food for the growing world population by the year 2030. The International Water Management Institute believe that by 2025, a billion people will be living in nations where there is not enough water to maintain the 1990 levels of food production per capita let alone meeting the domestic, industrial and environmental water needs. Although these two groups would appear to hold opposing views, both predictions could indeed become true. There may indeed be enough food globally for growing populations, but food distribution is the core issue. The latest estimates suggest that about eight hundred and forty million people were undernourished between 1998 and 2000. As populations increase in developing countries there will be increasing pressure on their scarce food supply, creating more undernourished people on earth.

There is something so very real about this photo, taken last year at dusk in Barcelona. The lack of colour is perfect for me right now, I'm just a little drained.

The past year has seen some incredible disasters, affecting people all over the world. From the December 2004 Tsunami, to New Orleans, and then onto yesterday's tragic earthquake in Pakistan and the mud-slide in Guatemala . . . we live in fragile times. We live in global times. We know about the disasters that go on a world away (for me), and communities like TIG make us realise that although it's a world away for some of us, it's real people's villages, homes, lives.

Disasters make me think. Unlike absolute poverty, which is equally devastating, there's a lot less control over a natural disaster. You will never know if the extremes you take will be enough. New Zealand has a lot of earthquakes and we are very lucky that we haven't had a big one for some time. We've done a lot of ensure that structures are "earthquake proof", we have little earthquake kits . . . but when the big earthquake hits, and it will, will this be enough?

I want to offer my sympathy, but I don't want it to sound pithy, I do truly mourn for everyone that has died this year in all disasters. The thought that I have been gifted life, while others' lives have been cut short is a bit hard to bear right now, so I'm mourning for everyone that died today.

And I'm back. Not that anyone really knew I was missing . . . mostly because I wasn't actually missing. But this is not the point.

The thing was that I stood for Parliament this year, not just put my name down for people to tick on the day, but attended some 35 candidate meetings, talked to thousands of people, the whole sh-bang. And I had the BEST time, it wasn't all totally fabulous, but mostly. Thanks to anyone and everyone who voted for me, there were a lot more of you than I expected. Sooo good! I loved the experience (the whole reason I did it) and might even do it again, but we'll see.

Tomorrow I will hand in my third 10,000 word essay, and leave the last of my Vic internal work behind. Only exams to go and I'm not that worried! So yeah . . . anyone that was wondering where I was, I've been typing away madly finishing these large final papers (some 40,000 words worth of writing). Honours is insane, and running for Parliament made it sillier, but the essays were good and they have all been handed in on time. Fantastic! Planning beforehand helped hugely, thanks to all the lecturers that made us write research proposals.

Anyway blogs: this here blog is going to stay, and it's going to be used to discuss international politics, and global issues. We'll be starting with my favourite topics of poverty and climate change. I will start on Tuesday.

My personal blog (http://onceuponatime.blog.com) is where there is likely to be quite a bit of ranting on rather random topics. On the upside this blog will also let you know where I am. Or where I'm not. A must read (oh definitely!)!

My Wellington Central blog (http://wellingtoncentral.blog.com) = my New Zealand politics/United Future/Wellington bits blog. I will be updating it with a tad more regularity now that I don't need Outlook to tell me where to go, and when I need to be there.

Right so now I'm thinking about getting some sleep. Now that is something I've really missed...