An ideal place to start at any level. Packham explores the effects of population rise worldwide and paints a bleak picture of what is to come. He visits Sao Paulo to investigate water shortages as the megacity continues to sprawl. While in Brazil, Packham explores the effects of agriculture on the rainforest and the loss of endemic species. Then comes Nigeria, where he explores the high birth rates and the incredible community of one million people that live in the lagoon in Lagos in houses on stilts. After visiting vast landfill sites, he shares a glimmer of hope by visiting London’s subterranean farms. Packman consults experts throughout the documentary who share their views on the future. Students are always engaged with this film, which can be supported by a question sheet that is widely available online to help them structure their notes.

This book by Hans Rosling et al. comes from a very different perspective. As one review stated, the book is ‘an assault on pessimism’ in that it seeks to reassure us that population rise is not something to be concerned about. As countries become wealthier, birth rates fall. This is the book version of Hans Rosling’s entertaining Gapminder lecture of 2013 ‘Don’t Panic’. The well-known Gapminder graphs are included, as well as the quizzes to determine what we already think we know. In the lecture, he talks about the farmer in Mozambique that improves his family’s life by buying a bike, and this is also included here, as he breaks down development and poverty levels by types of transport ownership. The book contains more up-to-date statistics than the lecture, although it is important that students are aware that with resources based on polar opposite levels of optimism, we can prove what we want with statistics. An excellent account of the future of population and development. 

This book approaches population growth by identifying ways that we can provide more food as the population reaches 10 billion by 2050. The writer offers a futuristic vision for embracing the scientific and technological advances in food for the coming decades. She explores how breakthrough innovations in smart agriculture, novel farming systems, genomics, cellular agriculture and food waste management will play a key role in the future of food and agriculture. She sets the scene by identifying that nearly all the population growth will come from developing countries and by the time we reach 10 billion, 70% per cent of the world will be urbanised. An agricultural revolution is essential as we run out of countryside in which to farm. This book is very accessible background reading for those studying GCSE units such as The Challenge of Resource Management, and A-level units on Population and the Environment. 

Population Matters campaigns to achieve a sustainable human population, to protect the natural world and improve people’s lives. The website contains a wide range of resources for the classroom and for students to explore independently. As well as a real-time population tracker and a range of videos, graphs and infographics, the site explores impacts on biodiversity, climate change, poverty and resources. The key message is that we are not living sustainably and must consume responsibly. There is a section on solutions, as well as an investigation into overpopulation on the UK. David Attenborough is a patron of this campaign, who said ‘saving our planet must mean ending population growth’, which he sees as the source of all our problems. 

This clip investigates how millions of inhabitants found a solution to living in the most populated megacity in the world.