London: UK`s crown Prince Charles has
advocated greater adoption of birth control measures in
developing countries, as he blamed "cultural pressures" for
resistance to such techniques and warned that it puts the
planet at risk.
Speaking at the Sheldonian Theatre, in a lecture to
mark the 25th anniversary of the Oxford Centre of Islamic
Studies in Oxford, Prince Charles said the religious idea of
sanctity of life needs to be balanced with the imperative to
live within the limits of nature.
The traditional religious views, he said, are often
used to oppose the use of condoms and other contraceptives.
The world must "face up to the fact" that one of the
biggest causes of high birth rates is cultural, he said.
"There has to be more honesty about the fact that
cultural pressures kept the global birth rate high," he said.
The Prince said the population of Lagos in Nigeria
had risen from 300,000 to 20 million during his life time.
"I could have chosen Mumbai, Cairo or Mexico city;
wherever you look, the world`s population is increasing fast,"
he said.
Although he acknowledged that long-term predictions
were for a fall in the global population, the Prince insisted:
"In the next 50 years, we face monumental problems" as the
global numbers rise to nine billion.
He said Earth could not "sustain us all",
particularly if a "vast proportion" was consuming natural
resources at "Western levels".
The Prince called for a balance between "the
traditional attitude to the sacred nature of life" and
religious teachings that urged humans to "keep within the
limits of nature`s benevolence and bounty".
He said it was a "tragedy" that traditional Islamic
crafts were being abandoned and called upon Muslims to use
their heritage to protect the environment.
PTI
