IT SEEMS to me that Extinction Rebellion (featured on Saturday) and similar protest groups are missing the most important problem. As far as I know, COP26 is not even going to mention the world’s fast growing population, and without tackling that, how can other promises to control global warming be met? For example, how can we stop the destruction of forests when increasing millions are desperate for food, and tens of thousands of farmers are desperate for land to grow it on?

How can we provide enough food and decent conditions of living for billions more people in the next few generations without major loss of wildlife and natural beauty which we all treasure? The predictions are frightning.

Many readers would be shocked to learn how many millions of women, and men for that matter, are not educated in, or given access to , any kind of birth control. Unbelievably, some countries still encourage large families for nationalist reasons, and developed countries avoid encouraging action in the Third World. Indeed, recent cuts to UK aid budgets has directly impacted education on contraception in some areas.

Will those in power not address this matter before it is too late?

MARTYN DOWELL

Southampton