How can we stop overpopulation? (Sahara 3/3) | VPRO Documentary

Overpopulation is an issue in Niger. You are never alone in Niger. In no country in the world are as many children born as in Niger, on average more than seven per woman. But overpopulation is not easy to stop, also if demographers predict a catastrophe if the explosive population growth is not curbed. Why does nobody seem to succeed in turning the tide and stop the overpopulation?

In this series, Dutch Journalist Bram Vermeulen travels through the biggest desert on earth: the Sahara. He goes from west to east, from the Atlantic to the red sea and crosses the four biggest countries. He experiences the heat of the desert, the dangers of advancing jihadism and meets the residents of one of the most inhospitable areas on earth.

Dutch Journalist Bram Vermeulen is trying to investigate why many attempts by aid organizations to convince parents to have fewer children fail.

In this episode he also visits the desert city Agadez. The desert city was the departure point of travelers through the Sahara for centuries. But since Europe has blocked the routes to Libya and the Mediterranean Sea, Agadez is in a big crisis. Smugglers and nomads see livelihoods evaporating.
The panic in Europe about migration has had major consequences for Agadez. Under pressure from Brussels and with substantial payment, the Government of Niger has passed a law that now prohibits the transport of migrants to the border with Libya and Algeria.

Dutch Journalist Bram Vermeulen wants to know how the smugglers still manage to survive in the new situation. Agadez is now an angry city. That anger does not focus on Brussels, but on its own bureaucrats.

Presentator: Bram Vermeulen
Director & Camera: Erik van Empel
Sound: Oleksiy Tugushin
Edit: Daan Wierda
Research: Tjeerd Bijman
Research/Fixer: Issifou Djibo
Camera assistant: Aboulougafar Adamou
Production: Elleke Claessen
Production assistants: Yalou van der Heijden
Jeroen Mondria
Music: Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek)
Online Editors: Nick Boers, Marleen Cuijpers
Commissioning Editor: Hans Simonse

December 2018

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