A lesson in an open-air school. The teachers have been trained in the interrelations between population growth and the depletion of natural resources such as fuel wood so that they can in turn teach their students about the importance of conservation and slowing population growth. - - FAO Population Programme. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Population Programme is working with forestry projects in Sudan to introduce the idea of the dangers of depleting resources and the cause, rapid population growth. Sudan's present population of 21.8 million is projected to become 51.3 million by the year 2020. Forest resources are being cut at a faster rate than they are being replaced and if this trend continues, vast areas of the centre of Sudan will become desert. The joint FAO/Sudanese Government programme is concerned with the intensification of reforestation, increase of the productivity of wood resources, improvement of fuel wood conversion and organization of a forestry extension service.