The purpose of this paper is to present a general overview of the evolution of Government views on the demographic and environmental components of development. The paper summarizes a forthcoming publication from the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis (DESIPA).1/ This paper responds to the expressed need to keep the advisors of the Country Support Teams (CST) and other colleagues of the Technical Support System (TSS) informed about relevant research being carried by the headquarters of the participating agencies and organizations of the TSS system. It is, therefore, expected that this summary paper will help provide the background of the institutional and political context in which projects and programmes in the field of population, environment and development are being developed. For this reason a concluding section has been added which applies the results of the Population Division research to the formulation of population and development strategies.

This review traces the evolution of Government views on the relationships between population and the environment, as expressed at global and regional conferences and through international agreements and other instruments adopted in the last two decades. Such views refer to the perceived interrelationships between population factors (particularly, size, growth and spatial distribution) and the environment.

The paper is organized into five sections. The first section gives a brief perspective on the commitment of the United Nations in the area of population, environment and development, which is also an indication of the level of involvement of Governments in these topics. The second section presents the evolution of Government views on the demographic and environmental components of the process of social and economic development. The next two sections summarize how population issues have been considered at the various environment conferences and how environmental issues have been treated at the population conferences. A final section presents some conclusions which are aimed at facilitating the formulation of population and development strategies.

Although the amount of attention paid to the relationships between population and the environment has been increasing in the most recent years, it is essential to recognize that even in the past, whenever there was any mention of population issues, there was also, explicitly or implicity, a reference to the availability of space, resources, or other elements which define the environment.

Since its creation, the United Nations has been involved in population and development activities. It has been recognized as the appropriate forum to deal with those delicate issues that have important implications at the international level and that require for their solution at least three important conditions: a global perspective; political neutrality; and a non-partisan approach. Discussions on these issues are part of the regular agenda of the United Nations; in some cases, such issues are treated at special meetings of the corresponding intergovernmental bodies or in conferences convened for that specific purpose. The results of such efforts have helped to identify issues, to clarify their character and to facilitate the advance in the understanding of their implications. The United Nations has served as a catalyst and a "consensus-builder" and has facilitated the transformation of consensus into practical actions.

The evolution of the views of Governments on the demographic and environmental components of development can be appropriately delineated by examining the evolution of the discussions held at the various bodies of the United Nations where Governments have presented their concerns, proposals and instruments to confront such issues.

The study of "the interrelationships between economic and social conditions and population trends" was one of the mandates given by the Economic and Social Council to the Population Commission when it was created in 1946.2/ In his address to the first meeting of the recently established Commission, the then Secretary-General, Mr. Trygve Lie, indicated that the task which faces the United Nations involves "the achievement of better balance between population and economic resources".3/ Some years later (1953), at the request of the Commission, the United Nations produced a state-of-the-art review called The Determinants and Consequences of Population Trends4/. This report was for many years the major reference on the subject. One of its chapters included a history of population theories illustrating how ancient and medieval writings had already alluded to the need to maintain a balance between population and resources.

The concept of development has been evolving over time and is better understood today as an "unfolding system of goals and means" rather than as a fixed scheme. The first conceptualizations were mainly focused on economic growth - "how to increase wealth" - without paying any significant attention to the social aspects of development or to ecological sustainability. The social aspects of development were rather conceived as by-products of development. Such views were prevalent through the early 1970s and were shared by both political and academic circles. By the mid-sixties, there was a change in perspective; the almost exclusive view of development as economic growth began to give way to a broader conception, with increasing attention to the role played by human resources and other social components of development, as well as to environmental factors.

An illustration of the recent evolution can be found through the examination of the International Development Strategies that have been formulated for the last four United Nations Development Decades. Article 55 of the United Nations Charter had already affirmed that to create the "conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations, ... the United Nations shall promote ... higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development". Inspired by this mandate, the General Assembly designated the 1960s as the United Nations Development Decade and called upon all Member States to contribute to eliminating poverty, hunger, ignorance and disease.5/ However, the modest results obtained (particularly the slow progress observed in achieving the proposed sustained rate of national income of at least 5 per cent per year among developing countries), were recognized to be affected by the absence of a world plan of action or "Strategy", and, in particular, by rapid population growth, unfavourable trade patterns and heavy burdens of debt. The Declaration on Social Progress and Development, which was adopted at the end of the decade,6/ acknowledged the above limitations and proposed a series of objectives and means that included the formulation of programmes in the field of population, as part of demographic policies.

The Strategy for the Second Development Decade was more comprehensive than the previous Strategy and included broader goals such as the equitable distribution of income and wealth, productive employment, income security, access to basic goods and services (i.e., health, education, nutrition, housing, social welfare) and protection of the environment. The Economic and Social Council explicitly requested to include in the Strategy an invitation to developing countries to formulate their policies in view of achieving "more desirable rates of population growth".7/

The Third Development Strategy was prepared on the basis of the experience gained in applying the previous Strategies and was aimed at achieving the objectives of the Declaration on Social Progress and Development.8/ This Strategy reaffirmed the World Population Plan of Action which had been adopted by the World Population Conference (Bucharest, 1974) and the Action Plan of the United Nations Conference on Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972). It maintained that population policies should be an integral component of development policies and called upon Governments to integrate demographic components into their economic and social goals and strategies. The new instrument was more specific on the role of social components than the previous one. With regard to the environment, the Strategy recommended a limited use of non-renewable resources and encouraged new environmentally sound patterns of consumption and production. It also recognized the environmental implications of poverty and the contribution that improved standards of living can have to the protection of the environment.

The Fourth Strategy identified various development priorities for the 1990s: poverty eradication; human resources development; protection of the environment; population policies; modernization of the agriculture sector; and technological advance. 9/9/ In this Strategy, the social aspects of development were no longer perceived as the possible results of economic improvement but rather as a programmatic component of development that contributes to economic advance. New views on environmental issues were also included in the fourth Strategy that correspond to a broader conceptualization and that constitute the ingredients of the notion of "sustainability".

Before the creation of the United Nations the term "environmentalism" referred only to wildlife conservation.10/ From the initial concerns about pollution and depletion of non-renewable resources, environmental groups, both in developed and developing countries, have been pressing for the adoption of new styles of development that would be more consistent with the preservation of the planet. Similar demands came also from scholars.11/

The first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm in 1972, following a decision taken by the General Assembly in 1968.12/ The Conference produced a Declaration on the Human Environment that basically proclaims the right to have access to a quality environment and, conversely, the responsibility to protect and improve the environment for future generations; it also adopted the Action Plan for the Human Environment which included 109 recommendations. The Action Plan broadened the concept of environment, underscored the idea of environmental management, and declared that while development was a requirement for solving many of the environmental problems of poor societies, such problems would not automatically be resolved by a simple acceleration of economic growth. The Conference did not express a position on the global effects of population growth and, although it noted the interaction between population factors and affluence, the Action Plan overlooked the interactions between poverty and population growth.

For the Stockholm Conference, Governments prepared national reports on the physical environment and measures to protect it, but few reports dealt with social and economic issues related to the environment; nevertheless, many of these reports mentioned population trends, as they were responding to the guidelines prepared by the Secretariat. The ecological consequences of rapid urbanization and population distribution were mentioned by many of the Governments as being their most important demographic concern. Rapid population growth was specifically mentioned by only five of the 69 countries that prepared such reports as the main or one of the major problems. India and Indonesia stressed the links between population and environmental issues.

Almost a decade later, the United Nations Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy (Nairobi 1981) observed that in several developing countries rapid population growth had increased pressure on the land, accelerated deforestation, provoked fuelwood crisis and contributed to ecological damage.13/ In a similar perspective, the Tropical Forestry Action Plan affirmed that under conditions of widespread poverty, rapid population growth was leading to a massive conversion of forests to agricultural land. 14/

In 1987 the United Nations appointed the World Commission on Environment and Development which produced the famous report titled Our Common Future,15/ which set out the idea of sustainable development, that is, "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The report affirmed, among other things, that poverty, environmental degradation and population growth were inextricably related and that none of these problems could be successfully resolved in isolation.

Other important international instruments that were produced shortly after the World Commission had a similar perspective. For example, the report prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) encouraged Governments to work simultaneously on several fronts to achieve and maintain a balance between population and the carrying capacity of the environment.16/ The report of the South Commission, reflecting the views of political, academic and business leaders of 27 developing countries, concluded that slowing population growth would be decisive to reducing the pressure on natural resources.17/ The Strategy for Action of the Conference on Agriculture and the Environment signalled the role played by population growth in the struggle between agriculture and the environment. 18/

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) took place in 1992. It was a major turning point in the evolution of the consensus on the relationships between population and the environment.19/ The Conference produced the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development which made the concept of sustainable development the cornerstone of every major intergovernmental meeting of the 1990s and placed people at the centre of concern. Principle 8 of the Declaration affirms: "To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all people, States should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and promote appropriate demographic policies". The Conference also produced an action plan called Agenda 21 which recognizes that population trends and sustainable development have a synergistic relationship, and that unsustainable consumption patterns accompanied by the growth of world population and production produce increasing stress on the life-supporting capacities of the planet.

Chapter 5 of Agenda 21, called "demographic dynamics and sustainability", identifies population concerns as being intrinsically related to major development and environmental issues. In addition to recommending the integration of population concerns in the design of sustainable development strategies, it stated that "policies should be designed to address the consequences of population growth built into population momentum, while at the same time incorporating measures to bring about demographic transition" (para. 5.16).

Countries were invited to prepare national reports for UNCED. Around 70 per cent of them made reference to demographic pressures as a cause of concern, particularly in the urban areas. The pressure of population growth on the environment exceeding its carrying capacity was reported in general terms by various countries.20/ Specific references to the environmental impact of demographic factors were made in relation to rapid urbanization and urban congestion such as rapid migration leading to the expansion of slums and squatter settlements; and environmental degradation and pollution due to high concentrations of population. Other references were made in relation to deforestation and the precarious conditions of fragile ecosystems, soil erosion, contraction of farm land, conversion of agricultural land for housing and infrastructure, and other changes in land use practices. Some reports referred to special situations, such as those pertaining to small islands.21/ The UNCED Secretariat guidelines did not specifically invite the reports to elaborate on causation chains of environmental trends beyond their immediate determinants. Even so, many of these reports mentioned specifically other factors associated with environmental deterioration such as the growth in fuelwood demand, or agricultural and settlement encroachment.

Two years after UNCED, the United Nations convened the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.22/ This gathering adopted a Programme of Action which identified three major population constraints to achieving sustainable development in those countries: small population size; high population density; and high levels of emigration.

Environmental issues were included in the first two population conferences that were convened by the United Nations under the heading "population and the development of non-biological resources" (Rome, 1954) and "population and natural resources" (Belgrade, 1965). Nevertheless, it was at the World Population Conference (Bucharest, 1974) that environmental issues began to acquire a higher degree of visibility.23/ One of the four symposia that were organized to provide the scientific basis of the Conference was on population, resources and the environment, and the draft plan of action contained many references to environmental issues.24/

Among the many documents produced by the Bucharest Conference, the most important was the World Population Plan of Action, which was to provide guidance for the next two decades. One of the objectives of the Plan was to "advance ... understanding of the complex relations among the problems of population, resources, environment and development, and to promote a unified analytical approach to the study of these interrelationships and to relevant policies". (para. 15(d)). The Plan also included some references to the environment in its recommendations related to mortality (para. 24(f)), urbanization (paras. 44, 46(c), 46(e), and 50), and research (para. 78(n)).

It is important to take into account that the Bucharest Conference took place shortly after the General Assembly adopted the "New International Economic Order".25/ This event helps to explain the strong confrontation between two opposing views on the role of population at the Conference, which coincided with the North-South opposing views on other issues. While one group argued that rapid population growth was a serious obstacle to development, a second group maintained that population growth was not a cause of underdevelopment but rather its result, that the solution was a redistribution of world wealth, as suggested in the "New International Economic Order", and that the real population issues of developing countries were related to the depletion of world resources by developed countries, as affirmed by the then leader of the Group of 77 (Algeria).

Nevertheless, during the debate there were other views from the South that provided specific examples of the environmental impact of population growth (e.g., Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal). Mexico and Sweden mediated between the extreme views and advocated the recognition of the growing interdependence of countries and the collective ecological limits to economic growth. However, the links between population and the environment were not prominent in the recommendations of the Plan of Action, in spite of the emphasis given to such links during the preparations for the Conference.

Ten years after Bucharest, the International Conference on Population took place in Mexico City to review the progress made and to respond better to population issues. The Conference produced a Declaration and a set of 88 recommendations for the further implementation of the 1974 Plan of Action.26/ The preamble of the recommendations established that "to achieve the goals of development, ... population goals and policies must take into account the need to contribute to an economic development which is environmentally sustainable over the long run and which protects the ecological balance" (para. 8). The first section of the document was named "socio-economic development, the environment and development" and has four recommendations highlighting the interrelations between these three components. During the general debate, it was possible to observe that many developing countries had broadened their views on the role of population growth since the Bucharest Conference, while the United States argued that population growth was, of itself, a neutral phenomenon and that market forces and the process of development was the best way to respond to population issues27/.

The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) took place in Cairo in 1994. Its major theme was "population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development". One of the six clusters of priority issues to be discussed was the interrelationships between population, the environment and development. The preparatory activities included six expert group meetings, one of which was devoted to the analysis of these interrelationships.28/ Five regional population conferences were also convened; two of them (the Asian and Pacific, and the African meetings) had "population and sustainable development" as their central theme and, with the exception of the Arab Population Conference, all of them mentioned the links between high population growth and density and environmental degradation. A large number of countries prepared national reports for these meetings, as well as for the Cairo Conference. Among the latest reports, three fourths made reference to the interrelations between population density, urban migration and the environment.29/

ICPD reviewed in detail the experience gained during the two previous decades.30/ It produced a Programme of Action which gives a prominent place to the links between population, the environment and development, treating them as a synergistic entity which is encompassed in the concept of sustainable development. The Programme of Action contains a preamble, 15 principles and 243 recommendations for action; it also stipulates various quantitative and qualitative goals to be reached within the next 20 years. 31/

During the preparatory work there were numerous debates and intense negotiations about key issues, which facilitated the adoption of the final version of the Programme of Action at the time of the Conference. Examples of such topics include "the right to development"; the proper place of the links between education, population and sustainable development in the final document; how to reconcile "sustained economic growth" and "sustainable development"; the appropriateness of including the links between "population and the environment" within the Conference agenda; the appropriate conceptualization of "poverty"; the relative importance of population factors versus unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, and other related topics.

The statements made at the plenary session of the Conference contained general references to population growth, poverty and unsustainable patterns of development. A large number of Government statements explicitly indicated that mounting population pressure exacerbated poverty and contributed to environmental degradation. 32/ The statements were consistent with the views expressed by Governments through the national reports prepared for the Conference as well as their responses to the United Nations for the preparation of a report on the follow-up to chapter 5 of Agenda 21 for the Commission on Sustainable Development.33/

From the review above it is possible to draw some general observations that could help in the formulation of population and development strategies:

1.- As the planet is increasingly recognized as a "spaceship" that has limited resources and is experiencing increasing demands associated with population growth and rising expectations, the notions of interdependence and globalization are acquiring a greater significance. Increasingly, there is also the generalized perception of the interconnectedness of issues and solutions.

2.- The concept of development, initially conceived as simple economic growth, has been enriched by the inclusion of social components and, more recently, by the introduction of the notion of sustainability.

3.- The notion of population has also been enlarged and includes many components that go beyond traditional demographic considerations. Parallel to such evolution, it is observed that population policies which were mainly conceived as "vertical" family planning programmes and used strong incentives schemes, are in the process of being replaced by population strategies that give more emphasis to a larger spectrum of population activities. Family planning remains an important element, but is no longer viewed in isolation; rather, it is seen as a component of wider schemes of reproductive health programmes. Concomitantly, more emphasis is being put on the respect for human rights and the creation of more favourable conditions that will encourage responsible parenthood and family responsibilities.

4.- Environmental concerns have also evolved from an initial view that was focused on wildlife preservation and the use of non-renewable natural resources to a new conceptualization that includes a large variety of topics such as biological diversity; soil erosion, deforestation, desertification, and management of land resources; global climate change; protection of the atmosphere; water resources; management of hazardous materials; pollution; and waste disposal.

5.- The above evolution has taken place in an international political environment that has also been undergoing major changes; for example:

- Increasing emphasis is being given to the area of governance and specific forms of organizing the public sector, along with more generalized styles of democratic participation.

- Attitudes toward the role of the State in social and economic matters have evolved, with a tendency to focus that role as a promoter and a partner with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, media groups, local communities and grass-root groups.

- The concept of "development planning" has been gradually replaced by other terms, such as "programming of" or "the design of development strategies". Such strategies are increasingly the result of arduous negotiations and tend to be adopted and implemented in a decentralized way.

- The role of international assistance tends to be understood as one of partnership, rather than the provision of financial or technical assistance. In addition to being a partner on assistance matters, the United Nations system tends to be more accepted as a consensus-builder.

6.- Finally, the most important evolution of the last decades has been the improvement achieved in the level of understanding of the above issues and the increasing conviction that their solution can not be achieved by isolated measures but as part and parcel of more comprehensive and interlinked schemes, taking advantage of the synergistic character of those issues. The global consensus which has been emerging, therefore, is that population, environmental and development policies cannot be successfully implemented in isolation, but require to be combined to be effective.

1/United Nations (1996). "Government views on the relationships between population and the environment" (ST/ESA/SER.R/147).

2/Council resolution E/RES/3(III), 3 October 1946.

3/Document E/CN.9/3, 4 February 1947. This document has been recently reproduced in Population and Development Review (New York), vol. 21, No. 4 (1995), pp. 867-871.

4/United Nations Publication, sales No. 53.XIII.3.

5/General Assembly resolution 1710 (XVI) of 19 December 1961.

6/General Assembly resolution 2542 (XXIV) of 11 December 1969.

7/Council resolution on population policies and the Second United Nations Development Decade - E/RES/1483 (XLVIII) of 3 April 1970.

8/General Assembly resolution 35/36 of 5 December 1980.

9/General Assembly resolution 45/199 of 21 December 1990.

10/See K. M. Tolba (1992), Saving Our Planet: Challenges and Hopes. London: Chapman and Hall, for the United Nations Environment Programme.

11/A very influential article was written by Kenneth E. Boulding (1966), "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth", in H. Jarret, ed., Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.

12/Report of the United Nations Conference on Human Environment, Stockholm, 5-12 June, 1972. A/CONF.48/14/Rev.11 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.73.II.A.14).

13/Report of the United Nations Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy, Nairobi, 10-21 August 1981. A/CONF.100/11.

14/Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (1985). Tropical Forestry Action Plan. FAO (02)/T7. Rome.

15/World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. This report was endorsed by the General Assembly (A/RES/42/187 of 11 December 1987).

16/UNEP (1987). Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond. Nairobi. UNEP (02)E584.

17/South Commission (1990). The Challenge to the South: The Report of the South Commission. New York: Oxford University Press.

18/Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (1991). Report of the FAO/Netherlands Conference on Agriculture and the Environment. FAO/CL/99/23. Rome.

19/Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992. 3 vols. A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1 (United Nations publication. Sales No. E.93.I.8).

20/China, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mexico, Nepal, Panama, Suriname, and the members of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC - Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe).

21/The report of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) indicated that rapid population growth had exacerbated ecological problems.

22/Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, Bridgetown, Barbados, 26 April - 6 May 1994. A/CONF.167/9 (United Nations publication. Sales No. E.94.I.18).

23/Report of the United Nations World Population Conference, Bucharest, 19-30 August, 1974. (United Nations publication. Sales No. E.75.XIII.3).

24/The report and the principal papers presented at the Symposium were published in The Population Debate: Dimensions and Perspectives. Papers of the World Population Conference, Bucharest, 1974. Vol. II, part V and Annex II. (United Nations publication. Sales No. E.F.S.75.XIII.5).

25/The General Assembly adopted a Declaration and Programme of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order at its sixth special session (9 April - 2 May 1974). In December 1974, it adopted a Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States.

26/Report of the International Conference on Population, Mexico City, 6-14 August 1984. (United Nations publication. Sales No. E.84.XIII.8 and corrigenda).

27/See, United Nations (1985). The Mexico City Conference: The Debate on the Review and Appraisal of the World Population Plan of Action.

28/Population, Environment and Development: Proceedings of the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Population, Environment and Development, United Nations Headquarters, 20-24 January 1992. (United Nations publication. Sales No. E.94.XIII.7).

29/United Nations Population Fund (1995). National Perspectives on Population and Development. Synthesis of 168 National Reports prepared for the International Conference on Population and Development, 1994. New York: UNFPA.

30/See Review and Appraisal of the World Population Plan of Action. 1994 Report. (United Nations publication. Sales No. E.95.XIII.27).

31/Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5-13 September 1994. (United Nations publication. Sales No. E.95.XIII.18).

32/United nations (forthcoming). Population and Development, vol. II, Statements at the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5-13 September 1994. ST/ESA/SER.A/149/Add.1.

33/"Demographic dynamics and sustainability: Report of the Secretary-General". (E/CN.17/1995/15).