UNITED NATIONS POPULATION INFORMATION NETWORK (POPIN) UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)

Population and Sustainable Development

Population and Sustainable Development Theme of Asian and Pacific Population 

Conference

 

"Population and Sustainable Development: Goals and Strategies into the 21st 

Century" will be the theme of the Fourth Asian and Pacific Population 

Conference scheduled for 19 - 27 August 1992 in Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia. 

The Conference is being organized by the United Nations Economic and Social 

Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in cooperation with the United 

Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Previous regional population conferences 

took place in New Delhi in 1963, Tokyo in 1972 and Colombo in 1982.



Three pre-conference seminars were organized to focus on technical aspects 

of selected topics. The first was an expert group meeting on population, 

environment and sustainable development held in Jomtien, Thailand in May 

1991. It was followed by a seminar on migration and urbanization in Seoul, 

Korea in January 1992, and a seminar on family planning and family health 

and welfare programmes held in Beijing, China, in March 1992. The 

conclusions and findings of the regional seminars will provide important 

technical input to the regional conference.



The Asian and Pacific Population Conference will consist of two meetings: a 

senior officials' meeting for five days, which will be followed by a two-day 

ministerial meeting.



Objectives of the Conference are: 1) to review the progress in the 

implementation of the 1982 Asia Pacific Call for Action on Population and 

Development and to develop inter-disciplinary approaches to social and 

economic goals, in the light of emerging population issues and changing 

economic situations; 2) to increase awareness of population issues and to 

deepen the understanding of Governments of important issues in population 

and development in the next decade and beyond; 3) to identify and endorse 

agendas, policies, strategies and programmes responsive to emerging issues, 

in consonance with goals of sustainable development; 4) to intensify 

regional cooperation in the formulation and implementation of programmes and 

projects designed to deal with population problems in the 1990s, and to 

strengthen both the political and financial commitments necessary to 

safeguard the future; 5) to delineate specific programme strategies to 

enhance the role and status of women in accelerating the pace of 

development; and 6) to adopt specific programme strategies to be implemented 

by Governments with the support of United Nations organizations and 

specialized agencies, inter-governmental organizations, bilateral agencies 

and NGOs.



The Senior Officials Meeting will discuss in plenary sessions and in 

informal working groups topics ranging from mortality and fertility 

transitions to population ageing, and from population data and information 

to migration. Based on the deliberations, participants will consider and 

adopt reports on the topics. A Population Declaration will be drafted for 

presentation at the Ministerial Meeting.



At the two-day Ministerial Meeting, Ministers are expected to make 

statements on policy formulation and implementation in their respective 

countries and in the region in general. The Ministers will consider the 

draft Population Declaration and formally issue their declaration on the 

final day of the Conference.