UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
"ICPD 94"
November-December 1993
Number 10
Newsletter of the International Conference on Population and
Development, Cairo, Egypt, 5-13 September 1994
NEWS IN BRIEF
The International Food Policy Research Institute, with support
from the Rockefeller Foundation, is sponsoring a round table on
"Population and Food in the Early 21st Century: Meeting Future Food
Needs of an Increasing World Population". This meeting, organized
in close collaboration with UNFPA, will be in Washington, D.C.,
from 14-16 February 1994. ICPD Secretary-General Dr. Nafis Sadik
will address the meeting on 14 February.
The round table will take stock of current projections of food
and population trends for the next two decades, and will examine
factors affecting food supply such as availability of land and
water, technological breakthroughs and global warming. Organizers
of the round table propose to bring its conclusions to the
attention of ICPD PrepCom III.
***
Egypt's Minister for Population and Family Welfare, Dr. Maher
Mahran, held a press conference at UN headquarters on 4 November to
answer questions relating to ICPD. The United Nations chose Egypt
as the Conference venue, he suggested, because it is a developing,
African and Islamic country that has achieved considerable success
in its population efforts.
With regard to the relationship of population and development,
he spoke of the evolution of international thinking since the
Bucharest and Mexico City conferences in 1974 and 1984. "Now we
realize it is all one problem," he said.
Non-governmental organizations will be welcome in Cairo, Dr.
Mahran stated. He noted that the covered stadium that will house
the NGO forum holds 22,200 people and is within walking distance of
the Conference site. Inexpensive accommodation will be made
available to NGO participants.
***
"Population Growth and Economic Development", the report of a
September 1992 Consultative Meeting of Economists held at UNFPA
headquarters, was recently published by the United Nations
Population Fund. The book summarizes a series of discussions on the
population-development connection, including a review of the
"demographic rationale" for interventions via population
programmes.
Two background papers prepared for the meeting are also
included: a review of economic research into population-development
linkages which assesses the importance of population growth in
specific economic contexts as well as the adequacy of the knowledge
base upon which such judgements are founded; and an examination of
developing countries' changing policies in relation to the effects
of population growth on development.
***
"Strong family planning programmes have a significant effect
at any stage of a country's development," concluded the Fourth
Conference of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and
Development.
Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 26-28 October, the
parliamentarians from 24 Asian countries declared that family
planning must have the full support and commitment of each
Government and be part of a national strategy.
The conference adopted a Kuala Lumpur Declaration that called for
action to achieve a sustainable balance between the number of
people in Asia and the resources they consume; more efforts to
encourage slower population growth and improve women's reproductive
health; a direct and all-out attack on poverty; balanced rural and
urban development; and a decisive improvement in the status of
women with particular attention to education.
* *** *