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) |
|
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Cairo, Egypt
5-13 September 1994
"ICPD 94" newsletter, Number 17
July 1994
NEWS IN BRIEF
On June 16, the Day of the African Child, Anglican Archbishop
Desmond Tutu of South Africa voiced his strong support for family
planning.
At a Cape Town news conference, the church leader said,
"Planned parenthood is an obligation of those who are Christians.
Our church thinks we should use scientific methods that assist in
planning of families. ... It is far better to have children that we
want than to say you must have children, no matter what."
In regard to ICPD, the archbishop said, "The call that is
being put out for this UN conference ... is not just a Western
thing. There are very many in other parts of the world who believe
the issues raised there are crucial issues."
The UN Children's Fund sponsors the annual Day of the African
Child to call attention to the problems facing African children.
The date was chosen in memory of the children of Soweto, South
Africa, who were massacred on 16 June 1976, when Africans tried to
speak out against the brutality of apartheid.
*
Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, said on 20 June that rapid population growth over the
next 30 years will destroy fertile farmland and cut food production
-- mostly in countries where people are already going hungry.
"Naturally, the relationship between food production and
population is at the centre of food security," Diouf told a news
conference in Rome. "Population growth and its impact on the
environment is a key issue. He said he would speak on the topic
when he addresses the ICPD plenary in September.
By the year 2010, FAO estimates there are currently 180
million undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa. According to
Diouf, the number could reach 300 million by 2010. "If there is no
technological breakthrough to produce more food and increase the
value of the land," he said, "then there is no solution."
While agricultural production world-wide outstripped
population growth by 4 per cent over the last 10 years, "in Africa
per capita food output fell by 5 per cent during the same period,
said Diouf.
*
A workshop on "Tools for Policy and Planning" will be held during
the Cairo Conference to train delegates and NGO participants in
computer tools and techniques that they can use in their countries
to help develop a policy consensus in support of the goals of the
Conference.
Organized by the Cairo Demographic Centre in collaboration
with RAPID, the workshop will demonstrate tools for planning the
costs of needed programmes and techniques for effective population
policy advocacy, using the RAPID ICPD model which was shown at
PrepCom III.
Instructions will be given in English by two population policy
analysis experts, Dr. Scott Moreland of RAPID and Mr. Ed Abel of
Future, along with CDC staff. The registration fee is $5 per
participant. For information, contact the Centre at 78 (St. No. 4)
El Hadhaba-Elolya, Mokattam (11571), Cairo, Egypt. Telephone: 20 2
506 0485. Fax: 20 2 506 2797.
*
The Arab World Regional Office of the International Planned
Parenthood Federation organized a 26-29 May workshop for NGOs in
the Arab countries in preparation for ICPD. Over 32 participants
from organizations planning to attend the Conference took part in
the gathering, held in Beirut, Lebanon. They reviewed the draft
Programme of Action of the Conference and sought to develop a
unified approach to the issues covered in the document. They also
discussed ways to liaison with the media.
In a statement, the participants voiced concern that ICPD not
retreat from positions taken at the Arab Population Conference in
Amman, Jordan, in April 1993. They stated that family planning
should be recognized as a major determinant of family health and
well-being, and as playing a reading role in reducing maternal and
infant mortality.
Also under the aegis of the Arab World Office of IPPF, a
network of Arab NGOs was created to facilitate their participation
in ICPD. Participating organizations are involved in a wide range
of fields, including family planning, population activities,
health, youth, women, emergency relief, and environmental
protection. Professional associations of demographers, midwives,
pharmacists and statisticians are also involved.
*
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International has released a
WWF Draft Discussion Document on Population and the Environment.
The 45-page paper discusses the relationship between
demographics such as rapid human population growth, urbanization
and migration and its impact on the environment and natural
resource base. Influencing factors of economy, poverty, gender and
development are also discussed. Impacts on biodiversity, habitat
and species, land use, forests, coastal areas and climate are
examined.
The basic thesis is that the cumulative impact of humans is
having adverse affects on the planet's biological diversity and
ecological systems on which all life depends. The impacts are from
a number of contributing factors including rapidly growing
populations worldwide and high rates of resource consumption and
concomitant pollution.
Conclusions call for changes in the long term population and
consumption patterns of growth as well as adapting to and coping
with inevitable current and near term population pressures on the
Earth's environment.
For copies contact Gordon Shepherd, WWF International, Av. du
Mont-Blanc, 1196 Gland, Switzerland, Fax: 41 22 364 5829 or phone
41 22 364 9502, e-mail: gordon.shepherd@wwf-int.ch
*
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
ICPD Secretariat, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel: (212) 297-5244 or 5245; Fax: (212) 297-5250
Press inquiries: (212) 297-5023, 297-5030 or 297-5279
E-mail: ryanw@unfpa.org
***