Population, Health and Environment

During January and February 2008 Future Choices TV programs explored the dynamic relationship which can/should exist between advocates for reproductive rights and environmentalists.

• In January's show, “Mothering the Earth – Case Studies from Ethiopia” an American environmentalist (from National Audubon Society) and an Ethiopian Ob/Gyn (from EngenderHealth) made a convincing argument for the extraordinary synergy between reproductive rights advocates and environmentalists. Their conversation is interlaced with powerful observations from Ethiopia as well as Madagascar and Tanzania. More about this show .

• In February's episode of Future Choices, “Mothering The Earth — The U.S. Finds Its Voice,” National Audubon Society's Kathleen Mogelgaard returned to Future Choices to emphasize that the U.S. has wisely directed significant foreign aid towards "integrated population, health, and environment programs in regions critically important to the conservation of biologically diverse ecosystems." [See further]
  She asserted that these efforts, though laudable, are just a beginning to enabling developing nations to address the complex connections between humans, their health, their environment and sustainable development.
  She challenged the audience -- environmentalists and advocates for reproductive rights alike -- to work together creatively and energetically in order to achieve mutually beneficial ends, effectively “Mothering the Earth.”
  More details about this show

Why Population?
Why Audubon?
Why Now?

"As one of the oldest and largest environmental organizations in the U.S., Audubon is a leading voice in the environmental community making the population and habitat connection." | MORE

EMPTY SEAS
Europe’s Appetite for Seafood Propels Illegal Trade
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
LONDON — Walking at the Brixton market among the parrotfish, doctorfish and butterfish, Effa Edusie is surrounded by pieces of her childhood in Ghana. Caught the day before far off the coast of West Africa, they have been airfreighted to London for dinner.
Ms. Edusie’s relatives used to be fishermen. But no more. These fish are no longer caught by Africans.

The article goes on to document how and why the world's fisheries are being rapidly depleted while European dinnerplates are being filled with "illegal fish in European ports," a loss of livelihood to West African coastal nations and a precipitating factor to extremely dangerous environmental practices by pirate fishing boats from China, South Korea and Russia. See full New York Times article, published 1/15/08.

"Despite the linkages between environmental conditions and reproductive health, mainstream reproductive rights organizations have had little involvement in the environmental justice movement. Yet advocates in both camps could learn and gain much from each other."

In his provocative article, "Environmental Justice Campaigns Provide Fertile Ground For Joint Efforts with Reproductive Rights Advocates"in the Guttmacher Policy Review (Winter 2006), Chinué Turner Richardson points out the key areas appropriate for collaboration noting that failure "to coalesce around common goals...frustrating the ability of each community to achieve what are at bottom
shared objectives." | MORE

"Population growth rates are impacted by a number of factors

• Educational opportunities available to girls
• Economic opportunities available to women
• Access to reproductive health and family planning services and information"

In "Population & Habitat: A Global Overview" [a pdf file] National Audubon Society's Kathleen Mogelgaard not only connects the dots between women's health, development and protection of the habitat but she also points to integrated programs which bring 'Hope for the Future.'

"The simplest truths are sometimes the hardest to recognise. This month, [July 2007] according to the UN, world population will reach 6.7 billion, en route to a newly revised global total of 9.2 billion by 2050...The economist Jeffrey Sachs devoted this spring's Reith lectures to a planet "bursting at the seams"... In the midst of all these alarms is a very quiet place where the green lobby should be talking about human population growth. Today has been designated World Population Day by the UN, but you will not see any of the big environment and development groups mounting a campaign on population. Indeed, you will be lucky if they even mention the P-word. Earlier this year, Nafis Sadik, former director of the UN's population fund, berated such non-governmental organisations for being more concerned with fundraising than advocacy. Their silence on population, she observed, was "deafening".

|MORE: "Citizens arrest - Tackling climate change is now a worldwide crusade - so what's stopping campaigners driving its simplest solution?" by David Nicholson-Lord, The Guardian, Wednesday July 11 2007.

The integrated PHE [Population, Health, Environment] approach to development recognizes the interconnections between people and their environment and supports cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination. The approach places particular emphasis on the population, health, and environment sectors. However, the underlying philosophy of the approach is one of integration. It can accommodate other sectors and be successfully applied to achieve a variety of development goals, including poverty reduction, food security, and gender equity." [My emphasis] |MORE

In accepting the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which he share with Vice President Al Gore, the eminent Indian scientist, Rajendra K. Pachauri, noted:

“The impacts of climate change on some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world could prove extremely unsettling.” |MORE

Dr Pachauri was elected as Chairman of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), established by World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Programme in 1988.

Audubon's excellent brochure, "Population & Habitat: Making the Connection" is a must-read for every advocate for The Earth.

"Audubon hopes...that you will join with us in being an agent for change. Please read this publication and pass it on to a friend after taking a few minutes to call or write Congress in support of effective international family planning.You can change human lives around the world with a phone call — while saving wildlife right outside your window." |MORE

Read about USAID's focus on linking population, health, and the environment (PHE) to build resilient communities.

"Since 1993, USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health has worked to better understand the synergistic relationship between population, health, and environment." more

As Executive Director of LEM Ethiopia Mogues Worku is keenly aware of the pressures of the pressures of population on natural resources, such as land and water.

"As the number of large extended families and new households rise, and decreasing soil fertility reduces the amount of arable land, farmers are often forced to share a single piece of land." |MORE

More links to stimulating reading (in no particular order):

• Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars -- The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) :Population, Health, and Environment

• Giraffe populations 'at risk'

• World Neighbors: Building Grassroots Capacity in Reproductive Health – Burkina Faso Case Study. 2005. Report details the introduction of a reproductive health component to World Neighbors’ rural development programs in Burkina Faso, West Africa.
• Jane Goodall Institute -Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education (TACARE) Project, Tanzania
• "Ethiopia’s leaders must make a strong commitment to family planning and reproductive health at all levels. Without such commitments, local programs may make progress, but will not make a dent in the overall population situation." |MORE