Commission on Population and Development

Thirty-fourth Session

2^nd Meeting (PM)        

POPULATION GROWTH, URBAN CONSUMER MARKETS THREATEN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,

COMMISSION ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT TOLD

Global sustainable development was most threatened when population growth was coupled with the emergence of modern consumer markets in large urban centres, Canada’s representative told the thirty-fourth session of the Commission on Population and Development this afternoon.

At the same time, he continued, environmental stewardship was lagging behind.  The need to respond to economic crises had often deflected government attention from addressing environmental concerns.  Given the complex interaction between population, economic development and environmental change, no policies promoting economic development would produce the expected results in the absence of the appropriate integration of population and environmental policies.

The Commission, whose theme this session is population, environment and development, continued its discussion this afternoon of follow-up actions to the recommendations of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) (Cairo, 1994). 

Kaisa Savolainen, Director, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Division for the Promotion of Quality Education, told the Commission that over the years, UNESCO had developed the notion that education was the key instrument to achieve sustainability.  It had taken up many new initiatives in the field of education, including environmental and science education programmes, as well as youth and women’s programmes.  The education of women and girls was considered critical in efforts aimed at achieving the goals agreed to in Cairo.

A subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council, the Commission is charged with studying and advising the Council on population changes and their effect on economic and social conditions.  Following the ICPD, it was decided that the Commission would meet annually, beginning in 1996, to assess implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action. 

Statements were also made by the representatives of the Russian Federation, Pakistan, South Africa and Algeria.  In addition, the Vice-President of the International Union of Scientific Study of Population spoke.  Larry Heligman, Assistant Director, Population Division, and Mari Simonen, Director, Technical Support Division, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), responded to comments and questions raised during the discussion.

The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 3 April, to begin its general debate on national experience in population matters.

Background

The thirty-fourth session of the Commission on Population and Development met this afternoon to continue its consideration of follow-up actions to the recommendations of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) (Cairo, 1994).  The current session will focus on the link among population, environment and development.  (For background, see Press Release POP/792 issued on 30 March.)

Statements

OLGA SAMARINA (Russian Federation) said that the Secretary-General’s report on monitoring world population was a balanced and carefully assessed document, whose conclusions she fully agreed with.  It was necessary to continue to monitor and analyse the processes of urbanization and migration and their impacts on population.  An important issue for consideration at the current session was the holding of a 10-year review of the Cairo Programme of Action.  It was important to have such a review, and she supported the theme proposed this morning by the Bureau.  It would be ideal to combine a session of the Commission with a special session of the General Assembly to conduct the 10-year review.

SHAHAB KHAWAJA, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Population Welfare of Pakistan, said that since population and demographic dynamics interacted with environmental change and economic development in a variety of ways, it was important to take appropriate measures to protect human beings from environmental hazards.  It was also important to ensure that the environment itself was protected from man-made disasters.  Strategies were needed to mitigate both the adverse impact human activities had on the environment, as well as the impact of environmental changes on human populations.  Those strategies should address such issues as population growth, combined with unchecked production and consumption, and the severe strain such activities put on the sustainable use of land, water, energy and other resources.

He then highlighted some of the strategies introduced by his Government aimed at addressing the recommendations of the Cairo Programme of Action, which had called for the creation of an enabling environment for individuals to make their own decisions on population, environment and development.  Pakistan had fully embraced that idea and had reformulated its population and development policies to more adequately reflect the needs of the people.  The emphasis was now on securing a sustained political commitment and mobilizing broad-based support.  At the same time, the new policies remained consistent with national laws and development priorities.  He added that efforts to empower women, to reduce gender inequalities ad to reduce poverty would be at the core of all Pakistan's future plans.

He said the essential message of the new policy was to improve the quality of life of every individual through a reduction in rapid population growth, by providing high quality and readily accessible reproductive health care and family planning services.  Keeping all those and other advances in mind, he also noted that support of the developing counties was essential in order to increase the likelihood of sustaining such policies.  Pakistan, like many developing countries, faced severe financial constraints, and, sadly, the international community had seriously lagged behind in meeting the funding commitments agreed to at Cairo.

JACQUES VAN ZUYDMAN (South Africa) said that in his country the impact of HIV/AIDS increased people’s socio-economic vulnerability, which decreased their choices and led to more reliance on the natural environment to satisfy basic needs.  Large numbers of poor people, particularly women, were concentrated on marginal lands.  That led to unsustainable survivalist activities to produce food and energy from natural resources.  Fragile ecosystems remained under pressure.  Although apartheid no longer existed, its structural discrepancies continued because the rural population had not yet been effectively absorbed into the mainstream economy. 

The South African Government had taken an approach to environmental issues that recognized and entrenched the role of all sectors in sustainable human and economic development, he said.  It had implemented legislation and programmes that fostered intersectoral partnerships in population, environment and development.  Such an approach ensured a broader and inclusive distribution of the responsibility to carve out long-term solutions.  It also served to mobilize resources on a much wider front, both within government and in the private sector, as well as in public-private partnerships.

SEBASTIEN SIGOUIN (Canada) said that global sustainable development was most threatened when population growth was coupled with the emergence of modern consumer markets in large urban centres.  At the same time, environmental stewardship was lagging behind.  Symptoms of those imbalances included:  the environmental threats resulting from the accelerating trends of urbanization and development of mega-cities; the tremendous risk to the future posed by the possibilities presented by climate change; the global freshwater crisis and its consequences for food security and the environment; the unsustainable exploitation and depletion of natural resources; and accelerating land degradation.  Far too often it was forgotten that growth was not unlimited.  The Earth’s ecosystem was finite, non-growing and materially closed. 

The need to respond to economic crises had often deflected government attention from addressing environmental concerns, he continued.  Given the complex interaction between population, economic development and environmental change, no policies promoting economic development would produce the expected results in the absence of the appropriate integration of population and environmental policies.  The consequences, among them depletion of forests and fish stocks, loss of biodiversity, depletion of the ozone layer and dramatic population displacement, could be devastating.

Education, he said, had an important connection to population, environment and development-related issues.  It not only contributed to the personal fulfilment of the individual and to community welfare, but it also ultimately led to progress towards sustainable development.

RACIDA BENKHEILIL (Algeria) said protection of the environment, in light of population growth and unchecked production and development, would be the major challenges facing the international community, as it addressed efforts to ensure a better world for all in the new century.  Speedy urbanization, migration dynamics and globalization should also be addressed urgently.  Indeed, every effort should be made to create globalization with a “human face”.  That would be the best way to ensure that policies and programmes, at all levels, reflected the interrelated nature of population, development and the environment.

She went on to say that the international community should focus its attention on the contribution women could make to efforts aimed at addressing population and development issues.  She urged the Commission to ensure that measures aimed at poverty reduction and environmental protection were established in all national and international policy programmes.  In that respect, she highlighted the need for greater commitment of financial resources.

KAISA SAVOLAINEN, Director, Division for the Promotion of Quality Education, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said more and more people understood that the Earth was actually an integrated system, and its sustainability was not just a matter for natural scientists and economists to ponder.  Indeed, the Earth’s sustainability was both a moral precept and cultural issue linked to cherished values and relationships.

With that in mind, she said that over the years UNESCO had developed the notion that education was the key instrument to achieve sustainability.  Educating for a sustainable future was an approach that had also been supported by the major United Nations conferences of the 1990s.  Many new initiatives in the field of education had been taken up by UNESCO, including environmental and science education programmes, as well as youth and women’s programmes.  Further, the education of women and girls was considered a critical dimension in efforts aimed at achieving the goals agreed upon at Cairo. 

She also said that UNESCO’s work on environment, population and development showed that the “trasndisciplinary approach” could be put into action by taking advantage of the agency’s fields of expertise -– education, science, culture and communication.  She drew the Commission’s attention to several technical documents currently available that highlighted UNESCO’s most recent work in the field of population and development.  Those documents, covering diverse educational issues, highlighted the agency’s notion that discussions of sustainable development should not be about limits, but about balance.  They should address how to improve the quality of life for all, especially the poor and deprived, within the capacity of supporting ecosystems.

She went on to note that the recommendations agreed upon at the World Education Forum in Dakar held special importance for the Commission’s work.  Along with a collective commitment to achieving education for all by 2015, the Dakar Framework of Action also noted that education was the key to sustainable development and stability and peace among countries.  With that in mind, UNESCO would continue to encourage education for life skills and the development of responsible attitudes, with particular focus on environmental protection, health education and increased social and economic participation.  The agency, through its interdisciplinary orientation, would seek to respond to the complex challenges of the world that were strongly influenced by population, environment and development factors.

JACQUES VALLIN, Vice-President of the International Union of the Scientific Study of Population, said that the second half of the past century was marked by large population growth.  Several methods had been instituted to address that growth.  He drew attention to the fact that the end of the population transition was not an end to the problems raised by population development, for several reasons.  First, the transition had just begun and there was still a decisive stage to go through, namely, accommodating almost 3 billion more people. 

Secondly, the stabilization of figures was not yet structural.  The recent reduction in fertility in the countries of the South would lead to an ageing of the population much more quickly than what Europe was seeing today.

Who today could say how much life expectancy would increase? he asked.  It could go up to 85, as stated by the United Nations, or even beyond that.  It was more important than ever to mobilize research and strengthen international debate on population development.  The Union was prepared to make its contribution and participate in that dialogue.

LARRY HELIGMAN, Assistant Director, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, next responded to the comments and concerns expressed by members during today’s meetings.  He said that speakers emphasized different aspect of the report.  That reflected the relationship of those issues within and between countries, which was likely due to varying technological, political and cultural factors.  Also emphasized was the need for crossing cultural boundaries and the importance of working towards international consensus.

Sustaining the environment, while raising the quality of living standards worldwide, was also stressed.  He had also noted comments on ways in which the report might be improved, which would be helpful.  There was consensus that population growth and distribution were important factors affected by economic change.  They must be included in environmental polices, if sustainable population and environment was to be achieved.

Summing up, MARI SIMONEN, Director, Technical Support Division, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said she strongly agreed with many of the comments and calls made for increasing resources to fully implement the Cairo Programme of Action.  She reiterated the importance of the agreement reached at the Conference, namely, that mobilization of resources required partnerships among all donors.  It was heartening to hear the willingness of delegations to increase their funding for population activities, especially developing countries. 

She appreciated the comments made by Iran, on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, and agreed that the ICPD goals would only be reached if sufficient external resources were mobilized, in addition to domestic resources.  She welcomed the commitment made by the European Union to reach the official development assistance (ODA) target as soon as possible.  She hoped the percentage devoted to population activities would also increase.  She reiterated her appreciation to all of the UNFPA’s donors.

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