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  • Title: The decisive decade. What we can do about population.
    Author: Hinrichsen D.
    Journal: Amic J; 1990; 12(1):30-3. PubMed ID: 12286550.
    Abstract:
    In a speech given by former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt to the International Forum on Population in the 21st Century, the suggested mandate for international and regional organizations was to create the equivalent of a security council on global environment and population concerns. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the US Population Fund, stated that the present decisions will affect the future of humanity and life on Earth. Effective decision-making in the next 10 years in crucial. There must be integrated planning on a national and international level. A global population increase of 250,000 persons/day or 90 million/year adds to the sharing of the earth and its resources. 75% of Latin America, 42% of Africa, and 37% of Asia will become urbanized. Urban air pollution in developing countries is very high. Expectations of growth, even with fertility decline, are another 3 billion by 2025 and 14 billion by 2100. Growth is occurring in countries where governments are unable to deal with the resource and environmental consequences. Growth rates are uneven, with developed countries increasing 5.2% while developing countries increase 25%. The global underclass of poverty is expected to reach 1 billion by 2000. Environmental destruction occurs due to 1) the bottom billion poorest people overexploiting the environment for food and a livelihood and 2) the top billion richest people indirectly causing distraction through consumer preferences. 15 million acres of prime agricultural land are lost every year. Decertification threatens 33% of the land surface. 25 million acres/year of rain forest are being destroyed. Several million species will be extinct. The highest growth rates are in Africa and the Middle East, where children (6-8/woman) are seen as assets, not liabilities. Lack of access to family planning (FP) and health services is a critical issue for women with unmet needs and a desire for fewer children. FP will be brought to the attention of policymakers and national planners at international meetings. Ambitious goals to keep population at 6.2 billion in 2000 and 10.5 billion by 2100 are to increase contraception users to 535 million from 326 million, to increase spending to 9 billion US dollars from 3.5 billion, to improve the status of women, to guarantee the right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of children, to increase national population programs, to promote community participation and youth involvement, to ensure the UN development strategy and the 1992 Conference on the Environment and the 1994 UN Population Meeting includes the results of this meeting, and to adopt integrated population, environment, and natural resource management policies.
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