A Pivotal Moment:Population, Justice and the Environmental Challenge

Laurie Mazur

Population Growth and

Rising Consumption: What's Sustainable?

October 6, 2009

A pivotal moment

Eight vs. 12 billion

Population and the environment:

A complex connection.

Carbon emissions:Tanzania vs. U.S.A.

Is population irrelevant?

No.

The “population wedge”

The international family planning movement

Population control: abuses and backlash

Three strands of opposition:

Developing countries Feminists Religious conservatives

A new paradigm:sexual and reproductive rights and health

The Cairo Agreement

Implementing Cairo: Ensure that all people have access

to family planning and other reproductive health services

Educate girls; empower women Reduce infant and child mortality Invest in education and opportunity

for the largest generation in history

Cairo and climate adaptation

What does it cost? The developed countries' share of the

cost to provide reproductive health services for every woman on earth is $20 billion

The US share is about $1 billion

The need is greater than ever 200 million women lack access to

family planning services More than 90 million children are not

in school; most of them are girls. Gender inequality and poverty limit

the horizons of millions more.

New attention to population issues:Opportunity and danger

Two suggestions: Respect the complexity. Stick to the Cairo consensus.