PSN takes part in the population event of the year
Source: PSN & UCL
PSN took part in Population Footprints this month – a major international UCL and Leverhulme Trust symposium, bringing together academics and activists to stimulate new thinking in the area of population dynamics and global carrying capacity.
Stimulating worldwide discussion on population dynamics and sustainability
Nearly 300 participants from over 30 countries gathered in London for the symposium which took place on 24-25 May.
The event which brought together world-renowned speakers and a diverse audience from the global South and North sought to provoke debate and address practical policy concerns on themes often regarded as simply too controversial and difficult to be tackled through rational analysis.
The opening sessions were linked to a satellite meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya, co-hosted by the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) and the National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development (NCAPD).
Additionally, the conference was 'streamed' live so that participants around the world could hear and see the presentations in real time, and use Twitter to stimulate debate and actively participate.
Key note addresses
The symposium opened with a key note address delivered on behalf of Her Excellency the First Lady of Rwanda, Jeanette Kagame. The address outlined the considerable investments being made in Rwanda to advance education, gender equality and health, including family planning and sexual and reproductive health initiatives and a gender quota that has succeeded in achieving a parliament in which over 50% of the members are women.
Ms Sara Parker OBE, Founder and Director of Forum for the Future and PSN Advisory Group Member, delivered a second key note presentation, speaking of what she described as 'A tale of sex and money.' With the world population growing at an unprecedented rate, Sara explained that competition to secure resources is a geopolitical concern and argued that the policies needed in order to take population issues seriously can only deliver benefits if we are prepared to talk openly about sex and money.
A third key note presentation was made by Prof. Maria Lee, UCL Law Professor and Former member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in the UK. Maria provided an overview of the key findings of the Royal Commission report relating to demographic trends and their impact on the environment. A key finding of the report was that patterns of consumption have a greater impact on the environment of the UK than demographic change, and that other demographic factors, including household size, age structure, and where people live, were found to be more significant that the size of the UK population.
The final keynote address, commencing the final conference session, was made by Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director. Dr Babatunde focused on the continued need to empower women and youth, and ensure universal access to education and reproductive health services, including family planning, raising the question "How do we engage with young people and ensure they make decisions to make the world a better place?".
Conference proceedings and themes
The symposium was organised according to seven themes and sessions:
- Footprints: Environment, Population and Consumption
- Population Impact: Regional Perspectives
- Population growth - Problem of Hype?
- Moving Further, Living Longer
- Public Health Impacts and Interventions
- Economic Planning Challenges: Beyond 2015
- Policy and Research Directions
Issues addressed by sessions included:
- The likely causes and effects of both northern and southern population migration in the 21st century
- The most appropriate public policy responses to projected changes in population dynamics, and common ground for meaningful dialogue
- The most important determinants of population growth and how to prepare for it
- How paradigms of gender and sexual rights should be developed to meet the challenges
- The medium term implications of different global patterns in ageing
- 'Fair' and sustainable levels of carbon emissions
Key emerging messages
With such a wealth of presentations addressing population and consumption issues from a variety of perspectives, the symposium highlighted the complexity of these issues, at both the national, regional and global level. A resounding message of the symposium was that family planning is valid in its own right. The necessity of ensuring that family planning programmes are delivered as part of rights-based programmes to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights was another clear message of the conference and consensus point.
Further 'take home' messages from the conference, as summarised in a recap session by Mark Maslin of UCL, included:
- Social inequalities are key to population and sustainability issues, including wealth, health and consumption inequities.
- Population dynamics are important because of pressures on resources, health, environment, economy and adaptation to climate change
- Advancing gender equality must be prioritised – “women must not be seen as breeders to be controlled”
- Consumption, rather than population, should be the primary concern of climate change… though population can play a role.
PSN at Population Footprints
PSN played an active role helping to shape the event. Karen Newman, PSN Co-ordinator and John Guillebaud, PSN Board member were members of the UCL Advisory Committee for the symposium.
The Symposium also carryied forward several of the themes discussed at the 2010 PSN Climate Change symposium.
Karen chaired the lively panel discussion Population growth – Problem or Hype? on the first day of the conference. You can watch a video of the discussion here.
Karen also facilitated a follow-up meeting held 27 May, bringing together NGOs, academics and activists to discuss ongoing opportunities for advocacy, public policy engagement and collaboration. John Guillebaud and Sarah Fisher also participated in the follow up meeting.
Furthermore, Dr Vik Mohan of Blue Ventures gave a presentation on the first day of the conference about Blue Venture's integrated population, health and environment project in Madagascar - one of PSN's 'model projects'.
Catch up on the action
Even if you missed the event, videos of all of the conference presentations are available to watch on the Population Footprints website.
A BBC World Service 'One Planet' radio programme Growing Pains for Population, reporting live from Population Footprints is available on the BBC World Service website.
Read a blog post about the symposium by Karen Hardee of PRB.
Read about the launch of the Population Footrpints Report at a joint event with UCL, PSN and the All Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, to mark the occassion of the worldpopulation reaching 7 billion in October 2011.