Welcome to our new eNewsletter!

It's been a while since we published our last newsletter, but that's not to say that we haven't been busy...

Since Karen Newman took over from Catherine Budgett-Meakin as Network Co-ordinator, a central focus of our work has been to increase PSN's profile within and beyond the sexual and reproductive health and rights community, as a voice for increasing awareness of the links between population dynamics and a variety of international development priorities, including climate change, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability. The ultimate aim of this work is to achieve greater support for and investment in voluntary family planning programmes that respect and protect rights, as part of integrated and sustainable approaches to development.

We share with you in this newsletter some highlights and key achievements of the last year or so, including many exciting opportunities to promote international, collaborative working on population and sustainable development issues. To name just a few - our International Climate Change Symposium, work with the Population and Climate Change Alliance (PCCA), and preparations for Rio+20 as part of a UNFPA-convened group of civil-society organisations, plus new PSN resources.

From now on we'll be producing regular eNewsletters and are keen to feature more news from our Network members, as well as international news about population and sustainable development issues. Do send us suggestions - we want to hear from you!

Our staff team that coordinates the Network is based in our office in London. There have been some recent additions and changes to the staff team, including Sarah Fisher and Jane Remme, as well as to the PSN Board. To meet our new team members you can find information on our website, which has had a recent upgrade. So be sure to visit our website for much more news and resources.

We'd like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to our many network members and supporters. Without your support we would not have achieved all that we have and we look forward to working with you more closely to extend our reach even further in the future.

On a final note, we hope to see you at the UCL and Leverhulme Trust Population Footprints Symposium taking place in London this month - further information is below.

Sarah Fisher, Research and Communications Officer & Karen Newman, Coordinator

PSN News

School girls, Haiti. © Carina Wint for UNFPA.

PSN contributes to Royal Society 'People & Planet' study

The Royal Society is undertaking a major policy study on the role of global population in sustainable development. PSN has welcomed the opportunity to contribute to this valuable project, participating in a NGO roundtable discussion and submitting written evidence to inform the study findings.

Wind farm, Denmark. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

PSN joins NGOs to place population on the global sustainability agenda

In December PSN participated in a UNFPA meeting to build partnerships to advocate for population issues to be integrated into the agendas of upcoming international environmental events, particularly the UN Sustainable Development Conference Rio+20. PSN's Karen Newman delivered a presentation on linking population, gender and climate change. Recommendations from the conference were shared with and welcomed by the New UNFPA Executive Director Dr Babatunde Osotimehin.

PSN participates in the development of the DFID reproductive health strategy

At the end of last year the UK Department for International Development (DFID) launched a comprehensive reproductive, maternal and newborn health strategy. PSN contributed to the consultation on the strategy and has welcomed the new framework. We were particularly pleased to see how the strategy clearly sets out the ways that rapid population growth undermines development progress, and the potential advancing voluntary family planning programmes offers for reducing climate change vulnerability.

Mali Landscape. Credit: Curt Carnemark/World Bank.

PSN takes on the role of the PCCA Secretariat

The Population and Climate Change Alliance (PCCA) was created in 2009 to undertake joint advocacy to ensure the integration of rights-based, voluntary family planning into climate change adaptation programmes. The alliance had a high profile presence at the 2009 International Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and PSN is delighted to have since become the Secretariat.

Wheat harvest in central India. Credit: Scott Wallace/ World Bank..

PSN co-hosts a Population and Climate Change Symposium

In March 2010 PSN co-hosted the first international symposium addressing the links between population dynamics, sexual and reproductive health and rights and climate change. This successful event held in partnership with the BMA, Commat and PPD Africa, brought together policy makers from Africa and elsewhere, including four government ministers from sub-Saharan Africa, UK parliamentarians and many others.

International News

...highlighting key population and sustainable development news and developments from recent months.

Rickshaws in Dhaka, Bangladesh. © Manoocher Deghati/IRIN.

World population to reach 7 billion in October

The latest UN population projections have revised previous long-term trends upwards. According to the medium variant projection, the world's population is now expected to reach over 10 billion by the end of the century, heightening sustainability concerns and placing all the more importance on increased investment in voluntary, rights-based family planning programmes.

Fishermen, Philippines. Credit: Edwin Huffman/ World Bank.

Coral reefs at mass risk, warns report

Three-quarters of the world's coral reefs are in danger of dying owing to pollution, overfishing and climate change, according to a World Resources Institute report.

Market produce, Sudan.© Jared Ferrie/IRIN.

Urgent action is needed to avert global hunger, says report

A UK government-commissioned study into food security has called for urgent action to avert global hunger, warning that population growth and climate change present major threats to food security over coming decades.

New Resources

Key resources from PSN over the last 18 months include:

Women carrying water, Mozambique. © David Gough/IRIN.

Briefings on population dynamics, poverty reduction and climate change

Two PSN briefings by Jane Remme, Karen Newman and Sarah Fisher, produced with the financial assistance of the European Union - available on our website.

Chimney emitting smoke in New York. Credit: UN Photo/Michos Tzovaras.

A journal article on the links between population dynamics and climate change

Published in the Journal of Public Health, this article was co-authored by Karen Newman with colleagues from UCL and LSHTM.

Pastoralist in northwest Kenya. © Anthony Morland/IRIN.

A population and climate change scoping paper for DFID

This paper was undertaken on behalf of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) with colleagues from LSHTM and UCL.

Forthcoming Events

Join PSN at Population Footprints Symposium, 25 - 26 May 2010, London

Population Footprints is a major UCL and Leverhulme Trust symposium taking place in London this month on population growth and global carrying capacity. This exciting event will bring together world-renowned speakers and a wide-ranging audience from the global south and north to stimulate debates and address practical policy concerns.

PSN has played an active role in helping shape this event, on the UCL advisory group for the symposium and with the event carrying forward several of the themes from the 2010 PSN Climate Change Symposium. Join PSN at the conference where Karen Newman will chair the panel discussion Population growth - Problem or Hype?

A mother and her newborn child, Timor-Leste. UN Photo/Martine Perret.

Access for All - Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition Conference, 22-23 June, Addis Ababa

The Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition is hosting a two-day Access for All conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, next month on ensuring reproductive health commodity security. Karen Newman will be participating in the conference and facilitating one of the conference sessions.

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Burundese women. Credit: UN Photo/Martine Perret.

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As ever donations, including corporate funding, to support our work are gratefully received and we are keen to expand our network of members and supporters and hear from you. Donate to PSN or get in touch today!