PSN debates population issues with Mensa
25 July 2011
Source: PSN
PSN's Catherine Budgett-Meakin gave a presentation last week to Mensa, the high IQ society, at their Annual Conference held in Cambridge on Saturday 23 July.
A mother in Tanzania sits with her large family to which she is the sole carer after her husband died of AIDS. In Tanzania the population is growing by three per cent a year and there is high unmet need for contraception.
Population: a key issue
Catherine was the first of three speakers on the main day of the Mensa conference. Her presentation Population: Making Connections and Avoiding Heffalump Traps addressed the issue of why population has disappeared off the international agenda until recently.
The central message of the presentation was that discussions about population growth have been troubled and troubling over many years, but it is now becoming easier to tackle the issue, though it must always be within a rights framework.
Avoiding the heffalump traps
Catherine began by explaining that population has become disputed territory over the last 20 or so years. Following the UN Population conference in 1994, funding for family planning has reduced. Meanwhile world population grows by about 80 million every year.
Catherine's presentation focused on the various 'heffalump' traps which are partly responsible for silence on 'the population issue', and went on to suggest ways to climb out of them.
A resounding message of the presentation was that population growth, along with climate change, is one of the principal issues which needs to be addressed by those concerned with international development, the environment and reproductive health.
Her presentation was well received and prompted many useful and constructive questions and comments.
Catherine's presentation is available in Resources.
Further information about the conference is available on the Mensa website.