PSN's Population Forums conclude at the Houses of Parliament
30 January 2007
Source: PSN
Over the last few months PSN, in collaboration with LSHTM, have held a series of Population Forums, which concluded today with a high profile event at the Houses of Parliament in London.
Concluding Forum, left to right: Chris Rapley, Nafiz Sadiq, Christine McCafferty MP, Gareth Thomas MP, Richard Ottaway MP.
Background to the forums
Wider participation by media, NGO representatives and the general public in the population debate is regarded as essential since there is overwhelming evidence that rapid population growth poses substantial challenges to the attainment of the MDGs.
Yet population has been virtually ignored by policy-makers for the past decade.
Since the term 'population' became increasingly tarnished by the brush of 'coercion' and 'control' during the 1980s it has remained politically sensitive. The link between poverty and population growth has been downplayed and financial and political support for population stabilisation has diminished.
Population is now beginning to re-emerge in the media and into political discourse, most recently in relation to climate change issues.
Culminating in the Population Forums, Population and Sustainability Network (PSN) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) were eager to build on this growing interest and increase dialogue between policy, action (NGOs) and academic research on the topic of the population factor, about which many have remained silent for so long.
The Population Forums
Each of the five forums was chaired by a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, with contributions from two distinguished speakers, and concluding remarks from a third speaker.
Topics addressed by the forums included:
- Population, poverty and the MDGs
- Gender, women's empowerment and universal access to education
- Contraception and links with improvements in maternal and child health
- HIV/AIDS and population - joint up working?
- Environmental sustainability and population growth
- States and individuals: population and the discourse of rights
The final Population Forum The Unfinished Agenda – from Research to Policy Action was held on January 30th 2007 at the Houses of Parliament in London.
A list of speakers and copies of the presentation is available in the presentations section.