Representation: Policy and Communications

Westminster, London. Parliamentary Hearings on Population are completed - Return of the Population Growth Factor: Report published January 31st 2007

“The Return of the Population Growth Factor”, a Report by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Population, was published in January 2007.

It collates the findings of a series of Hearings at Westminster into the impact of population increase on the Millennium Development Goals. Evidence was submitted by some 50 organizations across the world.

Initially proposed by the PSN to the APPG in 2005, these hearings have taken written evidence from some 50 organisations across the world, including UNFPA, World Bank, World Health Organization, governments, NGOs and other organizations.

The findings of the Report show unequivocally that unless population growth is effectively tackled, particularly in a range of poorer in sub Saharan Africa and parts of south Asia, the MDGs will be difficult or impossible to achieve.

PSN was also represented on the Steering Group for the Hearings, and has provided input to the promotion of the Report.

To read the report click here

Opportunity for Wider Application

It is hoped that these Hearings at Westminster can provide a valuable model for wider adoption.

PSN is seeking to replicate the Hearings process in other parliamentary and legislative systems – with initial emphasis on the US House of Representatives and Senate and the European Parliament and Commission.

We have already held meetings in Washington and Brussels in 2006 as part of an ongoing programme to promote the process – aimed at securing a higher policy and budgetary profile for the population issue.

Population Forums September 2006 to January 2007

Click here for the full details of the forums

Wider participation by media, NGO representatives and the general public in the population debate is regarded as essential.

There is overwhelming evidence that rapid population growth poses substantial challenges to the attainment of the MDGs.

Yet, population has been virtually ignored by public 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. The Population and Sustainability Network (PSN) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) are 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.

Each Forum 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.

The final Population Forum was held on January 30^th 2007 at the Houses of Parliament in London.

Population: The Unfinished Agenda – from Research to Policy Action

 

Sustainable Consumption

The Network aims to identify existing good practice and develop strategies for translating theory into practice. Sustainable consumption is a central concern for some of the Network members, and is the important 'other side' of the population coin.  

Our youth arm, Sustainable Steps, is working on a range of initiatives for 2007 to highlight the importance of the need for sustainable consumption patterns. 

Global population is predicted to rise to about 9.5 billion by 2050, with most of that growth in the majority world. But what is not adequately explored is the interaction between:

• The effects of high per capita consumption in the minority world, and its own often high population density and numbers arising from growth in previous centuries and
• Long term sustainability, given the growing impact of over-consumption: including resource depletion, pollution, climate change and loss of natural habitats and species.

We would welcome input from visitors to the website on sustainable consumption (see our policy paper PopandConsumption02.pdf), and suggestions for taking this issue forward.