Thanks to Roger Martin, Chair of the Optimum Population Trust, for the summary report (Word document below) that led to the press release below. Following that is an article on the report from the Telegraph sent to me by Fred Stanback. Following that is an article from the Washington Post sent to me by Emily Pontarelli. With that article are instructions for sending your letter to the editor of the Washington Post commenting on their coverage
OPT CC Report Summary (Word doc., 246 KB)
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Here is the talk by Musimbi Kanyoro, Director of the Population Program at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, at the NGO Forum on ICPD + 15, held in Berlin September 2-4, 2009. The conference looked at what is still needed to accomplish the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994.
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Where is the P in the ICPD?
By Musimbi Kanyoro,
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Berlin, September 4, 2009

Many of you will remember the late Allan Rosenfield who fought so consistently and effectively for the rights we all want to see women enjoy. One of his famous articles was called. “Where is the M in MCH?” (i.e. where is the maternal in the Maternal Child Health). During these past three days we have reaffirmed the ICPD agenda and we have a document resulting from our collective passion, but and I want ask that we do more.

Allow me to mimic Dr. Rosenfield by asking “where the P in the ICPD”?
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The following is an important message from Paul Ehrlich.
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Dear Friends,

There is growing consensus among environmental scientists that the scholarly community has adequately detailed how to deal with the major issues of the human predicament caused by our success as a species – climate disruption, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, toxification of the planet, the deterioration of the epidemiological environment, the potential impacts of nuclear war, racism, sexism, economic inequity, and on and on. I and my colleagues believe humanity must take rapid steps to ameliorate them. But, in essence, nothing serious is being done – as exemplified by the “much talk and no action” on climate change. The central problem is clearly not a need for more natural science (although in many areas it would be very helpful) but rather a need for better understanding of human behaviors and how they can be altered to direct humanity toward a sustainable society before it is too late.
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Water scarcity grows in urgency in many regions as population growth, climate change, pollution, lack of investment, and management failures restrict the amount of water available relative to demand. The Stockholm International Water Institute calculated in 2008 that 1.4 billion people live in “closed basins”-regions where existing water cannot meet the agricultural, industrial, municipal, and environmental needs of all.1 Their estimate is consistent with a 2007 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calculation that 1.2 billion people live in countries and regions that are water-scarce.2 And the situation is projected to worsen rapidly: FAO estimates that the number of water-scarce will rise to 1.8 billion by 2025, particularly as population growth pushes many countries and regions into the scarcity column.

For full article, visit:
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6213?emc=el&m=279787&l=4&v=a8085f1b07

Thanks to Leta Finch for this article from Risk Management Magazine.
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Water is vital for the production of almost everything we use. One car tire, for example, requires 518 gallons of water to manufacture. One ton of steel calls for 62,600 gallons. One egg requires 120 gallons. One 200-millimeter semiconductor wafer that powers the computers we use requires 7,500 gallons of ultrapure water. And as populations grow, many companies, not to mention cities, must face a grave threat-there soon may not be enough water to go around.

Many feel that water scarcity is not yet a cause for concern. After all, the world is covered with water. That is true, but 97.5% of it is saltwater. The remaining 2.5%, of which only a fraction is accessible surface or groundwater, is used for various functions such as sustaining life, growing food, supporting various economic processes and transporting and assimilating waste.

For full article, visit:
http://www.rmmag.com

Thanks to John Rowley of People & Planet for this editorial on water, climate and population.
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In a dispatch from Sanaa, capital of Yemen, earlier this week, Reuter correspondent Alistair Lyon, described the grim water outlook for the city’s two million people. Those who do receive piped water get it only once or twice a week. Others get none at all. And the sinking water table means that 80 of the city’s 180 wells have run dry.

Yet Sanaa, which has grown from a sleepy town of some 50,000 people in the last 50 years, is one of the world’s fastest growing cities. It adds 8 per cent to its population every year – of which 5 per cent are driven there as migrants from the parched countryside.

For full article, visit:
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/

The recent search for wreckage from the crash of Air France Flight 447 off the coast of Brazil has highlighted a tragedy of a different sort: marine litter that biodegrades slowly and kills sea turtles, birds, fish, and marine mammals. Marine litter is so abundant that Brazilian authorities sounded a false alarm when they found what they thought was wreckage from the downed plane, when in fact, it was run-of-the-mill garbage.

For full article, visit:
http://nationalacademies.org/headlines/20090626.html

Thanks to Edmund Levering for this link to the Center for Biological Diversity’s three-minute film on plastics in the ocean.
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June is National Oceans Month, and one issue is particularly emblematic of the burgeoning human population’s impact on our biggest salty water bodies: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Technically known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, it’s an area devoid of ocean currents where floating objects tend to collect. But “patch” is a misnomer. More than 7 million tons of plastic now clog an area roughly twice the size of Texas. There’s six times as much plastic in the gyre as there is plankton, which form the base of the ocean’s food chain. And plastic never biodegrades; it only breaks into ever-smaller particles called “nurdles,” which often resemble plankton and are mistakenly eaten by bigger sea creatures. Not only do nurdles cause malnutrition, they also tend to concentrate persistent organic pollutants like PCBs and DDT . . . with toxic effects on unsuspecting marine diners.
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The Great Barrier Reef will be so degraded by warming waters that it will be unrecognisable within 20 years, an eminent marine scientist has said.

Charlie Veron, former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, told The Times: “There is no way out, no loopholes. The Great Barrier Reef will be over within 20 years or so.”

Once carbon dioxide had hit the levels predicted for between 2030 and 2060, all coral reefs were doomed to extinction, he said. “They would be the world’s first global ecosystem to collapse. I have the backing of every coral reef scientist, every research organisation. I’ve spoken to them all. This is critical. This is reality.”

For full article, visit:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6652866.ece

Thanks to Tim Murray for this notice.
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ALERT: Another critical debate about population issues is to happen on the Economist online. This one is even more important. International migration. Simon Ross of OPT reports:

ANOTHER ONLINE DEBATE

Hard on the heels of our 4:1 win (thanks, John Seager of Population Connection, who led for our side, Adrian for contributing a piece, and everyone else at OPT who posted interventions – I put three in) on “The house believes the world would be better off with fewer people.”, we have:

“This house believes there is too much international migration.”
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