Nafis Sadik
Executive Director of United Nations Fund for Population Activities
and UN Under Secretary General, Presentation at California State University, Los Angeles on Friday, May 10, 1996

Involvement of the People

One of the most important questions of our time is teaching people to act together to stop environmental degradation. I believe that involvement of the people is one of the most important accomplishments of the series of intergovernmental conferences starting with the Earth Summit in 1992.

People of all cultural backgrounds throughout the world are concerned with preservation of our natural habitat and resources, but people often feel they are helpless in the face of environmental deterioration. Despite such pessimism, much is being done by individuals, groups and governments to stop the damage from over-exploitation of our resources.

Today everyone recognizes that environmental degradation is related to issues of population, poverty, income disparities, wasteful consumption and gender inequality - issues that have been addressed by the series of UN summits in Rio, Cairo, Copenhagen, and now Istanbul this June.

Global Population Growth

Worldwide, the annual population growth has slowed to 1.5%, but it is still more than 3% in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Over the next decade, only 5% of the total population growth will occur in the developed world, but these countries will contribute heavily to resource consumption.

In the past 20 years, the world's population has increased by 49% from 3.9 to 5.8 billion. According to UN projections, the global population will be between 7.1 - 7.8 billion in 2015 and between 7.9 and 11.9 billion in 2050. Whether the actual totals are closer to the high or low projections will depend on how effective we are in meeting the objectives agreed on at the UN Cairo Population Conference, which included the expansion of education opportunities, especially for girls, the empowerment of women, and the provision of health services, including reproductive health care and family planning.

Overconsumption

The Food Security Summit in November 1996 will look at food needs. Today about 800 million people in the world are hungry, but the anticipated increase of per capita income usually increases meat consumption which puts a much higher strain on resources, so that linear projections based on grain production are not accurate.

At the heart of the population-environment relationship is the over-consumption in the developed world which has only 25% of the population, but consumes 75% of the energy, 85% of all wood, 79% of all commercial fuels and 72% of all steel. A person in the developed world consumes, directly or indirectly, enough grain to feed 4 Indians, and uses 40 times more resources than an average resident of Tanzania. In addition, media from the developed world dramatically present images of overconsumption to the entire world.

Just as there is a vicious circle linking poverty, rapid population growth and unsustainable environmental practices, there is a virtuous circle in which meeting human needs results in a slower population growth and a healthier environment.

It is generally agreed that meeting human needs is the central focus of development, but present policies are reinforcing social inequity and poverty, with very little investment going into education and social needs.

Gender Equity

Since the Cairo Po;ulation Conference and Beijing Women's Conferences there has been more focus on gender equity, recognizing women have a crucial impact on economic and resource development. We know development initiatives fail if do not recognize the role of women. Often women are left out of training in new technology, even though they are the primary users. Women need access to land, credit, resources, education, information, technology and markets. The Beijing Platform for Action called for all policies and programs to be uated in terms of their impact on the environment and on women's equal access to natural resources.

UNFPA is coordinating follow-up to the Cairo Conference with 23 UN organizations. For example, UNESCO is the lead organization for education programs, with other UN organizations, working on human rights, environment, drug enforcement, etc.

What You Can Do

International meetings adopt basic intergovernmental positions and make recommendations that are adopted by consensus. While governments are not legally required to honor these commitments, they are morally obligated to do so and most do some follow-up, but each country must tailor the program to the needs of that country. However, it is the role of interested parties, such as you, to make sure that governments live up to the pledges they have made. The best way to do this is to work with the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) related to your areas of concern.

You in the U.S. have organized yourself to impact policies of local and national governments. You know how to use community groups to influence change, and be watchdogs. This has not happened in many developing countries. Development is teaching people how to do it themselves. You could show people how they can make change happen.

Look around at your own society, what application does the Cairo Program of Action have on conditions here? What can be done about maternal and infant mortality rates in your inner cities? What needs to be done to ensure women's equity and equality? What can be done about adolescent pregnancy (knowing the U.S. leads the developed world in teen age pregnancy)? How can poverty in the U.S. be eliminated?

UN Fund for Population Activities

The UNFPA works primarily with developing countries in implementing strategies designed to improve women's status and hence their ability to more effectively manage their lives, families and living environment. We provide materials for education programs and teacher training. All surveys show that women want fewer children than they have, but either they do not have access to services, or cannot exercise their own decisions, because they are coerced by family or society.

The Cairo report estimated health needs at $17 billion annually by the year 2000, with a third, $5.3 billion to come from international donors, which is double what is now happening. However, most donor countries are increasing contributions, except for the U.S. Congress has cut funding for international population activities. The U.S. provided $35 million last year, but it has been cut to $27 million this year, to be paid out at 1/15th of that amount per month, a rather unusual arrangement in which the 1997 amount will have to be paid concurrently with 1996.

Support for the UN

However, overall, the U.S. owes the UN $1.5 billion, $1 billion for peacekeeping, and $0.5 billion arrears for the rest of its UN general assessment. The U.S. had agreed to pay 31% of the costs for peacekeeping (because of its veto power), but now Congress is saying will only pay 25%. This is causing a crisis throughout the UN system and the effect is to cut off many programs in developing countries.

The UN has brought many issues to the public consciousness, such as the human rights of all people, to help every individual attain their full potential. Only by working together around the world can we implement these blueprints for our common future. You can play an important role in this.

You can mobilize public opinion and support for the UN in general and for specific issues such as environment and population. You can develop local action plans to have the US government implement the agreements of the international conferences, then reach out to the world at large.

Discussion:

Q: How can we have human rights until we control population?

A: Currently the U.S. seems primarily concerned with growth of the economy, looking for a trickle down effect, but we know that does not work, you have to focus programs on those in need. The role of government is to provide a safety net to first ensure that everyone has their basic needs met.

Q: Males dominate the Roman Catholic and Muslim religious hierarchies which want to perpetuate large families.

A: We need to mobilize people within countries, to speak out about what we do not agree with. All religion is meant as a framework for the welfare of every individual in that society, but religion sometimes seems to support the rights of a certain elite group, such as males. However, direct confrontation does not work in many societies, so strategy is very important. We need to look pragmatically at how to make changes. If you look at the biggest needs, you could accomplish much just by listening to women.