Bulletin 24 - October/November 2007
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ARHA's e-newsletter is published every two months to update
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More people, less fish = problem
Breed more fish, fewer people, urges US expert
In many remote villages in the Philippines, human populations have been growing rapidly at the same time as fish catches have declined drastically. Fishermen have had to travel further and resort to destructive practices such as dynamite and arsenic to to feed their families. These fishermen can readily understand the the link between family size and the health of the marine environment, according to a US expert. |
 Heather D'Agnes |
She met members of the Australian Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (PGPD) on 19 September. Ms D'Agnes said Philippine men and women realised it made sense to have smaller, healthier families while at the same time working to improve the marine environment by setting aside breeding grounds for fish. Aid projects world-wide had demonstrated the benefits of combining family planning with improved environmental management, rather than approaching the two areas separately. |
Earth's population already exceeds its resources |
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The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has warned that the 6.75 billion world population "has reached a stage where the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available".
The United Nations' Global Environment Outlook-4 report, released in New York on 26 October, says fish stocks, a key protein source for several billion people, are in crisis, while the exploitation of land for agriculture has hugely increased as populations increase and living standards rise.
"The food security of two-thirds of the world's people depends on fertilisers, especially nitrogen," the report says. In turn, the nutrients running off farmland are increasingly causing algal blooms.
>>>Article, Sydney Morning Herald
>>>Article, New York Times
>>>UN Environment Program website
Women MPs to meet in Beijing
Educational empowerment for women and girls
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PGPD members Senators Claire Moore (right) and Judith Troeth will represent Australia at a conference in Beijing
on women's education from 27-28 November. |
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Up to 100 women MPs are expected to attend the 5th Asian Women Parliamentarians and Ministers Conference. The theme is "Educational Empowerment for Women and Girls - a pre-requisite for development"
AUSTRALIAN NEWS CLIPS
Top ex-pat urges populations curbs
— The Age, 9 November 2007
HALTING population growth in developing countries should be part of a global strategy to reduce mankind's impact on the environment, according to an eminent expatriate Australian scientist. Immediate past president of the Royal Society, Professor Lord Robert May said that, given the threat of climate change, a declining global population was "a prerequisite" if humanity was to achieve a sustainable ecological footprint in the future. Addressing the Lowy Institute in Sydney last night, Lord May said a priority was educating and empowering women, "particularly in those cultures where this is not currently the case". >>>more
Morality is not a dirty word
— The Age, 9 November 2007
Critics are wrong: Australia's foreign aid is driven by sound planning and research, and is very effective, writes Dan Adams, organiser of the Make Poverty History Conference: "It was interesting to read John Roskam's interpretation of the foreign aid debate under the Make Poverty History campaign (Development is not a dirty word, 7/11/07). Roskam's suggestion that this debate is somehow too moral and that it is purely the domain of the Christian voice is astounding. I point out to Mr Roskam that the organiser of last year's Make Poverty History concert is not a Christian, nor were a very large percentage of the 50,000 Australians who signed up to the campaign to end extreme poverty." >>>more
Afghanistan Unveiled
— ABC 4 Corners 24 September 2007
The pictures were shocking. A woman swathed in a blue burqa, stumbling across the ground, barely able to see. Forced to her knees, then shot in the head. Publicly executed in a soccer stadium. Punishment, Taliban style. This chilling footage, shown in the Channel 4 program Beneath the Veil, graphically illustrated the brutality of the Taliban. Under their oppressive rule Afghanistan was a place of fear for women. >>>more
League players spread HIV message in PNG
— The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 September 2007
For the third year running, top Australian rugby league players have visited Papua New Guinea to deliver messages about HIV/AIDS awareness and non-violence against women. An Australian prime minister's XIII in Port Moresby to play a PNG prime minister's XIII on Sunday took time on Saturday to visit a coastal village near the capital and an army barracks.
>>>more
Meninga takes climate message to PNG
— The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September 2007
Australian rugby league great Mal Meninga has planted a tree at a school in Papua New Guinea to encourage children and authorities to become part of international Clean Up the World activities. Meninga planted the tree at the Wardstrip Demonstration School in Port Moresby before signing dozens of autographs for young students. "Chopping down too many trees is part of the problem. Trees protect us by absorbing greenhouse gases," Meninga said. >>>more
Sex by the Book
— The Age, 2 September 2007
Despite unplanned pregnancies and rising rates of sexually transmitted infections, sex ed in schools remains ad hoc. Adolescents are having sex at a younger age, more often and with more partners. More than half are sexually active by the age of 16. At the same time, sex-ed classes are ad hoc and not compulsory, and parents are free to withdraw their children from them. Teacher training is also hit and miss, with classes taught by teachers with no expertise in the area. >>>more
Gore highlights world population fears
— The West Australian, 19 September 2007
The ballooning world population and the dizzying pace of technological change have helped turn mankind into an environmental "bull in a china shop", says climate crusader Al Gore. The former US vice-president said the world population has quadrupled in 100 years. Though it is now stabilising, it is still increasing in developing countries with high rates of poverty. >>>more
Family planning to reduce emissions
— The Australian, September 18 2007
Heather D'Agnes, head of the population-health-environment program in the US Agency for International Development, said a rapid reduction in population growth in developing countries would play a critical role in reducing demand for energy and pressure on other environmental systems such as fisheries and land clearing. Visiting Australia for a series of meetings and forums this week, Ms D'Agnes said aggressive programs to keep the global population to the low end of growth ranges - between 7billion and 11 billion by 2050 - was often overlooked as a relatively inexpensive and effective response to managing climate change. Ms D'Agnes said slowing population growth would also alleviate poverty and improve health standards. >>>more
>>>more domestic news
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Conference to world: "you're too slow on family planning"
The fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Sexual |
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The conference, at which ARHA CEO Jane Singleton was an invited speaker, attracted some 1,300 people from 42 countries and had the theme "exploring new frontiers in sexual and reproductive health and rights". The Open Letter to Governments, adopted on the last day, called on Governments to honour the commitments they have already made to make family planning more accessible, reduce maternal deaths and enable young people to avoid HIV. The Deputy Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Purnima Mane, said that despite some progress in Asia, the region continued to have “high rates of unintended pregnancies, high rates of maternal death and disability, increasing numbers of new HIV infections, and persistent and widespread violence against women and girls". Ms Singleton spoke to a plenary session of the Conference on "Making Things Happen: the Power of Advocacy" and to a specialist session on "Raising Awareness of and Support for Microbicides in Australia”. Series of meetings for CEO The Hyderabad conference in India was the last of She travelled successivley to Kenya, Portugal and London to attend:
Ms Singleton said the meetings provided valuable networking opportunities. She was able to meet with and learn from colleagues in AusAID, UNFPA, Ipas, IPPF, the secretariat of the UK Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, Marie Stopes International and many others. |
UK boosts funding to UNFPA
ARHA welcomes ₤100 million announcement
A pledge by the UK to provide ₤100 milion - nearly $230 million - to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) over the next five years has been welcomed by ARHA's CEO, Jane Singleton. Ms Singleton said all developed nations should try to emulate the UK's example. |
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Ms Singleton said it was gratifying that in the UK, at least, the "penny had dropped" about the enormous benefits that family planning can provide at relatively low cost. She said it should no longer be tolerated that while in Australia only 8 women die for every 100,000 childbirths, the comparable figures are 230 in Indonesia, 300 in Papua New Guinea, and 660 in East Timor. Australia's contribution to UNFPA was 21 cents per person, whereas the UK's announcement would take its contribution to 78 cents per person, more than three times higher, she added.>>>ARHA press release >>>UNFPA release |
SUPPORT
ARHA Our health, our lives, our planet, our future Since ARHA's creation in 1995, we have been entirely funded by international grant-making agencies. However, the time has come for ARHA to seek public support from within Australia and internationally. There are several ways you can support ARHA in its
work to protect and promote reproductive health.
You can Join online or
phone us for a membership application form on (02) 62828922
If you are interested in volunteering your services to ARHA then please call Rose McConnell, 02 6282 8922 |
INTERNATIONAL NEWS CLIPS
China launches new push to slow population growth
— Reuters, 19 November 2007
China has vowed fresh efforts to strengthen rural family planning, warning that measures to control population growth in the vast countryside face "unprecedented challenges". China credits the sweeping campaign to cajole or force couples to avoid "excess births" with keeping its population down to about 1.3 billion and helping to maximize the benefits of economic growth. >>>more
Three's a crowd
— The Observer, 11 November 2007
The more children we have, the more stress we put on an already overburdened planet, say campaigners. Observer environment correspondent Juliette Jowit meets the modern Malthusians who, for the sake of the planet, are choosing to 'stop at two'. >>>more
European Legislators Reiterate Need To Focus On Reproductive Health For Philippine Development
— AHN, 8 November 2007
Parliamentarians from European Union member-countries are in the Philippines for a week-long study tour on reproductive health. And foremost in their agenda are meetings with Filipino decision-makers to discuss the reproductive health and development situation in the country and possible areas of cooperation. >>>more
UN to scale up activities on Vietnam population issues— Than Nien News, 5 November 2007
A United Nations fund which promotes health and equal opportunities will scale up its activities in Vietnam, a representative said. The population fund will focus on safe motherhood, reproductive health care for ethnic minorities, mid-wives training and HIV/AIDS prevention. >>>more
For Frances, it's personal
—Conscience, Spring 2007
One of the bitter disappointments of the papacy of John Paul II was that the Roman Catholic Church
abdicated its responsibility toward women, and in particular toward women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. For a quarter of a century, the church resolutely opposed all moves toward women’s empowerment and gender equality, on the international stage and at the national level. >>>more
Papua New Guinea AIDS Crisis May Mirror Africa's, UN Says
— Bloomberg.com, August 31 2007
Papua New Guinea's AIDS epidemic may mirror the crisis in Africa as infections surge with more than 75 percent of sufferers unable to access drugs to manage the disease, the United Nations said. `It could very much become an Africa-type situation if the required services are not in place,'' Tim Rwabuhemba, Papua New Guinea coordinator for the United Nations AIDS agency, said in an interview from the capital, Port Moresby. ``There is an urgent need for more HIV services across the board here.'' >>>more
>>>More International News
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