Global: Population Matters!
There is overwhelming evidence that rapid population growth worldwide, together with the effects of high consumption levels in developed countries, pose substantial challenges to the attainment of the MDGs. Yet, population has been virtually ignored at a political level for the past decade.
POPULATION MATTERS!
September 2006 – January 2007
All Welcome
The Impact of Population Growth on the Millennium Development Goals Forum Series to complement the 2006 Parliamentary Hearings
There is overwhelming evidence that rapid population growth worldwide, together with the effects of high consumption levels in developed countries, pose substantial challenges to the attainment of the MDGs.
Yet, population has been virtually ignored at a political level 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 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Population and Sustainability Network (PSN) want to build on this growing interest and increase dialogue between policy, action (Government and NGOs) and academic research on the topic of Population, about which many have remained silent for so long.
Each Forum will be chaired by a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health (APPG), with contributions from two distinguished speakers, and concluding remarks from a third speaker.
1. Population, Poverty and the MDGs Tuesday 12th September, 6.00 – 7.30pm Goldsmiths Lecture Theatre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street MDG addressed: Goal 1 to halve poverty and hunger
2. Gender, women’s empowerment and universal access to education – The impact of population growth Tuesday 26th September, 6.00 – 7.30pm The Elvin Hall, Institute for Education, 20 Bedford Way MDGs addressed: Goal 2 – Education and Goal 3 – Gender and women’s empowerment.
3. Contraception, population growth and the link with maternal and child mortality Tuesday 10th October, 6.00 – 7.30pm The Elvin Hall, the Institute of Education MDGs addressed: Goal 4 – Child mortality; Goal 5 – maternal mortality
4. AIDS and population – joined up working?
Tuesday 24th October, 6.00 – 7.30pm Gavin de Beer Lecture Theatre, Anatomy Building, UCL, Gower Street MDG addressed: Goal 6 – AIDS and other infectious diseases.
5. Environmental sustainability and population Tuesday 7th November, 6.15 – 7.45pm Room B34 Birkbeck College, Mallet Street MDG addressed: Goal 7 – Environmental sustainability and the targets of increased water security and sustainable development.
6. States and individuals: population and the discourse of rights Tuesday 28th November, 6.00 – 7.30pm Brunei Gallery, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street To examine key current barriers to implementation of population policies relevant to the attainment of the MDGs
7. Population: how do we tackle it in the 21st century?
Tuesday 12th December, 6.30 – 8.00pm (note time)
Old Lecture Theatre, London School of Economics Challenges: What Next?
The final Population Forum:
Population: The Word that Dares to Speak its Name Again
- From Research to Action at the Houses of Parliament, January 30th 2007 The culmination of the series will be a high profile Population Forum to be held at the Houses of Parliament. The event will be organised jointly with the APPG.
The event will summarise the issues and in particular the actions/solutions, identified both through the Forum series and through the Hearings process. We envisage a heavy media presence with the aim of providing messages on what the UK, other governments and NGOs and others should be doing to tackle population growth, over-consumption and the attainment of the MDGs.
Summaries of each of the Forum sessions and of the final Forum will be posted on the web-sites of LSHTM, the Population and Sustainability Network and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health.
For more information, please contact Huyette Shillingford: [email][email protected] or Catherine Budgett-Meakin: [email][email protected] Series funded by DFID Research Programme Consortium on Reproductive Health and Rights