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Emporium Current Essays311f 01 POPULATIONThe United Nations has estimated that there are now 5,660 million people in the worldand projects that the number will rise to8,500 million by 2025 and 10,000 million by 2050. Worth asserted that there will be morethan 1,000 million teenagers in the world by the year 2000. "It is because of this veryrapid growth of this group of people there is a sense of urgency." "Having so many people moving into the child bearing years means that there is potentially a very sharpincrease in the rise of world population." The world will not be able to groweconomically, prevent political instability and minimise harm to the environment unless populations are stabilised. "This is a sense of urgency felt by countries all over the world,EastWest, North-South, rich-poor". Hope to come out of with a very firm broad documentthat is a ringing endorsement of the need to stabilise population and also a ringingendorsement about the power and opportunity of women as change agents in the world."The Clinton administration has been "uncompromising and very clear" that thefundamental goal of population stabilisation will be at the top of its which he described asthe "pillar of US foreign policy". The United States has increased its budget for  population programmes to around S600 million a year and in this effort has beensupported by similar increases in other countries, particularly Japan, which increased itsspending tenfold from S40 million a year to S400 million a year.Environmental degradation, due to overpopulation and overuse of natural resources hasaffected many countries, including China where people are migrating from the centralhinterland to coastal cities. China's "full speed growth" will eventually run into the "wailof unsustainable development," Chinese leaders are aware of the problem. Worth saidwar-torn Rwanda is overpopulatcd with an average of eight babies being born to aRwandan woman; also he said food production has declined by 20 per cent in thatcountry. Haiti, with most of its forests cut down, has become "an ecological nightmare,"and the future looks even bleaker with that country's population of 7 million expected todouble in the next 18 years. The world's population has doubled since 1960 to today's5,600 million, 312Emporium Current Essaysand that 97 per cent of future population growth will be in the Third World. On the other hand that the industrialised countries of the West with 20 per cent of the global population consume two-thirds of ail global resources ant' hi the process produce four-fifth of all global pollutant and waste,The Clinton administration worked hard and successfully to get a population stabilisation plan adopted by the UN conference held in Cairo, Egypt, in September, therebyoverturning the policy of the previous t-.\o administrations to discourage family planing.
 
The Reagan and Bush administrations believed that the growing numbers of people In theworld would not strain economics, lead to food problems or the rapid depletion of naturalresources. These Republican presidents were supported by anti-abortion and somereligious group?. But the great bulk of population, heakh, women's and environmentalgroups fought the policy of these administration, supported Clinton's bid for the presidency in 1992 and were overjoyed at the Democratic president's support of world-wide efforts to moderate population growth. The contrast between Clinton's and the two previous administrations attitudes toward population could be clearly seen inChristopher's remarks to the workshop.Population growth strains resources, It stunts economics growth, it generates disease, itspawns huge refugee flows and ultimately it threatens our flows and ultimately itthreatens our stability," he said. However, the Republican sweep of Congress in the November elections imperils the population programmes in particular and aid wdeveloping countries in general. Several prominent Republicans have said funds for such purposes should be reduced. That seemed to lead administration officials at the workshopto argue that aid had been a great help to many developing countries and should becontinued. Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Sen ices, said she had justreturned from Russia. Where consultations led to formation of a joint committee thatwould work on health problems In the former Soviet Union. "The number one priority of the Russians ... is the women's reproductive health issue. The Russians are committee both to reducing the number of surgical abortions and increasing the number of family planning clinics .. and we're happy to work with them on that," she said. Sally Shelton,Assistant Administrator of the Agency for International Development, argued thatassistance programmes to developing countries were a major reasons for reductions inmortality and average family size. Furthermore, US aid helped economies such as Korea,Taiwan, Tunisia, Costa Rica,Emporium Current Essays313Botswana, Greece and Belize develop to the point where they no longer needed help, shesaid. "We know aid works," she said. The UN conference set goals of reducing infantmortality by at least onethird by the year 2000, maternal deaths by half by 2000, andestablishing universal primary education and family planning services by 2015.A draft of the action programme drawn up the after three years of negotiations in preparation for the Cairo conference recommends that SI 7,000 million be spentannually on population programmes by the yea 2000, 518,500 million in 2005, 520,500million in 2010 and 523,700 million in 2015. The family planning portion of the total isrecommended at 510,200 million annually in2000, 511,500 million in 2005, S12,600 million in 2010 and 513800 million in 2015. Thenumbers are estimates prepared by UN experts of the cost of meeting all of the demandfor family planning and related services in developing countries, Russia and the other former Soviet Union republics. The experts estimated that these countries now spend
 
about 54,000 million to SS,000 million annually on such services and receive about S800million a year in aid for these services from developed countries- That makes thedeveloped world's share about 20 per cent. Developed countries agreed during the preliminary negotiations to increase their share of family planning and related servicesto one-third. They also agreed they might go to 50 per cent or more in the case of the poorest countries, particularly those in Africa. Sub-Saharun African has the highestfutility rates and some of the poorest countries in the world. UN experts also estimate hatthe world's population is now about 5,600 million and will rise to 8.500 million in 2025,assuring continuing moderate declines in fertility rates or total population in thedeveloping world or former Soviet Union and none will be added in this final round of negotiations Timothy Worth, US under-secrctary of State for Global Affairs and head of the US delegation said: "establishing targets could, as has happened In some countries,degenerate not quotas and coercion to meet the quotas. And then, as you saw in somecountries, the whole population programme collapse because it alienates people anddoesn't engage them." Consequently, governments and private organisations working on population issues are focusing on improving the status of women, education and the like,and that has proved to be much, much more effective and much longer lasting, thansimply setting targets, he said. In material released at the announcement of the South-South partnership. Egypt said it could supply contraceptives and mobile clinics anddesign education and communications programmes. Bangladesh, one of the poorestcountries in the world, has314Emporium Current EssaysEmporium Current Essays315experience in dramatically lowering birth rates among poor and illiterate populations.Colombia, Mho Roman Catholic hierarchy opposes abortion and contraceptives, hasactive non-governmental groups that'have taken a leading role in providing family planning services. Indonesia, largely Muslim country, established a family planningcommission directly responsible to the President that helped lower fertility ratesdramatically. Kenya has successfully trained traditional health practitioners in birthcontrol techniques and they have passed on this information to remote villages. Mexicofaced ^soaring population growth in the 1970 and the government mobilised its resourcesto promote family panning. Thailand has had a high rate of growth in the use of contraceptives. Tunisia made a commitment 30 years ago to an integrated approach of addition education and health services to family planning programmes. Zimbabwe has anetwork of more than 1,000 family planning extension workers that reaches into remote parts of the country. Morocco began a campaign with doctors and nurses to provide 20 per cent of its population with family planning advice. The goal has been met and a newgoal has beer, set at 54 per cent.
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