Thematic consultation on Population Dynamics begins

Civil society is invited to join policy makers, government officials, donors, UN staff and all other stakeholders in discussing the scope and priorities of the post-2015 development agenda in the consultation on population dynamics in the post-2015 UN development agenda. 

It aims to stimulate dialogue, facilitate an exchange of ideas and collect and document the views, experiences and perspectives of key stakeholders vis-à-vis population dynamics on this forum and provides “an opportunity to contribute to the setting of shared global priorities in the context of ameliorating poverty and inequality, whilst championing universal rights and values”.

Discussion topics

There are three discussion topics at present, to which you are invited to contribute: 

• Why and how should population dynamics be integrated into the post-2015 UN development agenda?

• Is it possible to develop a common framework for integrating different population dynamics into the post-2015 development agenda?

• Should we consider expanding targets with respect to individual population issues to include such issues as high fertility, demographic bonus, ageing, urbanization, or migration? What would be the disadvantage of broadening the set of targets?

Focus areas

Included on the website are a number of focus areas for browsing:

Population levels and trends; Fertility, marriage and reproductive health; Mortality; International migration; Urbanization; Youth; Ageing; and Population and sustainable development.

For more information see http://www.worldwewant2015.org/population

Comments

[Roger Martin]

It is factually the case that:
i) The total human impact on planetary ecosystems is, by definition, the average impact per person multiplied by the number of people; so each additional person increases ecological damage, and brings serious ecological failure nearer (the rich more than the poor);
ii) Natural resources per person are, by definition, total natural resources divided by the number of people; so each additional person reduces everyone else's 'fair share' of natural resources (the rich more than the poor);
iii) Climate change and wider environmental degradation will adversely affect everyone; so each additional person will increase the number of climate change and resource-scarcity victims (the poor sooner and more than the rich);
iv). All population growth thus makes all environmental and resource problems harder, and ultimately impossible, to solve;
v) Indefinite growth in anything physical is physically impossible on a finite planet; so population growth will definitely stop at some point, either sooner by fewer births (the humane way - contraception) or later by more deaths (the inhumane 'natural' way - famine, disease and competition/conflict);
vi) The UN population projection for 2050 lies in the range 8.1 to 10.6 billion - a range of 2.5 billion (the entire population of the planet in 1950); and all environmental and resource problems will be easier to solve, the nearer to the bottom of the range we can stabilise our numbers;
vii) Stable or reducing populations are an essential (though far from sufficient) condition for biophysical sustainability.

It follows that:
i) Rights-based population stabilisation/reduction policies - comprising voluntary family planning, women's education and empowerment, and cultural shift in favour of small families - should be a very high priority in all countries, rich and poor;
ii) Such programmes should form an important element in all development programmes, eg on food, water and energy security, education, health, employment, housing, transport and security;
iii) Population dynamics should be a cross-cutting theme in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals;
iv) None of this exempts the rich from their obligation to reduce their excessive consumption;
v) As the Royal Society 'People and the Planet' report made clear, population and consumption should always be considered together, since a finite planet can sustain fewer high- than low-consuming people within its ecological limits.

Roger Martin
Chair, Population Matters (UK)