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As the U.S. Grows, So Grows the World: Environment Pays High Price
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Report: U.S. National Report on Population and the Environment
Website : Biodiversity Hotspots
Article: Come October, Baby Will Make 300 Million or So
PAI Fact Sheet: Finding Balance: Forests and Family Planning in Madagascar
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Washington, DC, September 11, 2006 – A recent report released by the Center for Environment and Population warns that population growth in the U.S. is a "major contributor" to environmental degradation globally—a linkage that PAI has long highlighted around the world. Despite some claims that a global “birth dearth” is more of a concern than population growth, the U.S. population is poised to reach 300 million in October. And population is growing even more rapidly in developing countries—in Ethiopia, for example, the population is projected to double by 2045. Greater access to family planning and reproductive health services allow women and men to determine the number and spacing of their children—and helps ease population pressures on fragile ecosystems.
Americans are consuming natural resources faster than they can be replenished—and the trend is expected to continue. According to the report, the number one cause of biodiversity decline in the U.S. is habitat loss. Worldwide, the situation is more dire, as rapid population growth places extraordinary pressure on the environment.
In recent years, Congress has wisely directed USAID to target its family planning assistance in areas rich in biodiversity. These hotspots, cover only 12% of the Earths surface, but they house one-sixth of the worlds population and over 50 percent of the worlds plant species, according to Conservation International. In most of these areas there is little or no access to reproductive health services and, as a result, the population is growing up to 40% faster in these areas than the world as a whole.
Family planning programs empower women to make their own reproductive choices, as well as ease the burden on local ecosystems. In addition to curbing our own consumption in the U.S., it is imperative that we support these programs in the areas of the world with the most fragile environments.
PAI is committed to advancing universal access to family planning and related health services and to educational and economic opportunities, especially for women and girls. PAI fosters the development of U.S. and international policy on urgent population and reproductive health issues through an integrated program of research, advocacy and communications, and it seeks to make clear the linkages between population, reproductive health, the environment and development. Founded in 1965, PAI is a private, non-profit group and accepts no government funds.
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