The Beaufort Gazette (SC) reported April 19 that the World Resources Institute's Point Analysis of Global Ecosystems found that population pressures are destroying costal habitat, depleting fisheries, polluting waters and eroding beaches worldwide. link

On April 19, the Associated Press reported that a new interactive CD-ROM, "Population and the Environment: The Global Challenge," by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, provides valuable information on improving living standards in the developing world without destroying the environment. This story also ran on the Environmental News Network April 25. link

INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING POLICY AND FUNDING

In continuing coverage of President George W. Bush's reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy that bars international family planning groups from providing or advocating for abortion services, USA Today on April 20 quoted White House Chief of Staff Andy Card as saying abortion is "a high moral priority for the President, but his public policy priorities are education, tax reform and tax reduction, reforming Social Security, reforming the Medicare system and improving our national defense."

Despite Card's remarks, abortion supporters saw Bush's Mexico City policy order as a signal that opposing abortion will be a top administration priority. The National Organization for Women called for an April 22 protest around the U.S. Capitol, titled "Emergency Action for Women's Lives," according to an April 23 Washington Post story. link

The amount of money spent on international family planning programs, only a small percentage of the total U.S. foreign aid package, continues to be examined. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported April 22 that the foreign aid budget, "an item that once received annual scrutiny," this year passed Congress "easily." The Inquirer said one reason may be that in an era of budget surpluses, Congress feels less urgency to find spending cuts. Another reason, one that may surprise many Americans, is that U.S. foreign aid is so low Congress feels it's hardly worth fighting about. The story also called aid for international family planning programs ($425 million) and AIDS prevention ($300 million) examples of USAID success stories. link

In other funding news, the April 21 Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that the U.N. Foundation, which is distributing billionaire Ted Turner's $1 billion gift, announced a new round of grants: $72 million to help support women, children, peace and environmental protection around the world. Of that, $5.46 million will go to the United Nations Population Fund.

On April 21, Agence France Presse reported that population in the Philippines has passed the 75 million mark amid government warnings about the dangers of a booming growth rate. Johnny Noe Ravalo, chief economist and director for policy research of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, was quoted as saying in an April 26 Phillipine Inquirer story that population growth is "a real ticking time bomb. Today, the profile of the population is young so we won't feel the impact immediately. But over the next 30 years, you'll feel the brunt of it."

According to stories in the April 18 New York Times and many other U.S. newspapers, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told Wolf Blitzer of CNN that the United States should not interfere with population-control policies in China. Robertson retracted his statement the following day and said he should have emphasized his anti-abortion views. Women's Enews featured Robertson's retraction in its "Outrage of the Week" section. link

BIRTH DEARTH

Newsweek International featured an April 23 cover story titled "The Rise of the Only Child around the Globe," along with a sidebar that said urban parents in China are ignoring the one-child official policy and deciding for themselves how many kids to have, far from their hometowns' population police. The cover story examined reasons for a dramatic rise in one-child families in developed countries where the result is what demographers call "sub-replacement [level] fertility." The article stated that many families plan on having more than one child, but financial concerns, career aspirations, and time often interfere with those plans. In the last 10 years, fertility rates have fallen in Europe to 1.46 children per woman during her lifetime (from 1.72); 2.54 in Asia (from 3); and 2.3 in Brazil (from the 6.3 rate 40 years ago). More dramatically, the current fertility rate of 5.74 children per woman in the 48 least developed countries is expected to fall to 2.51 by 2050. However, the single-child trend has not reached the poorest developing countries, and by 2050, 9 out of 10 people will live in a developing country. link

United Press International reported April 26 that three major think tanks - the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the American Enterprise Institute and RAND - are simultaneously analyzing a range of important issues surrounding the consequences - political, financial, medical and security-related - of the aging populations of developed countries. Because of increasingly low birth rates, now at the point that no industrialized nation is replenishing its population, these economies are likely to face the need to adjust their policies on retirement, employment, immigration and education.

GLOBAL POPULATION

The New York Times reported April 30 that the groups that successfully fought for price reductions on AIDS drugs sold in poor countries are now mounting a broader line of attack, seeking billions of dollars to fight the disease. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said, "cheaper anti-retroviral drugs, however vital, will not by themselves provide the answer. Without proper health care, they may even do more harm than good." The campaign for more effective education and prevention programs, improved clinics, increased number of trained health care workers and development projects to put AIDS-devastated societies back on track could cost an estimated $15 billion annually. Elite universities, research organizations, Congress and American business leaders all have ideas on how to end this epidemic. "An expanded concept of prevention is required, one that includes food security, efforts to empower women, and other ways of addressing societal problems," according to Eric A. Friedman of the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School and Paul Z. Zeitz of the Global AIDS Alliance. International experts on this issue are meeting in Istanbul the first week of May to discuss possible contraceptive shortages and how to slow the rate of HIV infection among young people.link

OPINIONS AND EDITORIALS

In an April 21 op-ed in the Toledo Blade (OH), Werner Fornos, President of Population Institute, noted that various misguided "messengers of misinformation" interpret the "population bomb" as being defused. Fornos noted that "world fertility has dropped by one-half over the past 35 to 40 years, from six children per woman to less than three. Women in developing countries have nearly four children, where the Gross National Product per capita is under $2,000; women in developed countries have 1.5 children, where the GNP per capita exceeds $19,000. link

A number of letters and opinion pieces ran in U.S. and international newspapers in conjunction with Earth Day, many criticizing President Bush's decisions on environmental policy and detailing the ways that a booming population affects the environment. Laura Scott, in an April 18 column in the Kansas City Star (MO), wrote that Bush's decision to crack down on lead pollution was a "surprise." She went on to list setbacks of Bush's record, such as reinstatement of the global gag rule that will have a negative affect on worldwide population growth, less vigorous action against environmental degradation. link

Other opinion pieces on Earth Day included: - An April 22 editorial in the Rocky Mountain News (CO) stated that although the situations have improved for U.S. drinking water, air quality and forests, there is unprecedented population growth happening in developing countries and the loss of irreplaceable species because of human encroachment.