Lassonde Coping with Population Challenges

Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-1-134-17950-3
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 192 Seiten

Despite rapidly decreasing rates of population growth caused by reduced fertility in the majority of world regions, demographers are predicting that the world's population will still double by the year 2050. The question is therefore no longer the traditional one of whether the planet can support so many people, but how to provide a sustainable future for ten billion individuals. Quantitative problems have become ethical ones.

Coping with Population Challenges addresses these issues in the context of international debate and agreements since the first World Population Plan of Action in 1974 to the 20-year Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994.

The author describes how the Programme of Action focalizes on women's issues, reproductive choice and the notion of the individual. However, she identifies a number of important but neglected areas of the debate that the Programme failed to address and brings to light some of the inconsistencies that need to be resolved if the Programme is to be implemented.

The author also looks at the underlying ethical dimension of all choices relating to the population issue and suggests measures and machinery for giving effect to states' commitments, including reformulating problems and defining the appropriate economic framework for solutions. The book is an excellent introduction for the non-specialist to a very topical debate, and a useful reference for researchers.

LOUISE LASSONDE is director of the Fondation du Devenir, Geneva. In her capacity as anthropologist and demographer, Dr Lassondc has worked closely with the United Nations and non-governmental organizations in many countries.

Originally published in 1997

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lassonde, Louise

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Tables and Figures
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A New Perspective
1. Points of Reference
The History of the Population Debate
The Ideological Context
The Structure of the International Negotiations
The Cairo Conference: Appearance and Reality
2. A Life of Quality
Reproduction, Women and the Family: Programme of Action
A New Concept: Reproductive Health
Recognition of Sexuality
The Female Perspective
Fertility Control and Reproductive and Life Patterns
Freedom of Choice
Women's Work outside the Home and the Well-being of Children
The Diverse Types of Family
3. Population and Development
Population and Development: Programme of Action
The Framework of Sustainability
Sustained Economic Growth to Combat Poverty
The Right to Development
Two Axioms to be put into Context
Feeding the People of Tomorrow: A Two-sided Problem
The Populations of the Arid Regions
4. The Gaps in the Programme of Action
Mortality, Ageing and Migration: Programme of Action
General Mortality
Population Ageing
The Challenges of Migration
The Political Dimension of Population
5. Practical Measures
Programme of Action
The Dangers of a Headlong Rush
Democracy: A New Fashion or a New Dynamic?
The New Partnership between Myth and Reality
6. Review of the International Negotiations
Different Assessments
The Latin Approach
The Anglo-Saxon Approach
Resolving the Inconsistencies
The Demographic Perspective: The Risk of Irrelevance
7. Coping with the Challenges Facing Us
From Population Control to the Transformation of Societies
From Policy-making to Decision-making
The Economic Decision-making Framework
The New Production of Goods and Standards of Utilization
Conclusion: Population as an Ethical Issue
Notes and References
Index