Global Population Speak Out, 2011

Third annual Global Population Speak Out to be launched in February:
World Population will reach 7 Billion in 2011

The third annual Global Population Speak Out (GPSO), an international advocacy campaign that recruits leading ecologists, academicians, parliamentarians and ordinary citizens to speak out publicly on the fundamental links between population and sustainability, will take place during the month of February 2011.

Organized by the Population Institute (Washington DC), the program will recruit an estimated 500 representatives from over 50 countries and six continents. In 2010, over 400 individuals from 39 countries participated by writing articles, blogs, and opinion pieces, and appearing on radio and television shows.

The objective of GPSO is to raise public awareness about population and educate opinion leaders and policymakers about the critical importance of boosting international support for family planning and reproductive health care services.

“Global leaders must understand the vital role that voluntary family planning programs can play in slowing down population growth and creating a more sustainable world. Preventing unwanted or unintended pregnancies is a ‘win’ for women, their health, the welfare of their families and their communities, and the future of the planet,” says Robert J. Walker, executive vice president of the Population Institute.

The most effective way to slow population growth is to support the aspirations of women all over the world. Quality education, gender equity, and real autonomy —including access to contraceptives and reproductive health care – are what women everywhere want, need and deserve. Policies, programs and financing to help the global community achieve these goals should be a high priority for international leaders. Too many women in the world today live in male-dominated societies, where women have little or no say in how many children they will bear.

During the past year, numerous scientific reports and studies have documented the growing imbalance between human wants and the ability of the Earth to satisfy those demands. The future of every living thing on this planet is jeopardized by an over-consuming, over-populated world. Despite concerted international efforts to slow the rate of animal and plant extinction, the loss of biodiversity is accelerating. Drought, flooding, and the world’s rising demand for food are threatening to precipitate yet another food crisis as prices for wheat, corn, and other grains are soaring once again. Commodity prices for many minerals and fossil fuels are also climbing. Water scarcity is a growing concern. And, worst of all, the effects of climate change are becoming more pronounced as the planet warms and the glaciers melt.

“By bringing together high-ranking professional ecologists, leading scientific researchers, exceptionally brave politicians and concerned citizens from all over the world,” Walker notes, “the Global Population Speak Out is filling a critical void in the public debate. World population is still growing by over 80 million people a year, but virtually no one is talking about it. In fact, world population in 2011 will cross the 7 billion mark, just 12 years after world population reached the 6 billion level. And, unless more is done to elevate the status of women and expand voluntary family planning, we could easily add another 2.5 or even 3 billion people to the planet by mid-century.”

The program is currently seeking participants from all over the world. Interested individuals can pledge to participate by visiting the website, http://www.populationspeakout.org

Further information

**40 Countries represented to date

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States

**Example of Notable Participants by Country:

Argentina
Jorge L. Gutiérrez, Ph.D., Grupo de Investigación y Educación en Temas Ambientales (GRIETA); Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata.

Australia
John M. Reid, Ph.D., Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University

Corey Bradshaw, Ph.D., Professor and Director of Ecological Modelling, The University of Adelaide

Kelvin Thomson, Member for Wills, Federal Parliament of Australia, House of Representatives.

Wilf Wilford, Associate Professor of Project Management, Institute of Sustainable Development and Architecture Bond University

Geoff Mosley, Ph.D., former CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Member of the World Commission on Protected Areas

Austria
Harald Marschner, Chairman Rotarian Action Group for Population & Development

Canada
Michael Healey, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Chile
Jamie R. Rau, Ph.D., Laboratorio de Ecología, Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad de Los Lagos, Campus Osorno.

Ethiopia
Negussie Teffera, Ph.D., Former Director of the Ethiopian National Office of Population; past Chairman of the National Task Force to develop the National Population and Reproductive Health Communication and Advocacy Strategy for Ethiopia.

France
Rene Monet, Agronomic Engineer; Retired Director of Research, National Institute for Agronomic Research, France

Germany
Martin Dieterich, Ph.D., President of the European Section of the Society for Conservation Biology. Director, Institute for Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation, University of Hohenheim

India
Jugal Kishore, Professor of Community Medicine, Mauana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi

Mohan Narasimha Rao, Ph.D. Ass. Professor of Botany, Andhra University

Sudhir Sharma, Research Officer, Population Foundation of India

Israel
Edouard Jurkevitch, Associate Professor of Microbiology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Kenya
Dr. Tony Johnston, Ph.D, Executive Director Population Communication Africa Trust

Madagascar
Bruno Ramamonjisoa, Professeur en Economie Politique des Ressources Naturelles

Mexico
Gerardo J. Gonzalez Ceballos, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Instituto de Ecologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.

Rwanda
Anna Behm Masozera, Communications Officer, International Gorilla Conservation Program

Singapore
Jean Yeung, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Sociology and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

Switzerland
Michael Dittmar, Ph.D., Senior Scientist ETH Zurich

Thailand
Shiv Kare, Executive Director of Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development.

United States
Peter H. Raven, Ph.D., President Emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden. “Hero for the Planet” (Time Magazine). Former member of President Bill Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. Former Home Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences.

Paul Ehrlich, Ph.D., Bing Professor of Population Studies, President, Center for Conservation Biology, Author, Department of Biology, Stanford University.

Gretchen Daily Ph.D., Department of Biology and Woods Institute for the Environment, Author, Stanford University.

John Hailey, MCRP, Retried Manager of Sustainable Development for Cisco Systems

George Mobus, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Computer Science and Systems, University of Washington Tacoma

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