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: From: USIS Indonesia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
: To: Adri Amiruddin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
: Subject: Text: Global Population Nears 6,000 Million
: Date: 14 Juli 1999 12:24
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: Text: Global Population Nears 6,000 Million
: (Advocacy groups focus on world needs) (900)
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: Population experts calculate that the number of people on Earth will exceed 6,000 million sometime in the next three months. Advocacy groups will commemorate the passage of this benchmark with the "Day of Six Billion" to be commemorated October 12, 1999. The groups announced their plans for this event July 12 in Washington.
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: Population Action International (PAI) is one of the leading groups in this coalition attempting to draw attention to an event they've dubbed "Y6B." In a press release, the group quotes a statement by PAI President Amy Coen urging the U.S. government to help meet the health, education and environmental needs of this burgeoning population.
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: Coen said as this event approaches "all of us should celebrate what has been achieved, while taking a hard look at how much remains to be done in the struggle to improve quality of life for all the world's inhabitants."
: She said PAI aspires to see an increase in "the range of choices available to each person in both the productive and reproductive spheres -- through education, economic opportunity and the exercise of such basic human rights as the right to plan one's family."
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: She called for reaffirmation of the goals outlined by 179 nations five years ago at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. She said the United States "can help fulfill the promise of Cairo by helping create the world of choices it envisioned."
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: Following is the text of the PAI press release:
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: (begin text)
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: "Count Up" To Six Billion Begins
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: Meeting the needs of young people key to continued progress on population, health and the environment, says PAI
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: Washington, DC -- With the world's population expected to pass six billion within the next three months, the United States should strongly support efforts to meet the health, educational and environmental needs of the largest generation of young people ever to live on Earth, according to a statement released today by Population Action International (PAI).
: In the statement -- released the day after World Population Day and, as the countdown begins to the Day of Six Billion, October 12, 1999 -- Amy Coen, President of PAI said:
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: "Over the past 30 years, the world has made tremendous progress in expanding access to education and healthcare and toward a greater awareness of the fragility of the world's natural resource base. As we mark our species' passing six billion and, not long after, the start of a new millennium, all of us should celebrate what has been achieved, while taking a hard look at how much remains to be done in the struggle to improve quality of life for all the world's inhabitants.
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: "Population Action International's vision of the future is that of a thriving population in a livable world. It is a vision based upon increasing the range of choices available to each person in both the productive and reproductive spheres -- through education, economic opportunity, and the exercise of such basic human rights as the right to plan one's family. It is based upon people having choices with respect to natural resources as well: alternatives where resources are scarce and access to technologies that don't harm the environment. At the nexus of these two concerns are financial resources, without which the human and natural resources will be left to struggle by themselves,
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: "There are still hundreds of millions of women and men who do not enjoy the lifesaving and fundamentally empowering benefits of basic reproductive health care. One billion of us live on less than one dollar a day. Hundreds of millions live in countries plagued by shortages of fresh water. Adding to these challenges are more than one billion young people aged 15-24. The degree to which they gain an education, enjoy good health, and find employment may well determine our collective future. Their well-being is key to their future prosperity and security -- and ours.
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: "Five years ago, 179 countries at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo reached consensus on a plan to address these needs and on what it would cost. They implicitly recognized the linkages among human, natural and financial resources and that these very linkages, while adding complexity, are the ones that offer the most hope. The situation of young people -- indeed the situation of every woman and man -- will improve with every investment made on their behalf, and so will the condition of our fragile planet Earth.
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: "Within a number of days, we will each have six billion neighbors. To put this in perspective, it took all of human history for the world's population to reach one billion in 1804, but little more than 150 years to reach three billion in 1960. And now, not quite 40 years later, we are twice that number.
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: "We need a renewed understanding, especially here in the United States, that the global village is not merely a telecommunications slogan, but the reality of our situation on this planet. As the world's wealthiest nation, we are in a position to make a difference in the lives of millions of people, both here and abroad. We can help fulfill the promise of Cairo by helping create the world of choices it envisioned. The social investments required to make these choices available are significant, but pale beside the human costs of doing nothing."
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: (end text)
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