Population and Sustainable Development –
6th International Dialog discusses the organization of urban growth and family planning

Berlin – Reasonable planning of urban growth and family planning are the topics of the 6th International Dialog on Population and Sustainable Development which began on Monday in Berlin. 180 politicians, scientists, and representatives of governments and non-government oranizations as well as corporate representatives are debating how, in this way, poverty can be battled, violence can be prevented, the environment can be protected, and globalization can be shaped equitably worldwide.

The executive director of the UN Human Settlements Programme Habitat, Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, reminded the attendants that more than half of the 6.4 billion humans live in cities, many of them in slums. Cities keep attracting more and more people especially in the nations of the third world, as they expect to find work, education and a better life there. This represents a problem for the authorities which can only be solved by cooperation between politics, business and science. Tibaijuka demanded the provision of more funds for the development of an infrastructure in order to battle the rise of more slums in the cities. In addition, a balance between settlement in urban and rural areas needed to be achieved. This makes an alignment of the living conditions in the rural areas to those in the cities necessary.

The Women´s Minister of Cambodia, Ing Kantha Phavi, reported that in her country, there fortunately are no megacities as in Mexico. However, they are facing the problems of people smuggling and violence, especially against women. 80 percent of the population live in the country. This necessitates great efforts to bring work, education and services – which are concentrated in the cities – to the rural areas.

The Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation IPPF, Gill Greer, reported on projects in various countries of the world, such as a project against forced marriages in Uganda and educational campaigns for family planning in Ethiopia and Ghana. She demanded to raise the public awareness for these problems.

The mayor of Entebbe (Uganda) stressed the necessity to include all members of society into the solutions for the social and communal problems of large cities. He therefore especially asked women and young people to join the committees of his city – which grew from a population of 50,000  to 2 million in the last 45 years.

Representatives of development organizations pointed out the role of women concerning topics such as sexual education, healthcare and family planning as the basis of population development and the battle against AIDS.

The 6th International Dialog is organized by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development together with Bayer Schering Pharma AG and other development organizations.

6th International Dialogue

• October 8 – 9, 2007
• at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, Reichpietschufer 20,
  10785 Berlin, Germany
  Further Information: http://www.dialogue-population-development.info/
   

Since 2001, Bayer Schering Pharma organizes the event series “International Dialogue on Population and Development” in cooperation with the IPPF, the largest non-government organization in the field of reproductive health, as well as the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and other partners. The goal of the event is to encourage dialogue between politicians, government and non-government organizations, scientists, and industry, and to drive their cooperation in the context of family planning programs.