Inserting Population Into the Development Agenda

Thanks to an email from SOMEDE (Sociedad Mexicana de Demografía), I have been alerted to a new effort by the UNFPA and others to rethink the world development goals, including an emphasis on population. At the moment the demographic components of the Millennium Development Goals emphasize improving health. No one can argue with the importance of that, but we must also carefully consider the broad consequences of continued, and geographically uneven, population growth. Without that in the equation, all other efforts will have weaker outcomes.

If you go to this website: http://www.worldwewant2015.org/population, you will find the following setup comments:

This space is dedicated to the global thematic consultation on population dynamics in the post-2015 UN development agenda, co-convened by UN-DESA, UNFPA, UN-Habitat and IOM in partnership with the Government of Switzerland. 

It is an open and inclusive forum for civil society, policy makers, government officials, donors, UN staff and all other stakeholders to discuss the scope and priorities of the post-2015 development agenda. 

We aim to stimulate dialogue, facilitate an exchange of ideas and collect and document the views, experiences and perspectives of key stakeholders vis-à-vis population dynamics on this forum. It is an opportunity to contribute to the setting of shared global priorities in the context of ameliorating poverty and inequality, whilst championing universal rights and values. 

Please join us for a constructive, dynamic and lively dialogue.

This has been put into place by Barney Cohen, who recently left the US National Academy of Sciences to become Chief of the Population Studies Branch of the UN's Population Division, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for helping to improve the global visibility of population issues.