Town meeting on UN population conference
by John Izzo
t a town meeting on March 13, San Diegans will have
a chance to add their two bits to the U.S. report to the 1994 United Nations
conference on population and development. The UN conference will beheld
in Cairo, Egypt this September.
In addition to providing input to the U.S. report, the
meeting will educate attendees about the conference. Expert speakers will
address population issues and how they affect our environment and the quality
of life. The meeting is being sponsored by the San Diego Coalition for Cairo.
The coalition is made up of numerous local organizations including the Sierra
Club; Zero Population Growth; Planned Parenthood; National Organization
of Women; American Association of University Women; First Unitarian Church;
and San Diego Earth Day.
The Cairo conference will be the third UN conference
on population, the previous having been in Mexico City in 1984. The issues
to be addressed at Cairo - population, sustainable development, the status
of women - were also discussed in Rio at the Earth Summit. Yet, population
received little attention due to conflicts among the participants concerning
how to address it. With a more sympathetic U.S. administration, the Cairo
legacy could be more productive.
There is growing consensus that population is a significant
driver of environmental degradation throughout the world. The population
of the earth will grow by 1 billion people in the 1990s, making this the
fastest decade of growth in human history. The United States is the fastest-growing
industrialized nation, and uses much more of the earth's resources per person
than most other countries.
Your presence at the San Diego town meeting will be
informative and provide the opportunity to send a message to our government
that we are concerned about this issue and want Cairo to be a success.
For more information or to offer your assistance, please
call Z.P.G. at (619) 697-3728, Lori Shook at 223-4260, or John Izzo at
542-1885.
