Implementation of the DAKAR/NGOR Declaration on Population, Family and Sustainable Development

Abstract

The links between population and development have always been seen within the context of population and resources. This issue has engaged the attention of traditional economists like Malthus who were worried about rapid population growth in the face of limited resources. With the emergence of environmental movements in the early 1970s, the whole question was extended to the links between population, environment and development and today, it encompasses sustainable development. A consensus is currently emerging at the international level on the concept of sustainable development as outlined in the Brundtland report: a type of development which addresses lie needs of the today's generation without undermining those of tomorrow. There is also a consensus on the need to practicalize the principle of incorporating population and environment into overall development policies in a bid to achieve sustainable development. The progress has been slow however of perceiving environmental issues and their links" with population dynamics. The Stockholm Conference on the Environment (Stockholm, 1972) made it possible for the first time at the international level, to consider environmental issues and initiate the first policy instruments. At the regional level, the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (Cairo, 1985) adopted the Cairo Programme which advocated cooperation in environmental matters. A year earlier, the second African Conference on Population (Arusha, 1984) adopted the Kilimanjaro Programme of Action which noted with concern the serious and worsening food situation as well as the devastating effects of natural and man-made disasters. The International Forum on Population in the twenty-first century (Amsterdam, 1989) adopted the Amsterdam Declaration on a Better Life for Future Generations which acknowledged that population, resources and environment were inextricably linked.