Recent News Archives Sep 2001 -forward Archives May-Aug 2001 Archives Jan-Apr 2001 Archives Sep-Dec 2000 Archives May-Aug 2000 Archives Jan-Apr 2000 Archives Jul-Dec 1999 Archives Jan-Jun 1999 Archives 1998

April 18, 2001 Family Health International/EngenderHealth Additional Vasectomy Techniques Recommended. Preliminary results from a vasectomy study in seven countries show conclusively that a surgical technique known as fascial interposition leads to a more rapid decrease in sperm counts, which may improve the effectiveness of some methods of vasectomy for male sterilization. The lower sperm counts occurred when fascial interposition was used with simple ligation and excision. The study was conducted by Family Health International and EngenderHealth. Details of the study will be presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, scheduled for December 12-15, 2001. .

April 2001 Population Today Final Peace in the Middle East Hinges on Refugee Population. In the demographic "contest" between Palestinians and Israelis, population growth is a plus, and numbers are everything. That is why resolution of the status of the 3.7 million Palestinian refugees is so difficult and so critical to the peace process. (Population Today, April 2001) Document code: FINALPEACE To obtain, put document code in the body of an e-mail to: documents@prbdocs.org .

April 25, 2001  ENN/JHU   CD-ROM: New Tool for Population Planners   "Population and the Environment: The Global Challenge" is a new interactive CD-ROM from Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs which includes streaming video and audio interviews with well-known environmentalists who bring environmental challenges to life. "This CD paints a vivid picture of the relationship between population growth, industrialization and environmental degradation," said director Phyllis Tilson Piotrow. The CD has animated charts that illustrate how carbon dioxide emissions remained relatively stable for hundreds of years and then sharply increased with the dawn of the Industrial Age. The US Census Bureau places the population of the world at about 6.142 billion persons. The UN says the world's population would rise from 5.7 billion persons in 1995 to 9.7 billion persons in 2150 even if fertility in all major areas of the world stabilizes at replacement level - two children per couple - by then. The population would then reach a maximum at just above 10 billion persons after 2200. On the other hand, a world birth rate of 1.5 children per couple would lead to a declining population that reaches 3.2 billion in 2150. Policymakers, journalists, researchers, educators and planners can use the new CD as a resource to help understand how population and industrial growth impact the environment. With representatives in more than 30 countries, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs has developed and managed more than 300 projects and contracts in 50 countries. The CD-ROM project is funded by USAID.

April 13, 2001 dieoff.com Methane Madness, A Natural Gas Primer. American energy consumption is mushrooming and expensive natural gas supplies are rapidly dwindling, according to an article published by the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE) and written by Randy Udall & Steve Andrews. Natural gas (or methane) provides one-fourth of the nation's energy. It is the "cleanest fossil fuel producing half as much CO2 per unit of energy as coal. Americans use as much natural gas as half the world's population. Consumption has risen 36% since 1986, reflecting a 60% growth in the US economy. The Energy Information Administration asserts that by 2005 we may need 20% more natural gas than we use today; by 2015, 50% more. On the other hand, the production of natural gas peaked in 1973 and has remained flat since. "Between 1983 and 1996, the real price of gas fell by 46%", and consumption rose with the expectation of infinite and cheap supplies. But "almost half the gas that will ever be produced in this country has already been burned"; and "what's left will be relative more expensive and difficult to extract." This greater expense was in part responsible for the steep spike in heating costs experienced during last winter (of 2000-2001), particularly in California. 6400 new wells in Texas must now be drilled each year to maintain production; 50% more than in 1998. Each new well taps smaller and smaller volumes of gas and a first-year decline of 56% on average. Today's storage facilities are too small and natural gas pipelines are aging and inadequate. Alternative supplies of gas are increasingly expensive because of increased extraction costs and because of increasing demand by the countries in which they are located. Extracting the gas on "Alaska's North Slope and at the Mackenzie river Delta ...will require a feat of civil engineering that is "at least 6 years and $8 billion away" and will provide "only 5% of our current consumption". 99% of our natural gas is from North America - 15% from Canada and 85% from domestic supplies. 180,000 megawatts of gas-fired power plants have been ordered to be installed for electricity consumption by 2005. To meet this demand, the US will have to "build a pipeline to Alaska, double the number of drilling rigs, and open large swaths of federal land now off-limits to drilling." Alternatively, the U.S. would need to "build new coal or nuclear plants; get serious about renewables, particularly wind power, now cheaper than gas; or invest real money in energy efficiency. President Bush is urged to take note. For more information, see www.altenergy.org/core st .

April 2001 Populi - The UNFPA Magazine Report Says Without Sustainable Development, World Faces Ecological Disaster . A new report from the UNFPA suggests that unless countries develop sustainably, humanity faces environmental deterioration and possible ecological disaster. Written by a consultant to the UN Population Fund and an editor of the Johns Hopkins University journal Population Reports, the reoprt says that deterioration has occurred in several sectors over the past century including “public health, food supply, fresh water, oceans and forests.” Per capita fresh water supply has declined: while world population tripled in the past century, water use increased by a factor of six. The extent of coastal wetlands is half of what it was in 1900. Both seagrass beds and coral reefs, which nurture many varieties of fauna and flora, are vanishing. Over the past half century, half of the world’s forest cover, which conserve water and produce oxygen, has been cut down. Approximately 5200 species of animals are threatened with extinction, as are more than 5000 species (30% of all plants) in the US alone. Per capital food production has declined since 1990; currently about one third of the world’s population - 2 billion people - are malnourished or starving. "Air pollution kills more than 2.7 million people annually." The may be some reason for hope; progress has been made "in using energy more efficiently, planning cities, managing water resources, preserving forests, curbing pollution, managing fisheries" and improving crop yields and engineering disease resistant crops. st .

April 30, 2001  BusinessWorld (Philippines)   Meat, Dairy Demand in Developing Countries to Double in 20 Years.  Dr. Hank Fitzhugh, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), announced at the Agricultural Congress held in the Philippines that urbanization and population growth will fuel a 100% surge in meat and milk consumption in Third World countries by 2020. As population increases and as more people move into the cities, they will look for more nutritious food that they can cook easily. The ILRI conducts research on animal disease control, feeds and livestock policy for smallholder livestock industries. To meet their burgeoning meat and milk consumption requirements, developing nations will be increasing feed grain output by 108.8% to 405 million MT to support their livestock industries. The feedgrain harvests of developing countries in 1993 amounted to 194 million MT. Fitzhugh said that the rise in meat and milk demand was a good opportunity for developing countries to convert from subsistence-based industries to market-oriented agribusiness enterprises, and that developing countries will eventually be able to reduce the incidence of poverty by significantly improving the incomes of small producers. But if left unchecked, increased livestock production may present significant threats of environmental degradation and inequitable distribution of benefits.   '

April 24, 2001  Women's E-News   Suit Claims Using Birth Control Pills Is Abortion.  In a federal court in Ohio, a lawsuit brought by an anti-choice pharmacist rests on her claim that the birth control pills she refused to dispense actually cause abortion and that anti-abortion pharmacists need not fill prescriptions for the pill under a "religious exemption", claiming the pills were an 'abortifacient'. A pretrial hearing is set for May 18, a trial following in early summer. Judge Herman J. Weber of the Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati has placed on the court's docket the very definition of when pregnancy begins. Judge Weber wrote that Micronor has "a major abortifacient mechanism" and equated it with abortion. The accepted medical opinion says pregnancy begins when a fertilized egg is implanted in the uterine wall, usually six days after fertilization, but lawyers for the anti-choice druggist argue pregnancy occurs at the moment of fertilization. Pharmacist Karen Brauer, the plaintiff, refused to sell in 1996 the birth control pill Micronor to a woman at a K-mart in Delhi, Cincinnati. After refusing to fill the prescription and then refusing to sign an agreement to fill all legal prescriptions, Brauer was fired by K-Mart. Ohio's religious exemption applies only to abortion procedures and does not mention contraception. Brauer's case is being represented by American Center for Law and Justice, founded by Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition. The case highlights how some anti-abortion agendas are also anti-contraception. All hormonal birth control, including breastfeeding and all contraceptive pills, can prevent implantation. Many fertilized eggs - so small they can hardly be seen - are washed away by a woman's body prior to implantation. Even after implantation, 15% are shed naturally by the body. Birth control pills act in multiple ways: they may inhibit or delay ovulation, thicken cervical mucus and trap the sperm, inhibit fertilization, alter the transport of sperm or egg within the Fallopian tube and impair the uterine lining's receptivity to implantation.  '

April 19, 2001  Healthscout   Waiting on Motherhood.  The number of babies born to American teen-agers declined 3% in 1999, capping a 20% slide since 1990, says the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The birth rate for teen-agers is now at a record low (after 60 years of statistic gathering by the CDC). "Teen sexual activity has leveled off and teens who are sexually active are much more likely to use contraception, especially at first intercourse." .. "State and local teen pregnancy programs are beginning to pay off," said Stephanie Ventura, a CDC demographer. In addition, the average age for first-time mothers increased to 24.5 years, continuing a trend that began in 1972. But, unfortunately, 1/3 of the births in the United States was to an unmarried mother.   '

April , 2001  Population Reference Bureau   Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Sexual Experience and Reproductive Health.  25% of the people in sub-Saharan Africa are 10 to 19 years old, the largest group of young people ever in the region to enter adulthood, says the United Nations. Continued school attendance as well as delayed sexual initiation, marriage, and childbearing are important components to allowing youth to develop - physically, emotionally, and intellectually - before becoming parents or primary wage earners. Adolescents were profiled in 11 sub-Saharan countries: Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Key findings show that: while education levels have risen dramatically in most countries surveyed, less than half of those ages of 16 and 20 attend school and more boys than girls are enrolled in school. In most of the countries, at least one-third of young women married before age 18 and at least half had sex before age 18. Young women spend a longer time single than their mothers did. 13% to 38% of single teenage women and 8% to 39% of single teenage men have recently either received or given gifts or money in exchange for sex. Condoms are often not used. Most youths believe that they have little or no risk of getting AIDS, even though HIV occurance is high among young people and higher among teenage women than teenage men. Partners of the young women are likely to be older, more sexually experienced men. In most of the countries, teenage birth rates have declines. Over one-fifth of recent births to young women were reported as unintended. Less than 5% of married adolescent women report use of a modern method. Around 10% of 16-year-olds have started childbearing. Less than 55% of young women reported receiving professional delivery care. It has been shown that women who become pregnant during their teenage years have a higher risk of obstetric complications than do women who are older. And their children have a higher risk of health-related problems and death.  '

April 28, 2001  The Irish Times   China's Family Fortunes.  The People's Republic of China was established in 1949, and Mao Zedong wanted mothers to produce more soldiers for the nation and he felt that an enormous population was necessary to to achieve social and economic transformation. As a result, the population nearly doubled between 1952 and 1975, to 934 million. Finally, in the 1970s, concern developed over the burgeoning population. In 1979, to coincide with an economic-reform package, the government introduced its policy of one child per family. Every province is responsible for implementing the policy, although rules vary from place to place. Some provinces are still very strict and have 'womb police' - a woman's menstrual cycle is put on public bulletin boards and before conceiving, she has to apply for a birth permit. After the birth, the mother must have an intra-uterine device inserted to prevent further pregnancies. Women who have an "out-of-plan" second child are sterilised. The breaking of the one child rule can lead to forced abortion. Even so, parents often escape the womb police and there are thousands of peasant children who don't officially exist. The preference of boys over girls has altered the natural girl/boy ratio: in 1999 there were 100 girls for every 117 boys born. "Sex selection" - when couples have scans to determine the sex of their babies - is illegal but still practised. Due to the one-child policy, fertility rates have dropped from the 1970 average of almost six children per woman to about two. China's demographers predict population will start to drop in about 2040. Now the government is trying to replace coercion with choice. In the past several years over 600 counties - about half of China's population of some 1.3 billion - have adopted more liberal policies. Family-planning services are combined with reproductive-healthcare service. Women are often allowed exceptions to the one-child rule: if the first child is a girl and the woman is over 35, or if the first child is born with a disability, or if the husband and wife both come from a one-child family. Incentives are offered to families to stick to the policy, such as low-interest loans. Couples attend "population classes" shortly after getting married. Family-planning programmes are broadcast on TV, and free contraception is provided. Posters advertise "Challenge de luxe" and "Skinlove Extra Pleasure" condoms. Posters declare: "Slow down the population growth and promote social development". On the other hand, fines are given and second children are not given resident cards and therefore cannot go to local state schools.   '

April 21, 2001  Atlanta Journal and Constitution   Turner Gives $1 Billion.  The U.N. Foundation, which is distributing billionaire Ted Turner's $1 billion gift, announced a new round of grants: $72 million to help support women, children, peace and environmental protection around the world. Of that, $5.46 million will go to the United Nations Population Fund.   '

April 21, 2001  NY Times   Singapore, Hoping for a Baby Boom, Makes Sex a Civic Duty   Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong proclaimed, "We need more babies!" This statement stemmed from the danger of low population in Singapore. In this tiny city-state of just four million the government is doing all it can to entice couples to have more children. The working Committee on Marriage and Procreation has developed workplace incentives to persuade people that more children is better for them than none, focusing more on the financial aspect than the romance. The Baby Bonus Scheme offers cash to couples who have second and third children. It also extends maternity leave and adds a brief paternity leave for government workers. It is also offering deals on apartment rentals for young couples. The people of Singapore have been choosing to have smaller families to improve living standards for two decades. The birthrate has fallen to 1.5 children per childbearing aged women, they need 2.5 to maintain the population level. Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea are all suffering from this same dilemma. The worry for them is that the aging population will put a burden on the work forces. Paul Cheung, the chief statistician in the Singapore Department of statistics, said, "The median age in Singapore has risen rapidly over the last decade, to 34 from 29." 7% of the population is above the retirement age, and 20% will be retired by 2030.One- third of the people in their early 30's are unmarried. Singapore has brought in more and more foreign workers because the population is aging and the work force is expanding very slowly. The foreign workers now make up one- fourth of the population. The government, placing a high value on educated citizens, set up dating services for its people with college degrees. Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew believes that the educated should have three children per family.   mea'

April 21, 2001  Atlanta Journal and Constitution   U.N. Foundation More New Grants from Ted Turner's $1 Billion Gift   The U.N. Foundation, which is distributing billionaire Ted Turner's $1 billion gift, announced a new round of grants: $72 million to help support women, children, peace and environmental protection around the world. Of that, $5.46 million will go to the United Nations Population Fund.   '

April 21, 2001  Toledo Blade (Ohio)   Messengers of Misinformation Interpret the "Population Bomb" as Being Defused   Werner Fornos, President of Population Institute, said that various misguided "messengers of misinformation" interpret the "population bomb" as being defused. "World fertility has dropped by one-half over the past 35 to 40 years, from six children per woman to less than three. Women in developing countries have nearly four children, where the Gross National Product per capita is under $2,000; women in developed countries have 1.5 children, where the GNP per capita exceeds $19,000.   '

April 26, 2001 Star-Ledger   Sierra Club Rejects Population Referendum.  Sierra Club members voted down a referendum that would have forced leaders to stress population control in their attacks on sprawl. 54% of the 62,821 members casting ballots voted against the referendum. "There is no single cause and no single solution to sprawl," said Carl Pope, the club's executive director. "We want the flexibility to tailor our approach to each community, and members thought that was a good idea." Three years ago Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization [a group which consists of Sierra Club members favoring immigration reduction] lost an effort to have the Sierra Club change its neutral stand on immigration to favor limits. Last year, billboards were posted blaming bad development on "mass immigration." by the Federation for American Immigration Reform [FAIR]. A recent "white paper" by the Sierra Club does say that about one-third of sprawl can be blamed on population increases. Jeff Tittel, director of a New Jersey Sierra Club chapter, said local leadership strongly opposed the referendum. "There were definitely concerns about sounding anti-immigrant," he said. "New Jersey is a diverse state, and that has always been and always will be a strength of the state." [Note: Immigraton and births to immigrants contributes over 60% to US population growth, which is 1% a year and will double in 70 years at the current rate. The US is the fourth largest country, population-wise, in the world.] '

April 27, 2001 Sacramento Bee   Doctor Shortage Threatens California Health Care.  It is becoming more and more difficult for patients in California to get the care they need. The number of doctors has not kept pace with the population boom. According to data by the Medical Board of California, there are just 159 active doctors per 100,000 people in California, up from 177 in 1994. A University of Pittsburgh-based study using the 2000 census found only 110 physicians per 100,000, ranking California 47th among states. The Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society compared its physician work force in 1995 and 2000, concluding that the number of active physicians had declined 12% while population increased 10% in Sacramento and El Dorado counties. In Sacramento, Medi-Cal orthopedic patients must travel to Stockton for treatment. In Redding, 100 children waited up to 18 months for routine nose and throat surgery, which was performed by doctors from Orange County. In Los Angeles, Children's Hospital can't replace two of its best surgeons, and for two years has had trouble recruiting a head of neonatology. '

April 21, 2001 Agence France Presse   Philippine Population Hits 76.4 Million as Growth Rate Increases, despite government warnings about the danger of a booming growth rate. The Philippines is growing by 2.36% a year, up from 2.32% in the first half of the 1990s. The population density is now 255 people per square kilometre (0.62 miles). The Catholic Church, the predominant religion in the Philippines, does not sanction artificial birth control and has actively campaigned against government programmes to encourage the use of contraception. '

Nepali couple farming

April 1, 2001 Austin American-Statesman   Sex Education Spreads as Haiti Targets AIDS among Young People.  In Port-Au-Prince, teen and young adults come to seminars and youth clubs where they get a frank dose of straight talk on a subject many say they hear little about at home: sex, AIDS and unwanted pregnancy. They hold weekly meetings that begin with a short, frank message about reproductive health and then go on to social activities. Haiti is an impoverished nation with the highest AIDS rate outside Africa. The seminar is sponsored by the Foundation for Reproductive Health and Family Education, a group started in the late 1980s by Dr. Adeline Verly, a Haitian physician. Dr. Fritz Moise, the foundation's director, says "There's a vicious cycle of children having children, then going into prostitution because they are ostracized by their families. Once they are prostitutes, they soon are infected with HIV." 500,000 people in the Caribbean are infected with HIV. Haiti suffers and infection rate of 5% among the sexually active segment of its 7.8 million population. "We've found the leading cause of maternal mortality is abortions," Moise said. "We have women who are 22 or 23 with four children who have already had three or four abortions. Since abortion is illegal in Haiti, they turn to charlatans. Every year, thousands of women die from botched abortions." '

April 3, 2001 Tampa Tribune   Florida: Accounting for Sprawl.  A groundbreaking 1999 study by Professor Robert Burchell of Rutgers University's Center for Urban Policy Research found that southeast Florida residents could save $6.15 billion over the next 20 years just by revitalizing aging city centers instead of allowing leapfrog development into the cheapest open land. One-third of all new roads need not be built. One-fifth of all open land need not be consumed, the study found. A recent Sierra Club report says that "Most new sprawling development costs more to build and service than the taxes or fees it generates." Florida plans to use "full-cost accounting," a cutting-edge tool to measure the public expense of sprawl - such as expenditures for roads and schools - before it happens. The measure was proposed by Gov. Jeb Bush and his Growth Management Study Commission. More than 4 million highway miles built in the United States since 1950 reshaped the nation by opening new areas to development. Without it, Floridians who live in urban centers will continue to shell out millions in hidden subsidies to developers for schools, roads, utilities, safety services and recreation, all required by dramatic suburban growth. In another study by James Frank, an urban planning professor at Florida State University, the cost of sewer hookups in Tallahassee, were $4,447 for mostly black, inner-city sections nearest the treatment plant, but $11,443 for upscale sections at the northern edge of town. However, all Tallahassee households were charged the same, about $6,000. Developers and growth boosters say that new development pays for itself in new taxes. But low-cost housing, for example, almost never supports itself in tax revenues. And farms and open space generally pay more in taxes than they consume in public services. '

April 3, 2001 Associated Press   South, West See High Metro Population Growth   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States experienced the biggest population increase in its history during the 1990s. Las Vegas lead with an 83% growth in its metro area, while New York and Los Angeles still have the two biggest cores of population. The Bureau found that there were 281 million people in America in 2000, an increase of 13%, since 1990. This surpassed the previous 10-year growth record of 28 million between 1950 and 1960, a gain fueled primarily by the post-World War II baby boom. Much of the gain in 2000 was owing to higher-than-expected rates of immigration. The West had the highest population increase at 20%, followed by the South with 17%, the Midwest with 8%, and the Northeast at 6%. In Texas, along the U.S.- Mexico border, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Laredo were among the nation's top-10 fastest growing metropolitan areas. Immigration, domestic migration and rising birth rates all were big factors in the growth. [Note: Nevada saw a 66% growth since 1990. In Colorado, Elbert County, a farming area and Park County, a cattle-grazing region doubled in size. Metropolitan areas grew by 14% and nonmetropolitan counties grew by 10%. (New York Times)] '

April 2, 2001 Financial Times Information   India: After Census, What?  How are Indian policy-makers going to grapple with the colossal numbers, which, as everyone keeps threatening, will overtake those of China in another couple of decades? In 1991-2001, there were people added to India equal to the population of an entire Brazil. Bihar, with a population of close to 9 crores, will continue to drag India down in the matter of quality of life and social infrastructure. Unless something is done, the social disparities and economic imbalances will trigger violent upheavals of unimagined magnitude.Some states will be penalised for their vigorous and successful efforts in controlling population growth in a variety of ways starting from representation in Parliament to allocation of finances. '

April 1, 2001 Global Intersections 28 / United Nations Development Program   Report Cards Could Guide Asian Cities' Development.  Over the next decade, Asia's total population will grow to more than four billion people. Thirty-three cities will have more than 5 million inhabitants. By 2030, both Asia and Africa will have higher numbers of urban dwellers than any other major area of the world. The UNDP - United Nations Development Program is having local NGOs test "Report Cards" which will assess the performance of government institutions on issues ranging from poverty to cultural heritage. "Corruption, public apathy, and disenfranchisement of civil society from political processes and institutions governing them, undermine public participation and good governance." Testing is underway in 17 cities in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. 16 categories are being scored, including corruption, preserving cultural heritage, shelter and housing, gender and development, and HIV/AIDS. Nine aspects of urban management are ranked, including citizen participation, rule of law, strategic vision, consensus orientation, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency, equity, responsiveness, and transparency. For example, in Kathmandu, Nepal, work on the report cards prompted the Metropolitan City Council to establish five environmental clubs at local schools. And in Bangalore and Guntur, India, Waste Wise Asia is collecting information on solid waste collection and disposal. Says UNDP, "good governance has become central to sustainable human development." '

April 1, 2001 Global Intersections 28 / New York Times   AIDS Orphans Stigmatized in Overburdened Africa.  More than 13 million children, most of them in Africa, have already lost either their mothers or both parents because of AIDS. Over 10 million of them are under the age of 15. Children are grieving for dying or dead parents, stigmatized by society, plunged into economic crisis and insecurity, and struggling without services or support systems. In many cases, AIDS orphans are also denied health care because they are presumed to be HIV-positive and therefore incurably ill. 32% of orphans in urban areas were not enrolled in school, compared to 25% of non-orphaned children. In Botswana one of every three adults are HIV-positive. Consequently, the rate at which children have been orphaned in Botswana quadrupled to 4% between 1994 and 1997. Over 30% of all pregnant adolescent women are infected with HIV in Botswana's major urban areas. '

April 20, 2001 BBC Worldwide   Kenya: HIV/AIDS Contributing To Increase in Infant Mortality.  The Minister of State said that a majority of children born to HIV-infected mothers died before their fifth birthday. The prevalence rate is at 14%. Over 50% of new infections occur in those below 25 years of age and out of the 700 Kenyans dying from AIDS-related diseases daily, 500 are between 15-25 years. '

April 17, 2001 Albany Times Union   Poll Finds New Yorkers Support Mandated Contraceptive Coverage.  Zogby International, conducted a March poll, of 694 "likely" New York voters, for Family Planning Advocates of New York State Inc., which found that 77% of women supported mandated contraceptive coverage, and 62% of Catholic women also supported such a mandate. A majority also said they did not think publicly funded religious employers, such as Catholic hospitals, should be excluded from contraceptive coverage. The New York state Assembly has refused to include a "conscience clause" excluding religious organizations from contraceptive coverage in a package of women's health bills, which also requires insurers to cover cancer screenings and other health exams, while the Senate passed a version of the bill containing the clause. '

April 18, 2001 Detroit Free Press Sun   Michigan Right to Life Lobbies to Restrict Medicaid Family Planning Funds.  The state's second strongest lobbying group, Michigan Right to Life, is calling for a restriction of state Medicaid money for family planning, obstetrics and gynecological services at clinics for low-income women that support or counsel about abortion and a "conscience clause" for pharmacists that would allow them to refuse to fill prescriptions for medications that they find "morally objectionable," such as contraceptives and emergency contraception. The proposal mirrors in part the federal "Mexico City" policy, which blocks aid to international family planning organizations that perform or promote abortion access using their own funds. Planned Parenthood of Michigan, which already cannot use tax money to cover abortion, would lose state funds for contraception and pregnancy tests under the proposed legislation. '

April 18, 2001 USA Today/AP/Baltimore Sun   Teen Birth Rate Reaches New Low.  In 1999, the birth rate among women ages 15 to 19 reached its lowest level since modern record keeping began in 1940, down to 49.6 births live births per 1,000, a 20% decrease from the 1991 rate, says the National Center for Health Statistics. Demographer Stephanie Ventura said teens who are sexually active are more likely to be using contraception and that the "strong economic period" may have "encouraged" teens to put off pregnancy "in order to pursue education and jobs." Parents were also credited for talking with their children about sexual health. Bill Albert, spokesperson for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, said that the teen pregnancy rate was still "too high." '

April 17, 2001 90's New York Times   USA: 90's Suburbs of West and South: Denser in One, Sprawling in Other.  This is a very interesting article that should be further summarized. If you would like to help, email me at karen@gaia-s.net. "The geographical definition of suburb is outdated and has to be changed," said Leon Bouvier, a demographer at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. "It's starting to fill in places we never expected, a kind of sprawl beyond sprawl as one suburb stretches out to meet another. There are those who may not like it, but if the country keeps on growing like it is, the people have to go somewhere." The computer analysis of the latest census data, conducted by The New York Times, examined the population density in each of the country's 65,443 census tracts, defining urban, suburban and rural on the basis of how many people lived in a square mile, rather than the location of the tract. '

April 17, 2001 90's Deutsche Presse-Agentur   Environmental Institute Warns of Coastal Disasters.  The World Resources Institute warned in a report, "Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems", that continuing overuse of Earth's coastal regions will destroy their capacity to nourish a wide variety of fish and other species and undermine their role in reducing ocean pollution. In Thailand, the Phillippines, Pakistan, Panama and Mexico nearly 80% of the mangrove forests have been destroyed. Coral reefs are under pressure worldwide from coastal fishing. Mangroves, coral reefs, and coastal wetlands maintain at least two-thirds of all fish harvested in the world. 40% of the world's population lives in coastal regions, and about 30% of the world's 1.6 million kilometres of coastline is used for living, industry or recreation. 75% of all fish stocks are depleted or being fished to their limit. Global warming could raise sea levels up to 95 centimetres before the next century, intensifying erosion and habitat loss. Pollution from inland sources and the loss of coastal land to filter it have led to more dead, or hypoxic, zones, such as that in the Gulf of Mexico. '

April 18, 2001 90's Washington Post   California Promotes a New Lifestyle -- Conservation.  Facing a long dark summer of rolling blackouts, California is trying to persuade its 34 million residents to make energy conservation a pervasive, everyday habit. Gov. Gray Davis approved an $850 million package of grants and rebates to encourage efficient power use and help the nation's most populous state keep its lights on. A 46% utility rate increase has been approved. Residents and businesses will have to begin reducing their energy consumption by at least 10% a day to match the lowered supply of power. Electric utilities across the nation shifted their attention to deregulation strategies in the past few years, abandoning rebate programs for customers who bought more energy-efficient furnaces and appliances. And a prolonged drought in the Northwest has dried dams and will limit the supply of power that hydroelectric plants can supply. California has also had water shortages, but the limited supply has rarely halted housing and commercial development in parts of California, particularly its desert areas east of Los Angeles. California has been a national leader in energy efficiency, ranking 47th among states in per-capita energy use. But as its population keeps growing, consumption keeps rising. The average size of new homes is getting bigger, requiring more energy to heat and cool. And more and more appliances and electronic gadgets are being used. While electricity consumption in has increased by about 17% in the last decade, the state's population growth was 13%. Consumption also may be rising because more residents are moving to hotter inland areas that are more affordable than the crowded coast but that demand much more air conditioning. '

April 18, 2001 Seattle Times   Egypt's Population Booming.  Egypt's population is growing faster than expected, at 2.1% in just one year, and could double to 123 million by 2029, according to Egypt's National Centre for Population and Development. The government's family planning campaign has slowed down over the last two years. The poor think the only way they can get more money is by using their children as laborers in the informal sector. Egypt needs "more awareness that families should not exceed four people" said Central Authority for Population, Mobilisation and Statistics director Ehab Elwy. Part of the problem is due to momentum caused by the sheer numbers of women reaching reproductive age. There is a need further concentrate on women's status, delaying marriage and first birth, and spacing children. Egypt had only 41 million in 1980. '

April 18, 2001 Seattle Times   US: As Population Swells, Forest Facilities Erode.  By Doug Sutherland, Washington state Commissioner of Public Lands. As Washington's population grows and we receive more visitors to forests and trails, abuse such as - shot up signs and trees, abandoned cars, criminal behavior (drugs), dumped trash, dangerous driving - has steadily increased. Keeping lands available for hiking, camping, fishing, mountain biking and other uses is becoming more and more difficult. Every year, communities grow closer to these areas and recreational use grows dramatically. '

April 17, 2001 Jakarta Post   Why Health Messages Fail To Get through in Indonesia.  Indonesia has a population of 210 million, with 22 million under five years of age. UNICEF reported in 1998 that four million Indonesian children below the age of two were severely malnourished and more than 30% of the country's children were at risk of failing to complete primary school due to financial difficulties as a direct result of the prolonged crisis. In 2000, the government reported that the number of malnourished children had increased from eight million before the economic crisis to 20 million, while the infant mortality rate had doubled from 55 to 100 out of 1,000 live births. Progress had been recorded in community development over two decades, but poor communication methods meant that health messages do not get through. The John Hopkins University has several maternal and neonatal health projects in Indonesia - for example, STARH in cooperation with the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) in which workers relate the message that quality family is one that prioritizes health over any other achievement. Part of the emphasis is to convince the community, as the stakeholder, that responsibility for health development is not solely the government's but theirs as well. '

April 16, 2001 Associated Press   Food Scarce in Congo's Capital.  In warring Congo's teeming capital, Kinshasa, dog meat is the only meat affordable to some in its working class. Because it has been cut off within its own country, its 7 million people have been deprived of an estimated half of their needed food supply, and the Congo River to transport it. Rwanda, Uganda and their rebel allies have captured the biggest share of Congo, including the fertile Equateur province up north, where 60% of the country's food comes from in normal times. As many as 1.7 million Congolese are estimated to have died in the rebel-held east, many of them civilians who perished of hunger and disease after being uprooted or cut off by the conflict. The U.N. mission has made reopening the Congo River a main objective. '

April 14, 2001 Saint Paul Pioneer Press   Environment Will Suffer from Ballooning Food Needs, Scientists Predict.  According to a study by scientists in various US universities, and published in the latest Science magazine, in the next 50 years the Earth's environment will pay a heavy price for food production which will require expansion of farm and ranch land by nearly 2.5 billion acres. The loss of that much land will have environmental consequences, and a cost will be paid of increased nitrogen, phosphorus and pesticide use, and the drawing down and pollution of fresh water supplies from irrigation. While food production gains in the past 35 years were made by technologically advanced agricultural countries, the land expansion in the next 50 years is expected to occur in lesser developed tropical rainforest countries and sub-Sahara Africa. The group used generally accepted demographic projections of world population reaching 9 billion people by 2050, and world food demand doubling in response to higher per capita wealth. '

April 16, 2001 BBC Worldwide   Kenya: Cabinet Minister Reportedly Advises Maasai To Shun Family Planning Methods.  Cabinet Minister William Ole Ntimama has told members of the Maasai community to shun family planning in order to increase their population and enhance their bargaining powers. He said that the Maasai population has remained stagnant for long and it was time for them to improve their numbers. Ntimama advised: "Produce more people who can occupy these lands which are lying fallow all over," and to stop selling land to outsiders whom he said were only out to exploit them. '

April 9, 2001 San Diego Union Tribune   A Bigger and Less Powerful California  California's census figures and a study on the impact of splitting up Los Angeles came out simultaneously. Although a coincidence, they are related. San Fernando Valley, subsidizing the rest of Los Angeles to the tune of $123 million annually, wants to split. On the basis of a new city report, a secession election appears inevitable. While the rest of Los Angeles tends to be Hispanic and black, San Fernando citizens tend to be non-Hispanic white. Unlike the great Eastern cities, Los Angeles was not built around a mass transit system, so the impact of growth is much greater. The new census figures show that both Los Angeles and California are growing too fast. California is projected to go from 33.9 million to 50 million people by 2040. With almost 34 million residents, California is nearly a nation-state, only unlike real nation-states, it lacks autonomy. Unlike nations, California is dependent on federal decisions to control its resources, such as electricity, its environment, and its growth. California's voice in Washington is under-representated with only two senators representing 17 million people each. Wyoming's each represent 250,000 people. When California reaches 50 million, its senators will represent 100 times more people than those of Wyoming, which is not growing. Even though one of every eight Americans resides in California, a Texas Republican like George W. Bush does not need California to be elected. California is home to 35% of the nation's 10 million legal immigrants, 40% of an estimated (by INS) 6 million illegal immigrants, and an estimated half of the nation's 600,000 H1-B visa holders (skilled workers, usually in high-tech). We are all immigrants or descendants of them. Immigrants contribute to society, and there is no question that they contribute to California. But population is a problem that will only get worse. '

April 13, 2001 Baltimore Sun   USA: Goals: What Will it Take to Do More than Just Hold the Line on Bay Pollution?  By Tom Horton, author of Turning the Tide. In 1987, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and the federal government set cleanup goals to reverse huge losses of water quality and habitat in the Chesapeake Bay. Given rapid population growth, things would have been a lot worse if not for all the effort. But the big indicators of bay illness -- the large volumes of oxygen-poor waters, the 90% decline in underwater grasses -- have scarcely budged. The largest bay pollutant, nitrogen, which comes from sewage, polluted air, and agricultural and other land runoff, has been reduced from 360 million pounds a year to about 290 million pounds, but 100 to 160 million will be needed. Boosting spending on everything from sewage treatment to open-space preservation to oyster restoration is vital. Every sewage treatment plant affecting the bay must operate at or near the limits of cleanup technology. Likewise for new autos, new power plants and new septic tanks. Pollution running off the land must be far better controlled, by cleaning up agriculture, by paving less in new developments and by restoring huge areas of wetlands and forests. Unfortunately, The Bush administration seems bent on rolling back federal protection for air, water and land. Smart Growth only gets at where we grow, not how much. It's unlikely we can continue to add millions of people to the bay watershed and make the water cleaner. You have to reduce pollution enough to offset all your population increase before you can even begin working on restoring water quality. '

April 9, 2001 Kaiser Weekly Reproductive Health Report   National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Launches Effort to Reduce Pregnancy Rates Among Hispanic Teens.  The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, in collaboration with The Bravo Group and PEOPLE en Espanol magazine launched a long-term education and awareness campaign aimed at reducing pregnancy rates among Hispanic teens. The program, through the media, public service announcements, and community organizations, will give Hispanic parents tips on how to facilitate sex and pregnancy discussions between parents and children. The Latino population is the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, and Hispanic girls have the highest birth rate among U.S. minorities. Three out of five Hispanic girls become pregnant at least once before the age of 20, while overall only two out of five U.S. girls become pregnant in their teens. In 1999, the birth rate for Latinas aged 15 to 19 was 93.1 per 1,000, nearly twice that of the national rate of 49.6 per 1,000. 72.9% of Latina teen mothers were unmarried. Hispanic teens are less likely to seek an abortion. Hispanic youth report higher than average rates of sexual activity and, in 1995, 47% of all Latina girls between 15 and 19 reported that they did not use any form of contraception. '

April 10, 2001 Agence France-Presse/Alan Guttmacher Institute   Russian Policymaker Proposes Abortion Ban to Increase Population.  Russian population has fallen by 2.8 million in the past eight years and is expected to decrease by another 700,000 people this year. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Russian Liberal Democratic party and deputy speaker of the lower house of Parliament, has called for a 10-year "ban on abortions and for limits" to prevent "women of childbearing age" from leaving the country. Abortions are legal in Russia. Zhirinovsky has also proposed granting military service exemptions for young Russian men while their wives are pregnant and a plan to allow men to have up to four wives each. '

April 10, 2001 Washington Post/CongressDaily   Bush Budget Request Decreases MCH Dollars, Flat Funds Title X.  While President Bush's fiscal year 2002 budget proposal includes a $2.7 billion, 5.1% spending boost for HHS, it would cut some smaller programs related to reproductive health. The Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, which supports federal and state initiatives to address maternal and child health, would receive $709 million, slightly down from $714 million in FY 2001. Title X, the national family planning program, which supports a network of 4,600 clinics that provide reproductive health and preventive services to women nationwide, would receive $254 million, equalling FY 2001 funding levels. The Community-Based Abstinence Education program, an initiative that provides support for public and private groups to develop abstinence education programs for children ages 12 to 18, would receive $30 million, a $10 million increase from 2001. In addition, the budget would provide the $50 million allocation for abstinence education mandated under the 1996 welfare reform laws which provides block grants to states for initiatives that promote abstinence among teenagers. The Office of Population Affairs' Adolescent Family Life demonstration and research program, which "focuses on postponing early sexual activity in order to prevent adolescent pregnancies, as well as [STDs] and HIV/AIDS," would receive $28 million, a $4 million increase from this year. '

April 11, 2001 Washington Times   Many Americans Have Faith in Religious Groups' Ability to Handle Teen Pregnancy, Survey Finds.  According to a new poll of 2,041 individuals by the Pew Research Center, 75% of Americans "supported the concept of faith-based funding," an initiative launched by President Bush to allow churches and other religious institutions to apply for federal funding to operate some social services. 39% of those surveyed said religious groups could do "the best job" at handling teen pregnancy issues, while 42% said non-religious groups would be best equipped to handle the topic. Only 12% said the government could best handle teen pregnancy issues, and 7% were unsure. '

April 11, 2001 CNN   India Activists Protest To Reduce Maternal Deaths.  In India, a mother dies an average of every five minutes of complications related either to pregnancy or childbirth. A 1999 United Nations Population Fund report says an estimated 514,000 women die worldwide of pregnancy-related causes, with India accounting for 25% of the total, the equivalent of 300 airplane crashes a year. one in 37 in India die of maternal death, compared to one in 3,500 in the United States, and one in 7 in Somalia and Afghanistan. Few prenatal clinics, malnutrition and a high illiteracy rate leading to a general lack of awareness are the main problems. The American Public Health Association says that over 70% of pregnant women in India are believed to have iron-deficiency anemia, which can increase the risk of premature births, low birth-weight babies and death of the mother. '

April 10, 2001 Inter Press Service   Population: Growth Declines, but Numbers Rise in Poor Nations.  A U.N. study entitled Demographic Dynamics and Sustainability recently released says the world population growth rate has declined from a peak of 2% in 1965 to 1.7% in 1980 and to 1.3% in 2000, and is projected to decline to 1% by 2020 and 0.5% by 2050. The world population was estimated at 2.5 billion in 1960, 4.4 billion in 1980, and 6 billion in 2000, and, despite the low growth rates, is projected to reach 8 billion in 2025 and 9.3 billion in 2050. The study is in preparation for the World Summit for Sustainable Development (Earth Summit II) scheduled to take place next year in South Africa. It summarizes the progress made -- specifically in the area of population and sustainable development -- since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The poorest countries have the highest population growth rates, undermining their efforts to invest in human development, reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. With high fertility rates and resulting high ratio of children to adults, it will be difficult to provide all children with at least an elementary education. India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia are responsible for 60% of the world's population growth today. India's annual growth rate alone was equal to Pakistan, China and Nigeria combined. While the 15-member European Union (EU) increased by 343,000 for the entire year, India achieved that amount of growth during the first week of this year. Conflicts, crises, natural disasters and economic, social and political instability have also limited governments in many countries from implementing Agenda 21, the global environmental action plan adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit. '

April 11, 2001 Business Recorder   Pakistan: Small Family -- Our Last Resort.  letter by Dr Khalida Mazhar Tareen Rawalpindi, Pakistan. .. Pakistan adds 3.16 million people per year, the equivalent of the population of Albania or New Zealand or the combined population of Faisalabad and Multan. With a population of about 140 million and with a growth rate of 2.2%, Pakistan ranks seventh in the world. The implications of uncontrolled growth in population are acute shortages in food, arable land, clean water, health and education facilities as well as in terms of housing units and living space. The institution Key Social Marketing, is educating citizens about the contraceptive options; its awareness message and key products have reached almost every locality in the country and are being treated as household items. Under the 'Mohalla Sangat Programme', a specially trained Lady Health Visitor (LHV) forms a small groups (10-15) of women and discusses family planning concerns with them in a friendly environment. During the discussion, the Key audio cassette tape (available in 6 regional languages) is also played to hear a dialogue between a lady donor and a married couple on many questions, fears ad doubts about the use of contraceptive methods. The programme has reached over 50,000 women so far and a great number of women have shown interest in using the contraceptive methods in order to secure adequate spacing in child births. '

April 12, 2001 Washington Post   Cut in Birth Control Benefit of Federal Workers Sought.  President Bush has proposed dropping a requirement that all health insurance programs for federal employees cover a broad range of birth control. 1.2 million female employees and their dependents who are served by the federal employees health benefits plan (FEHBP) would be affected. Most female federal employees would still get coverage for at least one form of birth control, but not the currently required five types of birth control approved by the Food and Drug Administration: the pill, the intrauterine device (IUD), Norplant, Depo-Provera and the diaphragm. '

April 10, 2001 Africa News Service   Nigeria: Edo Releases N6.5 Million Towards UNFPA Programme.  Governor Lucky Igbinedion whose state, Edo, is one of the 12 states in Nigeria enjoying the UNFPA Country Programme of Assistance, promised his state would live up to its financial obligations. A database was installed in the State Planning Commission for use in carrying out population projections and to be used in integrating population factors in the development planning process. Mid-wives were trained for life saving skills while 20 doctors have been trained on expanded life saving skills. Medical equipment was supplied for two health centres. Gender issues are taken into account in all the packages, including the Family Life Education. The Skills Acquisition Centre, pet project of the governor's wife, teaches catering, computer education, beauticology, fashion design and offers guidance and counselling to disadvantaged and indigent females. It is in conjunction with the Catholic Church's 'Committee for the Support of Dignity of Womanhood' aimed towards the development of healthy womanhood, self-sufficiency, and dignity and to re-educate victims of trade in women. While population was a hard issue to sell, no issue could be more important to people's lives than safe motherhood, HIV/AIDS, poverty, environmental degradation, infant mortality, adolescent sexuality and other related problems. '

April 6, 2001, Associated Press   Afghanistan: New Refugees Arrive at U.N. Camps.  The worst drought in three decades has destroyed most crops and wiped out entire herds in Afghanistan. People in remote mountain villages, who have used up their food supplies, are leaving their homes in search of food and water. The U.N. camps in Herat now house 110,000 people and it is estimated that as many as 800,000 people are living as internal refugees inside Afghanistan. The World Health Organization is concerned about the risk of epidemics due to poor sanitation. '

April 9, 2001, Associated Press   U.N. Says Food Stocks Dwindling in Afghanistan's Opposition-Ruled Areas.  A severe drought and the protracted civil-war that has blocked supply routes has shorted food stocks. There have been no deaths from starvation, but infant mortality caused by measles, respiratory infections and chronic malnutrition is alarmingly high. Afghanistan's worst drought in 30 years has destroyed fields and orchards in most parts of the country, killed most of the cattle and forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes. In addition to the 800,000 internally displaced people, over 170,000 have poured into neighboring Pakistan since September. The U.N. is pleading for additional assistance but so far has received barely 10% of its annual appeal. '

April 5, 2001, Xinhua U.N. Issues First Wall Charter on Population. (PDF - requires Adobe Acrobat). The chart shows total population and population density, as well as total, urban and rural growth rates for all countries. It also presents the most up-to-date key environmental and development indicators from non-U.N. sources regarding fresh water, forests, agriculture and nutrition, poverty and economic development, energy consumption, number of motor vehicles, carbon dioxide emission and participation in international treaties on environment. World population is now at 6.1 billion, with less developed regions accounting for 80%. The population is growing at 1.2% annually, or 77 million people per year. More developed regions are growing at only 0.2% a year less developed regions are increasing at 1.5% a year [doubling in about 45 years if the rate continues], and the least developed countries are growing at 2.5% annually. Developed regions have 22 persons per square kilometer, while less developed regions have 59 persons per square kilometer. '

April 4, 2001, Inter Press Service   Poverty the Number One Killer Worldwide.  The United Nations released a study, Health and Sustainable Development, which says that "Poverty is an important reason that babies are not vaccinated, clean water and sanitation are not provided, drugs and other treatments are unavailable, and mothers die in childbirth." 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar per day, and almost 3 billion on less than two dollars per day, says the World Bank. Disadvantaged or marginalized women will continue to suffer a disproportionate burden of disease, especially those living in environmentally degraded or ecologically vulnerable areas, in zones of conflict or violence, or compelled to migrate for economic or other reasons. Pollution, noise, crowding, inadequate water and sanitation, improper waste disposal, chemical contamination, poisonings and physical hazards associated with the growth of densely populated cities will continue exacerbate health problems. There have been gains - average life expectancy has increased, infant and child mortality rates have declined, and the proportion of underweight and stunted children have decreased. And the number of people with no access to improved water supply fell from 21 to 18% over the past decade, plus many infectious diseases have receded, the result of improved sanitation, nutrition, drugs and vaccines. Despite these advances, the average life expectancy in 1999 was only 49.2 years in the world's 48 poorest countries, compared to 61.4 for all developing countries, and 75.2 for industrial nations. In some of the poorest countries, one in five children do not reach age 5. The report is in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit II) scheduled to take place in South Africa in late 2002. '

April 4, 2001, Inter Press Service   India: Sex Selection Blamed for "Missing Girls".  Results from India's latest decennial census show that the number of girls is declining relative to the number of boys. Facilities in the villages of the mostly rural country have made it possible to determine the sex of the unborn child. In the prosperous agricultural state of Punjab, there are only 793 under-age-six girls for every 1,000 boys of the same ages. The adult sex ratio there was also less than the national average. For the nation, however, the ratio of women to men has risen in the last decade - from 927 to 933 women for every 1,000. Of the southern states there were 968 women per 1,000 men, and in Kerala, India's most literate state, there were more woment than men, with a ratio of 1,058 to 1,000. In addition to female foeticide, "the girl child is also discriminated against after birth in terms of medical services, mother's care and education and her identity is negated at every stage in her life cycle resulting in life-depriving outcomes," said Renuka Dagar of the Institute of Development and Communication, but demographers say the sharp decline may simply be the result of better data collection in the latest census. '

April 6, 2001, Los Angeles Times/Science   China: Panda Population Dwindling at Nature Park.  The journal Science reported that the number of giant pandas at Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern China's Sichuan province dropped by half in 11 years, and the population is now less than 72. Wolong pandas are estimated to constitute 7% of the world's remaining population in the wild, which Chinese environmentalists say is entirely in China. Pandas live in densely forested land and bamboo undercover which is disappearing as fast or even faster than in unprotected areas outside the park due to tourism. Catering to tourists has caused the number of households within its boundaries to almost double to slightly more than 900. Tourists also like to eat the local product, smoked pork which leads to more consumption of fuel wood." Also, a poor educational system has left local people with few skills to earn money outside the park. '