Population policy and the "Earth Summit": the passages of history
Camp, S.; Conly, S.
Imbonezamuryango 25: 29-31
1992
PMID: 12319664 Document Number: 342065
At the UN Conference on the Environment and Development, commonly referred to as the Earth Summit, questions of population and family planning tended to become politicized and controversial. The Catholic Church succeeded in eliminating all specific references to family planning and contraception in the official documents. The UN General Assembly Resolution calling for convocation of the conference and the early planning documents made no reference to the impact of demographic growth on the environment. But in the months preceding the conference, the UN Population Fund and other interest groups succeeded in calling greater attention to population questions. The Vatican exercised its influence to change the wording concerning population, aided by disagreement between the developed and developing countries on the weight that should be given to overconsumption in the developed world and population growth in the developing countries. The wealthier countries, the poor countries, the Vatican, feminist groups opposing coercive population control, and ecological and demographic interest groups supporting family planning were the main contenders in the battle to influence the eventual statement. The words "family planning" were replaced in the text by "responsible planning of family size, in a spirit of liberty and dignity and in accordance with personal values, taking into account moral and cultural considerations". Although it was impossible to change the timid wording during the Conference, concern about rapid growth was expressed in numerous Conference statements. The final document lacked vigor in calling for rapid stabilizing of population growth and universal access to family planning. But the significant result of the Conference as a whole was that the intrinsic links between population dynamics, the environment, and economic development were acknowledged.