Recognizing the close connections between population issues, health, gender and conservation, WWF is taking a multi-pronged approach at the local, national and international level to build a sustainable balance between people and nature.
Balancing people and nature
We are working to reduce population pressures on nature by providing better access to health services and voluntary family planning, and lessening the environmental impacts of migration.
As with all our conservation programmes, collaboration is key to achieving lasting results. With partners such as USAID, Conservation International and Johnson & Johnson we are able to expand our reach to mobilize the health, development and environmental sectors. Over the coming years, WWF will grow our population, health and environment (PHE) programmes to accomplish greater success for people and conservation. We will:
As with all our conservation programmes, collaboration is key to achieving lasting results. With partners such as USAID, Conservation International and Johnson & Johnson we are able to expand our reach to mobilize the health, development and environmental sectors. Over the coming years, WWF will grow our population, health and environment (PHE) programmes to accomplish greater success for people and conservation. We will:
- Expand our PHE approaches from local to global levels, including work with government and non-governmental health partners to serve remote communities with poor access to health services.
- Produce a manual for conservation practitioners on how to integrate family planning and health into conservation projects, based on lessons learned from our pilot projects in nine countries.
- Map population trends to identify places with migration flows affecting biodiversity and with unmet family planning and basic health services needs.
- Develop and test approaches to reduce the impacts of migration on biodiversity by encouraging people to stay in their areas of origin and reducing negative impacts in areas of destination when migration does occur.
The world's human population reached 6.7 billion people in 2007. By 2050, the United Nations' medium estimate is that it could increase to 9.1 billion.
More than 90% of this growth will be concentrated in the poorest developing countries, where many of the world’s remaining wild places are found.
In many of these countries, high population growth rates combined with weak governance of natural resources creates a vicious cycle where nature's supply is unable to meet increased human demands. The result is the declining health of both people and the environment.
And even though populations have stopped growing in many developed countries, population is still important because of the high per-capita consumption of natural resources which affects biodiversity around the globe.
More than 90% of this growth will be concentrated in the poorest developing countries, where many of the world’s remaining wild places are found.
In many of these countries, high population growth rates combined with weak governance of natural resources creates a vicious cycle where nature's supply is unable to meet increased human demands. The result is the declining health of both people and the environment.
And even though populations have stopped growing in many developed countries, population is still important because of the high per-capita consumption of natural resources which affects biodiversity around the globe.
More information
- Disappearing Landscapes: The population/environment connection (Part I)
- Disappearing Landscapes: The population/environment connection (Part II)
- Disappearing Landscapes: The population/environment connection (Part III)
- Disappearing Landscapes: The population/environment connection (Part IV)
- WWF-US Population, Health & Environment Program
