Publications

FOCUS on population, environment, and security A series of occasional papers featuring Wilson Center speakers. Issue 19: "The Integration Imperative: How to Improve Development Programs by Linking Population, Health, and Environment" Since the early 1990s, a few small-scale community programs in developing countries have been using integrated approaches that address population-health-environment (PHE) links in ecologically fragile areas. These projects have sought to increase access to family planning and health services, while simultaneously helping communities manage their natural resources. Roger-Mark De Souza provides some observations from his decade-long experience with emerging PHE projects around the world, and offers recommendations for future directions in this promising field. Download File (pdf) Issue 18: "Forests for the Future: Family Planning in Nepal's Terai Region" A transformation is taking place in the Khata areas of rural Nepal: People dependent on forests are learning new ways to protect the source of their livelihoods. Farmers are now the front-line stewards of the environment—and enthusiastic advocates for integrating population-health-environment (PHE) programs into their community activities. Co-authors Leona D’Agnes, Judy Oglethorpe, Sabita Thapa, Dhan Rai, and Tara Prasad Gnyawali describe a World Wildlife Fund program that combines family planning and community-based forestry within Nepal’s Terai region. Download File (pdf) Issue 17: "Sharing the Forest: Protecting Gorillas and Helping Families in Uganda" On the outskirts of remote Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda, endangered mountain gorillas forage in local gardens that run along the border of the park. Rapid population growth has pushed people to settle near the gorillas’ habitat—sometimes leading to conflict. Our innovative community development program, Conservation Through Public Health, seeks to conserve these magnificent animals, and at the same time, improve the quality of life for Ugandans living near Bwindi. Trained community volunteers protect livelihoods dependent on ecotourism by monitoring diseases like tuberculosis that can pass from humans to gorillas, potentially threatening the rare species’ survival. Other volunteers teach couples how to use modern family planning methods that make it easier for them to provide for their children—and reduce the pressure on the forest and its inhabitants. Download File (pdf) Issue 16: "Poor Health, Poor Women: How Reproductive Health Affects Poverty" Does poor reproductive health prevent poor women from escaping poverty? Despite the plethora of survey data showing that poor households tend to be larger and that poor women tend to have higher rates of fertility, experts have debated whether these conditions cause poverty or are symptoms of poverty. In research conducted for the World Bank, Thomas Merrick and Margaret E. Greene found that poor reproductive health outcomes—early childbearing, maternal mortality/morbidity, and unintended/mistimed pregnancy—have negative effects on overall health, and, under certain circumstances, on education and household well-being. Download File (pdf) Issue 15: "Fishing for Families: Reproductive Health and Integrated Coastal Management in the Philippines" The Philippines’ rapidly rising population has overwhelmed the fisheries that have traditionally supported the country, bringing grinding poverty and malnutrition to many coastal communities. But a new approach to conservation may save families along with the fish and their habitats, say Joan Castro and Leona D’Agnes. By integrating the delivery of family planning and conservation services, the Integrated Population and Coastal Resource Management (IPOPCORM) project found that it could improve reproductive health and coastal resource management more than programs that focused exclusively on reproductive health or the environment—and at a lower total cost. Download File (pdf) Issue 14: "The Missing Links: Poverty, Population, and the Environment in Ethiopia" Ethiopia faces the dual challenges of environmental degradation and rapid population growth—currently 2.7 percent a year. Key resources—including arable land, forests, and water—are becoming increasingly scarce and degraded. But a new approach to development that integrates population, health, and environment initiatives could help improve the lives of millions of Ethiopians, says Mogues Worku, executive director of The Environment and Development Society of Ethiopia (LEM Ethiopia). Download File (pdf) Issue 12: “Lessons From the First Generation of Integrated Population, Health, and Environment Projects” John Pielemeier In his review of the “first generation” of population-health-environment projects funded by USAID and the Packard Foundation, consultant John Pielemeier finds that integrated approaches provide positive outcomes in shorter periods of time, and at lower cost, than single-sector programs. Pielemeier presented the findings of his full report at the Wilson Center in September 2005. Download File (pdf) Issue 11: "Exploring the Links Between Conservation and Health" Jane Goodall Humans share about 99 percent of our DNA structure with chimpanzees, a fact that, according to Jane Goodall, we often forget at our own peril. In this edited transcript, the world-renowned primatologist focuses on two burgeoning problems rapidly depleting wildlife in Africa: the bushmeat trade and deforestation. Goodall’s institute combats deforestation by combining community development, health care education, and natural resource management in integrated programs. Such integration, says Goodall, helps “people understand that as the environment is destroyed, so their own lives become increasingly hard and difficult.” Download File (pdf) Issue 13: "Explorer les liens entre la conservation et la santé" French translation of "Exploring the Links Between Conservation and Health," Issue 11 Jane Goodall Download File (pdf) Issue 10: "Appreciating the Complexity and Dignity of People’s Lives: Integrating Population-Health-Environment Research in Petén, Guatemala" Liza Grandia As the population increases in Guatemala's Petén region—home to the largest protected tropical forest north of the Amazon—so does the deforestation. From 1997-1999, a team of researchers developed a new environmental module for Guatemala’s Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) that analyzed the rapidly changing population-environment dynamics in this frontier region. According to anthropologist Liza Grandia, "The integrated DHS has been a critical part of developing...programs linking health and population with the environment," which have lowered Petén’s total fertility rate from 6.8 to 5.8 children per woman in just four years. Download File (pdf)

Environmental Change and Security Program
Woodrow Wilson Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004-3027
Email: ecsp@wilsoncenter.org
Tel: 202/691-4000