Population and Reproductive Health at Rio+20

Greetings from Rio de Janeiro! I will be blogging from the UN Conference on Sustainable Development throughout the week, tracking the inclusion of reproductive health and rights in the agenda. 

Population dynamics have significant influence on sustainable development but the two have not always been seen as connected.

This year’s conference is the follow-on to the original UN Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992 (thus Rio+20). The resulting documents from that conference – Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the Statement of Principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests – were adopted by more than 178 governments and have done much to set the sustainable development agenda over the last two decades. Population dynamics were largely left off the table and instead were taken on separately, and in parallel, at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. 

This year, watchers from across the spectrum are eager to see these two issues talked about in a more integrated fashion. The official proceedings don’t start until the 20th, but side events have already begun.

Follow the conversation on ECSP’s blog, New Security Beat, and on Twitter: @NewSecurityBeat.

Karen Newman: Rio+20 Should Re-Identify Family Planning As a Core Development Priority

Related New Security Beat Resources:

• Guest Contributor Musimbi Kanyoro: Women’s Rights and Voices Belong at Rio+20

• Sex and Sustainability on the Road to Rio+20

• 'People and the Planet' Study Re-Introduces Demography to Sustainability Debate