Population

The Changing Distribution of World Population

By Joseph Chamie
In addition to its unprecedented rapid rate of demographic growth during the past 75 years, world population’s distribution across the planet has changed significantly over the past seven decades. The momentous global changes in humanity’s geographic distribution pose serious social, economic, political and environmental challenges and disquieting implications for the future. 

African Politicians Asked to Develop Legal Instruments to Fight Climate Change

By Isaiah Esipisu
African legislators have been challenged to come up with legal frameworks for climate change to enable countries avoid catastrophes and reactionary emergencies that eat up their budgets.

The Story Behind The Gambia’s Lawsuit against Myanmar over the Rohingya Genocide

By Samira Sadeque
On Nov. 11, the Gambia filed a lawsuit against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice for the southeast asian country’s atrocities against the Rohingya population. 

Did Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election Bring Back a Polarising Wartime Figure?

By Dr. Palitha Kohona
The Economist proclaimed recently that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the man who, as secretary of defense, presided over this horrifying episode (the final phase of Sri Lanka’s terrorist inspired internal conflict), has just been elected president of Sri Lanka.

Bangladeshi Migrant Female Domestic Workers Face Violence

By Nayema Nusrat
Millions of Bangladeshi women are facing violence either as domestic housemaids or as migrant workers in Gulf countries. A few days ago, a video in social media, secretly filmed by a Bangladeshi housemaid employed in Saudi Arabia, caught everyone’s attention where she was helplessly crying and begging to be rescued from her abusive employer.

UN Warns of ‘Screen Teens’ not Getting Enough Exercise

By James Reinl
It is a common complaint of parents globally that their children and teenagers spend far too many hours sprawled on couches playing video games, sharing selfies with online friends and giggling over TikTok videos.

Science & Policy Must Remain Partners in Mercury Challenge

By Celia Chen and David Evers
It has been more than two years since the Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force. The global treaty protects humans and the environment from the toxic metal, but countries are still stuck on how to measure the agreement’s effectiveness.

Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election Brings Back a Polarising Wartime Figure

By Alan Keenan
On 16 November, Gotabaya Rajapaksa – who served as defence secretary during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war – won a decisive victory in Sri Lanka’s presidential election.

Winning the ‘No Food Loss’ Battle: The Case of Japan

By Veena S. Kulkarni
Humankind since almost the time that there is recorded history has grappled with the question of ‘how many is too many?’ The response is expectedly complex as it varies across time and space. The pace of population growth was slow till about approximately 250 years or so. It is only since the middle of the eighteenth century that there has been a palpable acceleration in population growth.

With the UN Security Council in Paralysis, Are there New Hopes for Rohingya Muslims?

By Thalif Deen
The 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC) stands virtually paralyzed in the face of genocide charges against the government of Myanmar where over 730,000 to one million Rohingya Muslims have been forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since a 2016 crackdown by Myanmar’s military.

Net Food Importer Turkey Grapples with Challenges of Food Self-sufficiency

By Ed Holt
Despite latest research showing Turkey lagging in overall food sustainability, progress in sustainable agriculture appears to be a bright spot in the country’s troubled agriculture industry.

ICPD25: Lessons From the East

By Joyce Chimbi
The Japan Parliamentary Federation for Population represented by Mr Teruhiko Mashiko and its secretariat, the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) has made a clear and concrete commitment to endorse the ICPD25 agenda. Mashiko tells IPS that Japan, as should every country driven by the well-being of its population, should create the best possible conditions to achieve the ICPD25 agenda.

Nairobi Summit to Redouble Efforts to Urgently Deal with Reproductive Rights for Women and Girls

By Mantoe Phakathi
More than 6 000 delegates in the population development sector are gathering in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi this week to renew the promise made to girls and women 25 years ago in Cairo.

When is Universal Health Coverage Good for Attaining Universal Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights?

By Julitta Onabanjo
This is a special year for all rights-based health advocates, as we celebrate 25 years of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

Call to Action as Thousands Breathe New Life to the Cairo Promise at ICPD 25 Summit in Nairobi This Week

By Joyce Chimbi
Every day 830 women die while giving life. At least 33,000 girls are forced into child marriage with 11,000 girls undergoing female genital mutilation. These are some of the cruel realities young women face every day. However, there is renewed hope that delegates expected to attend the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Nairobi this week will re-energise and breathe new life to the Cairo Promise.

Zimbabwe’s Inflation Makes it Hard to Keep Track of Cost of Living

By Jeffrey Moyo
Stung by the country’s spiralling inflation, Zimbabwe’s government workers took to the streets this week for the first ever police-sectioned march demanding improved wages.

The Nairobi Summit Is about the Future of Humanity and Human Prosperity

By Siddharth Chatterjee
As we count down the remaining days to the opening of the Nairobi Summit or the International Conference for Population and Development(ICPD), I am confounded by how much humanity has managed to simultaneously empower more women than at any other time in history, while at the same time failing to see that ‘women’s issues’ are actually ‘everyone’s issues’.

No Region is Immune from Rising Inequalities, Trade Tensions & Declining Growth Rates

By Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations*
We are facing tense and turbulent times around the globe. Rising inequality is a danger everywhere. Trade and technology tensions are building. Growth forecasts are being revised down. Unease and uncertainty are going up. This is a global phenomenon. No region is immune.

Locked Out – Nigeria’s Trafficked Children Have Never been to School

By Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe
“Human trafficking is when someone is taken from Nigeria to another country to be a prostitute. Or, to do other illegal jobs that are not good for humanity,” said Kingsley Chidiebere, a commercial motorcycle rider in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.

Africa Watch: Morocco Tourism Gains Momentum

By Hugo Bourhis
The crème de la crème of Hollywood was in Marrakech, Morocco, for the wedding of British movie star Idris Elba in April this year. Elba tied the knot with his Canadian model girlfriend, former Miss Vancouver Sabrina Dhowre, at the Ksar Char-Bagh hotel, an exquisite Alhambra-style hotel.

How Can We All Hear That the World is on Fire?

By Andrew Bovarnick
The annual rhythm of the United Nations year peaks with the General Assembly in September. One month on, it’s a good time to reflect on this year’s gathering which was remarkable for its focus on fighting climate change, the transforming effect of one 16 year old girl telling it like it is, and the way people heard her words in a way they haven’t heard before.
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