Archive for: Environment


In February 2010, the USAID-funded BALANCED Project sponsored a South-to-South learning opportunity for government and non-governmental officials to observe how local stakeholders in the Philippines implement integrated Population, Health and Environment (PHE) approaches. PATH Foundation Philippines, Inc. (PFPI), a BALANCED Project partner, hosted ten developing country representatives from six African and Asian countries. They spent two weeks visiting PHE learning sites and a marine protected area in Bohol province. PFPI has been working for the past ten years on the Integrated Population and Coastal Resource Management Initiative (IPOPCORM) and has a wealth of lessons learned and best practices to share with people who are new to PHE. Based on these lessons learned and program design discussions, the participants developed action plans for their respective organizations and countries, in order to implement PHE at home.

Year: 2010

Source: The BALANCED Project

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    Much has been written on the history of and factors affecting environment sector successes and challenges in Madagascar. This case study focuses specifically on how the conservation sector has engaged in identifying and addressing unmet need for family planning (FP) in Madagascar over approximately two decades (1988 –2007), in the context of improving local livelihoods and reducing pressures on the country’s dwindling natural resource base including its unique biodiversity. It looks at how previous andongoing efforts linking or integrating population and environment (PE) efforts have been and are being scaled up past the site level. The purpose of this study is to highlight drivers of change, constraints and enabling factors to help explain the history and to identify strategies that may be replicable or newly applied elsewhere in-country or outside. This case study is designed to help answer the question: How can the conservation community further contribute to meeting unmet need for family planning in order to reduce future pressure on natural resources and biodiversity and promote more sustainable livelihoods?

    Year: 2008

    Source: World Wildlife Fund

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      From the 1980s-1990s the Philippine Government, with help from the United Nations and the academic community, created poverty alleviation projects that linked Population, Health, and Environment (PHE). These PHE projects focused on improving natural resource management, reproductive health services, enhancing food security, and providing Filipinos with more livelihood options. These integrated projects proved to be successful, creating a desire to spread or “scale-up” the PHE approach. Scaling-up has three components: expansion, replication, and collaboration. This report notes several opportunities for scaling-up, such as reaching out to new locations and people, extending pilot projects to policies at local and national levels, and expanding services to current clients. Another key factor for scaling-up the PHE approach is strengthening the national PHE network. A recap of lessons that have been learned through scaling-up is also included.

      Year: 2008

      Source: World Wildlife Fund | Population Reference Bureau

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        Across the globe, locally controlled forestry is gaining momentum, increasingly recognised for improving environmental resource management and bringing socio-economic returns to local communities. In short: it works for both people and forests. Since the 1990s, Tanzania has pioneered locally controlled forestry (also known as African participatory forest management). Supported by donors and NGOs, the government has transferred management of more than 2.5 million hectares of forest and woodland to local communities, restoring forests and improving environmental services. But converting and scaling up this transfer of natural capital into long-term economic benefits for communities remains a challenge. We present three emerging sustainable community forest enterprises that have delivered important social, economic and conservation benefits, and explore options for scaling up these approaches across Tanzania and elsewhere.

        Year: 2019

        Source: International Institute for Environment and Development

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          We identify three categories of challenges that have to be addressed to maintain and enhance human health in the face of increasingly harmful environmental trends. Firstly, conceptual and empathy failures (imagination challenges), such as an over-reliance on gross domestic product as a measure of human progress, the failure to account for future health and environmental harms over present day gains, and the disproportionate effect of those harms on the poor and those in developing nations. Secondly, knowledge failures (research and information challenges), such as failure to address social and environmental drivers of ill health, a historical scarcity of transdisciplinary research and funding, together with an unwillingness or inability to deal with uncertainty within decision making frameworks. Thirdly, implementation failures (governance challenges), such as how governments and institutions delay recognition and responses to threats, especially when faced with uncertainties, pooled common resources, and time lags between action and effect.

          Year: 2015

          Source: The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on Planetary Health

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            The Packard Foundation’s Population-Environment (PE) Initiative, which began in June 2000, placed primary emphasis on supporting projects that integrated conservation and family planning in communities near areas of high biodiversity. It supported leadership development and increased advocacy for and awareness of population-environment linkages. The PE strategy sought to improve the quality of life in focal areas, increase collaboration and leadership on interdisciplinary topics, and used mass media and targeted campaigns to increase the public and policymakers’ awareness of the links and solutions. The review team finalized a report to the Packard Foundation in June, 2005 that covers the three objectives of the Packard Foundation Population-Initiative. This report to USAID provides a more limited assessment of the success of the Packard and USAID-funded field projects with a particular focus on six USAID-funded projects in the Philippines and Madagascar, three of which are co-funded with Packard.
            This 2005 project review concentrates on three major questions:
            1. What are the likely long-term impacts of this Initiative on funding and the field of Population-Environment?
            2. What results have been achieved by projects implemented under the Initiative? and
            3. What lessons have been learned that may be of broader use to the Foundation, other donors, and the field as a result of implementing this Initiative?

            Year: 2005

            Source: United States Agency for International Development | The David and Lucille Packard Foundation

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              For the many individuals and communities experiencing natural disasters and environmental degradation, building resilience means becoming more proficient at anticipating, preventing, recovering, and rebuilding following negative shocks and stresses. Development practitioners have been working to build this proficiency in vulnerable communities around the world for several decades. This article first examines the meaning of resilience as a component of responding to disasters and some of the key components of building resilience. It then summarises approaches to resilience developed by the Rockefeller and Packard Foundations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, USAID and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), which show how family planning services can contribute to resilience. Next, it gives some examples of how family planning has been integrated into some current environment and development programmes. Finally, it describes how these integrated programmes have succeeded in helping communities to diversify livelihoods, bolster community engagement and resilience, build new governance structures, and position women as agents of change.

              Year: 2014

              Source: Reproductive Health Matters

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                This article suggests that sexual and reproductive health and rights activists seeking to influence the post-2015 international development paradigm must work with sustainable development advocates concerned with a range of issues, including climate change, environmental issues, and food and water security, and that a way of building bridges with these communities is to demonstrate how sexual and reproductive health and rights are relevant for these issues. An understanding of population dynamics, including urbanization and migration, as well as population growth, can help to clarify these links. This article therefore suggests that whether or not sexual and reproductive health and rights activists can overcome resistance to discussing “population”, become more knowledgeable about other sustainable development issues, and work with others in those fields to advance the global sustainable development agenda are crucial questions for the coming months. The article also contends that it is possible to care about population dynamics (including ageing and problems faced by countries with a high proportion of young people) and care about human rights at the same time. It expresses concern that, if sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates do not participate in the population dynamics discourse, the field will be left free for those for whom respecting and protecting rights may be less of a priority.

                Year: 2014

                Source: Reproductive Health Matters

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                  This Population Reference Bureau (PRB) brief from the second international Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) Conference, held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia in November 2007, shares key conference outcomes on implementation best practices; monitoring and evaluation; networking, advocacy, and media communication; and expanding and institutionalizing PHE interventions. The brief outlines needs, priorities, and ways that PHE implementers and advocates can capitalize on the conference to increase interest in and support of PHE integration.The PHE community came together to share experiences, coordinate efforts, and develop strategies to extend the integrated approach to new rural and remote communities.

                  Year: 2014

                  Source: Population Reference Bureau

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                    This study provides a snapshot of the population, health, and environment situation and practices in the villages surrounding the Saadani National Park (SANAPA) and demonstrates the utility of a transdisciplinary systems perspective to evaluate population–health–environment linkages (PHE). Analyzing survey data from eight villages, this paper shows that in the SANAPA area, livelihoods are highly dependent on natural resources, but both agriculture and fisheries are experiencing a decline in productivity and profitability. Population stressors include a high population momentum, early marriages, teenage pregnancies, and migration. Women bear a heavy workload, while having little or no say in decision-making. The public health situation is severe with health facilities few and far in-between; lack of access to clean water and safe sanitation; and many households suffering from diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia, skin diseases, and HIV/AIDS. Environmental protection arrangements are in place in all sites, however, the awareness of protected areas and their benefits is low and many feel helpless in protecting the environment. Climate change—increasing periods of drought and irregular rainfall—contribute to food insecurity and health problems. The interconnectedness between these stressors reinforces the need for an integrated approach to addressing coastal conservation and community development in the SANAPA area.

                    Year: 2012

                    Source: Ocean & Coastal Management

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