Archive for: Environment


The Population Reference Bureau coordinated a comparative study of population, health, and environment (PHE) integration and cross-sectoral collaboration in East Africa. Teams from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda assessed the state of PHE integration in their respective countries, through identifying relevant stakeholders; assessing the policy environment for cross-sectoral collaboration; highlighting the most salient population, health, and environment issues; and describing the current state of integration among projects, programs, and policies. The University of Nairobi and the National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development assessed the “state of integration” in Kenya. Findings confirm that these integrated approaches require more planning, coordination, and communication, but still can yield substantial results in the community and environment, including reduced dependence on forest resources, increased food security, cleaner drinking water, and greater access to health services. The assessment found that strong leadership was essential to the community-based PHE project; cross-sectoral interventions can be introduced at different times and at different scales; and that even low-cost interventions can improve the health and well-being of a community. Kenya still lacks clear legal framework and institutional money to initiate PHE policies, but according to this assessment, most development professionals prefer the integrated approach at the community level.

Year: 2007

Source: Population Reference Bureau

Access the resource

    The Population Reference Bureau coordinated a comparative study of population, health, and environment (PHE) integration and cross-sectoral collaboration in East Africa. Teams from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda assessed the state of PHE integration in their respective countries, through identifying relevant stakeholders; assessing the policy environment for cross-sectoral collaboration; highlighting the most salient population, health, and environment issues; and describing the current state of integration among projects, programs, and policies. Drawing lessons from countries where PHE programs have already been successfully implemented, this brief explores the PHE context, challenges, and opportunities for pursuing an integrated approach to development in Ethiopia, including identifying relevant stakeholders; assessing the policy environment for cross-sectoral collaboration; highlighting the most salient population, health, and environment issues; and describing the current state of integration among projects, programs, and policies. The paper highlights and explains several opportunities and entry points for pursuing a more holistic way to address the complex interactions between humans, their health, and the environment in Ethiopia.

    Year: 2007

    Source: Population Reference Bureau

    Access the resource

      This brief describes the reasoning behind population, health, and environment (PHE) projects, which aim to simultaneously improve access to health services and manage natural resources in ways that improve livelihoods and conserve critical ecosystems. These projects have demonstrated that implementing a comprehensive and integrated strategy which builds upon existing synergies between health, family planning, and the environment is more efficient than implementing separate programs to address each of these needs. The brief also discusses the history of US engagement in supporting PHE initiatives during the past 10 years and offers several policy recommendations to expand support to non-health sectors, strengthen the evidence base and reach new audiences, and scale-up PHE programs.

      Year: 2014

      Source: PAI

      Access the resource

        The environmental consequences of increasing human population size are dynamic and nonlinear, not passive and linear. The role of feedbacks, thresholds, and synergies in the interaction of population size and the environment are reviewed here, with examples drawn from climate change, acid deposition, land use, soil degradation, and other global and regional environmental issues. The widely assumed notion that environmental degradation grows in proportion to population size, assuming fixed per capita consumption and fixed modes of production, is shown to be overly optimistic. In particular, feedbacks, thresholds, and synergies generally amplify risk, causing degradation to grow disproportionally faster than growth in population size.

        Year: 2017

        Source: Population and Environment

        Access the resource