Blue Ventures Madagascar

Marie Stopes International (MSI)

PATH Foundation Philippines, Inc. (PFPI)

Population Action International (PAI)
Population Health Environment (PHE) Ethiopia Consortium

Population and Sustainability Network (PSN)
Sex og Samfund (Danish Family Planning Association)
UNFPA

This workshop will focus on the perspectives of Voices from the South on how addressing population dynamics at national and community levels in ways that respect and protect human rights can make a significant contribution to sustainable development. Focused on the intersection between the ?social? and ?environmental? dimensions of sustainable development, this workshop will bring together global and local perspectives on how population dynamics, including growth, urbanization, migration etc affect sustainable development priorities, including the green economy, climate change, environmental degradation, poverty alleviation and gender equality. Presentations will focus on how the provision of voluntary family planning services that respect and protect rights can be combined with environmental approaches to meet a range of sustainable development needs defined at community level that have global potential and impact.

The workshop will focus on the importance of including a policy focus on population dynamics and reproductive health and rights in planning for global sustainable development goals, and in helping to construct a post-MDG framework. From the perspective of voices from the Global South it will create awareness of the significance of population dynamics to sustainable development, and offer practical policy approaches to seize the opportunities that exist to advance sustainable development through a focus on population dynamics and achievement of universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Our workshop will include presentations from members of the Population and Climate Change Alliance (PCCA) ? an alliance which brings together organizations operating at international, national and local levels ? on the links between population dynamics, sexual and reproductive health and rights and sustainable development issues. Experiences will be shared from programmes in Ethiopia, Madagascar and the Philippines which have directly responded to community-voiced needs to combine environmental conservation initiatives, including marine conservation and climate change adaptation, with the provision of voluntary family planning services that respect and protect rights. Presentations will demonstrate the multiple synergies that integrated, population, health and environment approaches offer to advance a range of sustainable development objectives, showcasing innovative community-based projects that have the potential for wider replication.

Focusing on the important linkages between population dynamics, reproductive health and rights and sustainable development, the side-event will enable participants to participate in a controversial but critical debate for Rio+20 and beyond. Following on from the presentations, an interactive panel debate will focus on how the controversies surrounding population and reproductive health and rights issues can be overcome so that looking to the post-2015 international development agenda, we can ensure that sexual and reproductive health and rights are explicitly and visibly recognized as a core element of the foundation upon which the world?s efforts to secure sustainable development for all can be realized.