Population and the Environment

1. Population and the Environment

2. Initial discussion • How many kids do you plan to have? • What factors influence that choice? • How do you think those factors differ • Across countries? • Over time? • Can your decision be changed?

3. Determinants of Population • Birth rate • Infant mortality rate • Average lifespan (which is determined by nutrition and health care) • Death rate • Income: more income leads to fewer children • Women’s role (and power) in society • Values attached to children

4. Policies that influencepopulation growth • Culture • Religion • Respect for national sovereignty • Notions of freedom • Economic factors

5. De Facto Population Policies • De facto – policies that LIMIT population • Failure to address diseases which we can cheaply control-- malaria, dysentery, etc. • Maldistribution of food and distribution of food based on ability to pay rather than need to survive • De facto – policies that INCREASE population • Improved health care • Specific efforts to address epidemics, malaria, diarrhea • Providing better food, nutrition, clean water. • Pro-natalistpolicies adopted for other reasons: longer maternity leaves, tax credits for children, free childcare

6. Chinese Population Control Policy • “We already knew some of the gruesome details of the People Republic of China’s coercive population control program. We knew, for instance, that the government routinely imposes exorbitant fines on couples who had unauthorized children with sometimes amount of three or four times the average Chinese income and that it destroyed their homes and confiscated their private property when they cannot pay. We knew that when a woman has an unauthorized pregnancy, she is typically brought to the family planning center and subjected to intense psychological pressure, often with a personal involvement of her boss or other people with a power over her, until she agrees to the abortion. We knew that when the psychological pressure does not work, women are sometimes dragged physically to abortion mills and the physical force is employed against both women and men when they refuse to be sterilized.” • US Congressional Hearing

7. Parts of Chinese PopulationPolicy, As Written • Article 3: "The population and family planning programs shall be combined with the efforts to offer more opportunities for women to receive education and get employed, improve their health and elevate their status." • Article 12: "Villagers' committees and residents' committees shall, in accordance with law, make a success of the family planning programs." • Article 18: "The State maintains its current policy for reproduction, encouraging late marriage and childbearing and advocating one child per couple. Where the requirements specified by laws and regulations are met, plans for a second child, if requested, may be made." • Article 19: "Family planning shall be practiced chiefly by means of contraception." • Article 25: "Citizens who marry late and delay childbearing may be entitled to longer nuptial and maternity leaves or other welfare benefits." • Article 21: "Couples of reproductive age who practice family planning shall receive, free of charge, the basic items of technical services specified by the State." • Article 22: "Discrimination against and maltreatment of women who give birth to baby girls or who suffer from infertility are prohibited. Discrimination against, maltreatment, and abandonment of baby girls are prohibited." • Article 26: "Citizens who undergo surgical operation for family planning shall enjoy leaves as specified by the State. Local people's governments may give them rewards." • Article 27: "Couples who [volunteer to have only one child in their lifetime] shall enjoy rewards in accordance with the relevant regulations of the State." • Article 31: "People's governments at all levels shall take measures to ensure citizens' access to technical services for family planning in order to improve their reproductive health." • Article 41: "Citizens who give birth to babies not in compliance with the provisions of Article 18 of this Law shall pay a social maintenance fee prescribed by law.“ Source: http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/poplaws/law_china/china%20pop%20and%20family%20planning.pdf

8. French Pro-Natalist Policy • Tax incentives -- ~ 1000 British pounds for having a third child • Family allowances to increase purchasing power of 3-child families • 40 weeks of maternity leave for 3rd child • Preferential mortgages for 3 child families • Subsidized and available child care Source: http://www.slideshare.net/HNurton/france-99335/

9. Discussion questions:Criteria for Good Population Policies • Which policies are acceptable and why? Which, of acceptable ones, are good? What and who determines which policies are acceptable and why? • Effectiveness: does the policy obtain its objectives in expected ways? • Effects: unintended but predictable effects? Unpredictable effects? • Does the ends ever justify the means? • Means: Some effective means of birth control are not acceptable in our society (forced sterilization, etc.) • Responsibility for “doing nothing”: If the policy is not implemented, who takes responsibility for consequences of that? • Would what is acceptable change if we get to 12 billion people? 20 billion people? 50 billion people?