Remarks by Secretary Clinton: July 2012 - World Population Day

World Population Day

Press Statement

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

July 11, 2012

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This year as we mark World Population Day, leaders from around the globe are meeting in London for the Family Planning Summit hosted by the Government of the United Kingdom and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They are working to find new ways to support the rights of women and young people to decide whether, when, and how many children to have.

Reproductive rights are among the most basic of human rights. But too often, in too many places, these rights are denied. Millions of women and young people in developing countries don't have access to information to plan their family. They don't have health services and modern methods of contraception. This is not only a violation of their right to decide the number, timing, and spacing of their children, it's also a question of equity as women everywhere should have the same ability to determine this fundamental part of their lives.
Voluntary family planning programs represent more than just an investment in health and human rights. Family planning is one of the most successful development interventions and one of the strongest and most cost-effective investments available. It reduces poverty, and it allows governments to invest in infrastructure, schooling, and healthcare. For over 40 years the U.S. government, through the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been committed to supporting effective and sustainable family planning programs. During this current fiscal year the U.S. contributed over $640 million through USAID for bilateral family planning and reproductive health programs, and $35 million to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the largest multilateral provider of life-saving family planning and reproductive health information and services. The partnership between the U.S. government and UNFPA is critical to advancing sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights for women, men, adolescents and youth around the world.
We must continue to build on this solid foundation and advance solidarity within the international community for the right of women and young people to make decisions about their own bodies. Our efforts are critical to improving the status of women and upholding these basic human rights around the world.

PRN: 2012/1137

Unite Nations Secretary-General's Message on World Habitat Day - October 3, 2011

Celebrations in 2011 

Secretary-General's Message on World Habitat Day 2011

This year, World Habitat Day falls during the month when demographers predict our planet’s seven billionth inhabitant will be born.  The future that this child and its generation will inherit depends to a great degree on how we handle the competing pressures of growing population growth, urbanization and climate change.

Experts predict that by the year 2050, the global population will have increased by 50 per cent from what it was in 1999.  Also by that time, scientists say, global greenhouse gas emissions must decrease by 50 per cent compared to levels at the turn of the millennium.  I call this the “50-50-50 challenge”.

Rising sea levels are a major impact of climate change — and an urgent concern.  Sixty million people now live within one metre of sea level.  By the end of the century, that number will jump to 130 million.  Major coastal cities — such as Cairo, New York, Karachi, Kolkata, Belem, New Orleans, Shanghai, Tokyo, Lagos, Miami and Amsterdam — could face serious threats from storm surges.
The nexus between urbanization and climate change is real and potentially deadly.
Cities are centres of industrialization and sources of emissions, but they are also home to solutions.  More and more municipalities are harnessing wind, solar and geothermal energy, contributing to green growth and improving environmental protection.

Local efforts are critical to success, but they must be supported by international initiatives.  We have already seen progress, including the creation of the Climate Change Adaptation Fund and adoption of the action plan to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, known as “REDD plus”.  All countries agree on the goal of limiting global temperature rise to below 2° C.  Developed and developing countries have committed to lower greenhouse gasses in a formal, accountable international agreement.

Now we need to build on these advances.  The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban this December must achieve decisive progress.  Urbanization will be on the agenda at next year’s “Rio+20” United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

On this observance of World Habitat Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to the important journey to a more sustainable future, and let us focus greater attention on addressing climate change in the world’s cities and beyond.

Ban Ki-moon