[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 162 (Thursday, October 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15362-S15363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WORLD POPULATION AWARENESS WEEK

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I would like to speak briefly this 
morning on a matter of great importance; namely, world population. 
World Population Awareness Week will be held this year from October 22-
29, and is designed to foster awareness of the environmental, economic, 
political, and social consequences of rapid worldwide population.
  Let us reflect a moment on the implications of the current population 
growth rate. In 1830, the world's population reached 1 billion. Today, 
the world's population is nearly 6 billion. Unless something is done, 
world population in 2020 will reach 8 billion and by 2035 it will reach 
12 billion.
  Current levels of population growth are unprecedented. This year 
alone, the world's population will grow by almost 

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100 million people. This is like adding a new country the size of 
Nigeria to the world every year, or a city the size of New York City 
every month. Virtually all this growth takes place in the poorest 
countries and regions across the world--those who can least afford to 
accommodate such rapid population growth.
  Rapid population growth is one of the world's most serious problems, 
posing a long-term threat to U.S. national interests in the areas of 
security, trade, and the environment. There are many developing 
countries in the world which are finally taking steps to institute the 
kind of free market reforms that offer them their best hope for long-
term sustainable development. But high population growth rates threaten 
their economic development accomplishments.
  Moreover, the environmental implications of such population growth is 
startling. A child born today can expect by the year 2000 a world where 
almost one-half of the world's forests will be gone and one-fifth of 
the world's plant and animal species will be extinct. Ground water 
supplies are dwindling; rivers and lakes are fouled with pollutants 
from industries, municipalities, and agriculture. Currently, at least 
1.7 billion people, nearly one-third of the planet's population, lack 
an adequate supply of drinking water. The developing world already 
produces 45 percent of all gases contributing to global warming.
  Rapid population growth, especially when overlaid with sharp social 
or economic divisions, places great strains on political institutions. 
To the extent population pressures contribute to weakening economic and 
political structures, they adversely affect international stability and 
peace. And this directly affects our own national security interests 
around the world.
  I am very pleased that the theme of World Population Awareness Week 
this year is gender equality and the implementation of the Cairo 
Program of Action, which was approved by more than 180 countries, 
including the United States, at the International Conference on 
Population and Development last year. This is especially significant 
because the goals and objectives of the Cairo Program of Action include 
providing universal access to family planning information, education, 
and services; as well as eliminating poverty and illiteracy among girls 
and women who are disproportionately denied access to education, 
increasing women's employment opportunities, reducing infant mortality, 
and eliminating all forms of gender discrimination.
  Several Governors throughout the United States, from the State of 
Washington to my home State of Maine, have issued proclamations 
recognizing World Population Awareness Week. I submit for the Record 
the proclamation of this important event issued by Gov. Angus S. King, 
Jr., Governor of the State of Maine.
  The proclamation follows:

                              Proclamation

       Whereas, world population is currently 5.7 billion and 
     increasing by nearly 100 million each year, with virtually 
     all growth added in the poorest countries and regions--those 
     who can least afford to accommodate current populations let 
     alone massive infusions of humanity; and
       Whereas, the annual increment to world population is 
     projected to exceed 86 million through the year 2015, will 
     three billion people--the equivalent of the entire world 
     population as recently as 1960--reaching their reproductive 
     years within the next generation; and
       Whereas, the environmental and economic impacts of this 
     level of growth will almost certainly prevent inhabitants of 
     poorer countries from improving their quality of life, and, 
     at the same time, have deleterious repercussions for the 
     standard of living in more affluent areas; and
       Whereas, the 1994 International Conference on Population 
     and Development in Cairo, Egypt crafted a 20-year Program of 
     Action for achieving a more equitable balance between the 
     world's population, environment and resources, that was duly 
     approved by 180 nations, including the United States.
       Now, therefore, I, Angus S. King, Jr., Governor of the 
     State of Maine, do hereby proclaim October 22-29, 1995 as 
     ``World Population Awareness Week'' throughout the State of 
     Maine, and urge all citizens to support the purpose and 
     spirit of the Cairo Program of Action, and call upon all 
     governments and private organizations to do their utmost to 
     implement that document, particularly the goals and 
     objectives therein aimed at providing universal access to 
     family planning information, education and services, as well 
     as the elimination of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, 
     social disintegration and gender discrimination that have 
     been reinforced by the 1995 United Nations International 
     Conference on Social Development and endorsed by 118 world 
     leaders.

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