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Oveipopulation Mrs. Irene Spry: ACHU‘V Representative. tells about tltc happenings at lite Bucharest H'orid Popiiliiriori C outer» ence. Although the Conference was held over (I‘l't’tlr ago. the members “'H'lr'fi’l'dillll.‘ arrit‘le help/ulnar ii brunch nteermg. Ediriir '.\' i'VUfL'. Are there too many people in the world? Or. ill the rate at which people are multiplying. will there be too manv bv 3000? By then â€" if our numbers keep on doubling every 35years g there Will be 7 billion of us on our little planet. Has It the carrying capacity to sup- port so many? The United Nations and its family of organization»; has been getting more and more worried about thi> “population explosion". lt designated |974 "World Population Year". and the first UN World Population Conference was held in Bucharest. Runtania. Hill] 137 nations represented at it. Some of these nations do not consider that they have too many inhabitants. A few even think that they do not have enough. A number think that the grinding poverty so many people in the world today endure Is caused. not by the pressure of an increasing popu~ lation. but by the unequal and unfair way in which the resources of the earth are shared out amongst its peo- ples. and by an inefficient and out-of-date economic and social system. Others are convinced that overpopulation is a great and grewing problem. This difference in point of view (and a number of other disagreements) lasted right to the end of the Conference. but the delegations‘ dis cussions brought many of them a long stride forward towards understanding the issues at stake in the quick Increase in recent years in the number of people in the World. They reached agreement on some important ideas and made decisions that are of deep concern to the members of ACWW. as well as all the people of the world. a I. A key point on which everyone agreed was that population problems cannot be separated from prob- lems of health services and social welfare: food pro- duction and economic development: education and employment opportunities: and the status of women. Progress will have to be made â€" if it is to be achieved at all â€" in all these aspects of human life as an inte~ grated whole. 2.There was agreement. too. that consideration must be given to “. . . the supplies and characteristics of natural resources and to the quality of the environâ€" ment and particularly to all aspects of food supplv in» cluding productivity of rural areas. The demand for vital resources increases not only with growing popu- lation but also with growing per capita consumption: attention must be directed to the just distribution of resources and to the minimization of wasteful aspects of their use throughout the world; . . .". The problem of how the world‘s resources can be morejuslly shared was implicit in the theme of the ACWW Conference at Perth: "A World to Share“. 30 3. The position of women in tlic L‘Ultln‘llltltl‘. . the rate of population growth and is all'cciott I. women work outside their homes and lake .i; part In public till‘airx they usually have l'cwc-r ,... \\.‘|Ll|.‘l_\ spaced children. and if “'0an hid“. families they have a better chuncc to work .Il }. and professions and to undertake public ii bilitics. If women have an L‘Lllltll shat'c \vItli . ii each family. in deciding how many htibics .ii brought into the world and at what lttlL‘l’t‘tl|\_t ,m gico thought realistically to thc practit Ii. toms of bringing tip their children “L‘ll: Will I it... enough food for till the babies horn'.’ Will i: enough land or stillicicnt job tipptlfllltllllus iii I. gm have a good lil'c'.’ Can they be properly cducat \iii the mother be strong and wcll enough to look _i - I children. or will she the of tll‘lilL‘llHtl itt‘tcr thrci , babies .Irc born'.’ Representatives of a number ot‘ \tomcn's iii .. tions (including .M'WW) mct together to di.i .J submission In the hope that the Plan of Action Iii be strengthened in its references to the rott- .iii. .i. of women. Sex L‘ftll ollicntl dclcgnltom ilel’thi ideas put forward and submitted thcin to the I once. They were embodied in the ttmendcd l i Action that “as finally agreed on: "Women li right to complete integration in the dcvcloptiici i. css particularly by means of an equal access to ‘ lion and equal participation in social. CCtll‘ltltll lg tural and political life. In addition. the iic measures should bc taken to facilitate this Ill-it" ii with family responsibilities. which should b. shared by both partners." It is therefore urgent : move obstacles to the education. training. cmplii iii and career advancement opportunities for ii. . . The economic contribution of “omen iii holds and farming should be rccogni/cd in 1!. economics?" and: "Women should be ttL‘lHt volvcd both as individuals and through poIItIi i non-governmental organiraiions. at every \ttlg wl every level in the planning and llt'lplL‘n'lL‘nlttllttlt velopment programmes. including population icies: . . 4. The special problems and needs of rurul ; in relation to population problems and policic~ also stressed. especially the loss ofyoung pcoplc L‘itics which distorts the age distribution of cm ‘» populations in a way unfavourable to economic c 0pment. Revitalization of the countryside is Lt pit goal. “Intensive programmes of economic and improvement should be carried out in the rural through balanced agricultural development u hit? provide increased income to the agricultural p lation. permit an effective expansion of social scii ~ and include measures to protect the environnwm ‘ conserve and increase agricultural resourccsz" “CW employment Opportunities should be dcvclt J in rural areas. systems of land tenure imprm’t‘d» ti social amenities brought to the people. Even so. by year 2000 it is expected that more than half ol xiv People of the world will be living in urban zirciis lllt’Lly