When the world's rising
population hit the historic seven billion milestone last October, the United
Nations predicted that population growth will continue to increase, reaching an
estimated 9.3 billion by the year 2050.
But keeping pace with this growth is the increasing
south-south cooperation among developing nations who are sharing innovative
experiences in reproductive health, family planning, gender empowerment and the
integration of population into development planning.
Sethuramiah L. Rao, permanent observer of Partners in Population
and Development (PPD) to the United Nations, told IPS, "It is
internationally recognised that south-south and triangular development
cooperation continues to grow in importance, accounting for around 10 percent
of total development cooperation today."
It is also well appreciated, he said, that south-south
cooperation is not a substitute for, but is complementary to north-south
cooperation and that south-south cooperation is an important element of
international cooperation for development.
Among others, Rao singled out Brazil, China, India and South
Africa as some of the countries making significant contributions to south-south
cooperation.
The PPD, which he represents in New York, was launched at
the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)
specifically for promoting and strengthening south-south cooperation in
population and reproductive health.
Accounting for close to 70 percent of developing countries'
population, PPD's current membership comprises 25 developing countries:
(Bangladesh, Benin, China, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, India,
Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal,
South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Viet Nam, Yemen and Zimbabwe), and is
growing.
A book titled "Sharing Innovative Experiences",
jointly published by the Special Unit for South- South Cooperation at the U.N.
Development Programme (UNDP), the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) and PPD, acknowledges that
growth in world population is "phenomenal".
"While on the one hand it reflects mankind's enormous
success in reducing mortality and improving quality of life for billions of
people, on the other, it raises the serious challenge of the social, political,
environmental and developmental implications of adding additional billions of
people so rapidly," the book says.
According to the 260-page publication, the world population
did not reach one billion until 1804.
It then took |