Women Say Don't Blame Fertility Rates Alone Rio De Janeiro, June 1st, 1992 (IPS) -- women's groups gathered here for the jun. 3-14 'earth summit' say world leaders should not address the question of population growth unless they also tackle the issue of excessive consumerism in developed countries. while industrialised nations say that high population growth rates in the south are placing excessive pressure on the earth's natural resources, southern non-governmental organisations (ngos) have said that the richer states must share the responsiblity for environmental degradation because of their lavish lifestyles. "we refuse to discuss population without the conference taking into account the fact that, for example, one person living in the united states consumes 200 times more energy than someone living in any developing country," said rosiska darcy deoliveira, president of the 'women's forum' here. the 'women's forum' is a grouping of women at the '92 global forum, a series of events planned to coincide with the summit, the u.n. conference on environment and development (unced), to be attended by more than 100 heads of state and government. the world leaders are expected to sign a rio declaration on environment and development, adopt a blueprint for sustainable development called 'agenda 21', and sign conventions to protect the earth's biodiversity, and to curb climate change. deoliveira, who is also the brazilian women's coalition representative at the summit, said that the views on population held by the women now have not changed since the 'world women's congress for a healthy planet' held in miami last november. at that conference, women of developing countries, who drafted a 'women's action agenda 21' insisted that the population problem should not be reduced to a numerical issue. one person in a developed country consumes more and puts more pressure on the world's natural resources than a person in a developing state, they said. many linked population growth to poverty, saying that in some cases such growth was the result of and not the cause of poverty and inequity in the society. the action agenda which has been presented to unced, says: "we know that the major causes of environmental degradation are economic systems that exploit and misuse nature and people, pollutants and waste of industry and military technologies." they added: "we are outraged by the suggestion that women's fertility rates...are to blame." some of the 1,500 women at the conference were also here for the summit charged that developed countries in the north were using population control as a political tool against people in the south. according to deoliveira, unced will fall short of its mandate unless a clear link is made between poverty and population on the one hand and excessive consumerism in the industrialised countries on the other. "at the end of the conference, it must become clear to everyone that we cannot begin to speak about the protection of the environment without first speaking about fighting poverty and excessive consumerism," she said. deoliveira added: "the environmental crisis is not different from the development crisis, and consumerism is just as threatening to the environment as poverty." source: en.unced.general, 4 June 1992. Back...