The vicious cycle of high fertility-poverty-environmental degradation is spiraling out of control in the coastal Philippines. A country once rich in natural resources has experienced over-exploitation and mismanagement of resources causing crisis in food and environmental security and escalating conflicts among resources users that threaten social stability. This paper presents the evidence of the affects of unbridled population growth on environmental decline and poverty.

The triple challenge of rapid population growth, declining agricultural productivity, and natural resource degradation are not isolated from one another; they are intimately related. However, strategic planning and development programming tend to focus on individual sectors such as the environment, agriculture, and population; they do not explicitly take into account the compatibilities and inconsistencies among them. Farm households and their livelihood strategies are at the core of the intersectoral linkages approach advocated in this chapter.

Proponents of integrated development face significant barriers, but the tide may be turning. To fully harness this momentum, Gib Clarke argues that the population-health-environment (PHE) community must solidify its research base, reach out to new partners, and push for flexible funding and programming. In addition, he writes that PHE programs should add livelihoods as a critical element, and consider adopting a new moniker, "HELP"—Health, Environment, Livelihoods, and Population.

The Population Reference Bureau coordinated a comparative study of population, health, and environment integration and cross-sectoral collaboration in East Africa.

Globalization continues to strengthen the interactions among population dynamics, human health, environmental management, economics, and politics. Therefore we must refine our development programs to addresses these complexities. Integrated Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) approaches aim to increase access to family planning and health services, while simultaneously helping communities manage their natural resources in ways that improve their health and livelihoods, and well as conserve critical ecosystems.

The Population Reference Bureau coordinated a comparative study of population, health, and environment integration and cross-sectoral collaboration in East Africa.

Kenya has continually faced challenges in all sectors: endemic poverty, persistent deforestation, and a high infant mortality rate. After a number of integrated population, health, and environment (PHE) projects initiated in Kenya, The University of Nairobi and the National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development conducted an assessment of the overall “state of integration” between 2006 and 2007. This study drew the links between population, health, and environment integration so that they could be evaluated.

When conserving the environment the number of people, where they live, and how they live can have a great affect on the health of the ecoregion. Rural poverty and a high population growth rate not only alter the environment, but can pose challenges for policy makers. The population-health-environment (PHE) approach to development acknowledges the interconnectedness between people and their environment. Opportunities and challenges of integrated programming were explored by the Institute of Resource Assessment at the University of Dar es Salaam.

In Ethiopia’s history its potent combination of high population growth, unsustainable land use, and ambiguous land ownership policies has led to the rapid loss of biomass and increase in soil erosion and desertification. Such environmental issues, intensified by climate change, have led to drought, famine, and population displacement. The Ethiopian government, donor agencies, community based organizations, and NGOs have made significant changes in the country, but many development practitioners fail to recognize the interdependence of population and environment issues.

This survey took place among four provinces in the Philippines, to measure the knowledge and perception of policy-makers and decision-makers on family planning and reproductive health, to provide inputs to the Alternative Advocacy Project (AAP) by PATH Foundation Philippines Inc. (PFPI). The AAP promotes incorporating family planning and reproductive health into coastal resource management, by trying to increase awareness of policy and decision makers on population dynamics and demographic factors with important implications for coastal environment and food security.

The earth’s ecosystems and its human populations are inherently connected. This connection has been recognized by conservation groups, governments, and international organizations now using integrated interventions in the world’s biodiversity hotspots. These new approaches integrate family planning and conservation activities in community-based projects. This brief document discusses where we have taken integrated population-health-environment (PHE) approaches, what we haven’t yet accomplished with these approaches, and where we should move from here.

Environmental problems are increasingly understood to play an important role in increasing human vulnerability, undermining livelihoods and human wellbeing, creating instability, and potentially generating or exacerbating violent conflict. Although environmental change threatens all of humanity, people living in the developing world are often most vulnerable to its effects, as large portions of these populations are directly dependent on local resources for survival.

Human populations can affect their environment through their natural resource uses and waste production, and in turn these environmental changes can affect the surrounding human communities. This is an 8 page, black and white, letter-size booklet adapted from a wall chart created by the Population Reference Bureau that provides information and data on critical linkages between human beings and the environment. Topics are accompanied by explanatory graphics and maps.

  This Emerging Policy Issues in Population, Health and Environment brief examines how global deforestation impacts human and ecological health and identifies the underlying causes of deforestation and the role of human population growth. The brief highlights the four main essential causes of human induced deforestation, known as “people, poverty, plunder and policy.” Recommendations for policymakers include ensuring comprehensive consideration of the complex role of population dynamics, including population growth, density and migration.