This publication shows how family planning and natural resource conservation improve economic development, public health and environmental sustainability. The report includes a glossary of population terms and explains how population dynamics relate to a variety of complex development issues, such as poverty reduction, food security, environmental security, climate change and migration and urbanization.

Climate change is predicted to alter various aspects of human life, but we do not know the extent of geographical distribution of these changes, nor can we know how climate-related environmental change may influence human societies and political systems. Climate change may bring about more severe and more abrupt forms of environmental change than we have experienced in the past. The more dire predictions warn that climate change may greatly increase the risk of violent conflict over increasingly scarce resources, such as freshwater and arable land.

Globalization has had many consequences on the modern world. Most notably is the interconnectedness of the modern world’s environmental issues. Issues like these tend to develop political and economic problems as people in countries with severe population, environment, and health problems become desperate. Because of globalization no society can collapse without affecting other societies, and as different societies come closer to collapse from these complex issues we become involved out of self-interest.

Environment and security issues became of interest in 1994, as civil unrest in many countries had been related to natural resources. At the time it had been said that environment would become the national security issue of the 21st century. United States Vice President of the time, Albert Gore, created the State Failure Task Force to investigate these collapses, including a full analysis with environmental and demographic variables.

The PECS Newsletter, by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was created for the Environmental Change and Security Project, which provides specialists and interested individuals a “road map” to the activities, conceptions, and policy initiatives related to environment, population, and security. A compilation of articles from various authors are included covering assorted topics on integrated Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) projects.

Conflict and instability are constantly driven by non-traditional factors like failures in governance, health crises, AIDS and environmental degradation. To reverse the trends to instability, there needs to be broader appreciation of the opportunities that exist. A proactive approach would offer the global community multiple benefits. Perhaps most importantly, working proactively to stave-off non-traditional threats could shift the nature of our relationships with developing countries.