With more than 80% of Magagascar’s flora and fauna being endemic the country is one of the richest in biodiversity, but it still remains to be one of the poorest economically. The population growth rate of 2.8% stresses the environment as human activities affect protected areas and forest corridors and have lead to soil erosion and lowered fertility, forest deforestation, and poor water quality. More than 70% of Madagascar’s population lives below the poverty level, with low life expectancy and poor health conditions, especially among children.

This study summarizes the results of a baseline survey conducted in 40 randomly-selected villages in Bohol and the Verde Island Passage in central Philippines in 2011. The study was sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded “Building Actors and Leaders for Advancing Community Excellence in Development” (BALANCED) Project to inform future activities in the Philippines.

This document explains efforts made the Building Actors and Leaders for Advancing Community Excellence in Development (BALANCED) five-year Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) technical leadership project in mapping out the existing PHE network and developing the comprehensive ‘PHE Toolkit.’ The PHE network consists of the global network of practice including practitioners, leaders and researchers that address the need for the PHE approach. The ‘PHE Toolkit’ is the online repository of selected documents authored by individuals in this network.

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.

From the 1980s-1990s the Philippine Government, with help from the United Nations, and the academic community, created poverty alleviation projects that linked Population, Health, and Environment(PHE). These PHE projects are geared toward improving natural resource management, reproductive health services, enhancing food security, and providing Pilipinos with more livelihood options. These integrated projects have proven to be successful, creating a desire to spread or “scale-up” the PHE approach. Scaling-up has three components: expansion, replication, and collaboration.

High population growth, poor health, food insecurity and high poverty contributes to unsustainable natural resource use in Madagascar, one of the world's highest biodiversity nations. Conservationists have engaged in addressing unmet need for FP in Madagascar since the 1980s.

PATH Foundation Philippines, Inc.’s, Integrated Population and Coastal Resource Management Project (IPOPCORM) has been scaled-up in the coastal Philippines. One such case is in the Siquijor Province, as IPOPCORM expanded to cover all 6 municipalities and the local Governments decided to incorporate population and reproductive health into coastal resource management legislation.