The Thriving Together campaign is led by an IUCN member, the Margaret Pyke Trust, based in the UK. David Johnson, the Trust’s Chief Executive, provides the following background:
On World Population Day in July 2019, we will publish the ‘Thriving Together’ statement and the names of the anticipated 100+ conservation NGOs and reproductive health NGOs which endorse its elementary points. This will demonstrate cross-sectoral support for the fact that when barriers to family planning exist, human populations grow faster than would otherwise be the case, and this leads to negative impacts for women and girls, society and the environment. In the age of the Sustainable Development Goals, which encourage cross sector working, this is a step to highlight that health and conservation NGOs can work together for greater impact. Endorsing the statement does not require organisations to do anything; merely accept that in a world with a growing population, providing healthcare services that are fundamental rights, would support sustainable environmental conservation.
Could your organisation endorse the statement? The greater the number of signatories, the greater publicity can be achieved. So far 50 organisations have signed up. As you can see, a wide range of global and national NGOs from every continent have already added their support. Please contact David directly to be included in the list of supporting organisations at dj@populationandsustainability.org or call +44 20 3317 5486 for more information.
IUCN National Committee UK (NCUK)
At the December 2018 meeting of the IUCN NCUK Executive Committee (ExCo) we discussed the NCUK actively supporting this important advocacy work. The UK government has been the leader in reproductive health and rights, via the Department for International Development, for decades. We hope we can build on this so that, working with DEFRA, the NCUK could also assist in such leadership roles. ExCo are minded to endorse the sign-up statement, “Thriving Together: Environmental Conservation and Family Planning” in the name of NCUK. ExCo seeks the membership’s view on this.
If you have views to share on ExCo endorsing the statement in the name of the NCUK, positive or negative, please do get in touch and your comments will be explored at the next ExCo meeting in May 2019. The statement has already been endorsed by 22 IUCN members; the SCC’s Conservation Planning Specialist Group; Amphibian Ark (which was created to carry out the ex situ components of the SCC’s Amphibian Specialist Group’s Amphibian Conservation Action Plan; and most of the world’s leading reproductive health organisations, and we would like to add our support to this on behalf of IUCN Members in the UK.
Chris Mahon
Chief Executive
IUCN National Committee UK
chris.mahon@iucn.org.uk
25th January 2019