PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Population and climate change
Because we are officially recognised by the UNFCCC as an environmental NGO we can attend on the sidelines of the ‘Conferences of the Parties’. Due to airfare and travel costs we often do not make it and thus, overseen by SPA’s Dr Jane O’Sullivan, we choose supportive people from other nations to represent our perspective.
At the most recent COP 24 in Poland we held a side event “Multi-sectoral initiatives for climate resilience, population & sustainable livelihoods in Africa” conducted by some well-credentialled African representatives, such as Chad’s Director of Meteorology. The point was strongly made that a stunning 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be addressed by combining family planning with health, livelihoods, environmental protection and climate resilience. The 100-strong audience enthusiastically supported that emphasis on family planning during the half-hour question time.
The link to the webcast can be found here
A SPA YouTube for you to share
Michael Bayliss, SPA’s Communication Manager, recently interviewed me about my passion for the population cause, which you can view on our SPA youtube channel. I invite you to bring it to the attention of others – the more shares the better.
Christmas-New Year message?
Forget the normal Christmas message. The world needs better than that. We are in dire need of decision-makers who are unafraid of posing questions and who can think beyond their normal understandings. It might sound impossible, but it’s my wish for 2019.
Sandra Kanck
National President
(From SPA E-news December #2 2018)