X-From_: tgray  Tue Oct 13 05:31:56 1992
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Date:         Tue, 13 Oct 1992 05:32:01 PDT
Reply-To:     Tom Gray <tgray@IGC.APC.ORG>
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From:         Tom Gray <tgray@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      IPS: Cousteau on Population

/* Written 12:54 am  Oct  3, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary
*/
/* ---------- "POPULATION: Ancient mariner critici" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: POPULATION: Ancient mariner criticises world leaders' apathy


new york, sept 30 (ips) -- legendary french underwater explorer,
captain jacques-yves cousteau, wednesday criticised world leaders
for their ''apathy'' in dealing with humankind's ''unchecked
population increase''.

''how has it been possible that such an unrelenting threat had
never motivated any reactions, any serious decision, any
consternation among the leaders, the intellectuals, the diplomats,
the philosophers?'' cousteau asked.

the 82-year-old renowned oceanographer addressed guests here at
the 1992 rafael salas memorial lecture. the lecture, held annually
by the u.n. population fund (unfpa) since 1989, is named after the
fund's first executive director.

according to cousteau, ''almost all our social evils --
famines, shocking differences between rich and poor communities,
desertification, decrease of biodiversity, increase in the number
of hereditary taints, and even the warming up of our planet --
originate in the population explosion''.

he said that ''to avoid a demographic overflow, the final
weapon is persuasion -- by education. but it is almost impossible
to convince crowds without having fulfilled a minimum of material
conditions''.

access to clean drinking water, effective sanitation schemes,
education for girls and security systems for the elderly were all
necessary prerequisites before spreading the word of family
planning, the captain said.

according to the unfpa, the current world population of 5.48
billion is expected to double to nearly 10 billion in 2050, with
nearly all of this population growth in africa, asia and latin
america.

cousteau pointed out that ''the two largest industries in the
world, the military and the drug markets,'' were costing the world
a staggering one trillion and 800 billion dollars per year.

he said this figure amounted to roughly ''three times what is
necessary to solve the two most pressing problems -- population
and poverty''.

to this end, cousteau observed, ''the future of our species
does not depend on the maastricht treaty (on european union) but
upon the payment of increased dues to the united nations''.
(more/ips)

population: ancient mariner criticises world leaders' apathy(2-e)

population: ancient mariner (2)

earlier this year, unfpa's executive director, nafis sadik,
warned that to keep population growth to 8.5 billion people by the
year 2025, programme funding would have to double by the end of
the century.

in other words, current annual expenditures of 4.5 billion
dollars in population assistance from all sources have to reach
nine billion dollars by the year 2000 in order to ensure family
planning services in developing countries.

cousteau, who co-invented the first regulated compressed-air-
breathing device, or 'aqualung', for deep-sea diving, has for the
past half century chronicled his explorations of the earth's
lakes, rivers and oceans.

his more than 70 television documentary films have been viewed
by millions around the world, and his nearly 20-year-old 'cousteau
society' remains dedicated to the protection and improvement of
the environment for future generations.

at a press briefing wednesday, cousteau told reporters that in
1978 he started ''a long trip around the world that we called the
're-discovery of the world'.''

this was, cousteau added, ''not so much to carry on our
investigation of the oceans, but in order to lay the ground of a
new science called ecosociology...we think that it's extremely
important to know what the interaction is between human beings and
nature''.

during his lecture, cousteau called on the united nations to
set up an international panel of scientists, moralists and
philosophers in charge of an ''ecosociological survey of human
activities, and of the mastery of the biological equilibrium
necessary for the harmonious suvival of the human community''.

the famous mariner is currently collecting signatures for a
five-point international, environmental 'bill of rights' drawn up
by the cousteau society, which, cousteau hopes, will be
incorporated into the u.n. charter.

the petition, or 'the rights of future generations', ''demands
that the rights of future generations be formally declared in
order that all people may inherit an uncontaminated planet where
life may flourish,'' and has, to date, been signed by roughly four
million people the world-over.

last year's salas lecture was delivered by robert mcnamara,
former president of the world bank. (end/ips/jd/yjc/92)