WHEREAS, World population has increased 60 percent during the last 30 years placing a tremendous strain on the planet’s people, species, and natural resources; and
WHEREAS, Across the globe, wildlife habitat is being destroyed by chainsaws and bulldozers, chronic pollution, and over-harvesting of wildlife; and
WHEREAS, The destruction of the natural world we see across the globe today is fallout from a population explosion making rapid population growth the most serious environmental and health problem facing the U.S. and the world today; and
WHEREAS, At current population growth rates, we will add more people to the planet in the next 50 years than we did in the previous 500,000 years; and
WHEREAS, The United States pledged at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) to invest 0.7 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) – approximately $1.4 billion today – to family planning programs overseas; and
WHEREAS, The United States invested only $425 million this year to international family planning funding, less than one-third of our commitment; and
WHEREAS, The City Council of Philadelphia supports international family planning efforts which considerably improve the health of people and our shared environment; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby urges the President and Congress of the United States to honor our funding commitments to international family planning for the betterment of our planet’s people, species, and natural resources.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Audubon Society as evidence of the support of this legislative body for their family planning efforts which considerably improve the health of people and our shared environment.
End