Earth Day - April 22, 2007

Celebrating People and the Planet

Melogen Tipon is one of 25 family planning volunteers in Roxas who have been trained by a USAID-funded PHE Project. Source: World Wildlife Fund

Earth Day was launched 37 years ago to demonstrate the American public's commitment to protecting their precious land, air, and water resources. Today, as members of the global community, we are facing larger issues like climate change, devastating natural disasters, melting ice caps, and dwindling resources and species. It is again time to demonstrate the American public's commitment to the global environment.

With the theme “Celebrating People and the Planet,” April 22, 2007 offered USAID the opportunity to highlight its Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) programs that work toward a sustainable balance between people, animals, and the planet in regions critically important to the conservation of biologically diverse ecosystems.

Population, Health, and Environment Success Stories

Source: World Wildlife Fund	Successful Communities From Ridge to Reef in the Philippines Read about the USAID-funded PHE project that provides reproductive health services in key areas where population growth has serious impacts on natural resources and biodiversity.
Source: Conservation International/Wayne McCallum	Linking Population, Health, and the Environment in Cambodia The jungle-clad slopes of the Cardamom Mountains of Southwest Cambodia are experiencing rising levels of forest destruction and wildlife hunting, which is threatening to undermine the natural and indigenous values of the region. Read more about what is causing this and how USAID and Conservation International are helping to fix it.
Source: World Wildlife Fund	The Chandani Women's Group in the Kiunga Marine National Reserve (KMNR), Kenya This program's goal is to improve the health and quality of life of the local Bajuni community. The community’s well-being directly contributes to the conservation of the KMNR’s marine resources. One such endeavor has been to improve access to and informed use of family planning.
Source: IPOPCORM	Our Sea Is Our Life Read how the IPOPCORM Project integrated family planning and reproductive health into coastal resource management in the Philippines.
Source: World Wildlife Fund	World Wildlife Fund’s PHE Program in Madagascar Read how WWF, with funding from USAID, partnered with Action Santé Organisation Secours (ASOS) to implement a population, health, and environment (PHE) project that aims to address the problems in Spiny Forest by building community awareness of family planning options, providing counseling and access, and simultaneously initiating sound natural resources management practices and sustainable livelihood strategies.

Resources

• Visit the New Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) Web site
  This new page – www.ehproject.org/phe/phe.html – houses all of our PHE projects’ information and resources. Please visit this site to learn more about the ways that USAID is simultaneously improving access to health services, particularly family planning, and helping communities manage their natural resources in ways that improve their health and livelihoods and conserve their critical ecosystems. Of particular interest are the following pages:
  • PHE Toolkit: training modules, M&E manuals, and other resources
  • PHE Documents: selected PHE manuals, fact sheets, and more
    
    
• View tips to help you celebrate Earth Day
  
  
• See what USAID is doing to contribute to natural resources management and biodiversity conservation
  
  
• Population Reference Bureau's Strategies for Sustainable Development
  A series of case studies documenting approaches to the implementation of integrated PHE projects that can be used in a professional, academic, or workshop setting.
  
  
• Healthy People in a Healthy Environment in Madagascar: Better Results Through Integration [PDF, 121KB]
  Read about the PHE integration programs in Madagascar that help communities with little access to health services, particularly family planning, and that have poor access to improved water sources and sanitation.

Partners

• Woodrow Wilson Center/Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP)
• Population Reference Bureau/Environment
• Conservation International/Population
• World Wildlife Fund/Population, Health, and Environment
• PATH Philippines/Integrated Population and Coastal Resource Management (IPOPCORM)
• The Jane Goodall Institute/Africa Programs
• Conservation Through Public Health
• MEASURE Evaluation
• Camp, Dresser & McKee (CDM) through the USAID Environmental Health IQC

Environment and Conservation Groups

• Audubon
• Isaac Walton League
• National Wildlife Federation
• Population Action International (PAI)
• Population-Environment Research Network (PERN)
• The Population Institute
• Sierra Club