ICPD 25: Uninhabitable Earth and the outcry of youth

Abstract

The end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the German unification, the formation of the European Union and the economic emergence of China and India ushered in a time of collaboration and hope for progress in the international order in the last decade of the turbulent twentieth century. The Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994 benefited from this favorable global  climate and presented a Program of Action with an optimistic view of the triple relationship between population, development and nature, foreshadowing a world of economic and social progress, respect for the environment and expansion of Human Rights. However, the multiple material achievements and improvements in various social indicators have come at the expense of the impoverishment of the ecosystems and the planet’s climate imbalance. The dream of sustainable development has generated nightmares, especially among the younger generations, who are taking the streets to denounce the empty promises and the growing likelihood of an ecological apocalypse looming on the horizon. These are the issues that will be addressed in this technical note, at a time when the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 is being organized.