Dhaka Bureau: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the two-day event titled ‘ICPD-30 Global Dialogue on Demographic Diversity and Sustainable Development’.
Bangladesh, Bulgaria, and Japan jointly organized the event with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
This dialogue created a platform to discuss the challenges and explore the opportunities of the world’s changing demographics. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
According to UNFPA, this international dialogue will address issues such as global and regional population dynamics, intergenerational well-being, healthy aging, the future of population data, and the changing demographic diversity of rural communities.
Around 200 representatives from local and national governments, academia, think tanks, technologists, civil society, and the private sector will share practical insights into investments in health, education, housing, or infrastructure and the demographic changes that are needed to adapt to changing demographic trends.
The dialogue will respect that legacy by focusing on practical responses to demographic change. Gender equality and reproductive rights will be fundamentally important, reinforcing a human rights-based approach to population policy in the dialogue.
Other sessions will highlight the latest demographic gaps in the context of gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and demographic resilience, high fertility rates and young populations in the context of population diversity, and fertility and mortality transitions in the context of stability development.
It addresses the future of sexual and reproductive health in the context of technology and life sciences in changing populations, restoring resilience for a smart future; intergenerational wellness and the future of healthy aging and population data will be highlighted.
Second in this dialogue are population dynamics and the climate crisis. Inequality of climate risks and impacts; Where will we live? Impact of climate on habitable space, migration, and forced migration Universal health coverage and strategies to strengthen health systems in light of demographic changes and technological advances; livable cities; ICPD’s positive policies and plans will highlight the changing demographics of rural communities and the future of population policy for the post-2030 agenda and sustainable development.
Thirty years have passed since the landmark International Conference on Population and Development. At that time, world leaders agreed to make individual rights and dignity central to sustainable development.
The conference program transformed global thinking on population issues into a benchmark for people-centered development at a time of concern over a rapidly growing global population.
The world now has an opportunity to explore how the program’s values can become a beacon for a unified global approach to sustainable development for the present and the future.
These discussions will be informed by program policies and actions related to population change and diversity, the environment, reproductive health, the universality of human rights, and gender equality.
Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud, Executive Director of UNFP. Natalia Kanem, Minister of Social and Family Development of the Maldives Aishath Shiham, Minister of Women, Youth, Sports, and Social Affairs of Kiribati Martin Moretti, Parliamentary Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yasushi, and Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Rokeya Sultana spoke on the occasion. A representative of the Bulgarian government also attended the opening ceremony.
