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January 15, 2002 Colin Powell Secretary of State Dear Mr. Secretary: On behalf of thousands of
concerned conservationists and sportsmen and women, I am writing to ask you to
convey to President Bush our support of full funding for the United Nations
Population Fund (UNPFA) in the amount of $34 million – the sum appropriated for
fiscal year (FY) 2002 in a bi-partisan agreement reached by Congress last
month. A majority of our members are
Republican, and we believe that this funding will prevent much human suffering
and environmental damage. The United
States’ support of international assistance programs, such as UNFPA, promotes
the social and economic well being of the world’s most vulnerable people. In addition, the voluntary family planning
programs supported by the UNFPA work to reduce environmental degradation,
including the destruction of habitat vital to wildlife, by slowing population
growth. As you know, hundreds of millions of women in
developing countries want, but for many reasons including cost, do not have
access to basic family planning services.
UNFPA programs provide access to education, counseling and basic
reproductive health care. UN officials
estimate that the loss of U.S. funding could undermine their capacity to
prevent 800,000 abortions and the deaths of 4,700 mothers and 77,000 children
under the age of five. Whether considering
biodiversity, cropland or water resources, the number of people on the Earth
combined with levels of consumption will determine the use and longevity of our
natural resources. For example, more
than 50% of annually available fresh water is already being consumed. If consumption per person remains steady, by
2025 as much as 70% of this annual total will be consumed by population growth
alone. The programs supported
through UNFPA work to slow population growth, provide economic opportunities
and ultimately protect the environment.
Therefore, it is crucial that the UNFPA be able to maintain its efforts
to provide voluntary family planning services.
We ask you to convey our support for the full $34 million in funding
that Congress has appropriated for UNFPA to the President, and thank you for your
continued support of UNFPA and its important work. Sincerely, Paul Hansen Executive Director Izaak Walton League of
America cc: Richard Lee Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State Margaret
Pollack, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration John
Turner, Assistant Secretary, Oceans and International
Environmental and Scientific Affairs
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