The international community's response to the global hunger crisis - to promote increased food production through agricultural innovation - is blind to the political realities that shape the global food security situation.

Countries like Brazil, Ecuador and Papua New Guinea are asking for financial compensation to address deforestation, and now Saudi Arabia wants compensation if countries reduce their oil consumption to mitigate climate change. Is it entirely far fetched to ask if individuals should be compensated for having fewer or no children?

Are climate change and reproductive health two disparate subjects? Not if one asks Dr Karen Hardee, a social demographer for over 20 years, with extensive experience in population and development as well as family planning.

It's a sure bet that women won't be high on the agenda, or even listed on the program, when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon convenes a climate change summit of world leaders on September 22. Women are also likely to be missing at the make-or-break emissions reduction conference in Copenhagen in December.

Chances are that few of the 300,000 people in Nairobi's Mathare Valley had ever heard of the Mexico City Policy. These residents of one of Africa's worst slums just knew that the only clinic providing them with malaria treatments, child checkups, and immunizations had shut its doors for lack of funding.

The Commission on Population and Development met to conclude its general debate on national experiences in population matters: contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.

Aid workers and experts say President Barack Obama's decision to allow aid money to flow again to international groups that offer abortion counseling will help restart programs desperately needed in Africa, the continent hardest hit by a so-called "gag rule."

(PAI CEO Amy Coen on the Kojo Nnamdi Show) Last week, President Barack Obama issued an executive order ending the "Global Gag Rule"- also known as the "Mexico City Policy". But some activists see opportunity to get past hardened battle lines over abortion.

President Barack Obama will issue an executive order Friday afternoon reversing a controversial abortion policy from the past three Republican administrations, a senior administration official said.

President Barack Obama quietly overturned the "global gag rule" Friday, allowing U.S. foreign-aid dollars to flow again to international family-planning programs that offer abortion or advocate for abortion rights.