This Wednesday, March 21, former Vice-President Al Gore will testify before both houses of Congress to discuss the growing threats posed by global warming. With top scientists and world leaders in agreement that human-induced climate change will have dire consequences if left unaddressed, Congress has an opportunity to address one element that Mr. Gore has consistently cited as a leading contributor to this crisis: rapid global population growth.

A recent report released by the Center for Environment and Population warns that population growth in the U.S. is a "major contributor" to environmental degradation globally-a linkage that PAI has long highlighted around the world. Despite some claims that a global “birth dearth” is more of a concern than population growth, the U.S. population is poised to reach 300 million in October. And population is growing even more rapidly in developing countries-in Ethiopia, for example, the population is projected to double by 2045. Greater access to family planning and reproductive health services allow women and men to determine the number and spacing of their children-and helps ease population pressures on fragile ecosystems.

Millions of infant deaths can be avoided worldwide with better family planning, according to the authors of a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association that demonstrates the benefits of birth spacing on infant health. Given the well-known positive effects of birth spacing on maternal health, along with women worldwide increasingly indicating their desire to control the timing and number of their children, PAI calls on the U.S. government to strengthen support of voluntary family planning programs by increasing funding and releasing them from onerous and unnecessary restrictions.

Finding Balance Links Population Pressures, Health Needs and the Environment Finding Balance: Forests and Family Planning in Madagascar, an award-winning 9-minute documentary by Population Action International, explores the work of Voahary Salama—an innovative local organization that works to reduce pressure on the environment while improving the health of the country's population—and features rare interviews with local women who reveal their desire to have smaller families.

A statement from Robert Engelman, Vice President for Research, Population Action International (PAI) "On the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, PAI recognizes the critical importance of conserving natural resources and sustaining the environment for the generations to come. Within a decade, over 7 billion people are likely to live on this planet – an increase of about 500 million people from today. The health of both the planet and its people are priorities.

Despite a widening debate in some industrialized countries over population aging and decline, new United Nations projections demonstrate that population continues to grow rapidly in much of the world and that the HIV/AIDS pandemic is far from cresting, Population Action International (PAI) noted on Thursday.

Population Action International released the following statement by its President, Amy Coen, as the World Summit on Sustainable Development came to an end in Johannesburg, South Africa: “Every year the linkages between population growth, poverty, climate change, water scarcity, and biodiversity loss become more apparent. The value of the recent WSSD negotiations will be measured by how far they take us toward environmental sustainability and the end of poverty."