Population, Health, and Environment: Exploring the Connections in Video

I have often said on these pages that one thing that excites me about the Berga community is the dynamic nature of different ways these poor folks are trying to meet their needs. The people in the community live integrated lives with multiple challenges (education, health, livelihoods, security, sustainability of it all). They need, and are pursuing, integrated responses to meet these needs. They capitalize on resources from conservation organizations around protecting the endangered species to help pursue a basket of health, education, livelihoods strategies and programs.

I came to this village with a group of conservationists who wanted to learn about how these integrated efforts play out in local settings. One set of these programs is commonly called PHE programs for population, health, and environment where those fields connect in the field so to speak, and therefore groups that work in these areas see advantage in joined up efforts to address the community's multiple needs.

All this buildup is to say there is a great new video that explains the underlying logic of this approach. My Wilson Center colleague Sean Peoples has put together a 9 minute video featuring Dr. Lori Hunter of the University of Colorado at Boulder explaining how these issues are linked. Lori was speaking at the Environmental Change and Security Program here in Washington earlier this year and her talk is an excellent primer. Sean mixes in her powerpoint slides with her presentation so you can easily follow along as she uses photos and data from projects in the Philippines. Our hope is that the video will be useful on multiple levels and in the context of Losing Pounds for Berga, it is understanding the power of the Berga community's efforts.