
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 14, 1994                   TAG: 9409140096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAIRO, EGYPT                                 LENGTH: Short

POPULATION BLUEPRINT ADOPTED

With the Vatican offering some support for the first time, 180 nations adopted a 20-year blueprint Tuesday for slowing the world's population explosion. Now individual nations must come up with the money to put it int action.

Unlike past U.N. population conferences, the 1994 forum focused not only on birth control but on two concepts the Vatican supports for slowing population growth - economic development and a commitment to giving women more power over their lives. Research has shown that educated women have fewer children.

The Vatican's partial support for the U.N. plan surprised many delegates. The Holy See rejected the final documents at the 1974 and 1984 conferences.

Dr. Nafis Sadik, the conference secretary-general, said the Program of Action ``when implemented over the coming few decades ... will bring hundreds of millions of women into the mainstream of economic and political life in their countries.''

Nevertheless, funding remains a major challenge. Delegates set a target of $17 billion a year by 2000 - one-third to come from developed countries and two-thirds from developing nations.

Current spending is less than $6 billion a year, and development experts and delegates said it would be difficult to reach that target. African countries already have said it's impossible to pay two-thirds of the cost.

The Program of Action will be submitted next month to the U.N. General Assembly for approval. It is not legally binding on any nation, but it does carry ``moral weight'' and gives new ammunition to politicians and private groups lobbying for implementation.

by CNB