Subject: Population action SSI members may be interested in a report recently published by Population Action International examining the relationship between population growth and biodiversity. "Nature's Place: Human Population and the Future of Biological Diversity" is now available in PDF format on PAI's website < http://www.populationaction.org/pubs/biodiv00/biodiv_index. htm >. SSI members can request a hardcopy of the report by returning the order form below. The report documents, for the first time, the historic impact of population growth on biological diversity on a global scale, with special attention to the current situation in 25 "biodiversity hotspots" -- the most species- rich and environmentally threatened areas of the world. The report's authors, Richard P. Cincotta and Robert Engelman, also published an analysis of population trends in the hotspots in this week's issue of "Nature" (Human Population in the Biodiversity Hotspots, 27 April 2000 issue, Volume 404, Page 990 ). The report finds that the human population of 6 billion - our geographic range, demand for natural resources, and ways of disposing of waste - underlies and fuels the more direct causes of recent and current plant and animal extinctions. The report also highlights the value of sound population policies that simultaneously improve human well-being and brighten the prospects for conserving the majority of the species and ecosystems with which we share the planet. SSI is in the process of drafting the next information update in our Population-Environment Linkages Series, which will focus on the population-biodiversity connection and draws in large part from the analysis in this PAI report. Keep your eyes open for this update this summer. ******************************************************* ORDER FORM FOR PAI'S REPORT, "NATURE'S PLACE" Name: __ Please send a hardcopy of the report to the following address: __ Please send a reprint of the article in Nature to the following address: __ I will download a copy of the report from the PAI website < http://www.populationaction.org/pubs/biodiv00/biodiv_index. htm >. __ I will download a copy of the article in Nature from the Nature web site (free registration is required by Nature; < http://www.nature.com >). Please return this form to ssi@ucsusa.org by Monday, May 1, 2000. *******************************************************