Population Action International to Premiere Award-Winning Film - Finding Balance Documents Innovative Approach to Conservation

May 23, 2005

Washington, DC  – With 90 percent of its forests already destroyed, the need for balance in Madagascar’s fragile ecosystem is great. PAI's award-winning film, Finding Balance: Forests and Family Planning in Madagascar, draws attention to the impact of rapid population growth on the country’s rural villages and emphasizes the vital links between population pressures, reproductive health needs, and environmental sustainability.

This 9-minute documentary – filmed entirely in Madagascar – 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.

Washington, D.C. Premiere
Finding Balance: Forests and Family Planning in Madagascar

Tuesday, May 31
3-5 p.m.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., 6th Floor Auditorium
Washington, D.C.

Meet the Filmmaker Daniele Anastasion

Discussion on Population and the Environment with

• Robert Engelman, vice president for research at PAI
• Eckhard Kleinau, former project director of Voahary Salama and a current senior environmental health advisor with John Snow, Inc.