This statement from the Quebec Committee on Women and Development argues that rapid population growth, and thus the high fertility of poor women, is not the basic development problem in the Third World. The view that overpopulation is the cause of environmental degradation implies that the solution must be found in reducing the number of poor people rather than in profoundly altering the dominant economic model. The persisting world environmental crisis has encouraged a Malthusian conception of limited resources, which prompts an urgent call for immediate fertility reduction. The eleven points of the statement focus on different aspects of this argument. The principal causes of environmental degradation are the economic systems that abuse nations and human beings, causing poverty and maldevelopment. If the idea that underdevelopment is caused by overpopulation is not countered, the way will be open for coercive population control programs that will deny the basic human rights of the poorest sectors. The consumption and waste production of the wealthy countries have greater impact on the environment than do the masses in poor countries. Reproductive health and family planning services centered on the needs of women should be available to prevent infant and maternal deaths, and government and international assistance agencies should increase funds available for these programs. Prevention of infertility should be stressed, rather than development of technologically complicated palliatives. Women and children should be made more aware of the dangers of toxic substances in the environment, to which they are especially vulnerable. Nongovernmental organizations active in environment and development should place their programs at the service of a global approach to health. It is necessary that women participate fully in societal decision making processes.