How Can Family Planning Impact Climate Change?
Until recently, the topic of population was not frequently associated with addressing climate change. Now, thanks to collaborative efforts from experts in both fields, the world is beginning to recognize that reducing unmet need for contraception not only helps women to prevent unintended pregnancies, it can also can have a positive impact on the environment.
On February 20, fellow INFO staffer Vanessa Mitchell and I attended the panel discussion, “Population and Climate Change: Relationships, Research, and Responses” at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. This event featured Brian O’Neill, scientist at the Institute for the Study of Society and the Environment, and Joseph Speidel, adjunct professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at UCSF. (Dr. Speidel has a long history with INFO. He played a key role in creating the INFO Project’s precursor, the Population Information Program, and is a faithful reviewer of Population Reports. He also serves on INFO’s Editorial Advisory Committee.) The discussion marked the launch of a year-long meeting series sponsored by the Environmental Change and Security Program on population-health-environment issues.
Dr. O’Neill’s talk focused on the correlation between population size and emissions, noting that aging and urbanization may significantly affect the outlook for future emissions. He also points out that long-term climate change goals may be less costly if we are not facing a population boom.
Dr. Speidel took a different approach and focused on the importance of strengthening family planning programs, which have to potential to help slow population growth by helping to prevent the 80 million unintended pregnancies that occur each year worldwide. He pointed out the need for increased funding in order to achieve this goal. He estimates that $15.6 billion is needed each year to succesfully carry out family planning activities, far more than was estimated in at the 1993 Cairo Conference on Population and Development (but still not so much in the grand scheme of things).
So how important is family planning to the environment? In the words of Dr. Speidel…
If today’s birth rates remain unchanged, world population will grow from 6.7 billion to 11.9 billion by 2050, threatening social and economic progress and undermining efforts to preserve the natural environment.
Following the panel discussion, Vanessa and I interviewed Dr. Speidel, who brings decades of experience to the field of family planning and reproductive health. Dr. Speidel shared his views on what contributes success in family planning programming and shared valuable advice for program managers, including how information and communication technologies (ICT) can help family planning programming efforts. Stay tuned for these noteworthy video clips!
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Stephen Goldstein said,
February 26, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
Interesting that climate change is once again being associated with population growth. In 2000, a Population Reports issue Population and the Environment: The Global Challenge,” (http://www.infoforhealth.org/pr/m15edsum.shtml)
included the following:
“The earth’s surface is warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, largely from burning fossil fuels. If the global temperature rises as projected, sea levels would rise by several meters, causing widespread flooding. Global warming also could cause droughts and disrupt agriculture.”
Climate change was at the end of a long list of topics included in the effects of population growth. They included:
Public health
Food supply
Freshwater
Coastlines and oceans
Forests
Biodiversity
Perhaps it is time to change the order? Certainly climate change may well prove the toughest nut to crack. –Steve G