Archive for: Worldwatch Institute


With support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Population Reference Bureau and Worldwatch Institute assembled a working group of experts from the climate change, family planning, and development assistance communities to examine the complex relationships between population dynamics and climate compatible development. The group’s goal was to identify approaches and opportunities to advance policy dialogue and policy action to include population dynamics, with an emphasis on family planning, into climate compatible development. The action opportunities fall under four strategic approaches which provide a path forward for groups interested in connecting these issues and ensuring that increasing access to family planning is part of efforts to achieve climate compatible development. Linking population, family planning, and climate change is unconventional for many policymakers. Cross-sectoral initiatives that highlight and integrate synergies in development plans and climate finance programs could reap enormous benefits as we tackle climate change.

Year: 2014

Source: Population Reference Bureau | Worldwatch Institute

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    This report explores whether there a scientific evidence base demonstrating that the use of family planning contributes to environmental sustainability. The Family Planning and Environmental Sustainability Assessment (FPESA) conducted a two-year collaborative review of more than 900 peer-reviewed research papers from around the world published from 2005 through early 2016. The findings generally affirm that the influence of voluntary family planning on environmental problems is both real and constructive. FPESA identified considerable evidence supporting—and very little refuting—that voluntary family planning promotes environmental benefits and that expanding access to it can help bring about an environmentally sustainable world that meets human needs. The report also concludes that the diversity of researchers interested in the family-planning connection to the environment is high. The report features the project’s findings, perspectives on major related issues by eight authors, and an annotated bibliography containing assessments of 50 of the most compelling papers relevant to the linkage.

    Year: 2016

    Source: Worldwatch Institute

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