Archive for: Climate Change


The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and The Lancet Commission have presented evidence about global warming and the impact of human activities on global climate change, and the impact of climate change on human health. Pregnant women, the developing fetus, and young children are marginalized in many countries, and are among the most vulnerable members of society. This article demonstrates that climate change will increase the risk of infant and maternal mortality, birth complications, and poorer reproductive health, especially in tropical, developing countries, with substantial impacts on the health and survival of the next generation of these populations. Research efforts must identify the most vulnerable populations, fill knowledge gaps, and coordinate efforts to reduce negative health consequences of climate change. Increased focus on antenatal care is recommended to prevent worsening maternal health and perinatal mortality and morbidity. Interventions to reduce the negative health impacts caused by climate change are also crucial.

Year: 2013

Source: Global Health Action

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    There is a sizeable body of literature that explores the connections between population and climate change and family planning as a link between the two. Overall, family planning has been proposed as both a means of preventing further climate change by slowing population growth, and thereby reducing consumption, and as a tool to equip vulnerable individuals, households, communities, and countries to better manage the challenges of a warming world. The following review summarizes the academic literature, conference papers, and UN reports from the last decade, exploring the background of these two perspectives, with an emphasis on family planning as a strategy of climate change adaptation, particularly for women.

    Year: 2013

    Source: PAI

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      This paper analyzes the first 40 National Adaptation Programmes of Action reports submitted by governments of least-developed countries to the Global Environment Facility for funding. Of these documents, 93% identified at least one of three ways in which demographic trends interact with the effects of climate change: (i) faster degradation of the sources of natural resources; (ii) increased demand for scarce resources; and (iii) heightened human vulnerability to extreme weather events. These findings suggest that voluntary access to family planning services should be made more available to poor communities in least-developed countries. The article stresses the distinction between this approach, which prioritizes the welfare of poor communities affected by climate change, versus the argument that population growth should be slowed to limit increases in global carbon emissions. The paper concludes by calling for increased support for rights-based family planning services, including those integrated with HIV/AIDS services, as an important complementary measure to climate change adaptation programmes in developing countries.

      Year: 2009

      Source: Bulletin of the World Health Organization

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        Slowing the rapid growth of human population through strengthened voluntary family planning services would powerfully and inexpensively contribute to improvements in food security and the reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. A confluence of long-term environmental and population trends is undermining world food availability and driving climate change. These trends include quickening climate changes and difficulty adapting to its effects; widespread depletion of water, soils and fisheries; increased diversion of grains from human consumption to bio-fuel production and livestock and poultry feed; rapid population growth, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; and increasing affluence in middle income countries.

        Year: 2015

        Source: Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health

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          Climate change impacts fall disproportionately on the world’s poorest, most marginalised communities, particularly those highly dependent on direct use of natural resources, such as subsistence fishing communities. Vulnerability to climate change involves social and ecological factors, and efforts to reduce it and build long-term resilience must target both. In Madagascar, generalised strategies developed at the national level address vulnerability, adding to a variety of international initiatives. Yet, such high-level planning inevitably remains vague and indeterminate for most of the island’s coastal communities, with little meaningful implementation on the ground. Therefore, local measures to build resilience and adaptive capacity are critical to ensure that resource-dependent communities are able to cope with the immediate and long-term effects of climate change. Examination of an integrated population-health-environment (PHE) programme in Madagascar, comprising a locally-managed marine area (LMMA) and socio-economic development activities, illustrates how practical initiatives can contribute to building immediate and long-lasting resilience and adaptive capacity. Such community-based approaches should play a key role in adaptation measures within the western Indian Ocean region, where many coastal communities live in severe poverty on the front line of a rapidly changing climate.

          Year: 2012

          Source: Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science

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            The impacts of climate change—climbing temperatures, extreme weather, drought, shifting rainfall patterns, and rising sea levels—are intensifying around the world. These impacts threaten to undo development progress in poor and vulnerable communities, where rapid population growth and unmet need for family planning contribute to limited capacity to adapt. This webinar provides an overview of the climate finance landscape and explore strategies that the family planning community can use to join with others in efforts to build resilience to climate change impacts. Speakers and participants shared views on ways to forge partnerships for multisectoral climate adaptation projects that are eligible for multilateral climate change adaptation funding. Experiences and perspectives shared may also be useful for other organizations seeking to access this type of climate adaptation funding.

            Year: 2018

            Source: Population Reference Bureau

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              A growing evidence base links women’s met needs for family planning with reduced human vulnerability to climate change and enhanced resilience in the face of climate change impacts. Yet, thus far, population and family planning have been largely left out of adaptation proposals and projects. The PRB policy brief identifies four key strategies the FP/RH community can use to promote inclusion of family planning in adaptation strategies in ways that build resilience, improve health, and enhance women’s economic empowerment. The policy brief includes an example of how to apply these key strategies to a real-world adaptation initiative, showing how the FP/RH community could seize opportunities created by the importance of adapting to climate change and the growing availability of international climate financing to strengthen prospects for FP/RH’s inclusion in multisectoral adaptation plans.

              Year: 2018

              Source: Population Reference Bureau

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                Humans and the ecosystem services they depend on are threatened by climate change. Places with high or growing human population as well as increasing climate variability, have a reduced ability to provide ecosystem services just as the need for these services is most critical. A spiral of vulnerability and ecosystem degradation often ensues in such places. We apply different global conservation schemes as proxies to examine the spatial relation between wet season precipitation, population change over three decades, and natural resource conservation. Identifying areas of climate and population risk and their overlap with conservation priorities can help to target activities and resources that promote biodiversity and ecosystem services while improving human well-being.

                Year: 2017

                Source: PLOS One

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                Parts of Africa have the most rapid population growth in the world. In addition, recent studies by climatologists suggest that, in coming decades, ecologically vulnerable areas of Africa, including the Sahel, will be exposed to the harshest adverse effects of global warming. Fortunately, there are evidence-based achievable policies which can greatly ameliorate what would otherwise be a slowly unfolding catastrophe of stunning magnitude. But to succeed, such measures must be taken immediately and on a large scale. Taken together, rapid population growth and climate change pose a serious threat to the livelihood of the majority of the one hundred million people now living in the Sahel region and about two hundred million more who will live there in a generation’s time. This paper encourages working across silos to address these interrelated challenges.

                Year: 2013

                Source: African Journal of Reproductive Health

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                  This report is designed to be used by decision-makers and climate change, humanitarian, and gender equality advocates to better understand the linkages between sectors and align efforts to generate effective policies and programs. Drawing on published literature as well as key informant interviews, this evidence review explores: (i) the impact of climate change on SRHR and (ii) the linkages between climate action, including adaptation and mitigation, and SRHR. The evidence review also explores the evidence through an intersectional lens.

                  Year: 2021

                  Source: Women Deliver

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