Resources
Health
By World Health Organization
Global
2009
Protecting Health from Climate Change
Frames climate change threats from a health perspective, providing policy recommendations.
Human Rights
By UNEP
Global
2015
Climate Change and Human Rights
This report aims to assess the relationship between climate change and human rights law. It sheds light on the human rights obligations of governments and private actors in responding to climate change, including those relating to rights to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice, as well as obligations relating to adaption and mitigation.
Gender equality/women's rights
By Lim Hwei Mian, ARROW
Global
2017
Women's Health and Climate Change
This paper looks at an aspect of climate change that is riddled with knowledge gaps and insufficient informations; it’s impact on women’s health – particularly their sexual and reproductive health – and the inequality dimension of disasters, positing the disproportionate effect disasters have on women, and the exacerbation of gender power imbalances, marginalisation, and vulnerability.
By Lim Hwei Mian and Mangala Namasivayam, ARROW
Global
2017
Sex, Rights, Gender in the Age of Climate Change
The recognition of sexual and reproductive rights in interventions on climate change is crucial to stop the perpetuation of existing gender norms and gender-based violence, among other things. The current brief seeks to elucidate the nuances of the interlinkages between climate change and sexual and reproductive rights through preliminary evidence available, as well as further advocacy on inclusion of sexual and reproductive rights in the development agenda.
By GGCA
Global
2016
Gender and Climate Change: A Closer Look at Existing Evidence
Perceiving a gap in the resources available to individuals and organizations concerned about the gendered experiences of climate change, GGCA commissioned this literature review in early 2016 in order to provide the most up-to-date assessment of the current evidence base illustrating how vulnerability to climate change and climate adaptation decisions vary by gender. This is designed to serve as a resource highlighting literature addressing a broad array of gender and climate issues affecting vulnerability and adaptation capacity.
By UN
1995
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
Population
By the UNFPA
Global
2018
The State of World Population 2018
The Power of Choice. Reproductive rights and the democraphic transition.
By The Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
Global
2017
World Population Data Sheet - with a special focus on youth
This year’s edition includes a special focus on the world’s youth (ages 15-24), with indicators and analytical graphics that assess whether youth are poised to become productive adults.
By Seth Wynes and Kimberly A. Nicholas
2017
The climate mitigation gap: education and governmentrecommendations miss the most effective individual actions
Current anthropogenic climate change is the result of greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere, which records the aggregation of billions of individual decisions. Here the authors consider a broad range of individual lifestyle choices and calculate their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries, based on 148 scenarios from 39 sources.
By UN DESA
2017
By David Roberts, Vox
2017
I'm an environmental journalist, but I never write about overpopulation. Here's why.
Anyone who’s ever given a talk on an environmental subject knows that the population question is a near-inevitability (second only to the nuclear question). I used to get asked about it constantly when I wrote for Grist — less now, but still fairly regularly. I thought I would explain, once and for all, why I hardly ever talk about population, and why I’m unlikely to in the future.
By Kimberly A. Nicholas
2017
Calling Individual Climate Leaders
If we don’t cut emissions starting now, children born today will grow up in a world of dangerous climate change.
By UNFPA
Global
2017
The State of World Population 2017
Worlds Apart – Reproductive health and rights in an age of inequality.
In today’s world, gaps in wealth have grown shockingly wide. Billions of people linger at the bottom, denied their human rights and prospects for a better life. At the top, resources and privileges accrue at explosive rates, pushing the world ever further from the vision of equality embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
By The Guardian
2013-2017
Global development
Every month we’ll explore the key issues affecting billions of people across the developing world. Recent editions have looked at why 75 million of the world’s poorest children can’t access education, why El Niño has worsened the food shortages in Malawi and Zimbabwe and how big data offers new tools to help countries meet their development goals.
By PHE Philippines Network
2016
The Manila Manifesto
On Engaging Government in Mainstreaming PHE Approach Towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
Concerning the Philippines.
By Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health
Global
2015
By Slowing Population Growth, Family Planning Can Help Address Food Insecurity and Climate Change
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.
By David Hodgkinson and Rebecca Johnston, The Conversation
2014
How family planning could be part of the answer to climate change
Overpopulation is often argued to be the driver behind many of the problems the world faces — from climate change to food insecurity — driven by choices at the level of individuals and families. One way to reduce the impact of population could be to include family planning in carbon markets. Here’s how it could work.
By EarthShare
2013
Raising a Zero Footprint Baby
When Keya Chatterjee and her husband Andrew Kravetz decided to have a child, they knew it would test their commitment to sustainable living. Although they had installed solar panels on their home, lowered their energy use, and purchased only recycled or used items, they recognized that having a child would dramatically increase their carbon footprint if they didn’t take action.
By UNFPA Technical Division
Global
2012
Population Matters for Sustainable Development
This publication argues that
- Population dynamics have a significant influence on sustainable development.
- Efforts to promote sustainable development that do not address population dynamics will continue to fail.
- Population dynamics are not destiny. Change is possible through a set of policies which respect human rights and freedoms and contribute to a reduction in fertility, notably access to sexual and reproductive health care, education beyond the primary level, and the empowerment of women.
By Scott Moreland and Ellen Smith, Futures Group
2012
Modeling Climate Change, Food Security, and Population
We developed a computer simulation model to help clarify the dynamic relationships between climate change, food security, and population growth. The aim was to develop a model that would be simple enough to adapt to a country and that could be used at the policy level to introduce population issues into the dialogue on adaptation to climate change in the context of food security.
By Brian C. O’Neill, Michael Dalton, Regina Fuchs, Leiwen Jiang, Shonali Pachauri and Katarina Zigova
Global
2010
Global demographic trends and future carbon emissions
Substantial changes in population size, age structure, and urbanization are expected in many parts of the world this century. Although such changes can affect energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, emissions scenario analyses have either left them out or treated them in a fragmentary or overly simplified manner. We carry out a comprehensive assessment of the implications of demographic change for global emissions of carbon dioxide.
By David Wheeler and David Hammer, Center for Global Development
2010
The Economics of Population Policy for Carbon Emissions Reduction in Developing Countries
Female education and family planning are both critical for sustainable development, and they obviously merit expanded support without any appeal to global climate considerations. However, even relatively optimistic projections suggest that family planning and female education will suffer from financing deficits that will leave millions of women unserved in the coming decades. Since both activities affect fertility, population growth, and carbon emissions, they may also provide sufficient climate-related benefits to warrant additional financing from resources devoted to carbon emissions abatement. This paper considers the economic case for such support.
By Paul A. Murtaugh and Michael G. Schlax
2009
Reproduction and the carbon legacies of individuals
Here we estimate the extra emissions of fossil carbon dioxide that an average individual causes when he or she chooses to have children. The summed emissions of a person’s descendants, weighted by their relatedness to him, may far exceed the lifetime emissions produced by the original parent. A person’s reproductive choices must be considered along with his day-today activities when assessing his ultimate impact on the global environment.
By Leo Bryant, Louise Carver, Colin D Butler and Ababu Anage
Global
2009
Climate change and family planning: least-developed countries define the agenda
This reports looks at the links between rapid population growth and concerns regarding climate change. The paper analyses the first 40 National Adaptation Programmes of Action reports submitted by governments of LDCs to the Global Environment Facility for funding. Of these documents, 93% identified demographic trends to interact with the effects of climate change. The paper concludes by calling for increased support for rights-based family planning services as an important complementary measure to climate change adaptation programmes in developing countries.
By UN
Global
1994
International Conference on Population and Development, Programme of Action
The ICPD held in Cairo in 1994 and its resulting Programme of Action moved population policies and programmes away from a focus on human numbers to a focus on human rights and underscored the mutually reinforcing linkages between population and development. It recognized that reproductive health, including sexual health, and reproductive rights, as well as gender equality and women’s empowerment, are important ends in themselves and key to improving the quality of life for everyone.
Climate Change
By UNEP
Global
2015
Climate Change and Human Rights
This report aims to assess the relationship between climate change and human rights law. It sheds light on the human rights obligations of governments and private actors in responding to climate change, including those relating to rights to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice, as well as obligations relating to adaption and mitigation.
By United Nations
Global
2015
Climate Action: Why it matters
A fact sheet on climate change and the importance of taking action.
By IPCC
2014
Human Health: Impacts, Adaptation, and Co-Benefits - Chapter 11 IPCC 5th AR
This chapter of the IPCC report contains the statement we use when advocating for the inclusion of family planning as part of adaptation strategies.
By Population Action International
Global
2011
Why Population Matters to Climate Change
A policy brief laying out the connections between population and climate change, discussing both the problems poulation growth created for responding to climate change as well as the potential solutions.
By Brian C. O’Neill et al.
Global
2010
Global demographic trends and future carbon emissions
Using an energy–economic growth model that accounts for a range of demographic dynamics, this paper shows how that slowing population growth could provide 16–29% of the emissions reductions suggested to be necessary by 2050 to avoid dangerous climate change.
By Anthony Costello et al. for Lancet and University College London Institute for Global Health Commission
Global
2009
Managing the health effects of climate change
This report outlines the major threats—both direct and indirect—to global health from climate change through changing patterns of disease, water and food insecurity, vulnerable shelter and human settlements, extreme climatic events, and population growth and migration.
By Karen Hardee and Clive Mutunga
Global
2009
Strengthening the link between climate change adaptation and national development plans: Lessons from the case of population in National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs)
An analysis of the NAPAs discussing the connections countries make between population and cliamte change. It includes lessons learnt from the countries that have include references to family planning/reproductive health in their NAPAs.
Environment
By UNEP Global Environmental Alert Service
2012
Global
One Planet, How Many People? A Review of Earth's Carrying Capacity
The human footprint has grown to such a scale that it has become a major geophysical force. While there are many ways we might reduce our per capita footprint on the planet, the collective impact of those footprints will always be multiplied by global population. This makes population an issue which cannot be ignored.
By The Royal Society
Global
2012
People and the Planet
A comprehensive report about the effects of population growth and consumption patterns on the planet.
By Environmental Protection Agency
Global
Website text publication date not stated
Climate Impacts on Ecosystems
An overview on how climate change can alter where species live, how they interact, and the timing of biological events, which could fundamentally transform current ecosystems and food webs.
By Professor Stephen Dovers and Professor Colin Butler
Global
Website text publication date not stated
Population and environment: A global challenge
With more than 7.3 billion people on the planet, it’s easy to assume someone else will tackle and solve the issue of population and environment. Yet it is an issue that affects us all, and as such we’re all responsible for working towards a sustainable future in which everyone is able to enjoy a good quality of life without destroying the very things we rely on to survive.
SRHR
By Hwei Mian Lim, ARROW
Global
2017
Why Prioritise SRHR in Climate Change Policy and Programming
Article in ARROW for Change Bulletin Vol. 23 No. 2 2017 “SRHR in the Era of the SDGs”
“SRHR in the Era of the SDGs”: In line with recent developments, this edition provides an up-to-date primer on universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and universality of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (SRR); the “what, for whom and how” of universal access to SRH and the challenges facing universality of SRR, including the limitation of sexuality within the framework of marriage and family, and ethno-religious conservative groups that seeks to strengthen their national religious identity.
By Worldwatch Institute
Global
2016
Family Planning and Environmental Sustainability: Assessing the Science
Survey of recent peer-reviewed health and environmental research testing the hypothesis that the use of FP contributes to environmental sustainability. While the hypothesis cannot be confirmed, especially due to research rarely considering directly this hypothesis, access to and use of especially modern contraception is found to reduce fertility by preventing unwanted pregnancies, slowing population growth.
By Ellen Starbird et al. for USAID
Global
2016
Investing in Family Planning: Key to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Links family planning to the SDGs. Voluntary family planning brings transformational benefits to women, families, communities, and countries. Investing in family planning is a development ‘‘best buy’’ that can accelerate.
By Population Reference Bureau
Global
2015
Building resilience through Family Planning
This policy brief explores the connections between women, their access to family planning, population, and resilience, and makes the case that investments that aim to improve women’s access to rights-based voluntary family planning are critical to building resilience.
By Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA
Global
2014
Adding it up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Health
New estimates for 2014 show that sexual and reproductive health services fall well short of needs in developing regions. An estimated 225 million women who want to avoid a pregnancy are not using an effective contraceptive method. Each year 74 million pregnancies are unintended. Because increases in contraceptive use have barely kept up with growing populations, this number is virtually unchanged since the Adding It Up report for 2008.
International agreements
By African Great Lakes
2017
Resolution of the African Great Lakes Conference: Conservation and Development in a Changing Climate
In May 2017, the African Great Lakes Conference: Conservation and Development in a Changing Climate was held in Entebbe, Uganda. This conference sought to increase coordination, strengthen capacity, inform policy with science, and promote basin-scale ecosystem management in the region.
By United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme
Global
2016
"Delivering on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development"
By UNFCCC
Global
2015
Paris Agreement
Achievement across the 5 Sustainable Development Goal themes of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnerships.
By UN
Global
2015
2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development
This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. We recognise that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan.
By UNECE
UNECE/Europe, Russia, US, Central Asia
1998
Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters
The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was adopted on 25th June 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus at the Fourth Ministerial Conference in the ‘Environment for Europe’ process.
By UN
Global
1994
International Conference on Population and Development, Programme of Action
The ICPD held in Cairo in 1994 and its resulting Programme of Action moved population policies and programmes away from a focus on human numbers to a focus on human rights and underscored the mutually reinforcing linkages between population and development. It recognized that reproductive health, including sexual health, and reproductive rights, as well as gender equality and women’s empowerment, are important ends in themselves and key to improving the quality of life for everyone.
Other
By Danish Embassy in Uganda
Uganda
2012
Film from Uganda showing the interlinkages between climate change and gender
The documentary chronicles the plight of Ugandan women, men and children in the wake of extreme weather events such as heavy rains, flooding, drought and landslides. It shows how unpredictable seasons affect the livelihoods of the many families that live off the land – encapsulating the human face of climate change.
Our own resources
(PSDA publications and PSDA members' work)
By the Danish Family Planning Association
2019
Population and Climate Change Hotspots
High population growth overlaps with climate change vulnerability in many countries. Unmet need for family planning is especially high in African countries. Many of these countries are also particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as food insecurity, rising sea levels, droughts and floods. High population growth puts pressure on and increases demand for natural resources and pose a threat to securing basic health and social needs for everyone. Climate change exacerbates these challenges.
By the Danish Family Planning Association
2018
The Danish Family Planning Association at COP24: How battling climate change contributes to women's liberation
COP24 is both about street activism and parliamentarianism. But at the climate conference in Poland, there is also space for the Danish Family Planning Association’s work on gender equality and the right to decide over one’s own body.
By Johanne Brok, the Danish Family Planning Association
2018
Sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Nationally Determined Contributions
Only seven Parties to the Paris Agreement mention sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) – such as voluntary family planning – in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), even though about a third link climate change and population growth. Predominantly developing and least developed countries express concern about the links between changes in climate and a growing population.
By PSDA
2018
Sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality are key to the transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies
PSDA messages for HLPF 2018.
By PSDA
2018
Sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality are key to the transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies
PSDA messages for HLPF 2018.
By EuroNGOs
Global
2017
SRHR and the COP23: Insights from ARROW on SRHR Advocacy Work Around COP23
The COP23 is significant for women! After five years of advocating for inclusion of gender in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) discussions and actions, the Gender Action Plan (GAP) was finally adopted on Gender Day (14 November 2017).
By UN DESA
Global
2017
PSDA raised issues of population dynamics at the thirdUN Environment Summit
UN Environment held its third General Assembly in Nairobi in December under the overarching theme of pollution. At the end of the summit, the world’s leaders committed to a pollution-free planet and adopted a resolution on health and environment.
By Ida Klockmann, PSDA
Uganda
Global
Community based adaptation through human rights-based family planning
The CBA conference takes place every year gathering constituencies engaged in community based adaptation in discussions about how communities suffering from the effects of climate change can improve their adaptation efforts. In 2017 the conference was held in Kampala, Uganda and theme was ‘Harnessing natural resources and ecosystems for adaptation’.
By PSDA
Global
2017
How population dynamics impact the achievement of eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world
Poverty (SDG1) and hunger (SDG2) rarely stem from a single source of bad health (SDG3), gender inequality (SDG5), poor infrastructure (SDG9) or unsustainable use of the oceans (SDG14). They stem from multiple issues that interfere with each other and increase the impact of one another, and many people are facing double, triple and more challenges that hamper their means to live sustainable lives.
By Laura Robson
Global
2017
The untold cost of cost-effectiveness in family planning
With mounting pressure from policies introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump that cut funds for family planning programmes worldwide, providers are being forced to deliver more with less. The pioneering work of environmental groups partnering with health agencies is drawing attention to people living in isolated areas, who fall outside of the laser focus on cost-effectiveness and are at risk of being left behind, by providing an elegant solution for meeting their needs.
By Blue Ventures / Madagascar PHE Network
Global
2017
PHE partnerships guide
This guide consists of 15 chapters covering the core values, skills and knowledge needed to develop and implement effective cross-sector Population-Health-Environment (PHE) partnerships. It starts with a thorough introduction to the PHE approach, followed by an organisational capacity assessment and development planning section to enable you to tailor your use of this guide to your needs. This guide is primarily designed for use by the staff of environmental organisations wishing to develop cross-sector PHE partnerships with health service providers in line with priority community needs and their organisational missions.
By the Margaret Pyke Trust with the Population & Sustainability Network
2017
Video from event at London Family Planning Summit 2017: "A win-win for human and environmental health: How conservation programmes can be strengthened by meeting family planning needs"
A discussion on the importance of considering family planning actions not only as essential for the health and empowerment of girls and women, but also as fundamental for the success of conservation programmes.
By Carina Hirsch, Margaret Pyke Trust with the Population & Sustainability Network
Global
2017
Family Planning: A Win-Win for Women and Climate Change
Access to voluntary and rights-based, quality family planning information and services is not only essential to women and girls’ health and empowerment but also has the potential to contribute significantly to sustainability – including adapting to and responding to climate change.
By Alemayehu Wudneh, Dejene Nigatu, Zelalem Dendir and Alemayehu Gonie, SHARE Bale Eco-Region project, Ethiopia
2017
Final Report (Version III) On: Comparative Analysis of the Cost-Effectiveness of Natural Resource Management Actions with and without Family Planning Interventions as a Means of Achieving Sustainable Resource Use in the Bale Eco-Region
The objective of the study was to compare natural resource management with and without family planning interventions in the Bale Eco-Region (BER).
By Population & Sustainable Development Alliance
2016
Input to the United Nations Environment Assembly - 2
The Population and Sustainable Development Alliance hereby presents our inputs to UNEP’s delivery on the SDGs and its focus on the theme ‘Healthy Environment – Healthy People’. Working with a human rights based approach to development, it is our aim to bring to your attention the benefits of applying integrated approaches that ensure people’s right to health as well as to food, water, safety etc. related to environmental challenges.
By International Planned Parenthood Federation
Global
2016
Climate Change: Time to "Think Family Planning" - a toolkit
This advocacy and communications toolkit is aimed at national family planning advocates to enable them to engage in climate change policy discussions to further, not only family planning goals, but also contribute to climate change objectives.
By PATH Foundation Philippines Inc.
Philippines
2015
Film on Women of the Shore: The Hidden Burden of Climate Change
This documentary shows how women are the most burdened with Climate Change. In Mindoro Island, fishers catch lesser fish as women give birth to more children. The film explores the need for SRHR services amongst these communities, to improve resilience to the mothers of the shore and the future they face.
By PATH Foundation Philippines Inc & Penita Initiative
Malaysia
2015
Film on Women of the Forest: The Hidden Burden of Climate Change
In Sarawak, Malaysia, the Borneo Tropical Forest is fading into corporate land. The Women of the Kayan and Penan tribe struggle in both mad made destruction and the effects of Climate Change. This film points out how SRHR should be included in Climate Change action and dialogue to protect the rights and health of these women whose struggles are often unnoticed.
By PATH Foundation Philippines Inc and Penita Initiative
Philippines and Malaysia
2015
The Women of Sarawak and Mindoro: The Invisible Battle of Climate Change
The voices of the women living in a raging Climate. This story is part of a regional research on “Building New Constituencies for Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Climate Change.
By Lianne Gonsalves, Samuel E. Donovan, Victoria Ryan, and Peter J. Winch
2015
Integrating Population, Health, and Environment Programs with Contraceptive Distribution in Rural Ethiopia: A Qualitative Case Study
This article examines the community-based distribution (CBD) of family planning commodities in rural Ethiopia through EWNRA’s large, multisectoral PHE program.
By Population Action International
Global
2014
New IPCC report recognizes family planning among social dimensions of climate change adaptation
For the first time ever, the IPCC recognized the social dimensions of climate change adaptation. The report highlights population dynamics and the important role that family planning can play in reducing climate change vulnerability and as a potential adaptation strategy.
By Deepa Pullanikkatil, Benjamin Kaneka, Welton Phalira, Clifford Mkanthama, Sosten Chiotha
Southern Malawi
2013
Linkages between Population, Reproductive Health, Gender and Climate Change Adaptation in Malawi
Lake Chilwa is an important ecosystem that provides services which are critical to the wellbeing and livelihoods of people living in the basin. Addressing population growth and migration in Lake Chilwa Basin will help improve ecosystems functions and reduce environmental degradation.
By PHE Ethiopia Consortium
2013
Effectiveness of the PHE approach for achieving family planning and fertility outcomes in Ethiopia: A comparative study in the Guraghe Zone
Although the PHE approach has been implemented in Gurage Zone of South Ethiopia, its outcomes have not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the PHE approach for achieving family planning (FP) and fertility outcomes in Gurage Zone. A comparative correctional study involving both quantitative and qualitative data was conducted from October 2 to 8, 2012. A total of 960 married women of reproductive age (15-49) were included in the study.
By PHE Ethiopia Consortium
2013
Effectiveness of the PHE Approach for Achieving Family Planning and Fertility Outcomes in Ethiopia
This policy brief examines the effects of implementing an integrated program that includes population, health and environmental (PHE) components compared to implementing a vertical family planning program in the Guraghe zone, SNNPR based on quantitative and qualitative data generated from a comparative cross sectional study conducted from October 2 to 8, 2012.
By Population Action International (PAI)
Global
2012
Why Population Matters to Climate Change
Decision makers engaged in crafting climate change policy responses at local, national, and international levels should assess population trends and their interactions with efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Global institutions that support and promote climate change adaptation and low carbon development strategies can be strengthened through the inclusion of population factors in determining priorities for investment; likewise, national climate and development plans will be stronger when population trends are taken into consideration.
By PHE Ethiopia Consortium and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Case Stories from the Field
RH/FP and Livelihood Results through Integration of Population, Health and Environment (PHE)