Birth Control Could Help Developing World Combat Climate Change

LONDON — Giving contraceptives to people in developing countries could help fight climate change by slowing population growth, experts said Friday.

More than 200 million women worldwide want contraceptives, but don't have access to them, according to an editorial published in the British medical journal, Lancet. That results in 76 million unintended pregnancies every year.

If those women had access to free condoms or other birth control methods, that could slow rates of population growth, possibly easing the pressure on the environment, the editors say.

"There is now an emerging debate and interest about the links between population dynamics, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and climate change," the commentary says.

In countries with access to condoms and other contraceptives, average family sizes tend to fall significantly within a generation. Until recently, many U.S.-funded health programs did not pay for or encourage condom use in poor countries, even to fight diseases such as AIDS.

The world's population is projected to jump to 9 billion by 2050, with more than 90 percent of that growth coming from developing countries.

It's not the first time lifestyle issues have been tied to the battle against global warming. Climate change experts have previously recommended that people cut their meat intake to slow global warming by reducing the numbers of animals using the world's resources.

The Lancet editorial cited a British report which says family planning is five times cheaper than usual technologies used to fight climate change. According to the report, each $7 spent on basic family planning would slash global carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1 ton.

Experts believe that while normal population growth is unlikely to significantly increase global warming that overpopulation in developing countries could lead to increased demand for food and shelter, which could jeopardize the environment as it struggles with global warming.

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On the Net:

http://www.lancet.com

Comments

[little old lady]

12:57 AM on 09/20/2009

..."There is now an emerging debate and interest about the links between population dynamics, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and climate change..."

Shall we say, more correctly, a "re-emerging discussion?" This topic has been repeatedly quieted for decades because of various powerful influences. I was first introduced to limits on population for Earth in a class called "Population, Conservation, and Natural Resources." That was in 1964! Yes, nature may take care of the population problem and, actually, already is. In addition to starvation, we are poisoning ourselves through our water, air, chemical use, war byproducts, etc.

I'm sad to see this all coming true.

Lester Brown's work, at http://www.earthpolicy.org, includes information on population.

[RMankovitz]

02:20 PM on 09/19/2009

As a research scientist and author of several books on health, I subscribe to the hypothesis that the current human population far exceeds the planet’s carrying capacity, perhaps by double. Feeding the population is only part of the problem. We seem to be running out of safe places to dump the toxic wastes we generate, and may well drown in our own effluent.

GM Frankenfoods might just solve the world hunger, population, and climate problems over the next few generations, but not in the way you would expect.

From research on the effects of GM foods on animals (illness and failure to reproduce), it could be just a matter of time until humans will feel the same effects of eating this junk- susceptibility to illnesses (such as pandemics and epidemics) for which there are no cures (perhaps already happening), and low sperm count in men and infertility in women (perhaps already happening). The resulting increase in death rate and decrease in birth rate will speed up the process used by nature to deal with other species that exceed the carrying capacity of their environment – a path toward sustainability - or extinction.

I see nothing in the climate change proposals that deals with the population issue, so nature will do it for us.

To explore ways to increase the chances of being one of those still standing, based on paying close attention to clues from Nature, see "The Wellness Project".

Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com