澳门六合彩

As the world鈥檚 attention has turned in November 2022 to the UN COP 27 climate change conference, another important global milestone is also drawing attention. Today, November 15, 2022, the global population is predicted to reach 8 billion. By 2050, it will be 9.7 billion.

Yet while it鈥檚 natural to focus on linkages between population growth and climate change, experts听speaking at 澳门六合彩鈥檚 recent 鈥�Climate Change, Population, and the Shape of the Future鈥� event also observed that the relationship is far from simple. Creating a more nuanced discussion is imperative to prevent oversimplifications and outright damage to efforts to fashion effective responses.

鈥淭he idea that population growth is causing climate change is really harmful, [and] puts the blame on places in the world with the highest rates of fertility, which are precisely the places that contribute the least to climate change,鈥� said Heather Randell, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology & Demography at Penn State University.

Yet population growth and climate change are undeniably interlinked, and exploring the connection is essential. 鈥淭o adapt well to a warming world, it鈥檚 critical that we understand and include population dynamics in climate responses,鈥� said Lauren Risi, Director of the Environmental Change & Security Program at 澳门六合彩. 鈥淒oing so not only ensures more effective responses, but [also] allows us to see solutions that we may have otherwise been blind to.鈥�

Seeking Momentum in Connections

So how can the discussion of population and climate push past what Kathleen Mogelgaard, President and CEO at the Population Institute, called 鈥渄oom and gloom population alarmism?鈥�

Local efforts to craft holistic responses to the pressures exerted by population growth and climate emergency in Uganda and Guatemala are showing considerable promise. These efforts go past merely breaking the silos that have kept the dialogues surrounding population and climate separate in order to blend them together into more effective interventions.

Overcoming the 鈥渄epartmentalized鈥� nature of institutions has led to challenges in Uganda and in Eastern Africa more generally, observed Charles Kabiswa, Executive Director of Regenerate Africa. He said that his organization鈥檚 efforts to integrate population dynamics, gender equity, and access to family planning into Uganda鈥檚 national climate change policies have required time to bring 鈥渟trategic stakeholders on board to appreciate the interconnectedness鈥� of climate and population.

Kabiswa noted that thousands of people have succumbed to silent deaths from hunger in East Africa in recent years, mostly because two seasons of failed crops caused by climate effects. Regenerate Africa鈥檚 response has been to create projects such as the Lake Victoria Basin Initiative, which integrates health and education into biodiversity conservation efforts.

The greater integration of family planning, reproductive health, and education featured in the Lake Victoria Basin Initiative has not only bolstered overall resilience in the communities where it operates, but it also improves standards of sanitation and hygiene in the region鈥檚 households and schools. Kabiswa added that the program鈥檚 success also has given momentum to proposals to shift policy in his country as well.

Bringing Women鈥檚 Issues into Focus

Marco Cerezo, General Manager of the Guatemala-based Foundation for Eco-development and Conservation (FUNDAECO), said that his organization originally started out purely as a conservation NGO, yet it quickly changed tack once it connected the dots between climate change and women鈥檚 health and education issues.

Mortality rates for women in rural and isolated forests and villages in Guatemala are among the highest in Latin America, he explained, so an urgent question presented itself: How could FUNDAECO mobilize the energy of local communities鈥攁nd especially women鈥攆or conservation and community development when they suffered from conditions that spurred such poor health and education outcomes?

Cerezo said that his organization鈥檚 answer was to integrate community issues, including education and health, into its conservation-focused program in substantive ways. For instance, FUNDAECO鈥檚 Guatemalan Conservation Coast carbon credits project creates an explicit linkage between them. 鈥淲hen you buy a carbon credit from our Conservation Coast project, you鈥檙e actually funding sexual and reproductive health clinics for women in rural areas, and you鈥檙e actually funding scholarships for young girls in rural villages so that they can finish their secondary and high school education,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o a carbon credit鈥� which is a climate change intervention鈥攂ecomes a concrete tool to support women鈥檚 empowerment.鈥�

Such interconnections promote a 鈥渧irtuous circle鈥� that can help break the 鈥渧icious鈥� circle of poverty, environmental degradation and increased vulnerability to climate change in ways that can change individual lives as well.

鈥淎 young girl who was going to be given in a forced marriage at fourteen was able鈥攚ith the support of our program鈥攖o start studying,鈥� Cerezo said. 鈥淎nd she is now graduating as an environmental engineer鈥nd she wants to help fight climate change.鈥�

Reframing the Narrative听

Kabiswa noted that the work now being undertaken in Uganda, Guatemala and elsewhere demonstrates that local and regional actors need not wait for global parties to act first. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need to wait for the call,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e should be doing something at national level.鈥�

The payoff realized by these efforts to better integrate of climate and population issues is already clear. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 really great from a climate and governance standpoint is those efforts at family planning, reproductive health, and education yield tremendous social and economic dividends that can really help make communities more resilient in the face of environmental change,鈥� said Jennifer D. Sciubba, a Wilson Center Fellow and the author of听听8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a win-win-win.鈥�

Making these tangible connections can spur a more nuanced discussion of these issues at COP27 and beyond, and perhaps even set the stage for more effective interventions. 鈥淔raming population growth as the main driver of climate change really diverts attention from the main culprit which is global capitalism, fossil-fuel-based economies, and over-consumption,鈥� said Randell.

As Mogelgaard observed in closing remarks, this work also holds the promise of a new narrative 鈥渂ased in hope, based in understanding the rights, opportunities, and services that are available to this generation that鈥檚 coming up, and particularly the ways that we can reinforce the rights and opportunities for women and girls, who are important change makers in their communities.鈥�

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