Linking Population, Fertility and Family Planning with Adaptation to Climate Change: Views from Ethiopia

Submitted by population on Wed, 2010-04-14 21:34
View the full country profile for Ethiopia
Summary:

Population Action International and Miz-Hasab Research Center in collaboration with the Joint Global Change Research Institute have conducted a qualitative study that explores how communities in Ethiopia react to and cope with climate variation, which groups are considered most vulnerable, and what resources communities need to adapt to climate changes. The study addresses people’s perceptions of the link between population pressure and climate change and the role of family planning and reproductive health in increasing resilience
to climate change impacts. The study was carried
out in 2008-2009 in peri-urban and rural
areas of two regions in Ethiopia: the Oromia
region and the Southern Nations, Nationalities
and People’s (SNNP) region.

Adaptation Experience:

Climate change will have a notable impact on Ethiopia’s temperature and precipitation: average annual temperatures nationwide could rise 3.1° C by 2060, and 5.1° C by 2090. In addition, precipitation is projected to decrease from an annual average of 2.04 mm/day (1961-1990) to 1.97 mm/day (2070-2099), for a cumulative decline in rainfall of 25.5 mm/year. A growing population has already led to increased demand for agricultural and grazing land, as well as wood for fuel and construction purposes.

Results and Learning:

In this study, women and men from two areas of Ethiopia spoke about the increasing challenges they face in adapting to climate change. They recounted how rising temperatures, more frequent droughts, increased flooding, receding grazing land and diminishing forests are making it more difficult for their families and communities ties to cope. Study participants from Oromia and SNNP reported that they:

  • Acknowledge that climate change is occurring and changing their environments.
  • Identify women, children and the elderly as the groups most vulnerable to and affected by climate change.
  • Encourage the use of family planning by observing that large families of six or more children, while culturally desirable, are not currently sustainable.
  • Believe that while climate change is inevitable and some alleviation may be up to God, the government and communities should take lead in addressing climate change.

An interviewee in Oromia stated that “Nothing seems… like in the past. On the contrary, the problems are getting worse. The temperature, shortage of food and rainfall situation is worsening.” In the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region, a rural community member remarked that “… if a family has limited children, he will have enough land for his kids and hence we can protect the forests… In earlier years, we had a lot of fallow lands, but now, as a result of population growth, we don’t have adequate fallow land. Therefore, limiting the number of children will help us to cope with the change in climate.”

Sustainability:

Ethiopia has a Climate Change National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), which was created in 2007 to address the effects of climate change. Additionally, the National Population Policy of Ethiopia was adopted in 1993 with a primary goal of achieving harmony between the country’s rate of population growth and its capacity to utilize natural resources to best serve this growing population. Its Reproductive Health Strategy, formulated in 2006, lists a goal of increasing contraceptive prevalence from the current 15 percent to 60 percent by 2010. Nevertheless, far more must be done to address these problems. The authoring organizations of this study have the following recommendations for the government of Ethiopia, donors, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and researchers:

  1. Support integrated approaches to climate change adaptation that build on people’s expressed needs, and strengthen community- based adaptation strategies to include expanding access to reproductive health and family planning services.
  2. Give more high-level policy support to Ethiopia’s reproductive health and family planning programs to reduce the high unmet need for contraception and to improve maternal and child health.
  3. Researchers should include population growth, fertility and access to family planning and reproductive health services in future studies of impacts, adaptation and vulnerability to climate change.
Replication:

Not yet applicable.

Image(s):

Mapping Population and Climate Change

Submitted by andrea on Tue, 2010-02-02 04:47
Summary:

Population Action International has produced an online interactive world map: “Mapping Population and Climate Change.” Climate change impacts, demographic trends and reproductive health needs are likely to affect countries’ abilities to adapt to climate change. The map highlights the potential impacts of climate change on people and the environment, projected population changes in the short- and long-term, and why responses to climate change should include family planning and reproductive health.