Submitted by population on Thu, 2010-04-15 19:50
Found in:
Author(s):
Clive Mutunga and Karen Hardee
Year:
2009
City:
Washington, DC
Publisher:
Population Action International
Volume:
WP09-04
Summary:

Adapting to climate change will entail a variety of responses, including policies to improve management of climate related risks by enhancing adaptive capacity while easing pressure on resources. The pressure on resources has been linked to a number of causes, key among them population dynamics. Thus, adaptation efforts that consider interventions that slow the rate of population growth—such as promoting gender equity and expanding access to reproductive health care and contraception—will yield a “win-win” opportunity, improving people’s health and well-being in the short term while building long-term sustainability by reducing pressure on the environment.

Population Action International reviewed 41 National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), submitted by Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to assess the NAPA process and identify the range of interventions included in countries’ priority adaptation actions. The review highlights how population issues and reproductive health/family planning (RH/FP) are addressed as part of the LDCs’ adaptation agenda. The review found near-universal recognition among the NAPAs of the importance of population considerations as a central pillar in climate change adaptation. Among the 41 NAPAs, 37 link high and rapid population growth to climate change.

This appreciation is not matched with a proportional identification of adaptation interventions that address population-climate change connections. Only six NAPAs (Comoros, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kiribati, Zambia and Uganda) clearly state that slowing population growth or investments in RH/FP should be considered among the country’s priority adaptation actions. Only two NAPAs (Uganda and Sao Tome and Principe) propose projects with components of RH/FP among priority adaptation interventions, and none of them has yet been funded.

The analysis points to structural issues that hamper better alignment between climate change adaptation and national development planning and offers recommendation for longer-term adaptation strategies that better meet the development needs of countries.

Leading Organization:
Population Action International
External Resources:
Population and Reproductive Health in National Adaptation Programs of Action
Image(s):
File(s):
WP09-04_NAPA.pdf
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