From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Sep 17 2009 - 11:02:14 EDT
African Condom Shortage Said to Worsen Climate Impact (Update2)
By Jim Efstathiou Jr.
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Unwanted pregnancies in poor countries have led to
higher demand for land and water, resources already taxed by climate change,
according to research to be published by the World Health Organization.
Runaway population growth in countries such as Ethiopia and Rwanda where
contraceptives are in short supply is exacerbating drought and straining
fresh water supplies, said Leo Bryant, lead author of the study. Of 40
nations reviewed, 37 said rapid population growth worsened environmental
damage.
Climate change has been blamed by scientists for increasing droughts,
pushing up sea levels and causing floods from heavy rainfall in countries
across the globe. The impact can be worse in developing nations where food
and water already are in short supply and there is little funding to help
communities adapt.
“It’s time to start looking at the environmental relevance of family
planning,” Bryant, an advocacy manager for the London-based reproductive
health-care provider Marie Stopes International, said yesterday in a
telephone interview. “Reproductive health services ought to be integrated
into the climate adaptation strategy.”
Bryant analyzed national plans to adapt to climate change submitted to the
United Nations by 40 poorer countries. Most said demographic trends were
“interacting” with climate change to speed the degradation of natural
resources and raise the risk of extreme weather events. He said the findings
are set to be published in November by the Geneva-based World Health
Organization, which coordinates UN health policy.
Rwanda Family Planning
Population growth rates “have significant impacts on the state of the
environment, aggravating vulnerability and adaptation needs,” the Pacific
island nation of Kiribati said in a report to the UN. “In this respect,
population policy is an important consideration of adaptation strategies.”
The 33-island archipelago risks being submerged in coming years because of
higher seas and may purchase land elsewhere to relocate its people,
President Anote Tong said in February.
In Rwanda, where only 10 percent of adults have access to reproductive
health-care services and protection such as condoms, demographic pressures
are forcing a migration to less- populated areas already prone to drought
and desertification, Bryant said. In Bangladesh, a higher sea level is
shrinking fresh water supplies even as a growing population demands more
water.
East African Drought
Climate change and poor management of water resources is causing a “severe”
drought in eastern Africa, according to The Netherlands-based Wetlands
International, which promotes the restoration of wetlands. Kenya’s Lake
Naivasha, normally a 30- hectare (74,000-acre) site, is in danger of
vanishing, the group said.
“Unsustainable water use and pollution has driven the local farmers and
fishermen into a situation where they can no longer live off the basic
support and benefits of the wetlands,” an article on the group’s Web site
said today.
Only six of the 37 countries that said population growth compounds water
scarcity or threatens biodiversity proposed solutions through
climate-adaptation plans, Bryant said. The world’s population is projected
to grow from 6.8 billion people at present to 9.2 billion by 2050.
“We’re not in any way proposing that government should start telling people
how many children to have,” Bryant said. “Children should be by choice. The
problem is that a majority of people in sub-Saharan Africa don’t have that
right because they don’t have access to contraception.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York at
jefstathiou@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 17, 2009 09:28 EDT
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