Press Conference on State of the World Population Report 2009

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched today at Headquarters its annual report on global population trends, which this year focuses on ways to curb the long-term harmful consequences of the planet’s changing climate by reaching out and empowering poor women, some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Titled Facing a Changing World:  Women, Population and Climate, the agency’s State of World Population 2009 report attempts to shift the debate on climate change from abstract technical discussions about countries’ carbon emissions to human beings -- who leave their own footprint on the planet as they are impacted by its warming temperatures, according to the survey’s main editor..

“Technology alone is not the solution to climate change. Climate change is a human problem brought about by human activity,” Richard Kollodge, editor of the report, said today during a press conference.  “Climate change is about people. People are affected by it. People must adapt to it. And only people can stop it.”

The 94-page report stresses the importance of empowering women, whose role as sustainable consumers was central to curtailing emissions, to cope with the changes in climate and then become agents for positive change.  “Women in charge of their lives are empowered to change their lives for the better,” he said.  The report was also launched in about 130 cities worldwide including London, where it was presented by UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid

Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by the destructive effects of a changing climate as they are more likely than men to live in poverty, Mr. Kollodge said.  And they also are more likely to lack the resources to cope with its negative effects, he continued, adding:  “The poor live in marginal areas, like a flood plain.  So if the sea level rises, they will be the first affected.”

Also at the launch was Daniel Schensul, an expert on climate change and sustainable development at the New York City-based UNFPA.  He said:  “Women are tasked with food production…with finding and carrying water.  These tasks will become more difficult.  The solutions will be in the hands of women.”

The report called on all countries to invest in women, particularly by providing them with education and health services. Girls with more education, for example, tend to have smaller and healthier families as adults.  Women with access to reproductive health services, such as family planning, have lower fertility rates that could help slow the growth in greenhouse gas emissions over the long run, Mr. Kollodge said.

Explaining the importance of the links between women, population and the planet’s shifting climate, Mr. Schensul said the impact of population size and growth on heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions varied in different locales.  In industrial

countries, for example, population growth was low, but people’s high consumption rates led to high total emissions. Least developed countries had the highest population growth rates, but were the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases.

Countries had to think beyond size and growth when considering the impact of population.  “Where we live, how old we are, how we organize our lives, in small or larger families, are also very important,” he continued.  Smaller households, in both developed and developing countries, consume considerably more per capita. That is why, as the report pointed out, a divorce causes more emissions than the birth of a child, he added.

Now at 6.8 billion, the world’s population increased by about 79 million people each year.  By 2050, it could reach as high as 10.5 billion or remain as low as 8 billion.  “The difference of 2.5 billion between the two numbers is highly relevant for climate change and the long-term future of human kind,” he said.

Technology alone was not the solution to a changing climate.  “Climate change is an interaction of the number of people, their wealth and affluence and the technology and energy choices that people make,” Mr. Schensul said.

In response to a reporter’s question on the importance of reproductive health education, Mr. Schensul said that long-term population growth was linked to carbon emissions and it was helpful for women to have more choices and freedom in that area when planning their families.  Mr. Kollodge added later that UNFPA hoped the report would raise awareness of the need to promote equal rights for women and help them secure their reproductive rights.

To a question about Brazil, a large developing country with rapidly increasing emission levels, Mr. Schensul noted that cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo had lower per capita emissions than the country as a whole as fertility levels had fallen.  It was an example of how climate change was influenced by people and their use of technology.

Responding to a reporter’s question on the report’s impact on the upcoming global climate change conference in Copenhagen, Mr. Kollodge said the goal was to raise awareness of the role that women and people played in climate change over the long run, not just for the debate in Copenhagen.  He said earlier in the press conference that it was essential that women be part of any agreement on climate change.

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For information media • not an official record