Population and Climate Change
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century. Historically driven by an atmospheric build-up of greenhouse gases generated mostly by the industrialized world, the consequences of unabated climate change—more intense hurricanes and typhoons, rising sea levels, drought, heat waves, major disruptions to agriculture—will affect everyone. The world’s people and ecosystems, especially the most vulnerable, are already beginning to feel the effects of this large-scale human interference with the atmosphere.
The drivers of climate change and its impacts on human communities have significant—but complex—connections to population issues. At the most basic level, we understand that population growth can bring more energy consumption and place more pressure on the forests that absorb carbon dioxide—trends that can contribute to growing emissions of carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. We also understand that population growth increases the number of people vulnerable to climate-related natural disasters and other impacts.
But we know the relationships aren't that simple. The growth of greenhouse gas emissions is responsive to a wide range of factors beyond population growth, including the energy-intensive consumption patterns in industrialized countries, economic growth, technological change, and changes in land use. Other demographic factors, such as urbanization and aging, are also significant.
In addition, human vulnerability to climate change impacts is a complex concept, influenced by wealth, access to capital, infrastructure, geography, and other social and cultural factors that are not yet fully understood. Research shows that women tend to be among the most vulnerable groups. Access to high quality reproductive health and voluntary family planning services could help to reduce the vulnerability of women and families to climate change impacts.
Because of the complexities of these relationships, linking population and climate change opens the door to difficult questions around equity, justice, and human rights. Understanding the unique role that population plays—and thereby shedding light on the kinds of policies and programs that can affect population-climate change linkages—is a challenging undertaking, but one that offers real hope for a more sustainable future.
