By Jael Silliman ( Ed.D )

1. Climate Change and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)Refuting Dubious Linkages: Affirming Rights By Jael Silliman (Ed.D)

2. What is Climate Change? • Climate change refers to the increasingly erratic weather patterns, rising sea levels and extreme events that may be attributed to human activity and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that have created global warming. It is often viewed as a purely environmental phenomenon, requiring scientific/ technological interventions • Climate change is essentially a social, economic and political issue with profound implications for social justice and gender equality.

3. What is Climate Change? • CC exacerbates existing inequalities and vulnerabilities in society • As has been underlined in the HDR 2007 CC threatens to erode human freedoms and limit choice • CC impacts are not “gender neutral”

4. Mitigation • Mitigation: refers to human interventions to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of GHGs. Examples include using fossil fuels more efficiently for industrial processes or electricity generation, switching to solar energy or wind power, improving the insulation of buildings, and expanding forests and other “sinks” to remove greater amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere (UNFCCC website).

5. Adaptation • Adaptation: Actions taken to help communities and ecosystems cope with changing climate conditions, such as the construction of flood walls to protect property from stronger storms and heavier precipitation, or the planting of agricultural crops and trees more suited to warmer temperatures and drier soil conditions (UNFCCC website).

6. Climate Change & SRH The links between SRH and Climate Change (CC) are always indirect. There is a body of literature that seeks to make a direct and simplistic connection between CC and population growth. The logic is: More People = Increase in Green House Gases (GHGs) leads to CC

7. Climate Change & Population • Based on this simplistic equation, an easy way to therefore reduce CC is to reduce population • For example, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the Optimal Population Trust claimed “Contraceptives are the greenest technology!” • President Zhou promoted the environmental benefits of China’s draconian family planning policy—400 million fewer births results in 18 million fewer tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions a year.

8. Feminist advocates have noticed a “disturbing return to neo-Malthusian arguments linking population with the food and climate crises” in the Zero Draft for Rio+20where some UN agencies claim ‘early stabilization of world population would make a crucial contribution to realizing sustainable development.’ • Demographers claim that ‘slowing population growth, makes many environmental problems easier to solve and development easier to achieve.’ These arguments represent a serious regression from the Rio, Cairo and Beijing agendas. • Rio+20 must be clear that policy responses to population reaffirm the Cairo principles to prioritize women’s and girls sexual and reproductive rights and health in the context of fulfilling sustainable livelihoods, meeting basic needs, protecting their rights, and creating an enabling environment for their empowerment, leadership and political participation.”

9. What the simplistic equation, more population more GHGs, does not take into account is that all people do not have the same levels of consumption and carbon footprints among varied populations differ considerably. • Thus reducing the fertility of poor women, the target of a lot of population control programs, whose carbon footprint is very small, would not necessarily lead to decreases in GHG emissions. • A much more direct way to decrease GHG’s would be by reducing consumption, particularly of those whose GHG emissions is much greater.

10. One-sixth of the world’s population lives in countries with extremely low rates of consumption, including energy consumption. These countries are also countries with higher rates of population growth and hence are the target of population control advocates. They argue that it is the large and growing populations of these countries that threaten climate change.

11. A narrow focus on reducing birth rates ignores the other demographic factors that are part of the population-climate change equation. • For example, urbanisation trends, immigration patterns and, perhaps most importantly, per capita resource consumption, all interact with population size to affect the environment. • From a demographic perspective, it makes no sense to single out only one factor—birth rates—as the problem and the solution. Indeed, the other demographic forces may eclipse birth rates as the drivers of environmental decline. Climate change strategies that do not address these other factors are doomed to be ineffective.

12. Climate justice advocates insist that equitable climate change strategies should not displace responsibility for carbon emissions upon those least responsible for them. According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the largest emissions of greenhouse gases (both historical and current) originate in developed countries. • Industrialisedcountries with 20% of the world’s population are responsible for 80% of the accumulated carbon build-up in the atmosphere. • By contrast, per capita emissions in developing countries are low. For instance, according to the International Energy Agency Report (2009), in 2007, US per capita emission was 19.10 tons of CO2 per person, compared to 0.25 tons of CO2 per person in Bangladesh. In parts of the developing world such as sub-Saharan Africa, where population growth rates are high, CO2 emission rates are very low. • Due to their low level consumption, the impact on climate is negligible.

13. A Fair Share Level (FSL) Approach to Climate Control integrates equity and consumption considerations. A particular global average of emissions per person is determined. • Countries mired in energy poverty are differentiated from those living above that level. • FSL strives to move people out of energy poverty while addressing the consumption of high level consumers, advocating for convenient fuels and greater access to electricity.

14. As a matter of human rights, women’s right to control their own fertility should not be sacrificed to protect the environment. Nor is that sacrifice necessary. • Cutting CO2 emissions through new energy saving technologies and changed consumption patterns would do a great deal more to protect the climate. • For example, increased public transport, fuel-efficient cars and a reduction in the number of automobiles would have a greater, more immediate impact on reducing climate change than reducing birth rates, especially the birth rates of the lowest level consumers.

15. Women’s bodies should not be the vehicle for climate change solutions, but concern for the impact of climate change on women should prompt effective as well as rights- respecting efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE).

16. The Good News • United Nations has refused to link population control and Climate Change in the Copenhagen Accord. The academic and policy literature on gender and climate change, also does not consider population control and lower fertility rates as an appropriate mitigation strategy to deal with CC. • Rather, there is a clear recognition that undue emphasis on population reduction to address CC would jeopardize decades of work to advance multi-faceted rights respecting, environmentally sound and equitable development models.

17. Addressing demographic concerns in the context of CC • The National Adaptation Plans of Actions (NAPAs) that are drawn up by countries to address CC are the appropriate place to consider legitimate demographic concerns. Many NAPAS include greater access to family planning as a part of an agenda for adaptation while prioritizing the welfare of poor communities affected by climate change.

18. There is a concern that an over emphasis on population stabilization to reduce CC could backfire and reduce the donor funds needed to appropriately address family planning. Donor countries are obliged to contribute to programs and policies to address climate change.

19. If family planning, for which they already make funds available, is considered a key strategy to reduce carbon emissions, they could shift their funds for family planning as their contribution towards this effort. In this way, other much needed efforts to reduce carbon emissions would be left unfunded by donor countries

20. Climate Change Exacerbates Inequalities including gender inequalities • The United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 10/4 of 25 March, 2009 notes that the effects of CC will be felt most acutely by those segments of the population that are already vulnerable owing to geography, gender, age, indigenous or minority status and disability.

21. Climate change will compound existing poverty. Its adverse impacts will be most striking in the developing nations because of their geographical and climatic conditions, their high dependence on natural resources, and their limited capacity to adapt to a changing climate. • Within these countries, the poorest, who have the least resources and the least capacity to adapt, are the most vulnerable. • Projected changes in the incidence, frequency, intensity, and duration of climate extremes (for example, heat waves, heavy precipitation, and drought), as well as more gradual changes in the average climate, will notably threaten their livelihood further increasing inequities between the developing and developed worlds. • Climate change is therefore a serious threat to poverty eradication. However, current development strategies tend to overlook climate change risks

22. Asia-Pacific Region: Vulnerable to Climate Change The Asia-Pacific encompasses some of the world’s most vulnerable regions such as the Ganges/Brahmaputra valleys, Bangladesh and the Maldives and the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu. The region is home to many small island states, features arid and high mountain zones and densely populated coastal areas that are considered particularly vulnerable to CC. Rising sea levels are a particular threat to islands that are risk being submerged. Increasing deforestation is another cause of CC and the region is home to many tropical and temperate forests. For example, Indonesia lost 28 million hectares of forest due to logging. Nepal and parts of Northern India and Pakistan have also lost a great deal of forest cover. They have experienced landslides and Pakistan has already been confronted with heavy flooding and unusual weather patterns.

23. Asia Region and Inequalities The Asia Pacific region is also characterized by gender inequality and the low status of women. Climate change will exacerbate these inequalities. The region is also home to many indigenous peoples who will also be made more vulnerable by CC especially because of their greater dependence on forests and other natural resources to meet their subsistence and livelihood needs. The region is already home to climate change refugees, also known as climate change forced migrants, who have to shift to other places to meet their livelihood needs.

24. Key Sectors Impacted by CC • Agriculture and Food Security • Energy • Water • Forests Women are key providers of food, fuel, and water and are positioned to address resource constraints. They are leaders in environmental struggles and important for fashioning locally appropriate and viable solutions to Climate Change.

25. As the literature on gender and development has teased out these impacts on women they are now calling for women’s particular vulnerabilities in each of these sectors needs to be addressed. They are also underlining women’s roles as leaders in efforts to combat CC. The research has also underlined the broader implications of CC and environmental degradation on social sectors such as health and education. • This paper does not reiterate the impact of CC on women, but treats women’s SRH as a subsector of women’s health. It extends the work on gender and CC to spotlight the impacts on SRH.

26. Spotlighting SRH in each Sector to determine how best to safeguard the SRH of women and girls in the context of CC

27. Agriculture and Food Security • Climate change is predicted to reduce crop yields and food production in some regions, especially the tropics. • The shrinking of agricultural resources and lands will have a very negative impact on women’s access to this important resource that provides food for their families. • In the Asia region women are responsible for 56% of household food production.

28. The loss of land productivity that could result as a result of climate change would lead to a fall in crop yields and a corresponding rise in food prices. This would make pregnant women particularly vulnerable and can affect maternal health. It could lead to low birth weight babies and to higher risks of child mortality. Without adequate adaptation, the International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that by 2050 there could be an additional 25 million malnourished children

29. Important thus to address the social and cultural factors that lead to differential access to food , especially in the Asia region that would only be exacerbated during times of food shortage and price rise. • Lack of food and poor nutrition is especially critical in the context of pregnant and lactating mothers and can lead to child malnutrition. Thus food security is a critical component of women’s SRH and is also important as food security provides the basis for women to be able to exercise their right to have children. Food security is an enabling condition for meeting women’s SRH.

30. WATER • Climate Change dries up water resources reducing the drinking water available. This leaves the poor more dependent on less reliable sources of water. Poor quality H2O, leads to an increase in vectors and to more favorable conditions for spreading viruses associated with temperature and heat. • Pregnant women are more susceptible to water borne diseases and malaria. Malaria leads to anemia which is responsible for one quarter more increases in maternal mortality .

31. As water resources also become more unreliable and erratic as a result of climate change, women have to walk further to fulfill their household water needs. Going further distances for water collection poses a risk factor for girls and women as their vulnerability to sexual assault and harassment increases. This is even more so in areas of conflict. • Given the high density of conflict zones in the Asia Pacific region, this is a particular SRH concern.

32. Forests/Energy • The Asia Pacific region is rich in forest cover and large sectors of the population depend on forest resources, especially indigenous peoples. • Climate change also has very negative impacts on natural resources and the accessibility of the vulnerable to them

33. Women are the primary users of household energy. As the availability of traditional fuel sources and energies becomes increasingly commoditized, scarce, and expensive the feminization of poverty is exacerbated. As women venture further way from their homes, women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment which can greatly impact their SRH.

34. Health • There is also evidence that longer walks with heavy loads have a negative health impact on women and in Uttaranchal, the heavy loads carried over long distances in search of firewood has led to 30% higher rates of miscarriages compared with national averages

35. The loss of medicinal plants to treat ailments that are found in forests would particularly affect resource poor women who rely on these plants for various treatments. Many of these plants are used to treat the SRH issues of women and girls

36. Climate Induced Disasters • The Asia Pacific region is one of the most disaster prone regions in the world (World Disaster Report, 2009. ) • Along with CC comes increasing exposure to disasters- floods, tsunamis, and heat waves.

37. Several studies indicate that disaster mortality is higher for women because of differences in vulnerability. For example, following the 2004 Asian Tsunami, Oxfam found that in many villages in Aceh, and in parts of India, females accounted for 70% of the dead. In the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone that killed 140,000 people, 90% were women and girls

38. There is a high incidence of mortality among mothers during disasters and an increase in infant mortality. There is a lack of access to essential services after disaster, especially Family planning and SRH services, which results in higher risks of mortality among pregnant women. • Women and girls are more sexually vulnerable in times of natural disasters as the protection they have from their partners and families is in disarray. Post disasters there is an increase in girls getting married at an early age, school drop out, sexual harassment, trafficking and prostitution, and more risk of transmission of SRH • Violence against women, both from intimate partners and unknown men, rise after disasters

39. As a result of the impacts of CC on natural resources and due to displacements as a result of disasters, there are increasing climate induced migrants and climate refugees often find themselves in unsafe circumstances where they are vulnerable to sexual harassment

40. Programs Underway • There are several programs underway globally and in the Asia-Pacific region that enable women to better adapt to CC. These programs are small in scale and scattered. None of them directly deal with issues of SRH but indirectly address some of the issues associated with CC that has an impact on women’s SRH.

41. Recommendations to promote and protect SRH in the context of Climate Change • Research: Develop the evidence base regarding both the direct and indirect linkages between CC and SRH

42. Recommendations • Incorporate issues of SRH in the National Plans of Action (NAPAS). The NAPAS should include greater access to rights-based family planning that prioritizes the welfare of poor communities affected by CC

43. Recommendations • Increase investment in Rights Based Family Planning Services • Family planning should be made more available to enable communities to adapt to the harmful effects of CC • Ensure that disaster relief resources, strategies, and tools include and address SRH

44. Recommendations • Identify the key policy, resource, and institutional gaps to ensure that issues of SRH and CC are a priority in the future • Support civil society interventions that empower women to hold governments accountable for the types of policies they develop and to ensure that mitigation and adaptation strategies address and include the SRH needs of women

45. Recommendations • Advocate for greater collaboration between development, environment, health and women’s organizations at national and international levels • Respond to gendered vulnerabilities and support women’s leadership in CC responses and CC adaptation strategies

46. Some further questions for discussions • What are other recommendations that we could collectively think about to ensure that there is greater attention to the SRH of women and girls in the literature and future policy advocacy to advance women’s rights in the CC arena?

47. Do you know of programs in the Asia Pacific Region that address issues of CC and SRH ?

48. Thank you and once again my sincere apologies for not being able to be here to learn from you.