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
Fonte: UN