CONTINUING COVERAGE OF LAUNCH OF 2009 STATE OF THE WORLD POPULATION REPORT (SWOP); POPULATION AND CLIMATE; GLOBAL CLIMATE SUMMIT

AFP reported 12 December that a planetary chain of protests headed by a mass rally in Copenhagen cranked up the heat on problem-plagued talks to build a pact to roll back climate change. “Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, even though they contributed the least to it,” says UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. The poor are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and the majority of the 1.5 billion people living on $1 a day or less are women. The State of World Population 2009 argues that the international community’s fight against climate change is more likely to be successful if policies, programmes and treaties take into account the needs, rights and potential of women. Read: AFP

IPS reported 8 December that Marta Lago and Norma Maldonado from Guatemala, who belong to the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN), criticised the free trade treaties signed by Latin American countries with the United States and the European Union in a panel at the international climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Women bear the brunt of climate change effects, Ms. Lago and Ms. Maldonado said, as UNFPA stated in its latest report. Read: IPS and in Spanish: IPS

REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE): Pari Africain, on 8 December, reported on the launch of the 2009 SWOP in Congo.

COSTA RICA: La Nacion published, on 7 December, a Spanish version of a previously published Nature noting that Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director, believes that countries are probably hesitant to speak about contraceptive methods help in fight against climate change, fearing that the speech will become population control. "We understand these fears," says Obaid, "but if all stakeholders would have access to contraception and family planning it would reduce population growth and would have an enormous impact on climate change.” Read in Spanish: La Nacion

ECUADOR: Hoy reported 12 December that in just five years, the Ecuadorian Coast will have disappeared from the earth's surface as a result of global warming, with catastrophic effects for Ecuadorians. Read in Spanish: Hoy

INDIA/UNITED STATES: IndiaWest (United States) reported 8 December on efforts to combat climate change, noting the SWOP report’s findings. "Helping women to make their own decisions about family size would protect their health, make their lives easier, help put their countries on a sustainable path towards development, and ensure lower greenhouse-gas emissions in the long run," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the UNFPA, as the report was released. Read: IndiaWest

NAMIBIA: Starbroek News reported 13 December that a binding international agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is what is expected from the climate talks in Copenhagen, but just last month the State of the World Population report called on leaders to factor in the human and gender dimensions of every aspect of the problem. The 2009 report, ‘Facing a changing world: women, population and climate’, concluded that climate change agreements and national policies are more likely to succeed in the long run if they take into account population dynamics, the relations between the sexes, and women’s well-being and access to services and opportunities. It said that slower population growth, for example, would help build social resilience to climate change’s impacts and would contribute to a reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in the future. Read: Starbroek News

ROMANIA: Multiple media outlets reported 9-10 December on the 9 December launch of the SWOP report in Romania. “Climate change leads the humanity in difficult situations. The rich are equipped to face the change and they can adapt easily. Those who consume less, who influence the climate less, they are also less prepared to face the problems brought by the change” declared Francois Farah, UNFPA representative in Romania. He also mentioned that “climate change represent an additional risk which only amplifies the vulnerability of the poor population that is not prepared to adapt.” Read in Romanian: Euractiv, MediaFax, NewsIn, Amos News, 9 AM (a), 9 AM (b), Wall Street, Romania Libera, Cotidianul, Feminis, EVA Club, Sanatatea, Profit Romania, Observatur de Constanta, Ziarul de Lasi, Gardianul,

UGANDA: The New Vision reported 8 December that reports on the state of the world and Uganda's population for 2009 published by UNFPA and the Population Secretariat paint a grim picture. Currently, Uganda's infant mortality rate stands at 76 deaths per 1,000 live births. Having many children still remains a status symbol, especially among the rural poor. But the more the children, the more the suffering due to the deprivation of human basic needs. Read: The New Vision

UNITED STATES: The Boston Globe published a column by Ellen Goodman 10 December on the global summit on climate change in Copenhagen as well as recent reports and initiatives on the links between population and climate change and related controversy. Ms. Goodman wrote,“One piece of the controversy is, of course, amply illustrated by the implication that some countries can maintain their high carbon diets by reducing births in other countries. As Robert Engelman, co-author of a recent UNFPA report, says, ‘There's a perception that wealthy countries with lower fertility rates are casting aspersions on poor countries with high fertility rates, blaming them for having too many children.’” Read: Boston Globe

VIET NAM: Viet Nam Television (VTV 1) broadcast, on 9 December, an interview with UNFPA Representative Bruce Campbell, in which he stated that the poor, especially poor women are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.  “The Government of Viet Nam is doing a number of very positive things at national, provincial district and commune level. Generally speaking, if we compare Viet Nam with other surrounding countries, we can see that this country has a very strong response to disasters when they happen,” Mr. Campbell explained. In order for women to be better prepared to deal with natural disasters and climate change, he said that the Government must continue to invest in women’s education, health services, economic opportunities, access to land rights and tenure and other areas associated with women’s empowerment, as gender equality is key to reduce women’s vulnerability to climate change.

ZIMBABWE: The Financial Gazette reported 11 December on the global conference on climate change, noting that, although the issue of climate change is shrouded in controversy as scientists argue over facts and nations trade accusations and counter accusations, the fact still remains: “Global temperatures are already climbing, so we have no choice but to adapt to changes we face now and to anticipate those we expect in the future,” said UNFPA in its latest State of the World Population 2009 report. “Climate change threatens to worsen poverty and burden the marginalised and vulnerable groups with additional hardships,” further warns the UNFPA report titled “Facing A Changing World: Women, Population And Climate.” Read: The Financial Gazette