IPS, AlertNet report on health issues resulting from climate change

May 31 2012

Inter Press Service examines the relationship between climate change and family planning in least-developed countries (LDCs), writing the "double challenge of mitigating climate change and combating crushing poverty makes improving reproductive rights and promoting gender equality imperatives that can no longer be delayed, according to several recent reports and agreements." IPS highlights several reports and agreements, including an agreement between U.N. Women and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) that "aims at tackling gender inequality in the 75 OIF member states, most of which are also LDCs"; an agreement between U.N. Women and the European Union "to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations in their work on gender equality"; and the Royal Society of London's People and the Planet report, "which focuses on reproductive rights and social justice as cornerstones of global economic sustainability" (Godoy, 5/30).

In related news, AlertNet reports on an increase in malnutrition as a result of climate change in some countries in South Asia, writing, "Malnutrition is worsening in developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India because of the impacts of climate change -- particularly on water resources, a key input for producing food for more than a billion people in the region." The news service writes, "Climate change, growing use of food crops as a source of fuel and soaring food prices are three major challenges that threaten efforts to overcome food insecurity and malnutrition according to 'Impact of Climate Change and Bioenergy on Nutrition,' a joint report [.pdf] by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization" (Shaikh/Tunio, 5/29).