Effective Solutions

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Abel, G. J., Barakat, B., Kc, S., & Lutz, W. (2016). Meeting the sustainable development goals leads to lower world population growth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(50), 14294–14299. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611386113 

What is the research about?

This study quantitatively demonstrates that policies that advance female education and reproductive-health access can be a huge help in reducing world population growth. The results show a broader range of scenarios from previous United Nations population forecasts. Previous U.N. population predictions do not include the substantial impact that policies based on their own Sustainable Development Goals could have.

What are the key takeaways?

World population would peak around 2060 and reach 8.2–8.7 billion by 2100 if education and reproductive-health goals were met. This is based on an assumption of a 20% reduced fertility rate from fulfilling the unmet need for contraceptives in developing countries.

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Alkaher, I., & Carmi, N. (2019). Is Population Growth an Environmental Problem? Teachers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Including It in Their Teaching. Sustainability, 11(7), 1994. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11071994

What is the research about?

This study surveyed educators about their perceptions about whether population growth is an environmental issue and what their considerations are for including the issue in their teaching. 

What are the key takeaways?

There is a gap between the severity of population growth as an environmental issue and the public’s knowledge of the issue, which could be bridged by population growth being included in school curricula. Environmental teachers were more likely than non-environmental teachers to perceive population growth as an environmental problem. Environmental teachers were also more likely to have the perception that population growth affects ecosystems and humans. Non-environmental teachers were more likely to focus on how population growth is responsible for resource depletion rather than how it affects ecosystems and humans. Improved teacher training is important for expanding competence in teaching about population growth as an environmental issue and being able to facilitate discussions around what can be a controversial topic.

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Allendorf, T. D., & Allendorf, K.,. 2012. What Every Conservation Biologist Should Know about Human Population. Conservation Biology, 26(6), pp. 953–955. 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01919.x

What is the research about?

This editorial describes the mechanisms that led to the relatively recent explosion of the human population and recommendations for policies that conservation biologists can support.

What are the key takeaways?

The conservation biology community’s continued support for family planning is important because even though global fertility rates are on the decline, there are still over 200 million women worldwide with an unmet need for contraception. Additional factors, like demographics and household composition, influence the effects of population. Reducing consumption can be encouraged through context-specific ways that appeal to rational choices for individuals’ needs.

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Campbell, M., Cleland, J., Ezeh, A., & Prata, N. (2007, March 16). Return of the population growth factor. Science, Vol. 315, 1501–1502. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1140057

What is the research about?

This article discusses how human population growth affects the Millennium Development Goals and how addressing unsustainable growth can help meet those goals.

What are the key takeaways?

Addressing population growth isn’t the only way to meet the Millennium Development Goals, but if availability of family planning services isn’t improved it could hinder reaching the goals. It is critical to remove barriers to accessing family planning resources, especially those that are not evidence-based, such as requiring that patients be menstruating or requiring husbands’ permission.

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Casey, G., & Galor, O. (2017). Is faster economic growth compatible with reductions in carbon emissions? The role of diminished population growth. Environmental Research Letters, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/12/1/014003   

What is the research about?

This study looked at the impact of fertility rate on carbon emissions and economic output. First, the flexibility of carbon emissions based on population, age structure and economic output was estimated. Then, using an economic-demographic model of Nigeria, it estimated the effect of lower fertility on economic output.

What are the key takeaways?

Currently, environmental policies seeking to mitigate climate change, such as carbon taxes and cap-and-trade policies, balance environmental benefits against lost economic output. More research is needed to better understand how changes to population growth factor into climate predictions and policies. Lower fertility can both increase income per capita and lower carbon emissions, even without considering economic damages from climate change. The study found that by 2100 moving from the medium to the low scenario of the U.N. fertility projections results in 35% lower yearly emissions and 15% higher income per capita. 

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Cottingham, J., Germain, A., & Hunt, P. (2012). Use of human rights to meet the unmet need for family planning. The Lancet, 380, 172–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60732-6

What is the research about?

This study examines how human rights can be used to develop policies by finding and eliminating barriers to family planning access through making human rights legally defensible in countries’ laws.

What are the key takeaways?

Human-rights laws can be used to hold governments accountable in removing barriers to contraceptive services. Current surveys are likely underestimating the unmet need for contraception because they only include married or cohabitating women who are not using a modern method of contraception and who do not wish to become pregnant. Unmarried women and women using a method that is unsatisfactory are usually left out. Men are not directly asked, since women surveyed are expected to report their partner’s use.

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Ehrlich, P. R., & Pringle, R. M. (2008). Where does biodiversity go from here? A grim business-as-usual forecast and a hopeful portfolio of partial solutions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(SUPPL. 1), 11579–11586. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0801911105 

What is the research about?

This paper reviews a series of strategies that can be implemented to help conserve biodiversity, which include: slowing down human population growth and consumption; converting cities to be more beneficial to wildlife; better metrics to track the economic costs of habitat destruction; and creating a major shift in attitudes by making nature more accessible to everyone. 

What are the key takeaways?

Academic research in the conservation biology realm is important for building our knowledge and assessing what tools are available, but more tangible action is needed. In order to bring about the necessary change, large-scale, creative strategies must be used. Scientific outreach is a critical element of spreading expertise gained in academia outside its immediate institutions and fields so that the benefits can be widespread.

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Engelman, R., & Johnson, D. (2019). Removing Barriers to Family Planning, Empowering Sustainable Environmental Conservation: A Background Paper and Call for Action. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e6b90bee358cd73ba608c4e/t/5ee62e12b3fb1839cc3730c3/1592143391181/Thriving+Together+Background+Paper.pdf

What is the research about?

This extensive report gives a holistic overview of the how “barriers to family planning are not only relevant to those who are passionate about improving health, gender equality, empowerment and economic development, but also to those who are passionate about the conservation of biodiversity, the environment and sustainability.”

What are the key takeaways?

Even small declines in fertility can have ripple effects that dramatically slow down population growth over time. Fulfilling the unmet contraceptive needs of hundreds of millions of women worldwide is an equitable and ethical solution that will also benefit conservation efforts. Those involved in academic research, developing policy, and environmental conservation efforts should mobilize.

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Frischmann C.J., Mehra M., Allard R., Bayuk K., Gouveia J.P., Gorman M.R. (2020) Drawdown’s “System of Solutions” Helps to Achieve the SDGs. In: Leal Filho W., Azul A., Brandli L., Lange Salvia A., Wall T. (eds) Partnerships for the Goals. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71067-9_100-1 

What is the research about?

This study discusses Project Drawdown’s solutions, which are targeted at reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases, and how the same solutions can also contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

What are the key takeaways?

The Drawdown solution “Health and Education” has the most connections to the Sustainable Development Goals compared to all the other solutions analyzed. It includes two rights-based measures to lower world population growth by 2050: (1) universal right and voluntary access to reproductive healthcare and (2) universal access to quality primary and secondary education. These two solutions are intertwined and are stronger when implemented together because improved access to education can result in improved family planning actions. Likewise, effective voluntary family planning can ensure individuals are able to continue and complete their educations. It is key to make voluntary reproductive healthcare a legally enforced right as it supports women’s reproductive autonomy and helps to ensure gender equity.

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Gaffikin, L., & Engelman, R. (2018). Family planning as a contributor to environmental sustainability: Weighing the evidence. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 30(6), 425–431. https://doi.org/10.1097/GCO.0000000000000489  

What is the research about?

This review looks at two different pathways for how family planning is connected to the environment: demographic and personal. “Demographic” evaluates how the availability of family planning helps prevent unplanned pregnancies and the impact that has on fertility. “Personal” explores the empowerment and autonomy women gain when they can choose their family size. Since the relationship between population growth and the environment isn’t always a clear-cut cause and effect relationship, other methods should be explored to help us better understand the interaction. 

What are the key takeaways?

Even though population is a key factor in climate-adaptation plans, more resources to support family planning programs is rarely suggested as a mitigation tactic. There is plenty of evidence to back up the concept that family planning could provide benefits to sustainability efforts. Collaboration across fields like public health and conservation could efficiently reach sustainable-development goals.

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Greguš, J., & Guillebaud, J. (2020). Doctors and overpopulation 48 years later: a second notice. European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care, Vol. 25, pp. 409–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/13625187.2020.1821356

What is the research about?

This commentary encourages doctors to speak out about how continued population growth exacerbates environmental and health problems like climate change, biodiversity loss and pandemics.

What are the key takeaways?

Doctors should be advocating for proven rights-based policies, helping remove barriers to accessing family planning, supporting gender equity and educating others on the consequences of population growth.

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Grossman, R. (2010). Birds and Bees for Biologists. Conservation Biology, 24(6), 1435–1436. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01593.x  

What is the research about?

This editorial makes the case for how and why conservation professionals need to be talking about human population growth.

What are the key takeaways?

Conservation professionals are well situated to teach people about how human population growth and unsustainable consumption affect the natural world and how smaller families and reduced consumption can help. 

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Guillebaud, J. (2016). Voluntary family planning to minimise and mitigate climate change. BMJ, 353. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i2102

What is the research about?

This analysis explains why we need to decrease our consumption and slow down population growth. Simply put, in addition to shrinking our carbon footprint, we need to reduce the number of feet. Voluntary family planning is promoted as a key solution to help us achieve both.

What are the key takeaways?

There are three components to the equation used to calculate humanity’s impact (Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology), but population is often left out of the conversation or accepted as a set outcome, not one that can be influenced by policy. Access to voluntary family planning is important in countries with high fertility, but also those with high emissions, like the United States, where there’s still an unmet need for reproductive health access. Improved messaging and education around the environmental benefits of family planning will help more people make the connection between their individual choices and the broader impacts they have.

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Jensen, J. T., & Creinin, M. D. (2020). Family planning, population growth, and the environment. Contraception, 101(3), 145–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2020.02.003  

What is the research about?

This editorial provides an overview of how population growth and our consumption are connected in determining human impacts on the planet. We’ve been overconsuming and outpacing the amount of resources the Earth can regenerate in a year since the 1970s and the global population has nearly doubled since then.

What are the key takeaways?

Population is the most effective variable to address both in developing countries with high birth rates and in developed countries with high rates of consumption. Voluntary family planning is an important component of broader social justice work that typically focuses on reducing inequality and all countries share in the responsibility of reducing future population growth.

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Jones, I. J., MacDonald, A. J., Hopkins, S. R., Lund, A. J., Liu, Z. Y. C., Fawzi, N. I., … Sokolow, S. H. (2020). Improving rural health care reduces illegal logging and conserves carbon in a tropical forest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(45), 28515–28524. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009240117  

What is the research about?

This study evaluated the effects of a program intended to expand healthcare access and use for communities living near a national park in rural Borneo. This was done with clinic discounts offsetting costs historically paid through illegal logging. There were also conservation, education, and alternative livelihood programs offered to residents.

What are the key takeaways?

The program was able to serve more than 28,400 unique patients. Clinic usage and visitation frequency was highest in participating communities. The most engaged villages also experienced the greatest reductions in logging. This reduction in deforestation resulted in an improved carbon storage capacity of trees.

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Kopnina, H., Washington, H., Lowe, I., & Irvine, S. (2020). Scientists’ warning to humanity: strategic thinking on economic development, population, poverty and ecological sustainability in the Mediterranean and beyond. Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration, 5(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-019-0139-4

What is the research about?

This article explains how both population growth and consumption patterns are at the root of unsustainability and environmental degradation.

What are the key takeaways?

We need to reimagine alternatives to current pro-growth economic models and embrace voluntary solutions to population growth while being sensitive to context. Since national population growth rates vary around the world, solutions to slow population growth need to address the unique cultural, social and political landscapes of each country. 

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Margaret Pyke Trust, C. C. F.,. 2018. The importance of human reproductive health and rights for cheetah conservation.https://margaretpyke.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/D1-Cheetah-Report.pdf

What is the research about?

This report discusses current cheetah ranges in seven different African countries, along with their unique conservation concerns and the human population trends of surrounding areas.

What are the key takeaways?

Human and cheetah health are interconnected as the continued effects of climate change will affect both and increase the frequency of human-wildlife conflict through sprawl of human settlements driven by desertification. Human health challenges like unmet need for contraception and improving voluntary and rights-based family planning must also play a part in conservation strategies. Helping women and girls avoid unintended pregnancies enables them to complete their education and become more politically and economically active.

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Mayhew, S. H., Newman, K., Johnson, D., Clark, E., Hammer, M., Mohan, V., & Ssali, S. (2019). New partnerships, new perspectives: The relevance of sexual and reproductive health and rights for sustainable development. Health Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.03.010

What is the research about?

This commentary critiques past and current sexual and reproductive health and rights actions in practitioner and policy spheres and presents future directions in the context of climate change and the One Health concept.

What are the key takeaways?

Connections between such actions and the environment are often easily accepted at the community level but face skepticism at the policy level. Those who hope to change this need to overcome the norm of working in silos in their fields and sectors. Collaboration and innovation will help to support successful sustainability and rights-based programs for the interconnected challenges of these issues.

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McShane, T. O., Hirsch, P. D., Trung, T. C., Songorwa, A. N., Kinzig, A., Monteferri, B., Mutekanga, D., Thang, H. Van, Dammert, J. L., Pulgar-Vidal, M., Welch-Devine, M., Peter Brosius, J., Coppolillo, P., & O’Connor, S.,. 2011. Hard choices: Making trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and human well-being. Biological Conservation, 144(3), pp. 966–972. 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.04.038

What is the research about?

This paper discusses the importance of recognizing the reality of gains and losses of choices made when working toward conservation and human development goals.

What are the key takeaways?

Recognizing that promoting solutions simply as win-win without a hard look at potential losses can set conservationists up for disappointment. Addressing tradeoffs can help develop realistic expectations and longer lasting outcomes. For example, in Peru biofuels were promoted as a renewable energy source without addressing the subsequent deforestation that would result. Social, political and economic context need to be taken into consideration.

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Mohan, V., & Shellard, T. (2014). Providing family planning services to remote communities in areas of high biodiversity through a Population-Health-Environment programme in Madagascar. Reproductive Health Matters, 22(43), 93–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(14)43766-2 

What is the research about?

This paper reviews the experiences of Blue Ventures, a marine-conservation organization, working in Madagascar incorporating family planning into its conservation and sustainability work. The group was able to improve access to family planning services using its existing community-based conservation program.

What are the key takeaways?

Conservationists gained additional ways to engage with local communities by including family planning services. Addressing conservation, sustainability and family planning together created cost-saving efficiencies. There are also improved synergistic outcomes, like more contraceptive use, that can increase women’s involvement in natural resource management, which would not be possible if issues remained siloed. 

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Potts, M., Mahmood, A., & Graves, A. A. (2015). The pill is mightier than the sword. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 4(8), 507–510. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2015.109

What is the research about?

This commentary discusses examples of how rapid population growth can lead to a disproportionate percentage of young people compared to other age groups. This can contribute to a society becoming more conflict-driven, especially in combination with other related stressors like resource competition.

What are the key takeaways?

Women’s empowerment through education and voluntary family planning are key elements for autonomy over their bodies and lives. Education and access to family planning resources usually leads to having children later, spacing them out more, and overall smaller families. In countries where birth rates are falling, children who graduate school are more likely to be employed and contribute to a more stable society.

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Speidel, J. J., & Grossman, R. A.,. 2007. Family planning and access to safe and legal abortion are vital to safeguard the environment. Contraception, 76(6), pp. 415–417. 10.1016/J.CONTRACEPTION.2007.08.003

What is the research about?

This editorial makes a series of recommendations for how family planning services, including abortion, must be improved for the health and well-being of people, families and the environment.

What are the key takeaways?

The rapid human population growth that has happened in the past 50 years has contributed to an unprecedented rate of environmental degradation. A significant portion of the annual population growth in the United States is due to unintended pregnancies. Globally 137 million women who want to prevent pregnancy face barriers to contraception access currently use no method and 64 million use less effective methods like withdrawal or fertility awareness. There need to be increases in the funding and research of contraceptive and abortion technologies to overcome barriers of effectiveness, safety, expense, and side effects that currently impede use.

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Speidel, J. J., Weiss, D. C., Ethelston, S. A., & Gilbert, S. M. (2009). Population policies, programmes and the environment. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 364, 3049–3065. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0162 

What is the research about?This paper explains various examples of how human activity affects the environment, population growth trends and challenges to reducing population both globally and in the Unites States, case studies of successful family planning programs, why this issue has been neglected and recommendations for future action.

What are the key takeaways?

The Unites States is experiencing higher population growth than many other developed countries and unintended pregnancies are a major contributor to that. Lack of comprehensive sex education and public funding for family planning services are cited as some of the main barriers the United States faces in reducing unplanned pregnancy rates. The United States needs more research and discussion about population impacts on the environment, improved access to family planning education and resources, including abortion.

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Weber, H., & Sciubba, J. D. (2019). The Effect of Population Growth on the Environment: Evidence from European Regions. European Journal of Population = Revue Europeenne de Demographie, 35(2), 379–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-018-9486-0

What is the research about?

This study analyzed the effect of population growth on carbon dioxide emissions and urban land use change in 1062 regions within 22 European countries from 1990 to 2006.

What are the key takeaways?

Regional-level analyses can provide stronger evidence, separating the population effect from national differences in policies or culture. There was a positive correlation between regional population growth on carbon dioxide emissions and urban land-use increase in Western Europe. Eastern regions do not have the same relationship because population is decreasing there.

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Wolf, C., Ripple, W. J., & Crist, E. (2021). Human population, social justice, and climate policy. Sustainability Science 2021, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1007/S11625-021-00951-W 

What is the research about?

This study reviewed 212 climate mitigation policy commentaries from the past 20 years to determine how frequently the 6 different solutions from the world scientists’ warning of a climate emergency, as well as mentions of social justice, appear.

What are the key takeaways?

Population and social justice appeared least frequently compared to other solutions such as energy, pollution reduction, nature, food and economy. Population policies that are designed to empower individuals, like improved education and healthcare access have the potential to mitigate 85 Gt CO2-eq over the next 30 years.

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Worldwatch Institute. (2016). Family Planning and Environmental Sustainability: Assessing the Science. Retrieved from www.worldwatch.org.

What is the research about?

This report inventories the available research to see if there is empirical evidence that greater use of family planning, in both high-income and low-income countries, contributes to environmental sustainability through two main pathways: the empowerment of women and the slowing of population growth. 

What are the key takeaways?

Despite evidence supporting the benefits of family planning, there wasn’t a direct confirmation of the connection between family planning and sustainability, but there also wasn’t evidence to refute it. Key papers are spotlighted that address specific components like how the use of contraception lowers fertility, the impact of slower population growth on the environment and the role population growth plays in biodiversity loss. There is hope that the continued study of these linkages will produce more scientific evidence that will support family planning advocacy and policy.

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Wynes, S., & Nicholas, K. A. (2017). The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions. Environmental Research Letters, 12(7), 074024. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541 

What is the research about?

The study considers a broad range of individual lifestyle choices and calculates their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries. This study also reviewed the prevalence of recommendations for certain actions in government resources.

What were the key takeaways?

Many individuals are concerned about climate change and want to know which of their personal choices make the biggest difference for the climate. The study identified 12 actions, including four recommended actions that are of substantial magnitude throughout the developed world: having one fewer child, living car free, avoiding air travel, and eating a plant-based diet. Each of these actions was high impact (reduces an individual’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 0.8 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year). Having 1 less child saves 58 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, compared to the next highest action of living car-free, which saves 2.4 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Government resources on climate change from the European Union, United States, Canada, and Australia focus recommendations on lower-impact actions. 

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