African researchers on linkages between family planning and environmental sustainability

Robert Engelman, Worldwatch Institute
Yeneneh Terefe, Worldwatch Institute
Joyce Yang, Worldwatch Institute

The Family Planning and Environmental Sustainability Assessment engages researchers around the world to evaluate evidence that the use of family planning contributes to environmental sustainability. We collaboratively select and assess peer-reviewed scientific literature published after 2004—scanning 920 papers so far—that sheds light on the linkage. A conceptual framework hypothesizes two causal pathways: empowerment of women and slowing population growth. Among our preliminary findings is that African researchers are well-represented among the hundreds of articles deemed relevant to the family planning-environmental sustainability linkage. African researchers appear more likely than those in developing countries elsewhere to identify population pressure as a constraint to sustainable development and to call for expanded use of family planning. This work illuminates important research connecting demography, reproductive health and environmental sustainability. It identifies research gaps and will be useful for family planning advocacy, policy-making and program development in Africa and around the world.