Focusing on Gender and Reproductive Justice in Climate Change Work

The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), an NGO focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights in Asia, has released a new climate justice-themed issue of its ARROWs for Change publication.

In In Search of Climate Justice: Refuting Dubious Linkages, Affirming Rights, the organization criticizes the linking of population control efforts to climate change work, citing disparities between rates of population growth and levels consumption, and the ways in which attempts to simply reduce birth rates ignore other demographic factors (such as per capita consumption) that contribute to climate change concerns.

Most important, perhaps, are concerns that population control strategies “have inevitably led to abuses, coercion and the violation of women’s fundamental rights,” and the argument that “women’s rights to control their own fertility should not be sacrificed to protect the environment.” The authors note women’s vulnerability to adverse effects of climate change, and argue that women’s bodies should be looked at with concern for the effects of climate change on women, not looked at as the vehicle for climate change solutions.

Several pieces in the publication further explore this topic, and resources for further reading are also listed.