Climate change is a serious challenge facing human society today. It is not just an environmental issue, as it affects every aspect of our social, economic, political and cultural lives. Ever since the publication of the fourth United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report (2007), climate change has risen in priority on the global political agenda. It is well established that human activities (production and consumption patterns) are to be blamed for the deterioration of the environment. While cutting carbon emissions, the main cause of global warming, is key to restoring our planet, current climate debates are reversing to neo-Malthusian theories of population control. The revival of the population stabilisation theory has serious repercussions to sexual and reproductive rights of women, especially poor women in developing countries. Feminists and reproductive justice activists caution us of the past coercive practices of population control programmes and how they violated the bodily rights of women.
This annotated bibliography complements the ARROWs For Change (AFC) bulletin vol. 15 no. 1 2009, “In search of climate justice: refuting dubious linkages, affirming rights”. The resources reviewed here were collected during and as part of the production of the bulletin. The compilation brings together different perspectives on the climate change and population debate, especially those that present an alternate, feminist and gender-sensitive view to the climate change challenge. It investigates linkages between climate change, population, and sexual and reproductive rights. The resources use climate and reproductive justice frameworks to counter the mainstream proposals on stabilising population growth.
The bibliography is organised broadly into three categories: those that provide a justice framework; those that put forth a population stabilisation argument; and those that propose to integrate gender and climate change. There are overlaps in these publications and not all these resources necessarily link the three issues – climate change, reproductive justice and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Other critical resources related to climate change and analysis of the follow-up on the Copenhagen conference is also provided.
