Reuters examines role of family planning at Durban climate change talks

"[W]ith studies suggesting that 215 million women around the world want -- but cannot get -- effective contraception, making sure birth control methods are available to those who want them could be one of the cheapest, fastest and most effective ways of addressing climate change, experts said at the U.N. climate conference in Durban" this week, AlertNet reports. "But getting U.N. climate negotiators to even mention the controversial issue is nearly as difficult as getting them to agree on a long-delayed new global climate treaty," the news agency adds.

"One of the problems is that successfully lowering birth rates -- particularly in the countries with the highest growth -- needs to happen alongside a range of other interventions, said Dr. Helen Rees, a reproductive health expert at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg," Reuters writes, listing future family security, low child survival rates, and lack of education as issues that need to be addressed (Goering, 12/5).