Focused Discussions (Asynchronous Session)
Empowered, Smaller Families are Better for the Planet : How to Talk About Family Planning and Environmental Sustainability View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Celine Delacroix
Voices are increasingly raised to address the linkage between global population size, family planning, and environmental sustainability. Capitalizing on this linkage could not only help improve environmental outcomes, but also advance reproductive rights by increasing their acceptability, scope and funding. However, connecting these issues is often avoided or outright rejected: Population reductionism is a mechanism whereby the complex ethical questions raised by the linkage between reproductive rights and environmental sustainability are downplayed and/or avoided. We reflected on ways to frame this issue to make it more attractive and acceptable to policy makers, researchers, and the public at large. We delved in social change movement studies to explore the role that framing could play to influence the success of a social issue, and reviewed existing advice on how to communicate related messages. We elaborated a strategic communication roadmap to promote the operationalization of the family planning and environmental sustainability linkage, centered on individual empowerment, and proposed a global rallying cry that reflects the public’s heightened concern for climate change and environmental degradation: “empowered, smaller families are better for the planet”.
Climate Induced Farmer-herder Conflict over Common Pool Resources in Northern Ghana View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Benjamin Bilalam Jabik
Changing climatic conditions affect the availability and quality of common pool resources. Using structured and semi-structured interviews and interacting with community elders, herders and farmers, this study revealed there existed varied levels of relationships between farmers and herders but of recent times, the relationship have been more of conflicts. Hitherto, the two bodies co-existed, cooperated, and shared common resources. However, with the changing climatic conditions of recent time, manifested in the form of rising temperature, varied precipitation leading to floods and dry spell, and storm, affect common pool resources such as water bodies, forest, and vegetation. The effect directly causes herders to migrate from one place to another which rather intensifies competition for the resources. In times of floods, herders migrate upland and, closer to water bodies if they experience drought. In both instances, competition for the resources intensifies leading to destruction of farm produce, killing of herds and at time human lives. The relationship is further aggravated by the intensification of dry season farming activities as a climate change adaptation approach by farmers, which are often closer to the water bodies. These leads to competition for the resources either to farm, graze, drink or irrigate crops. The conflicts at time escalates to violence, loss of lives and destabilization of peace and security. Since climate change effects are intensifying, the frequency and intensification of agro-pastoral conflict is likely to increase. This requires a conflict reduction lens to the climate induced conflict over common pool resources.
