In many of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, populations are growing significantly faster than in the world as a whole. This rapid growth tends to exacerbate vulnerability at the household, community, and national level, as increasing human needs face growing strains from ever more damaging extremes of weather and water in a warming world. At the same time, rapid growth can undermine efforts to build resilience and adaptive capacity. Yet few climate change adaptation plans assess demographic factors in preparing for future climate change vulnerability.
This report brings together population, gender, and reproductive health indicators for the 80 most vulnerable countries in the world and highlights how the convergence of these trends creates significant challenges for resilience and adaptation over the long term. The report offers hope by showcasing community efforts in five countries that employ innovative policy and program approaches to advance gender equity, reproductive health and rights, and climate change adaptation in an integrated fashion. Scaling up such efforts offers significant untapped opportunity to strengthen both near-term and long-term prospects for adaptation and resilience.
