Reducing population growth and climate stress through better education of girls

April 13, 2016 by Stephanie McCauley

girlsedA proactive and cost effective way to address climate change is through girls’ education. Better educated women have fewer children, as World Bank data shows the difference between women with 0 and 12 years of school is 4-5 children/woman. Such a reduction in future populations could contribute greatly to reducing emissions and lowering demand for natural resources. Additionally, education can improve health, livelihoods, and adaptation knowledge.

Climate Protection: Lowers emissions from population growth Resilience: Introduces women to alternate livelihoods and ways to adapt to climate change Food & Water: Decreases stress on food and water resources Jobs & Assets: Allows for families to save money by providing for fewer people Health, Well-Being, & Safety: Improves the health of women and children Connection: Increases women’s connection to each other and society

This post is part of a series on examples of ​multisolving, or climate-smart policies that simultaneously work to mitigate climate change while providing co-benefits such as the ones described above. The multiple benefits analysis was done using the ​FLOWER framework.