“Holding Up the Sky: Women, Population and Climate Change”, a report prepared by the University of Gujrat (UOG) as Pakistan Supplement to the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) State of World Population Report 2009, was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 at Copenhagen (Denmark) the other day.

Federal Minister for Environment Pakistan, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, Afghan Minister for Environment Ahmed Yusuf Nuristani and Chairman Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Dr. R. K. Pachauri were present in the conference. Director Sustainable Development Division of United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs Mr. Tariq Banuri and a large number of other international experts attended the conference.

Pakistan faces multi-dimensional challenges due to climate change. The UNFPA’s State of World Population 2009 and its Pakistan Supplement examined how family planning, reproductive healthcare and gender relations could influence the future course of climate change? The supplement highlighted how climate change poses threats that could increase the incidence of poverty to put further burden on the already marginalized sections of population. Report stressed that climate change will potentially endanger the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable groups, besides exacerbating gaps between the rich and the poor, and amplifying inequalities between men and women.

A leaflet titled “Climate Change and Population in Pakistan” was also distributed along with the report. The leaflet was prepared jointly by the Government of Pakistan’s Ministry of Environment (MoE), the UNFPA and the UOG to serve as a tool to raise awareness on climate change in Pakistan and abroad, particularly at the Copenhagen Conference. The report and the leaflet were considered by the experts to be substantive for research efforts from Pakistan.