WINGS Reproductive Healthcare for Every Guatemalan

In support of WINGS’ dedication to reproductive health services and family planning education, recent research has linked family planning efforts to reducing human impact on the environment – the primary cause of global warming. A 2009 study by the London School of Economics found that preventing unintended pregnancies through family planning is the most cost effective approach to reducing climate change. 

According to the findings, every $7 spent on family planning would reduce CO2 by 1 ton, while it would cost $32 worth of conventional green technologies, such as hybrid cars and solar energy, to produce the same reduction in emissions.  The main conclusion: an investment in family planning is nearly 5 times less expensive as a means of preventing climate change than conventional green technologies.

As the study supervisor, Roger Martin, explains, investing in accessible family planning methods achieves two mutually exclusive goals: equality for women and the alleviation of harmful effects that population growth has on our environment.  “Including family planning as part of the solution is so easy, and so cheap, and would bring so many other social and economic benefits, from health and education to the empowerment of women.  It would also ease all the other environmental problems we face… the rapid shrinkage of¬ soil, fresh water, forests, fisheries, wildlife and oil reserves and the looming food crisis.” 

Currently more than 200 million women around the world report an unmet need for family planning, meaning they would prefer to delay or prevent pregnancy but lack access to family planning methods that would allow them to do so.  The study estimates that if this unmet need for family planning was addressed, more than 34 gigatons (billion tons) of CO2 would be saved by 2050 – equivalent to nearly 6 times the annual emissions of the US.  These reports provide further evidence supporting the importance of WINGS’ work in Guatemala.  Access to family planning education and reproductive health services allow women to plan the size and timing of their families based on their available resources, while also reducing the burden on Guatemala’s natural resources. 

WINGS’ newest program in the Petén, Guatemala’s northernmost department, is an example of the critical role that family planning plays in contributing to healthier communities and preserving the region’s precious biodiversity.  In collaboration with the Nature Conservancy and its Guatemalan partner organization, Defensores de la Naturaleza, WINGS offers family planning education and reproductive health services to nine communities living within environmentally sensitive areas of the Sierra del Lacandón National Park.  Education in the area is limited and even more so are resources for family planning information and services.  Through WINGS programming, education and access are being expanded and natural resources are being preserved.  

Across the world, despite the existence of abundant natural resources, countries are facing extreme poverty, poor health outcomes, and a continually escalating population growth rate.  By integrating family planning and environmental sustainability programs, issues like scarcity of clean water, malnutrition, poor health, and biodiversity loss are addressed in tandem and improvements are made on both fronts.