Philip Otieno: Documenting the linkages between population growth, reproductive health, gender and climate change

PHILIP OTIENO [email_address] KENYA YOUNG GREENS

INTRODUCTION Kenya seeks to be a middle income economy by the year 2030 through a blue print called vision 2030 and some of the challenges identified towards realizing this vision include; High Population Growth, and gender, and proposes to: undertake advocacy and public education on the effects of population change on development; and to mainstream government policies, plans, budgets and programmes towards achieving gender equity. Some NAPAs identified population growth, as one of the impediments to adaptation strategies and proposed family planning as a way of mitigating the impacts, However, there is no clear evidence whether such plans are being funded hence the motivation to investigate the real connections with a particular focus to Kenya During disasters, some parents find it had to evacuate their younger family members due to their numbers and in extreme cases are forced to surrender them sometimes based on gender.

Objectives To lobby climate change policy makers to include reproductive health, population growth and gender issues in climate change adaptation policies, action plans and legislations To lobby for the international policy making on climate change to incorporate gender dimensions in adaptation strategies and reproductive health issues To encourage humanitarian, public health, and population services organisations incorporate climate change in their work and with a focus on gender dimensions of climate change impacts and reproductive health

METHOD This work was done through analysis, review and synthesis of government reports, plans, strategies and policies focusing on vision 2030, population, reproductive health, disaster, gender and climate change Several reports and policy brief from various credible agencies were analysed Keyword searches in world wide web were carried out to get a wide range of available literature Various Institutional libraries visits were made to obtain literatures Data was organized per counties to promote thinking among various players in climate change response since the counties will be semi autonomous with regard to the new constitution -they will be making independent critical decisions that will affect response to climate change

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN KENYA According to the 2007 environment report, Kenya is vulnerable to the following impacts of climate change: Sea level rise and coastal erosion Glacial Meting of Mount Kenya Increase in temperature causing expansion of ecological niches of some disease vectors like mosquitoes Extreme events, in particular floods, droughts and landslides among others

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POPULATION GROWTH, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, GENDER AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE It is a multiplying factor to the vulnerabilities that exist in households, communities and regions and also hinders the adaptive capacity too Eg. the budgetary allocation for a family of 6 to food, housing, education will be larger compared to one of two resulting into either of the following: Quality or quantity of such services or products will be compromised in a move to take care of every one, delaying escape from poverty exacerbating vulnerability; where both quality and quantity can still be met, resource allocation for development plans is threatened. This goes up to government budgetary allocations e.g. in free primary education.

Reproductive Health It is the best remedy to address the consequences of high population growth, Family planning for example helps in delaying, spacing, and limiting number of children that couples plan to have depending on their preferred family size, and time of child bearing which is also instrumental during evacuation in cases of climate disasters.

Gender Women and men are impacted by climate change differently largely to due to their gender roles, they also tend to respond to climate change differently hence the need to take cognisance of gender in response to climate change

FOCUS ON EXTREME EVENTS IN KENYA (DROUGHTS, FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES) Counties commonly affected by drought in Kenya Baringo, Laikipia, Turkana, Samburu, Narok, Kajiado, Marsabit, Isiolo, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Tana River, Kilifi, Kwale.

Flooding Floods normally occur in Kenya following heavy rainfall which affects lowlands forcing people living in these areas to move to higher grounds. Slum dwellers in towns who have erected informal structures near rivers also bear brunt of floods. Flooding is a recurrent phenomenon in Kenya taking toll on infrastructure thereby costing the government millions of Shillings in reconstruction. Each year several people are also reported dead or injured.

Counties Commonly Affected by Floods Kisumu county esp. Kano plains and Nyakach and Kisumu town; Homabay county and Rachuonyo district in particular; Migori county- Nyatike constituency ; Kilifi; Kwale; Tana River County;- Tana River Basin; Garissa; Wajir; Ijara; Nairobi; Nakuru - Nakuru town; Mombasa town; Busia county- ; Budalangi in particular .

Landslides They usually occur during the rainy season. According to the report, the following are the most vulnerable counties to landslides: Murang'a, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, parts of Meru, Kisii, Nyamira and Mombasa island These are areas with annual rainfall of over 1200mm and steep slope

Fig. 1. Kenya County maps showing vulnerability to extreme events

POPULATION DYNAMICS AND THE EXTREME EVENTS IN KENYA High population growth has been identified in the ministry of special programmes strategic plan as one of the factors that increase vulnerability to disasters Kenya's population has been on a steady increase. With a bigger % being those of dependants Kenya's population according to 2009 population and housing census was 38 610 097 up from around 28.7 million in 1999. The population growth rate stands at around 3% /year which essentially means that every year over 1 million people are born. From the 2009 census report children ( ages 0 to 14) are representing 42.9 % of the total population

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SITUATION IN KENYA In Kenya, the proportion of women who want to space or limit the number of children constantly on the increase If these women are able to access better family planning services, coupled with reliable sensitization, then the high fertility rate resulting into higher population growth will be substantially reduced hence easing pressure on natural resources and and also securing manageable households include ease of evacuation events in case of emergencies

Table 1: Trends in total fertility rate, in Kenya 1975-2008 Year Total Fertility Rate 1975-78 8.1 1984-88 6.7 1990-92 5.4 1995-97 4.7 2000-02 4.9 2006-08 4.6

Family Planning Knowledge of Family Planning Knowledge of family planning methods in Kenya is almost universal with 95% of all women between the ages 15- 49 knowing at least one method of family and 97% of men However, women have heard about more than one contraception than men.

Current Use of Contraceptives in Kenya Among the married women, 46% are currently using contraception. Modern methods of contraception are more commonly used at 39% than the traditional methods 6%. There has been an increasing trend in contraceptive use in Kenya as indicated below.

Trends in Contraceptive use, Kenya 1978-2008 ( % age of married women using any method) Year Percent 1978 7 1984 17 1989 27 1993 33 1998 39 2003 39 2008-09 46

Knowledge of Fertile Periods Only 24 % of women understands that a woman is most likely to conceive halfway between her menstrual periods. Almost one-third wrongly believe that the fertile period is right after a woman's period has ended, 11% believe that there is no specific fertile period.

Source of Contraception Percentage distribution of users of modern contraceptive methods by source of method Sou rce Percent Distribution to users Government Facilities 57% Private Medical Sources 36 Other Private sources ( e.g. shops) 6 Community Based Distribution Systems < 1

Future Use of Contraception 50 % of currently married female non-users say that they intend to use family planning in the future 40 % do not intend to use it 5 % are unsure The reason for not intending to use include fear of side effects and health concerns Exposure to Family Planning Messages 3 in 10 women; 1 in 4 men has not been exposed to family planning messages through the media 69% of women and 71% of men hear family planning messages through the radio

Contact of Non-users with Family Planning Providers Only 5% of women who are not using any family planning method are being reached by field- workers to discuss family planning issues Need for Family Planning In 2008- 09 KDHS survey, 26 % married women had an unmet need, which was split between unmet need for spacing births and unmet need for limiting births With 46% of married women currently using contraceptive method ( met need), the total demand for family planning is 71 % of married women

Government Funding for Family Planning According 2009/2010 budget analysis for the health care sector by GTZ, the govt spent 39.9 B KSh of resources (approx. 7% of the total estimated govt. budget The total Govt budget increased by 15.4% from 2008/09 to 2009/2010 The proportion allocated to the health sector increased from 6.7% in 2008/2009 to 7% in 2009/2010. Allocation for Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health declined by 15%

GENDER DIMENSIONS TO ADAPTATION TO THE EXTREME EVENTS IN KENYA Water in our houses In 49% of households, women are responsible for water Collection adult women are 6 times more likely than adult men to be the ones to fetch water in rural households Fuel Around 84 % of households use solid fuel for cooking The most common fuel is wood, used by close to 63% Households using wood in rural are 83% Urban households rely mainly on Charcoal (41%), kerosene ( 27%) Household heads Of 8.7 million households in Kenya, around 28.9 % are female headed

Gender Disparities in Kenya which could lead to more Vulnerabilities 3 % of Kenyan women own title deeds Female representation in top most levels of civil service which are the senior decision making positions is only 16 % Only 6 female PS as compared to 38 male PS 50% of female headed households are poor as compared 48.8% of male headed households in rural areas 46 % of female headed households are poor compared to 30 % of male headed households in urban areas Out of the 54 government participants to the COP 16 12 were women

GOVERNMENT OF KENYA'S RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN RELATION TO THE POPULATION GROWTH, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND GENDER 1.Population Growth The government through its vision 2030 seeks to Manage pop. growth and trends for Kenyans by reducing pop. to 2.4 % by 2012 Review the population policy which was last reviewed in 1989; Increase knowledge and awareness on population and development issues

2.Gender The vision 2030 has a goal to gender equity in participation, resource distribution and socio-economic opportunities by seeking: To Mainstream gender issues in policies, programmes and M & E framework To institute policy changes and legislation to increase women representation at all levels in government and private To domesticate regional and international instruments on gender The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development has facilitated formulation of a draft National Social Protection Policy The Ministry has also developed a Gender Mainstreaming Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

3. National Climate change Response Strategy Only identifies gender mainstreaming in the forestry sector Acknowledges high pop growth as a driver to forests degradation but no proposal to sustainable pop growth Climate Change bill will be introduced in parliament in June this year as private member bill

4. Draft National Disaster Policy The policy proposes gender issues to be considered right from the initial stage of response to emergencies but only comes clear in mentioning gender consideration in personnel employment, prevention and Monitoring and reporting gender based violence Other gender considerations are however, not mentioned It is only male condoms that have been mentioned Seek to implement comprehensive reproductive health services

International Policy Response to Adaptation The UNFCCC did not mention gender The Adaptation Fund has three components which could be useful in securing gender mainstreaming, reproductive health and population growth. These include: Strategic priorities; Guidelines ; and the composition of the Adaptation Fund Board Members The Cancun Agreement (The LCA)mentioned gender six times which is very good. However, there is need to find out if that is enough, since earlier texts during the intercessions had more words on gender

Conclusion and recommendations There is still a lot of gaps in promoting gender equality and equity in policies both at national and international level particularly in regard to response to climate change and some of the equally significant areas which could help in enhancing adaptive capacity like sustainable population growth Policy making at national and international level need to mainstream gender into adaptation plans and also promote sustainable population growth through voluntary family planning Non state actors also need integrate population growth, and gender into their adaptation plans

Acknowledgement Kenya Natural disaster profile developed by UNDP Enhanced Security Unit 2009 Kenya Census Report KDHS 2008-09 GTZ Kenya Budget Analysis

Philip Otieno: Documenting the linkages between population growth, reproductive health, gender and climate change

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