Tackling the climate emergency and reproductive injustice

The climate emergency is shaping the lives of women and girls across the world, impacting in devastating ways on their rights to bodily autonomy, to have children, to not have children, and to parent their children in safe and sustainable communities (the rights defined through the reproductive justice framework).

While it’s hard not to feel powerless in the face of these challenges, it is encouraging to hear about the amazing NGOs, academics and activists leading the fight-back.

Some of us from Birth Companions recently joined a host of these inspiring folk at a research event organised by the University of Edinburgh, providing opportunities for solidarity and hope, as well as examples of reproductive justice in action.

Rising temperatures and extreme heat in Sierra Leone are causing health problems for mothers and babies, and impacting on the health workers supporting them. The Mama Pikin Foundation has developed It is Hot!, an educational Krio language climate literacy tool, to support pregnant women, mothers and healthcare providers to cope with the increasing frequency of heat waves driven by the climate emergency.

In Somalia, climate-related loss of livelihood and conflict have forced millions of people to flee their homes. Amongst the internally displaced people living in informal, overcrowded camps for years on end, women and girls are extremely vulnerable, facing high risks of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence. Working with the University of Edinburgh, the SIDRA Institute conducts research to identify the challenges and shape pathways of care.

At Newcastle University, Dr Miranda Iossofidis interrogates the ‘eco-fascist’ agendas of NGOs who create terrifying visions of the future to justify their population controlling policies.

In Nepal, IPAS works to embed Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in local and national climate adaptation plans and The Global South Campaign for Dignified Menstruation tackles the stigma around menstruation that acts as a barrier to SRHR in communities affected by climate vulnerability.

And across the UK, charities like Birth Companions, Amma Birth Companions and others support pregnant women and mothers of infants seeking sanctuary from countries devastated by the climate emergency, amidst an increasingly punitive and hostile immigration system.

Birth Companions is committed to creating awareness of the impacts of the climate emergency on reproductive justice in the UK and to driving change to tackle this. Working with allies in the UK and around the world is surely the only way to make this happen. We look forward to further collaboration!

To discuss Birth Companions work on healthy environments during the first 1001 days, get in touch.