World Wildlife Fund

Frequently asked population questions

• Why is WWF working to reduce population growth if it is slowing down globally?
   
• What is WWF doing to address the environmental damage caused by population growth?
   
• What is WWF's position on abortion?
   
• I thought WWF was a conservation organization. Why is it getting involved in family planning and health?
   
• How does WWF decide where to engage on population issues?
   
• What is WWF's strategic advantage in working on family planning?
   
• Is migration a bigger threat to conservation than natural population growth?

Why is WWF working to reduce population growth if it is slowing down globally?
Although global population growth is slowing down, this change is occurring mainly in post-industrial countries. In many developing nations growth is still continuing at a rapid rate. The world's population reached 6.7 billion people in 2007 and the United Nations expects it to reach 9.1 billion by 2050 (medium estimate). This is a huge number of additional people and extra pressure to place on the world's finite resources, habitats and natural processes. Much of this growth will occur in places with high biodiversity value, such as Coastal East Africa and the Eastern Himalayas.

What is WWF doing to address the environmental damage caused by population growth?
WWF is working on many levels with the public and private sectors to:

• Implement pilot programs to help meet unmet need for family planning in remote rural areas of developing countries.
• Educate girls who otherwise would not receive schooling.
• Promote sustainable uses of natural resources in several of WWF's 19 priority places such as the Coral Triangle, Congo Basin, Coastal East Africa, the Eastern Himalayas and Madagascar.
• Launch advocacy efforts at home and abroad to change policies and generate funding for voluntary family planning programs - particularly in WWF's 19 priority places.
• Reduce the negative effects of human migration on biodiversity in both places of origin and destination. These interventions include supporting improved livelihoods in places of origin to prevent migration, and strengthening the ability of local residents to protect their natural resources in areas of destination when migration does occur.
• Improve consumption patterns to help reduce individuals' 'ecological footprint' - including initiatives in developed countries where per capita impacts are greatest.

What is WWF's position on abortion?
WWF does not work on abortion issues and therefore does not take a stance on this issue. WWF observes the national laws of the places where we work and the legal requirements of accepting certain donor funds for population work. For example, WWF does not give USAID population funds to non-US non-governmental organizations that support abortion, in accordance with the U.S. government's Mexico City Policy.

I thought WWF was a conservation organization. Why is it getting involved in family planning and health?
The health sector is not able to provide access to family planning everywhere in the world. To direct limited resources to the most people, it usually focuses on easily-reached areas with high population density such as cities and accessible rural areas. Often the biodiverse places where WWF works are very remote and difficult to access with relatively sparse populations. These areas usually have high fertility rates coupled with poverty, poor health conditions and environmental degradation.

In many of these places WWF is well-positioned to facilitate access to health services and family planning since we already work in close partnership with these communities. To ensure quality implementation we bring in health partners as needed.

How does WWF decide where to engage on population issues?
WWF works on population issues at the global scale because of the impacts of global population growth on biodiversity, natural resources and human welfare. At the local and regional levels, WWF determines its population actions based on global population trends analyses indicating priority areas for action; place-based evidence that there is population pressure on resources, or concern that it will occur; and community requests for support. We also take into account the availability of donor support for particular areas.

What is WWF's strategic advantage in working on family planning?
WWF is a multinational conservation organization, protecting nature in 100 countries. At the local level, our unique way of working offers several advantages that benefit both people and nature:

• WWF brings family planning and basic health services to some of the most remote, underserved, insecure and traditional communities in the world. We help to fill gaps in health sector coverage, including unmet needs for family planning in some of the poorest rural communities, to benefit communities and slow the pressure of population growth on biodiversity.
• As well as family planning, WWF typically works with communities on a range of activities such as basic health, livelihoods and more sustainable management of the community's natural resources and biodiversity. Healthier communities with smaller, well-spaced families are better stewards of nature and are more economically secure because they have sustainable livelihoods. Communities are generally more motivated to collaborate on conservation issues when they learn that WWF considers their immediate and long-term well-being to be part of its mission.
• Linked environment-population-health messages are more meaningful for many decision-makers than single issue advocacy and this can help influence policy and donor funding. As a respected global conservation organization, WWF is able to dramatically expand the target audience for messages about family planning - moving beyond the traditional audience reached by the health sector.

Is migration a bigger threat to conservation than natural population growth?
Both migration and natural population growth are pressing concerns. Migration has the potential to be a more urgent problem because it is more difficult to predict and prepare for and can happen much more quickly than natural population growth. It is likely to become a greater challenge in the future due to climate change, globalization of world trade, accelerating environmental degradation, civil unrest and continued natural population growth.

Even though natural population growth happens more slowly than migration, in the timeframe of a generation it can still have huge environmental impacts and is not reversible. In 2007 world population reached 6.7 billion. It has nearly tripled in the past sixty years and is projected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050 - almost all this future growth will be in the world's least developed countries. This is a huge number of additional people and extra pressure to place on the world's finite resources, habitats and natural processes.