Written by Louisa Yokmme Ntaji, Population Connection Early Career Fellow | Published: July 31, 2025
The number of internally displaced people continues to reach record highs as the combination of conflict and escalating climate change batter the world’s most vulnerable communities. From the devastation of Cyclone Freddy in Southern Africa in 2023 to the wreckage left by Hurricane Helene in the southeastern US in 2024, the toll of inaction is measured in lives lost and communities shattered. Yet, as the planet warms and storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires grow stronger, the question remains: Will we continue to only try to repair and rebuild after disaster strikes, or will we finally act to prevent the worst?
Climate change is the defining crisis of our time, and we need to use every tool available to tackle it. Overconsumption has rightly been identified as the primary driver of rising emissions, and most climate solutions therefore focus on reducing per capita consumption. The cruel irony is that the places where emissions are lowest — low- and middle-income countries — are the places that are being devastated by high consumption in wealthy nations.
Meanwhile, population growth is blatantly overlooked (and often even rejected) as a significant threat multiplier and is excluded from most countries’ mitigation and adaptation action plans. This, despite the fact that our global population, currently estimated at 8.2 billion, is projected to surpass 8.5 billion in 2030 and 10 billion around 2060, with the areas most vulnerable to the climate crisis experiencing the fastest growth.
We cannot ignore this simple fact: As the population grows so does the number of individuals consuming fossil fuels, forest products, and food, as well as the number of people exposed to disasters. A rapid transition to renewable energy is desperately needed, but it would not — on its own — negate the compounding effects of population growth.
It’s frustrating that population growth is missing from mainstream climate policy discussions when thousands of the world’s top climate scientists are clear on the climate implications of a growing population (the technical reports produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identify population growth, economic growth, and technology as the three main determinants of future emissions, but the summary for policymakers willfully ignores population size as a driver).
This is not just an oversight; warnings about overpopulation and its environmental consequences are often met with evasion or outright dismissal. Retreating from the conversation ignores an important climate change solution and also ignores the needs and desires of women desperate to manage their own fertility and reproductive health. There are 257 million women around the world who have an unmet need for modern contraception, meaning that they want to delay or stop childbearing for at least two years but are not using contraceptives. This situation has become even more prevalent since the United States froze foreign aid and completely zeroed out family planning assistance.
The fact is that population stabilization is necessary for reducing emissions and securing a stable climate that ensures the health and safety of future generations. The alternative—pretending demography doesn’t matter while our emissions soar—is to be complicit in a future that renders large swaths of the planet uninhabitable, where the poorest people will pay the steepest price.
Reproductive autonomy is a critical tool for women’s empowerment, sustainable development, and effective climate action. When women can plan their pregnancies, they are more likely to stay in school, join the workforce, and help build resilient, thriving communities.
The climate crisis demands that we confront all its drivers. To do this, we must reframe the narrative: The wealthiest people, companies, and countries must stop consuming fossil fuels at unsustainable levels and commit to advancing the transition to renewable energy, and all countries must invest in high-quality, affordable, voluntary family planning education, outreach, and services for all women, men, and couples who want to determine their own reproductive futures. Millions of lives depend on it.
Louisa Yokmme Ntajii is Population Connection Early Career Fellow and a Legal Fellow at The Advocates For Human Rights, where she contributes to human rights reports and submissions to UN and regional human rights mechanisms, as well as other materials. She also supports engagement with current and former clients of the Refugee and Immigrant Program and is involved in training and building relationships with global human rights defenders.
Louisa entered the field of human rights as a Legal Assistant and later as a Legal Researcher at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in The Gambia.
She earned an LL.M. in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa from the University of Pretoria in December 2019.
Louisa is motivated by a deep commitment to justice, human dignity, and the power of advocacy to create meaningful change.
