According to Leo Bryant, a lead researcher on a World Health Organization study on population growth and climate change, contraceptive advice to people of developing countries is extremely 'crucial' as it could help fight climate change by slowing population growth.

The study, published in the British medical journal Lancet, said that the 'stigma' attached to birth control, in developing as well as developed countries, was proving to be a notable hindrance in critical progress in terms of battling climate change.

Noting that policy makers should not shy away from the pertinent issue, Bryant - advocacy manager at the family planning group Marie Stopes International - said: "The ability to choose your family size is a fundamental human right. But lack of access to family planning means that millions of people in developing countries don't have that right!"

Going by the statistics put forth by the study, over 200 million women round the worldwide want contraceptives, but do not have access to them; resulting in 76 million unplanned pregnancies every year. Experts opine that if those women had access to birth control methods, population growth rates can be slowed; thereby easing the pressure on the environment - as there is a supposed link between population growth and environmental affects.

Bryant said that though the population problem is widely acknowledged, steps to address the problem are "very much a minority sport."