A UN-backed campaign has been launched to help tackle the destruction of wildlife by boosting people’s access to contraception.

Growing human populations often underlie the destruction of nature, and barriers to family planning are the “most important ignored environmental challenge”, say the campaigners.

The Thriving Together campaign, launched on World Population Day, unites more than 150 reproductive health and conservation organisations, which spend a combined £8bn a year in 170 countries. The groups say they intend to work together to both improve the lives of people and arrest the huge losses of biodiversity by reducing population growth.

“There is very often an overlap of areas facing the greatest need for improved reproductive health services and for conservation,” says a declaration signed by the groups, which include the UN Population Fund, the Jane Goodall Institute and Marie Stopes International. “We believe that by working together we can help human communities and their ecosystems thrive.”

The Goodall institute has provided family planning services as part of its work since 1994, and its founder said bare hills had been returned to forests as women chose to have smaller families. “With more and more people being born and wanting a better standard of living, it is clear that ‘business as usual’ will destroy the natural resources of our planet,” Goodall said. “We only have a small window of time to change things and it is closing fast.”

David Johnson, the chief executive of the Margaret Pyke Trust, which provides contraceptive training to clinicians and which coordinated the campaign, said: “The existence of barriers to family planning is the most important ignored environmental challenge of our day, but this changes now. It is your right to have as many children as you like, but the problem is that many people are not having the number of children they want.”

Phionah Orishaba, a teacher involved with a crane conservation programme in Uganda, said: “Every day I see the impact that not having access to family planning services has on us women and the environment. Women wanting contraception must do a dangerous six-hour walk to a clinic. Many children are hard to look after. The people are poor and there are no jobs, so they drain wetlands to grow potatoes. They know the cranes need the wetlands to nest and don’t want to hurt them, but what choice do they have?”

She added: “We are now working with the Margaret Pyke Trust because the women want it and we know that healthcare will be good for both women and the crane.”

Matt Jackson, of the UN Population Fund, said: “We work to achieve zero unmet need for contraception. Conservation organisations play an important role in achieving this vision by working with communities to ensure sustainability, prosperity and empowerment so that people and planet can live in harmony. Together we can achieve our pursuit of rights and choices for all.”

Robin Maynard, of Population Matters, said: “Thriving Together recognises and celebrates that the actions which address human population growth are positive, not negative. This isn’t about coercion or putting animals ahead of human beings. Barriers to family planning – whether political and religious or economic – are barriers to better lives for human beings.”

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Many scientists believe a sixth mass extinction is under way, largely driven by the destruction of wild habitat for farming and timber and by overhunting. The human population is forecast to grow to 9.7 billion by 2050.

The impact of the growing population has been debated for many years, and some commentators argue that overconsumption by people in rich nations is a bigger environmental threat than population growth in poorer countries.

Goodall said: “Wasteful and excessive consumption, so common in wealthier countries, is having devastating impacts on the natural resources of our planet. We must tackle human – and livestock – population growth and unsustainable lifestyles.”

Sir David Attenborough has frequently expressed concern about human population growth. “All of our environmental problems become easier to solve with fewer people, and harder – and ultimately impossible – to solve with ever more people,” he said in 2013.