Impact of climate change, environmental degradation and natural disasters on women's livelihoods
Women and girls comprise a majority of the world’s poor. Due to their unequal economic, social, political, and cultural positions, climate change and environmental degradation have disproportionate impacts on women’s livelihoods, health, food and nutrition security, access to water and energy, as well as coping capabilities. Women, especially in rural communities, have to deal with environmental stresses and shocks and their aftermath, significantly increasing their burden of unpaid care work. Therefore, strengthening women’s access to and control over productive assets, such as land, and their participation in natural resource management and decision-making in the household and the community helps to mitigate such impacts on their lives and livelihoods. Expanding women’s capabilities and their environmental and social roles is indispensable for sustainable development.
Question 1: What types of livelihoods are most affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters?
Question 2: What approaches are important in strengthening women’s capacities to cope with environmental shocks?
Question 3: What can governments and other actors do to mitigate negative environmental impacts on women’s livelihoods?
1: After reading all the commentaries and responses, I’d say that is pretty clear that the livelihoods most affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters are those people who depends on land, forest, rivers, rain. Although in some areas the damage is more noticeable, everyone is susceptible. But when the population already suffers from a poor economy, the impact is much more noticeable.
2: as well-argued by Dieudonné, to adapt itself to climate change means to reduce the vulnerability to the current climatic risks. Even climate change affecting men and women, those last are more susceptible to feel the impact, because of the primary gender inequalities. It’s also necessary to stress out the importance of women in decision-making and changing. By empowering women to get decisions considering the climate impact on the livelihood of many populations, there’s a chance that it gets better results.
3: I guess the first step is to recognize the connection between environmental issues and gender, and also the gap between land and food rights and women rights. It’s necessary to integrate women in the policies and projects related to climate changes, it’s necessary to assure their rights.
Greetings,
The following compilation has been prepared by the ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC) in response to the e-discussion on women and the environment. This report includes the professional views of two experts. They have shared this feedback on behalf of the ILRC, but in their own capacity. Report available at:
Jacqueline
Jacqueline Gichinga
Senior International Program Associate
American Bar Association, Section of International Law
ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
1050 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
T: +1-202-662-1662
http://ambar.org/ilrc
Jacqueline.Gichinga@americanbar.org
Skype: jgichinga
Greetings,
The following compilation has been prepared by the ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC) in response to the e-discussion on women and the environment. This report includes the professional views of two experts. They have shared this feedback on behalf of the ILRC, but in their own capacity.
Please let me know if the ILRC can be of further assistance to you in connection with this research or with other recruitments of experts for particular in-country projects or more elaborate reviews of draft or current legislation. We are always happy to be of assistance!
Jacqueline
Jacqueline Gichinga
Senior International Program Associate
American Bar Association, Section of International Law
ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
1050 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
T: +1-202-662-1662
http://ambar.org/ilrc
Jacqueline.Gichinga@americanbar.org
Skype: jgichinga
Greetings,
The following compilation has been prepared by the ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC) in response to the e-discussion on women and the environment. This report includes the professional views of two experts. They have shared this feedback on behalf of the ILRC, but in their own capacity. Report available at:
Jacqueline
Jacqueline Gichinga
Senior International Program Associate
American Bar Association, Section of International Law
ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
1050 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
T: +1-202-662-1662
http://ambar.org/ilrc
Jacqueline.Gichinga@americanbar.org
Skype: jgichinga
Hi,
1. Climate change has a negative impact to women and their livelihood. We have to realize that tapped water is in fact a luxury for many. Those trees that are felled in the forest, affect the availability of water. This then means that women are forced more often than not to walk long distances in search of water which more often than not is not clean. Over time the scarce water sources are being put more and more under pressure.
2. When looking at the question of approaches important in strengthening capacity to deal with environmental shocks, we have to take cognizance of the fact that climate change is taking place everyday and unless measures are undertaken to mitigate the effects then everyone is affected, but most importantly women are affected. However when it comes to discussing policies relating to climate change, I feel, that these discussions should be taken to the grassroots where women are most affected by climate change. Empower women in proper agricultural methods. Realizing that there are certain crops that should be grown in certain areas that are would be better suited to the climate and amount of water available.
3. So as to mitigate the effects the negative environmental impacts, governments should allocate resources in setting up water points that are conveniently situated, taking into consideration the number of people in the community. Whether this is a pastoral community or an agricultural community. Similarly government can sensitize on water harvesting methods.
1. Climate change effects has specific impacts in the lives of women and men, specially in poor women,s lives due to their limited ability to recover from disasters (resilience). Rural women have lower resilience because that ability is determined by access to resources and decision-making processes to adapt to change. Gender inequality makes women one of the most vulnerable group to disasters. Furthermore women, in their role as the main caregivers in home setting, are specially vulnerable to climate change effects that mainly affect household like floods, landslides and earthquakes. To facilitate women’s participation is urgent to have knowledge on the conservation and maintenance of diversity and social reproduction.
2.
Development and environmental strategies to face climate change have been designed in two main areas: adaptation to extreme climate events, and mitigation of climate change causes.
Notes related to gender and adaptation:
Notes related to gender and mitigation
Q.3.
The challenges for public policy have to do with the need to generate a greater understanding of the link between climate change and gender: generating information, planning with equity and equality, strengthening capacities at national and local level, and ensure that all phases and aspects of the mechanisms and financing instruments associated with climate change include gender mainstreaming and empowerment of women.
I would like to raise the issue of women's land rights as being one of the root causes of vulnerability and with implications for livelihoods. I can recommend the new publication by Huairou Commission and United Nations Development Programme on grassroots women's approaches. The land rights issue is a fundamental inequality issue which is likely to worsen any outcomes from climate change impacts. I have pasted in below the link to the publication and just some of the strategies suggested. Apart from presenting research results, the report also contains a number of focused recommendations for grassroots women and their partners, and recommendations for development practitioners which can be transferred to other uses and users.
The Huairou Commission and The United Nations Development Programme 2014 Engendering Access to Justice: Grassroots women’s approaches to securing land rights
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/Democratic%20Governance/Access%20to%20Justice%20and%20Rule%20of%20Law/Engendering%20Access%20to%20Justice.pdf
The research highlighted the continuing vulnerability of African women to land injustice and the success
of a broad approach to ensure women’s access to justice developed by the grassroots women’s groups that
participated in and are the focus of this study. The components of the approach include strategies such as:
• community sensitization and training sessions on customary and statutory legal systems;
• community mapping;
• local-to-local dialogues with headmen, chiefs, and local leaders;
• the use of community paralegals for information, advice, and access to resources for grassroots women;
• the use of watchdogs to identify and highlight problems in a community; and,
• the development of partnerships with key stakeholders.
My contribution for this topic (Climate change) are:
Answer to question 1:
The lack of control of growing seasons and seed has a considerable impact on the productivity of food crops.
Answer to question 2:
- First of all, encourage scientific education for girls and women;
- Learn traditional and modern techniques conservation of food; to make a living during the seasons of low production;
Answer to question 3:
- Extensive research in the use of energy renewable like biogas;
- Encourage the use of improved cooking for homes.
In the slightest degree:
- Develop research in the meteorological field
- Develop research in seeds adapted
Climate Field Schools experiment of Indonesia is a very good exemplar in the direction of this discussion. (http://www.preventionweb.net/files/7895_index.pdf ). Women have an excellent potential to be trained as certified climate and crop advisors who can play a very influential change agent role through this route in order to up the ante in building the long term resilience towards climate shocks and disasters.
Question 1: What types of livelihoods are most affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters?
Rain-fed agriculture is one of the most sensitive sectors to climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters including droughts. Untimely rainfall can be a disaster in farming.
Question 2: What approaches are important in strengthening women’s capacities to cope with environmental shocks?
I present my case from my experience in rain-fed agriculture region of north-west India. Farmers can cope with one year of drought or disasters such as intense rainfall, frost or hailstorm. But when there are repeated harvest losses, farmers are forced to go in search of wage labour – men go out leaving women to care for household and farm work.
Women who are prohibited from interacting with men outside the household under normal conditions find it very difficult to arrange for farm inputs, contact various government departments and local government, and participate in the markets. Forming women’s groups and sensitising them to role of different institutions including Panchayat through exposure visits goes a long way in increasing their confidence to interact with these institutions.
Adaptation to climate change in farming has its limit. It has been shown that through livelihood diversification farm households can have access to regular income. For example, in peri-urban areas women can take up job work for making handicrafts and doing embroidery. Tradesmen come to their houses and provide them the raw material and then take the finished product to cities to sell. Incorporating dairy activities has helped women farmers to achieve a regular source of income together with better nutrition. Cooperative dairy societies have been very useful as besides purchasing milk they impart skills on animal husbandry, livestock health services, and provide insurance and other benefits to milk producers.
Promoting women’s access to institutional credit has helped women to take up non-farm activities. Voluntary organizations are helping women to take up weaving, tailoring and other vocations by providing production skills, finance and business management skills and even establishing market linkages.
It has been observed that increasing the contribution of non-farm activities to the household income increases resilience to climate variability and environmental shocks.
Question 2: Recognizing women’s vast environmental knowledge and experience as well as their great potential for resilience is key to building their adaptive capacities and strengthening their capacity to cope with shocks. This particularly entails integrating gender considerations into all adaptation initiatives – for instance, a project that creates freshwater diversions through construction of irrigation canals or dikes needs to ensure that women’s labour and time burdens aren’t exacerbated by water sources that are located further away from their households.
Another important aspect is the need to provide women with the opportunity to develop skills to diversify income sources, so that they are not exclusively reliant on precarious livelihoods related to exploitation of natural resources
Q 1: No matter where one may be positioned in the climate change debate it is difficult to dispute that an increase in weather variability in Australia has caused significant damage to rural communities. The impact of recent droughts, floods and bushfires is persistently evident. In light of this, an important issue to discuss is the inequalities experienced by rural women who are highly impacted by adverse social and cultural aspects of the rural lifestyle, limiting their contribution to the climate change debate. The term ‘rural women’ has many times been used to refer to women living on farms, Aboriginal women, retired women, women with disabilities, women with refugee backgrounds and single women. The reason they are among the most affected in Australia is that they have additional factors to contend with: isolation, lack of resources, and lack of access to women’s health services among others.
When social workers in rural communities were interviewed about the disproportionate effect of climate change on Australian rural women they noted the differences in household roles as a major factor. In many cases, women were identified as the purchasers and preparers of food and making day-to-day decisions about how the household runs. Class differences were a serious issue affecting women from lower socio economic backgrounds in terms of their ability to make proenvironmental decisions to withstand the affects of adverse weather conditions and rising cost of living in Australia. A particularly important issue was that faced by women in domestic violence disputations as they have limited access to money and purchase decisions, further reducing their capacity to make proenvironmental decisions for the household and themselves. Energy efficient utilities usually cost more than inefficient utilities making it especially difficult to assist vulnerable women to adapt and become more resilient to increasing electricity prices.
Q 2: According to the Global Gender Gap Report, Australia is ranked 24th out of 136 countries for the political empowerment of women. We see that with climate change comes additional challenges for Australian rural women but there are ways to combat the inequality. Creating informal networks and an inclusive conversation among women from rural communities is a powerful tool, and can be initiated by social workers. Recognising the diversity of Australian women and the differences between rural and urban women can help identify further challenges relating to specific aspects of the rural lifestyle.
Q 3: There are numerous actions that can be undertaken by the Australian government. Recently, much confusion has been caused by the arbitrary opposing views of political parties and a lack of government leadership regarding environmental issues. The government has mainly attempted to addressed the climate change issue in regards to consumer behaviour. And while this is one proposed avenue, when considered alone it fails to recognise that those who consume most of the resources responsible for causing climate change are the larger industries predominantly owned and controlled by men. Indeed women represent about 29.6% of elected positions in the Australian parliament, and 2.5% of board chair positions in the top 200 companies on the stock exchange, so have limited influence on the development of climate change policy. Initiatives within rural communities can contribute to a wider awareness of the disparities existing within Australia firstly so the participation of women in policy making can begin to increase.
I would just like to add on to this discussion as I totally agree with all the contributions so far. We live in a world where climates are changing rapidly because of our carbon footprints. In rural communities, many women rely on agriculture to gain a livelihood. In the face of climate change farmers suffer from these effects majorly, for instance climate change causing droughts and lack of rainfall for months which leads to no harvests or delayed harvests.
Like us these farmers don't have income protection policies or insurance companies paying for damaged agriculture from a natural disaster for example. In such events they must solely rely on governments for support.Furthermore, agricultural output is seasonal, perhaps we should help women come up with so to say a "alternate source of income" for example teaching them how to craft jewelry or tailor clothes for sale... just a thought...
Regards,
Jaslin
In the overall context of the e-discussions , a range of social protection instruments have been in vogue and note worthy among them include food vouchers, cash transfers et.al to address challenges in poverty alleviation, reducing vulnerability, building resilience or better development outcomes. What if some green innovation in their, design, purpose , implementation or impact measurement might be thought about to pro-actively address the gender challenges of green economy and thereby contribute to a deeper and wider engagement of women in not just coping with the frequent and intense climate climate shocks but also to make them central to the building of vibrant green economies around the world ?
Question 1: What types of livelihoods are most affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters?
Firstly, I would say that the main livelihoods which are most affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters are those related to land or sea resources, for instance farmers, fishermen, shellfish-gatherers among others; but I think that everyone´s livelihood is affected in some way. For example, if there was an earthquake and I work as a waitress in a hotel whose building is affected; my livelihood would be as affected as the farmer´s who sells vegetables to the hotel.
Question 2: What approaches are important in strengthening women’s capacities to cope with environmental shocks?
In my opinion would be great get the chance to teach them about topics related to this kind of issues. For instance: building stronger greenhouses or ships, allocating part of the annual budget for covering environmental shocks which could be solved in short-term, etc. We have to bear in mind that it depends on the size of the environmental shocks, because perhaps they would have to start from the beginning again.
Question 3: What can governments and other actors do to mitigate negative environmental impacts on women’s livelihoods?
The best option is teaching and training women to deal with this kind of situations. They need to have always a plan B in order to mitigate negative environmental impacts because sadly nobody can avoid them.
Just in addition to the very rich knowledge already shared below, here are my responses:
Question 1: I agree with all of us that all livelihood strategies are in one way or the other affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters. However, I feel that the livelihood cluster largely affected by the climate change currently are the rainfed farmers. This is due to erratic rainfall patterns and other weather conditions. Research has also shown that the high temperatures within the tropical areas has resulted to more crop disease infections, pests and post harvest losses.
The response on the most affected livelihood cluster when it comes to natural disasters can only be answered with a specific natural disaster and location in mind. This is because of the different types of natural disasters hit different locations with different geographical characteristics and livelihood types.
Question 2: I would propose a Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CM-DRR) approach that also incorporates the Drought Cycle Management (DCM) approach into it, especially for Horn and East Africa Region.This approach helps in identifying the capacities for the two gender and vulnerability groups within the communities we are working with. The approach also helps the women and the community as a whole have both development and contingency plans which enable them to continue with their development agendas even in the event that the natural or manmade shocks strike.
Q1: Food
Q2: Preparedness for natural disasters using the resources that can be found in their countries
Q3: Train and teach women in First Aid immediate response, do studies beforehand of possible landslides, fires, earthquakes, etc and tell women about those threats.
Q1: Mostly farming and livestock rearing.
Q 2: The most important approach will be education. Educating the girl child and subsequently the woman is the key to enabling women to better cope with these shocks.
Q 3: With the rising in negative environmental issues, government and local NGOs can encourage diversification. In some regions livestock rearing and farming are the only means of subsistence. In such cases diversification should be encourage.
Thank you to the organizers for creating and facilitating this interesting and important platform for exchange.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been working on gender and climate change issues for over a decade. It helped to establish the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) in 2007, for example, and has since worked with a wide variety of partners from national to local levels to ensure that responses to climate change protect the rights of women and empower women and men alike as leaders toward increased resilience and sustainability. Particularly in the last five years, IUCN Global Gender Office has supported 14 countries through processes to establish national gender and climate change plans – typically referred to as ccGAPs (climate change and gender action plans.) Depending on the governments’ interest or need, and at their request, ccGAPs mirror/complement key climate change plans - e.g. the national climate change strategy, NAPA, a national communication, etc. – to avoid being an ‘add-on’ or extra set of actions, but rather a prioritization of key gender-responsive interventions. These participatory, multi-stakeholder processes at once build capacities of government and civil society on both gender and climate issues, and generate prioritized action plans based on in-country discussion. The existing ccGAPs are now in various stages of validation, approval and implementation. (A more substantive summary of ccGAPs are available in The Art of Implementation: gender strategies transforming national and regional climate change decision making.)
The following contributions draw primarily from ccGAP experiences, but also many other experiences building capacity at multiple levels on gender and climate change and supporting institutions though gender and climate change strategic planning and project implementation.
Q1: What types of livelihoods are affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters?
It is well-known that women are responsible for 60-80% of subsistence food production across much of the developing word and particularly in rural areas. But all livelihoods based on the access to, use of and control over natural resources are already being wildly impacted by extreme weather events (e.g. droughts, hurricanes) and climatic changes over time (e.g. changes in weather patterns affecting crop cycles.) From drylands to forest communities to coasts, women’s reliance on healthy soil, fisheries, water sources, medicinal plants, forest products and much more are deeply affected by climate change and have widespread impact across families and communities. Beyond livelihoods directly tied to the natural environment, however, climate change arguably impacts the majority of livelihoods: extreme weather events and patterns and their impact on, inter alia, infrastructure, governance, and economy have profound implications for women’s sustained livelihoods – which are also affected by transport options, child care, education, access to insurance and credit schemes, etc. From ccGAP experiences, it is clear that climate change is impacting – or has the potential to impact – nearly every aspect of society.
Q2: What approaches are important to strengthening women’s capacity to cope with environmental shocks?
There are countless opportunities for intervention – that is the good news. The more challenging side of the equation is the reality that well-intentioned words on paper do not always find their way toward real and positive impact in people’s lives.
Nevertheless, first, policy coherence and adherence is essential. Most countries have policies to promote women’s rights and advance gender equality – but seldom are these well implemented (thanks to lack of, e.g., political will; resources,) or linked effectively with environmental policies and plans (in large part due to Women’s Ministries’ focus on ‘traditional’ gender issues such as violence against women, maternal health, etc., and environmental sectors being among those most deeply gender-segregated.) Every ccGAP has emphasized the imperative strengthening of cohesion and knowledge-sharing between sectors and Ministries, ensuring for example that gender mainstreaming is well understood, resourced, and sustained for impact. Women’s machineries/Ministries and organizations and networks also need to be supported and sustained to engage in key environmental issues and provide substantive advocacy and other support to policy-making, programming, and budgeting spheres, to name a few.
Secondly, women’s role, participation, and leadership in climate change- or environment-related decision-making is essential. The percentage of women in decision-making positions at all levels, in all countries, is generally woefully inadequate; however, when women are included in decision-making (which – generally speaking - also means are more likely to be able to access information) the results tend to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable (UN Women; 2010). Women’s leadership creates change. Here’s one example: concerned about the impact REDD+ might have on women’s insecure and discriminatory land tenure, access and use, REFACOF in Cameroon not only increased women’s representation to nearly 40% at all levels of decision-making on REDD+ across the country, which is having influence in ensuring gender-responsive REDD+ processes in that country now, but it proposed legislative reform on land tenure that succeeded through the Ministerial level and is now being reviewed by the President’s office. Through the lens/avenue of a climate change mechanism (in this case, REDD+,) REFACOF is making progress changing one of the persistent forms of discrimination against women and their livelihoods by working to transform land tenure. (Visit REFACOF for more; this post does not represent REFACOF but simply celebrates its efforts!)
Third, while ensuring women’s access to information and education is essential and should always remain a priority, women’s existing knowledge and capacity should not be underestimated. (This might fall into the now often overly rhetorical ‘women as agents of change’ category.) But ccGAPs from Ghana to Mozambique, Nepal to Bangladesh, Jordan to Cuba have all identified that women’s experience, expertise, and unique knowledge, strategies and capacities are all essential to effective adaptation and mitigation. Women’s weather networks in Liberia, women’s seed banks in Cuba, and women’s water taxi networks on the Nile are all examples of women’s capacity to cope with climate change – and actually improve the conditions of their communities.
Q3: What can governments and other actors do to mitigate negative environmental impacts on women’s livelihoods?
Aside from the above answers, all of which are relevant here, governments and other actors including UN, IGO, NGO and other ‘implementing’ agencies – as well as the bilateral and multilateral banks and funding mechanisms – must start with what the IPCC has already asserted: that the impacts (and causes) of climate change are not gender neutral. Experiences of climate change and other environmental stresses will continue to vary widely due to, inter alia, geography, age, class, and gender. This means that policy and practice must account for wide variance in how a country’s population will experience and be able to cope with change. Long-term investments in reform (i.e. addressing structural barriers, including ensuring women’s access to land ownership, insurance and credit, education, etc.; diversifying the ways in which women are able to access livelihood opportunities, etc., including ‘green jobs’,) and short-term interventions (e.g. ensuring women’s access to safety, protection and recovery mechanisms and aid in times of disaster,) must be pursued in tandem.
Response to climate change and natural disaster preparedness and recovery must not be pursued in a vacuum. Interventions and mechanisms (including the example of REDD+ mentioned above,) need to be pursued with the principles of sustainable development that the global community agreed decades ago – and advancing gender equality is a critical piece of that. Advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment is being pursued by ccGAP countries not as an ‘add-on’, but as both a critical tool and co-benefit.
Finally, a quick word on data: indeed, enough exists that demonstrates that gender inequality is among the most persistent and pervasive in every country around the world. But policies and programs will fail to be effective, much less efficient, if they cannot respond to, track, and ultimately improve the statistics on gender and women’s vulnerability in the context of a changing climate. IUCN’s Environment and Gender Index (EGI) took steps to build new data sets and reveal which countries are making progress toward meeting their commitments on both gender and environment. But governments and implementing agencies at all levels must prioritize gender-disaggregated data (as well as other socioeconomically disaggregated data) to fully understand the needs of a population, and then respond to them.
My responses to the questions:
Question 1:
Climate change is not a gender-neutral phenomenon. Evidence shows that, worldwide the impact of climate change affects women and men differently. Structured unequal power relations, gender divisions of labour and feminization of poverty are together responsible for the gender differentiate climate change experiences. Female vulnerability is the structural consequence of female disadvantages, which are the results of gender construction of society and culture. Globally, female disadvantage is deeply rooted in patriarchal values and existing social systems, which is not an easy task to transform (Enarson & Morrow, 1998). Unequal power relations are persistent in every social milieu within different class, ethnicity or nationality but gender plays a vital role in every context. Arora-Jonsson (2011) states that vulnerability may differ but women’s vulnerability is a common global phenomenon. The IPPC (2001) adds that depending on regions, generations, age, classes, income, occupations and gender the impacts of climate change will be very different. Alston (2007) observes that women from the developing countries like Sub Saharan Africa and Asian region are more likely to suffer more from climate change and this is due to perversive gender inequality in those countries.Worldwide as a result of prescribed gendered roles women have to bear additional work loads and household responsibilities. A study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (2007) observed that climate change increases women’s workloads, reduces time to participate in social activities, and forces them to undertake non-traditional income-generating activities. The report also projected that the impact on food security, social dislocation and increase of poverty would have a direct effect on women’s lives. Similar evidence was found by Eunice and Gry (2011) in African countries; drought and shortage of water significantly increased women’s workload for collecting water and firewood to feed family members. Thus, climate change is a very gendered phenomenon determined by prevailing gender power relations and gender division of labour.
On the other hand, there is a visible link with the women’s share in global poverty and the environment degradation or natural disasters. Gender-poverty links show that 70 % of the poor in the world are women and they possess only 10% of the world’s land (UNFPA, 2007; Women for Women International, 2010). The effect of climate change is very likely to be gendered because of the strong connection between poverty and vulnerability due to climate- induced disasters (Enarson and Morrow, 1998; Jämting, 2009; Nelson et al., 2002).The feminization of poverty cannot be theorized through only material poverty or lack of resources, rather it is important to capture the diverse causes behind it. Chamber (2005) conceptualized poverty to include poverty of time, lack of political clout, physical ill- being, ascribed and legal inferiority, and social capital. During disaster and post disaster situations this scenario becomes more prominent because of an absence of sufficient food and women and girls as primary victims have to bear the brunt (Agarwal, 1992). The numbers of female casualties are always higher than men because women and girls face particular difficulties during disaster as consequence of their different socialization processes and cultural constraints. For example, during the 1991 cyclone disasters in Bangladesh, 90 % of the 14,000 fatalities were women (Anwarul et al., 2013). A study on 141 global natural disasters between 1981 and 2002 claimed that as a result of women’s unequal social and economic position more women died during those natural disasters (Neumayer & Plümper, 2007). Hence, women’s unequal position within the family, society and the state reinforce the gender, natural disaster and poverty nexus.
Question 2:
While women’s vulnerability is a global phenomenon, women’s dependency on nature and their attributed gender roles generates different gendered knowledge which has an important role to play in protecting the environment and helping to cope with changing situations. Evidence shows many rural women groups are very active in attempting to protect the environment from the threat of degradation through their own innovative traditional ways, thus they have shown their capacity to be forefront of environmental activism and social change (Jämting, 2009; Sachs, 1997; Shiva, 1989). Dankelman (2010) argues that rural women interact more directly with their environment in natural resource based countries. Feminist political ecologists argue that the gender division of labour and gender power relations is more important in analysing the complexities between women and ecology (Agarwal, 1992; Resurrección, 2013; Rocheleau, 1995).Thus, gendered knowledge, practices and women’s activism have always played a significant role in the environment. The persistent linkage between women and the environment acquires special knowledge, and the capacity to observe environmental change and offers practical solutions (Momsen, 2004; Resurrección, 2013). Evidences prove that in many traditional societies women usually have a primary responsibility for certain areas of resource gathering and management develops differentiate capabilities in them. However women’s special skills and resiliency due to their dependency on the environment have largely been rooted in the gender division of labour in a geo- social milieu.
In many rural societies female farmers are traditional resource managers of food, fuel and water and they have different coping strategies to maintain food security. The relationship between agriculture and gender are very different since women and men are differently associated with agriculture through different ways and that is why their skills and knowledge are also different. My field research suggests that women in Bangladesh play a central role in household food security and micro level economy in the context of climate change adaptation. Globally, up to 50% of the agricultural labour force are women and they carried out labour intensive tasks manually mostly without wages. Considering women’s special acquaintance with environment, Jamting (2008) argues that subsistence economy is mostly on women’s shoulders. Women’s role in subsistence agriculture and the impact of climate change on food security are hence interconnected (Glazberook, 2011). Therefore, rural women’s working capabilities, learning from generation to generation, using social capital and networking within the community can be an important knowledge base of sustainable coping strategies because worldwide women adopt varied strategies to cope with environmental and climate change related problems.
Question 3:
To enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of vulnerable communities, an appropriate policy can play a vital role. The effectiveness of the policy depends on prioritizing the important areas with a better implementation processes. A practical adaptation strategy is the centre of the appropriate policy initiatives. The ‘climate change adaptation’ is a relatively new policy area and in response climate affected countries have started to develop pilot strategy documents over the last few years. Accordingly, the ‘National Adaptation Program of Action’, ‘Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan’ and new funding mechanisms such as ‘Adaptation Funds’ and ‘Climate Change Resilience Funds’ were developed by many developing countries however; traditional policy notions tend to consider women as a disadvantaged group and that is often reflected in the gendered biased character of governments and even in development agencies worldwide. A recent study on social impact of droughts in Australia by Alston (2011) suggests that the structural subordination of women determines the adaptation strategies to cope with the situation and has an implication for the policy process as a whole. So, the inclusion of women’s issues in the policy process is a vital step to mitigate negative impact of climate change. Even though, women are always excluded from the policy and planning process, women have proven their capability in environment protection, from climate change adaptation, resource management to disaster management (Wiest et al., 1994; League of Red Cross and Red crescent Societies, 1991; Noel, 1990). So, it needs to be given focus on the unequal gender power relations and the structural exclusion of women for an equitable policy. It is important for government and other actors to recognize the importance of incorporating gendered knowledge, indigenous coping practices and promote meaningful participation of women for a robust climate change adaptation policy and programs. Therefore, to ensure women's full participation it is crucial to address both practical and strategic gender needs in formal policy planning as well as implementation process.
My responses on the questions:
Question 1:
Climate change is not a gender-neutral phenomenon. Evidence shows that, worldwide the impact of climate change affects women and men differently. Structured unequal power relations, gender divisions of labour and feminization of poverty are together responsible for the gender differentiate climate change experiences. Female vulnerability is the structural consequence of female disadvantages, which are the results of gender construction of society and culture. Globally, female disadvantage is deeply rooted in patriarchal values and existing social systems, which is not an easy task to transform (Enarson & Morrow, 1998). Unequal power relations are persistent in every social milieu within different class, ethnicity or nationality but gender plays a vital role in every context. Arora-Jonsson (2011) states that vulnerability may differ but women’s vulnerability is a common global phenomenon. The IPPC (2001) adds that depending on regions, generations, age, classes, income, occupations and gender the impacts of climate change will be very different. Alston (2007) observes that women from the developing countries like Sub Saharan Africa and Asian region are more likely to suffer more from climate change and this is due to perversive gender inequality in those countries.Worldwide as a result of prescribed gendered roles women have to bear additional work loads and household responsibilities. A study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (2007) observed that climate change increases women’s workloads, reduces time to participate in social activities, and forces them to undertake non-traditional income-generating activities. The report also projected that the impact on food security, social dislocation and increase of poverty would have a direct effect on women’s lives. Similar evidence was found by Eunice and Gry (2011) in African countries; drought and shortage of water significantly increased women’s workload for collecting water and firewood to feed family members. Thus, climate change is a very gendered phenomenon determined by prevailing gender power relations and gender division of labour.
On the other hand, there is a visible link with the women’s share in global poverty and the environment degradation or natural disasters. Gender-poverty links show that 70 % of the poor in the world are women and they possess only 10% of the world’s land (UNFPA, 2007; Women for Women International, 2010). The effect of climate change is very likely to be gendered because of the strong connection between poverty and vulnerability due to climate- induced disasters (Enarson and Morrow, 1998; Jämting, 2009; Nelson et al., 2002).The feminization of poverty cannot be theorized through only material poverty or lack of resources, rather it is important to capture the diverse causes behind it. Chamber (2005) conceptualized poverty to include poverty of time, lack of political clout, physical ill- being, ascribed and legal inferiority, and social capital. During disaster and post disaster situations this scenario becomes more prominent because of an absence of sufficient food and women and girls as primary victims have to bear the brunt (Agarwal, 1992). The numbers of female casualties are always higher than men because women and girls face particular difficulties during disaster as consequence of their different socialization processes and cultural constraints. For example, during the 1991 cyclone disasters in Bangladesh, 90 % of the 14,000 fatalities were women (Anwarul et al., 2013). A study on 141 global natural disasters between 1981 and 2002 claimed that as a result of women’s unequal social and economic position more women died during those natural disasters (Neumayer & Plümper, 2007). Hence, women’s unequal position within the family, society and the state reinforce the gender, natural disaster and poverty nexus.
Question 2:
While women’s vulnerability is a global phenomenon, women’s dependency on nature and their attributed gender roles generates different gendered knowledge which has an important role to play in protecting the environment and helping to cope with changing situations. Evidence shows many rural women groups are very active in attempting to protect the environment from the threat of degradation through their own innovative traditional ways, thus they have shown their capacity to be forefront of environmental activism and social change (Jämting, 2009; Sachs, 1997; Shiva, 1989). Dankelman (2010) argues that rural women interact more directly with their environment in natural resource based countries. Feminist political ecologists argue that the gender division of labour and gender power relations is more important in analysing the complexities between women and ecology (Agarwal, 1992; Resurrección, 2013; Rocheleau, 1995).Thus, gendered knowledge, practices and women’s activism have always played a significant role in the environment. The persistent linkage between women and the environment acquires special knowledge, and the capacity to observe environmental change and offers practical solutions (Momsen, 2004; Resurrección, 2013). Evidences prove that in many traditional societies women usually have a primary responsibility for certain areas of resource gathering and management develops differentiate capabilities in them. However women’s special skills and resiliency due to their dependency on the environment have largely been rooted in the gender division of labour in a geo- social milieu.
In many rural societies female farmers are traditional resource managers of food, fuel and water and they have different coping strategies to maintain food security. The relationship between agriculture and gender are very different since women and men are differently associated with agriculture through different ways and that is why their skills and knowledge are also different. My field research suggests that women in Bangladesh play a central role in household food security and micro level economy in the context of climate change adaptation. Globally, up to 50% of the agricultural labour force are women and they carried out labour intensive tasks manually mostly without wages. Considering women’s special acquaintance with environment, Jamting (2008) argues that subsistence economy is mostly on women’s shoulders. Women’s role in subsistence agriculture and the impact of climate change on food security are hence interconnected (Glazberook, 2011). Therefore, rural women’s working capabilities, learning from generation to generation, using social capital and networking within the community can be an important knowledge base of sustainable coping strategies because worldwide women adopt varied strategies to cope with environmental and climate change related problems.
Question 3:
To enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of vulnerable communities, an appropriate policy can play a vital role. The effectiveness of the policy depends on prioritizing the important areas with a better implementation processes. A practical adaptation strategy is the centre of the appropriate policy initiatives. The ‘climate change adaptation’ is a relatively new policy area and in response climate affected countries have started to develop pilot strategy documents over the last few years. Accordingly, the ‘National Adaptation Program of Action’, ‘Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan’ and new funding mechanisms such as ‘Adaptation Funds’ and ‘Climate Change Resilience Funds’ were developed by many developing countries however; traditional policy notions tend to consider women as a disadvantaged group and that is often reflected in the gendered biased character of governments and even in development agencies worldwide. A recent study on social impact of droughts in Australia by Alston (2011) suggests that the structural subordination of women determines the adaptation strategies to cope with the situation and has an implication for the policy process as a whole. So, the inclusion of women’s issues in the policy process is a vital step to mitigate negative impact of climate change. Even though, women are always excluded from the policy and planning process, women have proven their capability in environment protection, from climate change adaptation, resource management to disaster management (Wiest et al., 1994; League of Red Cross and Red crescent Societies, 1991; Noel, 1990). So, it needs to be given focus on the unequal gender power relations and the structural exclusion of women for an equitable policy. It is important for government and other actors to recognize the importance of incorporating gendered knowledge, indigenous coping practices and promote meaningful participation of women for a robust climate change adaptation policy and programs. Therefore, to ensure women's full participation it is crucial to address both practical and strategic gender needs in formal policy planning as well as implementation process.
Question 1: What types of livelihoods are most affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters?
It is now widely accepted that climate change or when natural disasters and environmental stresses happen, livelihoods of women and men are affected differently because of traditional, socially based roles and responsibilities. In developing countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, women living in rural areas bear a disproportionate burden of climate change consequences as they are more dependent for the sustenance and well-being of their families on natural resources, local biological diversity, ecosystem services and cultural landscapes as a source of livelihoods including agriculture, access to water, pastoralism, fishing, hunting and gathering, crafting and other subsistence activities. In some areas of the country, climate change generates resource shortages and unreliable job markets, which lead to increased male-out migration to Russia or neighboring Kazakhstan and more women left behind with additional agricultural and households duties. In addition, rural women’s lack of access to and control over natural resources, technologies and credit mean that they have fewer resources to cope with seasonal and episodic weather and natural disasters. Consequently traditional roles are reinforced, girls’ education suffers, and women’s ability to diversify their livelihoods (and therefore their capacity to access income-generating jobs) is diminished.
Question 2: What approaches are important in strengthening women’s capacities to cope with environmental shocks?
Taking into consideration different effects of climate change and natural calamities on men and women, it is necessary to utilize a gender sensitive approach and design adaptation programs in food security, agriculture, rangelands and managing natural resources in ways that are sensitive and responsive to the different and multiple roles women and men play in various spheres of natural resource management, as well as their households, communities, livelihoods, and customary and statutory institutions and relations (local, national, regional and international). The programs should have a strong focus on women and gender equity to ensure successful implementation and that adequate resources are allocated to transform this vision into tangible actions. It is always underestimated that women often have a strong body of knowledge and expertise that can be used in climate change mitigation, disaster reduction and adaptation strategies. Furthermore, women’s responsibilities in households and communities, as stewards of natural and household resources, position them well to contribute to livelihood strategies adapted to changing environmental realities.
Other approach would be to attract investments in gender sensitive and culturally appropriate labor-saving green technologies, water harvesting, storage, irrigation systems, and substitutes for fuel wood and use (including mechanisms for maintenance). Of course, women should be in the decision-making circle in order to channel their needs and concerns.
It is also necessary to ensure that education, training, awareness raising and information programs address the vulnerability and risk of gender-based violence, sexual abuse and trafficking in the context of high-risk flood, drought and disaster prone areas.
By ensuring women’s access, control and ownership of resources (such as land, livestock, property and income opportunities), and access to development resources such as credit, information, training and outreach, and culturally appropriate and labor-saving technology, the women’s livelihoods will be improved and the adaptation is strengthened.
Question 3: What can governments and other actors do to mitigate negative environmental impacts on women’s livelihoods?
The governments (both national and local), UN bodies, civil society, and other stakeholders need to ensure an enabling environment for the increased participation and substantive inputs of women in decision and policy-making in local, community, national, regional and international institutions, processes, negotiations and policies related to climate change issues and other environmental impacts. Adaptation programs should have long-term goals of increasing gender and social security needs, safety nets and active participation of women in governance at every level through participatory policies and targets. Of course, to be active players, able to advocate for their rights, women need to strengthen their capacities and develop leadership and technical skills.
In addition to adaptation programs, the government and involved bodies should conduct a systematic analysis of climate change from environmental, development and gender equity perspectives to fill urgent gaps in research, knowledge and data with a distinct focus on women’s needs, priorities, constraints, impacts, local strategies, knowledge and meaningful participation that defines their local responses in the context of often unequal gender relations.
2) Education is key to learning on how to deal with environmental shocks , it is also helpful to provide the women with alternatives such drought resistant crops and early maturing varieties to cope with effects of climate change. Involve the women in projects that can help rectify environmental challenges for instance building gabbions to control soil erosion and massive tree planting to correct global warming etc.
3) The government and other actors can provide financial aids and loans to the women after such environmental disasters to enable the women get back on their feet after such disasters. In Kenya for instance, the Government launched the 'UWEZO FUND' to offer low interest loans to women and youth groups.
- The The Government can organize for business and agricultural seminars to educate the women on ways of boosting their production and ways of gaining maximum profits out of their agricultural production.
- Can provide fertilizers to boost agricultural production.
The government should also provide the farmers with drought resistant and early maturing crops.
The government can also come in the rescue of the women in times of crisis for instance offering a market and a better price for the agricultural produce from women when there is an overproduction around the country or even purchasing the livestock from farmers during extreme drought to save the female farmers from the losses.
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2) Education is key to learning on how to deal with environmental shocks , it is also helpful to provide the women with alternatives such drought resistant crops and early maturing varieties to cope with effects of climate change. Involve the women in projects that can help rectify environmental challenges for instance building gabbions to control soil erosion and massive tree planting to correct global warming etc.
3) The government and other actors can provide financial aids and loans to the women after such environmental disasters to enable the women get back on their feet after such disasters. In Kenya for instance, the Government launched the 'UWEZO FUND' to offer low interest loans to women and youth groups.
- The The Government can organize for business and agricultural seminars to educate the women on ways of boosting their production and ways of gaining maximum profits out of their agricultural production.
- Can provide fertilizers to boost agricultural production.
The government should also provide the farmers with drought resistant and early maturing crops.
The government can also come in the rescue of the women in times of crisis for instance offering a market and a better price for the agricultural produce from women when there is an overproduction around the country or even purchasing the livestock from farmers during extreme drought to save the female farmers from the losses.
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1.) Climate change has interfered with the seasons and thus affecting agricultural productivity, climate change has also resulted in prolonged droughts hence leading to poor yields from the farms due to little rains and death of animals as a result of lack of water and pasture for livestock. Climate change has also resulted in serious floods hence destroying crops consequently causing hunger. Most of the women trade in agricultural products and as a result of climate change, agricultural productivity has been interfered with and thus has led to increased prices of agricultural products hence lowering their consumption rates, this has affected trade in such products. Environmental stresses such as deforestation, over cultivation overgrazing and over fishing among others lower the quantity and quality of agricultural production. In conclusion, therefore agricultural production is the type of livelihood that is affected by climate change, environmental stresses as well as natural disasters followed by trade in agricultural products..
Climate change has interfered with the seasons and thus affecting agricultural productivity, climate change has also resulted in prolonged droughts hence leading to poor yields from the farms due to little rains and death of animals as a result of lack of water and pasture for livestock. Climate change has also resulted in serious floods hence destroying crops consequently causing hunger. Most of the women trade in agricultural products and as a result of climate change, agricultural productivity has been interfered with and thus has led to increased prices of agricultural products hence lowering their consumption rates, this has affected trade in such products. Environmental stresses such as deforestation, over cultivation overgrazing and over fishing among others lower the quantity and quality of agricultural production. In conclusion, therefore agricultural production is the type of livelihood that is affected by climate change, environmental stresses as well as natural disasters followed by trade in agricultural products..
In response to Question 3:
While women suffer disproportionately from climate change, they also form an integral part of the solution, and have been described as the "secret weapon":
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/06/world/why-women-are-the-secret/
Proposed solutions are summed up as follows:
1) Reduce consumption patterns and favor low-carbon solutions.
2) Expand women's rights and their involvement in tackling climate change at a leadership level.
3) Enable the transfer of technologies (e.g., renewable energy and sustainable transportation) to developing countries.
4) Encourage governments to sign on to an international agreement on climate change, with concrete national action plans.
On q2 and q3) It may be worthwhile to uncouple development, growth and environment arguments and in the process find key connectors that might positively impact both sides to have the maximum possible impact. For instance, CPPCIF developed an interesting climate-gender connector framework and drew out a set of recommendations fr policy makers uptake in India. http://wp.me/p1XaQ4-8E provides the link to the short excerpt on the background, framework that led up to the recommendations...
In response to Question 1, I believe that there are other industries beyond agriculture and fishing that are impacted by climate change. For example, a woman involved in manufacturing small goods could be impacted by the loss of a supply line, the inability to get to market, or damage to wares. It may behoove us to approach climate change, environmental stresses and natural disasters separately as the timeliness and ability to prepare for each one differs.
In response to Questions 2 and 3, I think it is important to think about the secondary and tertiary effects of climate change. I agree that agriculture and fishing are greatly impacted by climate change, environmental degradation and natural disasters, and that there is a need for serious, achievable long-term solutions. However, in the short term, these issues greatly impact food security. Where women (and their children) have tenuous or fragile food security and face any of the issues in this topic, their direct food supply or their ability to purchase their food using barter or funds from their livelihood is at a serious risk, which means their health is at a serious risk.
I'm wondering if governments can provide food/ration subsidies to immediately help women impacted in this manner while we continue to work on long-term solutions.
In response to Question 3: What can governments and other actors do to mitigate negative environmental impacts on women’s livelihoods?
As it was said, climate change indeed directly and indirectly affect women's livelihood since most of us work on sectors such as in agriculture where main resources are dependent on the natural environment. The issue of climate change is not a problem of each nation but the problem of each and every individual. If there is only one nation that is strongly mitigating and implementing ways to prevent further environmental destruction, it is not enough. Each and everyone of us should act nevertheless, this phenomenon is a result of our cumulative actions.
Since this problem cannot be solved in a short period of time, we need to adapt. And for us to adapt to these changes is to continuously find ways on how we could be productive in times of resource shortage. One of the ways we can is to do extensive researches. For example is to develop plants that are suitable to more harsh environments through technological advances. To do these, the governments could consider allocating budget to research. The next step is to extend this knowledge through communication extension and seminars for the women in order for them to use this knowledge and technological to adapt to their livelihood. This communication step applies to all sectors other than agriculture. Extending knowledge of new livelihood projects and alternatives is another one.
Question 1:
Agriculture and fishing are most likely to be affected by climate change, environmental stress, and natural disasters. Floods, droughts, changes in temperature, ocean acidification, etc. are going to be a challenge for growing crops, raising animals, maintaing forests and fishing. In the Philippines, a large part of the population live in coastal areas and are at risk from extreme weather, the recent Typhoon Haiyan is a devastating example of this. These problems impact on women's livelihoods and can affect food security, health, and their general well-being. Women in the Philippines are said to be undervalued in their contribution to food production and rural economy as men generally have more access to land and other productive resources than women. As a result of this, women's participation and empowerment become limited.
Question 2:
Informing and educating communities about climate change and its impact on the environment may help create more awareness of the risks their communities are exposed to and also help them manage and prepare themselves in the event of an environmental disaster. When exposed to environmental shock, recommended approaches included administering psychological first aid and giving psychosocial interventions. Some aid workers have made use of certain therapies with positive responses, such as the use of mindfulness meditation or cognitive behavioral therapy (given by trained practitioners). These are a few strategies that can help a woman survivor cope with the stress of shock.
Question 3:
The FAO has given several recommendations for the Philippine policy-makers and planners. These include:
These might also be adaptable in other developing countries.
Reference: Balakrishnan, R. (n.d.). FAO Fact Sheet Philippines: Women in agriculture, environment and rural production. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. [online: http://www.scribd.com/doc/30810367/Philippines-Women-in-Agriculture-Environment-and-Rural-Production]
Response to question 2.
To strengthen women's capacity to cope with environmental shocks, we need to find a way to improve women's resilience, a word that is becoming more and more famous in development agencies and organizations. It means that we have to find solutions to make women better prepared to anticipate, deal with environmental shocks, and afterwards to reconstruct and adjust. I think this constitutes a demand for better institutions and governance, adapted to the local context. Women form a specific group, in a particular country, and all this means that there is a particular context that needs to be taken into account. However, the local specificity is rarely emphasized by donors' action and official development aid, which tends to have a more formula-driven approach. Environmental issues are often not a priority in development projects initiated by national governments, and women tend to be invisible too. I think the major approach we have to think of in order to develop solutions to help women cope with environmental shocks is first to make the specific issues raised by women's weaknesses to environmental stresses more internationally recognized. The Knowledge Gateway is a great initiative in that sense. I look forward to reading all the other contributions!
~~Respond to question 2.
In order to strengthen women’s capacities to cope with environmental shock, an in depth consideration has to be on the rural women who are the most affected and are less aware in managing environmental shock. So in approaching women’s capacity to cope with environmental shock, we need to have in mind the rural women perspective of women in position acting on their behalf at the managerial level.
We all know that most rural women have the impression that women who are highly positioned have no idea of what they have been going through and what they are going through. At times they find the ideas given to them to be costly to implement or time consuming with respect to their regular practices. Some will say ‘they are rich so they find it easy to say these things cause poverty is not part of their agenda’. With this notion these women won’t take things serious and they will keep focusing on their present status. With this knowledge, we can help strengthened women’s capacities to cope with environmental shocks as follows:
• They should be that concern of what the rural women are facing terms of challenges and we really need to make them know we feel for them by being practically involved not sending representatives;
• They should be meetings organized for rural women with no formalities for registration. This therefore implies every woman is free to attend. The rural women should be motivated by providing them knew technologies free of charge, assist them financially, provide them with certain food items, feed them and many others can be done just to draw the women attention and gradually they will love to listen and take to advise after seeing your commitment to them;
• They should be visibly involved in decision making to give them that sense of belonging.
Finally decisions taken should not only be documented but there should be a practical implementation and follow up both at the national and regional levels making sure it gets to the women involved.
To respond to question 2 , To adapt itself to the climate change, it is to reduce the vulnerability to the current climatic risks and to come. This vulnerability is essentially determined according to the capacity of adaptation of the individuals. A specific climatic phenomenon, such as the drought, does not affect in the same way all the members of the same community, even the same family, because certain people have a bigger capacity
To manage a crisis that others. The inequitable distribution of the rights, the resources and the power - as well as standards and repressive cultural rules - limits the capacity of action of numerous people on the climate change. This is particularly true for the women. That is why the gender is an inescapable factor in the understanding of her. What can be done yet?
Strengthen the free arbitrator of the women for the adaptation to the climate change
Improve the gender relations to strengthen the capacity of adaptation
Promotion of equal structures for the adaptation
To respond to question 1, I think in most part of Africa, peasantry livelihoods are most affected by climate change, environmental stresses and natural disaster.
The climate change is affecting human activities all over the world, flooding, droughts etc. Women peasants suffer a lot because of late coming of rains season since they may lost their seeds and do not have enough money to repay it, in the same time, excessive rains might rotten seeds in the soil. in both situations, crops are not expected. In the end, it's all the entire community that is affected by hunger.
Access to water become very difficult for peasants since due to a lasting drought or excessive rains, water resource is scarce or unappropriate for consumption in the case of floodings. Women in this case have to make much more efforts than usual to reach water resources or in the other case find solutions to purify water for their families consumption and basically they didn't master such knowledge.
Finally, Climate change reduce a lot the capacity of rural women to achieve his duty within the community by affecting her normal activities day by day. Making her struggling more than usual.
Bangladesh suffers from serious environmental degradation and is one of the worst victims of global climate change, the major effects being water stress, sea level rise, salinity ingress, increased extreme weather events, adverse effects on food security, water and air pollution, climate induced migration and health problems. Women manage the natural resources—food, fuel and water, all of which are adversely affected by climate change.
Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Government of Bangladesh, submitted the country report on implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, in May 2014. Section 2 of that report: ‘Progress in the Implementation of the Critical Areas of Concern of the Platform for Action since 2009’, dwells on women and environment. Below are the highlights from the government report:
Mitigation: women’s participation in mitigation is mainly through low carbon generating activities such as renewable energy (e.g. solar power), Improved cooking stoves (ICS), bio-gas, waste management, which were mainly initiated for livelihood support, environmental protection, increasing access to energy or for poverty reduction.
Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS): The introduction of improved cook stoves (ICS) by Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and expansion by Government and non-government organizations, is not only saving fuel but reducing carbon emission, and contributing in women’s health improvement. As of December 2012, Grameen Shakti (GS), one of the pioneering organizations alone has installed 595,516 ICSs in rural areas with more than 14,000 ICSs installed per month. GS trained more than 1000 local youths especially women to make, sell and repair ICSs.
Green Brick Kiln: In order to reduce pollution, low carbon technology for brick-kilns: Hybrid Hoffmann Kiln (HHK) has been introduced and the government has actually announced tax holiday for such kilns in this year’s (2014/15) national budget to encourage replacement of old kilns with this new green brick kilns. A large number of women are engaged in these kilns as labourers, thus creating green jobs for the women.
Waste management: Women’s role in household and municipal waste management is gradually being recognized and pronounced. In 7 city corporations and 47 municipalities women counsellors have been involved in municipal level solid waste management activities ensuring participation of women citizens.
Forest and bio-diversity: Women’s involvement in social forestry, mangrove and coastal greenbelt expansion and protected area management programs have increased over time. Poor women mostly organized by non-Government Organizations (NGO) are responsible for tree plantation and care under different tree-cover expansion projects. Women benefit from the forestry programs and get share of the sale proceeds of the harvested lots at the end of rotation according to Social Forestry (amendment) Rules-2009 and 2011. In June 2012, 25% of total 500,000 participants in social forestry were women. A community based approach called co-management ensures 40% women participation in Co-management Committees for Protected forest areas, establishes their rights and access to natural resources management and improve the rural ecology through forestation.
Disaster management: The National Plan for Disaster Management identifies women as a distinct target group and agent in disaster forecasting, preparedness and management. Women’s participation has been ensured in the Disaster Management Committees at the district, upazilla and union levels and amongst community level volunteers.
Challenge: Access to low carbon power and energy sources is a challenge more for women. The world including Bangladesh will gradually move into the path of green growth, explore green jobs and technology. Women’s participation and adequate share into this green economy would be a challenge.
Bangladesh suffers from serious environmental degradation and is one of the worst victims of global climate change, the major effects being water stress, sea level rise, salinity ingress, increased extreme weather events, adverse effects on food security, water and air pollution, climate induced migration and health problems. Women manage the natural resources—food, fuel and water, all of which are adversely affected by climate change. Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Government of Bangladesh, submitted the country report on implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, in May 2014. Section 2 of that report: ‘Progress in the Implementation of the Critical Areas of Concern of the Platform for Action since 2009’, dwells on women and environment. Below are the highlights from the government report: Mitigation: women’s participation in mitigation is mainly through low carbon generating activities such as renewable energy (e.g. solar power), Improved cooking stoves (ICS), bio-gas, waste management, which were mainly initiated for livelihood support, environmental protection, increasing access to energy or for poverty reduction. Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS): The introduction of improved cook stoves (ICS) by Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and expansion by Government and non-government organizations, is not only saving fuel but reducing carbon emission, and contributing in women’s health improvement. As of December 2012, Grameen Shakti (GS), one of the pioneering organizations alone has installed 595,516 ICSs in rural areas with more than 14,000 ICSs installed per month. GS trained more than 1000 local youths especially women to make, sell and repair ICSs. Green Brick Kiln: In order to reduce pollution, low carbon technology for brick-kilns: Hybrid Hoffmann Kiln (HHK) has been introduced and the government has actually announced tax holiday for such kilns in this year’s (2014/15) national budget to encourage replacement of old kilns with this new green brick kilns. A large number of women are engaged in these kilns as labourers, thus creating green jobs for the women. Waste management: Women’s role in household and municipal waste management is gradually being recognized and pronounced. In 7 city corporations and 47 municipalities women counsellors have been involved in municipal level solid waste management activities ensuring participation of women citizens. Forest and bio-diversity: Women’s involvement in social forestry, mangrove and coastal greenbelt expansion and protected area management programs have increased over time. Poor women mostly organized by non-Government Organizations (NGO) are responsible for tree plantation and care under different tree-cover expansion projects. Women benefit from the forestry programs and get share of the sale proceeds of the harvested lots at the end of rotation according to Social Forestry (amendment) Rules-2009 and 2011. In June 2012, 25% of total 500,000 participants in social forestry were women. A community based approach called co-management ensures 40% women participation in Co-management Committees for Protected forest areas, establishes their rights and access to natural resources management and improve the rural ecology through forestation. Disaster management: The National Plan for Disaster Management identifies women as a distinct target group and agent in disaster forecasting, preparedness and management. Women’s participation has been ensured in the Disaster Management Committees at the district, upazilla and union levels and amongst community level volunteers. Challenge: Access to low carbon power and energy sources is a challenge more for women. The world including Bangladesh will gradually move into the path of green growth, explore green jobs and technology. Women’s participation and adequate share into this green economy would be a challenge.