Download Presentation: Gender and Climate Change

Gender and Climate Change
Why Women’s Perspectives Matter
January 2009
Outline
•What
•Why
is Climate Change
Gender and Climate Change
•Impacts
of Climate Change on Gender
•Women
are essential to climate solutions
•What
is WEDO doing
Source: IPCC, 2007
Figure 3.1
Source: IPCC, 2007
Source: Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)
Climate change is not gender neutral
Woman coping with flooded homestead
Source:WEDO/ ActionAid Bangladesh, “Gender, Climate Change and Human Security”, 2008
WEDO 2008
Gender inequalities remain pervasive in
most of the world
• Of the 1.3 billion people living in the deepest
levels poverty worldwide, the majority are
women (~70%)
• Women work 2/3rd’s of the world’s hours
• Women produce 1/2 the world’s food; in rural
areas, women produce 60-80% of staple crops
• And yet, women earn only 10% of the world’s
income and own less than 2% of property
Climate change worsens gender inequities

Feminization of poverty and gendered
divisions of labor
clear differences in how climate change impacts
women and men, and their respective capacities
for coping

Existing conditions and existing
discrimination determine who is most
impacted by “natural” disasters
The Impacts of Climate Change on Women
Impacts on women
CROP FAILURE
FUEL SHORTAGE
SHORTAGE OF SAFE,
CLEAN WATER
Climate Change
RESOURCE
NATURAL
SCARCITY
DISASTERS
DISEASE
DISPLACE-MENT
CIVIL WAR / CONFLICT
WEDO 2008
Household food provision;
Increased agricultural work
Household fuel provision;
food-fuel conflicts
Household water provision;
exposure to contaminated sources
Economic drawbacks; lack of land tenure;
resource-dependent livelihoods; school
dropouts, early marriage
Greater incidence of mortality; reduction of life
expectancy
Lack of access to healthcare;
increased burden of caring for young, sick and
elderly
Loss of livelihoods; lack of adequate shelter;
conflicts
Loss of livelihoods and lives; sexual violence
and trauma
Climate Change Exacerbates the Cycle of
Poverty
Insecure
livelihoods:
i.e. reduced
crop yield
Environmental
instabilities:
i.e. drought/
floods
Unsustainable
coping strategies:
i.e. deforestation;
migration; conflict
Example of
exacerbated cycle
of poverty for
women
Less time for
education,
income-generation
WEDO 2008
Increased burden
on household:
i.e. more time
collecting water,
food, fuel
Women’s Adaptive Capacity
The flood pattern has changed a lot…The laws that used to hold earlier are
no more there. We are not able to understand the strange things God is
showing us… When summer is supposed to be over and monsoon is
supposed to begin, the fields are still burning with heat. But by the time the
rain starts and we try to sow seeds, by then there is flood. We are engulfed by
trouble from all sides.
Komela Khatun, 56, female headed household, Char Banktarpur, Pabna.
Source: Gender, Climate Change and Human Security by WEDO and ELIAMAP
Women have been adapting to swift
environmental changes for decades.
 Climate change introduces a new
constraint on their capacity to adapt

WEDO 2008
Why Women are Essential
Women’s coping ability is often a
measure of their community’s
capacity to adapt.
Women were the first to find potable
water during a prolonged drought in
Micronesia
 Wangari Maathai successfully implemented
the Greenbelt Movement, now one of the
leading worldwide climate change projects

Why Women are Essential cont’d
When women are leaders they can
address the specific needs of the women
and their families.
Kunderpara Village,
Bangladesh—Sahena Begum
“If women are aware then
families can be saved from
many losses…. and the
women themselves are saved
from a lot of suffering.”
Oxfam 2008 Sisters on the Planet
video
Why Women are Essential cont’d
WEDO 2008
When financing programs for climate
change adaptation have specific parameters
for women, women are able to lead their
communities in increased adaptive capacity
Why Women are Essential cont’d
Women who are active in policy advocacy
can influence effective, gender-responsive
legislation in their local governments.
Khawla Al Sheikh explains
that her role in alleviating
the scarcity of water is
important because “only a
woman can sell to a woman”
and she believes that that’s
why her initiative has been
successful.
http://jordan.usaid.gov/features_disp.cfm?id=72&type
=success
Gender & climate change:
The global policy framework
Source: Kushal Gangopadhyay, 1999,West Bengal, India UNCCD
Gender & Climate Change
Every major global agreement now includes a gender component:
United Nations charter (1945)
Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948)
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) (1979)
Convention on Biodiversity (1992)
Chapter 24 of Agenda 21 (UNCED 1992)
World Conference on Human Rights (1993)
International Conference on Population and Development (1994)
Convention to Combat Desertification (1994)
World Summit for Social Development (1995)
Beijing Platform for Action (1995)
Millennium Declaration (2000)
Johannesburg Plan of Action (2002)
Hyogo Framework for Action (2005)
Gender & Climate Change
Except one:
 United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC)
◦ Kyoto Protocol
Gender & climate change
Seeking a rights-based, gender-sensitive approach to climate
change decision-making, financing and implementation of
activities; challenging market-based “solutions” and mobilizing
women as leaders
Woman gathering firewood in drought stricken area, Ethiopia.
Source: UN/ E . Debebe
WEDO’s Gender and Climate Change
Initiative

WEDO’s Gender and Climate Change
Initiative advocates for the inclusion of
gender through these projects and
campaigns
◦
◦
◦
◦
National Advocacy Project
Women in Governance for Climate Change
Case studies on Gender and Adaptation Financing
Women Demand U.S. Action on Climate Change
campaign
National Advocacy Project
Partnering with women’s organizations,
environmental and/or development organizations,
and government representatives in developing
countries; WEDO and our partners seek to
incorporate gender into climate change policies,
particularly adaptation plans and implementation of
activities
National Advocacy Project

Phase I countries: Ghana, Senegal, Nepal,
Trinidad-and-Tobago, and Suriname

Activities of this project
◦ Conduct country case studies with partners
◦ Develop Action Plans for each country
Women in Governance for Climate
Change
WEDO is identifying women leaders and asking them
to make a commitment to gender and climate
change in their own work.

Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and
Governance
◦ WEDO and several others partnered on a
conference for women leaders on Gender in
Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction
◦ Manila Declaration for Global Action on Gender
in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction
Gender and Adaptation Financing
WEDO is challenging the dominant approach to
climate change adaptation and mitigation that
prioritizes market-based solutions over policies
that will protect the most vulnerable.

At this year’s UNFCCC Conference on Parties
WEDO presented a report on Gender and
Adaptation Financing.
Women Demand U.S. Action on
Climate Change Campaign
Recognizing the influence the United
States has on international climate change
negotiations WEDO launched this
campaign to mobilize U.S. women to
advocate for U.S. legislation on climate
change domestically and U.S. participation
in climate change negotiations
internationally
Women Demand U.S. Action on
Climate Change Campaign

Activities of this project
◦ Provide partners and activists with gender and
climate change educational and advocacy tools
◦ Engage women activists in climate change
advocacy activities
◦ Connect partners to global gender and climate
change advocacy efforts through ‘From Katrina
to Copenhagen’ events
Bringing Women to Global Climate
Change Negotiations



WEDO is also a founding member of the Global Gender and
Climate Alliance (GGCA)
The GGCA was formed in December 2007 after the Bali talks
with IUCN, UNDP, and UNEP to ensure that climate change
policies, decision-making, and initiatives at the global, regional,
and national levels are gender responsive
As a member of the GGCA WEDO will bring lessons learned
from our national projects to the global arena to influence
global climate change policy and decision-making
Thank You!!!
For More Information Please Contact:
WEDO
[email protected]
212-973-0325
You can also visit our website:
http://www.wedo.org