Download Impacts of Climate Change on Rural Communities

Impacts of Climate Change on Rural
Communities in Sindh, Pakistan
Tabasum Bhatti
Roots for Equity, Pakistan
Empowering Marginalizied Women
to Impact Climate Change, APWLD
October 4, 2009
Climate Change and Women’s Burden
Focusing on Lower Sindh, Pakistan
• Generally Drought Area
• But Some Changes that have been felt in the past few years:
Before:
• Before normally low 30s
• maximum 37 C
Now :
• temperatures are normally in high 30s;
• Can go as high as 47-48 C
Climate Patterns
• Lower rainfall
• Out of season rainfall
• Very high wind tornado type
storms
• Extremely high rainfall in a very
short span of hours
Climate Change Impacts
• Sea levels rising
• Women tell
about hearing the
ocean at night
although it was
not so before
• Water
increasingly
brackish
Women’s Burden
• Have to travel far to carry
out normal duties of
washing, collecting water
• Less fuel present for looking
after daily cooking so have
to go far to collect wood
General Understanding on Impacts of
Climate Change on Women
• Case Study of Sunflower
• In Lower Sindh:
• Increased sowing of sunflower
which is sown after rice using
the same water as from rice
• Sunflower a new form of crop
• Very little work for women
during the entire crop
production
• Paid Rs 25/day during harvest
Rural Migration
• Low Livelihood from sunflower
• Rural Migration for food crops
• Children takenn away from
school
• Insecurity for women
• Fights over water collection
• No community where children
can be left
Urban Migration
• Seasonal Migration
• Although large
number of rural
women and girls are
seen in Karachi in
particular season, little
is known about what
they do and how they
cope
Community Mobilization
• Need to educate women and communities on
climate change impacts
• Need to combine issues of climate change and
globalization impacts
– Eg corporate agriculture giving thousands of acres of
land to foreign investors
– Promotion of GMO seeds
– Promotion of agrofuels
• Need to promote ecologically based agriculture