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Gender: The Missing Component of the Response to Climate Change
... Climate-related risks are experienced differently across regions, socioeconomic groups, race, generations, age class and Denotes content that is immediately available upon publication as open access. gender (Lambrou and Piana 2006;Roehr 2007;Satterthwaite 2007;Ribot 2009;Rout et al. 2013). Marginalized groups, in particular, women, children, and the elderly, are often most vulnerable and have inherently low capacity to prepare for, or respond to, observed and anticipated risks [Demetriades and Esplen 2010; United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) 2011; Pachauri et al. 2014]. ...
... Conversely, women are viewed as agents of change who can play a key role in building the adaptation capacity and resilience of households and whole communities (Nursey-Bray 2015). Lambrou and Piana (2006) observe that despite their vulnerability to both external and internal stressors, women, "surprisingly" exhibit significant levels of resilience and agency in the face of climate-related impacts (Lambrou and Piana 2006). They possess valuable knowledge, experience and skills that place them in a unique position to contribute toward the implementation of sustainable and cost-effective adaptation strategies, with the potential of decreasing actual and projected future vulnerabilities to climate hazards (Habtezion 2011;Nkoana-Mashabane 2012). ...
... Conversely, women are viewed as agents of change who can play a key role in building the adaptation capacity and resilience of households and whole communities (Nursey-Bray 2015). Lambrou and Piana (2006) observe that despite their vulnerability to both external and internal stressors, women, "surprisingly" exhibit significant levels of resilience and agency in the face of climate-related impacts (Lambrou and Piana 2006). They possess valuable knowledge, experience and skills that place them in a unique position to contribute toward the implementation of sustainable and cost-effective adaptation strategies, with the potential of decreasing actual and projected future vulnerabilities to climate hazards (Habtezion 2011;Nkoana-Mashabane 2012). ...
The changes in climatic conditions and their associated impacts are contributing to a worsening of existing gender inequalities and a heightening of women’s socioeconomic vulnerabilities in South Africa. Using data collected by research methods inspired by the tradition of participatory appraisals, we systematically discuss the impacts of climate change on marginalized women and the ways in which they are actively responding to climate challenges and building their adaptive capacity and resilience in the urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We argue that changes in climate have both direct and indirect negative impacts on women’s livelihoods and well-being. Less than one-half (37%) of the women reported implementing locally developed coping mechanisms to minimize the impacts of climate-related events, whereas 63% reported lacking any form of formal safety nets to deploy and reduce the impacts of climate-induced shocks and stresses. The lack of proactive and gender-sensitive local climate change policies and strategies creates socioeconomic and political barriers that limit the meaningful participation of women in issues that affect them and marginalize them in the climate change discourses and decision-making processes, thereby hampering their efforts to adapt and reduce existing vulnerabilities. Thus, we advocate for the creation of an enabling environment to develop and adopt progendered, cost-effective, transformative, and sustainable climate change policies and adaptation strategies that are responsive to the needs of vulnerable groups (women) of people in society. This will serve to build their adaptive capacity and resilience to climate variability and climate change–related risks and hazards.
... For this reason, there is an urgency to understand climate change from a multidisciplinary perspective, and most especially with the understanding that climate change and natural hazards affect genders differently. Additionally, we need to be aware that inequitable social systems cause certain populations to have increased vulnerability to the ravages of climate change and natural disasters (Elaine Lambrou & Piana, 2006;Ulrike Rohr, 2007). Mitigating the impacts of global climate change and natural hazards will require a long-term holistic approach, however documenting that climate change and natural hazards are genderspecific issue is most urgent. ...
... Women are especially vulnerable to climate change and disasters (Elaine Lambrou & Piana, 2006;Ulrike Rohr, 2007). The pre-existing political, cultural, socioeconomic, and institutional norms give rise to a differential vulnerability 3 . ...
... In Nepal, change in monsoon patterns, periods of drought, and decreased amount of snowfall forces Dalit female members (the -untouchables‖) to engage in growing drought-resistant buckwheat and laboring for the higher caste Lama Landlords. Shifts in the workload mean that catastrophes increase women's responsibilities in household work, in many paid and unpaid workplaces in formal and informal sectors, and in the community while working towards pre-disaster management as well as in the post-disaster reconstruction (Lambrou & Piana, 2006). ...
In the growing field of research on the impacts of climate change on human populations, there is an absence of academic study on the viewpoints of Pakistani women. By geographical location, Pakistan is central to concerns about climate change and natural hazards, the future consequences of which may affect billions of people across the Asian continent. At the same time, it is becoming clear that many climate change effects are gender-specific, impacting most heavily on those women who are already socially and economically disempowered. However, few studies have been done about women’s experiences before, during, and after natural hazards, nor how they perceive conditions, receive information, or participate in dialogue about anthropogenic climate change. This study aims to give voice to literate and semi-literate, urban and rural Pakistani women as a significant source of knowledge and risk reduction potential regarding climate change, natural hazards, and disasters.
A triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to gauge Pakistani women’s awareness of anthropogenic climate change, discover their usage and the effectiveness of media/non-media sources of information, and assess their current and potential future participation in climate change intervention, mitigation, and rehabilitation. Interviews conducted with academic, political, and policy-making experts confirmed that the opinions, knowledge, and ideas of Pakistani women are currently missing from the climate change conversation.
The results of the study reveal that Pakistani women from all levels of society are a tremendously under-utilized resource in the struggle to address global climate change and its consequential disaster-related harm and loss. The results of the study suggest that creating awareness and providing systematic education to Pakistani women through the media about climate change, natural hazards and disaster risk reduction, as well as creating and empowering culture/gender-appropriate communication pathways, could significantly mitigate and reduce the current and future destructive impacts of climate change and natural hazards.
... Men and women have different levels of access to natural and other resources related to the gendered division of household and agricultural labour (Alesina et al., 2013;Meinzen-Dick et al., 2014) and to gendered differences in power and access to information and opportunity (Marter-Kenyon et al., 2022;Jin et al., 2015;Lambrou and Piana, 2006;Masika, 2002;Silvestri et al., 2012;Terry, 2009). Generally, land tenure rights, inheritance systems and financial capital availability tend to favour men (Fletschner and Kenney, 2014;Quisumbing et al., 2001), giving them more access to and decision-making power over land and physical capital. ...
... Having additional children in times of environmental stress can contribute to a cycle of further environmental and household strain, termed the vicious circle model (Biddlecom et al., 2005;Filmer and Pritchett, 2002;Lutz and Scherbov, 2000). Such findings provide further evidence that women's solutions to environmental stress tend to be focused on the short term, and are often not the most sustainable practices, because women are disadvantaged in their access to information, credit, natural capital and other resources (Jin et al., 2015;Lambrou and Piana, 2006;Masika, 2002;Silvestri et al., 2012;Terry, 2009). ...
This paper advances our understanding of the relationship between climate change and ideal fertility in Sahelian West Africa by exploring sources of variation in that relationship. Using an integrated dataset of Demographic and Health Surveys with monthly rainfall and temperature data, the analyses model dimensions of prospective ideal fertility for young, childless men and women in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. Temperature, particularly in the arid climate zone, is shown to have a positive effect on ideal fertility. Landowning insulates individuals from adjusting their fertility ideals in response to change. Gender-stratified models reveal that under hotter conditions, women have a higher ideal number of children but their ideal gender composition remains relatively balanced, while men do not change their ideal number of children but show a preference for more sons. The increase in ideal fertility in response to weather change may be understood as an increasing need to generate human capital to meet the increased labour demands that climate change brings over both the short and the long term.
... The #NoDAPL stands for the "No Dakota Access Pipeline," whose construction posed significant environmental risks, including potential oil spills that could contaminate water sources. The women of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe utilized social media to spread awareness about this issue and prevent it from happening, ensuring that they address the impact of increased fossil fuels on climate change (Lambrou and Piana, 2006). The World Bank emphasizes that normalizing women's involvement in disaster risk management and response can improve outcomes and more positive, enduring gender dynamics within communities. ...
... This article has emphasized the profound impacts of climate change on BIPOC women worldwide, focusing on the extent of displacement, reproductive health challenges, and the reality of brutal mental and physical violence. Due to extreme weather changes and natural disasters, millions of women worldwide are left in substandard housing, socially marginalized, economically insecure, burdened with caregiving responsibilities, and lacking political power or voice (Lambrou and Piana, 2006). These difficulties underscore the urgent need for safe, secure environments free from the threat of natural catastrophes and their immediate repercussions. ...
... Poverty entails a lack of or insufficient access to resources to enhance one's livelihood opportunities. As stated by Lambrou and Piana, 'experience has also shown that people who are socially excluded or economically disadvantaged in any community represent those who are least able to have access to, or control over, strategic resources during and in the aftermath of natural disaster'' ( [39], p.16). ...
... On the other hand, these gender constructs were sources of motivation, resilience and enhanced adaptive capacity for the women. According to Lambrou and Piana, "the traditional configuration of gender roles means that men and women have multiple responsibilities in the home, at the workplace, and in the community" ( [39], p.16). Gendered roles are, of course, societal constructs rather than natural. ...
This article explores the experiences of local Black African women in adapting to flood impacts within the Durban metropolitan area. The article is premised on the realisation that women and men experience climate change differently, as persisting gendered inequities affect women's adaptive capacity to climate change impacts. The study adopted a qualitative approach to research. Twenty-five local Black African women from four localities in Durban and five key informants from eThekwini municipality participated in the study through semi-structured interviews
and focus group discussions. A qualitative content analysis approach was employed to elicit analytical themes and interpretations from the interview manuscripts in light of the research questions and the study's contexts. Findings from the study show that despite the experiences of poverty, lack of access to information, and persistent gender inequity in the study's contexts, the women's situated knowledge and agency have transformed lives and livelihoods and increased climate resilience and overall well-being. We conclude that a much more appropriate and intentional approach to local Black women's adaptation needs can yield much more effective, successful, equitable, and long-term climate change adaptation.
... ii. (Farnworth et al, 2016); gender in climate change (Jerneck, 2018); analysis of smallholder farmers (Kefyalew, et al, 2016); an integrated market for seeds (Keyser, et al, 2015); gender response to climate change (Lambrou and Piana, 2006); adoption of modern rice technologies (Mariano et al, 2012); gender equality in agriculture (Adamon and Adeleke, 2016); roots for the future (Aguilar et al, 2015); evaluation of local climate adoption plans (Baker et al, 2012); gender, development and globalisation (Berneria, 2016) and use of imported maize seeds (Tura et al, 2010). ...
... About two third of the female labour force in evolving nations, and more than 90 percent are involved in agricultural work (FAO, 2011). In time of climate change, traditional food bases become more irregular and scarce; women face loss of earnings as well as harvestsoften their only source of food and returns (Lambrou and Piana, 2006). Related upsurges in food prices make food more unreachable to poor people, particularly to women and girls whose well-being has been found to be weakening more than that of men in terms of food shortage (IFAD, 2012). ...
Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies' (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on development of enterprising rural women as custodians of seed, food and traditional knowledge for climate change resilience in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach-This paper adopts a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 768 rural women respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region in Nigeria. Findings-The results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicated that the meagre interventions of MOCs' CSR targeted at the empowerment of rural women in custodians of seed, food and traditional knowledge for climate change resilience recorded significant success in improving the role of women in agricultural production, especially in women involvement across value chains. Practical implications-This suggests that any increase in the MOCs' CSR targeted at increasing rural women's access to seed preservation facilities, food processing facilities, extension system that impact strong body of knowledge and expertise that can be used in climate change mitigation, disaster reduction and adaptation strategies, will enhance women's responsibilities in households and communities, stewards of natural and household resources, and will position them well to contribute to livelihood strategies adapted to changing environmental realities. Social implications-This implies that MOCs' GMoUs' policies and practices should enhance women's participation; value and recognise women's knowledge; and enable women, as well as men farmers to participate in decision-making process in agriculture, food 3 production, land and governance; as women need to be acknowledged and supported, as the primary producers of food in the region, able to both cultivate healthy food and climate change resilience through small scale agro-ecological farming system. Originality/value-This research contributes to gender debate in agriculture from a CSR perspective in developing countries and rational for demands for social projects by host communities. It concludes that business has an obligation to help in solving problems of public concern.
... According to Sharif et al. (2016), policy reform is an essential component in implementing effective climate change solutions. By lobbying national negotiators, it would be critical to guarantee that the gender problem is addressed during the following round of discussions (Lambrou & Piana, 2006). ...
... Even at the COP 11 in Montreal in December 2005, delegates from gender-focused organizations offered a short petition with some gender-sensitive proposals for consideration by women environment ministers (Lambrou & Piana 2006). ...
Empowering women has been one of the key development issues for international society. Because women empowerment is a necessary component of achieving international development while preserving economic and social equilibrium. To confirm women’s empowerment, participation of women in important decisions and policymaking of many important sectors is also important. One of the alarming sectors that the world is facing is climate change and its impact on the environmental areas. Climate change has risen to prominence as a global agenda. Based on studies and analyses, it is clear that female political representation is an overlooked factor for combating climate change, often resulting in gender insensitivity in those decisions. This situation is far worse in developing countries like Bangladesh. If the female representation in parliament is not increased, addressing gender sensitivity in climate change policies will not be adequate. This research demonstrates that to assure proper gender sensitivity in climate change policies, female participation in parliament should be increased.
Key Words: Climate Change, Gender-sensitive, Female Parliamentarians, Bangladesh, Gender Inequality, Climate Change Policy.
... Agriculture comprises around twothirds of female laborers in developing countries [35,68]. Even the South Asian countries alone account for 60-98% of the women employed in agriculture [57]. Female-headed households are a salient part of the rural South Asian economy [67]. ...
... Around 70% of the 1.3 billion people living below the poverty threshold are women [39]. Also, women's role in agriculture is mainly sidelined to subsistence agriculture and labor-intensive work, which aggravates their susceptibility to climate change [57]. ...
Kerala experienced floods during August 2018 which caused loss to both human lives as well as property. The households which were dependent on agriculture for their livelihood were badly affected by this extreme weather event. The female-headed households are likely to be more vulnerable to climate change. Their livelihood is derived chiefly from informal sources like agriculture which are climate-sensitive. Therefore, more intensive research is needed to illuminate the interaction between climate change and gender inequalities. The study attempts to relate the livelihood vulnerability of economically deprived farmers in relation to the gender of the household head of the family. Mala and Vellangallur blocks were selected for the study. In order to calculate the vulnerability, primary and secondary data were combined and then the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) was employed. The results revealed that female-headed households were more vulnerable to extreme weather events when compared to male-headed households. Women showed greater vulnerability than men in all the major components considered in the LVI, i.e., socio-demographic profile, economic status, social networks, health, food, water, extreme weather events.
... In many parts of the world, women constitute the population most vulnerable to climate change, due to certain inequitable conditions and situations that place them at risk. Empirical evidence shows that women suffer a greater impact in a disaster or emergency; and economic losses have a disproportionate effect on economically vulnerable women (Enarson, 2000;Lambrou andPiana, 2005 andRohr, 2007). ...
... In many parts of the world, women constitute the population most vulnerable to climate change, due to certain inequitable conditions and situations that place them at risk. Empirical evidence shows that women suffer a greater impact in a disaster or emergency; and economic losses have a disproportionate effect on economically vulnerable women (Enarson, 2000;Lambrou andPiana, 2005 andRohr, 2007). ...
... Sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis are the most effective tools for identifying differentiated impacts as well as conducting analysis such as vulnerability assessments (UNFCCC, 2019). However, the collection of sex-disaggregated data is not consistent or standard practice by public agencies, national or inter-governmental organizations (Lambrou, 2006). Moreover, official national data on basic demographic and social issues are deficient or unavailable (UNSD, 2007). ...
... Additionally, the migration of males as a result of the catastrophic occurrences adds to the burden placed on isolated women. Women's ability to adapt is limited in undeveloped nations since they frequently lack land control (Lambrou & Piana, 2006). Social norms have a big impact on how women respond to catastrophes since they often have limited mobility. ...
Climate change, through the lens of climate catastrophes, is a threat multiplier amplifying social, political, and economic pressures in unstable and conflict-affected environments. Gender is not a neutral variable when discussing policies for mitigation, recovery, and resilience. Climate change disproportionately impacts women and girls, intensifying existing gender disparities and increasing risks to health and safety. During climate crises, women and girls are at an increased risk of gender-based violence, human trafficking, child marriage, and sexual assault. Gender empowerment is a critical element in formulating a wholesome climate change response framework. It is essential to incorporate the gender perspective in climate change policy analysis to ensure the most vulnerable populations are catered. This research examines the top five and bottom five countries on women, peace, and security index and how each mitigates and responds to climate change. The research aims to establish and analyze the link between gender empowerment and climate policy. _________________________
... Gender: The time diverted to household tasks reduces the available time of already climate constrained female-headed households to follow an income generating activity and participate in decision-making (Denton, 2004). Future climate conditions are likely to affect current gender inequalities (Lambrou and Piana, 2005). ...
Based on a literature review and expert interviews, this paper analyzes the most important climate impacts on development goals and explores relevant institutions in the context of mainstreaming climate adaptation into development assistance in Mozambique. Climate variability and change can significantly hinder progress toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals and poverty aggravates the country’s climate vulnerability. Because Mozambique is one of the major recipients of official development assistance in the world, there is a clear interest in ensuring that the risks of climate impacts are incorporated into the country’s development investments. A screening of donor activities at the sub-national level shows that a high share of development assistance is invested in climate-sensitive sectors, partly in areas that are particularly exposed to droughts, floods, and cyclones. The authors find that Mozambique has a supportive legislative environment and donors have a high awareness of climate risks. However, limited individual, organizational, networking, and financial capacity constrain mainstreaming initiatives. Given strong limitations at the national level, bilateral and multilateral donors can play a key role in fostering institutional capacity in Mozambique.
... As a result, efforts to tackle climate change will only be meaningful if gender is considered along with other factors that drive vulnerability, such as wealth, status, ethnicity and education levels, among others. However, to date, climate change research has frequently failed to consider the different impacts experienced by women and men [19][20][21] and gender needs and views are persistently ignored within climate change planning and policy 22 . In addition, little is known about the practical impacts of the links between gender equality and climate change policy goals. ...
... The capacity to adapt to the impacts of climate change depends on so many factors including gender, social status, levels of education, age, and ethnicity (Lambrou & Piana, 2006;Röhr, 2007). Given the disproportionate impacts of climate change on humanity, the Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. ...
This paper explores agro-ecological implications of climate change and gendered adaptations in Northern Ghana. Drawing on feminist political ecology, sequential mix-method design was used to collect socio-economic and livelihood data through a survey of 300 smallholder farmers. Paired sample t test, simple linear regression and descriptive statistics were used to determined yield variation, gendered perception, and adaptive capacities to climate change. Three focus group discussions and 15 key informant interviews were conducted to validate the survey results. Findings show that climate change has threatened the sustainability of local livelihoods with a significant drop in food production over the last 15 years. Adaptation to climate change in the study area is polarized by gender, affecting productivity. This is because men perceive climate change and its impacts differently from women. Men were likely to adapt changing methods of farming and improvement in storage capacity, while women were likely to adapt migration and livelihood diversification. Policy toward building resilience to the impacts of climate change should recognize and adopt these gender adaptive capacities.
... The spatial aspects of energy injustices and unequal access have also been observed to explain energy access disparities among males and females. These pieces of literature argue for the significant role women play in households via their usage of energy for cooking and heating purposes (Kelkar and Nathan, 2005) and conclude on the gendered nature of energy consumption and production (Lambrou and Piana, 2006;Köhlin et al., 2011). ...
This study addresses a crucial gap in the existing literature by exploring the intricate relationship between gender, disability, and energy poverty. While prior research has shown that females and persons with disabilities are more vulnerable to energy poverty, our study adopts an intersectionality framework to investigate how these identities interact with other variables, including life dissatisfaction, food insecurity, and energy subsidy, to shape the experience of energy deprivation. Using a series of robust techniques, our analysis of the General Household Survey in South Africa reveals several noteworthy findings. First, while females are less likely to be energy poor, the intersection between females and disability significantly amplifies their risk of energy poverty by 2.6%. Our mediation analysis further elucidates that life dissatisfaction and food insecurity serve as critical mechanisms through which this intersection exacerbates energy poverty. Importantly, we also find that the impact of energy subsidy is most effective when targeted toward females with disabilities, highlighting the need for tailored interventions. We call for policymakers and stakeholders to prioritize targeted energy subsidy schemes for persons with disabilities and females, recognizing the critical role such policies can play in mitigating energy poverty and promoting equity.
... Enriching the quantitative analysis with evidence gathered through expert dialogue, allowed this research to consider different interpretations of the results. For example, Mavisakalyan and Tarverdi (2019) concluded female parliamentarians made a difference to climate mitigation action, like McGee et al. (2020) and other studies (see Lambrou and Piana, 2006;Cook et al., 2019). In this study, the relationship between women's political empowerment and environmental performances is understood as contextual and dependent upon culturally diverse gendered constructs similarly to Chan et al. (2018) and Knight and Givens (2021), so as to avoid essentializing women's relation to nature, also integrating Lau et al. (2021) findings. ...
An orthodox assumption frames gender equality as a panacea to the climate crisis, whereby empowering women is assumed to have tremendous positive effects on countries' environmental performances. However, the gender-climate nexus literature often disregards feminist epistemology, detrimentally integrating harmful gendered assumptions within its analyses, and therefore policy recommendations. To remedy this, links between gender equality and climate change mitigation action were investigated, through a mixed-method approach, which includes feminist theories. Two metrics of gender equity, the Global Gender Gap Index and the Gender Inequality Index, and their correlations to a sustainability metric, the Environmental Performance Index, were analyzed. This quantitative analysis was enriched by 13 interviews with gender-climate experts. Results showed that, despite statistically significant correlations between both gender equality indices and the Environmental Performance Index, the positive relationship between gender equality and environmental performances is contextual and multi-faceted. Disregarding situated gender constructs, understanding gender as binary, and positing women as a homogeneous group, all mask multiple interactions between gender equality and climate change mitigation. Unveiling these interactions necessitates better integration of radical gender theories within climate change science through interdisciplinary research, permitting epistemological pluralism. To further this, a methodological framework is proposed, to help guide environmental researchers willing to consider gender in their work. Furthermore, the impact of gender mainstreaming within climate policies is explored, presenting subsequent policy recommendations. Finally, findings and the systemic transformation potential of gender equality, amongst other forms of equality, are discussed, reinforcing the idea that there is no climate justice without gender justice, and that justice and equality are cornerstones of sustainable societies.
... change takes a huge toll on this area. Women are usually engaged in subsistence agriculture and labor-intensive works which worsens their susceptibility to climate change (Lambrou and Piana, 2006). Hence during extreme weather events, women experience greater impacts and higher vulnerability than men. ...
Women constitute a disproportionate share of the poor and hence are likely to be extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This study aims to analyse the economic vulnerability of women to extreme weather events and its determinants. It was carried out in the agricultural households of Mala and Vellangallur blocks of Thrissur district in Kerala, which were heavily flooded during the Kerala floods of 2018. Economic
Vulnerability Index (EVI) of male and female-headed households were estimated by modifying the ASPIRES Economic Vulnerability Tool. It was found that female-headed households had a greater economic vulnerability compared to male-headed households. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to study the determinants of economic vulnerability. The results suggested that while natural disasters and dependency
ratio positively influenced the economic vulnerability, high school education, assistance from local government, family size and agricultural diversification index were found to negatively influence the vulnerability.
... Agriculture being a climate sensitive sector, climate change takes a huge toll on this area. Women are usually engaged in subsistence agriculture and labor-intensive works which worsens their susceptibility to climatic change (Lambrou and Piana, 2006). Hence, during extreme weather events, women experience greater impacts and vulnerability than men and become economically insecure following disasters. ...
Heat waves and drought in Europe and China, forest fires in the US, dust storms and extreme rainfall in India and high precipitation in Japan and other island nations are all examples of the disasters which have occurred within a single year of 2018. The climate change induced economic damage has been increasing in the past few decades and is likely to continue growing because of population growth, urban development and changing land use pattern. People who have the least capacity to respond to natural hazards are also affected more. Majority of women, who are considered among the poorest of the poor are at a greater disadvantage because their income is mostly derived from informal natural resources dependent livelihoods.
... Changing cultivation and water the board rehearses, prompted by environmental and climate change, will have critical gender influence since girls and women are by and large expected to get food, energy and water assets for their families in emerging nations (Kristjanson et al., 2014;Bhalotra;Heady, 2003). These unequal distributions of tasks in agroforestry due to intense workload and increased physical exhaustion have major health-related implications to women too (Prati et al., 2022;Piana, 2006). ...
The idea of climate action including adaptation and mitigation is preposterous and unattainable without financial backing and investments, a requisite, which is fulfilled by climate financing. However, the concept of climate action is not synonymous with climate justice, where tackling climate threats with the aid of climate finance does not always manifest in gender-equitable conditions. The current paper presents a broad review of literature, expanding on the ‘distributive, contextual, and procedural’ equity framework on climate mitigation and adaptation strategies including, coastal wetland protection and sustainable agroforestry. The review reveals that the implications of climate finance are not parallelly distributed between men and women and climate action, in several contexts and spaces, exacerbates already existing structural and climate change-induced inequalities even further. To optimize the effectiveness of climate finance, the paper urges authorities and policymakers to integrate gender-responsive components into climate finance frameworks to ratify structural and behavioral inequalities along with empowering women to engage in climate action ventures without undermining their adequate living conditions.
... Climate change vulnerability is subject to gender differences. Women face climate change threats and struggle to overcome its challenges to a greater extent, as they have fewer means and adaptive capacities than men (e.g., [12][13][14][15][16]). Moreover, their vulnerabilities are amplified by gender imbalances in decision-making power, land ownership rights, and access to natural and financial resources, information and knowledge [17][18][19][20]. ...
The past years were marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, economic downfall, the 5th anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, and the end of the African Women’s Decade. According to the latest projections, African countries will continue to face increasing inequalities, as well as risks to human health, water and food security, due to climate change. African countries are also struggling to reduce gender-related power imbalances in adaptation and mitigation that magnify existing vulnerabilities, particularly those of women. Therefore, any advances made in this narrative are significant. This paper investigates the needs and potential for gender-balanced leadership/empowerment in adaptation and mitigation based on climate change experts’ views on the advances made in Africa. This is complemented by a bibliometric analysis of the literature published on the topic between the years 2015 and 2022. The study suggests that although women’s influence on climate change related decisions is growing, a series of barriers need to be overcome, among which are lack of knowledge and political will. The COVID-19 pandemic is seen as having both positive and negative potentials for gender-balanced leadership/empowerment. The findings provide a premise for identifying possible directions of further actions towards gender-balanced leadership/empowerment in climate change in African countries.
... Sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis are the most effective tools for identifying differentiated impacts as well as conducting analyses such as vulnerability assessments (UNFCCC, 2019). However, the collection of sex-disaggregated data is not consistent or standard practice by public agencies, national or inter-governmental organizations (Lambrou, 2006). Moreover, official national data on basic demographic and social issues are deficient or unavailable (UNSD, 2007). ...
Climate change affects livelihoods and wellbeing. Women and men may experience the impacts of climate change differently. But climate change and its associated impacts affect women negatively. A review was done on peer-reviewed literature related to the impact of climate change on gender in Africa. While there is an abundance of credible scientific evidence on the impacts of climate change, there is a dearth of reliable disaggregated data and evidence on the impact of climate change on women. The review shows that climate change affects women more negatively compared to men in five impact areas: (i) agricultural production; (ii) food and nutrition security; (iii) health; (iv) water and energy; (v) climate-related disaster, migration, and conflict. The lack of gender-disaggregated data undermines efforts to design gender-responsive interventions to enable women to cope with and adapt to climate change impacts. While there is no consensus on what constitutes gender-responsive solutions to climate vulnerability and risk, the paper provides some priority action areas to stimulate debate and hopefully consensus for a starting point for deeper engagement of women's participation and motivating investments in creating frameworks for accountability for measurable gender-differentiated outcomes. Efforts to design and deploy gender-responsive solutions to climate change impact must take a holistic, asset-based approach, which meaningfully seeks to identify dominant causal mechanisms and develops context policy and institutional options to address interlocking asset or capital dis-endowments.
... According to some authors, the scant international attention given to gender inequality in the context of climate change resulted from the perceived need to focus attention and limited resources on more pressing global issues related to mitigation and adaptation policies. Typically, climate interventions prefer scientific and technological measures to "soft" policies that address behavior and social disparities, particularly when it comes to income and general opportunity (Lambrou & Piana, 2006). ...
International Women’s Day (March 1) reminds us this year that gender equality is not only a basic human right, but is also foundational for building a world where peace, prosperity, and environmental sustainability prevail. As the most complex challenge of our era, climate change requires coordination and a comprehensive, preemptive response. Evidence suggests that gender equality can lead to the adoption of fairer, more sustainable, and more effective solutions to the climate crisis. It is therefore vital to take gender into account when designing and implementing climate adaptation strategies (United Nations Development Program [UNDP], 2013).
... Hence attention has been drawn to increase effective mitigation and adaptive measures for the inflicted communities. While mitigation refers to the efforts that directly address the cause of climate change, adaptation is the adjustments in practices, processes or structures to moderate or change the risks of expected or experienced climatic abnormalities, thus empowering the communities under threat (Lambrou & Grazia, 2006). The UN IPCC has rightly stated that, 'those in the weakest economic position are often the most vulnerable to climate change....they tend to have limited adaptive capacities, and are more climate dependent on climate sensitive resources such as local water and food supplies' (IPCC, 2007). ...
Extreme weather events have been affecting quite adversely with substantial loss of life and livelihood options, as is much evident from the current trends noticeable in the Global South, of which only in South Asia more than 20% of the global population live. The region is also the home of the youth, the future of the globe, but their life is often exposed to stressors that are linked to environmental, particularly climatic, disasters. Besides looking after their personal needs, the role of women is usually to take care of the children, elderly and indisposed people who due to their incapacities become the major victims of extreme climatic events. This paper is an attempt to review the gendered perceptions in climate sensitivity and resilience, whereby the authors have tried to propose a women-centric climatic hazard management. The analysis is done on the basis of reviewing both government and nongovernmental reports and primary data captured on various aspects of the focal theme through a structured online poll using Web 2.0 platforms, mainly to understand women’s role in climatic hazard management. Largely, it has been found that women are not as vulnerable as they may seem and are also willing to come forward to lead climate change mitigation challenges from the front.
Keywords
Climatic vulnerability Gender roles Resilience perception Women participation
... Due to the different roles played in household livelihoods, men and women experience and respond to the impacts from climate change differently [153] . Men often migrate in search of alternative work, while women are left behind to face the crisis as indicated by the increasing number of female-headed households in the study area [154] . ...
... Due to the different roles played in household livelihoods, men and women experience and respond to the impacts from climate change differently [153] . Men often migrate in search of alternative work, while women are left behind to face the crisis as indicated by the increasing number of female-headed households in the study area [154] . ...
... 8). In Gender: The Missing Component of the Response to Climate Change, Lambrou and Piana (2006) argue that climate change affects men and women differently, as there is a strong correlation between gender and survival when it comes to those most severely impacted by disasters fueled by climate change. One reason for this difference is, as Hilhorst, Bankoff, and Frerks (2008) address, "Social processes generate unequal exposure to risk by making some people more prone to disaster than others, and these inequalities are largely a function of the power relations operative in every society" (p. ...
Within the last 40 years, academic research on disasters has focused on resilience as applied to individual adaptive capacities, rebuilding resources, and policy-driven solutions. While there has been an increased awareness of the many gendered dimensions of post-disaster recovery, women’s and mother’s agency in such situations is still largely ignored. Thus, this dissertation adopts a maternal focus, arguing that mothers are not merely vulnerable subjects but critical agents of post-disaster recovery for families, communities, and social systems more generally. To analyze mothers’ resilience, I looked to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico as an illustrative case and field site. Combined across two site visits in 2019 and 2020, I interviewed nine mothers and conducted a focus group with eight midwives. Their interviews were framed as stories using Clandidin and Connelly’s (2000) restorying techniques. Additionally, I drew from Buzzanell’s (2010) Communication Resilience Framework to map five communicative processes of enacting resilience onto these stories. By studying their stories, I was able to extend Buzzanell’s framework to acknowledge the proactive agency of maternal resilience as enacted through communication, contextual, and relational elements of life in the aftermath. My analysis identifies how mothers reproduced and revised configurations of personal, family, and community life post-disaster. Overall, these embodied research practices revealed how these women remade their daily practices, renegotiated relationships and identities, and created new resource avenues not just to survive but to thrive and live well. When interlinked with histories, material exigencies, and cultural discourses, “getting back to normal” required mothers to seek the routine and advocate for change simultaneously in both motherwork and domesticity. All across the island mothers used anger as a productive force for activism and creative entrepreneurship and leveraged communal coalitions as key components to establishing collaborative empowerment and belongingness. The relationships they had with one another enacted their own brand of resilience. I argue that maternal resilience broadens discussions and understandings of what resilience is and how mothers, through their mothering practices, enact transformative approaches to disaster recovery.
... The fact that female is not encouraged to follow the climate change curriculum in these higher education institutions could affect negatively the efforts of the regions to respond properly to the adverse impacts of climate change because the women could easily spread climate change behavior insociety. These results are consistent with Lambrou and Piana, (2006)who highlighted that gender is of key importance in responding to climate change. Also, Monroe et al. ...
West Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. Though the education institutions by training well-skilled professionals could contribute to cope with the challenges posed by climate change in the region. This study examines climate change curriculum of some West Africa higher education institutions. Primary data were collected from an online survey from graduates and students who receive climate change and related disciplines education training from some West Africa higher education institutions. Chi-square test was conducted to examine the correlations between some study variables. The study findings showed that there existed significant correlations between; the official language of the graduates'/students' native countries and the host higher education institution one (P = 0.001), performing practical internship and the graduated/student host higher education institutions (P=0.001), graduates'/students' mastery of statistical and econometric tools and graduated host high education institutions (P=0.018). In addition, the study findings showed that there were significant correlations between the number of conducted studies by the graduates/students and host higher education institutions (P= 0.001), but there was no significant relationship between the current works of the graduates and their higher education institutions backgrounds (P= 0.116). Consequently, West African higher education institutions should not only consider climate change as a key element in their education curriculum but also use efficiently the climate change trained professionals to enhance the adaptive capacity of the region to climate change.
... Climate change and natural hazards are not gender-neutral phenomena. Women are especially vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters (Enarson, 2000;Lambrou & Piana, 2006;Rohr, 2007). Women are unable to voice their specific requirements even though the impact of climate change and natural hazards affect women and men differently. ...
... Estas diferencias en los conocimientos y roles contribuyen a capacidades y estrategias adaptativas diferenciadas frente a una base de recursos naturales cambiante (Djoudi y Brockhaus, 2011). Las inequidades de género y las normas que limitan el acceso a los recursos y su control por parte de las mujeres, entre ellos la tierra, el capital y los servicios técnicos, pueden dificultar su capacidad para abordar los desafíos que presenta el clima cambiante (Brody et al. 2008;Lambrou y Piana, 2006;Rodenberg, 2009). Por estas razones, las vulnerabilidades específicas deben estar plenamente integradas al proceso del PNA (véase el ejemplo de Uganda en el Recuadro 8) ...
... Gender could also be an option in designating roles for adaptation so that it will be systematic and orderly through the promotion of gender equality. Lambrou and Piana (2006) through the Food and Agriculture Organization considered gender as the missing component of climate change response, activities, and programs. Further, the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN (2015) said that men and women experienced the impacts of climate change differently, thus, both shall be considered as decision-makers, stakeholders, educators, and experts concerning climate change. ...
Climate change is one of the most challenging environmental issues being faced by the world. Its effects are slowly getting worse and unbearable. Adaptation techniques are important to learn how to deal and live with climate change, and somehow address it. This paper provides possible practices and ways of adaptation to climate change that can be of help to the people. These ways include three major components: use of technical practices and strategies, execution of site-based programs, and raising people’s awareness and sense of responsibility. These practices can help address the problem and improve the way of living of people while also improving the environment’s situation.
... Elderly women, for instance, are often still expected to perform housework, a task that may be particularly strenuous on excessively hot days (Bjornberg & Hansson, 2013). Women also shoulder a disproportionate burden of caring for the sick, both in professional and private roles; thus, women will be more burdened by the rise in illness or injury that may occur following extreme climaterelated weather events (Lambrou & Piana, 2006). In disaster scenarios, women are more likely to delay their evacuation so that they can help care for children and the elderly, a phenomenon that can also be attributed to gendered expectations for care work (Alston, 2007). ...
Maternalist framing has been a consistent part of a long history of powerful, often successful organizing for environmental protection and justice. Yet today's calls on individuals to simultaneously engage in proenvironmental behavior and to protect themselves from environmental threats through consumption have mobilized maternal discourse in a way that is likely demobilizing in the long run. Indeed, the increasing individualization of the environmental movement is intersecting with persistent, unequal gendered structures of labor in a way that places the burden of environmentalism and environmental risk management on women and mothers. I argue that precautionary consumption and other forms of individualized environmental risk management add to the “third shift,” on top of the disproportionate burden of household labor and care work that women already face. This phenomenon is concerning because it has the potential to (1) limit women's engagement in other forms of environmental advocacy and leadership, and to (2) reproduce existing gender inequalities not only between men and women but also among women of different levels of race and class privilege. Thus, the increasing individualization of the environmental movement also potentially exacerbates environmental injustice at the household level. Despite such emerging concerns, the domestic scale remains an often overlooked site of environmental harm and gendered burden.
... Therefore, this suggest climate change discussion should afford adequate attention to gender differentiated roles and vulnerability, in view of the fact that the impact of climate change has differentiated implications upon men and women. [77] reported that women and men experience climate change impacts differently due to their socially constructed roles and responsibilities. Hence it is imperative in designing interventions that guarantee cushioning both men and women from the vagaries of climate change to take cognizance of gender roles. ...
Goat-centered approach can transform rural agrarian households and communities toward gender inclusive climate change adaptation in agriculture to enhance
food security and nutrition in Sub Saharan Africa. Gender inequality, climate
change effect and food and nutrition insecurity are the most defining and deeply
intertwined socio-economic and environmental challenges in rural communities in
sub Saharan Africa. This chapter offers an overview of potentiality of goat rearing
as a sustainable and holistic approach in addressing triple challenges of gender
inequality, climate change effects and food and nutrition insecurity in rural communities. The failure to address gender inequality and deal with the climate change
effect has thrown the Sub-Saharan Africa into a state of perpetual food scarcity due
to compromised food production, consequently condemning the rural communities
and its people to extreme poverty and nutrition insecurity. Because of this scenario,
a number of both internal and external development agencies, have put several
measures in place to alleviate the situation, which has for long preyed upon the
region and continues to frustrate food stability in the region. The total failure of the
previous autonomously attempt to address the triple challenges of gender inequality, climate change effects and food and nutrition insecurity at the household level
give ground to prominence on the endorsement of more sustainable and multifaceted approaches. A proposition is made that goat rearing is one such initiative,
which combines the empowerment of women in agriculture to ensure availability
of the basic food needs of the household, while sustaining animal production due to
goat’s adaptability to the climate induced harsh environmental conditions. The goat
centered multifactorial approach to address the triple challenges is focused on the
exploitation of the interlinkages among these socio-economic and environmental
ills. The major assumption is that goat rearing in rural economies simultaneously curtails the risk of food and nutrition insecurity by acting as an entry point
of gender equality, while leveraging on the opportunities that goat rearing will effectively offset adversities posed by the climate change effect. In most instances,
women are potentially more vulnerable compared to men as they directly experience the ponderous effects of climate change in agricultural production, in turn
compromising food and nutrition security. Goat rearing is central in the removal
of systemic barriers that hold women back from equal participation in agriculture,
by broadening their socio-economic opportunities, hence, playing a significant role
in agricultural value-chains. The goat-rearing sustainability concept is based on
establishing and maintaining the circumstances under which people and nature can
subsist in productive harmony, that allow fulfilling the social, economic, and other
requirements of present and future generations. Despite the climate change adverse
effects, the goat population has continued to proliferate in harshest agro-ecological
regions, which demonstrate that goats have managed to adapt to the current
unfriendly climate induced environmental conditions. It is assumed that promoting
goat rearing will narrow the gender equality gap between men and women, and
enhance the participation of women in agriculture, hence, improving productivity,
and food and nutrition security. Goats due to their numerical population advantage
and deeply embedment in rural communities have constantly contributed to rural
poor resource farmers’ livelihoods in many ways, and their contributions tend
to be significant. This chapter offers an overview of potentiality of goat rearing
as a sustainable and holistic approach in addressing triple challenges of gender
inequality, climate change effects and food insecurity in rural communities of Sub
Saharan Africa.
... Evidence suggests that the most vulnerable populations will be hardest hit by climate change and food insecurity (Björnberg & Hansson, 2013;Field et al., 2014;IPCC, 2014), and in particular, those populations already living in poverty, with female-headed households being more affected than male-headed ones (Denton, 2002;Goh, 2012;Lambrou & Piana, 2006;Quisumbing et al., 2018). There is a wide range of studies that follow a microeconomic approach, considering the gender dimension and including a focus on vulnerable groups in order to analyse the effects of climate change. ...
Throughout Bolivia, the degree of vulnerability amongst women and men to the impact of climate change is not equal. Indeed, vulnerability can vary due to regional and gender related differences, as well as varying levels of exposition to climatic events. Furthermore, this vulnerability may be exacerbated by increasing food insecurity due to climate change. This study uses a macro-micro model with a gender focus to assess the impact of climate change on food security and women poverty for Bolivia. We analyse a scenario in which specific regional damage occurs in the agricultural and livestock sector, as well as in the non-agricultural ones, due to adverse climatic events. The simulation reveals negative impacts on the Bolivian economy, with the agricultural sector being the most affected. Food availability is reduced, which ultimately leads to greater food insecurity and food poverty with female-headed households suffering the most. The results also reveal negative effects on employment and increased domestic burdens, especially among women, which increases their vulnerability with women in the highlands being the most affected.
... In general, women and children are considered to be the worst victims of climate change and natural disasters (Lambrou & Piana, 2006;Neumayer & Plümper, 2007;Terry, 2009;Rabbani et al., 2009;Alam & Collins, 2010;Rahman, 2013). Children are particularly exposed to climate change, not only because of their physical vulnerability to natural disasters, but also because of indirect effects arising from conflict, economic displacement, undernutrition and migration (Hilleboe et al., 2013;Currie & Deschênes, 2016). ...
This study examined the nature and correlates of child marriage in eight villages in climate-affected coastal Bangladesh using a mixed-methods approach: focus group discussions and in-depth qualitative interviews of female victims of child marriage as well as quantitative data collected using structured interviews of households. More than two-thirds of the qualitative survey respondents had encountered at least one event of natural disaster before marriage. Quantitative data confirmed significantly higher exposure to flood and river erosion among the coastal population. The quantitative data also suggested a positive association between shocks related to climate events and the incidence of child marriage, while the qualitative data indicated multiple themes related to the causes of child marriage, such as economic vulnerability, coping with risk and patriarchal norms. Yet the qualitative study respondents did not directly refer to natural disasters and climate changes when narrating their marital histories. The qualitative and quantitative evidence does not suggest that dowry-related factors are leading to early marriage. Rather, child marriage appears to be a coping strategy adopted by households in response to their increased vulnerability to natural disasters.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to address role of women in reducing vulnerabilities induced by waterlogging in the study area. The study also aims to identify the women’s role in disasters preparedness and disaster risk reduction.
Design/methodology/approach
The study followed the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative method. A semistructured questionnaire was used for collecting quantitative data from 400 females who have experienced and affected by waterlogging from four villages under the Dhaka–Narayanganj–Demra (DND) embankment area in Narayanganj district. Furthermore, 6 focus group discussions, 25 case studies and 6 key informant interview have been conducted to gather information about the nature of vulnerabilities, coping mechanisms followed by women role played by women to mitigate vulnerabilities and problems encountered by women as effective managers.
Findings
Findings of this study have revealed that women’s vulnerability enhances due to unequal access to basic services, like access to income and related opportunities, improve health-care service, access to proper sanitation, dual work burden and nonrecognition of their contribution and also socio-cultural barriers to participate in disaster and reconstruction processes. The traditional social structure and patriarchal societal norms made maximal women of the survey area worst victims of waterlogging as the findings confirms. During disasters, women use some indigenous coping mechanisms, yet women rarely used any indigenous coping mechanisms on their own.
Originality/value
The study identified agency and vulnerabilities of women in the context of DND embankment area of Narayanganj, Dhaka that has not been previously explored.
Undoubtedly, addressing the danger of extreme weather events is a major global concern. Questions regarding gender norms and women’s involvement in combating climate change have surfaced in the light of the growing attention. Currently, there is not enough information on how gender differences manifest in climate change, especially in Africa. This chapter explores how men and women experience distinct vulnerabilities to climate change due to existing inequalities, including their social roles, access to resources, and power relations, which can limit their ability to adapt to climate change impacts. Understanding the linkages between gender and climate change is increasingly essential for developing effective climate change policies and taking urgent actions to tackle the impacts of climate change, and for promoting gender equality and social justice in the face of this global challenge. By recognising and addressing the gendered dimensions of climate change, Africa can work towards a more equitable and sustainable future for all.
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Human activities have been the main culprit of climate change, majorly due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Fossil fuel combustion produces greenhouse gas emissions, which trap solar heat and raise the temperature. Whom most influences the climate and who is most impacted by it are both issues. The unequal distribution of wealth and power is just one of the factors contributing to climate change. 75% of the world's energy is consumed by just one billion people, who also account for the majority of emissions from industry, pollutants, and consumer products (Johnsson-Latham 2007). But do you believe that everyone is impacted equally by climate change? Without a doubt, the answer is no. People in poverty are the ones that suffer the most. Women make about 70% of the 1.3 billion individuals who live in poverty worldwide (UN Chronicle, 2009). 40% of the poorest households in metropolitan areas are headed by women. The CEDAW Committee emphasised how disasters and climate change affect men and women differently, with many women enduring disproportionate risks and effects. This is due to the fact that women are typically poorer than men and more reliant on natural resources like farming and fishing. In the majority of developing nations, women produce between 60 and 80% of the food, but they only possess less than 10% of the land. Yet, despite their contribution to global food security, women farmers are frequently underestimated and overlooked in development strategies (FAO, 2006).
Women play an important role in the agriculture sector and development of rural economies. Their work is diversified as farmers, laborers, and entrepreneurs. Gender mainstreaming and empowerment of the women farmers is a key concern for which various policies and solutions are being explored. It is widely observed that rural women are getting more and more marginalized due to several reasons such as less investment in agriculture, lack of decision-making authority, inability in accessing the economic opportunities and technologies. There are several systemic challenges that lead to gender disparities in agriculture; however, the role of technologies is well recognized in overcoming the constraints of low productivity, access to information, and drudgery. Most of the agri-technologies can create new employment opportunities and better access to organized markets and cooperatives for rural women and can significantly increase the efficiency and effectiveness in rural women enterprises. However, there are large gender disparities in the adoption of such technologies. Constraints such as sociocultural norms about gender roles, lack of information, prevailing digital-divide, limitations in decision-making power, lack of finances, lack of agency for hand-holding, and lack of resources to implement policies are prominently noted in several studies. Technologies supported by appropriate institutional arrangements and models of linkages can empower women farmers to address major socio-economic, gender, and environmental issues. Therefore, it is imperative to design strategies that promote gender-equitable outcomes and can be used to mainstream gender in agricultural technology adoption.KeywordsRuralWomenAgri-technologiesDecision-makingPolicyICT
Abstrakt: Predkladaný príspevok si kladie za cieľ predstaviť predbežné výsledky interdisciplinárneho projektu mladých vedeckých pracovníkov s názvom Koncept vody v spoločenských a lingvistických súvislostiach, ktorý je počas roka 2022 implementovaný na Ekonomickej univerzite vBratislave. Príspevok okrem predbežných výsledkov poukazuje aj na ďalšie vedecké otázky, ktoré v priebehu výskumu boli sformulované, avšak ktorým nebola venovaná pozornosť vzhľadom na časové a rozpočtové možnosti projektu. Riešiteľský kolektív je presvedčený, že realizovaným výskumom významne prispel k rozšíreniu aktuálneho stavu poznania, a úspešne naplnil stanovené výskumné ciele projektu.
The adverse effects of climate change cut across several sectors of the economy and are mostly felt in rural communities, especially among indigenous people in the developing world. Furthermore, the perils related to climate change threaten to reinforce gender inequalities that partly emanate from unequal distribution and restricted rights to resources to cope with climate change that see women—especially female-headed households—often being disadvantaged. Such unfortunate circumstances in the agricultural sector could erode progress made towards gender equality. Because Central Africa is one of the regions highly vulnerable to extreme weather conditions in sub-Saharan Africa that threatens the existence and livelihoods of indigenous people, this chapter examines how indigenous women are vulnerable to climate change and how they adapt by adopting a systematic review of existing literature. The findings revealed that differentiated gender roles at household level and patriarchy are some factors that make indigenous women in Central Africa more vulnerable to climate change than their male counterparts. In addition, the findings suggested that social capital and community-based adaptation solutions have the potential to curb the gender divide that makes indigenous women more vulnerable to climate change than their male counterparts through network building.KeywordsClimate changeCommunity-based adaptationGenderIndigenous knowledgeNatural resources
This chapter analyzes the perceptions generated through questionnaires, interviews and participatory mapping workshops, through which we sought to identify the main environmental changes faced by the people of the ejido Nieves, in Michoacan, Mexico. We focused on changes particularly associated with climate. Of specific interest are the changes perceived as threats, i.e., those that have the potential to exert negative effects on the ejido's landscape. It was also important to learn about the strategies (capacities) to respond to these changes.
The lives and livelihoods of rural communities are affected by climate change in Pakistan. These impacts vary between households, localities and individuals of the same household due to a diversity of livelihood strategies and differing needs. The aim of this study, therefore, was to understand how gender may highlight vulnerability to climate change through a combination of complex and interlinked factors that results in different vulnerabilities for men and women. The study was conducted in three rain-fed localities of Pakistan’s Punjab that represented three different climatic zones namely high rainfall, mid rainfall and low rainfall. The qualitative research method was employed with the help of 30 key informant interviews (15 women, 15 men) that were undertaken to understand gender roles, responsibilities and livelihood strategies. Finding of the study revealed that there is an increased frequency and duration of extreme climatic events and natural disasters with great uncertainty about the rate of change. Women stands on the frontline of these disasters to bear its impacts but with limited and restricted access to human, financial and natural capitals, and this is driving an expanded vulnerability to climate change in study area. Overall, women were culturally and socially dependent on men in a way that increased vulnerability to climate change. It was observed that women empowerment could play an important role in building the resilience toward climate change; hence, voices of women need to be raised and heard. Women groups should be established in each community where they can come and discuss about their issues and suggest possible solutions. Overall, there is a need in improvement of livelihoods and strengthening the adaptation capacity by ensuring women’s access, control and ownership of resources. Women involvement should be considered in developing climate adaptation strategies and policies.
Climate change is increasingly recognised as a global phenomenon with potentially far reaching implications. Sub- Saharan Africa has already started experiencing climate change. It is threatening food security with vulnerable groups who include female headed households most likely to suffer due to their heavy reliance on rain-fed systems to supplement household food security. This paper sought to explore strategies employed by female heads in building resilience to the effects of climate change. This was done by analyzing adaptation strategies employed by female heads in responding to climate change induced food insecurity as well as limitation to adaptation. An approach based on the understanding that resilience is a function of adaptation. The study is based on the action oriented theory of adaptation by Klaus I, 2011 as basis for understanding social action processes shaping climate change resilience building processes within female headed households. It makes use of the qualitative research approach through application of case study research design in which in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Findings from the study reflect that whilst female headed households have adopted numerous coping and adaptation mechanisms in building resilience to the threats of climate change on food security which include cultivation of traditional grains, shifting planting dates and diversifying livelihoods through participation in community savings groups and extraction of non-timber products for sale. Female heads remain constrained in their ability to adopt a wide range of local available adaptation strategies due to existing socio-cultural barriers, lack of resources and gender imbalances. Hence, the importance of designing policies, programs and implementation strategies that is gender sensitive for maximum benefit by female heads.KeywordsAdaptationClimate changeFood securityFemale headed householdGenderResilience
Women can face higher risks and more significant burdens from the impacts of climate change in situations of poverty than men, exacerbating existing disparities in gender roles, responsibilities, perceptions, and skewed power relations that tend to disadvantage women. Mitigation and adaptation measures are essential not only to increase community resilience to climate change but also to address gender inequalities and achieve a more just and sustainable world. Agroecology is a potential pathway to strengthen agricultural resilience, and to reduce community vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, while building more just social relations and tackling gender inequalities. This article analyses the social, economic, and environmental effects that a gender approach can bring to agroecological adaptation projects, with particular attention to women’s roles in their communities and beyond. The analysis is based on two agroecological projects in Brazil: Adapta Sertão and the Yarang Women’s Movement.
Este libro es resultado de ocho casos de estudio. Siete de ellos se localizan a lo largo de un transecto altitudinal en Michoacán y uno en Jalisco. La mayoría de las investigaciones abordan la forma en que las personas, de diferentes contextos socioeconómicos y realidades ambientales, perciben y manejan los impactos del cambio climático. También incluye tres revisiones de discursos sobre políticas públicas ante el mencionado fenómeno. A partir del trabajo realizado se encontró que ciertos efectos del cambio climático afectan y son percibidos tanto a nivel de hogar como de comunidad. Pero por lo general dichos efectos forman parte de complejas interrelaciones con la globalización, la migración, la marginación y la seguridad. Lo que es alentador, como se muestra a lo largo del libro, es la variedad de iniciativas que la gente ha encontrado para abordar y lidiar con los impactos
This paper deals with gender and sustainability. It notes that environmental threats pertain to varying levels of gravity, and that improving gender relations will not resolve the major environmental threats stemming from industrial patterns of production and consumption. The literature’s primary focus on the role of women in traditional agrarian societies has often mistaken culturally-determined factors for biological dispositions, and has less to offer as concerns gender relations in environmental issues within the context of “development”. Meanwhile, women have become a universal social force and have the potential to give environmental movements greater energy. However, this would require refocusing targets for militancy in women’s movements.
Climate change policies are commonly evaluated on their potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They also have potential indirect or ancillary effects on various sectors such as public health, transportation and ecosystem health. It is important to understand the magnitude of ancillary effects of climate change policies in order to have a more complete picture of the potential con-sequences they have for the environ-ment and the economy. The purpose of this research agenda is to provide guidance both to potential spon-soring agencies and to the research com-munity on issues that are important for understanding the ancillary effects of poli-cies on climate change. The agenda origi-nated from an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) workshop and encompasses a review of relevant recent literature. The workshop was organized by the Organisation for Economic Co-op-eration and Development (OECD), Re-sources for the Future (RFF), and the World Resources Institute (WRI), and was sponsored by the US Environmental Pro-tection Agency (EPA). Most of the research to date on ancil-lary effects of climate change policies focuses on their potential human health consequences. While methodological improvements are desirable, the knowl-edge base for developed countries is rea-sonably adequate. There are, however, serious data gaps in understanding the broad array and large number of ancil-lary health effects of climate change policies in developing countries. The transportation sector is an impor-tant research area in terms of ancillary effects of climate change because it is a major contributor to carbon emissions. Research priorities are concentrated in the area of transportation technologies themselves, but also include filling in data gaps regarding baseline changes in the transportation sector. The ancillary effects of climate change policies on ecosystems and more gener-ally, on land-cover and land-use, are probably the least studied of all sectors, but understanding them is at least as im-portant. Ecosystems are more difficult to consider in policy analysis because there may be no direct economic value associated with the services they supply. Research priorities include developing case studies and models to examine the links among climate change policies, pol-lution, human exploitation and ecosys-tems.
Vulnerability to environmental degradation and natural hazards is articulated along social, poverty, and gender lines. Just as gender is not sufficiently mainstreamed in many areas of development policy and practice, so the potential impacts of climate change on gender relations have not been studied, and remain invisible. In this article we outline climate change predictions, and explore the effects of long-term climate change on agriculture, ecological systems, and gender relations, since these could be significant. We identify predicted changes in natural hazard frequency and intensity as a result of climate change, and explore the gendered effects of natural hazards. We highlight the urgent need to integrate gender analyses into public policy-making, and in adaptation responses to climate change.
The paper discusses how the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol could be designed to achieve an integration of climate and development policy. Developing countries face the dilemma that they do not want their growth prospects burdened by accepting greenhouse gas emission targets while there is a high degree of probability that they will suffer most strongly from climate change. If industrialised countries go ahead to demonstrate that wealth can be achieved and maintained while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions "technological leapfrogging" becomes a credible option and developing countries will no longer reject mechanisms such as the CDM that allow industrial countries to get credits to reach part of their targets through investment in emission reduction abroad. The CDM would provide an opportunity to lead the developing countries on a path of climatically acceptable economic growth from the start. We want to explore the framework for a CDM that manages to be efficient while not neglecting the development needs. The paper first discusses issues that are critical for the functioning of the CDM in general. Design options of the CDM range from a multilateral fund over a clearinghouse or project exchange to a purely bilateral contract. A competition of all types of institutional structures on the basis of minimum rules set by the CDM Executive Board seems to be the best solution. Another point that is crucial for the success of the CDM is the determination of the baseline which is needed to calculate the emission reduction. The paper discusses different approaches ranging from a macro to a micro scale. It becomes obvious that the methods preferred by actors in industrialised countries often do not take into account institutional realities in developing countries. Developing countries will be carefully scrutinising proposals for sharing of the credits achieved by the CDM projects. An extremely important issue and the cornerstone for a successful integration of climate and development policy is the role of positive impacts of CDM projects such as capital transfer, capacity building, job creation and reduction of local pollutants. They are the only incentive for developing countries to engage in CDM unless they receive a part of the credits and are able to sell them. Linking the amount of crediting to the scale of positive impacts would create a big incentive not to neglect the latter in search for the cheapest abatement options. Thus it would be possible to avoid the "cream skimming" feared by many developing countries.
Bangladesh has recently experienced a number of high-profile disasters, including devastating cyclones and annual floods. Poverty is both a cause of vulnerability, and a consequence of hazard impacts. Evidence that the impacts of disasters are worse for women is inconclusive or variable. However, since being female is strongly linked to being poor, unless poverty is reduced, the increase in disasters and extreme climate events linked with climate change is likely to affect women more than men. In addition, there are some specific gender attributes which increase women's vulnerability in some respects. These gendered vulnerabilities may, however, be reduced by social changes.
Most of the developing world has been seeing flexible instruments as a pretext for industrialized nations to go on burning the earth's fossil fuel reserves while denying the developing world the benefits the industrialized countries have enjoyed until now. Others do not see any need at all for climate policy and think it diverts interest from development matters. The fact is that there are still doubts on the magnitude of the damage caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, while the dangers of poverty, social inequity and pollution are proved daily. However, there is a high degree of probability that today's developing countries will suffer most from climate change. The tropics are highly affected by disastrous climatic irregularities, like hurricanes, floods and droughts that are likely to grow in number and magnitude. Equity is an issue as well for the present and future distribution of emission rights. Development indicators being positively linked to GHG emissions, it is only natural that developing nations feel deprived of their right to deve lopment by the demand to limit their emissions. This is one reason why industrialized countries should go ahead and demonstrate that wealth can be achieved and maintained while decreasing GHG emissions (Engelmann, 1998). Only then will the catchphrase of 'technological leapfrogging', as illustrated in Chapter 7, become a credible option. Consumption patterns can only change globally, because the national elites of developing countries usually copy the industrialized countries' life style. In Kyoto emission rights were 'grandfathered' among the developed nations according to historical emissions and negotiation power. If in future commitment periods developing countries are expected to commit themselves to meaningful contributions, other distribution modes will be needed to determine each country's contribution to worldwide GHG emissions. Among Outlook on Climate and Development Policies 225 these, there should certainly be a per capita ratio for emission rights. Or, to put it the other way around: only because a nation does not need its fair share of emission rights should it not be precluded from trading with it. Any solution to the dilemma over emissions reduction and development has to address all the legitimate interests involved. In international climate negotiations, all the different actors have their hidden agenda as well. While, for instance, the power industry seizes the opportunity to promote its much-disputed nuclear plants, OPEC representatives try to obstruct the process in order to keep up their oil sales. Many representatives of the developing world see a chance for bargaining for new development aid. It must be reiterated that climate cooperation in itself has nothing to do with official development assistance (ODA). Theoretically, it should be an exchange on equal terms between unequal partners. This is why international conventions have to provide for a level playing field. This chapter recapitulates the major benefits induced for either side. Thus, in order to make the flexible instruments acceptable to the developing countries which have rejected them so far, it is crucial that the industrialized countries take climate policy action at home, parallel to investing in JI, CDM and emission trading. They have an array of reduction measures at their disposal which are profitable for the national economy ('no regret' measures) (sse Figure 8.1.) and which have not been implemented until now solely because of institutional impediments, lobbying activities and information deficits. These measures could not only result in a substantial emissions reduction, but also increase each nation's economic pe rformance.
This paper starts by assessing the extent to which gender considerations have been taken into account in the international processes concerning the development of climate change policy. Finding that there has been very little attention to gender issues, neither in the protocols and treaties nor in the debates around them, the paper goes on to consider whether there are in fact any meaningful gender considerations as regards (a) emissions of greenhouse gases, (b) vulnerability to climate change, and (c) participation in projects under climate funding. It concludes by suggesting some areas where attention to gender could improve the effectiveness of climate interventions and also benefit women.
Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adaptation has recently gained importance, yet adaptation is much less developed than mitigation as a policy response. Adaptation research has been used to help answer to related but distinct questions. (1) To what extent can adaptation reduce impacts of climate change? (2) What adaptation policies are needed, and how can they best be developed, applied and funded? For the first question, the emphasis is on the aggregate value of adaptation so that this may be used to estimate net impacts. An important purpose is to compare net impacts with the costs of mitigation. In the second question, the emphasis is on the design and prioritisation of adaptation policies and measures. While both types of research are conducted in a policy context, they differ in their character, application, and purpose. The impacts/mitigation research is orientated towards the physical and biological science of impacts and adaptation, while research on the ways and means of adaptation is focussed on the social and economic determinants of vulnerability in a development context. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the national adaptation studies carried under the UNFCCC are broadening the paradigm, from the impacts/mitigation to vulnerability/adaptation. For this to occur, new policy research is needed. While the broad new directions of both research and policy can now be discerned, there remain a number of outstanding issues to be considered.
The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are a group of 49 of the world's poorest countries. They have contributed least to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) but they are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This is due to their location in some of the most vulnerable
regions of the world and their low capacities to adapt to these changes. Adaptation to climate change has become an important policy priority in the international negotiations on climate change in recent years. However, it has yet to become a major policy issue within developing countries,
especially the LDCs. This article focuses on two LDCs, namely Bangladesh and Mali, where progress has been made regarding identifying potential adaptation options. For example, Bangladesh already has effective disaster response systems, and strategies to deal with reduced freshwater availability,
and Mali has a well-developed programme for providing agro-hydro-meteorological assistance to communities in times of drought. However, much remains to be done in terms of mainstreaming adaptation to climate change within the national policymaking processes of these countries. Policymakers
need targeting and, to facilitate this, scientific research must be translated into appropriate language and timescales.
The South is likely to suffer more from climate change than the North due to its already vulnerable situation and lack of the necessary resources to adapt to change. But do the interests of men and of women differ as regards climate change and does this have a South-North dimension? This paper attempts to establish whether gender issues need to be addressed in the climate change debate. Towards this goal, a number of different issues within the climate change debate, in particular the instruments proposed, are analysed. These include responsibility for emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), studies on vulnerability to the effects of climate change, mitigation of emissions, capacity building for participation in flexible mechanisms and adaptation to climate change.
We conclude that while there are many gender angles related to the climate change convention and the instruments therein, some are more strategic than others. There is little to be gained by looking at the responsibility for emissions on a gendered basis. But in mitigation activities, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), capacity building, technology transfer, vulnerability studies and projects for adaptation, the poor, the majority of who are women, should be targeted and active participants in decision-making.
Travel patterns among different socio-economic groups in Sweden are investigated. It is shown that elderly persons, persons with low incomes and women in general do not travel extensively. Middle-aged persons, persons with high incomes and men travel much farther. Cars are the dominant transportation mode for all population groups. Aeroplanes are used mostly by high-income earners and men, while public transportation is mostly used by young people and women. Energy consumption for the different travel patterns differs substantially. Men with high incomes consume the most energy, with 94 000 MJ during one year, while elderly women consume 12 000 MJ. When compared to a calculated sustainable level of energy consumption for travel, most population groups are in excess. The level for sustainable energy consumption is calculated based on an assumed global potential for renewable energy of 360 EJ per year, divided equally among the global population. A certain share of this energy potential is supposed to be used for travelling. A scenario for 2020 is presented in which vehicle energy efficiency has increased and travel patterns have changed from what they are today. Sustainability can only be reached when both travel patterns and vehicle technology have changed radically. Differences in energy consumption for travel due to age and gender are likely to remain in the future. Scientific knowledge from the social domains seems to be important for devising efficient strategies for a sustainable society. Current focus on policy measures has been mainly on technical issues.
The potential for developing synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation has become a recent focus of both climate research and policy. Presumably the interest in synergies springs from the appeal of creating win–win situations by implementing a single climate policy option. However, institutional complexity, insufficient opportunities and uncertainty surrounding their efficiency and effectiveness present major challenges to the widespread development of synergies. There are also increasing calls for research to define the optimal mix of mitigation and adaptation. These calls are based on the misguided assumption that there is one single optimal mix of adaptation and mitigation options for all possible scenarios of climate and socio-economic change, notwithstanding uncertainty and irrespective of the diversity of values and preferences in society. In the face of current uncertainty, research is needed to provide guidance on how to develop a socially and economically justifiable mix of mitigation, adaptation and development policy, as well as on which elements would be part of such a mix. Moreover, research is needed to establish the conditions under which the process of mainstreaming can be most effective. Rather than actually developing and implementing specific mitigation and adaptation options, the objective of climate policy should be to facilitate such development and implementation as part of sectoral policies. Finally, analysis needs to focus on the optimal use and expected effectiveness of financial instruments, taking into account the mutual effects between these instruments on the one hand, and national and international sectoral investments and official development assistance on the other.
The purpose of this paper is to present a tentative conceptual framework for studies of vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability and change, generally applicable to a wide range of contexts, systems and hazards. Social vulnerability is distinguished from biophysical vulnerability, which is broadly equivalent to the natural hazards concept of risk. The IPCC definition of vulnerability is discussed within this context, which helps us to reconcile apparently contradictory definitions of vulnerability. A concise typology of physically defined hazards is presented; the relationship between the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of a human system depends critically on the nature of the hazard faced. Adaptation by a system may be inhibited by process originating outside the system; it is therefore important to consider “external” obstacles to adaptation, and links across scales, when assessing adaptive capacity.
The world’s climate is changing and will continue to change into the coming century at rates projected to be unprecedented in recent human history. The risks associated with these changes are real but highly uncertain. Societal vulnerability to the risks associated with climate change may exacerbate ongoing social and economic challenges, particularly for those parts of societies dependent on resources that are sensitive to changes in climate. Risks are apparent in agriculture, fisheries and many other components that constitute the livelihood of rural populations in developing countries. In this paper we explore the nature of risk and vulnerability in the context of climate change and review the evidence on present-day adaptation in developing countries and on coordinated international action on future adaptation. We argue that all societies are fundamentally adaptive and there are many situations in the past where societies have adapted to changes in climate and to similar risks. But some sectors are more sensitive and some groups in society more vulnerable to the risks posed by climate change than others. Yet all societies need to enhance their adaptive capacity to face both present and future climate change outside their experienced coping range. The challenges of climate change for development are in the present. Observed climate change, present-day climate variability and future expectations of change are changing the course of development strategies - development agencies and governments are now planning for this adaptation challenge. The primary challenge, therefore, posed at both the scale of local natural resource management and at the scale of international agreements and actions, is to promote adaptive capacity in the context of competing sustainable development objectives.
This book presents a comprehensive, authoritative and independent account of the rules, institutions and procedures governing the international climate change regime. Its detailed yet user-friendly description and analysis covers the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and all decisions taken by the Conference of the Parties up to 2003, including the landmark Marrakesh Accords. Mitigation commitments, adaptation, the flexibility mechanisms, reporting and review, compliance, education and public awareness, technology transfer, financial assistance and climate research are just some of the areas that are reviewed. The book also explains how the regime works, including a discussion of its political coalitions, institutional structure, negotiation process, administrative base, and linkages with other international regimes. In short, this book is the only current work that covers all areas of the climate change regime in such depth, yet in such a uniquely accessible and objective way.
During the past two decades, the term "women in development' has become common currency both inside and outside academic settings. But while "women in development,' or "WID,' is understood to mean the integration of women into global processes of economic, political, and social growth and change, there often is confusion about the meanings of two more recent acronyms, "WAD' (women and development) and "GAD' (gender and development). This paper begins with an examination of meanings and assumptions embedded in "WID', "WAD', and "GAD' and then looks at the extent to which differing views of the relationship between gender and development have influenced research, policymaking, and international agency thinking since the mid-1960s. It is suggested that each term has been associated with a varying set of underlying assumptions and has led to the formulation of different strategies for the participation of women in development processes. -from Author
Centre for Advanced Studies (Bangladesh) and International Institute for Environment and Development (UK), Youba Sokona Environnement et Developpement du Tiers Monde (ENDA-TM, Senegal) and Adil Najam Sustainable Development Policy Institute (Pakistan) and Boston University (USA) The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) is likely to see the Kyoto Protocol finally coming into force. While this will be a moment to celebrate, there is no cause to be complacent. Although a step in the right direction, the Kyoto Protocol was always an imperfect agreement and has been made all the more imperfect by the fact that the world's largest polluter has decided to stay out of the consensus and those who have agreed to join have demanded and received changes that have weakened the Protocol considerably. It is time, therefore, to begin thinking about the shape of the global climate regime in its post-Kyoto phase.
The issue of sustainable energy development is a key consideration for climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives, and is an integral component of Africa's ability to achieve the inter-related economic, social, and environmental aims of sustainable development. Nearly one-third of the global population lacks access to energy-efficient services that do not degrade the ecosystem or contribute to environmental change. Climate change is likely to affect everyone in some way: from rising temperatures, increased floods, and changing rainfall patterns, to the spread of diseases like cholera and malaria (Wamukonya and Skutsch 2001). African countries are likely to be severely affected because of the already high levels of poverty and vulnerability. The impacts of environmental change on men and women are likely to be different with regard to their different roles and responsibilities. This article discusses women's initiatives in the sustainable energy field, highlighting the efforts of two networks that work globally and regionally to strengthen the role of women in sustainable energy development. I highlight some of the challenges that the networks face, and propose strategies for effective networking and capacity-building.
How do we as cities, nations, and global communities best respond to global climate change? Mitigation - curtailing greenhouse gas emissions dominated initial discussions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and international conferences on global climate change. Now that climate change has become a clear and present danger, however, adaptation - lessening the harm and maximizing the benefits of climate change - has received more attention. Analysis reveals that integrating the two responses, though challenging, may be the most effective approach.
Climatic disasters are a recurrent problem in Peru. The impacts of disasters differ between and within regions and communities. Rural upland communities, largely dependent on small-scale agriculture and natural resources for survival, are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of extreme climate events. Government policies have not only failed to mitigate this vulnerability, but have served to exacerbate it. Women face particular vulnerabilities in the context of extreme climate events. Traditional analysis and government policy approaches have served to obscure these. This article reflects on the gender-specific lessons learned by the Centre for Andean Advancement and Development, CEPRODA MINGA, during its work with poor rural communities in the Piura region of Peru in the aftermath of the 1997-8 El Niño phenomenon. It focuses on the ways in which rural communities, and women in particular, have traditionally been excluded from policy creation, and considers how they can become influential social and political actors creating their own strategies for sustainable development and disaster mitigation and preparedness.
This article argues that climate change not only requires major technological solutions, but also has political and socio-economic aspects with implications for development policy and practice. Questions of globalisation, equity, and the distribution of welfare and power underlie many of its manifestations, and its impacts are not only severe, but also unevenly distributed. There are some clear connections, both positive and negative, between gender and the environment. This paper explores these linkages, which help to illustrate the actual and potential relationships between gender and climate change, and the gender-specific implications of climate change. It also provides examples of women organising for change around sustainable development issues in the build-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), and demonstrates how women's participation can translate into more gender-sensitive outcomes.
At a first glance, the links between the results of the UN negotiations on climate change and gender issues may not be obvious. However, I believe that gender did indeed play a role in these discussions. This was not a role of the first order, but it was nonetheless a significant one. I would like to explain this impression by analysing briefly the three 'communities' which have shaped the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Kyoto Protocol. The first community consists of the different countries' governmental delegations, the most important players in the negotiations. The second community consists of business and its representatives, and the third consists of environmental NGOs.
Gender-related inequalities are pervasive in the developing world. Although women account for almost 80 per cent of the agricultural sector in Africa, they remain vulnerable and poor. Seventy per cent of the 1.3 billion people in the developing world living below the threshold of poverty are women. It is important that the consequences of climate change should not lead already marginalised sections of communities into further deprivation. But key development issues have been at best sidetracked, and at worst blatantly omitted, from policy debates on climate change. The threats posed by global warming have failed to impress on policy-makers the importance of placing women at the heart of their vision of sustainable development. This article argues that if climate change policy is about ensuring a sustainable future by combining development and environment issues, it must take into account the interests of all stakeholders. The Global Environment Facility and the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol can play a role in ensuring sustainable development, provided they are implemented in a way that does not disadvantage women and the poor.
Although the Plan of Implementation adopted at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) contained important provisions regarding the role of energy in sustainable development, it did not adequately reflect the linkages between energy, poverty and traditional gender roles. This was especially noticeable in comparison to the decision on energy adopted at the Ninth Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-9). ENERGIA, an international network on gender and energy, worked in partnership with other organizations to undertake successful lobbying and advocacy activities to ensure that a gender and energy perspective was reflected in the CSD-9 decision. UNDP, in particular, has been an important partner in raising awareness about the importance of gender-sensitive energy policies. The text of the WSSD Plan of Implementation recognised the importance of gender equality in sustainable development, but did not include specific references to gender issues in the substantive paragraphs of the text. To some extent this reflects the fact that the need for gender sensitivity has become much more widely recognised and accepted. With regard to the provisions concerning access to energy, the negotiators at the WSSD were focused on much more controversial matters. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that gender and energy concerns are included in national and international planning and decision-making processes, ENERGIA and its partners need to develop greater capacity for advocacy and information-sharing. Some of the partnership initiatives launched at the WSSD will provide new opportunities for gender and energy advocates to participate in the design and implementation of sustainable energy activities. For example, the Global Village Energy partnership sponsored by UNDP and the World Bank's Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme has emphasised gender sensitivity in energy decision-making, and has included ENERGIA members on its Board of Directors.
This paper argues that the ability of women to adapt to climate change pressures will be enhanced by using the 'capabilities approach' to direct development efforts. By using this approach, women will improve their well-being, and act more readily as agents of change within their communities. This argument is supported by previous research on gender and livelihoods, and a study conducted in rural India. Examples are based on the experiences of poor, rural women in India, who are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Their survival is dependent on their being able to obtain many essential resources from their immediate environment. Yet these women lack many of the requirements for well-being, such as access to healthcare, literacy, and control over their own lives. Gaining these would reduce their vulnerability to their changing environmental circumstances.
A focus on land-use and forests as a means to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere has been at the heart of the international climate change debate since the United Nations Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997. This environmental management practice is a process technically referred to as mitigation. These largely technical projects have aimed to provide sustainable development benefits to forest-dependent people, as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, these projects have had limited success in achieving these local development objectives. This article argues that this is due in part to the patriarchal underpinnings of the sustainable development and climate-change policy agendas. The author explores this theory by considering how a climate mitigation project in Bolivia has resulted in different outcomes for women and men, and makes links between the global decision-making process and local effects.
The source of the global, systemic problem of global climate change (GCC) is principally human activities (anthropogenic forces). While an understanding of climate change is the purview of climate and related scientists, an understanding of the human factors contributing to climate change is the purview of the social sciences. The social sciences can also contribute to the assessment of appropriate strategies and policies for addressing climate change issues. Such an assessment is undertaken by three social scientists?Loren Lutzenhiser, Thomas Rudel, and Timmons Roberts?in the articles that follow. This article presents an introduction to those contributions by providing an historical overview of the globalization of environmental concerns and a context for understanding the sociological significance of climate change. It also highlights the contribution of the three articles to our understanding of climate policy.
The risks that climate change poses for the environment and for development are well-documented, yet it has been difficult to build a consensus on measures to reduce global threats to ecological security. How can communities, NGOs, and policy-makers representing less powerful nations overcome objections to measures that aim to mitigate the global threat to environment and development? In climate change negotiations, vulnerable communities and disadvantaged groups meet around the same table as more powerful interests. Using systems theory,1 this article analyses the ways in which low-power groups can transform disadvantageous power relations to overcome threats to sustainable development.
In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (unfccc) demonstrated international agreement that global co-operation is required to for-mulate and implement adaptation strategies. However, the development of further understanding of adaptation, and movement towards international agreement on what steps should be taken in order to facilitate it,has lagged well behind mitigation. This paper describes a variety of current perspectives on adaptation.It then moves on to report on the state of knowledge and thinking as reflected in recent research in Uganda, Antigua and Barbuda, and Pakistan. On this basis, the paper concludes with the identification of several possible approaches to the development of inter-national co-operation on adaptation in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
So far, the dominant paradigm in international climate policy has been mitigation while adaptation has been a low-key issue. However, with LDCs starting to push for adaptation side payments it has recently gained importance. The allocation of funds and the definition of adaptation activities are currently being discussed. The most outstanding difference between mitigation and adaptation is that mitigation activities contribute to a global public good whereas most forms of adaptation are club goods. Technical adapation such as building sea-walls can be distinguished from societal adaptation, e.g. different land-use patterns. Generally, there is a trade-off between mitigation and adaptation strategies as resources for climate policy are limited. The choice between mitigation and adaptation strategies depends on the decision-making context. While mitigation will be preferred by societies with a strong climate protection industry and low mitigation costs the voters' quest for adaptation is linked to the occurrence of extreme whether events. The policy choice in industrialised countries feeds back on the situation in developing countries. Adaptation in industrialized countries enhances the adaptation need in developing countries through declining mitigation activities. Unless this adaptation is financed by industrialised countries, developing countries will be worse off than in a mitigation - only strategy. Bisher hat sich die internationale Klimapolitik auf die Emissionsvermeidung konzentriert, während die Anpassung an veränderte klimatische Bedingungen eine untergeordnete Rolle gespielt hat. Durch die Forderung der ärmsten Entwicklungsländer nach Unterstützung bei der Anpassung hat sich die Aufmerksamkeit für diese Thematik in jüngster Zeit jedoch erhöht. Zur Zeit wird über die Alloziierung von Geldern und die Definition von Anpassungsaktivititäten verhandelt. Der größte Unterschied zwischen Emissionsvermeidung und Anpassung liegt in der Tatsache, dass es sich bei ersterem um den Beitrag zu einem globalen öffentlichen Gut handelt, während letzteres den Charakter eines Clubguts trägt. Hierbei kann zwischen technischer Anpassung, z.B. Deichbau und gesellschaftlicher Anpassung unterschieden werden. Ein Beispiel für letzteres ist die Nicht-Bewirtschaftung von Küstenregionen. Zwischen Anpassungs- und Vermeidungsaktivitäten besteht aufgrund begrenzter Ressourcen ein Zielkonflikt. Welche Strategie bevorzugt wird hängt u.a von der Stärke der Klimaschutzindustrie eines Landes sowie von dem Auftreten extremer Wetterereignisse in der Vergangenheit ab. Entwicklungsländer bevorzugen eine reine Vermeidungsstrategie auf Seiten der Industrieländer.
PIP
Whether gender analysis can help identify useful models and approaches for development, why it is important to consider gender as a relevant issue for sustainable development, and what lessons can be drawn from the lack of consistent success in integrating gender into the development process will be considered at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Delegates at the conference to be held September 1995 will try to advance the notion that gender equity and equality are central to achieving sustainable development. The authors focus upon the role of women in natural resources management. Women in developing countries work as managers of natural resources, farmers, water and energy suppliers, and health providers. Women are the world's most important food producers. The authors discuss equity and sustainability, natural resources managers, research methodology, and taking action.
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