Gender and Climate Gender and Climate ChangeChange

Why Women’s Perspectives Matter

January 2009

OutlineOutline

•What is Climate Change

•Why Gender and Climate Change

•Impacts of Climate Change on Gender

•Women are essential to climate solutions

•What is WEDO doing

Source: IPCC, 2007

Figure 3.1Figure 3.1

Source: IPCC, 2007

Source: Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)

Woman coping with flooded homesteadSource: WEDO/ ActionAid Bangladesh, “Gender, Climate Change and Human Security”, 2008

Climate change is not gender Climate change is not gender neutralneutral

WEDO 2008

Gender inequalities remain pervasive in Gender inequalities remain pervasive in most of the worldmost of the world

• Of the 1.3 billion people living in the deepest levels poverty worldwide, the majority are women (~70%)

• Women work 2/3rd’s of the world’s hours

• Women produce 1/2 the world’s food; in rural areas, women produce 60-80% of staple crops

• And yet, women earn only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 2% of property

Climate change worsens gender Climate change worsens gender inequitiesinequities

Feminization of poverty and gendered divisions of labor clear differences in how climate change impacts women and men, and their respective capacities for coping

Existing conditions and existing discrimination determine who is most impacted by “natural” disasters

Climate Change

CROP FAILURE

FUEL SHORTAGE

SHORTAGE OF SAFE,CLEAN WATER

RESOURCE SCARCITY

NATURAL DISASTERS

DISEASE

DISPLACE-MENT

CIVIL WAR / CONFLICT

Impacts on women

Household food provision;Increased agricultural work

Household fuel provision;food-fuel conflicts

Household water provision;exposure to contaminated sources

Economic drawbacks; lack of land tenure; resource-dependent livelihoods; school dropouts, early marriage

Greater incidence of mortality; reduction of life expectancy

Lack of access to healthcare;increased burden of caring for young, sick and elderly

Loss of livelihoods; lack of adequate shelter; conflicts

Loss of livelihoods and lives; sexual violence and trauma

WEDO 2008

The Impacts of Climate Change on The Impacts of Climate Change on WomenWomen

Insecure livelihoods:i.e. reduced

crop yield

Increased burden on household:i.e. more time

collecting water, food, fuel

Less time for education,

income-generation

Unsustainable coping strategies:i.e. deforestation;migration; conflict

Environmental instabilities:i.e. drought/

floods

Example of exacerbated

cycle of poverty for women

Climate Change Exacerbates the Climate Change Exacerbates the Cycle of Poverty Cycle of Poverty

WEDO 2008

Women’s Adaptive CapacityWomen’s Adaptive Capacity

Women have been adapting to swift environmental changes for decades.

Climate change introduces a new constraint on their capacity to adapt

The flood pattern has changed a lot…The laws that used to hold earlier are no more there. We are not able to understand the strange things God is showing us… When summer is supposed to be over and monsoon is supposed to begin, the fields are still burning with heat. But by the time the rain starts and we try to sow seeds, by then there is flood. We are engulfed by trouble from all sides.Komela Khatun, 56, female headed household, Char Banktarpur, Pabna. Source: Gender, Climate Change and Human Security by WEDO and ELIAMAP

WEDO 2008

Why Women are EssentialWhy Women are Essential

Women were the first to find potable water during a prolonged drought in Micronesia

Wangari Maathai successfully implemented the Greenbelt Movement, now one of the leading worldwide climate change projects

Women’s coping ability is often a measure of their community’s capacity to adapt.

Why Women are Essential Why Women are Essential cont’dcont’dWhen women are leaders they

can address the specific needs of the women and their families.

Kunderpara Village, Bangladesh—Sahena Begum “If women are aware then families can be saved from many losses…. and the women themselves are saved from a lot of suffering.”

Oxfam 2008 Sisters on the Planet video

Why Women are Essential Why Women are Essential cont’dcont’d

When financing programs for climatechange adaptation have specific parametersfor women, women are able to lead theircommunities in increased adaptive capacity

WEDO 2008

Why Women are Essential Why Women are Essential cont’dcont’dWomen who are active in policy advocacy can influence effective, gender-responsive legislation in their local governments.

Khawla Al Sheikh explains that her role in alleviating the scarcity of water is important because “only a woman can sell to a woman” and she believes that that’s why her initiative has been successful.

http://jordan.usaid.gov/features_disp.cfm?id=72&type=success

Source: Kushal Gangopadhyay, 1999, West Bengal, India UNCCD

Gender & climate change:

The global policy framework

Gender & Climate ChangeGender & Climate Change

Every major global agreement now includes a gender component:United Nations charter (1945)

Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948)Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against

Women (CEDAW) (1979)Convention on Biodiversity (1992)

Chapter 24 of Agenda 21 (UNCED 1992)World Conference on Human Rights (1993)

International Conference on Population and Development (1994)Convention to Combat Desertification (1994)World Summit for Social Development (1995)

Beijing Platform for Action (1995)Millennium Declaration (2000)

Johannesburg Plan of Action (2002)Hyogo Framework for Action (2005)

Gender & Climate ChangeGender & Climate Change

Except one:United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change (UNFCCC)◦Kyoto Protocol

Gender & climate changeGender & climate change

Seeking a rights-based, gender-sensitive approach to climate

change decision-making, financing and implementation of

activities; challenging market-based “solutions” and mobilizing

women as leaders

Woman gathering firewood in drought stricken area, Ethiopia.Source: UN/ E . Debebe

WEDO’s Gender and Climate WEDO’s Gender and Climate Change InitiativeChange Initiative

WEDO’s Gender and Climate Change Initiative advocates for the inclusion of gender through these projects and campaigns

◦National Advocacy Project◦Women in Governance for Climate Change◦Case studies on Gender and Adaptation

Financing◦Women Demand U.S. Action on Climate

Change campaign

National Advocacy ProjectNational Advocacy Project

Partnering with women’s organizations, environmental and/or development organizations, and government representatives in developing countries; WEDO and our partners seek to incorporate gender into climate change policies, particularly adaptation plans and implementation

of activities

National Advocacy ProjectNational Advocacy Project

Phase I countries: Ghana, Senegal, Nepal, Trinidad-and-Tobago, and Suriname

Activities of this project◦ Conduct country case studies with

partners◦ Develop Action Plans for each country

Women in Governance for Women in Governance for Climate ChangeClimate Change

WEDO is identifying women leaders and asking them to make a commitment to gender and climate change in their own work.

Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance◦ WEDO and several others partnered on a

conference for women leaders on Gender in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction

◦ Manila Declaration for Global Action on Gender in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction

Gender and Adaptation Gender and Adaptation FinancingFinancing

WEDO is challenging the dominant approach to

climate change adaptation and mitigation that

prioritizes market-based solutions over policies

that will protect the most vulnerable.

At this year’s UNFCCC Conference on Parties WEDO presented a report on Gender and Adaptation Financing.

Women Demand U.S. Action Women Demand U.S. Action on Climate Change on Climate Change CampaignCampaignRecognizing the influence the United States has on international climate

change negotiations WEDO launched this campaign to mobilize U.S. women to advocate for U.S. legislation on climate change domestically and U.S.

participation in climate change negotiations internationally

Women Demand U.S. Action Women Demand U.S. Action on Climate Change Campaignon Climate Change CampaignActivities of this project

◦ Provide partners and activists with gender and climate change educational and advocacy tools

◦ Engage women activists in climate change advocacy activities

◦ Connect partners to global gender and climate change advocacy efforts through ‘From Katrina to Copenhagen’ events

Bringing Women to Global Bringing Women to Global Climate Change NegotiationsClimate Change Negotiations

WEDO is also a founding member of the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA)

The GGCA was formed in December 2007 after the Bali talks with IUCN, UNDP, and UNEP to ensure that climate change policies, decision-making, and initiatives at the global, regional, and national levels are gender responsive

As a member of the GGCA WEDO will bring lessons learned from our national projects to the global arena to influence global climate change policy and decision-making

Thank You!!!Thank You!!!

For More Information Please Contact:

WEDO

wedo@wedo.org 212-973-0325

You can also visit our website:

http://www.wedo.org