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Climate Change: Are women important in

addressing this challenge???

Ranjitha Puskur International Livestock Research Institute

April 2009

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Climate change and women- what and why?

Impacts Mitigation and Adaptation strategies

Why are women more vulnerable?

What are the major challenges in enhancing

women’s adaptive capacity?

Do women face higher

negative impacts?

•How to develop gendered M&A

strategies? •What role can women play?•Inclusion in negotiations

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Women-Poverty-climate change nexus Poor will be the most affected by climate

change

Poverty has a woman’s face. – 70 per cent of the world's poor are

women– Majority of the 1.5 billion people living on

$1 a day or less are women

A significant part of the agricultural labour force

Women do two-thirds of the world’s work, and produce half the world's food, yet earn only a tenth of the world's income and own less than a hundredth of the world's property

Worldwide, women on average earn just over 50 per cent of what men are earning.

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Why are poor women more vulnerable?

Different roles – gendered division of labour

Different assets and access to resources– Highly dependent on natural resources– Fewer physical resources– Less powerful social resources– Fewer human resources– Fewer financial resources

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Are negative impacts of CC greater for women and why?

Crop failure

Drought

Water scarcity

Male out-migration

Alternative ways to feed

family

Long hours to collect water

Higher disease incidence

More caring work

Reduced time for education or

engaging in income-generating activities

Take on men’s role, but limited

resources

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What role can women play in addressing this challenge?

Women and men have distinct responsibilities, knowledge and needs that are essential to addressing the challenge

Women have specialized knowledge of their environment and; capacity to adapt to changing nature of disasters, and develop innovative strategies

Have diverse adaptation and coping strategies & mechanisms

Pilot studies highlight their responses and coping strategies – have a very clear sense of what is needed to adapt better to CC

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What role can women play in addressing this challenge?

Leaders in NRM and community revitalization

Projects that can improve the quality of life for women and at the same time be strategies for mitigation and adaptation to CC

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Developing gendered Adaptation strategies

Not mentioned in NAPAsDespite evidence, limited voices and

participation in decision-making processes and structures

Little evidence of targeting women in adaptation activities as contributors and the vulnerable group

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Developing gendered Adaptation strategies

National level action– Gender analysis of national or local CC policies,

programs or budgets– Women’s participation in decisions and access to

capacity building– Gender-sensitive indicators to use in national

reports to UNFCCC, Kyoto and CDM– Practical tools that allow GE to be incorporated in

CC initiatives– Need guidelines – translating international

agreements into domestic policy– Multi-disciplinary teams– More research and evidence

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Effective gendered strategies need..

Strategic entry points for gender responsive programs

Meaningful participation of women in design and implementation

To support local capacities and do not impose top-down mainstreaming agendas – should allow flexibility

Planning and monitoring support from top and implementation support from bottom

Mandatory gender analysis and indicators

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Strategies for improving adaptive capacity

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Major elements of the approach

Knowledge-based, capacitated and responsive system with linked actors

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Capacity building Huge need for capacity building

– Outreach, awareness and training at all levels – women’s information networks

– Participatory knowledge management– Empower women as a part of building community

resilience– ‘Investing in women means investing in children’– Build on existing strategies and incorporate lessons

learned

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Implications for national and community level strategies

Beyond technology/knowledge – Technology is necessary, but not sufficient or

starting point– No “blueprints”- context specific solutions

Partnerships– Understanding linkages and engaging diverse

actors and their alignment Capacity to access, adapt and use knowledge

– Needed at all levels – decision makers, farmers….. Process issues

– Learning – what works where and why– Addressing enabling policy and institutional

environment– Being and empowering others to be responsive

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Should gender not be an important talking point in national and international negotiations?

International negotiations take a technical and science-orientated view

Assumes policies are gender-neutral Not a lack of willingness, but a lack of

awareness and available approaches Will having a higher number of women

delegates at the negotiations make a difference?

More people talk about it, more attention will be paid – but need some robust evidence

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ILRI is creating and integrating knowledge to enable diverse partners to

find innovative solutions to make livestock a sustainable pathway out of

poverty