WUNRN
Climate Change Action
Hangs in the "Gender" Balance
Women throughout the world have been adapting to climate change long before
scientists ever identified the causes or gave it a name. As farmers and leaders
in conservation, as innovators and catalysts for change and as family
caretakers, women in all regions are taking action on climate change.
At the same time, we know that climate change exa
cerbates
existing inequalities and that the poor - the majority of whom are women -
experience its harshest effects. From New Orleans to Bangladesh, more women die
and suffer from natural disasters than men.
Yet the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is one
of the few global treaties that does not mention women's equality. Much of the
intergovernmental debate has concentrated on technology fixes and carbon
trading, with little focus on the human dimensions of climate change.
Women, however, are key agents of change. New research documents that
communities fare better during natural disasters when women play a leadership
role in early warning systems and reconstruction. And when governments tap into
their knowledge, solutions are both innovative and doable.
During a drought in Micronesia, for example, women - utilizing their experience
in working the land - were able to create new wells filled with fresh drinking
water. In Kenya, women's groups affiliated with the Greenbelt Movement have
planted thousands of trees - replenishing the soil, generating income and
capturing carbon dioxide from the air.
Few women's organizations have yet to participate in the global discussion on
climate change. In Bali, where governments gathered this past December for
talks on climate change, WEDO was one of only a handful of women's organizations
present. Our team in Bali worked to raise awareness among government and UN
representatives, as well as among other non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
from the environmental and social justice fields, on the links between gender
equality and climate change.
A new global climate agreement to follow the Kyoto Protocol (which expires in
2012) must be hammered out by the talks in Copenhagen in 2009. It is essential
that all the world's governments - including the United States - sign onto to
this multilateral agreement for it to be most effective. .
WEDO is deeply committed to bringing women's perspectives to national and
global policymaking on climate change. Most importantly, WEDO will make sure
that women's voices, their concerns and their wisdom are not only recognized as
valuable - but are the basis for solutions.
June Zeitlin, Executive Director
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