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FAO - http://www.fao.org/

Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

 

WILPF - http://www.wilpf.int.ch/

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

Written by WILPF Representative Team for

  FAO Ad Hoc NGO Group - http://www.ahgingos.org/

 

FAO CONSULTATION  WITH  NGO's ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE AND BIOENERGY

April 2008

 

CLIMATE CHANGE IN A GENDER PERSPECTIVE

 

WILPF ( Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) commitment towards world peace includes, among others, the establishment of  economic and social systems in which political equality and social justice for all can be attained, without discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, or any other grounds whatsoever. WILPF works with many organisations , is a part of numerous international networks and coalitions and participates in all the international fora related to sustainable development, climate change, bioenergy, analysing them in  a gender perspective.

 

CLIMATE CHANGE IN A GENDER PERSPECTIVE

 

Women are the most affected by climate change, but they are also key catalysts for positive change. Their knowledge and experience is fundamental for a successful mitigation of climate change, as well as for climate change adaptation.

 

Women’s organizations (gendercc)  gathered  in Bali  during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2007  demanded  that a future climate regime be designed in a framework of gender equality and sustainability guidelines, instead of being driven by dominant economic factors. To mitigate climate change, the root causes must be addressed more fundamentally.

 

The millennium development goals recognize the need to promote gender equality and empower women to participate in all facets of economic and social life with the aim of achieving sustainable development. Climate change poses a significant challenge to the achievement of sustainable development for the rural poor, especially women, who will suffer disproportionately from its impacts.

 

Biological differences between men and women are obvious and acknowledged by all, however the difference in roles within communities, access to information, economic and social factors have to be analyzed for successful implementation of adaptation and mitigation measures. There is a need to differentiate between men and women as far as the climate change process is concerned because of the different roles the two sexes play in society today hence the different ways in which they will be affected by the climate change policies designed.

 

Behavioral patterns of women and men, young and old, rich and poor differ greatly. The activities carried out by women and men differ significantly, and they both impact climate change differently.

 

Men and women perceive climate change differently and they react differently to it. It is therefore important to note however that even then climate change will affect both groups differently.

 

The Women’s Manifesto on climate change (WEN/NFWI, May 2007) quotes that women make up 70% of the world’s poor making them more vulnerable to environmental damage, while they also make up 85% of people who die from climate-induced disasters.

 

It is widely acknowledged that the negative impacts of climate change will hit the poorest in the poorest countries hardest. Since women constitute the majority of the worlds poor and are often more dependent on natural resources, they are likely to be disproportionately vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

 

Women’s livelihoods and social roles rely directly on forest resources to meet the nutritional, health and cultural needs of families and communities; forest resources are crucial to woman’s income generating capacities, while men are involved in timber extraction and the use of non timber forest products for commercial purposes. Due to this division in labour, women living or near the forest are differently and disproportionately harmed by deforestation and have stronger interest in preservation.

 

It has been estimated that women in developing countries spend an average of 134 minutes a day collecting water for their households (Rosen and Vincent, 1999). This increases the rate of school dropouts for young women as they take on extra workloads, reducing the opportunities for women to participate in nontraditional activities that would empower them. The cost of water even for urban women will increase, denying accessibility.

 

Poor countries are already vulnerable to climate sensitive diseases.

 

Increases in temperature will increase cholera bacteria and malaria incidences. Malaria will spread to dry areas where flooding will rise with Climate change. Malaria is already reported to have increased in Rwanda and Tanzanian highlands as a result of temperature rise. Because of their roles in relation with household water supply and domestic chores, women are particularly at risk. Children and pregnant women are particularly susceptible to water borne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera (same with malaria-worse in HIV cases). Poor access to health care aggravates the situation.

 

In his message marking this year’s World Health Day ( April 7 2008), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that, in addition to causing more frequent and more severe storms, heat waves, droughts and floods, climate change jeopardizes the quality and availability of water and food, “ our fundamental determinants of nutrition and health”. He stressed the need to “ ensure that protecting human health is anchored at the heart of the global climate change agenda.” The Secretary-General added that it is the world’s poor- who contributed the least to climate change- that will bear the brunt of the human suffering resulting from the crisis.

 

During the 52nd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women “Gender Perspectives on Climate Change” has been considered as an  emerging issue and it has been organized an interactive expert panel.

 

All the participants agreed that addressing the threat of climate change is a current global priority that is best addressed in the context of sustainable development. Unless it is effectively dealt with, climate change will have a dramatic impact on the environment and on economic and social development. Climate change is also likely to exacerbate both natural disasters and potentially conflicts over natural resources. The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali in December 2007 clearly signalled Member States’ commitment to addressing climate change and delivered the Bali Action Plan – the crucial mandate to launch negotiations for the achievement of a comprehensive global agreement by the end of 2009.

 

The Bali Action Plan confirmed that effectively addressing climate change requires both mitigation and adaptation action as well as technology and financing. Mitigation involves a process of curbing greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, for example, emissions from fossil fuels as well as deforestation, with a view to stabilizing greenhouse gas concentration at a safe level. Adaptation involves a range of activities to reduce vulnerability and build resilience, for instance in key sectors such as water, agriculture and human settlements, new and improved technologies and financing

 

The International Conference on Population and Development (1994), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002), and the 2005 World Summit recognized the essential role women play in sustainable development. In its recent follow-up to the Beijing Platform for Action, the General Assembly highlighted the need to “involve women actively in environmental decision-making at all levels; integrate gender concerns and perspectives in policies and programmes for sustainable development; and strengthen or establish mechanisms at the national, regional and international levels to assess the impacts of development and environmental policies on women” (A/C.3/62/L.89).

 

 

The impact of climate change on women is important from a justice perspective.

 

Women are responsible for 75% of household food production in sub-Saharan Africa, 65% in Asia and 45% in Latin America. Erratic weather causes women to spend more time gathering food, which means less time for education, personal, and family life. This roundtable will provide additional

inputs and examples like this about how climate change impacts women.

 

Actions should include setting up a process or mechanism that ensures that all suggested commitments, and mechanisms to help meet them are checked for their environmental, social and economic impacts, with a particular attention to gender specific impacts. When preparing contributions to the post-2012 process, inputs should be requested from relevant international bodies such as the UN CSW, UN DAW, UNIFEM, and women’s organizations and networks as well as gender experts should be invited to comment on draft documents.

 

Actions to be undertaken should also include ensuring gender mainstreaming in all mitigation and adaptation policies, drawing on experiences with gender mainstreaming in environmental policy, regarding gender impacts assessment tools, affirmative action policies, etc. There is a need to invest in research to obtain more comprehensive data on gender aspects of climate change, relating both to mitigation and adaptation. Finally, gender analysis should be included in all preparations of commitments and mechanisms. Established methods such as gender impact assessments, gender budgeting, and the like should be used.  Dealing with the impacts of climate change is indeed dependent on community management.  It is time that we increased the full participation of these groups. 

 

Women’s participation in the decision making process; in the instruments and measures of mitigation and adaptation is still very low. It is therefore the men’s perceptions that are taken into account in the planning processes. As a male perspective dominates in climate protection and climate adaptation, it fails to take into account the practical and strategic needs of women.

 

The international climate change negotiation process, as well as climate policies at regional, national, and local levels, must adopt the principles of gender equity at all stages – from research to analysis, and in the design and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies. This applies in particular to the process towards a post-2012 climate protection system.

 

We must invest in research areas such as: gender specific resource-use patterns; gender-specific effects of climate change; gender aspects of mitigation and adaptation; women’s capacity to cope with climate change; and gender related patterns of vulnerability. And finally, governments should aim to ensure the involvement of women and gender experts when they prepare their contributions for the international and national processes, and ensure women’s participation at international and national meetings.

 

The climate change debate in general, and the development of future commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, needs to be set firmly into the context of Sustainable Development and its inclusion of social/equity aspects in environmental issues. The Principles of the Rio Declara-tion should serve as the overall framework for developing fair and effective policies for miti-gation and adaptation. Therefore, the preparations for the 2nd commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol need to draw upon experiences, indicators, and other tools developed in international sustainable development processes as well as regional and national sustainable development strategies.

Energy plays a key role in the climate change context, as the combustion of fuels (oil, gas, and coal) contributes to the production of green house gas emissions.

 

In order to address climate change, there will be need to transform the world’s energy systems to promote energy efficiency, increased renewable energy technologies and cleaner conventional energy use.

 

There are important gender perspectives in all aspects of climate change. Gender inequalities in access to resources, including credit, extension services, information and technology, must be taken into account in developing mitigation activities. Adaptation efforts should systematically and effectively address gender-specific impacts of climate change in the areas of energy, water, food security, agriculture and fisheries, biodiversity and ecosystem services, health, industry, human settlements, disaster management, and conflict and security.

 

Women tend, however, to be underrepresented in decision-making on sustainable development, including on climate change, and this impedes their ability to contribute their unique and valuable perspectives and expertise on climate change.

 

Financing mechanisms must be flexible enough to reflect women’s priorities and needs. The active participation of women in the development of funding criteria and allocation of resources for climate change initiatives is critical, particularly at local levels. Gender analysis of all budget lines and financial instruments for climate change is needed to ensure gender-sensitive investments in programmes for adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer and capacity building.

 

Technological developments related to climate change should take into account women’s specific priorities and needs and make full use of their knowledge and expertise, including traditional practices. Women’s involvement in the development of new technologies can ensure that they are user-friendly, effective and sustainable. Women should also have equal access to training, credit and skills-development programmes to ensure their full participation in climate change initiatives.

 

Governments should be encouraged to mainstream gender perspectives into their national policies, action plans and other measures on sustainable development and climate change, through carrying out systematic gender analysis, collecting and utilizing sex-disaggregated data, establishing gender-sensitive indicators and benchmarks and developing practical tools to support increased attention to gender perspectives. Consultation with and participation of women in climate change initiatives must be ensured and the role of women’s groups and networks strengthened. 

 

Women involved in internationally agreed commitments will make a difference, using their knowledge and experience, also on issues related to the management of natural resources.

 

Women in leadership positions— at national, local and community levels—have already made a visible difference in natural disaster responses, both in emergency rescue and evacuation efforts and in post-disaster reconstruction. We have seen the same in the management of essential natural resources, such as fresh water.

 

Platforms for voices and concerns of women in the climate change debate have been established. Several caucuses and fora are in place, allowing for the brainstorming and information sharing on best practices in mitigation and adaptation strategies amongst women and gender activists. The gender and climate change network, a global network has served at the several COPS as an opportunity to interact and the pave way on the gender dimension in climate protection.

 

What role do we expect that FAO, as a UN Technical Agency, should play?

 

FAO has been working for years on the impact of climate change on the environment in relationship with  agriculture . The scientific researches  make a deep amount of  knowledge.

 

The role of FAO is extremely important in acquiring data, information, in analyzing them and spreading them to civil society  organizations, governments.

 

We urge that FAO continue the researches especially locally-based on gender-climate links.

 

And we express our concerns that many governmental institutions at international international and local levels are not so sensible to FAO recommendations and analysis as they should be. To reach the MDGs  and to halve the hunger by 2015 is a matter of political will.

 

We recommend that FAO will continue spreading its information also at grassroot level, that is probably the most sensitive about them, in order to contribute local communities to take the right steps to mitigate and adapt to climate change, with the less impact for the people living in rural areas and not only for them.

 

In addition, carbon facilities and renewable energy technologies need to be modified to ensure they reach the poorest populations, particularly women.

The risk of contracting a serious illness can also be further aggravated by environmental effects caused by climate change. Almost half of all urban residents in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are victims of diseases associated with poor water and sanitation facilities. We already have internationally agreed commitments, which should be transformed into reality.

 

The women’s milestones for the Bali roadmap calls for governments to:

 

*Recognize the vital urgency of gender equality in the growing climate crisis and demonstrate leadership through top-level support for considering gender concerns in all UNFCCC and related processes (also known as “gender mainstreaming.”) and including the installation of a ‘gender watch system’ within UNFCCC.

 

*Integrate gender aspects into adaptation plans and tools, focusing on specific adaptation needs, and ensuring women’s participation in developing the plans; 

*Commit to sustainable and equitable financing schemes and ensure gender equity in all phases and aspects of funding. 

*Allocate 20% of all donor funds to be earmarked for activities and projects addressing women and designed and implemented by women and gender experts. 

*Go beyond the narrow focus on solutions devoted to market based mechanisms 

*Make full use of the knowledge and capacity of women 

*Adopt a global non-market-driven effort to preserve tropical forests, based on addressing direct and underlying causes of deforestation in each region and country.

 

All UN processes are mandated to embody the principles of gender equality .To build a future climate regime that is effective ,sustainable and just gender sensitive mitigation and adaptation policies and measures should be designed and necessary resources provided for this.

 

To ensure gender and climate justice, governments, international agencies and all stakeholders need to:

 

• Recognize the vital urgency of gender equality in the growing crises of climate change issues and demonstrate leadership through top –level support for gender mainstreaming.

 

•Ensure that women participate in all decisions related to climate change at all levels, in order to build a truly global and effective alliance for climate protection and gender justice.

 

•Ensure gender mainstreaming –from UNFCCC to IPCC to national and local institutions dealing with climate change –including installing a “gender watch system within the UNFCCC and related processes.

 

•Collect and publish gender disaggregated data taken at every level and where possible.

 

•Undertake gender analysis of all climate change policies, programs, projects and budgets-from research programs to mitigation measures and adaptation plans.

 

•Agree measurable gender related targets and create practical tools that help integrate gender equality in climate protection.

 

•Develop gender sensitive indicators to use in national governments; local and international communications.

 

•Design capacity building, education, and training in gender sensitive way and enhance women’s access to them.

 

•Invest in gender trainings to support processes of change towards gender equality, sensitizing both men and women on the importance of gender analysis in the work that they are doing.

 

•Appropriately and sustain ably support all aspects of gender mainstreaming

 

Gender equality is a critical component of responses to climate change at all levels—rather than isolating gender equality from other core development issues, it should be integrated in all aspects of climate change planning and decision-making. National and global policies should incorporate the gender aspects of climate change, guided by the many global agreements on gender mainstreaming and human rights treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. This will require improved international environmental governance structures, cohesion between UN agencies, as well as tools such as gender-specific indicators to guide national reporting to the UNFCCC.

 

Financing of climate change adaptation has to be a serious effort in the process if the international community wants to maintain any chance of reaching the MDGs.

 

We need to mainstream a gender perspective in all aspects of climate change planning and decision-making., and, in order to make informed decisions, we need to collect comprehensive data disaggregated by gender.





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