WUNRN
Women & Climate
Change
Mary Robinson: Mary Robinson
Foundation for Climate Justice, Former President of Ireland and former UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights
Climate change impacts everyone, but the poor and the marginalized, many of them women and girls, are the most impacted. For instance, women are often constrained in their response to sudden onset of hazards such as floods, cyclones, mudslides when they are not authorized to leave the house without a male companion and are expected to care for children and the elderly and ensure their safety first before their own. Similarly, women farmers are disproportionately affected by climate change because of their limited access to natural resources and to information and services about climate resilient and adaptive agricultural strategies and technologies.
Women leaders, however, are stepping up to the challenge. From all walks of life they are leading the way to a carbon-neutral and sustainable future for all. They are showing leadership on climate change action through leading global grass-roots movements to find common solutions to the climate crisis, promoting green investments, developing energy-efficient technology, managing small-scale irrigation projects, engaging in recycling and efficient waste management systems, and boosting efforts to increase awareness and mobilize mass action.
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Women & Disaster Risk
Reduction - Women & Resilience
International
Day of Disaster Risk Reduction - October 12 - "The best disaster recovery
programmes in the world involve women who have survived such events. If we are
to build true disaster resilience we need to put the emphasis on their greater
involvement before disasters strike,” said Margareta Wahlström, the
Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the part of the UN responsible for
the issue, as well as the secretariat of the International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction.
Ms. Wahlström added that women's efforts to build resilience to disasters often go unrecognized, and the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction would help raise awareness of their key role in communities where they are many times in charge of decisions such as securing food, water and energy.
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