gender and social aspects of climate change at global, regional and local level gender and water...

GENDER AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

AT GLOBAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL LEVEL

Gender and Water AllianceJoke Muylwijk

International Parliamentary Conference on Climate Change, London, 12-16 July 2010

2010 Gender and Climate Change 1

Gender and Water AllianceInternational network of water professionals

and gender experts1900 members in 120 countries30% organisations, 70% individuals45% men, 55% womenWorking mainly in knowledge development

and Capacity Building in a demand driven way.

www.genderandwater.org


WaterIncluding all water usesIntegrated Water Resource

ManagementWater for food, agriculture,

irrigation, cattleWater for the environment, solid

waste managementWater for domestic use, drinking,

and sanitationWater disasters, scarcity, floods,

tsunamis


Gender and Diversity, Gender +Men and women; different categories of men and

different categories of women

Socio economic position (class), rich and poor

Age: girls and boys, youth, elderly

Vulnerability: people suffering from illness, HIV-Aids, physically or mentally challenged, elderly

Rural and urban: far away from where the decisions are made, slum dwellers

Ethnicity: minorities, indigenous peoples

Race and Religion


GENDERGender relations are power relations which can change and do change, like culture• if people themselves want it to change• if there is an urgent need felt by all for example:

-- overpopulation or even population explosion-- epidemic: HIV/Aids

- other demographic changes: for example by war- disasters caused by a changing climate

There is no gender-neutral development and Climate Change affects different people in a different way


GENDER and POWEREmpowerment:an objective and a concept for analysisWith four interrelated elements:• Social empowerment– self image, status, how does the society see you? Is your voice heard?• Economic empowerment– same income for same work, and – right to decide about spending benefits and income– access to relevant resources• Political empowerment- the right to organize one selves and to take part in democratic process, - influence development efforts, climate committees• Physical empowerment- the right to decide about the number of children, spacing in between, and- the right to proper healthcare, clean water, dignity, - the ability to resist violence, the right to safety and security- the right to relief in disaster situations


CLIMATE CHANGE, WATER and GENDERCopenhagen: •nothing about water in final declaration, and • hardly anything about the diversity of people• All about technology, nothing about the social context• Unit applied is a country, but countries are full of diversity:

• rich countries have lots of poor people• poor countries have lots of rich people

Results of Climate Change are a.o.:• Average temperatures rise• Droughts become longer, dryer, and more frequent• rains become heavier, rainy seasons shorter or longer, or turn into torrents•Decrease in available water, and deteriorating quality• Crop varieties may get lost in their place of origin: food insecurity• Certain animals will get extinct• Pests will spread to areas where there is no resistence• and many other problems which we don’t yet foresee.

rere

GENDER ASPECTS

d b

resilient

Strong and

power-ful

vulnerable

Climate Change 1. Mitigation:Protecting the climate against people:• The top of the pyramid pollutes water and emits CO2 (GHG)

• Rich people, mainly in the North, use massive energy, overconsumption, waste production: include footprints in calculations: Need for awareness raising• Women and poor people have no access to carbon exchange markets: Need for inclusiveness• Who benefits? Who carries the burden?

Climate Change 2. Adaptation:Protecting the people against the climate•4 out of 5 victims are women (141 recent catastrophs)•Empowerment of women and vulnerable groups:•Their work and knowledge needs to be recognised and used. Empowerment has four elements: economic, socio-cultural, political and physical

•Resilience: Resilience relates to people’s inherent flexibility to respond to changing conditions• Attitude: Women seem to be more aware of the importance of the long term

GENDER ASPECTS:Examples of why would-be victims need to be involved as part of the solutions:• Crop varieties get lost: women do seed selection• Increase of insect pests: women and labourers in the field know this first in detail• Where to find water with increasing scarcity, women have the task to find water every day in most cultures, they know where water of particular quality can be found• Hygiene, waste and sanitation is more important for women, they know the practiceThey need to be involved in developing policies and in implementation

FOOD SECURITY:• Food crisis – no attention for smallholders, and no access to irrigation;•Smallholders are mainly women, especially in Africa. They provide a large part of food crops to those in rural areas, without recognition;• Comprehensive Assessment of water in agriculture: more irrigation for smallholders, to fill in short spells of drought• CC: loss of varieties that are locally developed over the centuries

ConflictsIncrease of transboundary water issues by

which indigenous peoples and women suffer most

Increase of refugees who lack access to most resources and face sexual and other harressment


IntegrityOf billions spent on development of water

and sanitation infrastructure 45% is lost in malpractices (corruption), estimate of World Bank

How to avoid that this does not happen to the billions set aside for climate change activities (mitigation and adaptation).

Democracy, participation, good governance, accountability, transparency, equality need to be subjects in all capacity building activities


ConclusionsThe part of the world population who is most

responsible for CC is a different part than those who are suffering from it

Neglect of social aspects of energy and water management and of technology for CC, leads to more environmental degradation and to more CC and to bad health of one billion children

To make the right decisions all knowledge is needed, especially the local knowledge, not only that of (Northern) engineers. Involve women in looking for solutions

Don’t only focus on relief, but aim for empowerment and equality


SOLUTIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS:• Include women and men in mitigation and adaptation activities•Make use of local knowledge of women and indigenous groups•Don’t assume that when men are informed that this information will reach their families• Enable CO2 absorption opportunities to benefit poor women and men.• Support all activities that focus on the empowerment of poor women and men and make them more resilient: Capacity building.

“Development is the process by which vulnerabilities are reduced and capacities increased.”(Mary Anderson and Peter Woodrow 1988)

Thank you

Please take a brochure Gender, Water and Climate Change (GWA

and GCCN)2010 Gender and Climate Change 20

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