Gender and the climate crisis
Entering the second week of COP26, the conference today moves to focus on gender.
It is widely recognised that there are differences in the ways which men and women contribute to climate change, the impact that climate change has on men and women and the ways that men and women respond to and adapt to climate change.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) suggest that globally women commonly face higher risks from the impacts of climate change, and that, women’s unequal participation in decision-making processes compound inequalities and can prevent women from fully contributing to climate-related planning, policy-making and implementation.
In 2010 that the UN General Assembly unanimously voted to create a single body tasked with accelerating progress in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. This has led to a shift in the understanding of the profound links between gender equality and responding to climate change. The Lima Work Programme on Gender, adopted at COP20 in 2014, promotes gender balance and achieving gender-responsive climate policy.
Whilst it is expected that the impacts of gender will be lower locally, the forthcoming climate change strategy must address the issue of equality and ensure that all residents are considered engaged in, and play a leading role in designing action relating to, climate change matters – be those related to awareness, mitigation or adaptation.
Climate action which does not fully consider all sections of the community can not be efficient or effective. The following video explains this in more detail.
As always, if you have any thoughts on this or want to get involved then get in touch.
