Gendering Climate Change: Geographical Insights∗

Farhana Sultana Syracuse University

Although climate change is expected to increase vulnerabilities, marginalization, and sufferings of many in the Global South, impacts will be unevenly felt across social strata. Intersectionalities of social difference, especially along gender and class lines, differentiate the ways in which impacts of climate change are experienced and responded to. Feminist political ecology and feminist geography insights can explain how different groups of people understand, respond to, and cope with variability and uncertainties in nuanced and critical ways, thereby elucidating the gendered implications of climate change. With a regional focus on South Asia, the article underscores the key issues that can be applied geographically elsewhere. Gendered implications of climate change in South Asia are particularly poignant as patriarchal norms, inequities, and inequalities often place women and men in differentiated positions in their abilities to respond to and cope with dramatic changes in socioecological relations but also foreground the complex ways in which social power relations operate in communal responses to adaptation strategies. This is particularly evident in water-related productive and reproductive tasks in agrarian societies that constitute the majority of South Asia. As climate change is expected to exacerbate both ecological degradation (e.g., water shortages) and water-related natural hazards (e.g., floods, cyclones), thereby transforming gender–water geographies, it becomes imperative to undertake careful multiscalar and critical analyses to better inform policymaking. This article elucidates the complex ways that climate change will affect gender and social relations, thereby highlighting the ways that existing policy narratives and adaptation programs might be better informed by geographical insights. To this end, the article encourages feminist and critical geographers to more forcefully and fruitfully engage with global debates on climate change. Key Words: adaptation, climate change, gender, geography, vulnerability.

,  , ,   ,   , ,   ,    , ,  , ,   ,  ,     ,    ( )   ( ), ,      ,  ,     ,       : , , , , 

Aunque es de esperarse que con el cambio climatico´ aumenten las vulnerabilidades, la marginalizacion´ y el sufrimiento de muchos en el Sur Global, los impactos se sentiran´ de manera desigual a traves´ de los estratos sociales. Las interseccionalidades de diferencia social, en especial a lo largo de lıneas´ de genero´ y clase, diferencian las maneras como se experimentan los impactos del cambio climatico,´ y como´ se reacciona ante los mismos. La perspicacia propia de la ecologıa´ polıtica´ feminista ydelageografıa´ feminista puede explicar el modo como diferentes grupos de gente entienden, reaccionan y se amoldan a la

Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 variabilidad e incertidumbres, con estilos variados y crıticos,´ elucidando ası´ las implicaciones que pueda tener el cambio climatico´ por genero.´ Tomando como area´ de estudio focal al Sur de Asia, el artıculo´ hace enfasis´ sobre puntos clave que pudiesen tener aplicacion´ geografica´ en otras partes. Las implicaciones de genero´ del cambio climatico´ en aquella region´ son particularmente conmovedoras en cuanto normas patriarcales, inequidades y desigualdades, a menudo colocan a las mujeres y los hombres en posiciones diferenciadas en lo que concierne a su capacidad de responder y amoldarse a cambios dramaticos´ en las relaciones socioecologicas,´ pero que tambien´ ponen en primer plano las maneras complejas como las relaciones de poder social obran en las respuestas comunales sobre estrategias de adaptacion.´ Esto es evidente particularmente en las tareas productivas y reproductivas relacionadas con el agua en las sociedades agrarias que predominan en el Sur de Asia. En la medida en que se espera que el cambio climatico´ empeore tanto la degradacion´ ecologica´ (por ejemplo, escasez hıdrica)´ como los riesgos naturales relacionados con agua (por ejemplo, inundaciones, ciclones), transformando ası´ las geografıas´ de genero-agua,´ se hace imperativo emprender cuidadosos analisis´ crıticos´ y a escalas multiples´ para documentar mejor los procesos formuladores de polıticas.´ Este artıculo´ esclarece el muy complejo panorama del modo como el cambio climatico´ afectara´ las relaciones sociales y de genero,´ destacando ası´ las maneras como las actuales narrativas de polıticas´ publicas´ y programas de adaptacion´ podrıan´ estar mejor fundamentados en los aportes de la ciencia geografica.´ Con este proposito´ en mente, el artıculo´ alienta a los geografos´ feministas y crıticos´ a

∗ I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers and Trevor Birkenholtz for useful feedback. All shortcomings remain mine.

The Professional Geographer, 66(3) 2014, pages 372–381 C Copyright 2014 by Association of American Geographers. Initial submission, November 2011; revised submissions, July and September 2012; final acceptance, October 2012. Published by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Gendering Climate Change: Geographical Insights 373

comprometerse mas´ decidida y fructıferamente´ en los debates globales sobre cambio climatico.´ Palabras clave: adaptacion,´ cambio climatico,´ genero,´ geografıa,´ vulnerabilidad.

n November 2007, the powerful Cyclone Sidr swept political ecologists, I believe, have much to contribute I up the Bay of Bengal and devastated millions of to these debates. lives and livelihoods along the coast of Bangladesh. Few scholars have focused on the ways that gen- At the same time, the Intergovernmental Panel on der is a key factor in impacts, adaptation, or mitiga- Climate Change (IPCC) was meeting for the IPCC tion in the voluminous literature on climate change. Plenary XXVII in Valencia, Spain, for the release of Men and women experience, understand, and adapt the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, which detailed with to climate change in different ways, and it is impor- great clarity and forcefulness the impacts of climate tant to understand changes currently taking place, and change that are already being felt and predicting what likely to happen in the near future, from a gendered is likely to happen in the future. For the dead and dying perspective. Climate change is likely to exacerbate gen- in the coastal areas of Bangladesh in the aftermath of dered vulnerabilities and differential abilities to cope Cyclone Sidr, climate change was perhaps already a re- with changes on multiple fronts. Although climate ality. The irony and the poignancy of the coincidence change is often framed as a global problem for all of of these two events could not be clearer in the minds humanity, the heterogeneity of its manifestations, im- of many, compelling academics and planners to hotly pacts, and responses has to be carefully considered. debate the processes and impacts of climate change in Even though climate change is often portrayed as af- the developing world. A few weeks later in December fecting the poor uniformly in the Global South, this is 2007, at the International Conferences of the Parties further complicated by gendered power relations that (COP) meetings in Bali, activists introduced a further are intersected with other social differentiations (e.g., dimension to these debates by drawing international class, race, ethnicity, etc.). Implications for livelihood, attention to the gendered dynamics of climate change survival, poverty, and social power relations can have under the slogan “No climate justice without gender subtle and overt gendered outcomes, which have to be justice.” These three events in late 2007 are interlinked analyzed in context. A focus on the various patterns and animate this article, where I look at the socioeco- of changes that exacerbate gender relations in liveli- logical implications of climate change in South Asia, hood opportunities, vulnerabilities, hardships, and sur- focusing on the gendered ramifications that have not vival can provide more comprehensive understanding received much attention. The majority of the policy of the ways that climate change impacts households discourses and debates as well as academic writing on and communities. Such analyses also shed further light climate change have been largely ungendered, yet the on the ways that emerging adaptation programs are in- impacts of climate change are acutely felt along gender fluenced by gender dynamics and are complicated by lines and adaptation to climate change is a gendered gendered power relations. process. Recent scholarship has highlighted the impor- tance of heeding gender in climate change discourses, programs, and projects (Dankelman 2010). Such schol- (En)gendering Climate Change Research arship draws from insights gained in the disaster in Geography risk and reduction (DRR) literatures that have pre- dominantly focused on case-specific events and em- In recent years, a veritable industry has emerged in pirical findings and have contributed to greater un- relation to climate change vis-a-vis` research, reports, derstandings of the role of gender in disasters and conferences, and projects. Despite more recent con- recovery. More broadly, the emerging gender and cli- Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 troversies and politicized debates on credibility of mate change literature draws from insights of gender science, data, and predictions, the general consensus development literatures. At the policy level, the clar- among scholars is that anthropogenic climate change ion call of “No climate justice without gender justice” has uneven and uncertain impacts. The contextual has become popular since the Bali COP conference nature of climate change and the specificities of re- in 2007, bringing attention to the fact that climate sponses have been repeatedly highlighted in the milieu change is gendered in impacts, mitigation, adaptation, of generalizations and globalized discourses, and aca- and policy processes. Although still nascent, scholar- demics have responded with new research. Hazards ship in gender and climate change has drawn attention geographers and political ecologists are increasingly to the gendered differences in perceptions, responses, contributing to climate change research, but Hulme priorities, abilities, and preferences in the ways that (2008), Bailey (2008), and Moser (2009) have argued climate change is understood in mitigation and adapta- that geographers need to engage more critically and tion discourses (Dankelman 2002, 2010; Denton 2002; forcefully with climate change policies and politics. Masika 2002; Nelson et al. 2002; Brody, Demetriades, In responding to such a call, I posit that geographers and Esplen 2008; Terry 2009; Agostine and Lizarde need to further engage with the gendered implica- 2012; see also the GenderCC Network). For instance, tions of climate change across sites and scales, given a study of women in South Asia found that poor women the paucity of emphasis on such issues in the current were particularly vulnerable to dramatic shifts in en- literatures. Feminist geographers, especially feminist vironmental change (e.g., erratic monsoons, extreme 374 Volume 66, Number 3, August 2014

floods, etc.) but were knowledgeable about the needs 1993; Rocheleau, Thomas-Slayter, and Wangari 1996; and requirements of their households and communi- Nightingale 2006; Leach 2007; Sultana 2009b). Few ties to cope with changes as well as about alternative feminist geographers have forayed into the climate livelihood strategies (Mitchell, Tanner, and Lussier change debates (e.g., Seager 2009; Bee et al. 2012). To 2007). The constraints they faced were also articu- this end, scholars can contribute to the analyses and lated along class, gender, locational, and institutional framing of debates, bringing forth the complex ways lines, however. that gender–environment relations are produced, per- Feminist geographers and feminist political ecol- formed, contested, and lived. Feminist political ecolo- ogists can add much to the ongoing debates in the gists have argued that gendered dynamics of environ- climate change and adaptation literatures, explicat- mental change must be analyzed in ways that integrate ing the textured ways that space, place, identities, subjectivities, scales, places, spaces, ecological change, and lived experiences are intersected by a range of and power relations (Rocheleau, Thomas-Slayter, and processes and social relations. Seager (2006) and Mac- Wangari 1996; Elmhirst 2011; Hawkins and Odeja Gregor (2009) pointed out that gender is often se- 2011). Broader contexts and constraints that influence lectively given attention, or not, in any research or gender are crucial to understand and address in pro- policy context. Demetriades and Esplen (2008) and cesses of climate change. Given the gaps in the lit- Nelson and Stathers (2009) further argued about the eratures on climate change that engage with recent crucial importance of context-specific and complex advances in feminist theories, it becomes imperative gender analysis in climate change debates, so as not to bring such insights to bear on the important work to reproduce the “women only” narratives that por- that has been accomplished by gender advocates in tray women simultaneously as victims and as solution their sustained and tireless efforts in the development providers, thereby increasing the long list of caregiv- and policy circles. In this regard, feminist analyses of ing roles women are already assigned to. The collaps- the impacts of climate change remain important but ing of gender-as-women has been common in the ex- also must be broadened to examine the ways in which isting gender and climate change literature, which is gender complicates the assumptions made, the analy- often written for and by the development practitioner sis proffered, and adaptation solutions pursued in any and policy community. MacGregor (2009) pointed out climate change program. Such insights can enrich the that a lack of critical gender analysis or theorization of burgeoning literature on gender and climate change gender limits such literature, even while bringing very that is relevant to academia and policy circles. In this important attention to gender by privileging certain article, I highlight some key issues. Although my re- framings in the international arena. For instance, as gional emphasis is on South Asia, the analyses and Dankelman (2010, 11–12) indicated, it is important geographical insights are relevant elsewhere. to look at women as a group as well as gender as a construct but pay greater attention to the experiences of women and focus on women in climate change de- A Feminist Analysis of Climate Change bates. This might be strategically important, but it also in South Asia has the potential to limit the attention to the com- plex ways that masculinities and femininities are con- Societies that are heavily dependent on natural re- structed, negotiated, altered, and transformed through source bases are particularly at risk of multiple stres- climate change processes. There can also be the ten- sors and events driven by a changing climate (Thomas dency to essentialize women as a homogeneous group and Twyman 2005; Adger et al. 2009). Scholars have and overlook the multiple processes that constitute argued that ecological changes attributed to climate gendered subjects, identities, and bodies. The domi- change in South Asia are already apparent (Mirza, Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 nant focus has been on the impacts of climate change Warrick, and Ericksen 2003; O’Brien et al. 2004; on women, but greater attention is needed to how gen- Huq et al. 2005). The ways that hydrological, ge- der is intersected by other axes (e.g., class, caste, age, omorphological, and biophysical changes affect re- etc.) as well as a relational analysis of both women gions and localities have to be closely studied and and men across social categories in a changing cli- thereby inform the ways social vulnerabilities and mate. Given the importance of inclusion and equality, adaptation options are assessed. The IPCC (2007) however, it is important not to romanticize women, predicts that freshwater shortages in South Asia are women’s knowledge, or women’s participation in cli- likely to be compounded by increasing uncertainties mate change mitigation or adaptation plans but to of flooding (from rivers, flash floods, and sea surges). recognize their roles, responsibilities, constraints, and There will be worsening of both climate processes opportunities. Balancing inclusion without essential- (sea level rise, salinity, water scarcity) as well as cli- ization is thus crucial, albeit challenging. mate events (e.g., floods, cyclones, storms, tsunamis) Such critiques resonate with those of feminist polit- in the near future (Mirza, Warrick, and Ericksen 2003; ical ecologists and feminist scholars who have long Huq et al. 2005). The slow onset processes as well argued that gender–environment relations risk be- as dramatic events will vary across regions but will ing essentialized and reified without careful, con- compound water-related hazards that are seasonally textual, and fluid understandings of gender as a experienced in the monsoonal climates of South Asia. power relation (e.g., Agarwal 1992, 2000; Jackson Uncertainties, irregularities, and failures in rainfall and Gendering Climate Change: Geographical Insights 375

beneficial floods will be combined with more extreme cal to examine. Drinking water availability, reliability, and frequent storms, cyclones, devastating floods, and quality, quantity, and accessibility will be altered with riverbank erosion. Given the intimate relationship be- changing weather and climatic patterns and climate- tween societies and water, the implications will be induced ecological change. Such changes might be profound. gradual (e.g., salinity increase, sea level rise, drought) This coexistence of both overwhelming amounts or dramatic (e.g., floods, storms, riverbank erosion) of water (floods, storm surges, cyclones, riverbank and will exacerbate daily water fetching tasks. Irriga- erosion, waterlogging) as well as inadequate water tion water availability will also challenge the roles that (pollution, drought, salinity, desertification) define the men and women play in agrarian economies. The bur- relationship that most South Asian societies have with geoning literature on gender–water relations could be climate change. This fluidity in relations to water, one productively engaged in climate change discourses and of necessity and of threat, is an invariable factor in programs, demonstrating the ways in which gendered everyday life and livelihood in the agrarian and river- subjects are produced, challenged, and entrenched via ine areas. Differentiated vulnerabilities based on gen- materialities, management, and mismanagement of der are often obscured in discussions of vulnerability water (e.g., Cleaver and Elson 1995; Crow and Sultana of specific locations (e.g., floodplains). Concerns about 2002; O’Reilly et al. 2009; Sultana 2009b; Truelove frequency, duration, timing, and intensity of floods, es- 2011). Such attention to the diverse ways that water pecially for those living in floodplains and islands, are comes to imbricate notions of femininity and mas- naturally important. Although geographical locational culinity can better explain how climate-induced wa- differences set the context, the social variations in the terscape changes have a bearing on gender relations. ways that hazards and vulnerabilities manifest them- Lack of water that is socially and ecologically viable selves are important to draw out. This is particularly can strain gender roles and relations in the household evident in water-related productive and reproductive and in communities. Furthermore, lack of safe water tasks in agrarian societies that constitute the majority will affect the health and well-being of all members of South Asia. of a household, exacerbating household vulnerabilities South Asia is thus currently facing two dramatic and poverty. This strains the reproductive and care- transformations: socioecological transformations at- giving roles of women. These are some of the ways tributed to climate change and historical patriarchal that climate-induced ecological change affects men societies that are also facing challenges in gendered and women differently. power structures. Focusing on the linkages through a In many places throughout South Asia, loss of crops, feminist political ecology lens provides insights into assets, livestock, and property in disasters and dramatic changes that can inform global discussions as well as ecological changes can force entire households into local policies. As scholars have pointed out, access, a downward spiral of impoverishment and being in- control, use, and knowledge of resources are gendered, debted, leading household members into working as thereby making any changes in natural resources from wage labor and often having to relocate for livelihoods climate change play out in different ways for differ- (often as exploited or abused urban denizens). Migra- ent livelihood outcomes for men and women in any tion and displacement in these processes are also gen- context. Worsening of the resource base and alter- dered, as male outmigration is more common, leaving ing resource access have gendered implications for the de facto and de jure female-headed households to fend abilities of individuals and households to adapt to and for families. Loss of social networks from displace- address challenges from climate change. Systemic in- ment, and being more open to violence, exploitation, equities and gender biases in land ownership, inheri- and impoverishment, affect men and women differ- tance rights, access to resources, and social norms of ently. But gender-based violence and marginalization Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 participation in natural resources management will be are increasingly of concern in areas of climate-induced exacerbated with worsening ecological change from ecological stress and migration. Although various cop- climate change. Gendered dependence on natural re- ing strategies might enable people to survive, what sources and gender division of labor produce differ- can strain households and families are the psychologi- ential relations to natural resources that vary spatially cal and social implications. Feeling helpless, desperate, and temporally (Agarwal 1992). Resource conflicts can and anxious about the next disaster or crisis event as also be exacerbated over time (Sultana 2011). How- well as ongoing struggles to survive can compound ever, the tasks practiced along gender lines can remain gendered marginalizations. Because women often do constant through crises (e.g., fetching drinking water not own land or cannot inherit land, the importance of remains a particularly gendered burden for women, property rights in land and resources in reducing vul- as men resist participating in this feminized task). As nerability and enhancing both coping and adaptation a result, fetching drinking water befalling women in have thus become important points of discussion and most South Asian societies would result in worsening debate. the burden of procuring water when climatic changes Given the growing crises around the world, a gen- result in changes in water quantity, quality, availability dered analysis of water-related hazards and disasters and seasonality in altering waterscapes. provides greater evidence of what to expect from the The various ways that water comes to affect gender vagaries of climate change. Water-related hazards such in the context of climate change thus becomes criti- as floods, cyclones, tsunamis, droughts, glacial melts, 376 Volume 66, Number 3, August 2014

and riverbank erosion are expected to strain existing In times of disasters, the marginalization of large social systems throughout the world. Increasing rain- numbers of female-headed households (de facto and fall, river floods, and storm surges will challenge gen- de jure) results in many women not receiving adequate dered roles and responsibilities within and outside the information, assistance, shelter, or rehabilitation ma- home as water-induced hazards become more uncer- terial (especially if they are not connected to powerful tain, intense, and frequent (Enarson and Morrow 1998; households that control politics and financial benefits Fordham 1999; Enarson and Fordham 2001; Cannon coming into an area). Concerns of purdah (practices 2002; Sultana 2010). This requires greater attention to of seclusion) often dictate to what extent women can gendered vulnerabilities to hazards and socioecological actually be involved in any planning or even in seek- changes, as well as the gendered outcomes of recovery, ing shelter. Sociocultural norms of women’s mobility relief, and rehabilitation endeavors. It is thus crucial to are hindrances to women seeking shelter, obtaining simultaneously analyze and address both these aspects medical assistance, or leaving the homestead, as male related to water (Sultana 2010). It could not be clearer chaperones are generally expected during their mobil- in coastal areas of South Asia, where gender–water re- ity in public spaces. The greater dependency of women lations are constantly stressed and shifting given the on men in general can result in reinforcing disempow- various ways that water is both benign and harmful. erment among women. Proper decorum and construc- Geographers have long led the research on haz- tions of feminized subjectivities result in women being ards and disasters, but few have focused on gendering unwilling to associate with unknown men, be alone in hazards, vulnerabilities, and disasters (e.g., Paul 1997; public places, and be outside of familiar kinship struc- Seager 2006; Sultana 2010). As the study by geogra- tures throughout South Asia and elsewhere. Notions phers Neumayer and Plumper (2007) demonstrates in of shame, honor, and dignity are strongly enforced by data collected from around the world, more women both men and women in maintaining social practices compared to men are killed and injured in disasters. even during disasters. Concerns of proper feminine Women and children suffer the most during and af- decorum are pervasive such that male elders do not al- ter the event (Enarson and Morrow 1998). For in- ways support women seeking refuge in flood shelters, stance, several studies in Bangladesh have found that where they would have to cohabitate with unknown a majority of respondents (male and female) identified men. Women also internalize such patriarchal sensi- women as having the greatest challenges and negative tivities and feel insecure and anxious in such spaces; impacts from floods and salinity intrusion (e.g., Paul they thereby are often unwilling to seek shelter dur- 1997; Nasreen 2000; Few 2003; Rabbani, Rahman, and ing floods and storms. Instances of rape, harassment, Mainuddin 2009). Such findings resonate with those violence, and humiliation further exacerbate such re- from other areas of the world (Enarson and Morrow alities (Hossain, Dodge, and Abel 1992). As a result, 1998; Enarson and Fordham 2001; Bradshaw 2004). women and girls often stay behind in their home- How and why these occur are essential to addressing steads, surviving by living on the rooftops or in trees context-specific changes. (see also Paul 1997; Nasreen 2000; Schmuck 2000). In a majority of rural societies across South Asia, Pregnant and lactating mothers and disabled women women generally look after livestock, care for house- might find it particularly difficult to move to shel- hold belongings, take care of children and elderly, tend ters or obtain the help they need. Furthermore, con- to the ill and injured, and often stay back with chil- cerns of looting and robbery at the shelters, as well dren and elderly in the midst of an impending disaster. as theft of their belongings left behind in uninhab- More women die during floods due to lack of swim- ited homes, discourage women from seeking shelter if ming skills, trying to save children and belongings, they believe they can survive while remaining in their and staying at home instead of going to flood shelters. homes. Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 In addition, there are concerns of collapses in inheri- Gender differences are seen also in flood relief and tance rights after disasters, disparities in disaster relief rehabilitation work, where men dominate both are- and aid, and issues of abandonment. Women’s roles nas. As a result, women’s and girl’s needs are often as caregivers exacerbate their existing burdens, even overlooked. In the long relief lines, men might spend if floods, tsunamis, and cyclones affect entire house- considerable amounts of time trying to procure food holds. Cultural constraints on what they can or should and other items for their families. But women are also do to protect themselves often result in greater mor- seen in such spaces, trying to manage children and pro- tality rates among women and girls compared to men cure food. With a lack of manual labor jobs in flooded and boys. More girls die, as boys are often protected landscapes, women find it difficult to earn a living, es- better in the midst of flood waters (generally linked pecially if men of the household have left. With crops to the greater preference given to boys compared to flooded and homesteads under water, there is no source girls vis-a-vis` education, food, and social valuation). of earnings and starvation is common. The unpaved Although parents might want to save all of their chil- dirt roads are often severely damaged in each flooding dren, sometimes they can only hold on to one or two event, making communication and transportation dif- children in flood waters and storm surges, and there ficult even after the waters have receded. Uneven bur- have been reported cases of parents letting go of the dens are placed on men, who often migrate in search girl child to save the boy child (Hossain, Dodge, and of livelihoods, straining households and often breaking Abel 1992). up families. Gendering Climate Change: Geographical Insights 377

Recovery and reconstruction are difficult when the vulnerable to various forces and systems. Gender is frequency of floods and disasters is almost annual intersected by a range of social differences such as or when impoverishment from one event makes it class, caste, ethnicity, age, education, and religion (i.e., impossible for households to become sufficiently re- package of entitlements and resources people are able silient to the next event or worsens their vulnerabili- to access or command). Similarly, perception of risk is ties to the next event. Female-headed households often gendered, as is the way people process information and are increasingly made destitute through such recur- view their role in what should or can be done (Enar- ring events, compounded by the ongoing marginal- son and Morrow 1998; Fordham 2003). Men’s and ization that women face in society in general. Loss women’s understandings of risk, and their abilities to of home-based production, kitchen gardens, poultry, act on information, are further inflected by class, caste, and livestock particularly affect women across socioe- and so on. Such factors are important in climate change conomic brackets, as these resources provide both adaptation processes as they influence the interpreta- subsistence and income-generating opportunities for tion and experience of climate change in any given lo- women (Wiest 1998). Issues of displacement, land cality (Nelson and Stathers 2009). Gender inequalities rights, housing, and relocation thus become critical in and norms that exist in many parts of South Asia often any disaster recovery effort, but uncritical and gender- expose women and girls to greater risks (physical and insensitive efforts can result in worsening the situation social) than their male counterparts. Problems of as- for poor women and poor men in a range of locations. sessing differentiated and nuanced vulnerabilities can With climate change exacerbating the intensities and result in uncoordinated and ad hoc adaptive strategies frequencies of dramatic water-related hazards and dis- to be developed (Ahmed and Fajber 2009). asters, such issues complicate any adaptation strategies Practitioners and scholars have argued, however, in a locality. that women and men are not passive victims of cli- Such critiques resonate with the vulnerability lit- mate change but that they display a range of strategies eratures in geography and related disciplines, where and coping mechanisms to deal with ongoing trans- vulnerability is understood not just individually but formations (Dankelman et al. 2008). Women who are historically, geographically, politically, ecologically, facing changing climates and hydrological events are and socially (O’Brien et al. 2004; Wisner et al. 2004). already making changes to adapt their lives and liveli- Nuanced understandings of vulnerability and social hoods and often are able to articulate what they need power are essential to the ways that adaptation can (even if they are not fully aware of what is available to be theorized and understood. Gendered vulnerability them or how climate change might affect them in the analysis demonstrates that men and women have dif- future; e.g., Mitchell, Tanner, and Lussier 2007). Al- ferentiated vulnerabilities and thereby respond to and though various coping strategies have been identified cope with vulnerabilities in different ways across so- and even celebrated in the DRR literature, these might cial categories (Enarson and Morrow 1998; Fordham not necessarily be supportive of long-term adaptation 1999, 2003; Enarson and Fordham 2001). There re- abilities (Wisner 2010). Furthermore, there is a critical mains a greater need in the climate change literature need to look at strategies that are voluntary and invol- to account for the various power relations that oper- untary (e.g., distress sale of women’s personal assets ate in the lives of men and women. These insights for immediate survival that leads to longer impoverish- from the vulnerability and political ecology literatures ment during and after disasters). As a result, adaptation underscore that adaptation is premised on ways peo- should not mean just coping with vulnerabilities and ple cope with and respond to hazards and vulnerabili- uncertain hazards but a shift to more resilient and flex- ties, and how they handle the ongoing transformations ible livelihoods (cf. Ahmed and Fajber 2009). Coping thereafter that pose newer and unforeseen challenges. might be acceptable in the short term, but repeated re- Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 Such dynamism to understanding shifting vulnerabili- quirements to cope with hazards and ecological crises ties and abilities to cope requires greater nuanced and can undermine long-term ability to adapt or survive. sustained attention from academics and policymakers The temporal nature of coping and dealing with vul- alike. nerabilities has to be juxtaposed to long-term surviv- Vulnerability is not the same as poverty; it is con- ability and quality of life. In patriarchal contexts, the textual and driven by interplay of differentiated risks, gendered vulnerabilities and coping strategies are in- abilities, and susceptibilities to different hazards. Vul- fluenced by the overall location of women in society. nerability and poverty are strongly correlated in South Asia, and gender compounds both poverty and vulner- ability that individuals face in society (Cannon 2002). Gendering Climate Change Adaptation Vulnerabilities are linked to physical, social, and attitu- dinal factors, all embedded within the broader political In response to the impacts of climate change, there has ecologies of development and globalization (see Wis- been a growth of adaptation programs throughout the ner et al. [2004] for an overview). Although there is developing world. These are meant to prepare people increasing attention to the fact that there are varying and households to be more resilient to climate-induced gendered differences in vulnerabilities in any context, changes to life and livelihoods. How gender is un- not all women are equally vulnerable, even if their derstood, conceptualized, and acted on in adaptation gender locations often make them as a group more policies and projects is thus critical to analyze. How 378 Volume 66, Number 3, August 2014

women and men’s needs are identified and then tar- ities, but these knowledge systems are often not en- geted is the cornerstone of adaptation on the ground. gaged and individuals or groups are not fully involved Adaptation strategies can change gender relations, too, in decision making. Lack of involvement of women in as they are not gender neutral. This is an important public decision making in South Asia is a long-standing but understudied area of research (Smith et al. 2000; issue and highlights the need to address gender in- Demetriades and Esplen 2008; Adger et al. 2009; Terry equality for effective adaptation programs. 2009; Cannon and Muller-Mann 2010; Wisner 2010). Similarly, the lack of engagement of the voluminous Climate change adaptation might reinforce gender in- critiques of community and participation in the current equalities and marginalizations. Gendered differences climate change literature raises concerns of oversimpli- in knowledges and experiences with natural resources fication, romancing the community, and problematic can influence the priorities people place on adaptation practices of participation (cf. Cooke and Kothari 2001; strategies, as well as the perceptions they might have Hickey and Mohan 2005; Few, Brown, and Tompkins about socioecological changes. This is where feminist 2007). These are particularly relevant for the grow- political ecology research becomes relevant again, in ing number of community-based adaption (CBA) pro- explaining the ways that climate change impacts could grams around the world, particularly in South Asia. result in reconfiguration of power relations and gender The gendered dynamics of community and participa- relations in multiple ways in any given context. Gen- tion have been captured in various strands of scholar- dered implications of climate change in South Asia are ship, which need to be engaged with more forcefully in particularly poignant as patriarchal norms, inequities, the climate change debates. As feminist scholars have and inequalities often place women in considerably systematically demonstrated, invoking “community” disadvantageous positions in their abilities to respond or “participation” does not necessarily mean inclusive to and cope with dramatic changes in socioecological or egalitarian outcomes (e.g., Agarwal 2001; Cornwall relations but also underscore the complex ways that 2003; Sultana 2009a). Women are often marginalized social power relations operate in communal responses or silenced in community projects. As a result, the in adaptation strategies. gendered implications of climate change can be fur- The existing gender and climate change literature ther exacerbated by uncritical conceptualization and stresses that women in some instances might be able implementation of adaptation programs that come in to take advantage of changing livelihood opportunities the name of community. The need to create space that are brought about by transformations of socio- for different voices and recognition of a multiplicity ecological systems (Ahmed and Fajber 2009). Exam- of opinions and concerns could not be more urgent, ples abound of women’s collective groups helping so that men and women can all benefit from climate communities recover from disasters and of self-help adaptation programs. groups that participate in adaptation projects (e.g., Furthermore, there is a need to ensure that adapta- brackish fish farming in increasingly saline landscapes tion strategies do not place undue burdens on women due to sea level rise). But women (compared to men) or men and that their gendered division of labor is not generally lack access to credit, markets, technology, of “free” labor for the sake of the community. Adapta- and skills to sustain such changes that might not readily tion tasks and responsibilities come at a price, even if be available to them, or they are constrained by a host they are supposed to help individuals, households, and of social, political, and cultural factors. For instance, in regions. Many development projects specifically target areas with growing salinity, the collapse of ecosystems women as caregivers for the environment and for com- that supported diversified livelihoods is being trans- munal tasks, but feminist scholars have long critiqued formed into market-based shrimp farming; similarly, such overtures that identify women simultaneously as dying vegetation due to rising salinity results in crises victims and as saviors (e.g., Agarwal 2000; Jewitt 2000; Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 of fuel and fodder, the collection of which are particu- Masika 2002). Open to debate are the ways that adap- larly gendered tasks for women and girls. Attention to tation strategies further marginalize groups and how such limitations and possibilities requires sensitivity to gender relations are obscured in presumed successful feminist debates as well as to contextual dynamics. strategies.1 As a result, the valorization of both exter- Feminist scholars have pointed out that patriarchal nally driven community projects and endogenous col- decision-making structures exist from global policy to lective action as the adaptive strategy or solution to cli- local implementation in climate adaptation programs mate change vulnerabilities often overlooks the point (Boyd 2002; Carr 2008). Although some programs that both are fraught with exclusions and marginaliza- might address practical gender needs, they largely fail tion, often along gender and class lines. Furthermore, to address strategic gender needs and systemic gender not everyone might experience the threat of climate inequalities, power structures, and exclusions. A mas- change in the same way to adapt, and some might have culine bias remains in access to information, employ- different ideas of what it means to adapt within their ment opportunities, decision-making processes, and own community. institution building. Such macrolevel issues are com- Other aspects of gendered concerns in the cli- plicated by microlevel dynamics within communities mate change literatures emerge from the ways that and households. Gendered knowledge about water, existing gender-focused development programs are agriculture, forestry, and disaster mitigation can assist threatened by climate-induced ecological crises. For in bolstering adaptation programs in different local- instance, Nelson and Stathers (2009) argued that Gendering Climate Change: Geographical Insights 379

climate change poses threats to “empowerment” debates around climate change. Gendered lenses are programs for women (however problematic these crucial in assessing the impacts of climate change as might be to begin with) and that there is greater need well as the outcomes of adaptation programs proffered to pay attention to power relations and actions by dif- in response to impacts and the further transformations ferent actors (private sector, state, civil society) to the that ensue. Climate change will impact the lives of perceived risks and what this means for gender equity women and men in different ways, thereby underscor- in development planning. Climate change–induced ing the importance of feminist political ecology and ecological and hydrological changes will reinforce feminist geography analyses of climate change. The gender disparities in income, health, and education focus on power thus has to be made central, as do by exacerbating existing development challenges. more complex and contextual understandings of gen- Scholars have pointed out that climate change adap- der, which are often missing in the gender and climate tation cannot fully succeed with structural constraints change literature. Greater attention to gendered sub- to gender equality, even if gender mainstreaming jectivities and identities can explain the complexities in climate change debates has gained some ground that exist and bring into sharper focus the ways that (Denton 2002; Seager and Hartmann 2005). Thus, gender–climate change relations play out. development goals of gender equality might be further Although many development actors focusing on undermined via both climate change implications as gender and development might not feel that they are well as adaptation strategies that do not meaningfully qualified or aware of all the complexities of climate engage with gender analyses. In fact, techno-centric change debates, there are many issues they can identify and market-based solutions for climate change policies and work on, particularly if they are drawing from ex- could end up hurting poor households and particularly isting studies on gender and natural resources manage- poor women, where the focus needs to change to ment or from gender and disasters literatures (Terry include issues such as justice, care, and equality 2009). Similarly, those working in the climate change (Hemmati and Rohr 2009; Seager 2009). It is thus literatures can engage more meaningfully and carefully important to account for gendered differences and with insights from feminist literatures. Such synergies gender relations in the solutions and mechanisms that and interdisciplinary analyses are crucial to more com- are proposed in ameliorating climate change impacts. prehensive understandings of situations and thereby It is critical to not rationalize women or men into more meaningfully informing policies and programs. neoliberal subjects who will act as agents of change Although there is a growing lip service to gender but, rather, see the variously situated power relations in climate change policymaking and programs, what and subjectivities that are lived and experienced in remains to be seen are the ways these are adopted, everyday lives in relation to changing environments. interpreted, implemented, and negotiated on the What thus becomes critical for academics and prac- ground. titioners is to undertake careful and critical analyses In conclusion, political ecological insights that are of the different degrees of vulnerability, positioning informed by feminist theories, as well as broader fem- in social networks and structures, differential access to inist geographical attention to place, space, identities, resources and decision-making powers, and poverty. and livelihoods, can greatly enrich ongoing debates in Such attention must be marshaled in analyzing the im- academia and policy circles on the various dimensions pacts of climate change as well as in the mitigation and of climate change. The rich genealogies of hazards adaptation programs that ensue. Viewing gender rela- studies and critical geography can further productively tions as unequal power relations is important in fully contribute to such studies. Similarly, scholars of South understanding the ways in which vulnerabilities and Asia, or any regional specialists, can gain considerably adaptation play out. They inform the ways in which by incorporating these insights to influence the ways Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 reductions in vulnerability can be envisioned and con- that debates, policies, and programs are currently be- figure possible mechanisms that would enable women ing envisioned and practiced across regions. This ar- and men to enhance their abilities to respond to climate ticle highlighted some of the key issues that require change and transformations of their environments. In further attention and analyses. Geographers are, I be- enabling women to take part in decision-making pro- lieve, thus well positioned to engage more fruitfully cesses and having their concerns and voices heard, and forcefully in ongoing debates across a range of there are opportunities to reduce women’s heightened scales and issues to demonstrate the ways that gender vulnerabilities, thereby allowing them to better resist, and other social axes of differences can constrain and cope with, and adapt to changes. alter adaptive capacities as well as the ways that vulner- abilities are transformed and experienced in changing Conclusion climates. 

The three events identified at the beginning of this article—policy discourses (via the IPCC report Note launch), feminist activism (via the Bali event), and ground realities (via the dramatic outcomes of a tropi- 1 The politics of adaptation is the topic of a forthcoming cal cyclone)—demonstrate the entanglements and im- manuscript, so I refrain from going into further detail here portance of gendered analyses and interventions in the but highlight that adaptation has to be critically analyzed 380 Volume 66, Number 3, August 2014

and assessed for its gender dynamics and iterative socioeco- Dankelman,I.,K.Alam,W.BasharAhmed,Y.DiagneGu- logical realities. eye, N. Fatema, and R. Mensah-Kutin. 2008. Gender, cli- mate change and human security: Lessons from Bangladesh, Ghana and Senegal. Report prepared for ELIAMEP by Literature Cited The Women’s Environment and Development Organiza- tion (WEDO) with ABANTU for Development in Ghana, Adger, W., S. Dessai, M. Goulden, M. Hulme, I. Lorenzoni, ActionAid Bangladesh and ENDA in Senegal. D. Nelson, L. Otto-Naess, J. Wolf, and A. Wreford. 2009. Demetriades, J., and E. Esplen. 2008. The gender dimen- Are there social limits to adaptation to climate change? sions of poverty and climate change adaptation. IDS Bul- Climatic Change 93:335–54. letin 39:24–31. Agarwal, B. 1992. The gender and environment debate: Denton, F. 2002. Climate change vulnerability, impacts, and Lessons from India. Feminist Studies 18 (1): 119–59. adaptation: Why does gender matter? Gender and Develop- ———. 2000. Conceptualizing environmental collective ac- ment 10 (2): 10–20. tion: Why gender matters. Cambridge Journal of Economics Elmhirst, R. 2011. Introducing new feminist political ecolo- 24:283–310. gies. Geoforum 42:129–32. ———. 2001. Participatory exclusions, community forestry, Enarson, E., and M. Fordham. 2001. From women’s needs and gender: An analysis for South Asia and a conceptual to women’s rights in disasters. Environmental Hazards framework. World Development 29:1623–48. 3:133–36. Agostine, A., and R. Lizarde. 2012. Gender and climate jus- Enarson, E., and B. Morrow. 1998. The gendered ter- tice. Development 55 (1): 90–95. rain of disaster: Through women’s eyes. Westport, CT: Ahmed, S., and E. Fajber. 2009. Engendering adaptation to Praeger. climate variability in Gujarat, India. Gender and Develop- Few, R. 2003. Flooding, vulnerability and coping strategies: ment 17 (1): 33–50. Local responses to a global threat. Progress in Development Bailey, I. 2008. Geographical work at the boundaries of Studies 3 (1): 43–58. climate policy: A commentary and complement to Mike Few, R., K. Brown, and E. Tompkins. 2007. Public participa- Hulme. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 33 tion and climate change adaptation: Avoiding the illusion (3): 420–23. of inclusion. Climate Policy 7:46–59. Bee, B., M. Biermann, and P. Tschakert. 2012. Gender, de- Fordham, M. 1999. The intersection of gender and social velopment, and rights-based approaches: Lessons for cli- class in disaster: Balancing resilience and vulnerability. mate change adaptation and adaptive social protection. In International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 17 Research, action, and policy: Addressing the gendered impacts of (1): 15–36. climate change, ed. M. Alston and K. Whittenbury, 95–108. ———. 2003. Gender, disaster and development: The neces- Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. sity for integration. In Natural disasters and development in a Boyd, E. 2002. The Noel Kempff project in Bolivia: Gender, globalizing world, ed. M. Pelling, 57–74. London and New power, and decision-making in climate mitigation. Gender York: Routledge. and Development 10 (2): 70–77. Hawkins, R., and D. Ojeda. 2011. Gender and environment: Bradshaw, S. 2004. Socio-economic impacts of natural disasters: A Critical tradition and new challenges. Environment and gender analysis. Santiago, Chile: United Nations Economic Planning D: Society and Space 29 (2): 237–53. Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Hemmati, M., and U. Rohr. 2009. Engendering the climate- Brody, A., J. Demetriades, and E. Esplen. 2008. Gender and change negotiations: Experiences, challenges, and steps climate change: Mapping the linkages: A scoping study on knowl- forward. Gender & Development 17 (1): 19–32. edge and caps. Brighton, UK: BRIDGE, Institute of Devel- Hickey, S., and G. Mohan. 2005. Participation: From tyranny opment Studies, University of Sussex. to transformation? Exploring new approaches to participation in Cannon, T. 2002. Gender and climate hazards in Bangladesh. development. London: Zed Books. Gender and Development 10 (2): 45–50. Hossain, H., C. Dodge, and F. Abel. 1992. From crisis to Cannon, T., and D. Muller-Mann. 2010. Vulnerability, re- development: Coping with disasters in Bangladesh.Dhaka, silience and development discourses in context of climate Bangladesh: University Press Limited.

Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 change. Natural Hazards 55:621–35. Hulme, M. 2008. Geographical work at the boundaries of Carr, E. 2008. Between structure and agency: Livelihoods and climate change. Transactions of the Institute of British Geog- adaptation in Ghana’s central region. Global Environmental raphers 33:5–11. Change 18:689–99. Huq, S., Z. Karim, M. Asaduzzaman, and F. Mahtab. 2005. Cleaver, F., and D. Elson. 1995. Women and water resources: Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change for Bangladesh. Continued marginalisation and new policies. Gatekeeper Se- Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic. ries 49:3–15. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2007. Cooke, B., and U. Kothari. 2001. Participation: The new Climate change 2007: Synthesis report. New York: UN Inter- tyranny? London: Zed Books. governmental Panel on Climate Change. Cornwall, A. 2003. Whose voices? Whose choices? Reflec- Jackson, C. 1993. Doing what comes naturally? Women and tions on gender and participatory development. World De- environment in development. World Development 21 (12): velopment 31:1325–42. 1947–63. Crow, B., and F. Sultana. 2002. Gender, class and access to Jewitt, S. 2000. Unequal knowledges in Jharkand, India: De- water: Three cases in a poor and crowded delta. Society and romanticizing women’s agroecological expertise. Develop- Natural Resources 15:709–24. ment and Change 31:961–85. Dankelman, I. 2002. Climate change: Learning from gender Leach, M. 2007. Earth mother myths and other ecofeminist analysis and women’s experiences of organising for sus- fables: How a strategic notion rose and fell. Development tainable development. Gender and Development 10 (2): 21– and Change 38 (1): 67–85. 29. MacGregor, S. 2009. A stranger silence still: The need for ———. 2010. Gender and climate change: An introduction. Lon- feminist social research on climate change. The Sociological don: Earthscan. Review 57:124–40. Gendering Climate Change: Geographical Insights 381

Masika, R. 2002. Gender, development and climate change.Ox- ———. 2009. Death by degrees: Taking a feminist hard ford, UK: Oxfam. look at climate change targets. Kvinder, Køn & Forskn- Mirza, M. M. Q., R. A. Warrick, and N. J. Ericksen. 2003. ing (Denmark)—Women, Gender & Research 18 (3–4): 11– The implications of climate change on floods of the 22. Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers in Bangladesh. Seager, J., and B. Hartmann. 2005. Mainstreaming gender Climatic Change 57 (3): 287–318. in environmental assessment and early warning. New York: Mitchell, T., T. M. Tanner, and K. Lussier. 2007. We know United Nations. what we need: South Asian women speak out on climate change Smith, B., I. Burton, R. J. T. Klein, and J. Wandel. 2000. An adaptation. London: ActionAid. anatomy of adaptation to climate change and variability. Moser, S. 2009. Now more than ever: The need for more Climatic Change 45 (1): 223–51. socially relevant research on vulnerability and adaptation Sultana, F. 2009a. Community and participation in water to climate change. Applied Geography 30:464–74. resources management: Gendering and naturing develop- Nasreen, M. 2000. Women’s role during floods in ment debates from Bangladesh. Transactions of the Institute Bangladesh: A gender perspective. Philosophy and Progress of British Geographers 34 (3): 346–63. 28:169–89. ———. 2009b. Fluid lives: Subjectivity, gender and water Nelson, V., K. Meadows, T. Cannon, J. Morton, and A. Mar- management in Bangladesh. Gender, Place, and Culture 16 tin. 2002. Uncertain predictions, invisible impacts, and the (4): 427–44. need to mainstream gender in climate change adaptations. ———. 2010. Living in hazardous waterscapes: Gendered Gender and Development 10 (2): 51–59. vulnerabilities and experiences of floods and disasters. En- Nelson, V., and T. Stathers. 2009. Resilience, power, culture, vironmental Hazards 9 (1): 43–53. and climate: A case study from semi-arid Tanzania, and ———. 2011. Suffering for water, suffering from water: Emo- new research directions. Gender and Development 17 (1): 81– tional geographies of resource access, control and conflict. 94. Geoforum 42 (2): 163–72. Neumayer, E., and T. Plumper. 2007. The gendered nature Terry, G. 2009. No climate justice without gender justice: of natural disasters: The impact of catastrophic events on An overview of the issues. Gender and Development 17 (1): the gender gap in life expectancy 1981–2002. Annals of the 5–18. American Association of Geographers 97 (3): 551–66. Thomas, D., and C. Twyman. 2005. Equity and justice Nightingale, A. 2006. The nature of gender: Work, gender in climate change adaptation amongst natural-resource- and environment. Environment and Planning D: Society and dependent societies. Global Environmental Change 15 (2): Space 24 (2): 165–85. 115–24. O’Brien,K.,R.Leichenko,U.Kelkar,H.Venema,G.Aan- Truelove, Y. 2011. (Re-)conceptualizing water inequality in dahl, H. Tompkins, A. Javed, S. Bhadwal, S. Barg, L. Ny- Delhi, India through a feminist political ecology frame- gaard, and J. West. 2004. Mapping vulnerability to multiple work. Geoforum 42 (2): 143–52. stressors: Climate change and globalization in India. Global Wiest, R. 1998. A comparative perspective on household, Environmental Change A 14 (4): 303–13. gender, and kinship in relation to disaster. In The gendered O’Reilly, K., S. Halvorson, F. Sultana, and N. Laurie. 2009. terrain of disaster: Through women’s eyes, ed. E. Enarson and Global perspectives on gender–water geographies. Gender, B. Morrow, 63–79. Westport, CT: Praeger. Place, and Culture 16 (4): 381–85. Wisner, B. 2010. Climate change and cultural diversity. In- Paul, B. 1997. Flood research in Bangladesh in retrospect and ternational Social Science Journal 61:131–40. prospect: A review. Geoforum 28 (2): 121–31. Wisner, B., P. Blaikie, T. Cannon, and I. Davis. 2004. At risk: Rabbani, G., A. Rahman, and K. Mainuddin. 2009. Women’s Natural hazards, people’s vulnerabilities and disasters. 2nd ed. vulnerability to water-related hazards: Comparing three London and New York: Routledge. areas affected by climate change in Bangladesh. Waterlines 28 (3): 235–49. Rocheleau, D., B. Thomas-Slayter, and E. Wangari. 1996. Feminist political ecology: Global issues and local experiences. FARHANA SULTANA is Associate Professor of Geogra- London and New York: Routledge. phy at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Af-

Downloaded by [Syracuse University Library] at 12:27 30 June 2014 Schmuck, H. 2000. “An act of Allah”: Religious explanations fairs of Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244. E-mail: for floods in Bangladesh as survival strategy. International [email protected]. Her research interests are broadly centered Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 18 (1): 85–95. on socioecological transformations in the developing world, Seager, J. 2006. Noticing gender (or not) in disasters. Geofo- with a particular focus on gender and class dynamics of water rum 37 (1): 2–3. governance and climate change.