Gender and Climate Change Overview Report Emmeline Skinner October 2011 Emmeline Skinner (author) is a human geographer by training, with a PhD from University College London and an MPhil from the University of Oxford. She spent several years working in the Fair Trade movement and is particularly interested in issues around women‟s rights and social inclusion. Her area of expertise is Latin America, where she worked in partnership with HelpAge International for her PhD research on population ageing and social protection. Most recently she has been working with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) as a Social Development Adviser, with a focus on gender, equity and rights, and climate change. This Overview Report (OR) – and the Cutting Edge Pack it is part of – are the result of a two-year collaborative Cutting Edge Programme, drawing on the experience and expertise of a wide range of people working on gender and climate change issues across the world. Many thanks go to our core advisory group, who have worked with us from the outset to help to ensure this report makes a difference. They are: lead advisor Ulrike Roehr – manager of genanet, focal point gender, environment, sustainability, and steering group member of GenderCC/ Women for Climate Justice; Simone Lovera, Executive Director, Global Forestry Coalition; Janet Macharia, Senior Gender Advisor, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and Titilope Ngozi Akosa, Project Coordinator, Centre for 21st Century Issues, Nigeria. Thanks also to FUNDAEXPRESIÓN in Colombia and the Community Awareness Centre (CAC) in India, for welcoming BRIDGE convenor Georgina Aboud to their organisations and taking the time to share their experiences and innovations. We would also like to thank the members of the global Community of Practice (who are too numerous to mention) for their useful and inspiring contributions to two online discussions and a roundtable held in Cancun in 2010. Much credit is also due to Georgina Aboud for coordinating the programme as well as for her substantive contributions, and to Hazel Reeves and Alyson Brody for their contribution to the substance of this report and for editorial support. The Cutting Edge Programme on Gender and Climate Change has been undertaken with the financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH1. Thanks also to Irish Aid, SDC and DFID for their ongoing support of the BRIDGE programme. BRIDGE was set up in 1992 as a specialised gender and development research and information service within the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK. BRIDGE supports the gender advocacy and mainstreaming efforts of policymakers and practitioners by bridging the gaps between theory, policy and practice with accessible and diverse gender information. It is one of a family of knowledge services based at IDS (http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/knowledge-services). Other recent publications in the Cutting Edge Pack series: Gender and Governance, 2009 Gender and Citizenship, 2004 Gender and Care, 2009 Gender and Armed Conflict, 2003 Gender and Indicators, 2007 Gender and Budgets, 2003 Gender and Sexuality, 2007 Gender and HIV/AIDS, 2002 Gender and Trade, 2006 Gender and Cultural Change, 2002 Gender and Migration, 2005 Gender and Participation, 2001. Gender and ICTs, 2004 Published by the Institute of Development Studies, October 2011 © Institute of Development Studies ISBN: 978-1-78118-011-2 Contents 1 GIZ was formed on 1 January 2011. It brings together the long-standing experience of DED, GTZ and InWEnt. For further ii Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 7 1.1. Why focus on gender and climate change? ................................................................................. 7 1.2. What is climate change and why should we be concerned about it? .......................................... 9 1.2.1. How are people talking about climate change? .................................................................. 10 1.2.2. Why do we need to take action in the face of climate change? ......................................... 10 1.2.3. How do global politics affect climate change impacts and responses? ............................. 11 1.2.4. Why is climate change a development issue? .................................................................... 12 1.3. What is a transformative approach to gender and climate change?.......................................... 12 1.4. Who is this report for? ................................................................................................................ 13 1.5. What processes led to this Overview Report? ........................................................................... 14 2. A Transformative Approach to Gender and Climate Change ..................................................... 15 2.1. What do we mean by „gender and climate change‟? ................................................................. 16 2.2. Why take the gender dimensions of climate change into account? ........................................... 17 2.2.1. Unequal gender power relations affect the way men and women experience climate change .......................................................................................................................................... 17 2.2.2. Climate change risks exacerbating gender inequalities ..................................................... 17 2.2.3. Women and men have different impacts on the environment ............................................ 18 2.3. Why is it vital for climate change policies and processes to be gender aware? ........................ 18 2.3.1. Many climate change responses and institutions are gender blind .................................... 18 2.3.2. Gender stereotypes are being reproduced through climate change responses ................ 19 2.3.3. Human and women’s rights are not part of climate change discussions ........................... 20 2.3.4. Representation of women in climate change negotiations is still very low ......................... 20 2.4. Identifying gender-aware ways forward ..................................................................................... 20 2.4.1. Technological and market-based responses alone cannot address the gendered social implications of climate change ...................................................................................................... 21 2.4.2. It is vital to move gender issues beyond adaptation responses ......................................... 21 2.4.3. Women’s knowledge and experience is vital for climate change solutions ........................ 21 2.4.4. Climate change responses need to promote social and gender justice ............................. 22 2.4.5. Human and women’s rights need to inform responses to and understandings of climate change .......................................................................................................................................... 22 3. Understanding the Human and Gender Impacts of Climate Change ......................................... 25 3.1. Climate change-induced resource shortages ............................................................................ 26 3.1.1. Food production .................................................................................................................. 26 3.1.2. Food security ...................................................................................................................... 27 3.1.3. Energy poverty .................................................................................................................... 28 3.1.4. Water scarcity ..................................................................................................................... 28 3.2. Health impacts of climate change through a gender lens .......................................................... 30 3.3. Gender impacts of climate-related disasters .............................................................................. 31 3.4. Gender impacts of climate change-induced migration ............................................................... 32 3.5. Gender dimensions of conflict over resources ........................................................................... 33 3.6. „Indirect‟ gender impacts of climate change ............................................................................... 34 3.7. Gender impacts of climate change policies ............................................................................... 35 3.8. Poverty, social vulnerability and climate change ....................................................................... 35 3.8.1. The gender dimensions of poverty and vulnerability .......................................................... 35 3.8.2. Affluence and climate change............................................................................................. 36 3.9. How do we improve understandings of and responses to gender impacts of climate change? 36 3.9.1.