Women in rural areas in developing countries are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood. They are responsible for securing water, food and energy for cooking and heating, but the effects of climate change, including drought, uncertain rainfall and deforestation, make it harder for them to get these resources. That's why climate change needs gender-sensitive responses. Gerry Adams reports on how climate change is affecting women:
Narator: Coinciding with the recent UN Summit on Climate Change, a number of women from developing countries gathered to express their views on how climate change is affecting their lives and what can be done to mitigate it. Euphemia Dzthor, Coordinator of the Women Peacemakers Programme of Ghana, pointed out that in her community, there is a strong link between the environment and conflict:
Dzthor: In the Volta region of Ghana, my community and the neighbouring community have been at war for over 80 years because of land. The population is growing and definitely it brings about scarcity of resources, land for farming, even water.
Narrator: For Bandana Rana of the Sati Organization in Nepal, the women's movement in her country has yet to catch up with the idea that climate change and women's lives are inextricably linked:
Rana: Honestly speaking, we've been very much involved with the women's movement. But the women's movement has yet not realized the connection and the linkage of the women's movement and the impact climate change has on women in relation to migration, in relation to conflict-affected changes.
Narrator: One of the problems that restricts women's participation in mitigating climate change, says Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, is lack of education. She explains that poor people make up the bulk of those who have little control over their circumstances. Their main concern is survival as opposed to conservation:
Maathai: Poor people at the moment are worried about "Am I going to get the next meal? Am I going to get water? Am I going to get fodder for my animals?" The responsibility here falls on the government because it is governments that have the luxury of thinking long term.
Narrator: Wangari Maathai also calls on governments to be responsible in using the financial resources they have for climate change mitigation to benefit those who need it most and not just a few individuals:
Maathai: It is the government that has a responsibility to ensure that when the resources are available, they are received in a responsible way, to make sure that resources don't just come for a few people to enrich themselves. I fear that they will come, they will be distributed, they will be used and at the end of the day, we may not see what was really done to mitigate against the impact of climate change.
Narrator: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, founder of the Greenbelt Movement, which is dedicated to saving Africa's rainforests. |
