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Front cover: These Sudanese women depend on a hand-dug well, which by March will yield little water.
The nearest reliable source lies seven kilometres away. One of the effects of climate change in arid areas
will be to increase the workload entailed in collecting resources like water and firewood.
Photo: Toby Adamson, Oxfam
Oxfam GB 2002
Published by Oxfam GB, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK
http: / / www.oxfam.org.uk / publications
Typeset in Palatino by Oxfam; printed by Information Press, Eynsham
Oxfam is a registered charity No. 202918
Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International
ISBN 0 85598 4791
Climate change: learning from gender analysis and women's experiences of organising
for sustainable development 21
Irene Dankelman
Protocols, treaties, and action: the 'climate change process' viewed through gender
spectacles 30
Margaret M. Skutsch
Uncertain predictions, invisible impacts, and the need to mainstream gender in climate
change adaptations 51
Valerie Nelson, Kate Meadows, Terry Cannon, John Morton, and Adrienne Martin
Reducing risk and vulnerability to climate change in India: the capabilities approach 78
Marlene Roy and Henry David Venema
Resources 102
Compiled by Ruth Evans
Publications 102
Electronic resources 107
Journals 110
Organisations 110
Videos 112
Editorial
Rachel Masika
T
he global climate is subject to yields and increasing food insecurity in
increasing change, and this has much of the developing world;
become more evident over recent increased frequency and intensity of
years. 1 In particular, the atmospheric extreme weather events leading to
concentrations of greenhouse gases have loss of life, injury, mass population
increased, augmenting global warming. dislocations, and economic devastation
These concentrations of carbon dioxide, in poor countries;
methane, and nitrous oxide are higher now a decline in human health as people's
than at any time during the last thousand resistance to disease is weakened by
years, and the weight of scientific evidence heat stress, water shortages, and
suggests that observed changes in the malnutrition. Increases in infectious
earth's climate are at least in part due to diseases and waterborne illnesses, and
human activities (IPCC 2001a). higher levels of pollution leading to a
The latest climate projection models of rise in respiratory illnesses, will be
the United Nations Inter-governmental widespread (IPCC 2001b; Martens 1998).
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a high- No one will be immune from the overall
level, independent, scientific advisory impacts of climate change, but it will have a
body, suggest that if no action is taken now disproportionate effect on the lives of poor
to reduce greenhouse gases, air surface people in developing countries, where
temperatures could rise to levels that will poverty increases people's vulnerability to
significantly alter ecosystems. The IPCC its harmful effects. Poor people in
and other forecasters predict that such overcrowded temporary settlements
global warming could result in the erected on unsuitable land will be at risk of
following changes: flooding and land slides. Those eking out
a rise in sea levels exposing many an existence from subsistence farming will
communities to severe flooding from have no savings or assets to insure them
storm surges; against external shocks. Lack of sanitation
a decline in water availability with and limited access to clean water, poor diet,
billions of people facing water shortages and inadequate healthcare provision will
in the Middle East and the Indian undermine resistance to disease. A lack of
subcontinent; social status and the remoteness of some
disruptive seasonal rainfall patterns settlements means that some people will
which will bring about droughts and not receive adequate warnings of
floods, dramatically reducing crop impending disasters, and relief efforts will
Editorial
be less likely to reach them. Lack of communities are affected by and respond to
education, and official neglect, means that environmental problems in different ways.
poor and marginalised people will have Gender issues have not been considered
little alternative but to remain in, or return in wider climate change discourses and
to, disaster-prone areas, with diminished initiatives. The international response to the
assets. implications of climate change has largely
Adverse changes in climate^are likely to focused on mitigation initiatives (the
exacerbate the problems that developing reduction of greenhouse gases), and has
countries are already facing, particularly directed less attention to adaptation
since 94 per cent of the world's major strategies (assistance with adapting to the
natural disasters between 1990 and 1998 adverse impacts of climate change on
occurred in developing countries (Oxfam food, livelihood, and human security).
2000, 1). It is important to acknowledge, Predominant approaches and policy
however, that some climate changes may responses have focused on scientific and
have beneficial impacts. As Terry Cannon technological measures to tackle climate
points out in his article in this collection, change problems. They have displayed
increased floods - a projected consequence scant regard for the social implications of
of climate change - have the potential to climate change outcomes and the threats
improve rather than destroy livelihoods. these pose for poor men and women, or for
Inundation and silt can improve soil the ways in which people's political and
fertility, thus boosting crop yields. Flooding economic environments influence their
can also create ponds, improving conditions ability to respond to the challenges of
for fish breeding. Cooler, temperate climate change. While scientific approaches
climates, particularly in the Northern remain crucial, this collection of articles
hemisphere, might also benefit from argues that political and socio-economic
warmer temperatures. issues must be taken into consideration,
The opportunities and challenges that particularly since the climate change
men and women will face in responding to agenda is set by the rich and powerful, and
climate change are uncertain and unclear, can exclude the interests of the poor and
as are the precise shape, form, scope, time- less powerful within their variously
scales, and impacts of projected climate constrained contexts.
variability in different environmental The authors in this collection explore the
settings. Given this degree of uncertainty, connections between gender, poverty, and
many may be tempted to ask of gender climate variability, and debate whether,
analysts and planners, why should we why, and how gender and poverty issues
worry about this? There are difficulties in matter within the 'climate change policy
assessing the gender-differentiated risks process'. Many discuss the vulnerability to
and outcomes of ecological changes, the harmful risks of climate change that
particularly when the debate takes place gender and poverty bestow, and demonstrate
within a highly-charged political environ- why these areas need to be considered and
ment where the validity of scientific integrated into climate change interventions
hypotheses is questioned, and the threats (policy debates, international agreements,
are not fully understood. However, an and national and local programmes). Some
understanding of potential gender- explore why these issues have been largely
differentiated impacts can be gleaned from neglected in research and analysis to date,
studies of gender issues in environmental suggest how they can be most effectively
and disasters management, where these tackled, and which approaches can aid this
demonstrate how individuals and process.
Gender or poverty? inequalities play in women's sensitivity to
climate shocks, and their capacity to
It is widely accepted that the distribution of respond. Fatma Denton explains why
vulnerability to climate hazards and gender matters to climate change processes,
environmental degradation is not equal while Irene Dankelman's review
across societies and countries. Although demonstrates the significant role that
location-specific climatic patterns are key gender relations - through their role in
factors in assessing risks and threats, levels influencing which resources women or men
of infrastructure, economic development, can access - play in determining sensitivity
social equality, and political influence of to climate change and environmental
countries and communities will affect the degradation, and their capacity to cope
extent of their vulnerability to climate with the outcomes.
fluctuations. Adaptation - the ability of
There is still a tendency to link women
human systems to adapt to and cope with
with poverty, and by inference, to
change - depends on factors such as
vulnerability. This conflation of poverty
wealth, technology, education, information,
with women masks the underlying
skills, infrastructure, access to resources,
conceptual and structural underpinnings of
and management capabilities (IPCC 2001,
gender inequality and poverty which,
8). The adaptive capacity of men and
although closely associated, are not
women to environmental degradation will
synonymous. Roy and Venema illustrate
depend largely on the extent to which they
how close - and sometimes inextricable -
can draw on these variables within varied
these associations are, in their article
contexts. Those with the least resources
presenting the 'capabilities approach' as a
have the least capacity to adapt and are the
way of reducing poverty and gender
most vulnerable.
inequalities in people's ability to adapt to
The relative importance of gender or climate change pressures.
poverty in understanding vulnerability to
climate change threats is subject to debate. Gender-specific implications of climate
A point of conjecture in this collection is the change outcomes
question of how far gender or poverty Some authors explore the gender-specific
influences men and women's vulnerability implications of climate change outcomes on
to ecological risks and their capacity to human, food, and livelihood security,
respond to climate variation in localised drawing on gender analyses of natural
contexts, and the extent to which poverty or disasters, environmental conservation, and
gender should be the entry point for rural livelihood systems. The implications
vulnerability reduction measures. In his of gender divisions in labour for coping
article on the gender dimensions of climate with environmental change, and the
hazards in Bangladesh, Terry Cannon different ways in which men and women
asserts that the evidence for whether the respond to disasters, are examined. These
impacts of hazards are worse for women is differences, largely due to unequal social
inconclusive and variable. Margaret relations, determine men's and women's
Skutsch, also in this collection, suggests roles, behaviour, and responsibilities in the
that poverty is the main variable, and that household, workplace, and community.
the issue of women's vulnerability to They determine their access to income to
climate risks is best tackled through tap into material and productive resources
gender-responsive poverty reduction that can provide security, protection, and
measures. recovery; and they determine individuals'
Other contributions to this collection power to influence or control events
highlight the central role that gender and outcomes that affect them. These
Editorial
differentiated power relations and levels of fetching water, can place them under
access to resources are key to under- increasing strain as they trek further in
standing men's and women's vulnerability, search of firewood, and face diminishing
their exposure to risk, their coping capacity, plant resources and water shortages.
and their ability to recover. Trekking long distances for water and fuel
More specifically, exposure to risk is also affects the academic performance of
influenced by existing nutritional inequalities, young girls. Girls are often kept at home to
restricted mobility, and practices associated help with household duties, and this is
with understandings of 'appropriate' particularly the case in times of household
behaviour for men and women. Cannon stress or high workload. Similarly, a dispro-
highlights the case of Bangladesh, where portionately large number of women work
women's lower nutritional status in pre- in the informal sector, and informal sector
disaster situations worsened during crises. jobs are often the worst hit and slowest to
Nelson et al. cite the example of how a recover when disasters strike.
disproportionate number of women died in Climate changes have the potential to
the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh because of create widespread additional health
cultural norms concerning the preservation problems. These are likely to increase
of female honour that meant they left it too women's workloads still further, since
late to leave their homes, and were less women have traditionally had responsi-
likely than men to know how to swim. bility for caring for the sick and the elderly.
The capacity to cope and the potential to Women's health may also suffer as a result
recover from climate shocks are affected by of their existing lower access to health
access to material and productive resources services, reduced nutritional status, and the
such as income and employment. Nelson requirement on them to juggle multiple
et al. point out how in the aftermath of roles. Men's mental health may also suffer,
Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua, as men are less likely to seek counselling for
it was more difficult for women to return to trauma, a possible outcome of experiencing
work because of increased domestic and disaster. Rosa Reyes highlights the case of
care responsibilities. Where drought and the 1997-8 El Nino events in Peru, where
desertification, considered to be slow-onset malnutrition among women was a major
disasters, make male migration in search of cause of peri-partum illness.
employment necessary, women's domestic
and care responsibilities can increase,
making it difficult for them to engage in Current responses:
income-generating work. Nonetheless, the mitigation and adaptation
widely-held view that male out-migration International responses to climate change
makes women more vulnerable is question- risks have tended to reflect the priorities
able because in some instances male and interests of wealthier countries, with
migration can give women greater decision- the majority of the responses focused on
making powers, and open up new greenhouse gas mitigation at country level,
livelihood possibilities for them. at the expense of adaptation measures and
Considering gender divisions of labour support. Mitigation has revolved around
in agriculture, fisheries, the informal sector, the reduction of greenhouse gases (through
the household, and the community, can large-scale technical initiatives) and the
assist us in pinpointing where vulnerability enhancement of natural carbon sinks -
to ecological threats lies. Women's particularly forests - to absorb them.
dependence on communal tree and plant However, attempts to develop mitigation
resources, and their responsibility for strategies expose the power inequities
within the international system. The attention to equity and poverty issues.
unilateral position taken by the USA, a While gender advocates have played a key
major greenhouse gas emitter, in refusing to role in highlighting gender disadvantage
endorse the Kyoto agreement, demonstrates and its influence on the success or failure of
how the 'big' business and economic environmental and relief interventions,
considerations of powerful countries can assumptions about men and women
derail mitigation efforts, and the importance continue to translate into initiatives that
of political and economic power in the place greater burdens on women's time
success of mitigation efforts. and labour without rewards, and do not
The significance of equity issues (social provide them with the inputs (education,
status, wealth, and power) in the resilience information, and land rights) they require.
of human systems and security (food, Where gender issues have been considered,
livelihoods, health, and survival) to their integration into programmes has been
environmental change has often been over- insufficient in addressing the transformative
looked in climate change interventions. requirements of social change that are
A focus on technical solutions to climate inherent in addressing gender inequality
change problems has ignored the social and and giving greater visibility to women's
political aspects of finding appropriate contributions to environmental conservation.
solutions. Many of the concerns of poor Natural resource management pro-
countries fall within the 'adaptation' grammes tend to rely too heavily on
scenario, in part due to their dependence on women's conservation capacities because it
the physical environment for their food and is assumed that they are naturally
livelihood security, and their limits in predisposed to serve their community by
providing adequate protection against protecting the environment on which
the shocks of climate disasters such as they depend for their livelihoods. As
the recent floods in Mozambique and Dankelman's article demonstrates, rural
Bangladesh. women in developing countries are
Adaptation is a key focus of this disproportionately adversely affected by
collection, and is also the area where environmental degradation. Nelson et al.,
gendered differences are most stark. however, caution against assumptions that
Assisting those most vulnerable to climate rural women are 'closer to nature', since
risks requires an understanding of the such ideas can entail that development
complex and often intertwined influences projects rely too heavily on women's
that power, wealth, and social status have unpaid labour. In addition, Denton cautions
on who is most affected, who has the against using women as promotional
capacity to cope, and who decides on what agents for environmental conservation and
action is to be taken. Ignoring these tree-planting schemes without addressing
variables in environmental interventions other aspects that are" important to good
risks exacerbating human suffering and resource management and environmental
reinforcing inequality between men and conservation, such as women's ability to
women and across countries. Including own land.
these considerations in the formulation Initiatives that fail to address the
and implementation of adaptation and transformations required for social change,
mitigation measures can enhance adaptive or to challenge gender discrimination and
strategies and assist in promoting gender disadvantage, reinforce gender inequality
equality. and miss the opportunity to utilise and
Environmental NGOs and other pro- enhance poor rural women's and men's
poor climate change lobbyists have played skills and indigenous knowledge effectively.
a central role in drawing policy-makers' Emily Boyd demonstrates how a climate
Editorial
mitigation project in Bolivia contributed to gender concerns are most stark, and where
gendered differences in outcomes, and gender advocates can meaningfully contribute
traces the patriarchal relationships, from to developing gender-sensitive policies and
global decision-making processes to local initiatives.
impacts, that contributed to this. In this There may be opportunities for women
particular case, although women's practical to acquire wider development benefits
needs were at least partially met by the through the climate change process.
project, their strategic interests were Skutsch and Denton suggest that the Clean
overlooked. Reyes shows that whereas Development Mechanism (CDM) may offer
women take responsibility for community new and additional opportunities for
organising at local levels in Peru, their gender-redistributive initiatives. The CDM
under-representation in wider political is one of the three flexible mechanisms2
rights-based movements, and at official introduced in the Kyoto Protocol and the
national and regional levels, means that the United Nations Framework Convention on
impacts of their experience, skills, and Climate Change Co-operation (UNFCCC)
environmental knowledge can be limited. as a co-operative instrument to promote
sustainable development in developing
countries, as well as cost-effective greenhouse
Strategies for gender- gas mitigation. If women can access CDM
responsive policy and funds for climate action (mitigation,
practice adaptation, and capacity-building),
then they could gain some benefits, for
Because the major causes of human-related example by acquiring cleaner technologies
climate variability are linked to energy use, for cleaner household energy usage
greenhouse gas mitigation has been an (such as the UPESI stoves in Kenya and
essential part of international strategies to battery-operated lamps in Bangladesh).
offset the risks of climate change. Natural Such small-scale measures may not have
mechanisms for absorption of greenhouse a significant impact on greenhouse gas
gases, such as 'sinks' (forests and oceans), mitigation, but may serve to reduce
and greenhouse gas emission reduction respiratory illnesses, and provide an entry
targets at country level through cleaner and point for educating communities about the
energy-efficient technologies, and carbon threats of climate change. Also, such steps
trading, have been prioritised. In her could decrease women's time and labour
assessment of the efficacy of considering spent in firewood collection.
gender issues in international processes At present, however, women's capacity
aimed at developing climate change policy, to influence international decisions and
Margaret Skutsch explains why these issues outcomes over climate efforts remains
are not always significant at the global limited. Participation in international
level. For example, apportioning blame or negotiations on climate policy and
responsibility by sex for the cause of interventions, such as the UNFCCC and
greenhouse gas emissions, on the basis of Kyoto Protocol, is of strategic importance to
energy practices and consumption, is not women if international initiatives are to
effective. This is because most greenhouse address their concerns. Capacity-building
gas emissions stem from industrial patterns for women in this area requires equal
of production and consumption, and access to education, training, and tech-
require technical and scientific solutions to nology in developing countries, and more
offset or decrease them. The role that female professionals and male experts who
gender issues play in global efforts is more have received gender training in the fields
significant in adaptation measures where of engineering and other technical areas,
who could potentially contribute to a more Development Organisation (WEDO),
gender-sensitive CDM policy. It also means which has played an important facilitating
equipping women with the expertise to role in the WSSD consultation process and
negotiate, and to conduct climate-related preparatory meetings, and has developed a
research relevant to their needs and resource book as a tool for the process.
interests. Strategies to overcome financial Together, Tieho Makhabane, Irene
and time-investment barriers to partici- Dankelman, and Delia Villagrasa illustrate
pation in climate fora, which can deter women's positive contributions to local,
newcomers and particularly poorer national, and international processes
participants and women, are essential. around energy, sustainable development,
Including women in climate change and climate change issues, demonstrating
negotiations can enhance the process, how women's efforts have changed over
particularly where they can draw on the years. Makhabane provides an example
strengths such as networking, inter- of two energy networks, SAGEN and
personal skills, and an ability to co-operate. ENERGIA, which promote the role of
Delia Villagrasa provides examples of how women in sustainable energy development
women were able to influence climate in Africa. She provides two case study
negotiations to some extent because of examples of sustainable energy networks,
such skills. Mary Jo Larson suggests and their achievement in networking
approaches that can assist disadvantaged around sustainable energy issues and
groups in negotiating and transforming building women's capacity.
power relations. Drawing on an analysis of
power relationships and climate change
negotiations, she discusses how capacity-
Conclusion
building can be a flexible and multilateral This collection of articles explores some of
approach to sustainable development. the complex and nebulous political and
Proactive, co-operative approaches such as socio-economic issues linked to climate
those taken by the Association of Small change. While there is increasing consensus
Island States (AOSIS) for climate around the scientific hypotheses suggesting
negotiations demonstrate how low-power an upturn in major climatic events, policy-
groups can transform threatening systems makers are faced with major difficulties in
by building alliances, developing extensive assessing how gender-differentiated
communication networks, and advocating outcomes of climatic threats may be
with a united voice. mitigated. Firstly, the exact nature, scope,
Many articles in this journal highlight and timescale of local impacts cannot be
how women are not 'victims' or inactive accurately determined. Secondly, the issue
political agents. Dankelman provides is highly politicised, with major political
examples of women organising and and corporate interests at play. Thirdly,
influencing sustainable development although potentially cataclysmic, the threat
initiatives by lobbying for more gender- of climate change may not be perceived as
sensitive policies during the United demanding immediate attention by poor
Nations Conference on Environment and communities and countries with other,
Development (UNCED) process, with some more immediate, practical concerns.
success. Women are also continuing their However, in many parts of the world,
lobby efforts towards preparatory meetings extreme climatic events and climatic
for the World Summit on Sustainable changes are already being experienced,
Development (WSSD). One such organi- albeit on a smaller scale and with less
sation is the Women, Environment and frequency than can be expected in the
Editorial 9
W
hat have unequal power between
women and men, and global basis on which they participate and contribute
inequality, got to do with an to the reduction of growing environmental
environmental crisis as monumental as the problems, while women, and smaller and
possible negative impacts of climate change poorer countries, look in from the outside,
- which are predicted to have far-reaching with virtually no power to change or
implications for women and men? The influence the scope of the discussions.
answer to this question is not immediately More than a decade since it began, the
obvious. Hurricanes, floods, and other climate debate continues to be fraught with
incidents related to climate change affect difficulties. Protagonists have gradually
whole communities, and should presumably awakened to the fact that the underlying
therefore affect the lives of women and men capitalist and market forces are too
equally. Moreover, ecosystems and extreme important to ignore. The debate has swayed
climate events are oblivious to boundaries. from an initial commitment to greenhouse
The planet is a global concern incorporating gas mitigation to trying to get recalcitrant
a multitude of ecosystems, peoples, and countries such as the USA to toe the line
cultures. As such, it requires collective and ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Climate
input in its management, protection, and change negotiations such as those leading
ultimately, its sustainability. Yet climate to the Kyoto Protocol reflect Northern
negotiations could be seen as a parody of priorities and interests. Issues facing people
an unequal world economy, in which men, living in poverty - such as the question of
Climate change: why does gender matter? 11
how they can adapt to climate changes - management. Hence, women and their
have been side-tracked or omitted. livelihoods activities are particularly
Whilst delegates dwell on the 'shoulds' vulnerable to the risks posed by environ-
and 'woulds' of the Kyoto agreement,1 mental depletion (Denton 2001). The need
poorer communities in Mozambique and to diversify energy resources and introduce
other developing countries know that it alternative fuels for household use
will take more than semantics to reverse constitutes an essential part of adaptation
some of the most catastrophic outcomes of strategies.
climate variability and environmental Taking preventive measures well in
degradation. Most less-developed countries advance has more benefits than reacting to
(LDCs) feel that their need for adaptation unexpected catastrophes. To plan these,
strategies has not been met or received it is important to consider sectors of
sufficient attention. In the interim, whilst production, such as agriculture and
international agencies haggle over who is fisheries, in terms of the division of labour
best able to oversee adaptation projects, between women and men, and to identify
rich industrialised countries keep a steady the different degrees of vulnerability of
eye on the costs. Endless discussions ensue women and men to the negative effects of
over what some see as a miserly adaptation climate events. Building this analysis will
fund,2 but which others, in the North, require more research, but this would
consider to be generous. Ordinary people enable policy-makers to put measures in
in rural Africa and other parts of the place to combat environmental degra-
developing world are left to find their own dation, with the aim of minimising the
ways of cultivating their land and resisting vulnerability of the women and men
further environmental degradation, as affected by them. In planning such
ecosystems become more fragile and measures, much can also be learned from
affected by climate variability. existing mechanisms for drought control by
Climate change is likely to accentuate regional groupings such as the Permanent
the gaps between the world's rich and Inter-States Committee for Drought Control
poor. It is widely accepted that women in in the Sahel (CILSS). These help to build
developing countries constitute one of the resilience, identify warning signs to give
poorest and most disadvantaged groups in advance warning of problems, and create a
society. A number of human practices are sense of preparedness among women and
likely to worsen the current scenario of men.
environmental degradation, and increase
the build-up of greenhouse gas emissions Ignoring women's
in the atmosphere. Among these are energy contribution to
intensity, deforestation, burning of vegetation,
population growth, and, ultimately, environmental resource
economic growth. management
Women's contribution and participation Women's absence from decision-making
can help or hinder in all the above processes
scenarios. It has been well documented that Women are patently absent from the
rural women in particular play a key role in climate change decision-making process.
environmental and natural resource manage- The climate debate has not sought to
ment. Women's active involvement address the existing marginalisation of
in agriculture, and their dependence women, nor their need to be integrated in
on biomass energy, makes them key environmental policies. Nor have the
stakeholders in effective environmental immediacy of global warming, the magnitude
12
The development sector as a whole, trade, their inability to control prices on the
from energy to agriculture, seems to world market, and ineffective national
'mainstream' gender issues as an after- policies that seek to make profits from
thought. In addition, mainstreaming is agricultural earnings. While the relation-
done in small doses, with considerable time ship of land ownership to productivity, and
elapsing between times at which different its potential for economic development,
development sectors adopt a gender cannot be underestimated, efforts should
analysis. In such an environment, policies be made to understand and ultimately
which evolve from a gender perspective address the causes of environmental
tend not only to be minimal and degradation from a holistic standpoint,
unenforced, but are also created in isolation rather than conflating the single issue of
from other key development sectors, and lack of land ownership with women's
therefore offer little potential for poor rural growing poverty. To return to the example
women to optimise their skills and make of tree-planting projects, scant attention
significant gains. tends to be given to other gender issues
For example, the 1980s witnessed a new important to the success of these inter-
form of green revolution in Africa, ventions. For instance, while women have
including within the Sahelian countries. often been used as promotional agents for
Here, environmental management is tree-planting schemes, little attention has
hampered by the existence of fragile been given to the primacy of education in
ecosystems and natural hazards such as ensuring good resource management and
drought and desertification. Policy-makers environmental conservation. Minimal
have particularly advocated reforestation work, if any, is undertaken to hone
projects. However, in addition to the women's indigenous knowledge and
wealth of services provided by forests to expertise. Through close interactions with
the rural poor, forests are known to be forest and other ecosystems over many
huge depositories of methane, nitrous years, women have developed a wealth of
oxide, and carbon dioxide. indigenous knowledge of plants and their
There is little logic in involving women medicinal value. Sadly, this component of
in environmental conservation and tree- local knowledge has not widely been
planting schemes when only a small tapped into by policy-makers, and could be
percentage of women have control over lost if it is not used (Agarwal 1992).
land. Development policy has still not
addressed the structural constraints that Peeling through different
curtail women's access to control and layers of vulnerability:
ownership over resources. Nor has it been
able to ensure that women's expertise in
potential impacts of climate
land or resource management is recognised, change
or their effort compensated, through Climate change is a threat to human
ownership of that land or resource. security in general. A key priority in the
Of course, it should be pointed out that current climate-change discussion is to
while some analysts have emphasised the ensure that decision-makers and key
importance of women owning their own stakeholders alike understand the different
land as if land ownership in itself is a types of vulnerability to climate change
guarantee of economic prosperity, this is that women and men face, and their
not the case in Africa. The majority of gendered implications.
farmers in Africa are poor and getting According to Robert Watson, chair of
poorer, mainly due to declining terms of the IPCC, 'vulnerability' can be defined as:
14
increased time taken to fetch water may under the Convention. The GEF was
entail that young female household established to forge international co-
members are additionally required to help operation and to finance actions to address
with household duties, increasing the four threats to the global environment:
likelihood of their missing school. biodiversity loss, climate change, degra-
Health problems, such as cardio- dation of international waters, and ozone
vascular and other respiratory diseases, are depletion. Measures to halt land degradation
likely to increase as a result of climate are also eligible for GEF funding.
change, and increased temperatures could The Clean Development Mechanism
entail loss of lives. Although women in (CDM) is a mechanism in the Kyoto
most countries have a longer average life Protocol conceived to allow for, and
expectancy than men, the quality of ultimately address, divergent objectives
women's health is low compared to that of and priorities between the North and the
men in their households and communities. South. It is a bilateral agreement between
While health threats related to global an industrialised country that must reduce
warming linger, women are faced with its greenhouse gas emissions under the
more immediate health risks than men, due Convention, and a developing country.
to their role in the gender division of Under the CDM, industrialised countries
labour. As fuel-collectors and cooks, they invest in projects that increase economic
face respiratory problems caused by indoor productivity and may reduce local environ-
pollution due to their direct contact with mental problems in developing countries.
traditional fuels. As water collectors, they CDM projects will produce commodities
face high exposure to malaria, endemic in for a market in emissions reduction credits.
many parts of Africa. Women also share Energy-efficiency projects in a non-Annex I
with men the risk of contracting water- country will be a more effective method of
borne diseases, such as dysentery, diarrhoea,emissions reduction than the production of
and cholera. The latter are widespread in a similar system in an Annex I country. If
many parts of Africa, especially in the CDM is properly managed, it could
extremely deprived areas, where the allow non-Annex I countries to orient their
availability of clean drinking water is non- goals towards development paradigms that
existent. They are likely to suffer increased,
are inseparable from sustainable develop-
nutritional problems due to their low ment trajectories. The CDM encourages
income status. Increased poverty and food developing countries to integrate the
insecurity will also cause problems relating concept of sustainability into their overall
to anaemia, common in pregnant women, development priorities. CDM has huge
and health risks accentuated by paucity of potential, yet poses an undeniable challenge:
resources in both pre- and post-natal care. how can we allow developing countries to
outline and achieve their hopes of
sustainability while enabling Northern
Adaptive capacities and countries to reach their objectives of
mechanisms emissions reductions?
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is For example, CDM projects could aim
the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC. It to bring about greater sustainability by
was created to assist non-Annex I Parties4 promoting cleaner fuels. Projects promoting
in the management of the global environ- the use of improved stoves were popular in
mental commons, by providing financial the 1970s and 1980s as a way of reducing
assistance to developing countries to deforestation and helping poorer house-
comply with their obligations, as stipulated holds move up the energy ladder. In a
16
Climate change:
learning from gender analysis and
women's experiences of organising for
sustainable development
Irene Dankelman
This article argues that climate change not only requires major technological solutions, but also has
political and socio-economic aspects with implications for development policy and practice.
Questions of globalisation, equity, and the distribution of welfare and power underlie many of its
manifestations, and its impacts are not only severe, but also unevenly distributed. There are some
clear connections, both positive and negative, between gender and the environment. This paper
explores these linkages, which help to illustrate the actual and potential relationships between gender
and climate change, and the gender-specific implications of climate change. It also provides examples
of women organising for change around sustainable development issues in the build-up to the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), and demonstrates how women's participation can
translate into more gender-sensitive outcomes.
The earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 0.6C over the 20th
century. This results in higher maximum and minimum temperatures, and more hot days.
Snow cover and ice extent have decreased.
Global average sea level has risen, and ocean heat content has increased.
More frequent precipitation, linked to warming, will cause increased flooding in some
parts of Asia and Africa.
The frequency and intensity of droughts is projected to increase.
Source: IPPC 2001a
colonised world. Most of the greenhouse number of environmental refugees, who are
gases today are emitted into the atmosphere still not recognised by the UN (CJN 2001).
by these same industrialised countries,
which consume large quantities of fossil Projected outcomes for livelihoods and
fuels. At the same time, industrialised human security
countries including the USA, Canada, The IPPC Second Working Group Report
Japan, and Australia are the main blocks to (IPPC 2001b) concludes that recent regional
progress in the UN climate change climate changes, particularly temperature
negotiations (CJN 2001a). increases, have already affected many
physical and biological systems. There has
Who is most affected? been increasing frequency of floods and
Ironically, climate change effects and droughts in some areas. Projected adverse
related disasters have occurred pre- impacts on livelihoods and human security
dominantly in the developing world: in include:
1998 the melting of snow in China and a general reduction in potential crop
India caused 5550 deaths. Typhoons, yields in most tropical and sub-tropical
cyclones, and hurricanes in the Philippines, regions, posing a major risk to food
Bangladesh, and the Caribbean and Central
security;
America caused 15,800 deaths. In 1999,
decreased water availability for
50,000 people died in Venezuela due to
populations in many water-scarce
heavy rains and mud floods. In 2000, a
regions, particularly in the sub-tropics;
major disaster occurred in Mozambique
an increase in the number of people
when rains, floods, and cyclones affected
800,000 people, caused 700 deaths, made exposed to vector-borne diseases such
250,000 homeless, increased the incidence as malaria, and water-borne diseases
of malaria and other tropical diseases, and like cholera, and an increase in heat-
impacted negatively on food production. stress mortality;
People with low incomes affected by such a widespread increase in the risk of
disasters have very little to fall back on: flooding for tens of millions of inhabitants
they lack insurance, savings, or adequate of human settlements as a result of
social welfare structures to cope with such increased heavy rainfall and sea-level
dramatic events. As a result, they suffer rises.
death, injury, illness, become homeless, and The IPPC concludes that those with the
are forced to seek refuge in other areas or least resources are the most vulnerable to
countries. This contributes to a rising the negative effects of climate change, and
Climate change, gender analysis, and organising for sustainable development 23
have the least capacity to adapt to these particular, interact more directly with their
effects. Vulnerability to the negative effects environment, and are disproportionately
of climate change of human populations adversely affected by environmental
and natural systems differs substantially degradation. The Centre for Science and
across regions and populations within Environment (CSE), based in New Delhi
regions. Populations inhabiting small (India), argued in their The State of India's
islands and low-lying coastal areas are at Environment Report in 1985, 'Probably no
particular risk of severe social and economic other group is more affected by environ-
problems arising from sea-level rise and mental destruction than poor village women.
storm surges (IPPC 2001b). Every dawn brings with it a long march in
This indicates that there are major search of fuel, fodder and water...
disparities between those who cause As ecological conditions worsen, the long
climate change, and those who are affected march becomes even longer and more
by it. The impacts of climate change will tiresome. Caught between poverty and
fall disproportionately upon developing environmental destruction, poor rural
countries and poor people within all countries,women in India could well be reaching the
and will exacerbate inequalities in health limits of physical endurance.' (CSE 1985,
and access to adequate food, clean water, 172)
and other resources. As the Climate Justice Several publications, illustrated with
Network concludes, 'There is certainly an many case studies, have since described the
environmental justice aspect to climate different roles that women have in the
change; and it is necessary to see the links management and use of land, water,
between the environmental issue of climate energy, and biodiversity. According to
change and social injustices, like racism and feminist analyses such as that of Esther
economic inequity.' (CJN 2001a, 1) Issues of Boserup (1989), it is actually 'woman-the-
unequal distribution of welfare and power gatherer' and not 'man-the-hunter' who
are behind the main causes, manifestations, was traditionally a source of sustainable
and effects of climate change. food supply. It has also been stressed that
women play a major role in actions to
safeguard the environment, and therewith
Gender analysis and the their communities' livelihoods and survival.
physical environment This is not a new phenomenon. In the 18th
Is there a gender dimension to climate century, women under the leadership of
change? IPPC concludes that, 'Climate Amrita Devi were actively involved in an
change impacts will be differently distributed environmental struggle for survival in
among different regions, generations, age Rajasthan, India (Shiva 1998). When, in the
classes, income groups, occupations, and 1970s, Cape Verde was struck with severe
genders.'(IPPC 2001b) In order to determine droughts, a women's organisation, Acao
the gender dimensions of climate change, it Democratica Feminina Gaiicha - which
is helpful to consider studies of the had originally focused on social and
relationship between gender and the educational issues - put environmental
environment. issues high on its agenda. It has now
Since the mid 1980s, several studies become Friends of the Earth Brazil
have indicated that the relationship (Dankelman and Davidson 1988).
between communities and their physical In her article on ecological transitions
environment is not gender-neutral. Much and the changing context of women's work,
emphasis has been placed on the fact that Geeta Menon (1991) describes work as the
rural women, in developing countries in active, labour-based interaction of human
24
beings with the material world. The relationships between women and
Historically, this interaction has been their environments are not always positive.
intricately based on the natural environ- In the policy documents 'Gender and
ment in which human populations Environment: A Delicate Balance Between
survived. Many traditional economies were Profit and Loss', and 'Rights of Women to
founded on a gender division of labour in Natural Resources, Land and Water'
which women typically had primary (NEDA 1997a and b), it is argued that
responsibility for certain areas of resource differentiation on the basis of gender is of
management. This has meant that women's crucial importance to an analysis of how
connection to the environment has largely environmental measures and changes affect
been rooted in their work. gender relationships, and how changes in
Writers like Dankelman and Davidson the relative position and status of women
(1988), and Kelkar and Nathan (1991), and men have an impact on their livelihoods.
argued that it is wrong to talk about Measures that appear to have a positive
women as one homogeneous group, because short-term effect from a gender perspective
of the vast economic, cultural, and social might also be positive in the long run for
differences between women. Differentiating sustainable development. But this is not
factors such as class and caste, kinship, age, always the case, for example, where income-
nationality, and socio-cultural group are generating activities for women demand a
important variables. Analysing these high input of local energy resources.
differences is as crucial as looking into the
differences between women and men
(Kelkar and Nathan 1991). Is climate change gender
Greater insight into the problem was neutral?
gained with the perception that it is not Climate change is often seen as a technical
enough to look at the position of women problem, requiring technical solutions. But
and the environment in isolation. Power in fact there are many social and political
relations between both sexes are deter- aspects to this complex issue. Similarly, it is
mining factors. often argued that climate change is gender-
Access to, and effective control over, neutral - that is, that it affects women and
natural resources such as land, water, and men in the same ways. Yet, in many cases,
forests, are important indicators of gender communities interact with their physical
positions. The use and management of environment in a gender-differentiated
these resources, as well as decision-making way.
at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, are We need to look specifically at the
gender-differentiated. It might be clear that gendered aspects of climate change. In this,
if the quality or quantity of the resources we can draw on studies conducted on
upon which managers depend are affected, gender-specific aspects of disaster
this also affects their work, effort, and the prevention and mitigation, such as those
energy which is needed for that manage- presented during the Expert Group
ment, and thus limits their other Meeting on 'Environmental Management
development options. Not only is control and the Mitigation of Natural Disasters: a
over resources, re-distribution of roles and Gender Perspective', organised by the
tasks, and a shift in stereotypes needed to United Nations Division for the Advance-
improve women's situations (compared to ment of Women (DAW) and the Inter-Agency
those of men), but these changes are also Secretariat of the International Strategy for
required to sustain a healthier and more Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), held in
productive environment. November 2001 in Ankara. Case studies
Climate change, gender analysis, and organising for sustainable development 25
might even be less. Good practice is easily century. It was specifically designed to
followed. Since the Netherlands delegation promote women's active and equal
was successfully led by a woman in C0P6, participation in preparation for the
other countries followed in CoP7. UNCED, and in implementing its expected
plan of action, Agenda 21 (WEDO 1992).
5. Human capacity WAA21 proved to be an effective
Wamukonya and Skutsch (2001) argue that, lobbying document for a more gender-
while capacity-building is a major area of sensitive UNCED process, and an
focus to enable implementation of the important common point of reference and
UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, there are source of inspiration for women's groups
still major gender-based inequities in worldwide. Its strength lay in the
access to education, training, and worldwide process through which it was
technology. They conclude that it is developed, and the facts that it was based
important to design gender-sensitive on women's own experiences, views, and
capacity-building programmes for mitigating visions, and that it was linked to the
climate change. UNCED process. Also, the document's
broad scope, and its analysis of different
thematic areas, enabled its wide use and
Women organising for application. Another important factor was
sustainable development that the Director General of UNCED,
There is a tendency to talk about gender Maurice Strong, was a strong supporter of
aspects of climate change as if women are women's involvement in the UNCED
only victims. Many studies show, however, process, and was present at the congress.
that women have been instrumental in Women leaders, for example Bella Abzug,
organising themselves around environ- the founder of the Women's Environment
mental issues and sustainable development. and Development Organisation (WEDO),took
For example, in the preparatory process for the document to the most relevant fora.
the United Nations Conference on The document's weakness lies in the
Environment and Development (UNCED), fact that it was developed at one meeting of
held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, women 'only' 1500 women, and not through a
organised themselves in an unprecedented worldwide process of consultation, with
way. In 1991,1500 women from 83 countries the result that local groups and regional
assembled in Miami in the first World networks lacked a strong sense of ownership
Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet. over it. Although attempts were made to
At the congress, women from every include regional perspectives in region-
region in the world presented dramatic specific supplements, the document has
testimonies of their battles against mainly been perceived as having a global
ecological and economic devastation, focus. The use of the WAA21 after UNCED
before a tribunal of five eminent women was hampered because there was no strong
judges. From this evidence and their own follow-up plan connected to its further
experiences, the participants in the implementation. However, the WAA21 has
congress developed the Women's Action served as an important lobbying document.
Agenda 22 (WAA21). The action agenda, At UNCED many women's organisations
which contained recommendations and gathered and shared experiences and
actions for a healthy planet, was intended views on environment and development
to form a blueprint for incorporating a in the 'Women's Tent' or Planeta Femea.
gender dimension into local, national, and The Women's Tent was a co-production
international decision-making into the next of Brazilian women's groups and WEDO.
Climate change, gender analysis, and organising for sustainable development 27
Its main aim was to offer a physical space 'Women's Dialogue Paper for the WSSD'
for women's groups and networks to host (see below), showed that implementation at
daily meetings at the NGO Forum on the international and national levels is still
themes presented in the WAA21. The tent, limited (UN ECOSOC/CSD 2001).
the largest in the Flamingo Park, was very In the present process towards the
successful in giving visibility to the energy World Summit on Sustainable Development
and commitment of many female (and (WSSD), to be held in Johannesburg in
some male) participants towards just 2002, women's organisations are once again
sustainable development. To the participants, giving voice to their main concerns and
it offered an important opportunity to visions, and sharing their experiences in
network and strengthen their global efforts. almost all areas of sustainable development
It also served as a valuable stimulus for over the past ten years. Not only is a
Brazilian women's organisations after revised Women's Action Agenda for a Peaceful
UNCED. and Healthy Planet 2015 being developed
A major problem for all NGO activities through a worldwide consultation process,
in the NGO Forum was the considerable but women's groups are actively partici-
physical distance between the forum and pating in the preparatory meetings at the
the official UN meetings, which made the United Nations - in which WEDO plays a
official conference almost unreachable for facilitating role. Nationally and regionally,
most of the NGO activists. The Women's many women's organisations have organi-
Tent was only in place for two weeks, and sed meetings to prepare for the WSSD
the Women's Action Agenda only the meeting. A Resource Book on Gender and
product of a limited representation of Environment has been developed by the
global women, but both formed an Stakeholder Forum for a Common Future
inspiring source for further actions in (Hemmati and Seliger 2001) as a tool for the
specific areas, such as on women and process.
biodiversity (and later the establishment of Apart from these international processes,
'Women in Diversity'), and in some regions there has been a great deal of regional and
(the establishment in Europe of 'Women in thematic organising among women for
Europe for a Common Future'). sustainable development. Since the beginning
The success of these efforts is shown by of the 1990s, networks such as the Women
UNCED's outcome, Agenda 21. In this and Water Alliance, Diverse Women for
official document, 'women' are distinguished Diversity, and ENERGIA (see the article by
as one of the nine 'major groups' for Tieho Makhabane in this collection), have
implementation of Agenda 21. This been established. In Central America, efforts
recognition of the role of women in by the IUCN (International Union for
sustainable development, and the identi- Conservation of Nature) led to the
fication of specific actions to improve strengthening of gender analysis in environ-
women's position and enhance their role, mental ministries. In these areas, the
has been very helpful for the women's participation of women is not only becoming
movement. Since 1992, many women's more visible, but is also contributing to
organisations have appealed to this specific analyses of gender aspects of specific areas.
chapter in Agenda 21 to underline their Women living and working at the 'grassroots',
own concerns and activities. Although such as those organised in GROOTS (see
clear commitments were made in Agenda Resources in this volume), bring the concept
21, a review of the progress on women's of sustainable livelihoods and habitat
position in sustainable development during aspects to the local, national, and inter-
the decade since 1992, presented in the national agendas. In this context, the
28
I
t takes no more than a simple word-
search of the UN Framework of prominent journals dedicated to the
Convention for Climate Change climate issue reveals not a single article on
(UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, the two the gender-differentiated implications of
most important treaties which relate to climate change in recent years. 2 An
global efforts to combat climate change, to exception is the article by Denton (2000), in
discover that the words 'gender' and which, among other things, the author
'women' are not mentioned in either. One points out that owing to the feminisation of
might ask oneself whether the absence of poverty, women in developing countries
reference to gender considerations in such are more vulnerable to the effects of climate
documents matters at all; they are legalistic change than men.
tracts designed to provide a general Similarly, gender issues have not been
framework under which much more widely discussed in the so called 'climate
detailed plans have to be worked out. They change process', that is, the debates that
do not mention 'poverty' or 'deprivation' surround the formulation of climate change
either, and refer only in very general terms policy. At the Sixth Conference of Parties to
to social and economic development. the UNFCCC meeting (C0P6) in The Hague
More alarming, perhaps, is the fact that in November 2000, the topic was hardly
there has been almost no attention to mentioned, although the Chairman of
gender issues in the discourse around CoP6, Jan Pronk, when interviewed after
climate change, and particularly in areas the proceedings, said that, 'Encouraging the
where a gender factor could be anticipated widest participation in the process of
to be important, for example where the promoting and co-operating in education,
effects of climate change are linked to training and public awareness related to
poverty. Very little appears to have been climate change is crucial. In developing
The 'climate change process' viewed through gender spectacles 31
country households women are often the ment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear
primary providers and users of energy. Safety [BMU] and the Heinrich Boll
Therefore, the participation of women Foundation 2001). Participants at this
and women's organisations is crucial.' meeting called for the development of a
(Wamukonya and Skutsch 2001,13) gender analysis in all international energy-
While this is undoubtedly true, there are related processes, and, more immediately,
many other aspects of climate change for a Women and Climate Change Forum
which might well have gender dimensions to be held at the resumed CoP6 in July
but which are not included in this 2001. However, just prior to this, President
statement. The fact that the gender Bush announced the USA's decision to opt
dimension was evidently not a burning out of the Kyoto Protocol, pushing other
issue at the Hague meeting is perhaps all concerns, including gender issues, to the
the more surprising given the fact that the background.
spokespeople for three of the major NGOs - Despite women's caucus participation
World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth, in the UN Commission for Sustainable
and Climate Action Network - were Development process (CSD), they had
women, and nearly 20 per cent of all the limited influence in integrating decisive
environment ministers present were text relating to gender issues into the
female,3 some of whom had key negotiating energy draft decision text deliberated by
roles. Indeed, the success of earlier meetings, the ad hoc Open-Ended Intergovernmental
particularly the Kyoto meeting itself, is put Group of Experts on Energy and Sustainable
down by some observers to the excellent Development in Feb 2001. The group was,
networking done by female delegates however, able to persuade the G77 and
committed to action on climate change China to introduce the issue of women and
(see Delia Villagrasa in this collection). energy no fewer than five times in the
Their lack of attention to gender issues may Outcome Document at the CSD-9 meeting
perhaps be attributed to their perceived in New York in April 2001. Their persistent
need to focus on universal issues and not advocacy has thus borne some fruit. At the
divert attention towards gender aspects, CoP7, held in November 2001 in Marrakech,
given the limited human resources for a draft decision was reached (UNFCCC
negotiation, and the crisis in which the 2001) on improving the participation of
whole debate on the Kyoto Protocol found women in the Parties' representatives.
itself at that time. In 1995, a Women's The decision invites Parties to give
Climate Coalition called, rather wonderfully, active consideration to the nomination of
'Solidarity in the Greenhouse' was set up, women for elective posts in any body
and was pushing for special attention to established under the Convention and the
women's energy needs.4 But today their Protocol. In addition, the Secretariat is
website is no longer active, and the group
requested to maintain records on the
cannot be contacted by phone, fax, or e-mail.
gender composition of the various bodies.6
All sight of it has been lost by the UNFCCC
Perhaps the election of a woman as the Co-
in Bonn, and it was certainly not present at
ordinator of the African Negotiators Group,
CoP6.5
from the term starring after CoP7, will help
However, the need for a gender analysis to bring some gender issues into the
did come up as one of the very first mainstream of the climate negotiations of
conclusions at a preparatory meeting for the CoPs in future, although whether there
WSSD 2002, which was held in Berlin is a positive relationship here remains to be
shortly after the Hague CoP6 meeting seen; past experience, as noted above, has
(German Federal Ministry for the Environ- not been very positive in this respect.
32
Potential areas of gender fuels, most people hold that the developed
concern in the climate countries should shoulder the burden of
the problem, hence the allocation of
discourse emission reduction quotas to all developed
Apart from ensuring that there are more countries.
women on the various commissions within A more radical idea is that every
the climate change policy development individual on earth should be given one
process, gender considerations need to be and the same quota, and that through
included explicitly in future policy 'contraction and convergence' (Meyer 2000)
formulations and activities. Two rationales we would eventually stabilise the levels of
may motivate this: firstly, the idea that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This
inclusion of gender considerations may measure would imply much greater
increase the efficiency of the climate change reductions in emissions in developed
process, and secondly, the concern that if countries than are provided-for under the
gender considerations are not included, current agreements, while allowing
gender equity may be threatened, both of developing countries to increase their
which are valid principles. There are three emissions to a certain extent. Under this
areas in the climate debate in which gender system every individual is, in the long run,
'spectacles' might assist in promoting equally responsible, but in the short term
efficiency and equity, namely: responsibility the problem has to be solved by those
for emissions, vulnerability to climate whose per capita emissions are highest.
change, and participation in climate- The contraction and convergence idea
change-related funded activities. still does not solve the problem of how the
responsibility for action is to be sub-divided
within any nation. To what extent can one
Responsibility for group in a given economy be said to be
greenhouse gas emissions more responsible for greenhouse gas
emissions than another, or to be using
Responsible as nations or as individuals?
more, or less, than their own individual
Although the debate on what causes global
quota? The only way in which it might be
warming may not yet be entirely resolved,
possible to administer a system by which
the position taken here is that depicted in
all individuals, or groups of individuals,
the IPCC reports and by the majority of
are in some way made directly accountable
scientists, which considers that human
for their own greenhouse emissions would
activities producing carbon dioxide and
be via some kind of carbon tax on all
other greenhouse gases are responsible for
products. In the context of gender issues, is
a large share of the measured and predicted
it reasonable, or expedient, to argue that
climate change. When discussing responsi-
men and women may differ in this
bility for the emission of greenhouse gases,
responsibility?
however, one could raise the question of
who, exactly, is responsible. At present this Gendered responsibility for primary
is being dealt with in the climate change emissions
negotiations with nations as the unit of On the one hand, it has been argued that
consideration. Since the larger part of the major and global environmental threats
greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere stem primarily from industrial patterns of
is the result of combustion of fossil fuels, production and consumption. They are not
and since the developed countries have due primarily to gender relations, nor will
large economies which use (and have in the they be solved by improving gender
past used) the lion's share of these fossil relationships (Martine and Villareal 1997).
The 'climate change process' viewed through gender spectacles 33
From this point of view, there is no need to in Eastern Europe, it is evident that cars are
take a gender position on 'responsibility' still used more by men than by women,
for climate change. One can contrast this with the side-effect that women are often
with the ecofeminist school, which explicitly disproportionately dependent on public
relates modern economies and their transport (the situation in developing
production processes to a male-dominated countries is even more extreme in this
culture, arguing that economies based on regard). So men - but of course not all men
'feminine' - rather than 'masculine' - - are more responsible for greenhouse gas
principles would look very different and emissions produced by cars than women -
would be much more environmentally or at least, some women - are. One could
friendly (Shiva 1989). Whether or not this is argue that the responsibility for emissions
so, and whatever may change as regards resulting from production of most
the economy in the future, the fact is that manufactured goods must ultimately lie
we are currently stuck with the economic with the consumer, so that the question of
and industrial structures we have, with the responsibility depends on who the
problems that they entail, and with the consumer is considered to be, making a
need to clean up the mess they have gender analysis difficult. When it comes to
produced. other uses of energy, household energy-use
The primary sources of greenhouse in the developed countries is mostly related
gases in the developed economies are the to heating and cooling, and is thus
power industry, household energy use, and presumably consumed equally by men and
transport, followed by various industrial women (although in most countries women
processes. Primary sources in the developing spend more time at home than men).
countries are the power industry, and land- Basically, it is very difficult to make a
use change, including clearing of forests. strong case for a real gender difference, not
It would not be difficult to show that the least because income factors may have a
power and the petroleum industries, and much more important and confounding
many industrial processes, are managed by influence on energy use than gender.
men, both in the North and in the South. The situation in developing countries is
If a shareholders' survey is made, the also difficult to assess clearly. Land clearance
probability is that the majority of their of forest for agriculture is traditionally a
ownership will also be found to be male (in male activity, although much of the farm
that more capital is in the hands of the male work that follows is carried out by women.
population in general). The question is, Much of the benefit is for the household as
should men be considered more responsible a whole, even in cases where the cash crop
than women for the problem? To answer profits accrue to men. To distinguish
this, we need to look at the services and gender responsibilities becomes not just
products that these carbon-producing difficult but pointless. Besides, as they are
industries provide, and who uses them. the majority of household cooks, women
could be blamed for greenhouse gas
Gendered responsibility for use of emissions from unsustainably managed
products and services fuelwood supplies! And who is responsible
There is some uncertainty surrounding the for the garbage problems in cities such as
gender distribution of the services of Nairobi, where the Dandora dump alone
these industries. Consider car ownership: holds over 1.3 million cubic metres of
although it has become increasingly less garbage? Tonnes of methane emissions are
skewed over the last few decades in Europe produced from such dumps, and these
and North America, and is slowly changing cannot be allocated particularly to men or
34
to women. Perhaps one could blame the doubt that these are valid points. We need
local government officials (mainly male!) to ask however, whether the particular
who have failed to provide an adequate vulnerability of women to the effects of
alternative for trapping the methane. There climate change is due more to the fact that
are dangers in using this kind of argument they are, on average, poorer than men, or
to attribute responsibility by gender. more to the fact that they are women, with
Responsibility for the direct or indirect particular roles and responsibilities which
production of greenhouse gases is more or are especially prone to the effects of climate
less proportional to financial shares in the change? Should we approach vulnerability
economy. In that women have a smaller from the point of view of gender, or more
financial share in the economy, one could generally from the point of view of poverty!
argue that they are proportionately less The view taken here is that analyses of
responsible. However, using this as a vulnerability should explicitly recognise
principle on which to levy funds to cover poverty as the primary variable. There is
the cost of global warming is fraught with ample evidence at global and local levels
difficulty. Such a policy would not increase that it is the poor who will suffer most from
the efficiency with which the problem of loss of livelihood related to gradual climate
global warming can be tackled, nor would change, and also from sudden disastrous
it easily serve to bring about greater gender climatic events (such as floods and
equity. In the long run, it is evident that the droughts), as they have little scope for
costs of control of greenhouse gas emissions adaptation, resistance, and insurance. This
will have to be paid by the consumers of all would seem to over-ride most other
goods or services via some kind of taxation considerations. Most of the gender-specific
system which reflects the real environ- characteristics that make people vulnerable
mental costs of the whole lifecycle of that to climate change (heavy dependence on
particular good or service. Thus women, if
local natural resources, lack of alternative
consuming less, will pay less.
income possibilities, responsibility for
care of the sick, and so on) are in fact
Vulnerability to climate characteristics of women in societies of
extreme poverty. In better-off societies, the
change outcomes:
effects of climate change will have less
determinants and variables gender differentiation. What is important,
Denton (2000, and see also her article in therefore, is to recognise that poverty is not
this collection), makes a strong argument gender-neutral, and to understand and
that women in the South are more highlight the particular gender aspects of
vulnerable than men to the effects of climate change vulnerability of the poor.
climate change. Her point, briefly, is that Such recognition will lead to more efficient
women are in general poorer than men, programmes for dealing with the effects of
and more dependent on the kinds of climate change, but also to greater gender
primary resources that are most threatened equity.
by climate change, both in agriculture and In practice it should not be difficult to
in fisheries. As 'climate refugees' they will follow this course once the principle is
also be disproportionately affected. Women recognised. Poverty research in general is
bear the burden of caring for the sick, and increasingly becoming sensitive to gender
because increased levels of sickness are issues, and recognition of the feminisation
expected to result from climate change, of poverty is a central issue in many
women will bear the costs of climate development programmes. Methodologies
change disproportionately. There is no and frameworks for such analyses (such as
The 'climate change process' viewed through gender spectacles 35
the Harvard method) are now widely scientific papers and the funding is
available in the development literature. therefore essentially research funding. The
What is important is that such methods are scientific community, particularly in
taken on board and used in any climate developing countries, is of course more
change vulnerability studies that are male than female but this is a general
undertaken in the context of the climate gender issue and not one that can be
convention. In order to ensure that this tackled specifically for the case of climate
happens, there is an urgent need that change.
this be explicitly mentioned in the inter- More important will be the funds for
nationally accepted texts, which define the mitigation, for adaptation, and for capacity
contents of such studies. building.
Mitigation funds
Participation in funded In the climate change negotiations, it is
activities to mitigate, and foreseen that mitigation (that is to say,
adapt to, the effects of reduction of greenhouse gases in the
climate change atmosphere) will mainly occur not through
reduction of production and economic
Combating the climate change problem is
growth, which many environmentalists
becoming a multi-billion-dollar business
see as essential, but through economic
with funds for all kinds of projects in the
growth where new, cleaner technologies
private and public sectors. The question
are substituted for the old. The countries
here is whether women are likely to be able
to take an equal share in this, and what that are held responsible internationally for
needs to be done to ensure that they do. A reduction of emissions (Annex 1 countries -
reasonable aim might be for women to the developed countries) have, with the
access funds for climate purposes which at exception of the USA, accepted reduction
the same time have beneficial gender quotas, and plan to achieve these reductions
effects, for example opening opportunities not only in their own economies but by a
for women to acquire technology which number of so called flexible mechanisms
would otherwise be out of their reach abroad. The mechanism that concerns co-
financially. This would be beneficial from operation with developing countries is the
the efficiency point of view - cleaner Clean Development Mechanism (CDM),
technology spread, thus more carbon under which carbon saved by the transfer
reduction - as well as the equity point of of clean technology to a developing county
view, in that there would be more technology can be deducted from the quota of the
for women. The funds under the climate developed country, which sponsors at least
umbrella fall into a variety of types, which part of the costs of this clean technology.
need to be addressed separately, since the The kinds of technologies most likely
opportunities for this type of 'win-win' to be involved are those with the lowest
strategy vary. cost per tonne of carbon saved, and include
First, a number of donors are providing energy conservation technology (for example,
funds for so-called 'climate studies', which in power generation, transport and manu-
include the National Communications that facturing, fuel switching, and substitution
all countries are required to produce under of fossil fuel equipment by renewable
the UNFCCC, and other reports which energy technology where this is economic -
document both the emissions of greenhouse although solar PV technology cannot
gases and the effects of climate change on compete price-wise in the carbon stakes at
local populations. These are essentially present). Under CDM, the setting up of
36
manner, there might be real benefits to be The need to address the likely bias of
gained, both in efficiency and in equity CDMs towards large-scale industrial
terms. An example would be forest projects and large-scale sinks, which are of
management. Local community forest little direct interest to most poor women,
management projects already exist in many has already been mentioned. This implies
countries (India, Nepal, Mali, Burkina Faso, that one aspect of capacity-building should
Uganda, to name but a few) in which be to assist women's groups to lobby for a
women play an active role. In some cases, more 'women-friendly' CDM policy, at
women are able to earn considerable income least in the long term. There is also a need
from continued sustainable harvesting of for attention to women's specific needs and
forest products to supplement meagre capabilities as regards adaptation projects.
agricultural earnings. Such projects could Cleaner technologies in the agricultural and
easily be promoted as climate adaptation water sectors should target women as far as
projects, in the sense that they modify possible, and this may require gender-
micro-climates and protect water catchments, sensitive training for those responsible.
at the same time as diversifying income This could be justified both on efficiency
opportunities and thus protecting and on equity grounds.
livelihoods (Skutsch 2002). They are much
more likely to be directly beneficial to rural
women than the sinks allowed under CDM. Conclusions
There are many gender issues related to the
Capacity-building funds
UNFCCC and the instruments therein.
The pool of women professionals in the
fields of engineering, energy, and other Some, however, seem to be more interesting
technical areas at all levels is small. Few from a strategic point of view than others.
women own, or are involved in managing, While there is little to be gained by looking
large businesses. Lack of financial and at the responsibility for emissions on a
management capacity has been the main gendered basis, there would be benefit in
cause for this imbalance. If women are to be publicising the fact that mitigation
able to tap climate-change-related finances activities under the CDM are unlikely to
at all, it is clear that capacity-building bring much benefit to women unless that
focused on their needs will be necessary, policy is explicitly adopted, and measures
including the need to lobby for their own are taken to counter the flow of investment
interests within the climate negotiations. funds to the cheapest, large-scale investments
Specifically within the context of tech- for carbon saving. The opportunities to
nology transfer and the flexible mechanisms, 'hijack' climate funds to direct renewable
capacity will be needed to identify, assess, energy technologies towards women's real
access, and assimilate technologies as well needs, so long under-estimated or ignored,
as to implement them. should not be lost, even if this requires
insertion of special clauses in the texts, and
Capacity-building has been seen by the
international community as essential to special sub-funds to finance them. Special
enabling implementation of the UNFCCC, attention also needs to be paid to the
and the Kyoto Protocol. Funding has been, opportunities in adaptation investment
and will continue to be, allocated in which, based on assessments of vulner-
increasing amounts. The question is, to ability to climate change, will allow
what extent women, and particularly populations to survive the inevitable
women with low incomes, can benefit from changes in the climate that are to come.
this, and what steps need to be taken to Since these will to a large extent involve
ensure that they do? land-use solutions in rural areas, there is a
38
lot of scope for women to be involved in (as this is a means of trying to shift the
these, and therefore gender-sensitive blame for environmental degradation
approaches in their design and imple- from the industrialised to the developing
mentation are important. Capacity-building, countries). Within industrialised countries,
both of women themselves and of those the Coalition argued, responsibilities
entrusted with the development of policy must not be shifted to private house-
and projects, is therefore essential at all holds entirely, as this will only conceal the
levels in the international climate change role of industrial production processes
process. Perhaps it is time to suggest that (Solidarity in the Greenhouse 2001).
gender issues are specifically mentioned in 5 I am grateful to Sharon Taylor of the
the next international climate change Climate Change Secretariat for this
treaty. information.
6 The newly established 20 member CDM
Margaret M. Skutsch, Technology and Executive Board includes two women.
Development Group, University of Twente, The Technology Transfer Expert group
PO Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, Netherlands. has 15 members, which includes three
E-mail: m.m.skutsch@tdg.utwente.nl women.
Notes References
1 This paper draws on an earlier Denton, F. (2000) 'Gender impact of climate
publication, Wamukonya and Skutsch change: a human security dimension',
(2002). 'Gender spectacles' is a reference Energia News 3(3)
to Caren Levi (1992). I am grateful to German Federal Ministry for the Environ-
N. Wamukonya for comments on this ment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear
new paper. Safety (BMU) and the Heinrich Boll
2 For example, Climate Policy, Joint Foundation (2001) 'Gender Perspectives
Implementation Quarterly, and Climate for Earth Summit 2001: Energy,
Change. Transport, Information for Decision
3 Female ministers were representing Making', Report on the International
Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Conference at Jagdschloss, G., Berlin,
Egypt, El Salvador, the EU, France, http:/ /www.earthsummit2002.org/
Gambia, Guinea, Honduras, Iceland, workshop (last checked by the author
Iran, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Surinam, April 2002)
Tunisia, Venezuela, and South Africa. Levi, C. (1992) 'Gender and environment:
4 The platform of the coalition had been to the challenge of cross-cutting issues
promote women's participation in policy in development policy planning',
and expert levels of UN decision- Environment and Urbanization 4(1)
making, to reject Joint Implementation Martine, G. and M. Villareal (1997) Gender
and nuclear power as climate strategies; and Sustainability: Re-assessing Linkages
to ensure that women's needs were and Issues, Rome: FAO
explicitly dealt with at CoPl; and to Meyer, A. (2000) The Kyoto Protocol and
lobby for financial support for women's the emergence of "Contraction and
renewable energy networks. They Convergence" as a framework for
further stated that environmental policy- international political solutions to
makers should not instrumentalise greenhouse gas emissions abatement', in
women of the South by holding them O. Hohmeyer and K. Rennings (eds.),
responsible for population growth Man-Made Climate Change: Economic
The 'climate change process' viewed through gender spectacles 39
W
omen's participation in the UN
negotiations on climate change is observation of the governmental sector has
important. The reason for this is given me a privileged insight into its
simple: the negative effects of climate change working during the climate negotiations.
will affect women over-proportionally, and The negotiations leading up to the
be felt more strongly in the South. The Kyoto Protocol were extremely intense. In
health effects (increased malaria and 1997, official negotiations lasting over two
dengue cases, for example) of climate months took place, mainly in Geneva,
change, and therefore the caring for the ill, before the last two-week-long effort in
will fall mainly to women. The expected Japan. Additionally, there were many
additional nutritional problems, and food informal workshops and consultations. In
and water security issues, will affect the lead-up to Kyoto there was a remarkable
women more than men, as they are the consistency in the participants at the
main carers in these areas, particularly in negotiations. There were few changes in
regions where these are already critical personnel at the decision-making level
issues (Vital Climate Graphics 2000). In between 1990 and 1997. These circumstances
many countries, women are the main led to a situation where the participants
household energy providers, often having knew each other very well, and where
to devote a substantial part of their decisions were often made under the
working time to this task. The importance influence of strong personalities, or based
of women's inclusion in the negotiations on on trust and respect, and not solely based
an issue affecting them heavily should on the political and economic 'might' of a
therefore be obvious. However this is not negotiating country (though the latter was
the case, particularly for women from obviously a major factor).
developing countries. This consistency of personnel pertains
Since 1990,1 have worked in the environ- to governmental as well as NGO communities,
mental NGO and business communities,1 so that the sense of there being a 'climate
Kyoto Protocol negotiations: reflections on the role of women 41
family' has been created. This proximity delegations beyond the formal sessions. In
has favoured close networking and particular, they were proactive in linking
communication between the actors with delegations from developing countries,
involved. I believe that the unique who were often greatly outnumbered, and
framework and atmosphere of the climate furthering their integration into the
negotiations have allowed the gender issue decision-making processes.
to become important. My thesis is that The same holds true for the then Dutch
women were able to play a strong and Environment Minister, also a woman, who
generally positive role for climate actively networked with developing
protection based on their networking and country ministers. For many Southern
interpersonal skills, and their ability to delegations, it was impossible to follow the
think and plan for the long term, even negotiations properly, as sessions often
though they were generally under- took place in parallel, making it impossible
represented in the decision-making for a one- or two-person delegation to take
positions of their respective communities. part in every session. Furthermore, G77 is
very diverse, representing interests from
The government sector: how women can AOSIS to OPEC,2 and is often bitterly
influence negotiations divided on issues. While the German and
Each country participating in the climate Swiss leaders obviously had to represent
change negotiations sends a delegation their countries' interests in the negotiations,
consisting of between one (especially in the their personal integrity and openness
case of cash-poor developing countries) earned the respect and trust necessary to
and over 100 (in the case of the USA) 'build bridges' between nations. In the G77,
negotiators, scientists, lawyers, and other there were women who played a strong
specialists. The numbers vary according to unifying and progressive rule, from
the perceived importance of the negotiating Zimbabwe and Peru particularly. The
session and the financial means of the
Philippine leader was notable for not
country in question. Countries formed
bowing to extreme pressure from the USA
negotiating blocks, with the European
on several key issues. This type of female
Union (EU), the G77 (developing countries
interaction helped to forge links and
and China), and JUSSCANNZ (then Japan,
the USA, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, and mutual understanding, and this allowed
New Zealand) being the most important the EU and G77 to build the alliance
ones (Newell 2000). necessary to achieve the adoption of the
Kyoto Protocol in face of the opposition of
Women clearly were, and still are, most of the JUSSCANNZ countries.
under-represented as formal delegation
heads. However, it was some of the women A lack of women's voices in the business
in the delegations who played the most sector
important roles in shaping the Kyoto A lack of women participants was most
Protocol. For example, the German and obvious in the business sector, which was
Swiss negotiation leaders, both women, also geographically the least representative
through their true commitment to the cause sector of the participants. The business
of climate protection, tireless work, and sector was an almost exclusively male 'dub',
networking skills, were able to influence especially in the case of the decision-
the negotiations positively. Both acted in making lobbyists. Furthermore, the vast
ways which differentiated them from their majority of business representatives were
male colleagues in a crucial manner: they from the USA, with less than five per cent
actively and often went out of their from developing countries. The businesses
'bunker', interacting strongly with other present were mainly representatives of the
42
economic sectors afraid to 'lose' should regional (mainly continental) 'nodes'. The
climate protection become a reality, and most active and member-rich of those were
therefore, with the exception of e5 (The Climate Network Europe, USCAN, CAN
European Business Council for a Sustainable Canada, and CAN UK, later CANCEE, all
Energy Future) and the US Business Council led by women. CAN Africa was also led by
for Sustainable Energy, they lobbied a woman.
consistently and strongly against the Kyoto The NGO community recognised early
Protocol. Although, fortunately, it did not on that due to their scarce resources, close
succeed in preventing the Protocol, the co-operation was essential. Entrusting the
business lobby was strong enough to team-building mainly to women, NGOs
weaken the negotiating results considerably. were able to create a cohesive, highly active
Their lack of subtlety in negotiating (with force, which, despite being vastly out-
one or two notable exceptions), their numbered by the business community, was
strident argumentation, and often aggressive able to keep up a consistent flow of infor-
style, were detrimental to their lobbying. mation to the public (through the media)
Apart from their use of the OPEC countries and to government delegates, ensuring that
to further their own agenda, they failed to Kyoto retained a high media profile, and
network with the G77. I believe this was a forcing global decision-makers to bring the
major cause of their failure, and was negotiations to a successful outcome.
probably partially due to a male lack of
understanding of how to build networks It was women who ensured that NGOs
with people from different backgrounds, worked together, despite their differences
cultures, and interests, e 5 has in the on some of the issues, and who ensured
meantime been working proactively on that debates did not get bogged down in
issues such as the flexibility mechanisms of detail and that coherent and strong
the Kyoto Protocol, helping to create a messages went out to the world. For
'positive list' of projects to be favoured for example, the female head of USCAN gave
sustainable development (e5 2000), and an emotive speech during the high-level
working with accession countries from segment of the negotiation, galvanising
Central and Eastern Europe towards the widespread media coverage. This type of
development of a solid emissions trading co-operation, which also happens in-
system. between negotiations, was essential in
achieving the Kyoto Protocol.
The Climate Action Network: I am not aware of another environ-
co-operating for change in the mental issue where such a close
environment sector co-operation on a global scale occurs, or
Of the three sectors described here, the where women have achieved such
environmental NGOs were the most united. prominence in the NGO world. I do not
As a group, they were fighting for the believe that it is a coincidence that the issue
AOSIS target, a 20 per cent carbon dioxide where women have the most power in the
reduction by 2005, based on 1990 levels. NGO sector has also become one of the
The majority of the female participants most actively debated ones in the public
formed part of this sector, though men arena. It is also notable that this issue,
predominated in some of the larger NGOs. which is not easy to explain to the public,
However, the environmental NGOs had whose consequences mainly lie in the
organised themselves into a unique, global future, whose causes are multifold, and
structure: the Climate Action Network where a cause-effect link is invisible, has
(CAN). CAN is an informal coalition of attracted so many women. Many women
environmental NGOs, co-ordinated by seem to thrive on complexity and
Kyoto Protocol negotiations: reflections on the role of women 43
interlinked issues, whereas it has been my Mechanism (CDM) projects really will
observation that men have rather been contribute towards sustainable develop-
attracted to the straightforward 'battles', ment through, for example, providing clean
which may be easier to win. energy solutions for the two billion people
who still do not have adequate access to
energy. It would be helpful if women's
Finding ways forward development groups in the South could be
Though women are playing an important alerted by the NGOs now active on climate
role in the negotiations, these have now issues, and a network created to promote
become much more complex and detailed, the projects that are really needed to
making it difficult to attract newcomers to improve livelihoods - as communicated by
the process. Newcomers have to invest a lot women's networks in the South - as well as
of time before they can be fully up-to-speed climate-relevant for the CDM. However,
within the negotiations, and this is very funding this kind of activity is problematic
difficult for organisations other than large since it remains difficult to obtain funds
businesses or wealthy governments to towards capacity-building and networking
finance. Several possibilities exist for on climate change. In the North, women's
increasing women's participation in the groups have so far barely been involved in
negotiations. Negotiations are an excellent the climate issue or the negotiations. If
opportunity to meet other like-minded mobilised, they could put tremendous
women and men, and to gather an enormous pressure on wealthier countries to provide
amount of climate-related information. the policies and measures needed for
Interested women could 'piggy-back' with climate protection, such as a stronger
a CAN regional organisation to get development of renewable energy
accreditation and information before a technologies.
negotiation session starts. Sometimes there Certainly, and on a less resource-intensive
is even funding available for travel, though level, an easy way for women and women's
this is rare. Another way to enhance organisations to become more involved in
participation in the climate negotiations, the issue and the negotiations would be to
both quantitatively and qualitatively, learn from the success of CAN. They could
would be to introduce a mentoring system. join the existing e-mail networks to learn
This could take various forms, such as about key issues, and where access to e-mail
providing question and answer sessions for is not available, regular newsletters from
newcomers during the climate negotiations, many of the CAN member organisations
or enabling newcomers to shadow could be distributed.
experienced negotiators. I am aware that
these recommendations aren't gender-
specific, but I believe they could appeal Conclusions
particularly to women, who tend to share I believe that we have no reason to be
knowledge more easily than men. complacent. Women's networking strength
At present, it is particularly necessary needs to be harnessed even more strongly,
to create continued public pressure to within the political, business, and environ-
advance the climate issue. At this stage, mental NGO sectors globally, with the aim
therefore, a very useful role for women, of preventing climate change as far as
particularly in the South, would be in possible, and adapting to it where necessary.
mobilising their governments towards Nonetheless, we have existing capacity
proactive climate protection. For instance, upon which to build, and young women
we need to ensure that Clean Development are joining from the environmental as well
44
T
o many from outside, Bangladesh is
almost synonymous with disasters. and may appear to be a disaster, even
In a country smaller than Britain, and though they are vital to the livelihoods of
with more than twice as many people, almost all of the rural population. Therein
around one-third of the land is flooded lies a second paradox: most of the rural
every summer. The monsoon rains cover population actually considers it a disaster
the low-lying land, and swell the three major when there is no flood. Without the annual
river systems that struggle to find outlets to cycle of inundation and silt, the fertility of
the sea. In some years, such as in 1998, fields is diminished, and they produce a
nearly half of the land area of Bangladesh is much lower yield as a result of lack of water.
under water. Tropical cyclones strike the Moreover, fish breeding is disrupted and
coast at least once a year, bringing output diminished when flooding does not
rainwater floods, salt-water incursions, and create ponds and interconnections between
wind damage. Since the 1991 cyclone waterways. This is a severe disadvantage to
disaster, effective warning systems, the poor who depend on fish as their main
coupled with the use of many more cyclone source of protein (and sometimes income).
shelters, have reduced the toll to a fraction This does not mean that floods should
of earlier tragedies, and now the number of always be regarded as beneficial, or that
deaths each year is usually less than a people do not lose lives, assets, or become
thousand. even poorer as a result of them (for example,
The inland rain and riverine floods have those who lose land from erosion by the
attracted considerable foreign attention and shifting of river channels in floods).
aid, as evidenced by the Flood Action Plan However, while a flood can produce an
(FAP) of the early 1990s. Yet, paradoxically, obvious deepening of poverty, its absence
the deaths caused by these events rarely has invisible consequences that may be just
exceed a few thousand - in contrast to the as bad. A distinction is made in Bengali
death toll of cyclones - and never reach between 'good' and 'bad' floods to reflect
46
fewer than 20 people (Morrow 1997). The themselves, and provide opportunities to
year before, the cyclone that struck the implement measures that can only be
south-east coast of Bangladesh killed provided collectively (e.g. codes to improve
140,000 people, and ruined the livelihoods building safety, warning systems).
of millions (German Red Cross 1999). This Social protection depends on adequate
does not mean that the people of Florida government or non-government systems
were unscathed and that they did not suffer being in place, while self-protection
(physically and mentally) from loss of generally relies on people having an
homes, schools, jobs, and possessions. But adequate income, knowledge of the hazard,
the illustration shows how the impact of an and propensity and capacity to take
equivalent hazard on different communities precautions. In many hazardous places,
is related to differing levels of social people's vulnerability is also reduced if
vulnerability. This vulnerability can be they are able to draw on adequate social
considered to have five components, which capital. People may need to rely on each
vary from higher to lower levels according other, on family, and on organisations, at
to political and social factors affecting all stages of a disaster - from search and
different groups of people: namely, the rescue after impact, to coping and sharing
initial conditions of a person, the resilience in the recovery period. Social capital may
of their livelihood, their opportunities for not always be neutral and benign: there are
self-protection, and their access to social examples of disaster recovery where some
protection and social capital (Cannon 2000; people identified in a particular social group
Blaikie et al. 1994). These differ hugely received assistance not made available to
between the contexts of Bangladesh and the others, as after the Gujerat earthquake of
USA. 2000 (Vidal 2002).
To understand a disaster, we need to
understand the components of vulnerability Gender inequality,
of different groups of people, and relate
these to the hazard risk (Cannon 2000;
women's status, and
Blaikie et al. 1994). Vulnerability differs capacity for protection
according to the 'initial conditions' of a How are these components of vulnerability
person - how well-fed they are, what their affected by gender relations, and how
physical and mental health and mobility different are the vulnerabilities of men
are, and their morale and capacity for self- and women in relation to disasters in
reliance. It is also related to the resilience of Bangladesh? From an analysis of existing
their livelihood - how quickly and easily gendered vulnerabilities, can we project
they can resume activities that will earn what may happen in terms of climate
money or provide food and other basics. change and the possible increase in
The hazard itself must be recognised, and frequency and intensity of climate hazards?
the fact that vulnerability will be lower if Vulnerability in Bangladesh correlates
people are able to put proper 'self-protection' strongly with poverty, and it is widely
in place - e.g. the right type of building to accepted that women make up a dispropor-
resist high winds, or a house site that is tionate share of poor people. How much of
raised above flood levels. People also women's vulnerability to hazards can be
usually need some form of 'social protection' apportioned to them being poor, and how
from hazards: forms of preparedness much is due to specific 'gendered' charac-
provided by institutions at levels above the teristics of self protection, social protection,
household. These supplement what people and livelihood resilience? And how will
cannot afford or are unable to do for this be affected by climate change?
48
Khondker, H.H. (1996) 'Women and floods Rashid, S.F. and S. Michaud (2000) 'Female
in Bangladesh', International Journal of adolescents and their sexuality: notions
Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 14(3): of honour, shame, purity and pollution
281-92 during the floods', Disasters 24(1): 54-70
Leaf, M. (1997) 'Local control versus Schmuck, H. (2002) 'Empowering women
technocracy: the Bangladesh Flood in Bangladesh', http://www.reliefweb.int
Response Study', Journal of International (last checked by the author March 2002)
Affairs 51(1): 179-200 Vidal, J. (2002) 'Helping hands', The Guardian,
Morrow, B.H. (1997) 'Disaster in the first 30 January 2002
person', in W.G. Peacock et al. (eds.), World Bank (2000) 'Bangladesh: climate
Hurricane Andrew: Ethnicity, Gender and change and sustainable development',
the Sociology of Disasters, London: Report no. 21104 BD, Dhaka: South Asia
Routledge Rural Development Team
51
Uncertain predictions,
invisible impacts, and the
need to mainstream gender
in climate change
adaptations1
Valerie Nelson, Kate Meadows, Terry Cannon,
John Morton, and Adrienne Martin
Vulnerability to environmental degradation and natural hazards is articulated along social, poverty,
and gender lines, just as gender is not sufficiently mainstreamed in many areas of development
policy and practice, so the potential impacts of climate change on gender relations have not been
studied, and remain invisible. In this article we outline climate change predictions, and explore the
effects of long-term climate change on agriculture, ecological systems, and gender relations, since
these could be significant. We identify predicted changes in natural hazard frequency and intensity
as a result of climate change, and explore the gendered effects of natural hazards. We highlight the
urgent need to integrate gender analyses into public policy-making, and in adaptation responses to
climate change.
lthough 'gender' has been recognised to have ramifications for gender relations.
massive interventions were not themselves the difficulties of water and firewood
having long-term, gendered effects on collection. Settled women suffer the
livelihoods, mediated by social, cultural, greatest resource pressures, but they enjoy
and institutional factors. the greatest autonomy. While they have
In Morocco, the Government allocated started to earn an income from market sales
(from its own resources) over US$400 of firewood, they have to walk further for
million for labour-intensive public works to it; although they have considerable control
mitigate the effects of drought, in the 15 over small-stock, movement to pasture
months from April 2000-June 2001 (a not is difficult. Some also sit on the Environ-
exceptional level in recent times) (Morton mental Management Committee. 'These
2001b). The work opportunities created in townswomen were somewhat disdainful of
drought-stricken areas in Morocco (e.g. those on the periphery, and [said they had
manual labour on roads) are regarded as realised that] "two heads are better than
being almost exclusively for males. Project one" in household decision-making. They
planners are relatively unconcerned that considered this difference to be a product
households without able-bodied males may of "ignorance" among the non-settled.'
not benefit directly from these opportunities, (Meadows 1999)
because they point to the extended kinship
ties that already offer support to widows
and to households that are effectively Natural hazards and
female-headed as a result of labour migration. gendered impacts
The combination of massive expenditure, How will the likely increased frequency
and the association of manual labour with and intensity of natural hazards (one of the
men only could, however, lead to the outcomes predicted for climate change)
reinforcement of existing gender inequalities. affect poor people, and specifically
Food relief in drought situations can women?
fuse with more direct effects of drought Men's and women's differing experiences
and environmental degradation to create a of natural hazards are not well-researched,
process of sedentarisation of pastoralists, particularly in developing countries.
with complex effects on gender relations. However, it is well known that women
In some areas of northern Kenya, food-for- experience high levels of pre-disaster
work has become an important part of poverty, often experiencing unequal status
livelihoods, and has led to the settlement of in the workforce, being more likely to be
previously nomadic pastoralists around employed in the informal sector, and
missions or administrative centres (Baxter having 'less equitable access to land and
1993). This has acted as a trigger for longer- other natural resources compared to men'
term settlement processes. Differences are (Enarson 2000). The impact of a natural
emerging amongst settled, semi-settled, hazard depends upon the social context
and nomadic pastoralist women. While within which it occurs. This socially-
women in more mobile pastoralist groups constructed vulnerability extends to the
consider themselves 'economically' better contextual gender and power relations
off, as mobility increases their access to (Blaikie et al. 1994; Enarson 2000). Those
pasture and fuelwood, they are in their living in areas most at risk are often those
own words 'treated as children', with little with least social and economic power, and
input into pastoral movement decisions or who are least able to cope with, and
in donor initiatives. Semi-settled women recover from, disasters. Women are often
also have low input into major household key to household survival when disasters
decisions, while reduced mobility increases strike, although their responsibilities in the
Mainstreaming gender in climate change adaptations 55
domestic sphere make them economically showing that relationships between natural
vulnerable before such an event occurs. hazards and gender do vary (Delaney and
Groups of women likely to be particularly Shrader 2000).
vulnerable to natural hazards include Mortality and morbidity are only
refugees, those on low incomes, homeless, part of the range of impacts of hazards.
elderly, and disabled women, recent Gender relations are unlikely to improve
migrants, and so on. spontaneously as a result of increased
Women's work can be affected in a hazard risks. There are gender dimensions
variety of ways by natural hazards. to what happens in the aftermath of a
Productive assets may be lost, pushing hazard strike in the relief, coping, and
women into low-wage labour. More recovery phases, where there is strong
women than men work in the informal evidence of considerable inequality between
sector and in small enterprises. These men and women.
sectors are often worst-hit, and least able to
recover as a result of disasters. Natural Gender and the aftermath of hurricane
hazards cause women to lose jobs and impacts: the example of Hurricane Mitch
work-time disproportionately, and conditions Gender differences and inequalities are
of work often deteriorate. On the other most pronounced in the aftermath of a
hand, some women - middle class women hurricane, and these differences may
in particular - can benefit in terms of persist for months and years. These include
changed access to employment opportunities many aspects, ranging from the increased
(Enarson 2000). workload of women, to their greater
In some places and situations, women exposure to violence as a result of raised
are more at risk because of culturally- aggression levels in men. The 1998
specific pre-disaster gender norms. Female Hurricane Mitch directly affected more
mortality was much higher than male than two million people in Honduras and
mortality in the 1991 cyclone floods Nicaragua alone. Damage estimates were
in Bangladesh. Of the flood-affected placed at nearly US$5 billion. Those most
population in the 20-44 age group, affected were the most marginalised (small
71 females per thousand died compared producers, street children, and female-
with 15 males per thousand (cited in Baden headed households) (Delaney and Shrader
et al. 1994, 49). Most were drowned. 2000, 5). Women endured a disproportionate
Cultural norms relating to the preservation amount of the burden immediately
of female honour through seclusion mean following the storm and in later rehab-
that women may delay leaving the home to ilitation, because of their triple roles in
seek refuge, until it is too late. Norms maintaining the household, engaging in
relating to what may be considered community organising, and productive
appropriate activities for women and men work in the informal economy. Women had
mean that women are also less able to learn the main responsibility of caring for
to swim. An increase in flood frequency children and the elderly. Men generally
and intensity might thus increase female tried to return to their pre-disaster role of
mortality. earning wages outside the home, whilst
Gender norms also affect the behaviour women found it difficult to return to
of men during disasters. Ideas about waged work. This, combined with the fact
masculinity may encourage risky 'heroic' that more men than women had died, led
action in a disaster, and may also mean that to large increases in female-headed
men are less likely to seek counselling households (rising to 40 per cent of total
afterwards (Enarson 2000). More men died households in Nicaragua and half in
than women in Hurricane Mitch, for example, Honduras) (ibid.).
56
Dalfelt, A. (1998) 'Climate change and sub- MADREF/World Bank (2000) 'Programme
Saharan Africa: issues and opportunities', de Developpement des Zones "Bour";
Newsletter 1998/10/3, World Bank, Rapport Preliminaire d'Identification',
http://www.worldbank.org (last Rabat: Ministere de l'Agriculture,
checked by author April 2002) Developpement Rural, et des Eaux et
Delaney, P.L. and E. Shrader (2000) 'Gender Forets and World Bank
and post-disaster reconstruction: Meadows, N. (1999) 'Second Consultancy
the case of hurricane Mitch in Honduras Report: Gathering of Information on
and Nicaragua', draft report for Currently On-going Activities in Pastoral
LCSPG/LAC Gender Team, World Areas and Socio-Economic Study on
Bank, http://www.worldbank.org/ Pastoralist Decision-Making Processes
aftdr/ik/default.htm (last checked by with regard to Natural Resource
author April 2002) Management7, EU Agriculture/ Livestock
Dregne, H.E. (2000) 'Drought and Research Support Programme, Kenya,
desertification: exploring the linkages', Chatham: Natural Resources Institute
in D. Wilhite (ed.), Drought, A Global Mendelsohn, R. and A. Dinar (1999)
Assessment, Volume II, London and New 'Climate change, agriculture, and
York: Routledge developing countries: does adaptation
Enarson, E. (2000) 'Gender and Natural matter?', World Bank Research Observer
Disasters', Working Paper 1, Recovery 14(2), 2 August
and Reconstruction Department, Morton, J. (ed.) (2001a) Pastoralism, Drought
Geneva, September and Planning: Lessons from Northern Kenya
Hendy, C. (2001) 'Appendix: Statistical and Elsewhere, Chatham: Natural Resources
Frequency of Drought in Northern Institute
Kenya and its Effects on Livestock Morton, J. (2001b) 'Annexe 7: Prevention et
Population', in J. Morton (ed.) (2001a) lutte contre les effets de la secheresse', in
IPCC (2001) 'Summary for Policy Makers. FAO-IC, 'Programme de Developpement
Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Rural Integre de Mise en Valeur des
Adaptation, and Vulnerability', a report Zones Bour; Rapport de Preparation',
of Working Group II of the Inter- Rome: FAO
governmental Panel on Climate Change PAHO (2001) 'Gender and Natural
Leach, M. and R. Mearns (1996) The Lie of Disasters', Fact Sheet, Program on
the Land: Challenging Received Wisdom onWomen, Health, and Development,
the African Environment, Oxford: Washington DC: Pan-American Health
Heinemann/James Currey Organization
Long, N. (1997) 'Commentary on Part I: World Bank (2000) 'Seeds of Life: Women
Theoretical Reflections', in D. Goodman and Agricultural Biodiversity in Africa',
and M.J. Watts (eds.), Globalising Food IK Notes 23, August, http://www.
Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring, worldbank.org / aftdr/ik /default.htm
London: Routledge (last checked by author April 2002)
60
Gendering responses to
El Nino in rural Peru
Rosa Rivero Reyes1
Climatic disasters are a recurrent problem in Peru. The impacts of disasters differ between and
within regions and communities. Rural upland communities, largely dependent on small-scale
agriculture and natural resources for survival, are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of
extreme climate events. Government policies have not only failed to mitigate this vulnerability, but
have served to exacerbate it. Women face particular vulnerabilities in the context of extreme climate
events. Traditional analysis and government policy approaches have served to obscure these. This
article reflects on the gender-specific lessons learned by the Centre for Andean Advancement and
Development, CEPRODA M1NGA, during its work with poor rural communities in the Piura
region of Peru in the aftermath of the 1997-8 El Nino phenomenon. It focuses on the ways in which
rural communities, and women in particular, have traditionally been excluded from policy creation,
and considers how they can become influential social and political actors creating their own
strategies for sustainable development and disaster mitigation and preparedness.
D
isasters are a recurrent problem in
Peru. Over the past five years, remains unclear, one of the predicted
around one million Peruvians have outcomes of climate change is that extreme
been directly affected by major disasters, climate events will occur with greater
and perhaps the same number again have frequency and severity. Existing experiences
experienced the negative effects of smaller- of responding to climate-related disasters,
scale events (Villarreal 2002). One of the particularly those amongst more vulnerable
major disasters to take place in recent years populations, can offer important lessons
was the 1997-8 El Nino phenomenon. for informing disaster prevention and
El Nino is a regular climatic occurrence. mitigation in the future.
It takes place every five years or so, when In Peru, the impacts of the 1997-8
the cold Humboldt current that flows north El Nino phenomenon were particularly
from Antarctica along the coast of Chile severe. Over 100,000 homes were either
and Peru is replaced with a warmer, damaged or destroyed by floods and
southern-flowing current from the tropics. landslides, affecting around half a million
This new current raises sea temperature, people. Three-quarters of those affected
and causes heavy rainfall, floods, and were from rural areas (Villarreal 2002).
landslides in some areas, and drought in The Centre for Andean Advancement
others. The severity of El Nino's impact and Development, CEPRODA MINGA,
varies from year to year, and from place to is an NGO working in the Piura region
place. of northern Peru. This mountainous,
While the relationship between global predominantly rural area is particularly
processes of climate change, and specific vulnerable to the negative impacts of
Gendering responses to El Nino in rural Peru 61
common, including during periods where major oil industry and irrigation infra-
households as a whole appeared to have structure projects. Communities in rural
sufficient food. Widespread malnutrition upland areas have largely been excluded
also exposed women and children from these processes of development, and
disproportionately to epidemics (acute have suffered from the absence of an
respiratory and diarrhoeal infections, agrarian development policy focused on
malaria, dengue, and cholera), which the needs and realities of subsistence
increased significantly during El Nino. farmers. National economic policy is
Pregnant women were at particular risk dependent on primary exports of minerals,
from malaria, which causes serious fish, and agricultural products, tending to
complications during pregnancy, and other marginalise considerations of environ-
peri- and post-partum illnesses. mental protection, sustainability, or
Increased migration of men out of the small-scale production for local consumption.
area into the coastal valleys and cities The concentration of economically-
in search of employment increased the important industry in the coastal region
numbers of temporarily female-headed also entailed that the majority of emergency
households. Female-headed households and reconstruction interventions taking
place during and following El Nino were
faced particular challenges in their attempts
focused on coastal areas.
to survive the effects of El Nino. Women
heads of households were typically not
Understanding and responding to
recognised as such by the major rural
disasters - the failure of top-down
community organisations (largely led by
responses
men).2 Equally, the increased burden of
The mainstream view of El Nino events is
household and agricultural work placed on
to consider them as isolated and bounded
women in the absence of men posed an
disasters, arising from natural causes,
acute limitation to their ability to seek paid which must be scientifically understood,
employment.3 predicted, controlled, and prevented using
Nonetheless, as we shall see, women in large-scale technical interventions (Wilches-
Piura were able to develop various survival Chaux 1998). The Peruvian government's
strategies and capacities with which to response to the threat of El Nino has
tackle the problems generated by El Nino. typically been to prioritise the construction
of preventative physical infrastructure and
Government responses other technical responses, and to focus this
to El Nino and disaster on regions of greater national economic
importance. A view of disasters as isolated
prevention in Peru occurrences creates an approach to civil
defence that is restricted and temporary,
The El Nino policy context and prevents its institutionalisation as a
Peruvian regional authorities have barely part of everyday life. There has been little
acknowledged the differentiated effects of attempt to mobilise the population in
El Nino in the Piura region. This disaster prevention. The 1997-8 El Nino
differentiation has political implications, event highlighted the gross weaknesses in
and is connected with regional processes of the National Civil Defence System, as local
development. Over the past 50 years, and regional actors had practically no
regional development models have involvement in decision-making processes.
favoured the development of agro-export The inevitable result of this has been the
industries (cotton and rice) in the coastal creation of a widespread sense among the
valleys, along with the development of population that disaster response is a
Gendering responses to El Nino in rural Peru 63
matter for the state, and not for Mainstreaming gender in development
communities themselves to confront work and humanitarian response
(Rivero and Cuba 2001). While it is clear that there have been efforts
A contrasting approach, taken by on the part of public and private institutions
CEPRODA MINGA and others, is to view in Piura to incorporate a gender perspective
El Nino and other disasters as the outcome into their work, this has commonly been
of long-term social and political processes. treated as a technical aspect of the planning
These disasters expose the vulnerability of and analysis of development projects. This
people faced with environmental threats, approach impedes the development of a
caused by natural events or human activities. better understanding of women's empower-
This approach accounts more effectively for ment as a social and political process aimed
the pattern of differentiated effects of at transforming the unequal relationships
El Nino, within and between communities between men and women, within house-
and households. It also accounts for the holds, communities, and society at large.
long-term accumulation of vulnerabilities
amongst rural upland communities that Women organising locally
have been repeatedly affected by disasters, for survival
with little opportunity or assistance to
rebuild their capabilities. The political During recent decades, women in the Piura
invisibility of these communities has left region have been active in forming a range
them excluded from wider development of women's organisations locally; these
processes. This, combined with repeated include the Comites de Vaso de Leche ('glass
severe El Nino shocks, the lack of a of milk committees'), Comedores Populares
(canteens), and Clubes de Madres ('mothers'
powerful civil defence movement, and a
clubs'). All of these forms of organisation
lack of access to government emergency
are intended to improve food security and
responses, has locked both men and
nutrition within rural communities. Within
women, and particularly women, into a these organisations, women members have
cycle of environmental degradation of full participatory rights to vote and voice
increasingly marginal lands, and resulting their opinions.
continual food insecurity (CEPRODA
During the critical period of El Nino,
MINGA 1999).
women leaders from Alta Piura assumed a
El Nino events are an inevitable aspect decisive role. They took a lead in re-
of the Peruvian climate. They bring both housing families who had lost homes,
opportunities and threats in accordance managing the distribution of emergency
with their severity, and the geography aid, and forming local work groups. There
of specific places. It is essential for were many opportunities for women to
communities to adapt to these in order to demonstrate their skills as community
survive and to develop sustainably.4 In the leaders and protectors, despite their
view of CEPRODA MINGA, this can only increased vulnerabilities.
come about through the transformation of However, this process of formation of
the social and political processes that women's survival organisations, and their
generate disasters into processes creating high profile during the disaster, was only
sustainable development. This requires the very weakly linked with wider processes of
full participation of all community political or social empowerment of women
members (CEPRODA MINGA 2001). (Rivero, Afonso, and Eggart 2002). While
women were active in leading inter-
ventions locally, they were largely absent
64
Table 1: Capacities and vulnerabilities of rural women in the context of the 1997-8 El Nino disaster
Vulnerability Capacity
These relationships and institutions would and creating gender policies at the regional
involve all their members in decision- level. A key aspect of this is the
making and consensus-building. empowerment of women to demand
Creating sustainable risk-management accountability in relation to these policies,
mechanisms among disaster-ridden to ensure that gender policies are not
communities is dependent upon 'social simply reduced to empty declarations of
capital': the intricate web of social relations principles or tools for technical analysis, or
and networks that characterise those filed away in the offices of bureaucrats.
communities. One aim of the participatory A key part of the promotion of the
planning processes was to identify these regional gender policy agenda, which is
relationships and networks, and to enable ongoing, involves building on the base of
communities to use them as a basis for the women's widespread local organisational
development of strong rural institutions. processes to create regional representatives
Another aim was to explore and value who can negotiate gender-specific demands
different forms of local knowledge and in decision-making fora at all levels.
culture, and to consider how this 'cultural Currently, CEPRODA MNGA is promoting
capital' might be valuable in the the 'gender policy agenda' at a regional
management of disaster risks. level in an electoral context: for the first
time, regional elections are being held in all
The importance ofmainstreaming gender regions of Peru. Through consultation with
relations into participatory planning public and private institutions, CEPRODA
Gender perspectives were integrated into MINGA is supporting a regional central-
all stages of the planning process, as part of isation process for women's organisations.
the process of valuing different kinds of It sees these as as important emerging
knowledge and cultural and social actors in the country's democratic
capacities. However, we noted from the transition.
early stages of our intervention that when
However, we realise that we need to
men and women interact, women have a
create a permanent regional-level gender
tendency to subordinate their gender-
post if the gender policy agenda is to
specific needs and demands within the
become reality.
wider discussion. Through the intervention
we learned that it was necessary to
empower women in articulating their Increasing women's
gender-specific needs to enable them to participation in local
negotiate solutions in participatory organisations
decision-making fora.
While women have been able to The participatory planning processes, and
participate in decision-making bodies at the development of women's capacities to
the level of their community or district, articulate their strategic gender needs, are
they have typically been absent from other, beginning to increase women's visibility in
higher, levels of decision-making. We community decision-making spaces.
realised that local-level plans to articulate Women are increasingly participating in
and respond to women's gender-specific decision-making spaces that would have
needs would fail unless they were linked to been 100 per cent masculine just a few
higher-level changes in public policy. For years ago. Men have increasingly learned
this reason, we realised that, in addition to to listen to and take into account women
the local participatory planning processes, leaders' opinions as a result of the
it would be important to create a 'gender consultation and participatory processes.
policy agenda', with the aim of influencing As a result, the women of Piura have made
Gendering responses to El Nino in rural Peru 67
Conclusions Notes
Sustainable development in Piura will be a 1. This article has been translated from
long-term process. Similarly, we realise Spanish and adapted by Kate Kilpatrick.
that there is a long way to go in achieving 2. These organisations typically only
real equality between women and men in recognise women who do not have a
all areas. Nonetheless, as a result of the man to represent them, such as single
CEPRODA MINGA interventions, a better women and widows. When a woman's
understanding of disaster prevention husband is absent from the community
has developed within the Chalaco for migratory work or some other
communities. Where, previously, the idea reason, she is not usually recognised by
of rural development was associated with these organisations as the acting
physical infrastructure and centralised household head.
decision-making, CEPRODA MINGA's 3. Rural women who migrate to the larger
interventions have contributed to the towns in the region usually obtain
creation of a widespread new under- income through domestic work or through
standing of how people can develop their petty commerce. During El Nino, these
own capacities to transform their situation. opportunities decreased considerably as
At an assembly meeting, both male and households across the region were
female participants spoke of how they now affected by the disaster.
felt able to talk directly with authorities, 4. In fact, communities in Peru were
whereas before they went through previously better-adapted to El Nino
intermediaries. This, they felt, had enabled events than they are today. Agricultural
them to claim their rights as citizens and changes and humanitarian aid packages
take their proposals to larger political fora have created widespread dependence on
that have hitherto been considered as external inputs, displacing traditional
excluding and ignoring rural people's native plant varieties (for example, the
concerns. Importantly, the participative yacon [Smallanthus sonchifolius], and
planning process has enabled rural people native bean and potato species) which
- women and men - to create and promote are often better adapted to the climatic
their own proposals for democratic conditions.
government and local development in a 5. The communities that displayed a better
context of decentralisation. organisational response to El Nino were
those where participative processes and
Rosa Rivero Reyes is the Executive Director of grassroots NGOs were in existence long
CEPRODA MINGA. Contact: Centro de before the disaster. These institutions and
Promocidn y Desarrollo Andino CEPRODA communities appeared to emerge
MINGA, Residencial Grau F-201, Piura, Peru. strengthened rather than undermined
Tel: +51 (0)74 309701; Fax: +51 (0)74 309703; from the El Nino emergency and
E-mail: ceproda@qnet.com.pe reconstruction period. Those communities
and institutions with scant experience of
popular participation typically fell prey
to welfarism and clientelism.
Gendering responses to El Nino in rural Peru 69
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B
y and large, climate mitigation
projects have been informed by engaging in a debate driven by men, who
Western ideas of science and are biased towards providing technical
development, and predominantly driven by solutions to the climate-change problem,
the 'masculine' interests of forestry, and who have little understanding of, or
accounting, agriculture, and policy-making. regard for, the concerns or interests of
This article aims to articulate some of the women.
concerns arising from this agenda, and This article is based on my doctoral
demonstrates how a patriarchal system of research, which was undertaken on one
decision-making exists at all levels, from of the world's largest UN carbon
global decision-making frameworks to the sequestration pilot projects: the Noel
local implementation of climate mitigation Kempff Climate Action Project in the
projects. The predominant decision-makers Bolivian Amazon. The research took place
at all levels of decision-making are men: between March and September 2001.1 used
bureaucrats negotiating on behalf of their a qualitative approach, drawing on
governments; NGO representatives; informal interviews, participant observation,
extension workers; and decision-makers in rapid rural appraisal, participation in
local organisations. Concern about the lack meetings, and an evaluation workshop. The
of a gender discourse within debates about key research objective was to establish how
climate change debate has been raised by carbon sequestration projects contribute to
writers such as Vandana Shiva (1988). local sustainable development, and to
When we discuss global carbon-trading by assess the compatibility of local institutional
The Noel Kempff project in Bolivia 71
'win-win' solutions under the umbrella of hierarchical structure. Denton observes how
sustainable development. an overall assessment of the climate change
debate to date shows that women are
'Masculine' bias of mitigation absent from decision-making processes,
approaches and that decision-making and policy
The new and emerging field of climate formulation at environmental levels, within
change mitigation through project activities conservation, protection, rehabilitation, and
in developing countries is based on modern environmental management, follow pre-
scientific concepts. According to Vandana dominantly male agendas (Denton 2001, 1).
Shiva, the approach is based on a world- Not only are the bureaucrats representing
view that supports, and is supported by, the their nations predominantly men, but more
socio-economic and political systems of importantly, the underpinning approach is
Western capitalist patriarchy, which 'masculine'. The power of an alternative
dominate and exploit nature, women, and 'feminine' approach to environmental
the poor (Shiva 1988). This section gives a governance and management should not be
feminist perspective on the climate change underestimated. Increased gender aware-
debate at global and local levels, and uses a ness within global decision-making on
'feminine', human-centred, and rights- climate change should allow for inclusion
based approach. If we look at the rules, of different socio-economic groups, rather
norms, and aspirations of the institutions than professionals only, and should
which are involved in the debate through a encourage the participation and repre-
feminine framework, we can understand the sentation of those women most vulnerable
inequalities which exist in global decision- to climate change (ibid.). In her foreword to
making and power structures, and see how Staying Alive (Shiva 1988), Rajna Kothari
the legacies of colonialism still shape the suggests how such an approach might look.
main institutions in developing countries 'The struggle for femininity is a struggle for
today. a certain basic principle of perceiving life, a
Historically, the Western mode of philosophy of being. It is a principle and a
development has reinforced a patriarchal philosophy that can serve not just women
style of decision-making. This is reflected in but all human beings. Femininity by
the predominantly technical approach of definition cannot and should not be a
employees of conservation and sustainable limiting value but an expanding one -
development projects. Denton (2001, 1) holistic, eclectic, trans-specific and
notes that, 'The climate change debate is an encompassing of diverse stirrings.' (Kothari
indicator of how gender issues tend to be 1988, xiii)
omitted, leaving room for complex market- A key characteristic of international-
driven notions equated in terms of emissions level interventions is the exclusion of social
reductions, fungibility, and flexible mech- groups, such as indigenous groups and
anisms.' These highly technical terms women, from decision-making. At inter-
reflect the extent to which complex issues national climate negotiations, we still see
are glossed over and simplified within global disparities between rich and poor nations,
responses to climate change. Solutions to women and men, NGOs and government
the problem might instead be found policy-makers. The balance of women and
through focusing resources on under- men directly taking part in the decision-
standing how climate change will affect making remains an issue to contend with,
women and men differently, and what as exemplified at a recent UN climate
measures are necessary to ensure adaptation. meeting, when the numbers of male
The UN, a key decision-making body in to female professionals elected to
climate change issues, has a male-dominated, the executive board to oversee future
The Noel Kempff project in Bolivia 73
forestry and energy projects had a ratio of CO2 fluctuations inside and outside the
11:1.2 This balance is replicated down the park, establishing a forest management
chain, from policy to project. plan, and ensuring community partici-
Within carbon mitigation projects, the pation in its implementation. Agricultural
inclusion of a feminist analysis would assist activities include land-use planning, testing
in the pursuit of the 'win-win' situation new crop varieties, and establishing model
that scientists, policy-makers, and NGOs agro-forestry farms. Conservation activities
consider forest mitigation projects to have predominantly involve eco-tourism in one
the potential to exemplify. In addition, community, and some minor sales of
matters of participation, access to handicrafts to tourists. These activities
information, and control over decision- overlap with the community development
making are also important. programme, Apoyo Communitario (APOCOM).
To summarise, the key characteristics of
the project are:
Case study: the Noel Kempff
a primary focus on land-use, land-use
Climate Action Project change, and forestry;
The Noel Kempff Climate Action Project the aim of reducing CO2 emissions with
was established in 1996 in Bolivia, in the additional biodiversity benefits;
region of San Ignacio de Velasco, Santa
sustainable development objectives,
Cruz. The project's primary objectives were
manifested through locally-focused
to purchase logging concessions from
project activities.
companies and thereby expand the Noel
Kempff National Park to 1.5 million
hectares (almost double its original size) to
meet conservation aims and earn carbon
Assessing the project's
credits. The project also aimed to contribute impact on gender relations
to local development benefits through Gender-based inequalities in
improved local agricultural and forest employment opportunities
management practices, to stimulate The forestry programme provided short-
employment, and to obtain 400,000 hectares term employment for between 30 and
of communal land for three key 50 men from the local communities, to
communities (Florida, Porvenir, and Piso establish forest inventories and plant
Firme). These are predominantly Chiquitano nurseries. They received a salary of up to
indigenous communities,3 of approximately US$6 per day for their efforts. A small
2000 inhabitants. Funding was obtained number of women were employed to cook
primarily from an electrical utility for the forestry workers. The men received
company in the USA, with some financial a salary for acting as community
support from the Nature Conservancy technicians and providing technical
(an international NGO), and Fundacion training, and were part of the technical
Amigos de la Naturaleza (a local NGO). team that managed and drove the
The government of Bolivia was also closely community forest concessions in the land
involved as a broker and partner with the titling process (which is still ongoing).
private sector for the carbon credits There was some effort to encourage the
accrued from the project. presence of women in the forestry team,
The project has a four-component but this did not succeed. Women are
structure, comprising forestry, agriculture, rarely present at forestry programme
conservation, and community develop- meetings and workshops (personal
ment. Forestry activities entail monitoring observation).
74
T
he need to respond and adapt to
climate change has become widely women more vulnerable to - and less able
recognised, and people will have to to cope with - the additional stress and
deal with its impacts, with or without the deprivation brought about by climate
help of government. The roles and activities change.
of women and men are socially constructed,
and gender-differentiated. Climate adaptation The situation of poor rural
and mitigation strategies need to appreciate
the different realities of women and men, in
women in India
order to identify positive solutions for both. Rural men and women in India are
As Amartya Sen and others have shown, historically bound to its agrarian landscape,
poor rural women in India generally have with which they have co-evolved throughout
fewer rights and assets than men. They centuries of change. Today, unprecedented
experience inequalities in such areas as challenges, including a growing population,
healthcare and nutrition; are more likely to environmental hazards in the form of
suffer sex-selective abortion or infanticide; climate change and land degradation, and
are less likely to receive an education; have the globalisation of markets, are driving the
lower access to employment and promotion need for fundamentally different social
in occupations; lack ownership of homes, arrangements.
land, and property; and take disprop- The millions of rural income-poor of
ortionate responsibility for housework and India, of whom 50 per cent are concentrated
child-care (Patel 2002). This asymmetrical in the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and
Reducing risk and vulnerability to climate change in India 79
Uttar Pradesh, are caught in the middle of of work necessary to maintain the home,
this sea-change without compass or rudder contribute manual labour to the cultivation
(UNDP 1997, 51). Since 1950, they have been of plots, and care for farm animals
rocked by the privatisation of communal (Venkateswaran 1995, 24). There is some
land, the Green Revolution, and the intro- variation within India, however. For
duction of often expensive agricultural example, in both hill and mountain regions,
technologies, and have been pushed onto
and in arid and semi-arid areas where
marginal land, resulting in decreased yields
forests have disappeared and agriculture
and increasing out-migration to non-farm
employment, particularly amongst men. remains poor, women spend between six
and ten hours daily collecting the resources
Marginalisation of poor rural women they need to meet their basic survival needs
Increasingly, women are sustaining their (Centre for Science and Environment 1999).
livelihoods as farm labourers rather than as Those in the rich plains areas, where forest
cultivators, with their knowledge and biomass has been replaced by agriculture
labour largely marginalised as a result of biomass, spend less time on these tasks,
mechanisation and other technical inter- though poor women in these areas who
ventions, which they are traditionally don't own land or whose landholdings are
excluded from using. In addition, their slight, find themselves at the mercy of
workload has increased, as the switch to
major landowners to meet their fuel and
high-yielding varieties of grains has created
fewer crops and animal wastes for animal fodder needs (op. cit.).
fodder and household fuel, the provision of
which is largely the domain of poor High female illiteracy rates
peasant and tribal women (Venkateswaran Rural women have few options, especially
1995 Agarwal 1997). Moreover, the traditional with the loss of usufruct rights to community
usufruct rights that women held to land. Education, which could increase their
community land were lost after land choices and opportunities, remains limited
reforms, thus denying them access to these or non-existent. Even though there has
lands where, 'the landless and landpoor been an increase in the literacy rate for
[had] procured over 90 per cent of their Indian women overall, over 161 million
firewood and satisfied 69-89 per cent of rural women (approximately 70 per cent)
their grazing needs' in the 1980s (FAO 1997; are still illiterate (Government of India
Agarwal 2001,1625). 2001). While many children attend school
Women's labour linked to household until the age of ten, girls usually drop out
welfare and income earlier to help at home. In addition, rural
Of the total Indian female work force, 89.5 Indian women have little power within the
per cent works in rural India, and household, and their contribution, especially
contributes extensively to household in family enterprises, is often hidden from
welfare and income (FAO 1997). According public awareness (Simmons 1997). This lack
to Venkateswaran, women are estimated of power extends beyond the family, as
to contribute on average between 55 to 60 women rarely participate in community-
per cent of the total labour of farm level decision-making, and are consequently
production (Venkateswaran 1995, 20). They less able to act as agents of change to better
often start contributing to household
their situation.
economic activities before they are 15, with
some putting in a full day's work by the
time they are ten. They undertake the bulk
80
The impacts of climate and for wheat between 25-55 per cent),
change on the rural poor rainfall decreases, and conditions more
conducive to pest infections, are created by
Low-caste, tribal, and poor rural women, rising temperatures. Consequently, researchers
dependent as they are on their natural have made conservative estimates that farm
environment for water, fuel, fodder, and incomes will decrease by 8.4-12.3 per cent
food, are immediately and adversely (Sanghi 1997; Kumar and Parikh 1998).
affected by all forms of environmental A decline in farm-level income alone
degradation, including climate change will have deleterious effects on the rural
impacts. The Intergovernmental Panel on poor, particularly women, who are among
Climate Change (IPCC) considers India, the lowest-paid agricultural labourers
with its large, agrarian population, to be (Venkateswaran 1995). In addition, women
acutely vulnerable to the impacts of climate
whose livelihoods depend on cultivating
change, and recent extreme weather events
small plots and gathering fodder and fuel
such as the cyclones in Orissa in 1999, and
will be even more vulnerable as climate
the severe drought in northern and central
change advances, as they do not presently
India in 2000, support this view. In
have access to the necessary resources or
addition, a 1998 World Bank report on the
impacts of climate change on Indian social status within households and
agriculture maintained that these impacts communities (Adger and Kelly 1999). What
would be region-specific, and could be can be done to reduce their vulnerability
significant for poor people living on and help them adapt to their changing
marginal land. circumstances?
While severe weather events such as
cyclones, monsoons, and drought cannot be Increasing capabilities and
directly attributed to climate change, they reducing risk
do, nevertheless, illustrate the very real and
probable impacts of climate change on the According to Amartya Sen, there are five
rural poor. The drought in Orissa, for instrumental freedoms that, if present, and
example, forced many small and marginal if women have access to them, will provide
farmers to give part of their landholdings to opportunities for women to act in their own
moneylenders, with unofficial estimates self-interest and reduce their vulnerability.
indicating that another half million people Access to these instrumental freedoms,
were forced into distress migration. namely political freedom, economic facilities,
According to a briefing paper presented social opportunities, transparency guarantees,
to the Indian Parliament by the Centre for and protective security - is necessary for
Science and Environment in 2000, climate women to gain a better quality of life and
change manifestations in India will include acquire the capabilities they need to act as
increased temperatures, sea level rise along their own agents of change (Sen 1999).
coastal regions, changes in monsoon rain Commonly referred to as the 'capabilities
patterns such as a decline in summer approach', Nussbaum (2000) describes this
rainfall, increased flooding in the Himalayan approach as, 'an approach to the priorities
catchment, and water resource problems in of development that focuses not on
arid and semi-arid regions (Agarwal 2000; preference-satisfaction but on what people
IPCC 2001). These impacts will affect are actually able to do and to be'. Central to
agriculture and forestry, as well as human this approach is the idea that freedom is
health. Agriculture, in particular, will more than citizens having rights 'on paper':
experience decreased yields, as crop cycles it also requires that citizens have the
shorten (for rice between 15-42 per cent resources to exercise those rights. Thus, the
Reducing risk and vulnerability to climate change in India 81
capabilities approach goes beyond asking Recently, the government started a 'land
about satisfaction of people's preferences to literacy' programme known as the
ask what women's opportunities and 'People's Resource Mapping Program', in
liberties actually are, as well as how the which local villages map their local
available resources work or do not work in resources. These community maps are then
enabling women to function. combined with scientific maps to guide
According to Sen, this 'capabilities local environmental and social planning,
approach' to development has considerable with villagers taking and implementing the
potential for enabling and empowering decisions (McKibben 1996).
poor rural women.
Village women as agents of change
'These different aspects (women's earning
The provision of Sen's five instrumental
power, economic role outside the family,
freedoms is, however, dependent on cultural
literacy and education, property rights and
norms and rules that are manifested in a
so on) may at first sight appear to be rather
myriad of ways, including through roles
diverse and disparate. But what they have in
and responsibilities within families, and
common is their positive contribution in
through policies, practices, and legislation
adding force to women's voice and agency -
at community and state level. In India
through independence and empowerment.'
there exist numerous formal and informal
(Sen 1999,191-2)
arrangements and institutions that shape
Development in Kerala and the the different capabilities of men and
capabilities approach women. One well-known example is the
The state of Kerala in southern India caste system, which is still prominent in
provides some insight into the usefulness many areas of rural India, and which
of Sen's approach, as several aspects of greatly influences individuals' access to
Kerala's development path bear similarities rights. For example, people from scheduled
to those advocated as part of the capabilities castes form 'the weakest economic segment
approach. Despite its low per capita of rural society with limited access to
income, Kerala is notable because it has the education and financial institutions, and
lowest birth rates, highest literacy rates, little effective voice' (Simmons and Supri
and longest life expectancy in India and, 1997, 311).
hence, is a low-consumption economy that Informal institutional reform, whereby
delivers a high quality of life. Civil rights individuals at the community level become
campaigns and caste reforms began in agents of change, appears to be a good
Kerala during the nineteenth century. option for increasing the ability of the poor
Equitable access to education spread in the to adapt to climate change. Chopra and
early twentieth century, and again in the Duraiappah (2001) indicate how vested
1960s, and the success of a campaign for interests work to prevent institutional
universal literacy resulted in the newly change. They argue that the best develop-
literate writing letters to government ment approach is through improved
offices demanding better services such as environmental and land management in
paved roads and hospitals (McKibben communities, based on Sen's concept of
1996). five freedoms, which challenges the status
Affordable healthcare is also widely quo. Two case studies conducted in Bihar
available in Kerala, along with nutrition and Rajasthan indicate that this type of
programmes. In addition, there appears to development can be successful (Chopra and
be much less gender discrimination, and a Duraiappah 2001). In Bihar, an informal
robust media and political structure. institution called 'Chakroya Vikas Pranali'
82
was formed to negotiate a set of rules to the most vulnerable, must be specially
govern the use of local land and water considered in such development efforts,
resources. The success of Chakroya Vikas however, and their right to participate in
Pranali was attributed to transparency in decision-making must be promoted and
decision-making and sharing benefits, risk protected.
minimisation, and increased protective
security through the distribution of Marlene Roy is a researcher on gender and
economic and social opportunities amongst sustainable development at the International
individuals over time. Institute for Sustainable Development, 161
Certainly, better environmental manage- Portage Ave. E. - 6th Floor, Winnipeg,
ment at the community level is seen by Manitoba R3B 0Y4, Canada.
many experts as essential to efforts aimed Tel: 1 (204) 958 7724; E-mail: mroxj@iisd.ca
at minimising climate change impacts.
However, women may not benefit from Henry David Venema is a research officer at the
such community-led change unless these International Institute for Sustainable
local and informal institutional arrange- Development, 161 Portage Ave. E. - 6th Floor,
ments are shaped by the specific and often Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 0Y4, Canada.
different needs, roles, and responsibilities Tel: 1 (204) 958 7706; E-mail: hvenema@iisd.ca
of men and women. Research conducted by
Agarwal (2001) on participation in joint References
forestry management projects indicates that Adger, W.N. and P. Kelly (1999) 'Social
while women may be active in all-women vulnerability to climate change and the
community groups, their participation in architecture of entitlements', Mitigation
other community-based organisations is and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change
generally low. In some cases, women were 4(3-4), 253-66
actively excluded by men even though Agarwal, A. (2000) 'Climate Change: a
spaces were reserved for women on the Challenge to India's Economy. A Briefing
local councils. This lack of participation by Paper for Members of Parliament',
women indicates that political freedom, occasional paper, Centre for Science and
one of Sen's five freedoms, is not generally Environment, New Delhi: CDE,
available to women, thus restricting what http: / / www.cseindia.org / html / cmp /
they are able to do and to become. cse_briefing.pdf (last checked by author
Moreover, the absence of political freedom April 2002)
is critical, as it is a prerequisite for many of Agarwal, B. (1997) 'The gender and
the changes necessary for women to take environment debate: lessons from India',
an active part in shaping rural develop- in N. Visvanathan et al. (eds.), The Women,
ment that meets their needs (Chopra and Gender and Development Reader, London:
Duraiappah2001) Zed Books
Agarwal, B. (2001) 'Participatory exclusions,
community forestry, and gender: an
Conclusions analysis for South Asia and a conceptual
By using the capabilities approach to direct framework', World Development 29(10):
land and environmental management changes 1623-48
in communities, the well-being of the rural Centre for Science and Environment (1999)
poor can be improved. This has the potential State of India's Environment: The Citizen's
to go a long way towards reducing their Fifth Report, New Delhi: CDE
vulnerability to the risks of climate change. Chopra, K. and A.K. Duraiappah (2001)
Poor rural women, who are already among 'Operationalizing Capabilities and
Reducing risk and vulnerability to climate change in India 83
M
uch of the focus of development be explored and addressed, and an
The connections between energy-use and meet women's economic needs. None-
an array of other issues make a focus on theless, the gender-related challenges
energy a key means of achieving greater within energy provision remain largely
social justice, including reducing current unresolved. While energy providers and
disparities in power between women and policy-makers often consider provision of
men. energy as an end in itself, studies have
In both developed and developing shown this to be of little value, and that the
countries, the challenge ahead requires main focus of energy policy should be on
political will, as well as commitment to the services derived from energy. Focusing
innovation, and the application of energy- on service provision means asking whether
efficient, environmentally-sound, cost- energy services are accessible, reliable, and
effective technologies and systems in all affordable, and whether choices and
sectors of the economy. Energy resources options are available to energy users, in
are plentiful, and environmentally sound particular the poorest. In Africa, the bulk of
technological options are available to make policies relating to energy are formulated
a sustainable energy future a reality for all. outside the energy sector, within other
However, ensuring adequate access to development sectors such as agriculture,
sustainable energy for all will require transport, health, and industry (Denton
considerable effort, and substantial investment. 2001). These policies consider energy-use as
Women's and men's everyday experiences a secondary issue. The result of this type
differ in many ways as a result of their of approach is to ensure that little
differing gender roles and responsibilities. consideration is given to the energy-
The traditional gender roles of men and provision needs of poor people.
women mean that women typically juggle There has been some progress in
multiple responsibilities in the home, in the developing energy solutions for women,
workplace, and in the community. As part and in recognising women's role in
of their household role, many women are sustainable energy development. In Africa,
intimately involved in energy-related there is a high dependence on traditional
activities, and have a unique knowledge of fuels. Women are primary users, providers,
the environment and the importance of and managers of energy despite the fact
sustainability. Yet, the demands on women's that their access to 'modern' energy sources
time and labour, together with widespread and technologies is limited (Makhabane
social constraints on women's freedom to 2001). Environmental degradation increases
participate in public action, often leave the time that women spend collecting and
them with few opportunities for political using household fuels for cooking and
involvement. This leaves women without a heating, and intensifies their workload.
voice in the decision-making processes that Reducing women's workload and the
affect on their lives and, in particular, their amount of time they sp\end on it is
ability to contribute fully to sustainable important for meeting sustainable develop-
development. ment goals, and issues around energy are
of critical importance within this.
Developing energy solutions Early development interventions did
attempt to move towards sustainable forms
for women's empowerment of energy-use, taking into account gender-
Since the energy crisis of the 1970s, there differentiated needs in the developing
have been considerable advances in world. However, the interventions of the
addressing the energy-gender gap, as well 1970s and 1980s concentrated mainly on
as attempts to solve the energy bias and 'technological fixes', which were seen as the
86
best solution to the energy problems Concerns over gender and energy problems
relating to gender and energy concerns can be traced back to the United Nation's
(Denton 2001). These 'technological fixes', Third World Conference on Women, held
or supply-side schemes, gave rise to new in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1985. Here, women
technologies such as biogas, improved from around the world began to promote
stoves, social forestry schemes, low-grade their role in sustaining the environment.
solar energy systems, wind energy, Two years later, as a result of the lobbying
biomass, and gasifiers. In a bid to assist efforts of women, the United Nations
African women to move towards self- commissioned a global study on the
sufficiency in the field of energy, micro-credit environment, from the World Commission
schemes and other financial mechanisms on Environment and Development (WEDO
with a focus on income-generating activities 1998). The Commission's team of experts
were introduced. spoke to a broad range of people in all
These early interventions did not tackle regions about environmental concerns. The
the 'real' energy concerns of the users and team discovered no single priority issue;
managers of energy at household level. At a people identified living conditions, gender
practical level, interventions to provide issues, lack of resources, population
improved, energy-efficient stoves to pressure, international trade, education,
women can reduce the risks of indoor air and health as all being important. As a
pollution, accidents from open fires, and result, the commission recommended the
other related effects on health, as well as organisation of an inter-governmental
reducing time spent by women in gathering conference, preceded by a participatory
firewood. However, the real energy crisis in discussion process involving civil society.
developing countries, particularly in the Popularly known as the World Summit,
rural areas, is related to women's lack of the UN Conference on Environment and
time. Gender-sensitive energy policies and Development (UNCED) took place in June
interventions must address women's needs 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
and concerns, taking into account the For women worldwide, UNCED was an
amount of time that women spend in important step in establishing global
firewood-collection, food-processing, and recognition of their crucial role in achieving
collecting water, and not just the provision a different type of development - a role
of improved wood-burning stoves. that is socially, economically, politically,
Gender-equality activists recognise that and environmentally sustainable. All
women's needs, and their overall socio- UNCED documents included specific
economic aspirations, go beyond the recommendations for strengthening women's
provision of improved stoves. Gender- participation in decision-making processes.
sensitive policies and considerations in the
design and implementation of new tech-
Networking for change
nologies are crucial. It is argued that if
energy provision is to assist women, it must One advantage of networking is that people
provide technologies and energy services with the same vision work together to share
that make women self-sufficient. Self- resources and expertise, while providing
sufficiency is a critical element in women's each other with support to achieve the
empowerment. desired results and bring about change. In
International debates and activities my experience, networking initiatives in
focusing on sustainable development have which people realise their capacities and
also recognised the role of women, capabilities, without underestimating the
and given significant attention to this. problems that arise, are most successful
Promoting the role of women in sustainable energy development in Africa 87
Communication problems can arise household energy use need more research,
Communication and information- including more case studies to examine
sharing provide fora for a shared vision and household energy-use patterns, and to
common goals. Without these, a network explore how women's unrecognised labour
cannot function at all. In most cases, can be incorporated into national develop-
partners rely on the secretariat to initiate ment policy. A policy is needed that assists
and communicate ideas, and there can be a by setting out steps towards co-ordination
resulting lack of ownership around the and strengthening of the complementary
implementation of proposed ideas. roles that NGOs and local institutions can
play in the field of gender and energy.
More studies are needed in the field of
Strategies for gender energy into ways of strengthening local
integration into local women's participation within NGOs and
policies for sustainable government.
development A compilation of gender-disaggregated
data could assist in creating activity
The service of gender and energy networks profiles, including women's household
will only be of value if their operations and productive roles in the energy sector,
reach the beneficiaries. Therefore, networks as a basis for lobbying and to facilitate on-
must identify practical strategies to achieve going research in gender and energy
this. (Wamukonya and Rukato 2001). This must
Networks must find ways and means be made available in a user-friendly form.
to advocate for the establishment of Networks must strive to reach poor rural
'focal points' in energy departments, with a women in order to assist in identifying
clear mandate and adequate resources. projects, and to encourage local women's
Governmental focal points for gender and initiatives in a drive towards decentral-
development in most countries have no isation of the network and a move away
mandate, and no strategy guidelines for from top-level operations. The networks
their activities on energy and gender. must have roots that reach the local level,
Many are not given adequate budgetary in order to address micro-level needs.
allocations for their work. Networks must Networks must strive to run gender
strive to strengthen their contacts and and energy-related programmes, and
collaboration with these actors. provide training to sensitise staff and
The importance of energy to sustainable policy-makers within energy-providing
development needs to be widely recognised, and government institutions. In particular,
with sufficient research and resources they need to provide training in applying
directed toward sustainable energy policies gender analysis appropriately within
and interventions (DFID et al. 2001). An energy-related work. This training would
understanding of energy as a development help in the implementation of projects that
issue has only gained prominence in recent address gender issues. Effort is needed in
years, particularly in relation to rural lobbying for an increase in the number of
development initiatives. As stated earlier, women working in the energy sector and in
most rural development strategies have policy-making, and ways need to be found
never brought the issue of energy to the to encourage and support more women in
fore. When it has been included, it has been this area. This could be through the
subsumed in sectors like agriculture or identification of career development
transport. Because of this, there has been programmes, and the involvement of
very little attempt to consider energy issues women in the government and non-
in their own right. The gender issues in governmental sectors.
Promoting the role of women in sustainable energy development in Africa 91
Transforming power
relationships:
building capacity for ecological security
Mary Jo Larson
The risks that climate change poses for the environment and for development are well-documented,
yet it has been difficult to build a consensus on measures to reduce global threats to ecological
security. How can communities, NGOs, and policy-makers representing less powerful nations
overcome objections to measures that aim to mitigate the global threat to environment and
development? In climate change negotiations, vulnerable communities and disadvantaged groups
meet around the same table as more powerful interests. Using systems theory,1 this article analyses
the ways in which low-power groups can transform disadvantageous power relations to overcome
threats to sustainable development.
I
n this article, I propose a holistic,
integrated,flexibleapproach to ecological systems approach to investigate the
security, which would strengthen the priorities of 43 small island nations from
power (symbolic, social, and material) of the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian oceans,
disadvantaged groups. This would potentially in UN climate change negotiations. Situated
enable them to overcome barriers to in a position of low power within the
healthy, sustainable development. Systems international system, these nations have
theory suggests that capacity-building can formed the Alliance of Small Island States
contribute to ecological security by (AOSIS) to heighten global awareness of
enabling low-power groups to appreciate, the threats to their ecological security. The
influence, and manage their strategic section maps the ways in which AOSIS tries
interests. Lessons from analyses of multi- to transform threatening and unequal
lateral negotiations are relevant to women, relationships. The third section analyses the
and to any group whose lack of power small islands' proposals, in order to
results in threats to their ability to live and identify their strategic interests, before
develop sustainably. adopting a systems approach to discuss the
The article is structured in three sections. ways in which capacity can be built in
The first describes the risks of climate order to promote ecological security. The
change to vulnerable small island article is based on a combination of
communities in the Pacific. Island and academic research on climate change
coastal nations are among the populations negotiations, and international development
most at risk of the effects of climate change. experience.
Building capacity for ecological security 93
Figure 2: Using the conflict resolution systems framework to analyse the strategic interests ofAOSIS
28.6% 0% 1%
Collaboration Common ecological Centralised laws Core UN funding
understandings with sanctions
1.0% 11.2% 0%
Co-ordination and Equal stakeholder Sovereign authority Equal benefits and
competition rights and relative and responsibility competitive interests
interests
96
'The Meeting of the Parties shall review andAOSIS gives to equity reflects a strategic
revise the commitments of the Annex 1 interest in maximising technical support to
Parties... in accordance with the dis-advantaged parties. For example:
precautionary principle and the best 'Annex I Parties shall ensure that every
available scientific information...'3 practicable step is taken to support the
(op. cit., 5) development and enhancement of the
AOSIS is reaffirming meanings established endogenous capacities and technologies of
in the 1992 Convention. developing country Parties.' (op. cit., 7)
A notable percentage of the symbolic It should be noted that AOSIS has not
statements (9.2 per cent) are co-operative proposed that the UN have sanctioning
proposals that apply principles of equity power. In fact, none of the statements in the
to the establishment of rights and 1992 Convention or 1997 Protocol support
responsibilities. Examples of AOSIS' coercive mechanisms. Instead, through UN
equitable approach include: climate change negotiations, delegates from
'Reaffirming that per capita emissions in AOSIS have formed a global alliance of 43
developing countries are still relatively lownations, gained access to vital information,
and that the share of global emissions influenced conflict resolution mechanisms,
originating in developing countries will and initiated preventative measures at local
grow to meet their social and development levels. Some of their initiatives have been
needs.' {op. cit., 3) more successful than others. The challenge
to AOSIS, and to other vulnerable groups,
Most of the statements in AOSIS' 1994 is to learn from this capacity-building
position paper address social power. These experience.
are statements prescribing policies,
procedures, roles, and dispute resolution From research to practice
mechanisms. AOSIS is attempting to In this section of the paper, I apply the
establish predictability and regulate lessons from the analysis of climate change
threatening emissions levels. A high negotiations to the issue of capacity-
percentage (44.9 per cent) of these prescriptions building. The success of capacity-building
focus on equitable roles and rules. They are is related to the leadership capacities of the
co-operative efforts to establish authority participants. Local stakeholders require the
and accountability. Examples include: confidence, knowledge, and skills to
'Each of the Annex I Parties shall reduce its strategise and communicate effectively
1990 level of anthropogenic emissions of with policy-makers, the media, and other
carbon dioxide by at least 20 percent by the opinion leaders. Policy-makers must be
year 2005.' (op. cit., 4) capable of understanding and responding
to the values, beliefs, and security interests
'A Meeting of the Parties shall at its first of disadvantaged groups.
Meeting, agree upon and adopt by consensus,
Within the context of systems theory, I
rules of procedure and financial rules for
view capacity-building as a flexible,
itself and for any subsidiary body.' (op. cit, 7)
multilateral approach to sustainable
The 1994 AOSIS position paper does not development. Capacity-building is flexible
emphasise material power. Only 4.1 per cent when integrating strengths and respecting
of the statements propose equitable different interests. Approaches are
exchanges of resources. They support multilateral when involving policy-makers,
technology transfer, co-operative approaches NGOs, and community leaders in self-
to natural resources, and equitable access to determined approaches to development.
economic incentives. The emphasis that This enhancement of knowledge, skills, and
Building capacity for ecological security 97
disadvantaged groups when they systems, they need the attitudes, knowledge,
strengthen participatory approaches to and skills required for assessment,
governance. Policies that are developed by implementation, monitoring, trouble-
women and men closer to the realities on shooting, and creative innovations. In order
the ground are more effective than those to exchange goods and services, developing
that are based on distant versions of local economies also need access to the
possibilities and preferences. By co- consumer markets of wealthier nations.
ordinating national and local exchanges of
information about best practices early in
the policy-making process, capacity- Lessons learned
building reinforces effective structures and The analysis of small island experiences in
avoids unnecessary conflicts. climate change negotiations provides
lessons for any vulnerable or marginalised
Material power group determined to re-align power
5. Finally, disadvantaged groups have a relationships. Existing power asymmetries
strategic interest in the equitable exchange may be the result of discrimination on the
of material resources. This requires the basis of gender, race, religion, or some
capacity to manage technical, financial, and other categorisation. To summarise, the
human resources. Historically, the transfer analysis above indicates that disadvantaged
of technologies has been criticised for being parties addressing ecological security
donor-oriented. There has been a tendency negotiate to enhance five strategic interests:
to supply local communities with whatever
technologies are available, rather than what common ecological understandings;
is actually wanted or needed. Investments
in technical resources address the needs of equitable rights and responsibilities;
the disadvantaged when they facilitate equitable roles and rules;
partnerships and foster self-reliance. sovereign local authority and
Questions relevant to effective, efficient responsibility;
technology transfer include: equitable exchanges of technical and
financial materials.
Which local technologies are working?
What adaptations are needed?
The first strategic interest is the develop-
Are creative local initiatives ment of common understandings. This
encouraged? What are the incentives? symbolic form of empowerment is
What are the benefits of new financial addressed through collaborative approaches
and technical interventions? to research and communication. The
How are the benefits of technical and /or establishment of common meanings
financial interventions distributed? provides a rationale for action. Moving
Who gains? Who loses? from rhetoric to action, the transformation
of power relations takes place through the
Do women and men participate equally equitable exchange of resources.
in planning and managing? Do they Disadvantaged groups are advocates for
also share equally in the benefits? equitable access to scientific knowledge, the
consensual construction of rules regulating
At the local level, the priority is to increase threats, and the equitable transfer of
women's and men's capacities to adapt technical resources from developed to
technologies to their changing environ- developing nations. This co-operation
ments. In order to build sustainable transforms power relations when
100
disadvantaged women and men are able to 'If we can find ways of responding as
make choices that enhance the resources individuals to multiple patterns of meaning,
within their own jurisdictions. The strategic enriching rather than displacing those
interests above are relevant to gender in a traditional to any one group, this can make a
wide range of development situations, momentous difference to the well-being of
including efforts to address complex individuals and the fate of the earth. What
environmental and health issues. would it be like to have not only color vision,
but culture vision, the ability to see the
multiple worlds of others?' (Bateson 1994,53)
Conclusions
A systems approach brings together
In climate change negotiations, small island diverse policy-makers, NGOs, and
nations are contributing to the resolution of community leaders to enhance the 'culture
ecological conflicts through proactive, co- vision' of all stakeholders. The multilateral
operative approaches. To transform dialogue offers less-powerful groups the
threatening systems, leaders are building opportunity to describe their own
regional alliances, developing extensive situations, prioritise strategic interests, and
communication networks, and advocating implement meaningful adaptations. The
as one voice for the security interests of the most effective capacity-building initiatives
Earth's ecological system as a whole. 4 build long-term partnerships among
Identifying the strategic interests of small advantaged and disadvantaged stake-
island communities provides lessons for holders. These relationships facilitate the
the transformation of power relationships, equitable exchange of resources, and create
including those between women and men. the synergy for innovative adaptations.
Disadvantaged groups in climate change
negotiations lack status, influence, and
Mary Jo Larson completed her doctoral thesis at
control. These factors mirror gender-based
the Institute for Conflict Analysis and
barriers to health and development. Resolution, George Mason University. She is
A systems approach to capacity- currently Director of Capacity Building at
building ensures that disadvantaged CEDPA. Contact: 6427 Cavalier Corridor,
groups advance through self-determined Falls Church, VA 22044, USA.
approaches to development (adapted from E-mail: symmetryintl@earthlink.net
International Women's Conference 2000). It
is an adaptive learning and relationship-
building process. The most effective Notes
interventions value and integrate the 1 Systems theory is the holistic study of
strengths of diverse social groups. They how systems and their sub-systems are
facilitate the transfer of knowledge and organised, how they adapt to changing
foster the implementation of inclusive situations, and how the interests of the
policies. Systems theory supports the sub-systems fit or conflict with those of
proposition that capacity-building contributes the whole. According to this theory, a
to sustainable development when it sub-system is a set of inter-related
strengthens the most vulnerable sub- elements, each of which is connected
systems within the global ecological system directly or indirectly to every other
as a whole. element, and often with extreme
Conflict resolution research indicates sensitivity. Localised causes within sub-
that the first step in building sustainable systems may have effects within the
multilateral relationships is to develop system as a whole. I should emphasise
common understandings. In dosing, I would that no system can be known completely
like to highlight the significance of this. (Richardson 1998). Any study of
Building capacity for ecological security 101
Rio in 1992. The paper examines in more New York, NY 10017, USA
detail the options for reducing greenhouse This collection of contributions from NGOs
gas emissions, discusses North-South around the world highlights dimensions of
tensions, and outlines key factors for the Agenda 21 implementation at the local level
post-2000 phase. that might not otherwise be captured by the
international dialogue. In their articles,
Fair Weather? Equity Concerns in Climate contributors describe NGO projects and
Change (1999), Ferenc L. Toth (ed.), Earthscan other activities focused on the
Publications, 120 Pentonville Road, London implementation of the 1992 UN Conference
Nl 9JN, UK on Environment and Development (UNCED),
http:/ / www.earthscan.co.uk and discuss how UNCED's new approach
Taking a cross-disciplinary assessment of to sustainable development affected
fairness and equity issues in the context of thinking, programmes, and strategies.
global climate change, this book explores
the policy dimensions and analytical needs Coping with Changing Environments: Social
of the negotiation process. Contributors Dimensions of Endangered Ecosystems in the
debate a range of equity issues in the global Developing World (1999), Beate Lohnert and
climate change negotiations, such as: how Helmut Geist (eds.), Ashgate Publishing
should responsibility for adapting to Ltd., Gower House, Croft Road, Aldershot,
climate change be distributed? Who should Hants., GU11 3HR, UK
bear the costs of mitigating its impacts, and http://www.ashgate.com
how should these costs be measured? Their This collection of articles takes a multi-
responses to these questions differ, often
disciplinary approach to the social dimensions
varying according to the vulnerability,
of global environmental change. Drawing
wealth, and level of industrial development
on regional case studies from many
of the country in question.
developing countries, the collection explores
vulnerability, coping strategies, and societal
The Way Forward: Beyond Agenda 21 (1997), responses to drought hazards, changing
Felix Dodds (ed.), Earthscan Publications land use, and deforestation, amongst other
This book outlines the successes and environmental changes. The editors offer
failures of the first five years following the readers a comparative perspective on global
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. environmental change.
Drawing on the experience of a range of
experts, it provides an analysis of the The Climate Change Negotiations: Berlin and
agreements that were reached, and the Beyond (1995), Ian H. Rowlands, Discussion
stakeholders who are charged with Paper 17, July 1995, London School of
implementing them. It reviews the progress Economics, Centre for the Study of Global
made so far at the inter-governmental, Governance, Houghton Street, London
national, and grassroots levels, and offers a WC2A 2AE, UK
summary of the major issues that need to be This discussion paper provides an over-
addressed in the future. view and analysis of the First Conference of
the Parties to the Framework Convention
Implementing Agenda 21: NGO Experiences on Climate Change (FCCC) held in Berlin in
from Around the World (1997), Leyla Alvanak 1995. It pays attention to the specific
and Adrienne Cruz (eds.), United Nations outcomes of the conference, and analyses
Non-Governmental Liason Service (NGLS), more general emerging trends.
Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland, and Room 6015, 866 UN Plaza,
104
Climate Change and Human Health (1996), Climate Change and World Agriculture (1990),
A.J. McMichael, A. Haines, R. Slooff, and Martin Parry, Earthscan Publications
S. Kovats (eds.), assessment prepared by a In this book, Parry analyses the sensitivity
Task Group on behalf of the World Health of the world food system, and examines the
Organisation (WHO), The World Meteor- variety of ways in which it will be affected
ological Organisation (WMO), and the if climatic changes occur in line with most
United Nations Environment Programme scientific predictions. After describing the
(UNEP), available from WHO, CH-1211 effects on agriculture, estimating the
Geneva 27, Switzerland impacts on plant and animal growth, and
This assessment study, addressing the examining the geographical limits to
health implications of climate change, was different types of farming, the author
initiated after consultations took place in considers a range of possible approaches
1993 between representatives of the WHO, for agriculture to adapt and so mitigate the
WMO, UNEP, International Panel on impacts of climate change.
Climate Change (IPCC), and United States
Environmental Protection Agency The Potential Socio-Economic Effects of
(USEPA). The consultations revealed an Climate Change: A Summary of Three Regional
urgent need for a comprehensive study, Assessments (1991), M.L. Parry, A.R.
based on IPCC's newer scenarios and Magalhaes, and N. Huu Ninh (eds.), United
predictions. The study examines the Nations Environmental Programme,
various possible impacts of climate change PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya
and stratospheric ozone depletion upon http:/ / www.unep.org
human health, ranging from summertime This report summarises the major con-
heat stress, increased production of air clusions of three regional studies (in Brazil,
pollutants, vector-borne diseases, water- in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, and
borne and food-borne infections, in Vietnam) of the potential impact of
agricultural productivity, extreme weather climate change undertaken by national
hazards, sea level rise, and exposure to governments with the support of the
ground-level ultraviolet radiation. Finally, United Nations Environment Programme.
the implications of global climate change
for research, monitoring, and social-policy Footprints and Milestones: Population and
response are explored. Environmental Change (2001) The State of
World Population 2001, United Nations
C1AT in Perspective 2000-2001: Getting the Population Fund, 220 East 42nd Street,
Better of Global Change (2001), Gerry New York, NY 10017, USA
Toomey and Nathan Russell, International http:/ / www.unfpa.org
Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) This UN Population Fund report includes
http://www.ciat.cgiar.org coverage of environmental trends, with
This issue of the International Center for regard to water, food, climate change,
Tropical Agriculture research newsletter, forests, habitat and biodiversity, poverty
CIAT in Perspective, focuses on global and the environment, women and the
environmental change. It includes an article environment, health and the environment,
entitled, 'Risky farming in a hotter world', and action for sustainable and equitable
on a new method devised by scientists for development. It also includes an appendix
predicting how global climate change will of global agreements on human rights,
affect tropical farming fifty years from environment and development,
now. reproductive health, and gender equality.
Resources 105
Climate of Hope: New Strategies for Stabilizing women and other marginalised groups.
the World's Atmosphere (1996), Christopher Agarwal provides a typology of partici-
Flavin and Odil Tunali, World Watch Paper pation, outlines the gender equity and
130, June 1996, World Watch Institute, efficiency implications of such exclusions,
Washington DC, USA and analyses factors underlying exclusions.
This paper discusses the growing evidence A conceptual framework is developed to
of climate change, and examines approaches help analyse the process of gender
exclusion and how it might be alleviated.
to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and
stabilising the climate.
'Gender and the environment: traps and
Earth Summit 2002: A New Deal (2000), opportunities' (1992), M. Leach, Development
Felix Dodds (ed.), United Nations in Practice 2(1): 12-22
Environment and Development and This article highlights the dangers of
Earthscan Publications essentialising women's roles and relation-
ship with the environment, and argues for
As preparations for Earth Summit 2002
an alternative approach examining dynamic
proceed, this book provides a progress-
gender-differentiated activities, rights, and
report and agenda for Earth Summit 2002
responsibilities in the process of natural
and beyond. Experts from around the
resource management. Drawing on a case
world present an assessment of progress to study from Gola forest, Sierra Leone, Leach
date, set goals, and examine the mechanisms demonstrates how this approach can help
that will enable the international to ensure sustainability and equity in the
community to complete the tasks set in Rio, design of projects concerned with the
and prepare for future challenges. environment.
Climate Change Co-operation in Southern Engendering the Environment? Gender in the
Africa (1998), I.H. Rowlands (ed.), UNEP World Bank's Environmental Policies (2000),
and Earthscan Publications P.A. Kurian, Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
This book shows how co-ordinated action This book uses feminist theory and
among neighbouring countries could concepts to understand the gendered
reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ways nature of environmental policy and
that are environmentally, economically, environmental policy analysis. Based on
and socially beneficial. It presents a frame- research on the World Bank's Narmada
work for analysing regional mitigation Dam project in India, this gender analysis
options among developing countries, and of the World Bank's policies offers a critical
examines particular proposals for Southern interrogation of the practice of Environ-
Africa. mental Impact Assessment, and argues for
better understanding of the process in
'Participatory exclusions, community which gender, class, and culture interact to
forestry and gender: an analysis for South influence environmental policy-making.
Asia and a conceptual framework' (2001),
B. Agarwal, World Development 29(10): Global Environmental Outlook: UNEP's
1623-48 Millennium Report on the Environment (1999),
Based on extensive fieldwork among UNEP, Earthscan Publications
community forestry groups in India and The Global Environment Outlook (GEO)
Nepal, and using existing case studies, this Project was launched by UNEP in 1995, in
article demonstrates how seemingly response to the need for comprehensive,
participatory institutions can exclude integrated, policy-relevant assessments of
106
the global environment. This extensive Women and the Environment (1994),
report includes background information on A. Rodda (ed.), Zed Books Ltd.
the GEO Project, global perspectives, This practical handbook focuses on
regional analyses of the state of the women's roles as users, producers, and
environment, regional policy responses, managers of the earth's resources, and
future outlook, and recommendations. shows how environmental degradation
affects women's health and basic needs.
'Climate change, gender and poverty - It demonstrates how women can be a
academic babble or realpolitik?' (2001), major force for environmental change,
Fatma Denton, Bulletin Africain - Point de Vue, particularly through their important roles
No. 14, ENDA-TM, available on-line at: as educators and communicators, and it
h t t p : / / w w w . e n d a . s n / B u l l e t i n highlights the varied ways in which
Africain/010 Fatma DENTON.pdf women are involved in the implementation
This short article by Fatma Denton in the of environmental projects. Includes a
Environment and Development Action in glossary of environmental terms, a guide to
the Third World (ENDA-TM) newsletter, education and action, and a bibliography
Bulletin Africain, addresses the question, and resource guide.
'What has gender got to do with climate
change?' Denton comments on the pre- Women, the Environment and Sustainable
dominately male agenda, and women's Development (1994), R. Braidotti et al.,
lack of participation in policy formulation Zed Books Ltd.
and decision-making on environmental
issues, such as conservation, protection, This book examines alternative visions of
rehabilitation, and management of the development, including 7
'women, environment,
environment. and development (WED), and ecofeminism,
aiming to disentangle the various positions
Environment, Development and the Gender put forward by major actors, and to clarify
Gap (1995), Sandhya Venkateswaran, Sage the political and theoretical issues at stake
Publications India, M-32 Block Market, in the debates on women, the environment,
Greater Kailesh-1, New Delhi 110 048, India, and sustainable development.
and 6 Bonhill St., London EC2A 4PU, UK
Feminist Perspectives on Sustainable
In this comprehensive study, Venkateswaran
Development (1994), Wendy Harcourt (ed.),
discusses women's roles in activities
Zed Books Ltd.
relating to the environment, the differential
impact of environmental degradation on In this book, researchers, activists, and
diverse groups of women, and their almost policy-makers from the North and South
complete marginalisation from policies and propose different ways of challenging
programmes that seek to manage the dominating knowledge systems and
environment. Drawing on case studies and development institutions. The contributors
empirical data from government and NGO discuss themes such as situating the
development programmes in India, a range feminist position in the sustainable
of issues are explored, including those development debate; gendered alternatives
related to croplands, common lands, forest to dominant knowledge systems; politics
and water resources, domestic energy, and resistance in the sustainable develop-
social forestry, technology, the urban ment debate; and population.
environment, and pollution.
Resources 107
Environmental Policies and NGO Influence Climate Change Information Kit, UNEP/IUC,
(2001), A. Thomas, S. Carr, and D. Geneva Executive Center, CP 356, 1219
Humphreys, Routledge, 11 New Fetter Chatelaine, Switzerland.
Lane, London EC4P 4EE, UK E-mail: iuc@unep.ch
This book examines why NGOs are at Available on-line at: http://www.undp.org/
times able to exert influence on policies to seed / eap / Publications / 2001 / 2001a.html
conserve and use natural resources This information kit, published by the UN
sustainably in sub-Saharan Africa. After Environment Programme Information Unit
developing a conceptual framework and for Conventions, provides a series of
exploring land resource issues in sub- papers introducing the impacts of climate
Saharan Africa, the authors examine case change, the Climate Change Convention,
studies of NGO activity and conclude with limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and
a summary of lessons to be learnt from useful facts and figures, updated in 1999.
studies of NGO campaigners and policy
specialists. The Stakeholder Toolkit for Women, M. Hemmati
and K. Seliger (eds.), UNED Forum,
Sustainable Development and Integrated 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL, UK.
Appraisal in a Developing World (2000), E-mail: info@earthsummit2002.org
N. Lee and C. Kirkpatrick (eds.), Edward Available on-line at:
Elgar Publishing Ltd., Glensanda House, http: / / www.earthsummit2002.org / toolkits
Montpellier Parade, Cheltenham, GL50 1UA, / women / index.htm
UK and 136 West St., Suite 202, Northampton, This toolkit is intended to help monitor the
Massachusetts 01060, USA progress made in implementing the Global
An international group of authors from a Plans for Action, which have been agreed
range of disciplinary backgrounds present at the UN Global Summits and Confer-
alternative perspectives and methods for an ences since the Earth Summit in Rio in
integrated approach to sustainable 1992. This UNED Forum initiative is aimed
development. They apply integrated at women's groups and NGOs working to
appraisal to a variety of case studies from implement the global agreements and use
developing and transitional countries. them in their work, as well as those who
contribute to policy-making at local,
national, or international levels. The
Electronic resources website contains UN documents from the
Gender Perspectives for Earth Summit 2002, cycle of World Conferences, NGO position
international workshop, available on-line at: papers, examples of good practice, training
http:/ / www.earthsurnmit2002.org/workshop materials, campaign information, net-
This workshop provided an overview of, working, and useful links.
and developed recommendations on,
gender perspectives from developing and Just a Lot of Hot Air? A Close Look at the Climate
developed countries on energy, transport, Change Convention (2000), The Panos Institute,
and environmental decision-making issues, 9 White Lion Street, London Nl 9PD, UK.
addressed during the UN Commission on Available on-line at:
Sustainable Development (CSD) Ninth http://www.panos.org.uk
Session in April 2001. The website provides This briefing provides an accessible
reports, background papers, and resources introduction to the Climate Change
related to the three workshop issues. Convention, appealing to a wide range of
audiences. It includes research carried
out in the UK as part of the Global
108
of marginalised groups. Activities include for local women's groups and leaders to
co-hosting of national and regional network directly across national boundaries.
workshops with the United Nations Fund
for Women (UNIFEM), input into Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
international conferences, publication of (IPCC), http://www.ipcc.ch/
working papers, development of a budget
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
resource book, and an interactive web
Change (IPCC) was established by the
space for budget-related resources and
United Nations Environmental Programme
discussion groups. (UNEP) and the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) in 1988 to assess the
Journals scientific, technical, and socio-economic
information relevant for the understanding
Women and Environments International of human-induced climate change, its
Magazine, associated with the Institute for potential impacts, and options for mitigation
Women's Studies and Gender Studies, and adaptation. The IPCC publications
New College, University of Toronto. include assessment reports of the three
Available on-line at: working groups on the science, impacts,
http:/ / www.weimag.com/ adaptation and vulnerability to, and
Women and Environments International mitigation of climate change, as well as
Magazine is an on-line Canadian journal guidelines and methodologies, special
that examines women's relationships to reports, and technical papers.
their environments - natural, physical,
built, and social - from feminist pers- Foundation for International Environmental
pectives. It provides a forum for academic Law and Development (FIELD), 52-53 Russell
research and theory, as well as professional Square, London WC1B 4HP, UK. Tel: +44
practice and community experience. (0)20 7637 7950; Fax: +44 (0)20 7637 7951;
E-mail: field@field.org.uk
Organisations http:/ /www.field.org.uk/
The Foundation for International Environ-
Grassroots Organisations Operating Together mental Law and Development (FIELD) was
in Sisterhood (GROOTS) International founded in 1989 in order to tap the
Communications, 249 Manhattan Avenue, potential of law at the international,
Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA. Tel: +1718 388 8915; regional, and domestic levels, and to
Fax: +1 718 388 0285; E-mail: grootsss@aol.com encourage environmental protection and
http:/ /www.groots.org sustainable development. FIELD provides
advice to governments, non-governmental
GROOTS operates as a flexible network organisations, inter-governmental organi-
linking leaders and groups in poor rural sations, and industry.
and urban areas in the South and North.
The network is open to grassroots groups Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2101
and their partners who share a commitment Wilson Blvd., Suite 550, Arlington,
to: strengthening women's participation in VA 22201, USA. Tel: +1 703 516 4146;
the development of communities; helping Fax: +1 703 8411422
urban and rural women's groups identify http://www.pewclimate.org/
and share successful development The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
approaches and methods; focusing inter- is a non-profit, non-partisan, and inde-
national attention on women's needs and pendent organisation that aims to educate
capabilities; and increasing the opportunities the public and key policy-makers about the
Resources HI
causes and potential consequences of action and training to help put into place
climate change, and to encourage the the United Nations Conventions on
domestic and international community to Climate Change and Desertification in
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Its Africa, and to develop alternative energy
activities include releasing reports on technology. Working in partnership,
environmental impacts, economics, and through co-ordinating networks and
policy issues; educating the public through jointly-led projects, is an important aspect
advertising, public-speaking events, and of Enda Energy's work. The team collects
conferences; and co-ordinating policy, information on energy, and implements
industry, and government discussions to local-level as well as regional-level projects.
advance international negotiations on
climate change. Stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future,
3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL, UK;
International Institute for Sustainable Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 1784; Fax +44 (0)20 7930
Development, 161 Portage Avenue East, 5893; http:/ / www.stakeholderforum.org
6th Floor, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada The Stakeholder Forum for Our Common
R3B 0Y4. Tel: +1 204 958 7700; Future, formerly the UNED Forum, was
Fax: +1 204 958 7710; E-mail: info@iisd.ca established in 1998 as an international
The International Institute for Sustainable initiative to support international civil
Development is concerned with advancing society organisations concerned with
policy recommendations on climate change, sustainable development. It includes
as well as international trade and invest- organisations representing all the major
ment, economic policy, and natural groups recognised by the UN including
resource management, to make develop- business, labour, parliamentarians, local
ment sustainable. Engaged at both the government, NGOs, indigenous peoples,
national and international levels in women, youth, farmers, and scientists. The
addressing climate change and adaptation, United Nations Association of Great Britain
it co-ordinates the Climate Change and Northern Ireland provides the
Knowledge Network and, in collaboration secretariat for the forum. The forum's work
with ENDA-Energy, the Climate Change in preparation for Earth Summit 2002
Capacity Project-Africa. comprises building partnerships and
networks, researching and influencing
Environment and Development Action in the policy, providing and disseminating infor-
Third World (ENDA-TM), 4-5 Rue Kleber, mation, training, and capacity-building.
BP 3370, Dakar, Senegal. Tel: +221 (8) 21 60 27
/ 22 42 29; Fax: +221 (8) 22 26 95; Women's Environment and Development
E-mail: enda@enda.sn; Website in English Organization (WEDO), 355 Lexington Avenue,
and French at: http: / / www.enda.sn 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10017-6603, USA.
ENDA-TM is an international NGO based Tel: +1 212 973 0325; Fax: +1 212 973 0335;
in Dakar, Senegal. It is an association of E-mail: wedo@wedo.org;
autonomous entities co-ordinated by an http:/ /www.wedo.org
Executive Secretariat, and includes teams WEDO is an international advocacy
and programmes focused on various network concerned with increasing the
themes in development and environment. power of women worldwide as policy-
The work carried out by Enda's Energy makers in policy-making institutions,
Programme is centred on the use and forums, and processes at all levels, to
development of energy in Africa. The achieve economic and social justice, human
programme uses the principles of research- rights, and a sustainable environment for
112
all. The Sustainable Development Program advocacy, and action. Its quarterly
focuses on integrating gender issues into newsletter, ENERGIA NEWS, includes
the global environmental movement by: useful resources, and can be accessed
strengthening international networking through its website.
between women's and environmental Women's Environmental Network, P.O. Box
groups; mobilising women's involvement 30626, London El 1TZ, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20
in environmental and sustainable develop- 7481 9004; Fax: +44 (0)20 7481 9144;
ment decision-making; and advocating for E-mail: info@wen.org.uk
gender mainstreaming in international http://www.wen.org.uk
forums like the World Summit on WEN campaigns on issues linking women,
Sustainable Development. the environment, and health. Current
campaign issues include health, local foods,
Commission on Sustainable Development nappies, waste, genetic engineering, and
(CSV) NGO Women's Caucus sanitary products.
h t t p : / /www.earthsummit2002.org/
wcaucus / csdngo.htm United Nations Development Programme
The CDS Women's Caucus grew out of the http://www.undp.org
1991 Miami Conference, organised by The Sustainable Energy and Environment
Women's Environment and Development Division (SEED) of UNDP contains several
Organisation (WEDO), and its outcome papers, reports, and tool kits on gender
document, 'Women's Action Agenda for a mainstreaming in natural resource
Healthy Planet'. It is a working group of manage-ment. Most materials are available
women and men who are working towards in French, English, and Spanish.
the mainstreaming of gender into
sustainable development policies and
practical implementation strategies. The Videos
women's caucus meets at the CSD Sessions, Questions of Difference - Participatory Rural
organises side events, and takes part in Appraisal (PRA), Gender and the Environment
other caucuses to ensure gender main- (1996), Rosanna Horsley for the Inter-
streaming of NGO work. It operates an national Institute for Environment and
open listserve to prepare positions and Development (IIED), 3 Endsleigh St.,
lobbying strategies, networking globally London WC1H ODD, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20
with interested organisations and 7388 2117; Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826
individuals.
This training video draws on experiences
from PRA training workshops held in
ENERG1A Brazil, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan. It is part
http:/ /www.sms.utwente.nl/energia/ of a trainer's pack, which includes a
index.html trainer's guide and slide set. It explores the
Founded in 1995 by an informal group of links between gender and the environment
women involved in energy inputs at the through case studies of biodiversity in
Beijing Conference on Women, ENERGIA Brazil, drylands use in Burkina Faso, and
is an international network on women and mangrove use in Pakistan. Available in
sustainable energy, linking individuals and English, French, and Portuguese.
groups concerned with energy, environ-
ment, and women. ENERGIA aims to
strengthen the role of women in
sustainable energy development through
information exchange, training, research,