The discourse on climate change does not pay adequate attention to women, either at the local project level or in international negotiations. Women are unable to voice their specific requirements even though the impact of climate change affects women and men differently. In several rural areas of the South, although women are responsible for feeding their families and are therefore more dependent on natural resources such as land, wood and water, their access to these resources is limited. They are also denied full access to loans, education and information.
Second, the potential of women as agents of change for climate mitigation and adaptation remains untapped: Their extensive theoretical and practical knowledge of the environment and resource conservation is not given due consideration. In terms of economic participation, they are not paid for the environmental services that they already provide (e.g., reforestation). Their potential contribution to climate mitigation by being part of the economic cycle is not sufficiently exploited.
This collection of contributions by gender and sustainable development experts explores the interconnections between gender equality and sustainable development across a range of sectors and issues such as energy, health, education, food security, climate change, human rights, consumption and production patterns, and urbanisation. The articles provide evidence on how women’s equal access and control over resources not only improves livelihoods, but also helps ensure the sustainability of the environment. Recommendations for policy makers and practitioners include: develop a participatory and gender-responsive consultation process to inform and ensure equitable decision-making; commit to building a green economy based on gender equality, poverty eradication, and technological and social systems that reduce the environmental impact of production and consumption; decrease women’s growing burden of unpaid labour by increasing their access to appropriate technologies and natural resources.
The publication contains several case studies, including from Ghana.
This summary was prepared by Eldis.
Early in 2012 Mexico, as G20 President, invited international organisations to examine practical actions that could be undertaken to sustainably improve agricultural productivity growth, in particular on small family farms. The preparation of this report, co-ordinated by the FAO and the OECD, is a collaborative undertaking by Bioversity, CGIAR Consortium, FAO, IFAD, IFPRI, IICA, OECD, UNCTAD, Coordination team of UN High Level Task Force on the Food Security Crisis, WFP, World Bank, and WTO. The recommendations provided are broadly of two types: specific actions that can contribute in some way to improving productivity growth or sustainable resource use (whether building on existing initiatives or suggesting new activities) and more general proposals that may not be actionable as presented but that serve to highlight areas for priority attention.