UN climate body urged to take lead in gender focus

Megan Iacobini de Fazio in IPS: Two weeks before the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) review summit at the United Nations, concerns are being raised that gender equality is still largely divorced from efforts to address climate change, even though women have a critical role to play in solving - and are often most affected by – the problem.

Rebecca Pearl, a senior policy advisor for Climate Change at Oxfam America, told IPS that the two MDGs "are often seen in isolation and there is little overlap with the streams of implementation to ensure that environmental initiatives include a gender approach".

Many organisations and scientific bodies that deal with climate change still lack a gendered approach to their research and ignore the different ways in which the sexes may be affected by natural disasters, she said. "It is important to continue building awareness that responses to climate change must address women's and men's different responsibilities and needs," Pearl said. "A gender-sensitive approach is prerequisite to the success of any climate intervention, and many efforts fail because the women are left out."

Although women are more adversely affected by natural disasters, because of their already disadvantaged position within many societies and because of their reliance on the environment, they have also proven more adept at mobilising communities in responding to disasters or motivating them in adapting to climate change….

Young girls in Chencha (Ethiopia), shot by MauritsV, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license