Put women at core of climate change debate, say activists

IRIN: Women are being excluded from the debate over climate change, despite being most at risk, and governments should do more to ensure their situations and views are represented, campaigners and experts say. So far, climate change negotiations have responded poorly to the effects on women, activists say. And while global policies advocate a gender perspective, and including women in environment and development efforts, few governments have incorporated such policies into their national plans.

"Extreme events and environmental degradation become a women's issue because we are responsible for providing for the whole community," said Anna Pinto, programme director with the Centre for Organisation, Research and Education (CORE), based in northeastern India. "If the rice yield is bad, men have to migrate, find a job and send money back, while women have to ensure the day-to-day survival of the helpless. "When the environment degrades it becomes more of a women's problem. These issues need to be genderised on behalf of everyone," she said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month called for women to have a greater role in climate change debates. "The special perspective of women is often overlooked in global discussions on climate change," Ban told an event on women's leadership held in New York….

Women seeking valuables in the wreckage of the 1900 hurricane in Galveston, Texas