Empowering women key to climate change

Times Live (South Africa): Climate change can't be solved without empowering women, and global problems can't be solved without addressing climate change, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane says. "Women produce up to 80 percent of the food in the developing world as here in South Africa, and especially in Polokwane," the minister said.

She said in the case of all the wars in Africa women were on the frontline of picking up the pieces, and were the carriers of development, ensuring the survival of communities. "It is known that in Africa, women do 90 percent of the work of gathering water and food. Children that are girls often share these responsibilities.

"In flood prone regions, it is women who have to deal with the impact. In drought prone areas, it is women who have to fend for their families ensuring that the children are fed, and that the sick and the indigent are taken care off," Nkoana-Mashabane said.

Women were at greater risk in times of extreme weather. "Drought and unpredictable rains brought on by climate change will make this work far more precarious. Women will have to labour harder and longer to ensure their families have food, fuel, and water.'...

Girl carrying brother alongside the road leading north from Maputo, shot by Andrew Moir, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license