Gender, Development, and Climate Change

Front Cover
Rachel Masika
Oxfam, 2002 - 112 pages
In the face of extreme weather events, desertification, and a rise in sea levels, governments and communities around the world increasingly recognize that the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change is urgent. The global agenda and negotiations focus on what governments, corporations, and institutions can do in the search for large-scale technological solutions. Yet women, men, and local communities all have roles, responsibilities, and interests that hold the potential either to harm or to benefit their environment.

This book considers the gendered dimensions of climate change. Ranging in scope from high-level global decisionmaking to local communities, the contributors examine the potential impacts of environmental degradation and change on vulnerable groups. They highlight the different vulnerabilities, coping strategies, and risks faced by men and women, and the socio-economic implications of changing livelihoods and insecurity. Examples of mitigation projects that have successfully integrated gender concerns are explored, as well as initiatives that have overlooked gender considerations and resulted in different outcomes for women and men.

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Page 26 - Climate change' means a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.
Page 24 - ... projects and activities. Contributing to the awareness of the importance of indigenous concerns was the role played by indigenous peoples and their supporters at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992.
Page 94 - Noting that the largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases has originated in developed countries, that per capita emissions in developing countries are still relatively low and that the share of global emissions originating in developing countries will grow to meet their social and development needs...
Page 19 - the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate' [5], and was sufficiently confident by the time of the Third Assessment Report to conclude that 'there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities
Page 26 - Framework Convention on Climate Change where "climate change" refers to a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed...
Page 93 - Convention, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.
Page 20 - Decreased water availability for populations in many waterscarce regions, particularly in the sub-tropics • An increase in the number of people exposed to vector-borne...
Page 94 - Agree upon and adopt, by consensus, rules of procedure and financial rules for itself and for any subsidiary bodies...
Page 21 - Probably no other group is more affected by environmental destruction than poor village women. Every dawn brings with it a long march in search of fuel, fodder and water. It does not matter if the women are old, young or pregnant; crucial household needs have to be met day after weary day. As ecological conditions worsen, the long march becomes even longer and more tiresome.
Page 101 - Janeiro in 1992 and the first Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Berlin in 1995.

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