Climate change is undoubtedly the major issue confronting humanity in the 21st century. Governments all over the world have pooled resources, intelligence, information, innovation, technology and political will to address the ramifications of climate change, and to find ways to mitigate its effects.
But what does gender have to do with it?
This is the question parliamentarians, decision-makers in government, environment scientists and disaster relief officials from all over the world will seek to answer in what has been called ?the first and biggest global congress on gender in climate change and disaster risk reduction.? The Global Forum opens this Sunday, Oct. 19 at the Dusit Thani Hotel, and gathers about 250 delegates, including government officials and representatives of the United Nations and related agencies.
?Women and environment experts have raised concern over the absence of women in the discourse and debate on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, both of which are global mainstream issues,? said Dr. Kim Jung-Sook, president of the Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP). ?Thus, this congress will focus on climate change, identify its impacts, thoroughly review the gender aspects, study its implications and then formulate gender-responsive legislation and policies as well as a global action plan with appropriate strategies to reduce environmental disaster risks,? she added.
Organizer of the congress is CAPWIP, in partnership with the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), the UN Development Program (UNDP), the UN Environment Program (UNEP), and the Women?s Environment and Development Organization (Wedo). The gathering is supported by the UN Development Fund for Women (Unifem), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Interparliamentary Union (IPU).
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There is no denying that the impacts of climate change?weather patterns that may lead to more disasters of increasing ferocity, shortages of water, arable land and sea life, even new diseases developing and old diseases re-emerging due to shifting climate conditions?will hit women harder. One reason is that they represent the majority of the world?s poor and are therefore ?more proportionally dependent on natural resources that are threatened.?
At present, say organizers of the forum, ?the negotiation process tends to be driven by a masculine view of the problem and its solutions. Participation of women in the whole process, at international, national and local levels, is very low, both in the South and in the North??
A document from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development states: ?An overall assessment of the climate change debate to date shows women are patently absent in the decision-making process. Their contributions in environmental policies are largely ignored. Decision-making and policy formulation at environmental levels such as conservation, protection and rehabilitation, and environmental management are predominantly male agenda.?
The UN Conference on Environment and Development notes the key role ascribed to women as principal actors in the management of natural resources and the development of sustainable and ecologically sound policies, even if they are not formally recognized by scientists and policy-makers.
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Most important, women can contribute to the solution.
?Women?s roles are of considerable importance in the promotion of environmental ethics,? note the organizers. ?Their efforts in waste management through recycling and reuse of resources are an indication of the extent of their significant input to community development. Women in rural areas, due to their daily contact with the natural habitat for the provision of food, fodder and wood, tend to have sound ecological knowledge that could be useful in environmental planning and governance.?
The climate change congress seeks to provide a forum for legislators and decision-makers to formulate gender-responsive legislation and programs related to gender in climate change and disaster risk reduction. Other objectives are: to understand the phenomenon of climate change, its impacts, and its implications and study the appropriate risk-reduction strategy; to review and examine the gender aspects in climate change and disaster risk reduction; to define the roles women can play in addressing the impacts of climate change and disaster risk reduction programs; and to identify and define the action agenda for parliamentarians, policy advocates, and women leaders to support global and national actions.
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The forum, which will run until Oct. 22, has drawn an impressive list of participants, including speakers Dr. Salvano Briceno, director of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction; Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; Dr. Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program; Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Prize winner and founder of the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya; and Khunying Supatra Masdit of Thailand, founding president of Capwip and the Global Network of Women in Politics.
Sen. Loren Legarda and Speaker Prospero Nograles, together with CAPWIP president Kim, will welcome the participants, while Sen. Pia Cayetano, president of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, will deliver the closing keynote address.
Subsidized rates are available for local participants. For more information, log on to the CAPWIP website: http://www.capwip.org/3rdglobalcongress.htm.
