Gender and Climate Change, an international collective of young scholars and professionals, unveils the hidden connections between gender norms and climate-related issues.
Although particularly focused on women’s challenges and inspiring female-led initiatives to tackle rising temperatures, the project targets gender inclusiveness. To work more efficiently towards our Sustainable Development Goals, namely gender-equality (n°5) and climate action (n°13), GCC gives the floor both to men and women around the world by means of visuals, storytelling, report and research-based outputs. The project’s mandate encompasses advocacy, knowledge generation and information sharing.
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Photo project
Words are not always sufficient to capture lived experiences while photography can connect people from all over the world without language and cultural constraints.
GCC’s visual storytelling combines words and pictures to draw nearer to people’s realities and to share with a wide public, stories from all over the world.
March 2018
This series of photos is extracted from the photo exhibition by Tessa Fox, which was hold in Paris in June 2017 at La Recyclerie. They were taken within the framework of a research project in Vanuatu in July 2016, one year after Cyclone Pam stroke the island.
Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu. Lucy & Lewie sit in a dry creek bed , which only flows where there is heavy rain. The last rain they saw was in January 2016. Even so, these women are never short of smiles. ©Tessa Fox
Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu. Lewie holds onto the dead leaves and stem of a yam vine. Yam is among the traditional food of Vanuatu, typically eaten every day in every meal. The production was severely affected by a significant drought in 2016. ©Tessa Fox
Nguna Island, Vanuatu. Naoiwia Primary School is the first school using composted toilet waste in Nguna Island . These compost toilets help to reduce water use and enhance crops of the school garden. Since fertilising, students have seen an increase in their production. ©Tessa Fox
Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu. Men loading copra into a boat. In Vanuatu, labour division is very strong. Men are working in copra production whereas women are taking care of children and maintain the garden during the day. ©Tessa Fox
February 2018
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Due to climate-induced male out-migration like Hans’ brother, the number of women engaged in agriculture across Asia is promptly rising. In spite of this income-earning opportunity that could empower them, longstanding social and gendered norms often prevent women from holding their own land. In Bangladesh for example, only 5% of women are officially recorded as landholders. Furthermore, a widespread lack of legitimacy and social recognition for women farmers in economic and political institutions hinder their access to labor-saving technologies. Therefore, they are doomed to undertake manual work in the fields. In other words. women in rice cultures, but more generally in all types of agriculture, are more likely to suffer from burdensome working conditions.
Olivyn – Female Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Climate Change Unit (Los Banos, Philippines) Sampling GHG in rice fields. Climate Change and Agriculture are intricately linked. On the one hand, a rise in temperature may affect the occurence of natural hazards and, thereby, affect crops at the expense of food security and farmers’ livelihoods. On the other hand, agriculture is a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions. Crops and agricultural practices as in rice production emit GHG gases such as Methane and Nitrous Oxide, much more polluting than CO2. Olivyn, women scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Climate Change Unit is seeking the best techniques, formulas and practices to measure gas emissions from rice plants. Her work is crucial to target the best adaptation and mitigation techniques in agriculture.
Hans “ They were forced to leave and make up for bigger cities to survive”, rice farmer “ It gets harder and harder to cultivate rice today. Typhoons are more intense than they used to be and when they hit, most crops are lost forever. I know many men here in the fields who gave up on trying. They were forced to leave and make up for bigger cities to survive. Mostly men. It’s always hard to leave your home and family, you know. Some of my friends left. My brother also. He rarely comes back home.”
Due to climate-induced male out-migration like Hans’ brother, the number of women engaged in agriculture across Asia is promptly rising. In spite of this income-earning opportunity that could empower them, longstanding social and gendered norms often prevent women from holding their own land. In Bangladesh for example, only 5% of women are officially recorded as landholders. Furthermore, a widespread lack of legitimacy and social recognition for women farmers in economic and political institutions hinder their access to labor-saving technologies. Therefore, they are doomed to undertake manual work in the fields. In other words. women in rice cultures, but more generally in all types of agriculture, are more likely to suffer from burdensome working conditions.
Articles
In desert areas, droughts and environmental degradations often drastically affect water access. This issue, especially in rural villages, has direct repercussions on women lives. Why so?
Gender and climate change have a complex but interesting relationship. Have you ever wondered why even nature would treat gender disproportionately? Let’s have a glance at this, with the case study of Nepal.
Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands, located in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Todayclimate change is the greatest challenge faced by Vanuatu as well as many other Small Island Developing States ( SIDs). According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) forecasts, temperatures will increase by 1.2 ° C by 2040 compared to 1995 levels.
Read more.
If I ask you to close your eyes and visualize a farmer, a pitchfork with a straw hat may come to your mind to adorn the picture of a tanned-looking man. In most people’s subconscious, a farmer is male not female. However, in many parts of the developing world, women are the backbone of agricultural labor. In some African and South Asian countries, they represent up to 60% of the active population engaged in agriculture.
Read more.
If you were at COP23, you might have been lucky enough to witness an aerobic session where participants stepped their way to true gender equality within the climate framework.
That’s right, aerobic folks.
Read More.
On the 8th of May 2017, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Ms. Espinosa, was appointed Gender International Champion and affirmed her commitment to advance gender equality within the UNFCCC secretariat. “The full and direct involvement of women increases the array of solutions to climate change” she said.
Read More.
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Investigating the nexus between gender and biodiversity requires to explore the influence of gender roles on the use, management and conservation of biodiversity. Differences in terms of labour responsibilities, decision-making power, and knowledge have implications on how women and men use and manage the natural resources of their surrounding environment.
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