Promotion of Gender Equality Intensifies at African Climate Week



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Experts participating in the African Climate Week (ACW 2019) in Accra, Ghana, argued that practical solutions depend on women's participation in all aspects of the climate change debate.

Salina Sanou, Pan African Alliance for Climate Justice (PACJA), said in a presentation to the Africa Consultative Workshop on the sidelines of the ACW that it was necessary to continue to support organizations led by Aboriginal women to empower them as role models.

She added that bad-disaggregated data is a good way to identify and correct gaps in tracking progress in the climate change discussion.

"Women and men know about climate change differently, while gender inequalities persist in the world. Recognizing the important contributions of women as decision-makers, stakeholders and experts in all sectors and at all levels can lead to effective long-term solutions to climate change. . Indigenous women are an important part of the REDD + process and discussion of climate change and can not be ignored, "she said.

Climate change is the most complex challenge that requires a concerted, proactive and comprehensive response.

Gender inequality can significantly limit the resilience and adaptive capacity of women, families and communities. It can also limit climate change mitigation options.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase the yields of their farms by 20 to 30%, which would increase total agricultural production in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent.

Evidence shows that empowering women and promoting gender equality can produce results in all sectors and lead to more environmentally sound decision-making at the household and national levels.

In all societies, women are often responsible for collecting and producing food, collecting water and supplying fuel for heating and cooking. With climate change, these tasks are becoming more difficult. Extreme weather events such as droughts and floods have a greater impact on the poor and the most vulnerable.

Although women are disproportionately affected by climate change, they play a crucial role in adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects. Women have the knowledge and understanding of what is needed to adapt to changing environmental conditions and to offer practical solutions. But they remain a largely untapped resource.

Salina said unlocking women's knowledge and skills was an important opportunity to develop effective solutions to climate change for the benefit of all.

"Restricted land rights, lack of access to financial resources, training and technology, as well as limited access to political decision-making spheres often prevent them from playing their full role in the fight against change." climate change and other environmental challenges, "she noted.

Betty Maitoyo, a gender specialist with an indigenous organization, the Mainyoto People's Integrated Development Organization (MPIDO), said the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) should go to besides symbolic measures and ensure the integration of the gender dimension in all its activities (financing and representation).

Countries, she said, should involve women, civil society organizations and indigenous peoples in the development of local and national plans and in their monitoring and implementation.

"A budget should be included in the existing program to raise awareness to end badist stereotypes and support the women and women leaders of the project," she said.

In 2015, women represented on average 38% of national delegations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

According to the IUCN-GGCA archives of Roots for Future, the same year, women's participation in the boards of directors of the climate finance mechanisms was not impressive.

Women accounted for 25% of the Global Environment Facility, 15% of the Green Climate Fund, 26% of the Climate Investment Fund, 11% of the Climate Development Facility and 35% of the Adaptation Fund.

It is a trend that women's groups and other civil society organizations present at the meeting have expressed as terribly inadequate.

For Betty, climate finance should be accessible to men and women and designed to generate mutual benefits, not to exacerbate patterns of inequality.

In the meantime, global negotiations have increasingly reflected the growing understanding of gender considerations in climate decision making over the last eight years.

For example, women accounted for 29% and men 71% of the National Focal Points of the Global Environment Facility for Rio deliberations.

The United Nations climate change negotiations, without texts and discussions on gender issues until 2008, more recently reflected an increased understanding of the links between gender equality and the response to gender equality. climatic changes.

This has become necessary because women are the most affected by climate change, the impact and the effect being much greater than those affecting men.

The impacts and responses to climate change are not gender neutral; thus, climate finance mechanisms and resource allocations to address these differentiated impacts need to be gender sensitive.

Hayford Duodu of the Local Communities Granting Mechanism (DGM-GHANA) project added that women's direct participation in climate change decision-making was very essential.

According to him, the indigenous knowledge of indigenous women directly affected by the effects of climate change can not be neglected and must be exploited.

"Their value in indigenous knowledge is critical to designing, implementing and financing climate solutions in an efficient and equitable way," he said.

A gender-responsive climate finance architecture can play a fundamental role in the establishment of a comprehensive climate change framework and a complementary path to sustainable development that supports an inclusive economy. equal and resilient for women and men.

It is therefore important to ensure equal space and resources for women and men to participate in climate change decision-making and action at all levels.

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