Adverse impacts of environmental change can be felt in the present moment through regular risks, like avalanches, floods and tropical storms; and in the long haul, through more slow corruption of the climate. The unfavorable impacts of these occasions are now felt in numerous spaces, remembering for connection to, bury alia, agribusiness and food security; biodiversity and environments; water assets; human wellbeing; human settlements and relocation examples; and energy, transport and industry. Women are more vulnerable to the consequences of climate change than males in many of these situations because they comprise the majority of the world’s poor and are more reliant on natural resources endangered by climate change. Furthermore, they encounter social, economic, and political obstacles that limit their ability to cope. Women and men in developing nations’ rural areas are especially susceptible since they rely heavily on local natural resources for a living. Those in charge of securing water, food, and fuel for cooking and heating have the most difficult tasks. Twenty-five years after the Beijing World Conference firmly placed gender equality on the global agenda, women still continue to struggle to realise these rights, according to a new UN Women report, which finds that the climate emergency, conflict, and the alarming rise of exclusionary politics all threaten future progress toward gender equality.

The need for gender equality to deal with climate change

It is crucial to remember that women are not only sensitive to climate change, but they are also effective change agents in terms of both mitigation and adaptation. Women frequently have a wealth of information and skills that may be applied to climate change mitigation, catastrophe reduction, and adoption methods. Furthermore, women’s roles in homes and communities as custodians of natural and domestic resources position them well to contribute to sustainable livelihood plans that are responsive to changing environmental conditions. Here we discuss how gender equality can help in dealing with climate change.

1. Climate change has severe implications for food security in four dimensions: food availability, food accessibility, food usage, and food system stability. Depending on the area, women farmers presently account for 45-80% of total food production in developing nations. Agricultural employment employs around two-thirds of the female labour population in developing nations, and more than 90 percent in several African countries. Traditional food sources become increasingly unreliable and scarce as a result of climate change. Women endure income and harvest losses, which are sometimes their primary sources of food and revenue. Food price rises make food more unavailable to the poor, particularly women and girls, whose health has been shown to deteriorate faster than male health during periods of food scarcity. Furthermore, women are frequently excluded from decisions about access to and use of land and resources important to their livelihoods. For these reasons, it is critical that rural women’s rights to food security, nondiscriminatory access to resources, and equal participation in decision-making processes be protected.

2. Climate change has a substantial influence on freshwater sources, reducing water availability for residential and economic purposes. The effects of increased frequency of floods and droughts are far-reaching, particularly for vulnerable groups such as women responsible for household water management. Women and girls throughout the developing globe carry the responsibility of getting water for their families and spend large amounts of time each day lugging water from remote sources. Unfortunately, water from remote sources is rarely adequate to satisfy the household’s requirements and is frequently polluted, so women and girls bear the consequences of poor sanitation. Given the changing climate, insufficient access to water and poor water quality affect not only women, their responsibilities as primary caregivers, and the health of their families, but it also has an impact on agricultural production and livestock care and increases the overall amount of labour required to collect, store, protect, and distribute water.

3. According to studies, global warming and extreme weather conditions might have disastrous human rights repercussions for millions of people. For example, global warming is one of the major causes of global famine, malnutrition, disease exposure, and diminishing access to water. Furthermore, it restricts access to suitable housing, leading to the loss of livelihoods resulting from permanent displacement. Thus, climate change affects millions of people’s economic and social rights, including their rights to food, health, and shelter. As climate change will undoubtedly continue to impact humankind, a fundamental UN goal is to protect the human rights of those whose lives are most negatively affected.

4. On Twitter, Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), stated, “Women are critical for the management and sustainable use of land and biodiversity resources.” “Changing the power balance and pushing for gender equality is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

5. According to UNEP’s Global Gender and Environment Outlook 2016 (GGEO), gender inequality is one of the main challenges to advancing the environmental dimension of sustainable development, as it has negative consequences for access, use, and control of natural resources, as well as the right to a clean, safe, and healthy environment for all. Therefore, the GGEO also advocates for the use of gender-responsive techniques to overcome impediments to sustainable development.

Gender equality – a critical missing piece of the climate puzzle

Adopting gender-responsive methods extends the life of environmental initiatives. It makes them more transformational, from climate change policies and programming to challenges of access to electricity, water, sanitation, land, and other natural resources. Gender-responsive methods must openly recognise the various and gender-specific interests and demands of girls and women and assure their participation and leadership in planning, executing, and monitoring mitigation and response measures. According to UN Women, to accelerate systemic and long-term change, there is a need to significantly boost funding for gender equality, harness the power of technology and innovation, and guarantee that development includes women and girls who experience numerous types of discrimination.

Conclusion

Identifying gender-sensitive methods for responding to human security requirements and environmental and humanitarian disasters induced by climate change is critical. These efforts should focus on: reducing women’s vulnerability alongside men’s susceptibilities; promoting gender-sensitive emergency responses; and enlisting women as key environmental actors in natural disaster management decision-making processes alongside men, leveraging women’s skills, inventiveness, and leadership in mitigation and management efforts.