Justice is quite an important aspect of the
debate about the
mitigation
of and
adaptation
to climate change. However, discussions are usually limited to
the question of
global justice - i.e.
the distribution of rights and obligations between those countries
which have contributed most to climate change (i.e.
industrialized countries) and those
which have contributed least but will suffer the most (i.e.
developing countries). Justice
within countries or regions is hardly considered in these
discussions, although it is evident that countries are rarely
suffering from climate change as a whole. Rather certain groups of
the population suffer the most – above all the poor and women. The
international network GenderCC – Women for Climate Justice
highlights the effects of climate change on women and marginalized
groups within countries and conceptualises justice based on
that.
Care work, poverty alleviation, income-generating
activities
It’s the social roles assigned to men and women that determine how
negative impacts of climate change are being experienced by them.
No matter what the particular concern - household energy supply or
drinking water , the cultivation of crops or health - climate
change increases the time and effort needed for care work, which is
usually considered women’s work. Finding wood and clean water
becomes more time consuming, the productivity of soils declines,
illnesses like Malaria and Cholera become pandemic. The extra
efforts required of women intensify injustices between the sexes:
Women have even less time for
education,
information, income-generating
activities and participation in decision-making, and remain trapped
in their traditional
gender role.
Natural disasters, conflicts, migration
Natural disasters such as
floods and
storms,
droughts and other severe weather events have
already increased in scale and frequency due to climate change and
are having increasing consequences for the livelihoods of people
all over the world. Women and men are affected differently by
disasters , depending on culture and socio-economic contexts, as
there are differences in prevention activities, reactions during
crises and during reconstruction after natural disasters. Women’s
work load doubles or even triples in the aftermath of such
disasters while living conditions and
possibilities to generate income decline dramatically.
Worldwide climate change will lead to more
conflicts about increasingly scarce
natural resource like water and energy,
and/or about
arable land. Conflicts
affect women and men differently. In a
crisis
situation like those caused by natural disasters or conflicts,
women’s responsibility and work load increases while possibilities
to generate income de-creases. Women are less mobile because of
their family duties and thus less likely to migrate to find work.
All over the world, women constitute the majority of the poor and
hence are least prepared to adapt to changing circumstances or to
rebuild their lives after destruction. Above all, in conflicts and
in the aftermath of natural disasters women are subjected more
often to
sexual abuse and
sexual violence than during peaceful
times.
Human migration will also increase
due to climate change. As traditional means of sur-vival do not
suffice to adapt to a changing environmental situation – for
example in case of
sea level rise or
desertification - people are forced
to sell their properties and migrate to other regions. It is often
men who migrate while women stay behind. Their
social network suffer and they have to take
additional responsibility for what is traditionally men’s work,
while lacking the necessary resources, property [property] and
technologies to do so .
Gender perspectives in international climate change policy
The gender perspective has barely yet found its way into the
international climate negotiations, and this also holds true for
local, national, and regional levels of policy making. The
marginalization is most obvious in the
international climate negotiations. Contrary to almost all other UN
summits and agreements of the last 15 years, the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change [United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change] neither mentions gender aspects nor
women as affected stakeholders. The
Kyoto
Protocol also lacks a gender dimension. Without such a base it
is difficult to enforce gender justice, especially in a context
that in general gives little consideration to social aspects.Over
the past few years, a network of women, gender and climate experts
has developed to change this situation.
After years of
attendance and fight for attention and with great perseverance,
joint position papers were finally issued at the 2007 United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali bali
. They
discuss a future climate regime , the financing of adaptation and
mitigation , avoided deforestation , and proposals such as the use
of agro-fuels and nuclear energy from a women’s / gender
perspective. The one-dimensional conceptualization of climate
change with a sole focus on technical approaches to reduce
greenhouse gases is criticized for failing
to be
sustainable. Instead the
integration of a gender perspective is advocated for all
instruments and evaluation mechanisms. The GenderCC network demands
a thorough analysis of the effects of
market-based instruments as the
Kyoto Mechanisms (e.g. the
Clean Development Mechanism,
Joint Implementation and
Emissions trading) on all
potential stakeholders as well as with respect to
sustainable development and the
establishment of criteria that guarantee that funds for adaptation
to climate change are beneficial to women.
The women’s and gender-related activities at the conference in Bali
have paved the way towards the larger goal of integrating a gender
perspective in a post-Kyoto agreement [Post-Kyoto Protocol
negotiations on greenhouse gas emissions]. Another important step
has been the UNFCCC conference in Poznan (COP14) , where a
conference on gender justice and climate change strategies for the
integration of the gender perspective in the negotiations documents
was held. Various activities leading up to the next COP in
Copenhagen raise hopes that gender will be included in the upcoming
agreement.
References
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