As posted earlier, Agnes Quisumbing and Neha Kumar presented preliminary results on a study examining the impacts of land registration on tree planting and soil conservation in Ethiopia at the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty. On Earth Day, the results beginning to emerge from this study are a reminder of the importance of understanding gender differences in order to effectively deal with the effects of climate change worldwide, and particularly for the poor. For instance, the results show that men's and women's knowledge of land rights have different implications for the type of soil conservation techniques adopted. Furthermore, because many of these techniques are labor intensive and female-headed households tend to have less family labor available, they are less likely to adopt them. As highlighted in a recent blog post introducing the WB's Africa Gender Innovation Lab, this type of research that delves into the differences between men and women -- in this case, related to agriculture and conservation -- is what will allow us to address the causes rather than the symptoms of gender inequality.
Every year, the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty brings together representatives from governments, the development community, civil society, academia, and the private sector to discuss issues of concern related to land and poverty. This year Neha Kumar and Agnes Quisumbing link this critical issue to women and climate in their study entitled "Do More Secure Land Rights for Women Encourage Conservation? The Medium-term Impacts of the Ethiopian Land Registration." read more...
A theoretical framework for adaptation to climate change has been used as the basis for this research project. The working paper “Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: A Theoretical Framework, Overview of Key Issues and Discussion of Gender Differentiated Priorities and Participation” by Elizabeth Bryan and Julia Behrman, develops and describes this framework and then goes on to provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of community-based adaptation (CBA) efforts.
The workshop Scaling Up Climate Services for Farmers in Africa and South Asia was convened December 10-12, 2012 in Saly, Senegal by the CGIAR program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Climate Services Partnership (CSP). This event aimed to foster South-South learning and collaboration between sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia on strengthening and scaling-up climate information and advisory services that serve smallholder farmers. Over 110 participants from more than 30 countries were in attendance.
Click here to read the white paper summarizing lessons learnt from across cases, projects and research experiments.
The BRIDGE information program, based in the Institute of Development Studies, has recently published a “Cutting Edge Pack on Gender and Climate Change.” They note that climate change responses must address human and gender dimensions to be effective. Specifically, the pack advocates that:
- women and men have an equal voice in decision-making on climate change and broader governance processes;
- women and men are given equal access to the resources necessary to respond to the negative effects of climate change;
- both women’s and men’s needs and knowledge are taken into account and climate change policymaking institutions and processes at all levels are not biased towards men or women;
- the broad social constraints that limit women’s access to strategic and practical resources no longer exist.
Climate change increasingly affects the livelihoods of people, and poor people experience especially negative impacts
Source: Stephan Bachenheimer/ World Bank
given their lack of capacity to prepare for and cope with the effects of a changing climate. Among poor people, women and men may experience these impacts differently. As one of the early outputs of this project, this literature review, "Review of the Gender-differentiated Impacts of Climate Change on Women’s and Men’s Assets and Well-being in Developing Countries," by Amelia Goh, presents and tests two hypotheses on the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change on women and men in developing countries. The first hypothesis is that climate-related events affect men’s and women’s well-being and assets differently. The second hypothesis is that climate-related shocks affect women more negatively than men. read more...
The second annual workshop for the project "Enhancing Women’s Assets to Manage Risk under Climate Change: Potential for Group Based Approaches" was held in Nairobi, Kenya, September 14-15. Representatives from all four case study countries attended.
Participants explored critical issues on climate change, gender and agriculture in Kenya through field trips and guest speakers, worked together to coordinate outreach efforts for the final phase of the project, and also presented preliminary research findings and completed research outputs, such as this CAPRi working paper "A literature review of the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change on women’s and men’s assets and well-being in developing countries," by Amelia Goh.
- A Stakeholder Map for Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh’s Agricultural Sector. Noora Aberman, Regina Birner, and Snigdha Ali. Access it here
- A Stakeholder Map for Climate Change Adaptation in Kenya’s Agriculture Sector. Marther Ngigi, Barrack Okoba, Noora Aberman, and Regina Birner. Access it here
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A Stakeholder Map for Climate Change Adaptation in Ethiopia’s Agricultural Sector. Noora Aberman, Tekie Alemu, Regina Birner and Eric Haglund. Access it here
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A Stakeholder Map for Climate Change Adaptation in Mali’s Agricultural Sector. Noora Aberman, Eric Haglund, and Daouda Koné. Access it here (ENGLISH)
- A Stakeholder Map for Climate Change Adaptation in Mali’s Agricultural Sector. Noora Aberman, Eric Haglund, and Daouda Koné. Access it here (FRANCAIS)
For more see "outputs" section of the website
The first workshop for the gender-climate change project held September 2012 in Washington D.C. discussed a series of conceptual frameworks from the literature on gender and assets, institutional analysis, sustainable livelihoods, and climate change. As none of these frameworks integrates components reflecting important gender and climate change interactions, elements of a new framework were developed during the workshop and finalized thereafter. read more...
"Much of the research into agricultural and farming systems has looked at soil, water and land management strategies and technologies that make up the portfolio of climate-smart agriculture options. Very little emphasis has been placed on understanding the different adaptive strategies men and women apply in order to secure their livelihoods in the face of climate change. If climate change research and development interventions are to be targeted to men and women, we need to understand both men and women’s adaptation and mitigation strategies." read more...