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Women central to efforts to deal with climate change, says new UNFPA report
Kathmandu, London, 18 November 2009
Women bear the disproportionate burden of climate change, but have so far been largely overlooked in the debate about how to address problems of rising seas, droughts, melting glaciers and extreme weather, concludes The State of World Population 2009, released today by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
"Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, even though they contributed the least to it," says UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.
For many people climate change is everyday reality. In recent years, both food and fuel have been harder to find. The available water carries parasites. The forest area in Nepal is shrinking yearly by 1.6 percent from approximately 37 percent of the area in 1990 to 25.4 percent in 2005. While about 90 percent of population had access to improved water sources in 2005 less than half of the people in the country (35%) had access to improved sanitation.
Consequences of climate change-floods, rising seas and drought- present growing challenges. The poor are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and the majority of the 1.5 billion people living on $1 a day or less are women. The poor are more likely to depend on agriculture for a living and therefore risk going hungry or losing their livelihoods when droughts strike, rains become unpredictable and hurricanes move with unprecedented force. The poor tend to live in marginal areas, vulnerable to floods, rising seas and storms.
In Nepal, only 19 percent of technical and professional workers being women (2006), the income was mostly generated from agricultural activities. The estimated national average yearly income earned by a woman was USD 1,038 in 2005 while it was almost twice as much for a man (USD 2,072). Women in Nepal, in contrast to men are more likely to receive in-kind payment or no payment at all. Among women aged 15-49, who worked in 2006, more than 23 percent were not paid at all compared to 6 percent of men in the same position.
Nepal is vulnerable to environmental hazards and has experienced both floods and droughts in recent years. In 2008, the floods in both western and eastern Nepal, affected more than 240,000 people. In situation of natural disaster women often become the sole providers and caretakers for their households, and sometimes for the families of others - especially when men have been killed, injured or must leave in search of income. Women also have unique health concerns, from hygiene needs to life-threatening complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. The stress and disruption of natural disasters often lead to a rise in sexual violence and domestic abuse.
The State of World Population 2009 argues that the international community’s fight against climate change is more likely to be successful if policies, programmes and treaties take into account the needs, rights and potential of women.
The report shows that investments that empower women and girls-particularly education and health-bolster economic development and reduce poverty and have a beneficial impact on climate. Girls with more education, for example, tend to have smaller and healthier families as adults. Women with access to reproductive health services, including family planning, have lower fertility rates that contribute to slower growth in greenhouse-gas emissions in the long run.
"This is a vital time in Nepal to re-invigorate the debate and identify the actions needed to respond to population issues and women’s empowerment in the face of climate change. We hope the report will contribute to the debate" added Ian McFarlane, UNFPA Representative in Nepal.
More Information:
For more information, please visit:
http://www.unfpa.org/swp/ or contact Anna Adhikari, Strategic Communications Officer, UNFPA Nepal at
adhikari@unfpa.org
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