Monday, December 12, 2011

Gender and Climate Change


Climate change is increasingly being recognized as a global crisis, but responses to it have so far been overly focused on scientific and economic solutions. How then do we move towards more people-centered, gender-aware climate change policies and processes? How do we both respond to the different needs and concerns of women and men and challenge the gender inequalities that mean women are more likely to lose out than men in the face of climate change? It is vital to address the gender dimensions of climate change. It identifies key gender impacts of climate change and clearly maps the global and national policy architecture that dominates climate change responses.

It is reported that making climate change responses more gender aware and – potentially – transformative, arguing that gender transformation should be both a potential end goal and an important condition of effective climate change responses and poverty reduction.

 It is recommended by the experts to take following points into action:
  • Take into account the multiple dimensions of gender inequality and women’s and men’s experiences of climate change on the ground, and invest in research to enable this.
  • Move beyond simple assumptions about women’s vulnerability to highlight women’s agency in adapting to and mitigating climate change. This will involve integrating women’s valuable knowledge and practical experience into policy making processes.
  • Learn from people-focused, gender-transformative approaches at the local level and apply these lessons to national and international policy.
  • Promote a rights-based approach to climate change and ensure that all future climate change policies and processes draw on human rights frameworks such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
  • Find alternatives to market-based approaches where possible, but when they are used to address climate change mitigation, ensure they benefit women equally and do not exclude or further disadvantage women.
  • Address the underlying causes of gender inequality, tackling issues such as unequal land rights through legislative reforms and awareness-raising, as well as through the implementation of CEDAW and other relevant frameworks.


Sunday, December 11, 2011

Meeting Global Target on "Sanitation for All"??

The global plan to halve by 2015 the number of people without access to sanitation is undoubtedly a challenge when the least developed countries are struggling to cope with the pro-poor population and their basic necessity. It is reported that almost 900 million people worldwide live without access to clean water and more than two and a half billion people live without adequate sanitation -  more than a third of the world's population. It is true that financial and moral support from various INGOs are increasing to meet the global target on "Sanitation for All". However, the population who need the support are not being reached yet.

Despite United Nations evidence showing that investment in water and sanitation can be one of the most cost-effective forms of aid, WaterAid concludes that progress on sanitation has been "slow, uneven and unjust". The share of global aid going to sanitation and water projects has fallen to 5.5%, down from more than 8% in the 1990s.

Alastair Morrison, programme manager at the UNDP water governance facility at Stockholm International Water Institute, said low levels of sanitation access do not just impact upon other global health indicators, but also on the world's wealth. Mr. Morrison said that the issue of sanitation is highly serious. He pointed out that poor sanitation is leading to a loss of 6% per year to some countries' GDP.

A spokesman for USAID said: "It is true that some of out latest programmes, on a per capita basis, are in countries with fairly high, though not universal, coverage levels. But we target the marginalized and disadvantaged populations without service or with poor-quality service." He further said that the US factors a number of foreign policy and development considerations into the allocation of resources to improve water supply, sanitation and hygiene. These include host-country engagement and capacity, the potential for systems strengthening to improve services, as well as low access to service.

Source: Sarah Morrison (13th Nov 2011) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/worlds-poor-to-wait-200-years-for-sanitation-6261623.html accessed on 15th Nov 2011.