Women still under-represented in global climate action

Women are still under-represented in activities aimed at addressing climate change globally despite efforts being made to change the situation.

This is according to Aina-Maria Iteta, Namibia’s gender focal person for the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Iteta made these remarks at one-day workshop on gender and climate change held in Windhoek on Friday last week. The workshop is part of a week-long series on stand-alone workshops and validation meetings, focusing on strengthening climate action, biodiversity conservation, land restoration and sustainable finance in Namibia.

The workshops are hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, with financial support from the United Nations Development Programme’s global climate promise initiative.

She said the UNFCCC, under its Lima Work Programme on Gender plan, is making efforts on ensure gender inclusivity in global climate action, but there remains a critical gap for the gender constituency.

“Climate change affects men and women differently, especially in developing countries, due to existing gender inequalities, although climate change negotiations have significantly evolved over the years,” she said.

According to her, the Lima Work plan advances gender equality and women empowerment in UNFCCC processes, participation, implementation and finances, but there are major challenges that remain. In some traditional set-ups women are not are allowed to speak over some issues or own land, as men are heads of the family. This has contributed to women not taking part in addressing climate change.

“Decisions are made at the Conference of Parties, but women are in the minority,” she said.

Iteta said efforts to ensure that women are represented in global climate actions suffers from lack of support from the UNFCCC and limited capacity.

She said for this situation to change, there is a need to enhance political will and influence towards gender initiatives, adding that grassroots voices need to come out on climate change issues while national gender climate change policies and implementation strategies need to be prioritised.

The objectives of the workshops were to help strengthen gender responsive climate policies and programmes, ensuring that climate action are inclusive and equitable

The United Nations Development Programme’s global Climate Promise initiative provides five technical areas of support to help more than 140 countries and territories to take bold actions to reduce their emissions, increase their resilience to climate impacts and support sustainable development priorities.