Gender Climate Change And Livelihoods

This book applies a gendered lens to evaluate the dynamic linkages between climate change and livelihoods in developing countries. It examines how climate change affects women and men in distinct ways, and what the implications are for earning income and accessing the natural, social, economic, and political resources required to survive and thrive. The book's contributing authors analyze the gendered impact of climate change on different types of livelihoods, in distinct contexts, including urban and rural, and in diverse geographic locations, including Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. It focuses on understanding how public policies and power dynamics shape gendered vulnerabilities and impacts, how gender influences coping and adaptation mechanisms, and how civil society organizations incorporate gender into their climate advocacy strategies.

Very few studies have been conducted to explore the vulnerability of women in the context of climate change. This book addresses this absence by investigating the structure of women’s livelihoods and coping capacity in a disaster vulnerable coastal area of Bangladesh. The research findings suggest that the distribution of livelihood capitals of vulnerable women in rural Bangladesh is heavily influenced by several climatic events, such as cyclones, floods and seasonal droughts that periodically affect the region. Women face several challenges in their livelihoods, including vulnerability to their income, household assets, lives and health, food security, education, water sources, sanitation and transportation systems, because of ongoing climate change impacts. The findings have important policy relevance for all involved in disaster and risk management, both within Bangladesh and the developing countries facing climate change impacts. Based on the research findings, the book also provides recommendations to improving the livelihoods of women in the coastal communities. This book will appeal to academics, researchers and professionals in environmental management, gender and development, and climate change governance looking at the effects of and adaptation to climate change, gender issues and natural disaster management strategies.

Very few studies have been conducted to explore the vulnerability of women in the context of climate change. This book addresses this absence by investigating the structure of women’s livelihoods and coping capacity in a disaster vulnerable coastal area of Bangladesh. The research findings suggest that the distribution of livelihood capitals of vulnerable women in rural Bangladesh is heavily influenced by several climatic events, such as cyclones, floods and seasonal droughts that periodically affect the region. Women face several challenges in their livelihoods, including vulnerability to their income, household assets, lives and health, food security, education, water sources, sanitation and transportation systems, because of ongoing climate change impacts. The findings have important policy relevance for all involved in disaster and risk management, both within Bangladesh and the developing countries facing climate change impacts. Based on the research findings, the book also provides recommendations to improving the livelihoods of women in the coastal communities. This book will appeal to academics, researchers and professionals in environmental management, gender and development, and climate change governance looking at the effects of and adaptation to climate change, gender issues and natural disaster management strategies.

Globally climate-induced disasters have been impacting marginalised communities’ lives, livelihood and gendered relations. This book explores the effects of Cyclone Aila (as a result of climate change) in 2009 on the rural livelihoods and gendered relations of two ethnically distinct forest communities – Munda, an indigenous group, and Shora, a Muslim group – dwelling near the Sundarbans Forest in Bangladesh. Examining the cyclone’s medium- to long-term impacts on livelihoods and comparative aspects of gendered relations between these two contrasting communities, this book addresses a gap in current critical development studies. It adopts an ethnographic research design and analyses the alterations to livelihood activities and reconfiguration of gender relations within the Munda and Shora communities since 2009. The study primarily contends that post-Aila, livelihoods and gendered relations have been substantially transformed in both communities, making the case that the improvement of local infrastructure, as an important part of the geographical location, has noticeably progressed the living conditions and livelihoods of some members of the Munda and Shora communities. Connecting climate-induced changes with the construction and alteration of gendered livelihood patterns, the book will be of interest to a wide range of academics in the fields of Asian Studies, Sociology of Environment, Social Anthropology, Human Geography, Gender and Cultural Studies, Human Geography, Disaster Management and Forestry and Environmental Science.

This book examines changing gender roles, relations and hierarchies in an ethnic minority community in Central Viet Nam. After decades of war, the community continued its self-sufficient way of life in this remote forested mountainous region, but in recent years has been forced to respond to severe climate threats combined with sudden and destabilizing socioeconomic and regulatory change. Through the use of both qualitative (interview-based) and quantitative research methods, the book offers insights into the complex interactions between climate, regulatory and socioeconomic changes – including, paradoxically, the emergence of significant problems for both the community and the environment in the wake of policies designed to protect the natural environment. Facing greatly increased food and livelihood insecurity, the women and men of the community were pushed into the mainstream market economy without being fully prepared to participate in an economy that is still very new to them. These sudden transitions caused major shifts in gender roles and hierarchies, opening up new possibilities for women to increase their social status in a highly patriarchal context, but also at a cost for both women and men as women’s burdens increased and men’s traditional roles and livelihoods were lost. The book examines recent trends, including unanticipated changes and new possible policy-related approaches, and draws international comparisons with other ethnic minority, indigenous and remote communities facing similar complex forces of change. This book will be of interest to scholars and postgraduate students of climate change, gender, environment, and public policy and development studies.

Although climate change affects everybody it is not gender neutral. It has significant social impacts and magnifies existing inequalities such as the disparity between women and men in their vulnerability and ability to cope with this global phenomenon. This new textbook, edited by one of the authors of the seminal Women and the Environment in the Third World: Alliance for the Future (1988) which first exposed the links between environmental degradation and unequal impacts on women, provides a comprehensive introduction to gender aspects of climate change. Over 35 authors have contributed to the book. It starts with a short history of the thinking and practice around gender and sustainable development over the past decades. Next it provides a theoretical framework for analyzing climate change manifestations and policies from the perspective of gender and human security. Drawing on new research, the actual and potential effects of climate change on gender equality and women's vulnerabilities are examined, both in rural and urban contexts. This is illustrated with a rich range of case studies from all over the world and valuable lessons are drawn from these real experiences. Too often women are primarily seen as victims of climate change, and their positive roles as agents of change and contributors to livelihood strategies are neglected. The book disputes this characterization and provides many examples of how women around the world organize and build resilience and adapt to climate change and the role they are playing in climate change mitigation. The final section looks at how far gender mainstreaming in climate mitigation and adaptation has advanced, the policy frameworks in place and how we can move from policy to effective action. Accompanied by a wide range of references and key resources, this book provides students and professionals with an essential, comprehensive introduction to the gender aspects of climate change.

Climate change poses great challenges for poor rural people in developing countries, most of whom rely on natural resources for their livelihoods and have limited capacity to adapt to climate change. It has become clear that even serious efforts to mitigate climate change will be inadequate to prevent devastating impacts that threaten to erode or reverse recent economic gains in the developing world. Individuals, communities, and policymakers must adapt to a new reality and become resilient to the negative impacts of future climate changes.

This book considers the gendered dimensions of climate change. It shows how gender analysis has been widely overlooked in debates about climate change and its interactions with poverty and demonstrates its importance for those seeking to understand the impacts of global environmental change on human communities.