Climate change, women and food security
In Bangladesh, (rural) women have to depend on natural resources for their existence (e.g. food, fuel, fodder, water, medicine and income-generating activities), so they have to suffer more for environmental degradation.
Women engaged in agriculture field
In Dublin of Ireland, an international conference on hunger, nutrition, and climate justice was held last month (April 15- 16). Documents of the conference points out that “today one person in eight does not have access to adequate nutritious food, making hunger and undernutrition the number one risk to human health and development. With the world's population set to reach nine billion by 2050, global food production would have to increase by 60 per cent to meet projected demand if current patterns and levels of consumption in the 'rich' parts of the world continued and expanded, and if food wastage at farm and household level not addressed.
Climate change adds a new dimension to this challenge by altering growing seasons and rainfall patterns as well as increasing the frequency of extreme events such as droughts and floods. Climate change impacts on food and nutritional security are exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and inequalities in resource access, especially for women who are primarily responsible for food production and feeding families.
This is unjust, because those who have done least to cause climate change would suffer most from its effects. Climate change is undermining the rights of vulnerable and marginalized people, including their right to food, health, water and the life itself. It is estimated that climate change causes an average of 400,000 deaths each year, mainly due to hunger and communicable diseases that particularly affect children in developing countries.
Climate justice seeks to highlight and remedy these impacts through a rights-based and human-centred approach. It aims to safeguard the rights of the most vulnerable and share the burdens and benefits of climate change and actions to resolve it equitably and fairly. "The post-2015 development agenda must adopt a more holistic approach that acknowledges the inter-linkages between hunger, nutrition and climate justice. It should strive to support and establish new integrated approaches. The post-2015 agenda will only be relevant and useful if it is developed through an inclusive and bottom-up approach.”
Pursuant to that, here I can point out a part of an article on women and environment (2012) by Farzana Nasrin, Public Administration Department of Chittagong University. She nicely mentioned that “the relationship between women and the environment has become more explicit and apparent. Although half of the world's population is women, only ten percent of global income is spent on them and they share less than one percent of global resources. They are the poorest of the poor."
A recent study on poverty reveals that in Bangladesh, poverty is increasingly feminised. Violence against women is widespread. Gender based violence often stems from existing socio-cultural attitudes that regard women as inferior to men. Another suffering is added to women they are the worst victims of environmental degradation.
Since the lives of women in (rural) Bangladesh are totally dependent on nature, they have to carry their family through managing and using natural resources. The global climate change has been increasingly raising attention all over the world, particularly in developing countries. That it adversely affects the people and most of its impacts fall on women. In Bangladesh, (rural) women have to depend on natural resources for their existence (e.g. food, fuel, fodder, water, medicine and income-generating activities), so they have to suffer more for environmental degradation.
International Centre for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS) London narrated recently in a document that “with more than one billion people lacking access to food, electricity or safe drinking water, and the world's diverse ecosystems in decline, it is widely accepted that climate change and a lack of sustainability can only exacerbate these issues. As climate change advances, it is important to develop resilience and adapt society to its effects, requiring multidisciplinary skills and an ability to integrate multiple sectors into strategic plans.”
In fact, to establish equal rights of women and men, and to build a society free from discrimination, we must implement national women development policy of 2011 without fear of any evil-power, who threatened recently to keep the women confined at home like in a cage. To remove all the obstacles, women also need to gain more courage and power to protest and overcome. And women must get their due rights and access to land so that they become able to contribute more in agriculture, as they are the pillars of food security and nutrition.
Policy makers must listen to women and local people for effective adaptation plan for climate change. Historically, women have been the true agent of positive change by sacrificing more than men. That is why women must be included even from the grassroots level in planning, policy and decision-making, and in implementation for producing more foods to save the lives of billions. Climate change negatively has been making all these essential components badly fragile. So, definitely it is illogical to recognise us as civilized until and unless we can get the women and girls free from negligence, deprivation, discrimination, violence, hunger, malnutrition and sufferings.
Improved access to information and facilitated dialogue empower women to claim and exercise their rights and thus help them deal with food insecurity and undernutrition caused by climate change impact. An inclusive rights-based approach will focus on the communities' needs and give them ownership as agents of policy change.
A survey result shows that 66 percent of women in Bangladesh participated in agricultural activities in 2008, an increase from 58 percent in 2000. So, we will have to recognise the evolving role of women in agriculture ensuring women's rights and access to land to increase food production and to ensure food security and nutrition.
The writer is a rights activist.
Email: parvezbabul@gmail.com
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