VIENNA, 4 March 2022 – The climate crisis has had and will continue to have severe and lasting impacts on our environment as well as economic and social development. The impact is greater on individuals who are most reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods and those who have the least capacity to respond to natural hazards, such as droughts, landslides, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes. As women constitute the majority of the world’s poor and their livelihoods are more dependent on the natural resources under threat by the climate crisis, they are more vulnerable to the climate crisis than men. Only by understanding how women and men are differentially impacted by the climate crisis, can effective countering measures be developed.

 

At the same time, women and girls are powerful leaders and change-makers for climate crisis adaptation, mitigation and response. They are involved in sustainable development initiatives around the world, and their participation and leadership results in more effective climate action. Continuing to examine the opportunities, as well as the constraints, to ensure that women and girls are equal players in decision-making is essential for sustainable development and successfully mitigating the climate crisis.

 

International Women’s Day 2022 was therefore dedicated to “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, recognizing the contribution of women and girls around the world, who are leading the charge on climate crisis adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all. As diverse as the mandates of CTBTO, IAEA, IOM, UNIDO and UNODC may be, addressing the climate crisis is a common priority of all UN organizations. For this reason, from 28 February to 4 March 2022, the Vienna-based UN Organizations came together to host expert discussions exploring the important nexus between the climate crisis, gender equality and the respective mandates of each entity. This document provides an overview of the outcome of these discussions as well as links to their recordings.

 

Session summaries

To start the week of expert discussions, CTBTO focused the conversation on the “Role of CTBTO in minimizing the disproportional impact of climate change, nuclear tests and natural hazards on women”. With the aim of ending nuclear testing in all places and for all time, the CTBTO underscored the importance of recognizing that women have disproportionately borne the consequences of the legacy of over 2000 past nuclear tests. Women are more vulnerable to harmful health effects of radiation than men. Similarly, climate change can also have an uneven impact on women. In this regard, CTBTO presented the scientific benefits of unique data produced by its International Monitoring System (IMS). CTBTO illustrated how IMS sensors (such as seismic, acoustic, infrasound, radionuclide sensors) supported by Atmospheric Transport Modelling, practically contribute to mitigating the gender-specific impacts caused by climate change and natural hazards.

The recording of this webinar can be found here.

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During the event entitled “Climate Change and Gender Equality: IAEA's Role in #Atoms4Climate”, the audience heard how radio tracing is used to measure and monitor ocean acidification. This allows the IAEA to raise awareness of the significant damage that increased CO2 level is having on ocean life. Considering that women play an important role in the fishery and tourism industries, degradation of oceans also has a direct negative impact on the livelihoods of women around the world, particularly in coastal countries. The IAEA also shared that isotopic techniques and drip irrigation can be used to support climate-smart agriculture and identify safe water sources for populations. These techniques are particularly relevant to supporting the livelihoods of women farmers and climate migrants, a significant portion of which are women. Through the Agency’s commitment to achieving gender parity in Professional positions by 2025 and through projects such as the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme, the IAEA continues to support and encourage the representation of women in nuclear energy and other nuclear fields, including but not limited to, those which help monitor, mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The recording of this webinar can be found here.

 

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“Migration and Climate Change: A matter of Gender Equality” was the theme of the spotlight session organized by IOM on 1 March. During this session, the head of IOM’s Migration, Environment and Climate Change Unit discussed the intersections between gender, migration, the environment and climate change. Environmental migration, like other types of migration, is a gendered process: vulnerabilities, experiences, needs and priorities of migrants vary between women and men, as it strongly depends on their roles, responsibilities, access to information, education and physical security, as also outlined in the IOM’s Institutional Strategy on Migration, Environment and Climate Change 2021-2030. IOM took the opportunity to acknowledge and commend women as powerful leaders of change in their families and communities and in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, by drawing attention to some projects demonstrating the contribution, determination, and resilience of women coping with the adverse effects of climate change. The director of Shifo, an NGO based in Tajikistan, and respected partner of IOM, presented a project dedicated to women staying behind in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan, who, in the absence of their migrant spouses, manage their household resources while responding to climate impacts. In the open discussion, Shifo shared further insights on the implementation of the project in Tajikistan, and their experiences in engaging with Tajik women. Shifo highlighted the importance of including the participation of male family members to ensure participation considering the social barriers that women face. Additionally, the presented impact success stories and awareness raising sessions on financial literacy and climate change adaptation showed the engagement of women in the decision-making process as well as development of self-esteem in their behaviour and thoughts.  The discussion also underscored the need for, and value of, gender-disaggregated data, and the importance of including gender considerations into international processes, frameworks and discussions related to climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, in order to ensure that policies and interventions are effective, and that they do not exacerbate existing inequalities and vulnerabilities or create new ones.

The recording of this webinar can be found here.

 

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Entitled “Towards a gender-responsive sustainable energy transition for climate action”, the UNIDO spotlight session explored the multiple dimensions of the gender-energy-climate crisis nexus. Energy and time poverty hinder women’s economic empowerment, and house appliances using polluting energy sources pose health and safety risks especially where social norms limit women and girls to the domestic realm. Women are generally underrepresented in the energy field - they represent only 32% of the renewable energy workforce. Additionally, many energy policies and frameworks remain gender-blind, all while women’s leadership is linked to better energy outcomes. The sustainable energy transition therefore has to be gender-responsive. UNIDO addresses this for example through the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) and the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN), which leverage investments for women energy entrepreneurs and thus address the gender financing gap. The ‘Gender and Energy Compact’, co-founded with ENERGIA and GWNET, also pushes for adoption of gender-responsive energy policies and practices. UNIDO’s spotlight session identified the need for gender analyses, gender action plans and collection of gender-disaggregated data as important building blocks for progress on the sustainable energy transition, with UNIDO offering a variety of guides and tools for this.

The recording of this webinar can be found here.

 

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UNOV/UNODC’s spotlight session entitled “Exploring the gender aspects of alternative development projects and climate justice”, invited experts from the UNODC field office in Afghanistan, headquarters and academia to explore the nexus between gender equality, environmental degradation, migrant smuggling, wildlife crime and sustainable development practices. Whilst wildlife crime specifically impacts biodiversity and heightens the effects of the climate crisis, the lack of gender-sensitive-data poses a challenge for the development of adequate solutions. Furthermore, the climate crisis has led to a loss of livelihoods and increased insecurity among populations, resulting in a rise in forced displacement and migration flows both internally within countries and across borders. This is making especially women more vulnerable to human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Consequently, vulnerable people in migrating populations could find themselves at risk from sexual exploitation and forced labor. As part of its mandated areas of work, UNODC has been working closely with local communities to encourage sustainable and legal livelihood practices, for instance through supporting alternatives to the cultivation of illicit and unsustainable crops and to promoting women’s ownership of land.

The discussion highlighted that although gender, organized crime and the climate crisis are inextricably linked, research remains largely underdeveloped. This has led to ‘blind spots’ and data gaps in knowledge, posing a particular problem for informed policy and programme design. Evidence-based approaches are key to creating policy and programmes that effectively prevent and address the nexus between climate change, gender equality and UNODC’s mandated areas.

The recording of this webinar can be found here.

 

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Conclusion

The VBO International Women’s Day Spotlight Sessions have highlighted the importance of recognizing gender equality in climate crisis mitigation, adaptation and responses. The discussions, albeit covering a wide scope of areas, all recognized the key role that women and girls play in addressing the climate crisis.

Equal and equitable participation of women and girls in leadership positions is vital as is their inclusion and integration of gender aspects in all actions addressing environmental degradation and disaster risk reduction. Only then can we ensure that the complex nexus between gender inequalities and climate crisis is addressed. One of the keyways in achieving this is through the continued partnership between UN organizations, Member States, civil society organizations and academia. This way they can all contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 13 on Climate Change, Goal 17 on Partnerships and Goal 5 on the Achievement of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

Without the inclusion of all of the world's population, it is impossible that solutions for a sustainable planet can be realized. The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century and ensuring that gender equality is considered in these interventions is key achieving a sustainable tomorrow where no one is left behind.