Gender And Climate Change Quiz

The Cancun Agreements, reached in at COP16 in 2010, recognise that gender equality and the effective participation of women and indigenous peoples are important for effective action on all aspects of climate change.

In developing countries, women and girls bear most of the burden of transport in rural areas. Walking remains a predominant mode of transport among rural and poor urban populations, with women typically accounting for a disproportionate share of people who use walking as transport. Women are responsible for almost all domestic travel, which is by far the most energy- and time-consuming category in rural areas. Often they spend over 65% of their household time on transport.

In industrialised countries, it is also low-income groups who are twice as likely to use public transport as higher income groups. Additionally, transport patterns of women and men differ. Women's trips are significantly more complex than those made by men, especially when employment activities are added to the family care activities. Due to their intense travel patterns and frequent use of individual cars, male energy consumption from transport and thus carbon emissions is much higher than female.

There will be no climate justice without gender justice!
Find out more: http://gendercc.net/who-are-we.html

There are some general observations suggesting that the social impacts of carbon markets are largely negative, particularly for women. Economic instruments that lead to higher energy prices more heavily impact low-income users and serve to further disadvantage those who are already marginalised in economic and public life. As women and men do not have equal access to property, money, funds and markets, women are less likely to benefit from market-based projects.
Many large-scale programs and projects fail to create long-term, sustainable benefits for people and often prioritize profit over human rights and gender equality.

When the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992 as the main framework for international efforts to tackle climate change, it failed to include any reference to gender.

In contrast, the other outcomes of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (also known as the Earth Summit) – including Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration, and the Conventions on Biodiversity and on Desertification and Drought – all made clear attempts to address women’s concerns and recommendations.
However, recognition of the need to strengthen women’s participation in the negotiation process and address gender issues has grown substantially, to the point that gender equality is now reflected in a number of key UNFCCC decisions and bodies.

Globally, the participation of women in energy planning and decision-making is extremely low. In the EU, the percentage of female employees in the energy industry is about 20%. Most of them are working in non-technical fields like administration and public relations. The share of women in decision-making positions in the energy sector is much lower, due to the technical field of work as well as the sphere of economic power. Because of this absence of women in energy planning, it is less likely that their interests and needs are taken into account.

Women in agriculture make up a larger proportion than men in many regions including Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa.
In light of their contributions to food production and their significant role in achieving and securing food security, it is alarming that many women do not reap the benefits from this sector. According to the World Bank, women usually "operate smaller plots of land and farm less remunerative crops" and on average, women’s farms have lower yields. This is linked to their limited access to agricultural productive resources and opportunities like land, financial services, water, rural infrastructure, technology and labour.

The Women’s Global Call for Climate Justice was a global campaign organised collectively by a group of regionally diverse women’s rights and feminist organizations, brought together by the urgent need for just action on climate change.
Learn more about the campaign here: www.womenclimatejustice.org

Land grabbing is the transfer of the right to own or use the land from local communities to foreign investors through large-scale land acquisitions. Based on this definition, land grabbing is a new form of colonialism that has intensified in the last 4 years due to the rising demand for biofuels, timber and raw materials. Potentially, it can put the food security of whole regions and countries at risk. Land-grabbing has the greatest impact on those with insecure property rights and thereby especially on women and indigenous peoples. It can pose a particular challenge for women, who are conventionally responsible for feeding their families and widely regarded as key to food security in communities and households.

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001, and are referred to as the "Marrakesh Accords". Its first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012.

The livestock sector alone is causing 14.5% of all emissions according to data from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). A high consumption of meat is a common feature in the consumerist lifestyles of rich nations and is often associated with male gender stereotypes.

Forests are hosts to a wealth of biodiversity - 70% of the world's flora and fauna species live in tropical forests. They play an important role in providing water resources and protecting the land from flooding and erosion. There are significant gender dimensions to be considered in the context of forests: http://gendercc.net/gender-climate/forests.html

Established in 2010, the Green Climate Fund has taken important steps to overcome 'gender-blindness’, by including a mandate to integrate a gender perspective from the outset.The governing instrument for the GCF includes several references to gender and women in the Fund’s objectives, governance and operational modalities, including on stakeholder participation. It also mandates gender balance for its staff and Board. Recent Board decisions relating to operationalisation request for a separate GCF gender policy and action plan to be formulated, as well as for gender considerations to be integrated in approved operational modalities and policies.

Indoor air pollution, a result of burning biomass for household energy, is a major problem affecting the health of women especially in developing countries. Each year, approximately 4.3 million people die prematurely due to illnesses caused by indoor air pollution - among them mostly women and children.

The first Conference of the Parties under the UNFCCC took place in spring 1995 in Berlin. In parallel, the local organisation "Women for Peace and Ecology" hosted an international women's forum, attracting more than 200 women from 25 countries who came together to discuss and exchange their views on climate protection.

There are nine acknowledged constituencies in the UNFCCC:
Business and industry NGOs (BINGO), Environmental NGOs (ENGO), Indigenous peoples organizations (IPO), Local government and municipal authorities (LGMA), Research and independent NGOs (RINGO), Trade union NGOs (TUNGO), Farmers NGOs (Farmers), Women and gender NGOs (Women and Gender), and Youth NGOs (YOUNGO).

In parallel to the first Conference of the Parties under the UNFCCC which took place in spring 1995 in Berlin, the local organisation "Women for Peace and Ecology" hosted an international women's forum with the title "Solidarity in the Greenhouse". It attracted more than 200 women from 25 countries who came together to discuss and exchange their views on climate protection.

COP21 was the largest international climate conference of its kind. In total, member states sent 15.000 delegates to negotiate the Paris Agreement. Unfortunately only 18% of them were women. While the percentage of women in national delegations had improved slightly in the past years, the low participation of women at COP21 represents a major setback. Therefore, improving the participation of women in climate change decision-making remains an ongoing challenge.

In 2013 during COP13 in Warsaw the first ever UNFCCC in-session workshop on gender and climate change was held. It was organized by the Climate Secretariat upon request of the negotiating Parties. The aim of the in-session workshop was to identify action and tools that could be utilized or enhanced at an international and national level to achieve the goals of gender balance under the UNFCCC, as well as more effective and informed gender-sensitive climate policy.

The transport sector's contribution to worldwide carbon dioxide emissions accounts for about 24.5% in Annex I countries and 14.5% in Non-Annex I countries. In the EU, transport is the second largest source of GHG emissions. Most GHG emissions from transport are caused by road transport (74%), followed by shipping (14%) and aviation (11% and increasing). Rail transport, on the other hand, accounts for only 1%.

Considerable gender differences exist in transport usage. Find out more:http://gendercc.net/gender-climate/transport.html