Opinion: Gender must be at the heart of climate action
Gender often remains the untold story behind climate change. After the television snapshots of devastation wrought by climate-induced disasters, our thoughts often remain with the local people forced to deal with the wreckage.
The destructive forces of nature, warped by rising global temperatures, manifest in cyclones, floods and other extreme weather conditions, which can act as negative force multipliers in societies already riven by inequality. The onset of droughts, accompanied by heightened food and water insecurity, also have a disproportionate effect on those least able to deal with the resulting increased social strains.
While climate change is a global phenomenon, its impact is not spread across a level playing field. Its effects are felt locally, and poor people suffer the most. Among the world’s 1.3 billion poor people, the majority are women.
CIFOR