Cohort 1 CIRCLE Visiting Fellows
Catherine Mungai (left) and Mercy Derkyi (right) |
‘Understanding the diversities and
interactions in men and women groups is the concept of intersectionality’
It is now widely
recognized that the impacts of climate change and variability are not uniformly
felt amongst communities in Africa. For example, based on their roles and
responsibilities, female farmers and male farmers have differentiated
vulnerabilities to climate change and consequently develop differentiated
coping and adaptation strategies. However, it is important to recognize that
addressing climate change impacts goes beyond whether one is a female or a male. For a long time now, the issue of gender in
climate change has been addressed through the binary lens i.e. male vis a vis
female. While using this lens has brought to the fore that adaptation and
mitigation strategies should address issues of equity, it is now increasingly
becoming apparent that there are other dimensions such as religion, ethnicity,
age, race, educational level and socio-economic levels that need to be
considered during the development and implementation of adaptation and
mitigation strategies. This was the main message emerging from the
presentations made by Mercy Derkyi and Catherine Mungai during the Gender
mainstreaming session at the 4th
Climate Change and Population Conference on Africa (CC POP-Ghana 2015). The
conference which was held at the University of Ghana from 29 - 31 July 2015,
created an ideal platform to share ongoing research on climate change in Africa
ahead of the upcoming 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21). Dr Derkyi and
Ms Mungai were supported to attend the conference as part of their Climate Impact
Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa (CIRCLE)
fellowship programme.
Experiences from the forest and agriculture sectors in
Ghana
Focusing on the
agricultural sector, Catherine gave a presentation under the topic “Engendering Climate-Smart Agricultural
Innovations in Kenya.” In her presentation, Catherine focused on the use of
the intersectionality lens to analyze the uptake of climate-smart agricultural
(CSA) technologies and practices in Nyando, Kenya. Catherine pointed out that
the adoption of CSA, supported by enabling frameworks and institutions, is
crucial to transforming African agriculture into a long-term and sustainable
system. She further added that studies undertaken amongst farmers in Africa
have shown that gender relations determine the ways in which the changing
climate is experienced by small holder farmers. However, she also emphasized
that not all women (nor all men) are the same in that they do not all have the
same roles, levels of access to, and control over, resources or power in
decision-making, since gender norms are also related to race, class, ethnicity,
religion, and age. Using Nyando as a
case study, emerging results from her studies reveal that there are differences
in the uptake of climate-smart agricultural technologies and practices between
different categories of men and women farmers. Nyando in Kisumu, Kenya is one
of the learning sites where ongoing research on climate-smart agricultural
technologies and practices, is being undertaken by the CGIAR Research Program
on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
As a way forward both presenters
emphasized the need to use the intersectionality lens to enhance the
understanding of the synergies between gender and climate change in order to
ensure that polices, strategies and plans on adaptation and mitigation to climate
change yield equitable results for communities.
Please click on the following links to access the presentations:
Catherine Mungai, Post-Masters Fellow
Home institution: International Livestock Research Institute/The CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
Host institution: University of Nairobi/ Institute of Climate Change and Adaptation
And
Mercy Afua Adutwumwaa Derkyi (PhD), Post-Doctoral Fellow
Home Institution: University of Energy and Natural Resources
Host Institution: University of Ghana
Congrats, Mercy and Cathy. A joint paper shaping up?
ReplyDeleteCongrats my fellow CVFs. Love the collaborating spirit. Thumps up.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and the focused adgend on equity issues of climate change
ReplyDelete