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Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article reviews several papers and articles on the relationship between gender and climate change, including "Gender, Water and Development," edited by Anne Coles and Tina Wallace, "The Gender and Water Development Report 2003: Gender Perspectives on Policies in the Water Sector" from GWA, and "Gender Mainstreaming: An Essential Component of Sustainable Water Management" by Kristen Lewis.

This paper argues that the ability of women to adapt to climate change pressures will be enhanced by using the 'capabilities approach' to direct development efforts. By using this approach, women will improve their well-being, and act more readily as agents of change within their communities. This argument is supported by previous research on gender and livelihoods, and a study conducted in rural India. Examples are based on the experiences of poor, rural women in India, who are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Their survival is dependent on their being able to obtain many essential resources from their immediate environment. Yet these women lack many of the requirements for well-being, such as access to healthcare, literacy, and control over their own lives. Gaining these would reduce their vulnerability to their changing environmental circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that climate change not only requires major technological solutions, but also has political and socio-economic aspects with implications for development policy and practice. Questions of globalisation, equity, and the distribution of welfare and power underlie many of its manifestations, and its impacts are not only severe, but also unevenly distributed. There are some clear connections, both positive and negative, between gender and the environment. This paper explores these linkages, which help to illustrate the actual and potential relationships between gender and climate change, and the gender-specific implications of climate change. It also provides examples of women organising for change around sustainable development issues in the build-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), and demonstrates how women's participation can translate into more gender-sensitive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts by assessing the extent to which gender considerations have been taken into account in the international processes concerning the development of climate change policy. Finding that there has been very little attention to gender issues, neither in the protocols and treaties nor in the debates around them, the paper goes on to consider whether there are in fact any meaningful gender considerations as regards (a) emissions of greenhouse gases, (b) vulnerability to climate change, and (c) participation in projects under climate funding. It concludes by suggesting some areas where attention to gender could improve the effectiveness of climate interventions and also benefit women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article lists recommended resources on gender issues and climate change, including "Gender and Climate Change," "Changing the Climate: Why Women's Perspectives Matter" and "Gender and Development."

This article presents information on various books related to climatic changes. In the book "Responding to Global Warming: The Technology, Economics and Politics of Sustainable Energy," taking a multi-disciplinary policy perspective that integrates engineering, economics, and decision theory, the writer proposes an innovative strategy in global efforts to limit climate change, linking energy and forestry, North and South. The book "Survival Emissions: A Perspective From the South on Global Climate Change Negotiations," gives background information on the negotiations, as well as the writer's analysis and understanding of the negotiations from a Southern perspective. Taking a cross-disciplinary assessment of fairness and equity issues in the context of global climate change, the book "Fair Weather? Equity Concerns in Climate Change," explores the policy dimensions and analytical needs of the negotiation process. The book "The Way Forward: Beyond Agenda," outlines the successes and failures of the first five years following the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

The risks that climate change poses for the environment and for development are well-documented, yet it has been difficult to build a consensus on measures to reduce global threats to ecological security. How can communities, NGOs, and policy-makers representing less powerful nations overcome objections to measures that aim to mitigate the global threat to environment and development? In climate change negotiations, vulnerable communities and disadvantaged groups meet around the same table as more powerful interests. Using systems theory,1 this article analyses the ways in which low-power groups can transform disadvantageous power relations to overcome threats to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Migration in response to climate change should not be seen as a failure to adapt, but as a strategy undertaken to increase household resilience. This will, however, happen when migration is planned and supported and not under distress. This article focuses on people's movements in the aftermath of cyclone Aila. It looks at factors influencing migration in five coastal villages in Bangladesh, and their migration experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of sustainable technology in tackling climate change in developing countries. Drawing on solar home systems in Bangladesh as an example, it argues that increasing women's visibility in technology committees is not necessarily effective in challenging gender stereotypes. Crafting new rules may fail to confront power inequalities. Sustainable technology can exert additional workloads on women. This article proposes a gender-sensitive framework for technological interventions, suggesting that extra resources are needed to strengthen institutions at the post-project stage, and that developing alternative livelihood strategies with poor people is crucial to reduce their reliance on local elites for survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations is formally committed to gender mainstreaming in all policies and programmes, and that should include policy-making processes relating to climate change. Yet gender aspects are rarely addressed in climate-change policy, either at the national or at the international levels. Reasons include gaps in gender-sensitive data and knowledge about the links between gender justice1 and climate change; and the lack of participation of women and gender experts in climate-related negotiations. This article shares insights and experiences from the international climate-change policy process, recounting the history of women's participation, demonstrating progress achieved, and hoping to inspire women and gender experts to get involved - at the local, national, regional, and international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both climate change itself and related policies are likely to have wide-ranging effects on gender relations, especially in developing countries. Poor women face many gender-specific barriers that limit their ability to cope with and adapt to a changing climate; these must be removed in the interests of both gender equity and adaptation efficiency. At the same time, gender analysis should be integral to the appraisal of public policies designed to reduce carbon emissions. To date, gender issues have hardly figured in the international policy discourse, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. However, this may be changing thanks to feminist lobbying and the increasing involvement of gender specialists in this field. There is a lot at stake; the international post-2012 Kyoto Protocol agreement will have enormous implications for gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the sustainability of gendered agricultural income-generating activities in Sonora, near the Mexico-USA border, in the context of climate change. Farming, and fruit and vegetable home-processing enterprises, still predominate in the area. However, several types of fruits can no longer be produced in this area due to warmer temperatures. Climate change has implications for the sustainability of these activities, which will affect women and men differently, affecting control over their livelihoods and food security. The article makes recommendations for development policies and programmes, for these and similar agricultural communities worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most policy makers and practitioners have now started to recognise the different ways in which climate change impacts on poor, vulnerable, and socially excluded women and men. However, making adaptation policies and programmes sensitive to gender issues does not simply mean 'adding on' a concern for women. It also requires a nuanced understanding of gendered forms of vulnerability, and a stronger commitment of resources - financial, technical, and human - to address specific gendered priorities. Drawing on insights from coastal Gujarat, in India, this article illustrates how researchers and practitioners can collaborate to strengthen learning across communities and regions. Simple and practical tools for assessing vulnerability, as well as empirical research and documentation, can further and support advocacy on climate-resilient development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects upon how gendered approaches to climate-change adaptation can be strengthened in the Pacific region. The article looks at what has been learnt in the region, surveys some examples of best practice in gender-responsive programming, identifies the challenges we face on our journey, and suggests future directions. It is a collaborative effort, comprising input from a number of agencies who have been proactive in the areas of gender, climate change, and disaster risk-reduction in the Pacific Region, including: the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement in the Pacific region; the UNDP Pacific Centre; and World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Fiji Country Programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of sustainable energy development is a key consideration for climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives, and is an integral component of Africa's ability to achieve the inter-related economic, social, and environmental aims of sustainable development. Nearly one-third of the global population lacks access to energy-efficient services that do not degrade the ecosystem or contribute to environmental change. Climate change is likely to affect everyone in some way: from rising temperatures, increased floods, and changing rainfall patterns, to the spread of diseases like cholera and malaria (Wamukonya and Skutsch 2001). African countries are likely to be severely affected because of the already high levels of poverty and vulnerability. The impacts of environmental change on men and women are likely to be different with regard to their different roles and responsibilities. This article discusses women's initiatives in the sustainable energy field, highlighting the efforts of two networks that work globally and regionally to strengthen the role of women in sustainable energy development. I highlight some of the challenges that the networks face, and propose strategies for effective networking and capacity-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender-related inequalities are pervasive in the developing world. Although women account for almost 80 per cent of the agricultural sector in Africa, they remain vulnerable and poor. Seventy per cent of the 1.3 billion people in the developing world living below the threshold of poverty are women. It is important that the consequences of climate change should not lead already marginalised sections of communities into further deprivation. But key development issues have been at best sidetracked, and at worst blatantly omitted, from policy debates on climate change. The threats posed by global warming have failed to impress on policy-makers the importance of placing women at the heart of their vision of sustainable development. This article argues that if climate change policy is about ensuring a sustainable future by combining development and environment issues, it must take into account the interests of all stakeholders. The Global Environment Facility and the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol can play a role in ensuring sustainable development, provided they are implemented in a way that does not disadvantage women and the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global climate is subject to increasing change, and this has become more evident over recent years. The latest climate projection models of the United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, a high-level, independent, scientific advisory body, suggest that if no action is taken now to reduce greenhouse gases, air surface temperatures could rise to levels that will significantly alter ecosystems. No one will be immune from the overall impacts of climate change, but it will have a disproportionate effect on the lives of poor people in developing countries, where poverty increases people's vulnerability to its harmful effects. Poor people in overcrowded temporary settlements erected on unsuitable land will be at risk of flooding and land slides. Those eking out an existence from subsistence farming will have no savings or assets to insure them against external shocks. Lack of sanitation and limited access to clean water, poor diet, and inadequate healthcare provision will undermine resistance to disease.

Bangladesh has recently experienced a number of high-profile disasters, including devastating cyclones and annual floods. Poverty is both a cause of vulnerability, and a consequence of hazard impacts. Evidence that the impacts of disasters are worse for women is inconclusive or variable. However, since being female is strongly linked to being poor, unless poverty is reduced, the increase in disasters and extreme climate events linked with climate change is likely to affect women more than men. In addition, there are some specific gender attributes which increase women's vulnerability in some respects. These gendered vulnerabilities may, however, be reduced by social changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vulnerability to environmental degradation and natural hazards is articulated along social, poverty, and gender lines. Just as gender is not sufficiently mainstreamed in many areas of development policy and practice, so the potential impacts of climate change on gender relations have not been studied, and remain invisible. In this article we outline climate change predictions, and explore the effects of long-term climate change on agriculture, ecological systems, and gender relations, since these could be significant. We identify predicted changes in natural hazard frequency and intensity as a result of climate change, and explore the gendered effects of natural hazards. We highlight the urgent need to integrate gender analyses into public policy-making, and in adaptation responses to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A focus on land-use and forests as a means to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere has been at the heart of the international climate change debate since the United Nations Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997. This environmental management practice is a process technically referred to as mitigation. These largely technical projects have aimed to provide sustainable development benefits to forest-dependent people, as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, these projects have had limited success in achieving these local development objectives. This article argues that this is due in part to the patriarchal underpinnings of the sustainable development and climate-change policy agendas. The author explores this theory by considering how a climate mitigation project in Bolivia has resulted in different outcomes for women and men, and makes links between the global decision-making process and local effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Geraldine Terry on gender and development and another by Sara Ahmed and Elizabeth Fajber about women and adaptation or climatic change policies.