Rural women, strategic to manage risk in climate change
Incorporate the gender perspective is strategic in addressing food and nutrition security, climate change and risk management, because it allows us to contemplate differently the needs and interests of women and men, to propose realistic solutions and reduce gaps development and progress towards gender equality and equity. These are the conclusions of a web seminar IICA.
In the web seminar, held at the headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), executive secretary of the Agricultural Council (CAC), Julio Calderon stressed in the introduction of the seminar the importance of knowing and understanding the relationship gender approach to food and nutrition security, climate change and risk management.
As described in the event, there is unequal access of women to financial and productive resources, to participate in the request for decision-making and knowledge and technology, among others. For example:
- Women receive fewer loans and lower amounts than men.
- They make up 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, and if they had the same access as men to productive resources, yields on their farms could increase between 20 and 30%.
- In the agricultural sector, women hold 14% of managerial positions.
•A study has revealed that education in women contributes 43% to the reduction of child malnutrition. - Only 5% of women who are part of the agricultural labor force in developing countries have access to agricultural extension services.
“It is vital that the implications are known and the relationships between subjects, for clarity of how to implement the concrete actions of gender in the relationship between agriculture and climate, public policies, projects and initiatives are understood institutional and capacity building, “said the executive secretary of the Agricultural Council (CAC), Julio Calderon.
The event was organized by the Executive Secretariat of the Central American Agricultural Council (SECAC), in conjunction with the Community of Practice Adaptation and Agriculture in Mesoamerica, which is coordinated by IICA and has the financial support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The seminar also had the technical support of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Connection between the thematic areas
The gender specialist and sustainable development of UNDP, Yolanda Villar and official gender and indigenous peoples from FAO, Maria Acosta, were the speakers responsible for explaining and showing how gender is interwoven in the areas of food security and nutrition , climate change and risk management.
Shared examples and lessons learned on how the gender approach has been incorporated into policies, projects, methodologies and other specific actions.
“The gender approach helps to build greater resilience to climate change and autonomy for access and control of resources, economic and decision-making, women and other marginalized social groups because of their socioeconomic status, age or ethnicity, “said Villar.
The activity was aimed at the technical groups of the CAC, to rural women’s organizations in the region, the gender units of the Ministries of Agriculture and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector of the Americas, in order to raise awareness and enrich their knowledge about the importance of linking gender with those three key issues.
The initiative is folded to the international vision stipulated in global instruments agreed in 2015, as the Framework Sendai Reduction Disaster Risk, the Paris Agreement reached in the last cop21 or sustainable development objective 5 of the Agenda 2030 which constitute a new framework for action at all levels and highlight the gender perspective in managing risk reduction and measures to address climate change.
Source: IICA
