Gender and Climate Change: Mapping the Linkages

The issue of climate change is not new, but its take-up as a key development concern is a fairly recent departure. Even more recent is the integration of a gender-sensitive perspective in climate change research and responses. This report, prepared for the UK Department for International Development (DFID), seeks to make the most of the available resources, drawing out useful insights to inform and strengthen future research on and interventions into gender and climate change. The report outlines key linkages between climate change and gender inequality, identifies gaps in the existing body of work on gender and the environment, reviews best practices on adaptation and mitigation, and offers recommendations regarding priority areas for future research.

It concludes that there is an urgent need to identify obstacles to women's participation in decision-making, and find ways to address these constraints through supporting grassroots awareness-raising, confidence-building and advocacy and leadership training programmes. Suggested questions for future research include:

- What are the current levels of female participation in decision-making on climate change at local, national, regional and international levels?

- What are the barriers to women being heard?

- What are the gendered impacts, coping strategies and adaptation priorities of women and men in urban contexts?

- What best practices exist for gender-sensitive responses to climate-change related disasters, conflict and displacement?