For many women living in the Cook Islands, collecting yellow land snails to make jewelry and other handicrafts is their sole source of income. Recent extensive dry spells have made these shells more difficult to find.
"Sometimes we will spend weeks on end to fill an empty can which we used to fill within a few hours," says Tangiruaine Ngaruaine. "At the beginning of this year, it was truly tough because there was hardly any rain. Whatever I make from selling these shells is my 'income' and it has been my only source of income."
Ngaruaine's story is represented here at COP16 by Ulamila Wragg, one of an expanding number of women participating in official UNFCCC climate negotiations.
Wragg is here at COP16 an an official delegate for the Cook Islands, one of the women delegates funded and trained by the Women's Development Fund to represent female voices, particularly those of women who are disproportionately impacted by the impacts of climate change in least developed countries.
During a fascinating Q&A at Wednesday's COP16 side event on Women for Climate Justice, Eunice Stella Warue discussed the importance of integrating women into the negotiating process at the UNFCCC and the challenges they face in effectively representing their gender in an official capacity as delegates.
Eunice Stella Warue talked about gender, climate change and women delegates at a COP16 side event. Photo by Deborah Phelan
"Women from LDCs favor different solutions for mitigation and other options for dealing with the consequences of climate change," she said. "And that's because they are the ones who traditionally deal with the food and the water needs of the family."
While fellow panelist Gotelind Alber (GenderCC) discussed the gains women have realized in having gender issues inserted into parts of the Long-term Cooperative Action (LCA) draft over the past two years, Warue focused on the challenges female delegates from developing countries face in participating in COP16 talks. Included among these were a lack of understanding of the rules and regulations, language barriers, and inadequate support from other delegates.
WDF Delegates assemble for training session. Photo by WDF
The challenges of these women are most assuredly front and center for the Women Delegates Fund (WDF), which since 2009 has funded and trained over 25 women delegates from LDCs to attend UNFCCC meetings. Implemented by UNDP and administered by theWomen’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), WDF is a project of the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA).
To increase women’s leadership in decision making, WDF enhances the skills and knowledge of its delegates in ongoing training on such issues as negotiation skills, media, and communications and by providing expert presentations and research on difficult issues like REDD+ and climate finance as well as opportunities to influence implementation of policies on a national level.
In 2009, backed by funding from Finland, WFD increased women's participation in UNFCCC talks by 30%, the highest number of women in the history of the UNFCCC. In 2010, this number has grown to 34%. Since 2009, over 25 women delegates have been funded to attend UNFCCC meetings through the WDF.
This year the project is focusing on ensuring that its delegates consistently participate in all meetings and strengthen their networking and capacity building skill sets.
Two WDF delegates confer prior to entering official negotiations. Photo by WDF
Ghana
Patience Damptey is WDFs delegate from Ghana, where over 50% of the total population is female and 30% of households are headed by women. Ghana's women direct key productive sectors which are particularly vulnerable to climate change. They represent 52% of the agriculture labor force,
contribute 46% to the total GDP and produce 70% of subsistence crops.
"The literacy level of women in Ghana is still lower than men and therefore women have unequal access to information and capital to take decisions," says Damptey. "This presents a challenge because when these facts are considered, the specific needs of women in relation to climate change are largely overlooked."
Mother Ghana: Village women in Northern Ghana at a school play. Photo by Sara Marie Hebsgaard
Climate Snapshot: Ghana
Severe flooding and drought dramatically impact residents in Northern Ghana. Climate refugees from the region are relocating to the Brong Ahafo and other western areas to farm.
Earlier this year, under the sponsorship of UNIFEM, Ghana launched the Gender Action on Climate Change for Equality and Sustainability (GACCES) in recognition of the vital role its nation's women play in decision-making through "Building Capacities to Influence Climate Change Policies from a Gender Perspective", The project held a training workshop for local civil society organizations in ten regions of the county in June to promote understanding at the local level of the causes and impacts of climate change on their livelihoods and to provide training on mitigation and adaptation solutions.
Goal: Access to a financing of capacity building programmes and transparency of adaptation and mitigation programs
WDF's Background
Funding for WDF, which first meet in Bangkok in 2009, expires in 2011. Today, delegates come from across the regions of Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, Central Asia, and Africa, each bringing a different area of expertise to represent key elements in the official negotiations. One previously supported delegate is now the Focal Point for her country.
Nepal
Nepal delegate Meena Khanal says extreme weather has had a devastating impact on the lives and property of Nepal. The pattern of frequent droughts followed by extreme rainfall threatens the food security and the economy of this nation, where 80% of the population relies on agriculture, which generates one third of its annual GDP. Climate change has also impacted the availability of water from traditional sources.
"Women and children who are already vulnerable in normal conditions become even more so when there are droughts or floods," says Khanal. "In the more remote areas, a lack of drinking water has become a problem as well, and
consequently the rural women have to travel long distances to fetch drinking water."
Additionally, food and water shortages increase the amount of time women have to spend away from their homes and communities, which also has security implications, especially in terms of human trafficking activities.
Nepal: Nepal-Crematorio de Pashupatinath en route to Nirvana. Photo by tapperoa.
Climate Snapshot: Nepal, 2005 to 2010
* In Eastern Terai, extreme fluctuations in monsoon rain cause deficits of crop reductions ranging from 10% (drought)to 30% (flooding).
* 40 out of 75 districts in Nepal faced food deficits after 2008 and 2009 droughts reduced yields of barley and wheat by 14% and 17% respectively.
* 2009: Between 18,000 and 20,000 families were displaced after floods caused severe landslides.
These extreme weather situations are increasing the frequency and ferocity of the hazards facing the people of Nepal who lack access to information to prepare.
Goal: Early warning systems, reliable efficient evacuation plans, and providing funds for adapting to these hazards
Goal: A deal at COP16 that ensures a committed effort to curbing the activities that cause these hazards in the first place.
The Cook Islands
One Foot Island. One Foot Island is the nicest of the motus (islands) in the lagoon of Aitutaki, Cook Islands. The beach is just amazing, the water crystal clear and the most gorgeous colour you can imagine. Photo by Stefan Heinrich
Climate Snapshot: The Cook Islands
I am climate change officer at Cook Islands Red Cross in the South Pacific and yes, we have noticed a lot of changes. Currently we have participants at a First Aid training from our outer islands in the north. They shared information such as some of the shell fish that they usually feed on have rapidly depleted recently and coral bleaching seems to be evident.
The sea level rise is prevalent as root crops now have to be moved to higher grounds to avoid the saline water.
Thanks
Mata Hetland
Red Cross Climate Change Officer
Goal: Technology sharing to improve means of livelihood.
Global Alliance of Wastepickers and Allies
At Wednesday's side event on Women and Climate Change, a Hindi women representing the Global Alliance of Wastepickers and Allies, attempted to share information about the problems her organization has in gaining a voice about the disproportionate impact of climate change on women in India.
GAWA, represented at COP16 by Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa, the United States, India, Canada, and Spain, is here "to demonstrate that millions of waste pickers around the world, supported by international organizations with representation in dozens of countries, stand united and committed to their struggle for climate protection and false waste and climate solutions."
And demonstrate they did yesterday in an internationally covered event outside the official Moon Palace talks!
The Global Alliance of Wastepickers and Allies demonstrate at the Palace Hotel in Cancún, Mexico, on the first Friday of the climate summit Photograph: Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images
Gender in Cancún News
Follow UNIFEM's daily newsletter on the 2010 Climate Change Talks in Cancún.
"We cannot solve global problems using half of the world's brain power." Monika Devikka