Why gender-aware thinking is crucial in climate change policies

The international climate change architecture is complex and constantly shifting as new agreements come into being, or existing ones are amended. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the overarching international framework for addressing climate change, and was the first to acknowledge the role of human interference in the climate system and the need to address carbon emissions. Despite referring to human, activity the UNFCCC makes no reference to gender at any point.

The market-based mechanisms, such as the carbon markets, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which provide incentives for the cutting of emissions, also tend to be gender blind. The policies further marginalise poor women, who are already disadvantaged by market systems, and fail to include them in the development of climate change solutions.

Persistent lobbying by gender and climate change advocates, such as the global network GenderCC and other civil society organisations, has led to some recent positive shifts in global climate change architecture. The Bali Action Plan, created at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) 13 in 2007, provides entry points for taking gender issues into account, while in 2008 the UNFCCC Secretariat was persuaded of the need to include gender-specific recommendations in conference documents. However, there is still a long way to go for climate change poicy to fully integrate gender perspective.