Transcript Women, Watershed Governance, and Climate Change

Women, Watershed Management,
and Climate Change
By Patricia E. Perkins & Patricia Figueiredo Walker
Faculty of Environmental Studies
York University
The Impacts of Climate Change on Women
Women are disproportionately
affected by global climate
change due to:
 Poverty and socially
constructed gender
inequalities
 Gendered work and family
responsibilities
 Reliance on natural
resources for their
livelihoods
 Fewer financial, social, and
institutional resources
“Women Digging, India” Photograph by Steve McCurry
“Green Lake, Mount Abu” Photograph by Igor Cavalli
Women: Key Agents of Change
• Women have special contributions to make towards
climate change adaptation
• Women possess local ecological, social and political
knowledge
“Tea Plantation, India” Photograph by Steve Winter, National Geographic
Climate Change and Variability
• By 2025, two-thirds of arable
land in Africa will disappear
(Bied-Charreton 2008)
“All Wet” Photograph by Marwan Naamani
• About 35 million people in the
Southern African region are
still using unimproved water
sources (IPCC 2007)
• the distribution of precipitation,
and intensity and frequency of
precipitation events could
potentially exacerbate both
flooding and water scarcity
(Anisfeld 2010).
“Waiting for Relief ” Photograph by Daniel
Berehulak
Addressing gender inequality in
environmental policy
• Acknowledging and addressing
interactions
• Grassroots climate change approaches
– Lay groundwork for broader participation
– Long-term self-directed defense strategies
• Social knowledge
Climate change and water
governance in Brazil
Climate Change:
• Deforestation and environmental degradation
• Rural-urban migration; continued urbanization
Current Framework:
• Progressive watershed management system—
requires participation by civil society on
watershed committees
– low-income people and women in particular are still
underrepresented
The Sister Watersheds project (20022008)
• Partnership between: Universities
and NGOs in Canada and Brazil
• Combined student exchanges,
research, community
engagement, and “capacitybuilding”
• Addressed the lack of
participation by and inclusion of
civil society representatives,
especially women, in water
sector governance
The Sister Watersheds project (20022008)
• Developed and tested
training programs and
workshops led by local
NGO partners
• Workshops focused on:
–
–
–
–
water management,
environmental education,
community development,
democratic participation
Climate change and water
governance in Durban, Maputo,
Nairobi
Climate Change Impacts
• Coastal erosion, flooding, salt
water intrusion (Maputo)
• Coastal inundation, storm
surges, sea level rise, heat waves
(Durban)
• Water supply fluctuations, slum
flooding (Nairobi)
“Water Tank, Kenya” Photograph by Lynn Johnson
Strengthening the role of civil society in
water sector governance towards
climate change adaptation
• Improve watershed governance for climate change
adaptation
• Increase resilience and adaptive capacity of
vulnerable and marginalized groups, especially
women
• Durban, Maputo and Nairobi
Project partners discuss climate change and water at the project’s
inception meeting 08/2010
Our group gathers for a photo at a guava farm in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
08/2010
Workshop Participants learn about the PCJ Watershed
Skills training program for local girls
Strengthening the role of civil society in
water sector governance towards
climate change adaptation
• Project Objectives:
1. Characterize the institutional framework for
urban water governance in the three cities
2. Identify and test viable alternatives for
enhancing civil society’s role towards
adaptation to climate change
3. Share widely the knowledge generated
Strengthening the role of civil society in
water sector governance towards
climate change adaptation
• Focuses on low-income areas
of each city
• Methodology: collaboration
between students, NGOs and
academics and, communitybased research and
environmental education.
• Challenges the conventional
notion that only educational
institutions “produce”
knowledge.
PCJ Project Coordinator presents educational
materials on use of water
Prof. Perkins asks questions about the PCJ Watershed in São
Paulo, Brazil
Examples of grassroots activities
• In Durban
– “learning journeys”
• In Maputo
– After-school activities/environmental education
• In Nairobi
– Building soccer fields and community gardens
in slum flood plains
A community garden near the Nairobi Dam in Kibera.
Project partners – professors and activists – attend a community meeting in Kibera.
Conclusion
• Climate change exacerbates long-standing
gendered inequities in water governance
• Women’s situated knowledge is particularly
important in times of climate change
• Community-based education and organizing
with women’s leadership is a promising way
forward.
• Local /global university and CSO
partnerships create strong synergies
Students, professors, and community activists working as a team on equitable water governance and climate change education.
Thank you
Patricia E. Perkins
York University
[email protected]