Climate change debate must transcend ‘fine dining’ The break of dawn presents rural poor women with a challenge to fetch firewood among other resources directly affected by climate change
The break of dawn presents rural poor women with a challenge to fetch firewood among other resources directly affected by climate change

The break of dawn presents rural poor women with a challenge to fetch firewood among other resources directly affected by climate change

Ruth Butaumocho Gender Editor
The Paris Agreement that was signed by nearly 200 countries in the Convention on Climate Change, COP21 in April this year will go in the annals of history as a milestone achievement towards a stable climate.

Zimbabwe, which was represented by President Mugabe, was among countries that pledged to keep global temperature increase at less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to work towards a more ambitious target of limiting overall temperatures.

The signing ceremony was described as the “largest ever single turnout for a signing ceremony”, a clear indication of strong international commitment.

As the celebrations cut through Paris and some parts of the world, it is not clear whether the folks in Chiendambuya or Kitsiyatota had an idea what the revelling was all about.

From the time the historical agreement was signed, the public is yet to access the material on climate change and the collective role they can play in their small spaces to ensure that Zimbabwe contributes towards a long-term global solution.

If anything, debate on climate change in Zimbabwe has somehow remained elitist, with little information trickling down to the ordinary person when it should be provided in large volumes because of its consequential effect on man and the future.

Climate change debate has even brought to the fore a serious gender disconnect, where the debate has exclusively been male-dominated, a discussion for “fine table dining,” when in fact it should cascade to the major beneficiaries of policies on climate — women.

Save for those dealing with issues at policy level, the majority of women in Zimbabwe are still to claim the climate discourse and have remained in the periphery on an issue they should be actively involved in.

The threat of the farmland, environment and depletion of all natural resources to sustain humankind is too huge to ignore, especially for women, who rely on everything that nature has to provide for their sustenance and upkeep.

According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change, “Climate change has a greater impact on women in all countries that are most reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods and/ or who have the least capacity to respond to natural hazards, such as droughts, landslides, floods and hurricanes.”

From time immemorial, it is a documented fact that women commonly face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of climate change in situations of poverty than their male counterparts.

Statistics from United Nations, civic organisations and from different Government offices show that women constitute the bigger percentage of poor people.

And because of their social and economic standing, their participation in decision making processes and labour markets is skewed. As such, their participation and contribution to climate-related planning, policy making and implementation is almost negligible, yet they are major users of resources contributing towards climate change. It boggles the mind that women’s involvement in debate around climate change has remained peripheral, especially on policy issues, when they should be at the forefront in advocating for what works for them and deciding how they want policies formulated.

Their exclusion is a result of socially-rooted misconception about the role of women in energy use, where a majority feel that the female populace is not knowledgeable about energy.

They are said to regard energy in terms of mere electricity to operate domestic appliances and warming up the house.

As a result, their exclusion means they are not able to contribute to the elaboration of key strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change. But the current narrative in several developing countries, especially in poorest areas, show that women are key participants in the collection and management of energy.

This is so because energy is generated from wood, charcoal and agricultural waste, areas largely dominated by women.

It then becomes their business to raise their voices and contribute to how energy is managed right across.

It is the lack of recognition of the role that women play in energy management that we see the high attendance of men in climate change conferences, when it should be the other way round.

What has been emerging in a number of climate discussions that have been going around has been the need to garner and engage community bases and localised responses to environmental degradation. It is fair and fine, but there has to be a scale of intervention, where gender issues related to climate change should also get a microscopic view.

Arguably, women in the West might not see the need to agitate for their inclusion in the climate discourse because of their social and economic disposition, where their workloads vary from women in developing countries, who have to scrape the barrel to prepare a family meal.

I remain convinced that no other group is more affected by environmental degradation and subsequent climate change than rural poor women.

The break of dawn presents them with a challenge to fetch water, firewood and tend the fields, whose produce continue to diminish due to the effects of climate change.

Caught between poverty and environmental degradation, excluding them from policy change is blowing their chances of a better future and that of their children.

Having been historically disadvantaged by operating with limited resources, the Government and other stakeholders should ensure the inclusion of women in the climate change discourse so that they can input in their future and humankind at large.

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