Training Manual on Gender and Climate Change

Abstract

"For many years there has been the assumption that the negative impacts of climate change and the efforts to mitigate them have similar effects on both women and men. However, the world has progressively recognized that women and men experience climate change differently, and that gender inequalities worsen women’s coping capacity. It has also been acknowledged that women are important actors of change and holders of significant knowledge and skills related to mitigation, adaptation, and the reduction of risks in the face of climate change, making them crucial agents in this area. Consequently, there is an urgent need to adopt a gender-responsive approach towards climate change policy making and programming. (prologue, p.III) To meet the demand for improving skills in gender and climate change, and to build up a pool of trainers in different regions and countries, the GGCA 6 has developed the present training manual. The purpose of presenting the concepts in this manual is to increase the capacity of policy and decision makers so that efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change are gender-sensitive. The training manual draws on existing in-house materials (research data, analyses and extracts from international frameworks) that have been adapted or expanded but also includes newly compiled case studies to illustrate the concepts in each module. It presents key conceptual and methodological advances in gender relations in the context of climate change. The topics covered in this manual relate to the topics covered in the Bali Action Plan. (Introduction, p.6)"