Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Women to Suffer Most from Climate Change

According to a new study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), women in developing countries will be the most vulnerable to climate change. The BBC reports:
Women do most of the agricultural work, and are therefore affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting on food, energy and water, it said. The report suggested family planning, reproductive healthcare and "gender relations" could influence how the world adapts to rising seas, worsening storms and severe droughts.

Describing "a cycle of deprivation", the report said that women in developing countries did a larger share of farming and had less access to income-earning opportunities. They also managed households and cared for families, which limited their chances of moving around and increased "their vulnerability to sudden weather-related natural disasters".
I cant help but wonder, if while women are 'the most vulnerable to climate change' are they also not the most resilient to climate change? In other words, would they not be the key to finding particular and unique coping mechanisms to climate induced problems?

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