How to cushion women from climate effects discussed

Women are impacted more than others by climate change

PESHAWAR:

Climate change impacts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) are evident as 25 districts are categorized as vulnerable to flash flooding as a result of accelerated glacial melt. It was revealed by speakers during a consultation on Wednesday.

Women, who are more than 50 per cent of the population of the province, are impacted more than others due to climate change, as they bear the responsibility of managing the water, food, and nutritional needs of the household.

To understand the effects of climate stress on women and solicit feedback, the UNDP SDGs Support Unit, in collaboration with the National Commission on the Status of Women, organised a provincial consultation with stakeholders on ‘Women and Climate Change: Impact, Challenges, and Solutions’ in Peshawar.

This theme is aligned with the upcoming 66th session of the Global Commission on the Status of Women (CSW): ‘Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies, and programmes”. Similar consultations were previously held in Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab on the same theme.

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The consultation provided a platform to engage highly experienced gender and climate change experts, policy practitioners, representatives from the government, private sector, civil society, academia, and media, to discuss how climate change impacts women adversely, and highlight existing mechanisms to reduce these vulnerabilities.

It also provided a platform to explore potential solutions to reduce the vulnerabilities of climate stress on women and other marginalized populations.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2022.