Sharm el-Sheikh
Egypt
Deputy Secretary-General's video message to Fourth Session of COP27 Gender Day - "African Women Climate Change Realities: Adaptation, Mitigation and Response’
Statements | Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
Statements | Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
Gender inequality and climate change pose great threats to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
This is particularly true for Africa.
Despite barely contributing to global emissions, the continent is disproportionately impacted from climate change.
From increasing temperatures, droughts and floods, to landslides and rising sea levels…
From desertification, deforestation and land degradation, to the deterioration of agricultural production, increased food insecurity and poverty…
And ultimately: conflicts.
According to the WMO, water stress and hazards like withering droughts and devastating floods are hitting African communities, economies and ecosystems hard.
High water stress is estimated to affect about 250 million people on the continent and displace up to 700 million individuals by 2030.
For example, the worsening crisis and looming famine in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa shows how climate change can exacerbate water shocks, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and destabilizing communities, countries and entire regions.
In Somalia, after four consecutive failed rainy seasons, one third of all livestock have perished since mid-2021.
And more than 1.2 million of the people affected by the drought are women and girls of reproductive age.
As food and water insecurity persist, women and girls are experiencing alarming levels of poverty and economic deprivation, increasing their vulnerability to gender-based violence.
And UNDP projections indicate that about 90 million women in Africa could be food-starved by 2050.
Friends,
While evidence shows that women are bearing the brunt of climate change, they can also play a crucial role in climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience.
Women and girls are essential, effective and powerful leaders to address the climate crisis.
But they remain largely undervalued and underestimated, with limited access to training, extension services, and technology necessary for effective adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
There is a very simple and effective solution: put women and girls in the lead.
The transition to a green economy provides a unique opportunity to reduce environmental risks and ecological scarcities while strengthening women’s resilience to climate change.
Women can accelerate action towards gender equality for green, resilient, and inclusive development.
National green jobs strategies, currently underway in several countries in the region, must ensure women’s active participation in decision-making forums and technical task forces.
They must create institutional spaces for dialogue and policy solutions, where women can bring their perspectives and expertise to designing gender-responsive economic policy, planning and budgeting.
Next year will bring a stocktaking of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
We must show genuine progress and identify the gaps we need to fill, as we accelerate towards 2030 and ensure we keep the promise of the SDGs.
I wish you fruitful and concrete deliberations.
Thank you.
Gender inequality and climate change pose great threats to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
This is particularly true for Africa.
Despite barely contributing to global emissions, the continent is disproportionately impacted from climate change.
From increasing temperatures, droughts and floods, to landslides and rising sea levels…
From desertification, deforestation and land degradation, to the deterioration of agricultural production, increased food insecurity and poverty…
And ultimately: conflicts.
According to the WMO, water stress and hazards like withering droughts and devastating floods are hitting African communities, economies and ecosystems hard.
High water stress is estimated to affect about 250 million people on the continent and displace up to 700 million individuals by 2030.
For example, the worsening crisis and looming famine in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa shows how climate change can exacerbate water shocks, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and destabilizing communities, countries and entire regions.
In Somalia, after four consecutive failed rainy seasons, one third of all livestock have perished since mid-2021.
And more than 1.2 million of the people affected by the drought are women and girls of reproductive age.
As food and water insecurity persist, women and girls are experiencing alarming levels of poverty and economic deprivation, increasing their vulnerability to gender-based violence.
And UNDP projections indicate that about 90 million women in Africa could be food-starved by 2050.
Friends,
While evidence shows that women are bearing the brunt of climate change, they can also play a crucial role in climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience.
Women and girls are essential, effective and powerful leaders to address the climate crisis.
But they remain largely undervalued and underestimated, with limited access to training, extension services, and technology necessary for effective adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
There is a very simple and effective solution: put women and girls in the lead.
The transition to a green economy provides a unique opportunity to reduce environmental risks and ecological scarcities while strengthening women’s resilience to climate change.
Women can accelerate action towards gender equality for green, resilient, and inclusive development.
National green jobs strategies, currently underway in several countries in the region, must ensure women’s active participation in decision-making forums and technical task forces.
They must create institutional spaces for dialogue and policy solutions, where women can bring their perspectives and expertise to designing gender-responsive economic policy, planning and budgeting.
Next year will bring a stocktaking of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
We must show genuine progress and identify the gaps we need to fill, as we accelerate towards 2030 and ensure we keep the promise of the SDGs.
I wish you fruitful and concrete deliberations.
Thank you.