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Climate change has a habit of exploiting weaknesses. Existing problems are made worse and new ones are created in its wake.
How the climate crisis unequally impacts women is well-documented – but no less shocking. According to the UN, women and girls make up 80% of the people displaced due to climate change. This often forces them into extreme poverty and a heightened threat of violence.
Researchers attribute this disparity to a range of factors. Women are typically among the majority of the world’s poor, with fewer decision-making powers and a greater reliance on their country’s natural resources for survival. The crisis brings deeply entrenched inequalities to the surface and makes them hard to ignore.
This year’s International Women’s Day takes up the issue with the theme of “For All Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment”.
Many women in Peru, for example, are experiencing these inequalities firsthand as climate change forces them to adapt.
But they aren’t alone in the effort. Profonanpe, the Peruvian environmental fund, was established in 1992, and is at the forefront of conserving the country’s globally significant biodiversity.
As part of this work, the fund empowers women to take a central role in their future, by moving into new roles in their communities, and contributing vital local knowledge to adaptation responses.
Business leaders
Profonanpe is spearheading two climate projects, financed by the Adaptation Fund, and women’s rights are a main priority throughout. One of these initiatives, located in the Andes, is about to get underway, while another on the coast has recently reached completion.
Both present different challenges. In the mountains, women often participate in the same activities as men. The new project will increase adaptive capacity and reduce the vulnerability of forests, grasslands and wetlands using an inclusive approach that combines ecosystem monitoring and resilience-building.
A tale of two women: What climate vulnerability actually looks like
Along the coast it is uncommon to find women who work on fishing boats, but they play a crucial role in processing and marketing the day’s catch. Acknowledging this fact and finding alternative lines of work was a key consideration.
Peru’s significant fishing industry accounts for an estimated 10% of all fish captured around the world, but as fish stocks plummet, local communities need to diversify fast. Profonanpe’s approach was to help women create their own community associations, and run their own businesses.
New industries popped up using fish waste as a biofertiliser, aquaponic plants were created to cultivate fish stocks, and eco-tourism was promoted in marine protected areas.
José Zavala, a general coordinator on the project, explained: “The work of women within the productive chain of artisanal fishing was invisible for a long time. That is why it was decided, in a participatory way, to include activities exclusively for them and that would adapt to their way of life.”
Gloria Tarazona, president of the Women’s Association of Aquaponics in Huacho, said many women in Peru – particularly mothers of young children – can’t work because they have to take care of their family. The project changes this dynamic by allowing them to join part-time with manageable schedules. “We are generating food and jobs for many people,” Tarazona said.
“The food is natural and organic, and little by little with climate change and pollution these products are becoming more necessary. The positive change that I’ve seen in all the women of the project is that they like what they have learned. I always tell them they have to continue forward because this is a project of the future,” Tarazona added.
Inspiring change
Claudia Godfrey, Profonanpe’s director of innovation and strategic management, told Climate Home how women’s stories from the project are a strong motivator.
“Daughters have seen the change in their mothers, and felt inspired. T
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