Climate change is a global challenge that impacts every corner of our planet differently across sectors and regions. Vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change are often shaped by socioeconomic status, access to resources, gender inequalities, among others (Rao, N. et al, 2019). Understanding these disparities is therefore essential to craft effective and targeted solutions that address specific vulnerabilities among populations. It is against this backdrop that the gender and climate change vulnerability hotspot mapping studies are being undertaken across African countries.
What are Gendered Vulnerabilities?
Gender plays a significant role in how individuals experience and respond to climate change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2022) affirms that the impacts of climate change do not affect men and women equally. Additionally, the report emphasizes that women and children are particularly vulnerable, among the most at-risk groups. The extent of vulnerability differs according to gender, and may also be influenced by intersectionality with other social identities, including ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic class, geographic location, physical ability, age, and education, among others.
In many African countries, women are responsible for tasks like water and food collection, which can become more challenging as resources dwindle due to changes in the environment. Limited access to information, control over assets, and decision-making exacerbate women’s vulnerability to climate change impacts. It is therefore paramount to integrate gender and intersectionality dimensions in climate actions.
The Concept of Granular Gender and Climate Change Vulnerability Hotspot Mapping
Granular gender and climate change vulnerability hotspot mapping is a strategic approach that permits the identification of specific locations at the sub-national level that are facing the most severe and immediate impacts of climate change. It involves an analysis of a range of factors, including climate data and environmental conditions, as well as socioeconomic indicators, through a sex-disaggregated lens. Official statistics from secondary sources are used to generate the gender and climate change vulnerability hotspot maps for sectors, which are then validated through ground-truthing studies conducted in the identified hotspots. The corroboration of secondary and primary data obtained from ground truthing helps to identify the nature and extent of vulnerability to climate change among women and men of different socioeconomic groupings, thereby enabling policymakers to pinpoint and prioritize the areas that require urgent attention. Granular gender and climate change vulnerability hotspot mapping permits the design of specific interventions tailored to address the unique needs of communities, as well as the root causes of vulnerability, thereby enabling policymakers to pinpoint and prioritize locations that require urgent attention.
Evolution of Granular Gender and Climate Change Hotspot Mapping for Decision Support in Africa
Since March 2023, the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES), with funding from AUDA-NEPAD and in collaboration with CGIAR Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) and the CGIAR Gender Impact Platform, has been supporting the governments of Botswana, Kenya, and Uganda in implementing similar studies, encompassing the sectors of agriculture, water, energy, and tourism. In March 2023, AGNES convened a regional meeting that brought together the national Gender and Climate Change Focal Points and nominated national experts from Botswana, Kenya, and Uganda. The overall objective was to present and validate the granular gender and climate change vulnerability hotspot mapping methodology and approach that would be applied concurrently in the three countries.
National launches were held following the regional meeting to create a multi-stakeholder awareness of the granular gender and climate change hotspot mapping and secure key stakeholder buy-in. The studies received acclamation by dignitaries as follows;
“The Granular Gender and Climate Change Vulnerability Hotspot Mapping’ could not have come at a better time. The impact of climate change on vulnerable groups, particularly women and girls, cannot be overstated. However, without sex-disaggregated data, it is difficult to fully understand the gendered impacts of climate change and design effective climate policies and programmes that respond to specific needs and concerns of men and women of different intersections.” ~ Ms. Veronica Nduva (Principle Secretary for the State Department of Gender and Affirmative Action) at the Kenya national launch
“The mapping exercise will be a milestone in the national efforts to advance for women’s socio-economic empowerment, I therefore urge all our stakeholders to cooperate for the success of the study” ~ Hon. Peace Regis Mutuzo (State Minister for Gender and Culture Affairs, Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development) at the Uganda national launch
“The study brings together cross-cutting issues of gender and climate change as such these two elements cannot be ignored, because not only are they explicitly ingrained at Goals 5 and 13 of Sustainable Development Goals but they are inevitably laced within every Pillar of the National Vision 2036” ~ Honorable Minister Phildah Kereng (Honorable Minister for Water and Environment) at the Botswana national launch
Following the national launches, the national technical teams of Botswana, Kenya and Uganda have collected data and are being supported by a team of experts from AGNES and its partners to develop and validate the gender and climate change vulnerability hotspot maps for priority sectors. The sectors are Water, energy, and Agriculture (Uganda and Kenya) and Water, Agriculture and Tourism (Botswana), respectively.
The developed hotspot maps will be showcased during the Africa Climate Week and Summit (4th–8th September 2023) in Nairobi, Kenya, and at the 28th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from November 30th to December 12th 2023.