CLIMATE ACTIONS THROUGH GENDERED LENS: LOSS AND DAMAGE

By HAPPY MULOLANI

JUDITH Kapenda wakes up early in the morning to work in her fields in preparation for the forthcoming rainy season which is expected to begin as per agriculture calendar. Sadly, there seems to be no sign that the heavens will open up and pour out the much needed rains. Instead, high temperatures are witnessed causing excessive heat which cannot allow germination of seeds.

Ms Kapenda’s 20 acre farm is located in Nkolemfumu farming area in Kasama, Northern province. It is in a high rainfall area with an average of 1,200mm of rainfall annually.

 “My plan is to cultivate two hectares of maize and two hectares of soya beans,” Ms Kapenda said.

Her intention is to hoard 40 percent of the maize which she anticipates to harvest, while sale the other 60 percent to earn an income. She plans to sell all the soya bean following the lucrative market the previous farming season.

When the rains finally pour out, she quickly plants all the four hectares already prepared as planned. After the rains which looked seemingly promising to last longer as is usually the case, a dry spell is experienced. The two hectares of maize crop wilts due to the excessive heat.

However, Ms Kapenda remains hopeful. When the rains pour out again in the third week, she replants and the crop stand is a marvel as the rains are now consistently pouring out.

At first, the constant pouring out of rains appeared to be good for the sound growth of crops. Ironically, it turns out to be heavy rains for a considerable period and causes 70 percent loss and damage to the crops.

“Initially, my plan was to sale and hoard some of the maize for household food security while, the other harvest I will sale off to earn an income to sustain her family and also re-invest in the other enterprises I desire to pursue,” Ms Kapenda said.

Ms Kapenda’s predicament is a reflection of many women farmers who often conform to the advised agriculture calendar - which entails land preparation and cultivation of fields in advance and early planting by mid-November.  But, in recent years, loss and damage has been one of the effects of climate change which has led to women farmers losing out on their expected yields leading to most households being food insecure.

This is against the backdrop that Zambia is particularly vulnerable to climate shocks such as floods and droughts exacerbated by the present climate crisis, although the country only contributes 0.19 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is also evident that majority of the population depend on rainfed agriculture for its livelihood, unfortunately most of its production is severely affected by increasing temperatures and precipitation patterns.

A research conducted by ActionAid Zambia titled “Zambia: Women and Girls’ Confronting climate change loss and damage” indicates that the foregoing climate shocks in relation to their effect on women requires climate actions which need to address the “limits of adaptation and include specific interventions that address loss and damage from a women’s human rights perspective.”

The study reveals that women’s experience towards loss and damage hinges on their household food security being threatened by climate change as agriculture is their primary source of livelihood. This is compounded by the destruction of their crops as it directly has consequences on their lives since most of them have not recovered from their loss.

ActionAid Zambia, Climate Officer Rebecca Mwambazi, explains that women often find alternative means of survival as they migrate from drought prone areas to other towns/communities in pursuit of income generating activities to sustain their families.

Ms Mwambazi reveals that women find themselves in desperate times as climate change poses a risk to their reproductive health given their biological make up. They are also faced with gender based violence as they traverse distant areas in search of food and water.

To overcome some of the barriers women encounter due to climate change, a number of women centred solutions have been facilitated by encouraging women participation in dialogues and capacity building on conservation farming and energy saving cooking stoves. Zambia Alliance of Women, Agents of Change Foundation and Non-Governmental Gender Organisations Coordinating Council are among the organisations in the forefront in facilitating these climate initiatives.

Despite strides made including policies meant to help women respond to climate change, traditions, in particular patriarchy continues to limit women’s access to wealth ownership. For instance, traditional laws and customs tend to prevent women from owning land. Property is often listed as the husbands’ property because a man is still given first priority. Women are also under-represented in leadership structures which undermines their voices.

These patriarchal tendencies tend to exclude women in climate change interventions because they find it difficult to access relevant information on climate change.

“Women find it harder to access relevant information about climate change and its effects due to their lack of access to education…illiteracy among women is high in Zambia as a result of patriarchal preference to educate boys over girls,” Ms Mwambazi explains.

Another major setback hinges on women’s lack of access to climate finance. To achieve positive results in any climate change mitigation and adaptation plans requires adequate financing to raise awareness and advocate for feasible climate actions. Access to funds through local solutions such as Constituency Development Funds (CDF) needs to be eased for them to implement their activities without any financial hurdles.

Clearly, to address climate crisis in relation to women, there is need to address the inherent structural inequalities and also ensure women are frontliners in coming up with climate actions such as creating dialogue spaces and conversations to inform climate policy and advocacy at local, national and international levels. This approach will help address climate crisis and assess how loss and damage can be amicably resolved in order to promote women’s human right.

The panacea to climate change needs to ensure broad policy recommendations of all climate actions. The suggested climate actions need to be minimized, be gender responsive and gender transformative given that over 60 percent of the majority food producers in Zambia are women. Such recommendations should also be informed by women leaders’ lived experiences.