Inclusion of gender in Africa’s climate change policies and strategies
This article by Springer aims at reviewing climate change related policies and strategies in East and West Africa through a gendered lens. The countries Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania in East Africa, and Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa are included. Concerns of climate change impacts and adaptations have continued to receive much attention in both local and international climate change debate. It is acknowledged that Africa’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is insignificant. However, Africa is very vulnerable to climate change given its low capacity to respond and adapt. Moreover, progress in enhancing better understanding of gender variations on the impacts and adaptation to climate change has been relatively limited. The differentiated impacts of climate change at local level add to the complexities of developing gender sensitive response strategies. While progress has been in developing polices and strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation, it is critical to ensure that these do not lead to further inequalities during implementation. This article examined commonality in policies, while recognizing the complexity in the social, economic and ecological systems of each country. The article further assesses the importance of integrating and mainstreaming gender into Africa’s national adaptations plans of actions (NAPAs), and Intended Nationally Distributed Contributions (INDCs), and the need for better gender oriented climate change policies, programs and plans.
This article is part of the book: ‘Handbook of Climate Change Communication: Vol. 1’, which can be found here.