CC and the impacts on poor women Part 2/10

!±8± CC and the impacts on poor women Part 2/10

Climate Change and the impacts on poor women Part 2/10 9-10:30am, 24 June 2009 Climate change affects women more severely than men. In poor communities, women are chiefly responsible for family nutrition, the supply of fuel and water, and raising children. When food and clean water become scarce during a drought, when crops are destroyed by floods or when children become sick due to contaminated water or food shortages women are hit hardest. And the consequences of impacts on women reach farther, threatening the survival of whole families. Such women are forced to develop remarkable solutions to deal with these adversities, and yet continue to be largely excluded from debate on climate change. Certain policies for tackling it may even reinforce these gender inequities. How can the international community draw greater attention to these struggles? What are the policies needed to ensure that national and global strategies to deal with climate change actually provide opportunity for the empowerment of poor women? HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, UN Messenger of Peace; Chairperson, International Humanitarian City Shirley Ayitey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ghana Malini Mehra, Founder and CEO, Centre for Social Markets (CSM), India Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive, Oxfam GB MS Swaminathan, Chairman, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation Moderated by Cyba Audi, Al Arabiya/MBC In kind partnership with Oxfam GB