Climate Change
If left unchecked, climate change will devastate our ability to grow food. Women farmers in poor countries are already on the frontline of coping with and adapting to the effects of climate change.
Climate change is already hitting farmers hard. And left unchecked, it will devastate our ability to grow.
Rising temperatures will cause crop yields to fall – possibly to half of their current levels in some African countries. And changes in seasons will make it even harder for farmers to know when to sow, cultivate and harvest.
Although women farmers in poor countries contribute little to greenhouse gas emissions, they already being hardest hit by climate change.
Heat waves, droughts and floods make it even harder for women to grow enough food to eat and earn a living. Climate change affects the forests and fisheries they rely on, the crops they can grow and the water they can count on to irrigate their land. As temperatures rise and rainfall patterns change, women will have to spend more time farming even as they produce less food.
And farming isn't only affected by climate change – it causes it too. Agriculture is responsible for around almost a third of all greenhouse gas emissions.
The way to grow
Governments have dragged their feet for too long.
We need a fair global agreement that will keep global warming below 2 degrees and avoid catastrophic climate change. Nothing else is good enough.
It's time to help poor communities adapt to the changes that are already happening, by agreeing exactly where the money promised for the Green Climate Fund will come from.
And it's time to recognize and value rural women’s capacity for climate change adaptation. This means ensuring that women are at the table when decisions about climate change are made – from the community level to the Green Climate Fund.
For our world to grow together, it's time to get climate change under control.
Resources
Read the GROW Fact Sheet:
Read Oxfam's Briefing Notes:
- Gender and the Green Climate Fund - July 2011
- Out of the Bunker - Time for a Fair Deal on Shipping Emissions - September 2011
- Out of the Bunker - Two page backgrounder
Read Oxfam’s Research Reports:
- Governing Climate Funds: What Will Work For Women? September 2011
- Climate change and women farmers in Burkina Faso: Impact and adaptation policies and practices – August 2011
Read Oxfam’s Field Research Report:
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