04/28/2021 – Maiara Folly, Programme Director at Plataforma CIPÓ, represented CIPÓ in the panel organized by UN Women to discuss the gender dynamics in the context of climate change and natural resources management in conflict-affected countries, and reflect on opportunities for peacebuilding through women’s empowerment and enhanced participation in political and economic spaces related to natural resource management.
Targeted at peacebuilding practitioners, governments and international organizations, civil society organizations, including women-led organizations, the event titled ‘Gender, Climate and National Resource Management: opportunities for peacebuilding‘ addressed four key questions: 1) How do gender norms and power dynamics expose women to new climate-related risks or exacerbate existing challenges? 2) What is the role of women in access, use and control of natural resources?; 3) How does increased women’s participation in decision making over natural resource management contribute to peacebuilding?; 4) How can gender-responsive initiatives in climate adaptation have a peacebuilding impact?
Highlighting the impact for peacebuilding of gender responsive initiatives with regards to the climate and security nexus, Maiara Folly emphasised that limate and security dynamics in Latin America. In the Amazon region, for instance, indigenous women, who play a crucial role in agriculture production and water collection, are often the first ones to suffer from food insecurity as a result of the reduction in access to clean and fresh water resulting from climate related factors, such as the increase in river water temperatures. It is thus clear that gender responsive initiatives are essential to address the human security implications, inequalities and social tensions exacerbated by climate change.
