Bringing gender equality and social inclusion to climate change action

On 30 Jan 2020 nearly 30 people attended a very successful introductory session on gender equality, social inclusion and climate change at the offices of the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development Program.  The Pacific Women Program hosted the session, which was run by the Support Unit, and participants included their staff, as well as colleagues from the Fiji Women’s Fund, SPC, IPPF and the Australian High Commission. The session covered the core concepts of climate change – what the science tells us, the impacts already being experienced in different parts of the Pacific, and the projections for the future.

We then applied this understanding to a series of scenarios to see how changes in climate affect diverse groups of people differently – even in a village setting access to information about the climate and oncoming disasters, access to resources, mobility and safety are shaped by a person’s gender, disability, age and poverty.  Participants worked through case studies in education, health and climate services to analyse how gender sensitive and socially inclusive responses to climate change can be integrated into development initiatives.