By Moraa Obiria
Loss of natural resources as a result of climate change is exposing more women and girls to gender-based violence (GBV), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has said.
A 2019 document that Unep has released for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence speaks of the need to build the resilience of women, men, girls and boys to cope with shocks of climate change and degradation of natural resources in order to mitigate GBV.
Crop Failure
The gender and environment outlook document states that among other factors, the extremes of changing weather patterns associated with crop failure push families to marry off their girls as a way of tackling household food insecurity.
This, the report states, leads to early marriages, the practice of female genital cutting and denying girls a right to an education.
The document recognizes that across societies, climate change affects women and men differently.
Women are often responsible for gathering and producing food, collecting water and sourcing fuel for heating and cooking. With climate change, these tasks are becoming more difficult.
Extreme weather events such as droughts and floods have a greater impact on the poor and most vulnerable, with 70 per cent of the world’s poor being women.
Degraded
Deforestation, it states, has forced women and girls to walk long distances in search of firewood and water predisposing them to physical violence and in some cases, rape
“To prevent gender based violence, make sure women, men, girls and boys have equitable access to natural resources, credit, education and information and markets,” recommends the UN Environment Programme.
