African Climes

  The 28 th conference of parties to the UNFCCC will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from November 30 th to December 12 th . The COP presidency has outlined four thematic areas which are transitioning to clean energy; centering nature, people, lives and livelihoods; delivering on finance and mobilizing inclusivity. This yearly international meeting deliberates on climate policy globally and sets the pace for action. It involves practically everyone – governments (parties to the UNFCCC), business and corporations, civil society, media, financial institutions, youth, women, indigenous peoples, regional governments and UN agencies. Image courtesy                 The most important issues in focus this year will first of all be the global stocktake (GST). This is a process enshrined in the Paris agreement which seeks to assess climate progress in view of attaining the goals of the 2015 agreement. What have we done, where are we and what needs to be done? It is to be done every

One of the global development goals agreed on universally is gender equality. Climate change is an issue of paramount global importance and clean water and sanitation is a human rights issue in many parts of the world. Gender, water and climate change are issues that are inextricably tied together. They are number 5, 6 and 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals.  Women are affected by climate change differently from men. And climate change is primarily felt through water. Most of climate change effects are water related. One of the ways that climate change affects women in the lens of water is in agriculture. A good percentage of the world’s agriculture is small holder, subsistence in nature and done in a rural setup. Majority of farmers in rural areas especially in Africa are women while most of agriculture is rain-fed. It relies on rainfall and precipitation patterns are increasingly being affected by climate change. Droughts, inadequate rainfall and heatwaves cause water sc