Almost half of the world’s population consists of women. The United Nations rightly addressed women’s contributions to climate resilience on March 8, 2023, to celebrate Women’s Day. Any conservation activity is almost impossible if women are left out. In developing countries, women make up half of the agricultural labor force.
According to the UN, if women have the same access as men, yield in agriculture increases by 20 to 30 percent, which may reduce world hunger by 12 to 17 percent. Women are good organizers in the community as well as mobilizing, which can lead a community towards climate resilience. However, the UN claims that communities can get more output (especially in resilience and capacity building) when women are included in the planning.
Women have a strong social conscience and excellent communication skills and they are considered the first responders in communities worldwide during natural disasters.
Unfortunately, climate change affects everyone but not equally across the world. Women and children are more affected by the impact of climate change than men due to their types of daily work, engagements, health, and hygiene issues. Due to poverty, social structure, and cultural norms, women have to work more and sometimes in an unhealthy environment with their comparatively heavy dresses than men.
Climate change is a cross-border issue and Bangladesh is responsible for only 0.47 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Unfortunately, the wrath of climate change has severely impacted the country, and Bangladesh has ranked as the 7th disaster-prone country in the world. From 2000 to 2019 Bangladesh incurred a loss of approximately $3.72 billion.
According to Germanwatch, Bangladesh incurs an annual loss of nearly $300 million due to extreme climate events. However, all the losses cannot be counted by the economic indicators.
Climate Change has engulfed the country’s sustainable development by destroying agriculture, the infrastructure of the community people, their other income sources like cattle and poultry farms, business points, and academic, cultural, and social institutions; that induced poverty, internal migration, unemployment, child marriage, illiteracy, polygamy and many more.
The social losses sometimes go out of count. As women are mainly responsible for housekeeping, caring for dependents, sometimes caring for their wards, and supporting their spouses in agriculture and other farming, they have to face more suffering.
They are suffering disproportionately in every case, mentioned above, due to multiple reasons. Climate change has a significant impact on women's reproductive and sexual health, especially in coastal areas. Some studies have outlined that saline intrusion and waterlogging as the main reasons for these health hazards. Nonetheless of many social and cultural barriers to women from society, women are engaged in climate resilience activities in the coastal areas. For instance, hydroponics training received by the women from Khulna, are growing crops without soil in flooded or drenched areas which has added income sources not only for the women but also for the jobless men of the community. For health services, several NGOs are working in the climate-sensitive areas for sexual and reproductive healthcare. International organizations like Pathfinder have developed innovative approaches to help the Bangladesh Government meet the Universal Health Target by 2030 (SDG target 3.8). Trained women are leading these services year-round and even during disasters which is inspiring for others. Women-led organizations have been established and promoted climate adaptive livelihoods like crab farming in the Deluti Union in Paikgachha under Khulna District, which has not opened a new opportunity for the women but for the poverty-leaden community by the support of PKSF, WorldFish under the project RHL (Resilient Homestead and Livelihoods Supports to the Vulnerable Coastal People of Bangladesh). This initiative has not only been limited to Deluti but it will be expanded to other parts of the coastal area, creating a value chain and foreign investment to make the crab industry on a large scale for the global market.
The Sustainable Forests and Livelihoods (SUFAL) project, run by the Forest Department, and supported by the World Bank and Bangladesh Government jointly, works for the empowerment of the community people through collaborative forest management (CFM), through their direct participation, and shifting their livelihoods from forest dependency to smart agriculture, poultry, livestock, small business, etc., by training and financial support. The total beneficiaries are 41,000 from 615 Forest Conservation Village (FCV) of the country under 15 forest divisions with 3 forest ecosystems where more than 60 percent are women. All the committees and subcommittees are dominated by women members, who are more active in all FCV activities. However, the SUFAL project increased the capacity building of the community members through several pieces of training, skills development, AIGA (alternative income generating activities), and social safeguard training, which has helped the community to be resilient socially and economically.
The women, who were forest-dependent, and lagged in the poverty-laden society, are now involved in income-generating activities like duck and hen rearing, vegetable cultivation by adopting special techniques (hydroponics, bag gardening, floating agriculture), goat rearing, beef fattening, small businesses such as tailoring, and small groceries. Once the unfortunate women from remote small islands like Char Nizam, Dhalchar, and Char Jahirudding, Char Patila of Bhola district are socially empowered and in a better condition. They can solely bear the expenses of education for their wards and save. They have empowered themselves in the society. Nurjahan, a duck woman who was forest-dependent from Kukri-Mukri, can earn around twenty thousand per month with the training and financial support of the Forest Department through SUFAL. Many women like her have changed their livelihoods and increased their income. As they are also the earning members of the family, they are economically self-dependent, and gender-based violence (GBV), and social subjugation of women have been reduced significantly.
Sustainable Forests and Livelihoods (SUFAL) aims to reduce the dependency of poor people who enter forests for resource collection and livelihoods. Through CIP (community identification of the poor), the Forest Department selected around 55-65 people with the help of partner NGOs for a Forest Conservation Village (FCV). After the final selection,6 different committees viz. CFMC (Collaborative Forest Management Committee), VCSC (Village Credit and Savings Committee), FAC (Finance and Accounts Committee), SAC (Social Audit Committee), PC (Purchasing Committee), and finally, FPCC (Forest Protection and Conservation Committee) in a FCV. In each committee, women’s share is as much as men's. For example, the VCSC committee has 3 men and 3 women. After the committee's formation, many trainings, such as capacity building, skills development, hands-on, database, social safeguards, and environment, were conducted. By skills development training, community members have chosen their trade and learned skills. With soft loan support from the Forest Department, they are well enough with their income. All information regarding FCV members like their training, meetings, loan support, etc. are available in a smart database for the best use of monitoring.
Forest dependency was detrimental to both the community and the forest department. The existence of forests became a challenge due to the increasing demand for inadequate resources in Bangladesh. For climate resilience, forests are the key resource to fight against natural disasters like tropical cyclones. SUFAL project has rightly addressed the necessity of the community people and ensured the maximum participation of women, which resulted in an inclusive movement for the country's climate resilience.
The writer is Ph.D Researcher in Climate Change, MDS, MSS, MBA