With the current situation in the country in terms of irregular and extreme weather events, no one is still left in doubt as to the reality of climate change. Even without being told, the citizenry is now conscious that the negative impact of climate change is a threat to the social and economic well-being of people living in Nigeria.
But when we get down to the nuts and bolts and begin to count the cost, it would be realised that we cannot overlook the gender aspect of this global reality.
Let us take agriculture for instance. Despite Nigeria’s reliance on crude oil, a large percentage of the population, especially women are involved in agriculture and other economic activities. And recent government policies are focused on agriculture as an economic development plan.
Various aspects of agriculture like rain-fed cultivation practices, pastoral and nomadic animal husbandry, all depend on favourable climate conditions.
Hence, the impact of climate change on agriculture, water resources and pastures affecting livelihoods hinders national survival.
It particularly affects women who are economically dependent on these agricultural activities, especially at the smallholding level.
Secondly, during incidents of ecological disasters, it is women who are more likely to be left behind. They are the primary homemakers, in whose hands lie the responsibility to find firewood when climate change has wiped away the supplies. It is them who also fetch the water when drought (another climatic imprint) has dried up the water table.
Basically, humanity has progressively come to realise that females and males experience the impacts of climate change differently.
On the same hand, the children, elderly and people living with disabilities are less likely to fend for themselves in such emergencies. Therefore, there is a need for gender mainstreaming in policy development and implementation.
There is now a global consensus that gender inequalities worsen the coping and adaptive capacities of vulnerable groups especially women, children, youths, persons with a disability, the elderly people, farmers, and grassroots communities.
It has also been acknowledged that women and youths are important factors of change and holders of significant knowledge and skills related to mitigation, adaptation, and the reduction of risks in the face of climate change; making them crucial agents when matters of intervention are considered – as it is now, globally.
This is why, I believe, the current draft National Action Plan on Gender and Climate Change for Nigeria should be quickly reviewed, adopted and implemented by the Federal Government and concerned stakeholders. It holds the key for our being able to navigate the complicated arena presented by worsening climatic exigencies.
Presently, the document is going through the nationwide zone to zone consultations where key stakeholders are considering it for eventual adoption and implementation.
It is a task carried on by the Federal Ministry of Environment through its Department of Climate Change, with the support of the Women Environmental Programme, under the project “Call to Action on Gender Mainstreaming in Climate Change Actions in Nigeria”.
Globally, gender mainstreaming in the climate change arena took a long time in coming, and Nigeria has a duty to tag along.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, like some other multilateral environmental instruments, did not include any reference to gender in its initiating provisions. As a result, there had been ongoing advocacy by women and gender constituency groups to mend the deficiency.
Since 2001, the Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC has been slowly taking actions towards the goal of gender equality.
Decision 36/CP.7 which is improving the participation of women in the representation of parties in bodies established under the Convention or the Kyoto Protocol urged “Parties to take the measures necessary to enable women to participate fully in all levels of decision making relevant to climate change” and invited Parties to consider the nomination of women for elective posts in a body established under the Convention or the Kyoto Protocol.
Since then, a number of COP decisions have built on the initial early decision culminating in Decision 23/CP. 18, which states the decision to promote gender balance and improve the participation of women in the UNFCCC negotiations and in the representation of parties in bodies established pursuant to the Convention or Kyoto protocol.
The COP 13, held in Bali, Indonesia, led towards the promotion of gender equality in the framework of the UNFCCC. The 2010 COP in Cancun, Mexico, recognised gender equality and the effective participation of women and indigenous peoples as important for effective action on all aspects of climate change.
The 2012 COP in Doha, Qatar marked the high point in this trend by making a goal of gender balance in representation and establishing gender among the standing items of the COP agenda, in the widely celebrated Gender Decision, entitled “Promoting Gender Balance and Improving the Participation of Women in the UNFCCC Negotiations and in the Representation of Parties in Bodies Established Pursuant to the Convention or the Kyoto Protocol.”
Nigeria currently faces serious climate change-related environmental security problems including landslides, erosion, desertification, drought and heatwaves all of which combine to cause stress on natural resources (land, water, forests) and infrastructure. This, in turn, affects livelihoods of communities especially farmers, poor households and families dependent on natural resources for survival.
It is evident that the risk of climate change impacts differently on different demographics in the country.
Vulnerable groups especially women, children, farmers, persons with disabilities, elderly persons and youths commonly face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of climate change in situations of poverty.
Their limited participation in decision-making processes and labour markets deepens inequalities and often prevent them from fully contributing to climate-related planning, policy-making, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Nigeria became a party to the UNFCCC in 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol and has since given prominence to addressing climate change issues. These platforms and attendant global decisions and contributions are important assets that our policymakers should draw upon to inform climate change responses.
Our policies and programmes must give due recognition to the unique contributions and skills of all members of our society of all gender.
We have gone the initial miles. It is time to finish the whole hurdle. Recognising the need for gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions, the country’s action plan on mainstreaming gender should be tight and all-inclusive.
The main goal of the Action Plan should be not only to ensure that national climate change efforts in Nigeria mainstream gender considerations; but that politics should not swallow our climate policies and actions as it destroys other aspects of our national life.
Without any dichotomy or contrived alienation, women, men, youths and other vulnerable groups must have access to, participate in, contribute to and optimally benefit from climate change initiatives, programmes, policies and funds.
Nonetheless, it would not just be enough to make it a federal project and ostracise or weaken the state and local government components. The document should serve as a guide for states and local governments in mainstreaming gender concerns to address climate change challenges in Nigeria.
The Action Plan should be socialised through Climate Change desks offices in states and should be subsequently cascaded to local communities to aid in addressing gender concerns in those areas.
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