Enhancing Women-Focused Investments in Climate and Disaster Resilience

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• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9789292622121
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Women in Business
• Index: Business

Under the CAREC 2030 framework, a regional trade strategy will provide a more coherent approach to strengthen trade and enhance growth potential of CAREC countries. The CAREC Integrated Trade Agenda (CITA) 2030 aims to support CAREC countries in integrating further with the global economy through trade expansion from increased market access, greater diversification, and stronger institutions for trade. Taking into consideration the countries' capacities and varying levels of progress, CITA 2030 will be implemented in a phased and pragmatic approach including through a three-year rolling strategic action plan.

1 | INTRODUCTION

Women fetch water during a very dry season in Myanmar.

1.1 Why This Report?

As climate and disaster risks increase, they affect the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, especially the marginalized. For various interrelating factors, women are more vulnerable to the impact of disasters and climate change. Women are often poorer than their male counterparts and have lower levels of economic participation. In Asia, women account for two thirds of the poor and 80% of all people living on under $2 per day (UN Women 2018). Women’s economic activity is highly concentrated in agriculture, the sector highly vulnerable to the impacts of disasters and climate change. On the other hand, evidence shows that women lead resilience strategies that deal with disaster- and climate-related shocks and stresses, especially at the local level. In many cases, women exhibit leadership as beneficiaries of government’s pro-poor development programs; and as active members of community-based organizations working closely with local governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector to address adaptation efforts.

Investing more, and in a targeted manner, in women can help increase resilience. Given women’s social roles, they are challenged by and have a deeper understanding of rural and urban vulnerabilities. This is the starting point of any resilience investment. Understanding the nature of gender-based vulnerabilities is crucial to recognizing the diverse impact of climate change and disasters on the population. Gender-based vulnerabilities are not natural and intrinsic, but rather stem from sociocultural discrimination and inequitable practices. Women are more dependent on natural ecosystems for their livelihoods and, hence, have a better understanding of the functions they provide, including regulatory functions to deal with shocks and stresses. Resilience interventions (structural and nonstructural) prioritized by women do not focus exclusively on women’s issues but on family and community issues, thereby advancing wider development. In other words, women-led resilience-building strategies bundle solutions to manage multiple vulnerabilities in the near and longer term for women and communities.

This report focuses on women as agents of change for resilient development and argues for more investments in their existing capacities. This concurs with the global development agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. However, substantial gaps remain in the ability of many countries and communities to generate the necessary political will; technical capacity; and commitment to design, finance, and implement gender-responsive policies and programs to tackle climate change and increase resilience to disasters (ADB and Huairou Commission 2017).

If women-focused investments in climate and disaster resilience are to be truly transformative, they must address harmful gender norms at the root of women’s individual and structural vulnerabilities (ADB and UN Women 2018; Bradshaw and Fordham 2013; Le Masson et al. 2016). Climate and disaster resilience represent an opportunity to promote positive change toward gender equality and challenge historical patriarchal norms and practices. These goals could be achieved by shifting consideration of the role of women affected by disaster from “vulnerable” and “victim” to “game changer” and “active stakeholder.”

This report aims to (i) reinforce the dialogue on the importance of women-focused investments in climate and disaster resilience, (ii) identify key characteristics of such investments, and (iii) discuss the wider enabling environment that can make such investments effective.

1.2 Who Is This Report For?

The report primarily aims to inform senior officials from sector ministries and their counterparts in ministries of planning and finance in Southeast Asian developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Most sectors (i.e., agriculture; rural development, social protection, urban development, forestry, and water resources management) provide opportunities to strengthen women’s resilience. Such opportunities should be realized through public and private investments that combine structural and nonstructural interventions.

The report targets senior officials from national agencies responsible for gender and development, climate change adaptation (CCA), and disaster risk management (DRM). While these ministries and/or agencies typically are not responsible for undertaking investment projects, it is important that officials (i) understand the importance of such investments; (ii) advocate for such investments with their colleagues from different sector ministries and ministries of planning and finance; and (iii) support sector ministries in development and implementation of investment projects through relevant data, information, and learnings. Enhancing officials’ understanding is critical for ensuring prioritization of women-related resilience considerations in relevant policy, legislation, and plans for gender and development, climate change, and DRM.

This report also targets ADB sector specialists working in Southeast Asian countries to support the development and implementation of investment projects. Working closely with gender, climate change, and DRM specialists, sector specialists can generate evidence, understand benefits, identify opportunities, and create impetus for women-focused investments in resilience. Development partners, including global funds that support gender and resilient development, may find this report useful.

1.3 What Approach Was Adopted to Develop This Report?

This report is based on a review of existing literature on (i) the nexus of climate and disaster risk, poverty, and gender equality; (ii) a review of gender, climate, and disaster resilience policy and regulations in the context of two Southeast Asian developing countries, Cambodia and Indonesia; and (iii) key-informant interviews with government stakeholders and development partners in the same countries.

The review guided analysis of the type of features women-focused investments in climate and disaster resilience should possess and how, in concrete terms, these investments can be delivered through different sectors under the leadership of government line ministries. The analysis was presented, corroborated, and refined during discussions at a regional workshop on Strengthening Women-Focused Investments in Climate and Disaster Resilience¹ (January 2019, Bangkok) and attended by government officials from six DMCs,² including those from ministries and/or national agencies of planning and finance, agriculture and rural development, urban development, women and development, DRM, and CCA, as well as by development partners.

1.4 What Common Terms Does This

Table 1. Definition of Common Term Report Use?

Terms	Definition and Explanation
Climate change	A change of climate, which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods (United Nations 1992, p.7). For the purposes of this report, “climate change” also encompasses natural climate variability when the latter is not specified in the rest of the report. (Source: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC]).
Climate change adaptation	In human systems, the process of adjusting to actual or expected climate change and its effects to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate (Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] 2012).
Disaster risk management	The application of disaster risk reduction policies and strategies to prevent new disaster risk, reduce existing disaster risk, and manage residual risk, contributing to the strengthening of resilience and reduction of disaster losses (Source: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [UNISDR]).
Resilience	The ability of a system, community, or society to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt, transform, and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management (Source: UNISDR).
Shocks	Sudden, sharp events that threaten a community. In this document, shocks refer to those triggered by natural hazards (Source: Adapted from 100 Resilient Cities webpage).
Stresses	Factors that weaken the fabric of a community on a daily or cyclical basis. In this document, stresses refer to those that originate in changes in climate variables (Source: Adapted from 100 Resilient Cities webpage).
Vulnerability	The conditions determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or processes that increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets, or systems to the impacts of hazards (Source: UNISDR).

1 Organized by ADB in partnership with the Overseas Development Institute, and with financial support from the Government of Canada.

2 Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.

2 | WOMEN-FOCUSED INVESTMENT IN RESILIENCE: WHY DOES IT MATTER?

A villager crosses the river using a makeshift raft in Mingaladon Township, Yangon, Myanmar.

2.1 Climate and Disaster Risks Undermine Efforts to Achieve Sustainable Development

Disasters triggered by natural hazards, including those influenced by natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change, have significant immediate and long-term impacts that can reverse years of gains in key development sectors. The Southeast Asia region is highly prone to geophysical (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) and hydrometeorological (e.g., tropical cyclones, droughts, floods) hazards. Over the last 3 decades, natural hazard-related disasters caused about 403,000 deaths, affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, and caused huge economic losses. Importantly, socially constructed gender-specific vulnerabilities have contributed to higher mortality rates for women in disasters (Neumayer and Plümper 2007). On the other hand, climate change and variability exacerbate existing stresses on water resources, agriculture, and coastal management through slow-onset changes in rainfall patterns, temperatures, and rising sea levels (Gass et al. 2011). Further, climate and disaster risks likely will increase in intensity and complexity when combined with other development challenges (e.g., growing inequality, continuing environmental degradation, inadequate social services, infrastructure deficits). Lacking effective management of climate change and disaster risks, their impact will continue to undermine efforts to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development (ADB and Huairou Commission 2017).

2.2 Women Are Key to Driving Inclusive Resilience Strategies at the Local Level

Addressing climate and disaster risks requires investments that build resilience by (i) targeting the most vulnerable; (ii) tapping local knowledge, capacities, and resources; and (iii) focusing on a combination of structural and nonstructural measures to produce multiple benefits over different time frames. Women play ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Tables, Figures, and Box
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• 1 | Introduction
• 2 | Women-Focused Investment in Resilience: Why Does it Matter?
• 3 | What Do We Mean by Women-Focused Investments in Resilience?
• 4 | Characteristics of Women-Focused Investments in Resilience
• 5 | Ideas for Women-Focused Resilience Investments
• 6 | Enabling Environment Required to Deliver Investments in Women-Focused Resilience
• 7 | Conclusions
• References
• Back Cover