Kalpana Giri, WOCAN Core Associate and Nisha Onta, Knowledge Management Coordinator, were the panelists for the session on ‘Integrating gender considerations into climate change and disaster risk reduction strategies for fishing communities’ during the Global Conference on Climate Change Adaptation for Fisheries and Aquaculture held on 10 Aug in Bangkok. The objective of the conference was to provide a forum for scientists, development professionals and natural resource managers working in the context of fisheries, aquaculture, rural development and related fields to share practical experiences in understanding the vulnerabilities associated with climate change and the development of risk management and adaptation strategies.
The objective of the session on gender was to discuss:
- Gender differentiated risks of climate change and natural disasters and related gender vulnerabilities in fisheries and aquaculture sectors.
- Perceived and potential effects/impacts of climate change on women in fisheries and aquaculture.
- The identification of strategies to harmonize the integration of gender among the different (although related) sectors (e.g. fisheries and climate change, aquaculture and disaster preparedness).
- Methodological and institutional frameworks for assessing gender related vulnerabilities to climate change and natural disasters in fisheries and aquaculture.
- The provision of guidance towards the implementation of international instruments (gender, climate, disaster and fisheries) into national policies and local plans.
Kalpana shared her experience of building capacity of 24 gender champions from six countries as part of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Initiative on Gender and Climate Change in the USAID LEAF program. She highlighted that the training workshop and mentoring program implemented in partnership with WOCAN was an effective tool to bring about policy changes through the gender champions. Nisha gave a brief overview of WOCAN and emphasized that capacity building, creating enabling environment and collective action are key to integrating gender into any sector.
