Turks and Caicos Islands

Provide gender disaggregated data and evidence on the impacts of climate change to show
how men and women are being affected differently by climate-related changes. This could be
done for direct impacts, such as extreme weather conditions or disasters, water shortages,
food insecurity or changes in land use. This could also be done for indirect secondary impacts,
such as access to energy, changes in employment opportunities, sectoral impacts (e.g.
agriculture, tourism and fisheries), and increased migration or conflict.
Conduct a gender analysis on the social impacts of current policies on adaptation and
mitigation and how they may benefit or adversely affect men and women in different ways.
Even when policies have clear gender-related statements or objectives, rarely do they have the
mechanisms in place to integrate gender at a programme level or to measure the impact of the
policies from a gendered perspective. Economic cost-benefit analyses often overlook the social
implications and there is a lack of methodology for measuring the gendered impacts of current
policies.
Improve institutional capacity in key agencies to implement gender sensitive policy or gather
gendered data. This is needed due to the lack of gender experts involved in policy design and
implementation around climate change; the lack of awareness or gender training of key staff in
ministries and statistics offices responsible for climate change data and policies; and a general
disconnect between the reality of poor people’s (and particularly under-represented women’s)
lives and policy makers.
6.1.3. Information Sharing, Communication and Networking
It is essential that a tri-partite approach is taken when developing the full action plans for the
recommended strategies given. A number of relevant studies have been undertaken in the Turks and Caicos
Islands in the past, but the recommendations are frequently not implemented for a number of reasons, lack
of resources being commonly cited. By establishing a framework by which government, private sector
entities and civil society can work more effectively together, the probability of implementation and
widespread ‘buy-in’ to the numerous initiatives increases. It is not possible for any one group to achieve the
changes that are needed alone and government must ensure that national policy goals and challenges
faced are shared so that solutions can be discussed and negotiated between groups. Gaining support for
initiatives is also facilitated through education and awareness, Section 6.1.4.
The data and information produced through the various initiatives described in Section 6.1.1 must be
communicated and made available through networks in each sector and across sectors. This is especially
true for the idea of a green economy that will require the restructuring of economic systems towards
establishing a low-carbon society, Section 6.3. It is thus important to document and communicate progress
to create positive opinion in large parts of society.
National level data should be made available to regional clearing houses where they exist and, where they
don’t exist, thought should be given to establishing them. An area that could benefit from such a data
repository is health. In particular, information on diseases whose transmission is modified by climate
change as well relevant environmental data (Moreno, 2006), which would require input from health,
environment and meteorological departments.
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