GGCA Gender and Climate Change Training Manual - Women's ...

The following resource sectors, in addition to the forestry and energy
sectors outlined in other modules of this training manual, are relevant for finding
equitable adaptation responses to climate change.
4.4.1 Water and sanitation
Climate change causes increased water availability in humid tropics
and at high latitudes, and a decline in water availability and increase in droughts
at mid latitudes and low semi-arid latitudes. These changes lead to hundreds
of millions of people being exposed to increased water stress. More than 1,000
million people in less developed countries have no access to drinking water and
2,400 million lack access to a proper sanitary service.
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In most parts of the world, in rural and urban areas, women and girls are
responsible for collecting water for cooking, cleaning, health and hygiene, and
if they have access to land, growing food. Increasingly limited water supplies,
poor service delivery, and pollution are jeopardizing women’s survival and that
of their families.
4.4.2 Biodiversity and ecosystems
It is estimated that each temperature increase of 1°C makes species
migrate up to 160 km away from the zones where they are located, because seeds
are dispersed and habitats changed. The speed with which climate change is
occurring will be such that it will not allow natural adaptation and will put to the test
the resilience of socio-economic systems. In addition, anthropogenic changes in
most cases reduce options for finding appropriate locations to which to migrate.
If species are not able to find new habitats, change their life cycles, or if they
do not have evolutionary processes that result in new physical characteristics,
they will be condemned to extinction. Ecologists have estimated that between
15–37% of natural species may be extinguished by 2050 as a result of climate
change and habitat change (Thullier, 2007). Studies have demonstrated that
certain species are more vulnerable than others to the effects of climate change.
For example, it is predicted that, if present GHG emissions are maintained, up
to 60% of mountain plant species could be extinguished (Thullier, 2007) and that
coral reefs will experience episodes of bleaching every two years (Donner et al.,
2007).
Module 4