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

Module 5:
Gender-sensitive strategies for mitigation
actions
In wealthy countries, the looming climate crisis is a matter of concern, as it will affect both
the wellbeing of economies and people’s lives. In Africa, however, a region that has hardly
contributed to climate change-its greenhouse gas emissions are negligible when compared with
the industrialized world’s-it will be a matter of life and death (Wangari Maathai, 2008).
Key messages
• Women are mainly absent from the international dialogue on
mitigation;
• As regards clean energy sources and technologies, women’s role
can not be underestimated as they are main responsibles for ensuring
energy supply and security at the household level;
• Concerning carbon capture, fixing or sequestration, it is essential to
highlight women’s role in forestry;
• Sustainable consumption is a highly gender-sensitive issue as women
make most of the consumer decisions.
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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol are the foundation of the international climate
change governance. The Kyoto Protocol committed industrialized countries
to achieving a specific level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions
(averaging 5.2%) relative to a baseline (in most cases, 1990 levels) during the first
commitment period (2008–2012).
As pointed out in IUCN’s Climate Change Situation Analysis (Drexhage,
2006), Parties to the Protocol can reduce emissions of GHGs in whichever
manner they choose, consistent with the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. They
can count carbon sequestration activities in the land use, land use change
and forestry (LULUCF) sector based on specific rules, and are also free to use
international market mechanisms such as the Joint Implementation (JI), the
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and International Emissions Trading as a
means of meeting their Kyoto targets.
Module 5