ENGENDERED CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT AND RESPONSE KNOWLEDGE, AND ITS
IMPLICATION FOR ADAPTATION, VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE IN SUB SAHARAN
AFRICA

ENGENDERED CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT AND RESPONSE KNOWLEDGE, AND ITS
IMPLICATION FOR ADAPTATION, VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE IN SUB SAHARAN
AFRICA

N. ASSANA,

P. SIBANDA

Gender is a socio-economic variable which can be used to
analyze adaptation, vulnerability and resilience of people against
climate change and variability in local communities in Sub Saharan
Africa (Assan, 2014). Climate change refers to the variation in the
global or regional climates over time. It describes changes in the
variability or average state of the atmosphere over time scales ranging
from a decade to millions of years (Ayoade, 2003). Gender-
differentiated impacts of climate change on women and men in
developing countries will have detrimental effects on agricultural
productivity, biodiversity and ecosystem services. This is because they
have the least capacity or opportunity and knowledge to prepare for
the impacts of a changing climate given their limited resources
(Nelson et al. 2010). According to Nellemann et al., (2011) adaptation,
vulnerability and resilience of people to climate change depend upon
a range of conditions. These vary from their degree of exposure and
dependency upon weather patterns for livelihoods and food security,
to varying capacities in adaptation, which are influenced by gender,
social status, economic poverty, power, access, and control and
ownership over resources in the household, community and society. Climate change is a global phenomenon, with impacts that are already
being experienced on a human level, and around the world, many of
the most vulnerable communities are already struggling to cope with
the impacts of climate change. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest
that climate change is reshaping human civilization and our
knowledge on how we respond to climate change calamities will
determine the future of mankind. It is recognised that it is those who
are already the most vulnerable and marginalised who experience the
greatest impacts (IPCC, 2007), and are in the greatest need of
adaptation strategies in the face of shifts in weather patterns and
resulting environmental phenomena. There is need for gender
sensitive adaptation strategies in the face of existing climate change
impacts on human activity and food security, including how these are
manifested in different contexts. Men and women experience
particular gendered vulnerabilities in climate change induced
disasters, therefore there is need to identify the extent to which lack
of gender sensitive disater preparedeness action have led to greater
risk, and to map out possible engendered strageties for interventions
to mitigate the impacts of possible disasters. Empowered with
appropriate knowledge, men and women can effectively use this
knowledge to advance sustainable use of biodiversity in most
communities as a result lessening the impact of climate change.
Useful synergies exist which can be used by both men and women for
adaptation and mitigation in local communities include conservation
agriculture, avoiding deforestation, forest conservation and
management, agro-forestry for food and energy, land restoration,
recovery of biogas and waste and in general, a wide set of strategies
that promote the conservation of soil and water resources by
improving their quality, availability and use efficiency. Knowledge on
climate change mitigation measures and adaptation strategies should
be accurate and available to general populace to accommodate the
anticipated changes.The aim of this study is to assess gender
disparities in climate change impact and response knowledge in Sub
Saharan Africa.

Scientific Journal of Review

2015