Why gender should be on the agenda for combating climate change

Fatuma Hussein uses her foot to roll a 20-litre container of water along the newly built road that connects Merile Bridge in Isiolo County with Marsabit town in Marsabit County. It is yet another hot morning and Fatuma is anxious to get the first 20 litres of water to her home and help her mother to prepare a meal for the family.

Her younger brother Ali Hussein resumed school this week. Their father decided to employ one of their older cousins to be taking their livestock, 100 goats and 15 camels, to pasture, to give Ali the chance to go to school. Fatuma will however not resume school until the long dry spell is over at which time water will be available closer to their home where her mother can easily fetch it and still do other routine chores.

This scenario is replayed among many pastoralist families in northern Kenya. It is common to find parents opting to keep girls out of school or even having them drop out altogether while their brothers continue with their education.

The situation in the mostly semi-arid counties of northern Kenya including Garissa, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana and Wajir has worsened in recent decades due to climate change. Extreme climate events, particularly drought and floods have become more frequent. As a result, families such as Fatuma’s have had to go further and further in search of water for domestic use and pasture for livestock.

Women and men affected differently

Due to the nature of their social roles, women and girls are tasked with the duty of preparing food for the family, taking care of young children and carrying out other chores that are critical for the proper functioning of their homes. Families find it easier to co-opt young girls instead of boys to assist in domestic tasks some of which require most of the day to fulfil. Among these is fetching water and collecting firewood.

A 2016 study on land degradation, which assessed land cover change in Kenya over the 20-year period between 1990 and 2010 found the percentage of bare land had increased by more than 4 per cent of Kenya’s land surface. This is area is slightly larger than the entire county of Samburu. The most affected counties included Samburu, Kitui, Garissa, Tana River, Mandera, Turkana, Marsabit, Baringo, West Pokot, Kajiado, Kilifi, Wajir and Makueni.

The study, titled: Land Degradation Assessment (LADA): Based on a Study of Land Degradation Assessment with Remote Sensing and GIS, for Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in Kenya was commissioned by the then Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources. It established that land degradation in Kenya is both natural and human-induced. It specifically alluded to climate change being principally responsible for natural land degradation in the country because of the associated increased frequency of droughts that intensify pressure on natural resources such as trees on which families rely on for firewood and charcoal.

When it is borne in mind that most families in Kenya’s drylands depend on biomass for domestic energy and that the role of gathering firewood falls on women and girls, it is not hard to see why special focus needs to be made on how to reduce the impacts of climate change with a deliberate focus on women and girls.

Research shows that women who have acquired secondary school education bear fewer children. These children have higher chances of surviving beyond their fifth birthday and attaining secondary-level of education or higher. Policies that ensure that girls remain in school even in the face of climate change are therefore urgently needed, particularly in the northern counties.

Recent Climate Change Act

Fortunately, the situation is changing to address the gender gaps in policy formulation to ensure women’s unique climate change adaptation needs are addressed. For example, the recently enacted Climate Change Act (2016) recognises the need to put gender on the agenda of the national climate change response. Section 3 (2) e of the Act has as one of its objectives to mainstream intergenerational and gender equity in all aspects of climate change responses.

 The Act together with other national policies, particularly the National Climate Change Action Plan, provide a basis for integrating gender-specific responses to climate change plans in the new generation of county integrated development plans (CIDPs), which are currently being developed for the period 2018 - 2022.

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