Women in rural areas face escalating risks due to climate change, including intensified gender-based violence and deepening social and economic disparities. Climate change is aggravating existing vulnerabilities and entrenching disparities through diminished access to resources and exacerbated socio-economic disparities.
Delegates at the People’s Counter Conference of Parties (COP), organized by the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) in collaboration with other civic organizations, shared these sentiments.
It ran under the theme “From margins to mainstream: Amplifying the voices of those most affected by Climate Change,” and drew participants from across Zimbabwe, including rural farmers, climate change activists, youths, and community-based organizations.
The conference is the national version of a regional African People’s Counter COP (APCC) convened by the African Climate Justice Collective (ACJC) which represents a pivotal movement of African voices advocating for climate justice.
Often marginalized in international climate change discussions on how to address the crisis, the ACJC ran the regional Counter COP under the theme “Africa United Against Systematic Oppression and Climate Injustice,” to capture the voices of vulnerable communities that face the brunt of climate change.
Rumbi Mpahlo, a representative of the African Climate Justice Collective (ACJC) said the Counter COP platforms raise the need for a unified approach to address climate justice, considering diverse perspectives to create a shared understanding.
“It’s about building a collective voice to challenge false climate solutions and instead, promote viable alternatives rooted in the experiences of African communities,” she said.
CNRG programs manager Tracy Mafa echoed these sentiments, “We need to speak about diverse experiences in this collective, climate justice can only be achieved by building collaboration. African communities are not just victims of climate change but also vital contributors to finding sustainable solutions.”
Mpahlo added that the other goal is to amplify African voices, particularly those of young people, who are crucial in shaping Africa’s climate resilience strategy and fostering inclusive, community-led solutions to climate change.
“It’s a space to build unified political action to come up with a common understanding of climate justice shaped by our different perspectives. This is also a space to propose viable alternatives as we have acknowledged that there are false solutions that are being promoted in the world.
“We are concerned about what it is that African people and communities are proposing as solutions, looking at them as viable alternatives rooted in how people experience climate change,” said Mpahlo.
There were strong voices against false solutions aimed at supporting rural women in the face of climate change that appear misguided, exemplified by the promotion of ecologically damaging eucalyptus plantations, for tobacco farmers.
Women in rural areas are also facing an increased burden of unpaid care due to high levels of energy poverty- and are forced to walk long distances in search of firewood the primary energy source for cooking.
According to statistics from ZimStat, the country’s population of around 15.2 million people is largely rural with 67% of the population resident in rural areas. Access levels to electricity services are 53% (16% in rural areas, 78% in urban areas) with 63% of households in rural areas using wood.
This is also comparable to other nations in Africa where at present, 600 million people, or 43% of the total population, lack access to electricity, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“Some of the solutions that are being proffered for women in rural areas are false solutions that are not helping in mitigating or helping us sustainably adapt to climate change. We have an example of the planting of gum (eucalyptus) trees which has an impact on the environment.
“As women, we also face increased incidents of gender-based violence because of climate change, as water scarcity is rising leaving women with a burden to fetch water.
“We are saying no to false solutions, we need a wholesome approach to adaption which also takes into cognizance our Indigenous solutions because addressing climate change requires recognizing and addressing its gender-specific impacts.,” said a farmer, working with the Women and Land in Zimbabwe (WLZ).
WLZ works with rural women to facilitate the eradication of gender discrimination in access, ownership, and control of land.
Tinashe Madondo of ZIMCODD urged the government to enhance social safety nets to shield vulnerable populations from worsening social and economic disparities from climate-induced disasters. ZIMCODD advocates for debt justice, economic transparency, and social accountability.
He said in such instances women are the most affected and by enhancing social safety nets, the government can mitigate the impact of economic hardships on vulnerable populations.
“When Cyclone Idai hit (in March 2019) it was a struggle for the community to rebuild and recover, this was the same when COVID-19 hit it was a struggle across the board, because there was no financing around mitigation. So, discussions around financing for social safety nets should be on the government agenda,” he said.