'Botswana women starkly exposed to climate change stress'
Baboki Kayawe | Monday December 11, 2023 06:00
The study, whose initial phase has already mapped out climate change hotspots at the sub-national level, presents a gloomy picture in the climate-sensitive agriculture sector where less than 16% of women are employed with less than 40% land ownership rights across the country.
The study is being undertaken by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in partnership with the Department of Gender Affairs through the support of the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES) as well as UNDP Botswana.
Presenting the preliminary vulnerability mapping aspect of the study during the occasion of the Gender Equality Day at the COP28 on Monday, lead researcher and country coordinator, Tsaone Mokwatso, said existing disparities such as the gender income gap, which came out strong in areas such as Kgalagadi, Ngamiland, were exacerbating climate change shocks and resilience issues amongst women.
She explained that after identifying the hotspots, the extent of vulnerability will be assessed and validated during the next phase of ground truthing through stakeholder-focused methods amongst the study population.
“Policies are developed across different sectors of the economy which affect men and women differently,” Mokwatso said. “The mapping therefore tries to understand the levels of impacts amongst men and women. “Is the impact of investment felt, are government interventions felt on the ground, are programmes such as drought relief, Temo Letlotlo which are meant to push Batswana in agriculture and increase their resilience, reaching the right people? “Are there benefits and are government goals being achieved?”
The work in progress has thus far established that Gantsi, Kgalagadi North, Kgatleng, and Bobonong areas are the most sensitive and vulnerable in terms of agriculture. The South and South Eastern parts of the country are said to be warming up at a rate beyond the historical temperature rises, making them susceptible to dryness and droughts.
The objective of the study includes assessing gender climate change hotspots for key climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, and tourism, identifying location-specific needs and indicators to inform national and subnational climate policies and climate adaptation actions, and also assessing the current level of gender-responsive adaptation actions. The study also aims to improve the adoption of climate-smart technologies, practices, and services.
Environment and Tourism minister, Philda Kereng, hailed the study as a primer for more research around climate change and various sectors of the economy. She said the study was aligned to Botswana’s transformative agenda which aims to bring efficiency in service delivery as data and research inform inclusive policy intervention.
“People around climate-sensitive areas sell and collect wild resources for subsistence. There are women in agriculture working the fields amidst changing rainfall patterns and increasing extreme weather events,” Kereng said. “The study is a benchmark to influence the right strategies and also channel and reset the budget so that women in all sectors are adequately budgeted for. “It is effective for prioritisation of gender-sensitive budgeting.”
As human/wildlife interactions are also affected by climate change, Kereng further pointed out that part of climate mobility was climate change induced because wildlife disruption in human settlements and farmlands poses threats to lives and productive livelihoods.
Moreover, she proposed a joint dissemination campaign with the Minister of Finance to bring awareness to “women in rural areas who experience climate change and might not be aware of it".
On Monday, COP28 launched a partnership to support women’s economic empowerment and ensure a gender-responsive just transition. The day saw ministers and senior officials convene for a high-level dialogue to advance gender-responsive just transitions to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The meeting emphasised “the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities”.
Endorsed by over 60 parties, with Lesotho, Burkina Faso, the DRC, Chad, Rwanda, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Morocco being the only African states, the partnership includes a package of commitments that signatories will implement over the next three years before reconvening at COP31.
“According to the International Labour Organization, 1.2 billion jobs are at risk due to global warming and environmental degradation and women are expected to be most severely impacted due to their high representation in sectors particularly vulnerable to climate change,” reads a statement from COP28.
*This article is part of reportage on COP28, produced in partnership with MESHA and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Kayawe is a development communicator with an interest in science and climate journalism. She has taken keen interest in climate change as it is an existential threat to Africa and the continent’s development aspirations. Currently pursuing graduate studies in Natural Resource Management and Participatory Development Communication with the Okavango Research Institute, Kayawe aims to be amongst the continent’s science and development communication contributing to solution-based climate journalism.