The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) continued to recognize the significant role of women as a vital source of information in developing effective early warning messages and systems to reduce disaster risks from climate change.
Speaking at the webinar titled “Gender and Climate Change in Addressing Impacts of Climate-related Risks on Women,” Director Elenida Basug of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Climate Change Service and concurrently Director of the DENR Gender and Development Office highlighted the need to mainstream women-led early warning messages and systems to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women in climate change.
“Because women are more dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods than men, this makes them a goldmine for valuable information for an early warning system that builds community resilience and their adaptation capacities to climate-related disasters,” Basug said during the DENR-hosted webinar on March 30, as part of the celebration of the 2022 National Women’s Month with the theme, “Women with Disabilities: Life is Enjoyed, Least of All Endured.”
However, Basug lamented that women’s voices are “often absent from the design and decision-making around early warning systems,” and as a result, do not have their needs adequately met.
“Women tend to have fewer resources to cope with climate change-induced disruptions,” Basug stressed, noting that the roles they play in communities as primary caregivers and providers of food and fuel “make them more vulnerable when flooding and drought occur.”
The United Nations, through its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), estimates that 80 percent of people who have been displaced by climate change are female.
Basug explained that women, whose livelihoods are more dependent on natural resources than men, face a far greater risk of being pushed into poverty.
She added that women are often placed at greater risk due to lack of timely and relevant information about imminent hazards and a lack of equal access to economic, political, and community internal resources.
She said the DENR is making efforts to address this disparity and is gradually moving to include women’s voices in the policy and planning on the responses to climate change resiliency and adaptability.
The Enhanced National Greening Program (ENGP) and Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Management Programs (CMEMP) are two of the DENR’s 10 priority programs where mainstreaming gender responsive initiatives are salient.
Both the ENGP and CMEMP put emphasis on improving environmental services that women rely on and capacitate their involvement on a par with those of men, with explicit focus on the socio-economic benefits of these programs in terms of gender equity between men and women.
Salient in ENGP’s and CMEMP’s thrust is to promote enhanced climate change mitigation and adaptation capabilities of women by giving them opportunities to engage in sustainable livelihood activities that support food security, environmental stability and biodiversity conservation.
According to Basug, the level of social enterprise to produce sustainable livelihood practices in ENGP sites like forest plantation and forest parks have increased because of higher water-holding capacities in the uplands and reduced downstream flooding and soil erosion.
Meanwhile, equitable management of protected areas where women are involved are ensured in CMEMP areas.
The celebration also showcased the rights and privileges of senior citizens and persons with disabilities in webinars discussed by Commissioner Franklin Quijano of the National Council of Senior Citizens and Rizalio Sanchez of the Philippine Association of Citizens with Developmental and Learning Disabilities
