Adaptation Community Meeting: Promoting Gender-Responsive Adaptation to Climate Change

Climate change affects women and men differently, often exacerbating existing inequalities. Women and men have distinct capacities to cope with the impacts of climate change, as well as to build resilience for themselves, their families and communities. Effective adaptation requires recognizing women as agents of change, and the value of diverse knowledge, experiences and capacities of women and men alike. 

At the May Adaptation Community Meeting, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Gender Office discussed its experience developing and implementing innovative, participatory methodologies to promote gender-responsive adaptation and resilience across sectors. The presentation highlighted IUCN’s work under the USAID-funded Advancing Gender in the Environment (AGENT) program, an aspect of which identifies areas where gender inequality, climate vulnerability, and state fragility overlap to form “hotspots” of concern, particularly for the safety and security of women and girls living in these areas. The presentation highlighted preliminary findings, trends and recommendations for reducing negative impacts from this combination of vulnerabilities, as well as previewed the report and mapping that will launch later this year.

Additionally, IUCN discussed its work facilitating the development of Climate Change Gender Action Plans (ccGAPs) - frameworks which help governments and stakeholders unite their commitment to climate action with commitment to advancing gender equality. In several dozen countries, ccGAPs are driving gender-responsive adaptation across sectors, putting women’s innovative approaches in spotlight.

About the Speaker:

Lorena Aguilar is the Global Senior Gender Advisor and the Global Director of the Governance and Rights Programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She has more than thirty years of experience (in more than 50 countries across the globe) integrating social and gender considerations into programming and initiatives; providing strategic contributions to national and international policies; and generating knowledge and conducting cutting-edge trainings. She has led the development of more than 40 national policies, sustainable development conventions and relevant finance mechanisms to meaningfully advance women’s rights in Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.