Cape Town — Global news headlines focus on climate projections about rising sea levels and high temperatures - but we rarely discuss how girls and women are on the frontline of dealing with the consequences of climate change. It is a global phenomenon that disproportionately affects women due to pervasive and entrenched gender inequality, yet despite being at the centre of climate consequences, women are often not part of the solution.
Women have been shown to be more vulnerable to climate change impacts than men due to a variety of social, economic, and cultural factors. Gender norms, cultural barriers, and lack of education leave women even further behind than men. The climate crisis has exacerbated existing gender inequalities and put women's lives and livelihoods at risk. They are more likely to live in poverty, lack access to basic human rights, such as the right to move freely and acquire land, and face systematic violence that becomes worse during periods of instability, reports Global Citizen.
According to the UN, 80% of people displaced by climate change are women. Extreme weather events, like floods, disrupt livelihoods and also affect hygiene and sanitation, with effects on women's health, economic circumstances, and education. Across the world, women depend more on, yet have less access to, natural resources, and often bear a disproportionate responsibility for securing food, water, and fuel, the report added.
The Covid-19 pandemic, conflict, and the economic and social fallout have impacted women and girls many of whom were already facing deep-rooted inequalities and discrimination further challenging their ability to withstand the impacts of the climate and environmental crises. According to UNHCR, worsening socio-economic conditions aggravated by the pandemic, mean displaced women and girls are among those hardest hit. Millions were dependent on precarious employment in the informal economy - earning less and yet spending more to sustain their families. They are now at greater risk of poverty and exploitation.
But exactly how it should be stopped, and who should take what action to stop it, is still far from settled.
To shed more light on this growing challenge, the March 8, 2022, International Women's Day focused on the theme Gender Equality Today For a Sustainable Tomorrow", and campaigned around #BreaktheBias to spur women to rise above limitations and stereotypes that relegate them to the background. The focus for this year is to explore the ways in which women and girls are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response around the world, working as leaders and change-makers to a more sustainable future for all.
But how can women lead the charge in the fight against the climate crisis?
According to the United Nations, despite their vulnerability, women can be seen as active and effective agents and promoters of adaptation and mitigation. For a long time, women have historically developed knowledge and skills related to water harvesting and storage, food preservation and rationing, and natural resource management. In Africa, for example, older women or elders have acquired knowledge and experience over generations about detecting early warnings and mitigating the impact of disasters.
However, women's and girls' voices and participation are still unsupported, underfunded, undervalued, and unrecognized. In a report by the UN, "the recognition of what women contribute, or can contribute, to the survival of the planet and to development remains limited. Gender inequality and social exclusion continue to increase the negative effects of unsustainable and destructive environmental management on women and girls. Therefore, including women in more decision-making positions, educating them with problem-solving skills, and involving them in climate-resilient projects will not only empower women in disadvantaged communities but promote them as equal stakeholders in finding solutions to climate catastrophe.
allAfrica's Melody Chironda spoke to Jennifer Uchendu, founder of Susty Vibes, a youth-led environmental NGO with the mission to make sustainability actionable for young people in Nigeria. She talks about the importance of climate activism, and gender inequality as well as encouraging young people to become active on climate and sustainable development challenges.
Tell us about your journey in climate activism?
It's an interesting story actually. I always talk about how in the third year of my undergraduate studies at Covenant University where I studied Biochemistry, I came across the idea of bio-transformation, which was looking at how nature and biology as a whole transform itself to serve different purposes for man and for nature in general.
I was very fascinated with the environment and all the multiple ways that it served humans and at the same time, there was also that bit to say we need to protect our environments because we haven't even explored all the benefits that nature could provide. From a chemist's point of view, I started to look at things like renewable energy, biofuels, those were things that really excited me at that time. So straight out of university, I started to tell my lecturers that I really wanted to go into this energy space and the environment space.
So I got to volunteer for the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Natural Resource. This was in 2011. And I did that for a bit. And then I did a side by side by youth service where I worked with Unilever. And I think doing both those internships or volunteer opportunities, one was obviously paid with Unilever, but they really exposed me to sustainability from both a government-led institution, public service, and then from the private sector. And I got to learn really about where Nigeria was at that time - it was quite a while ago.
So a lot of people weren't really talking about climate change, you only hear it from our departments, or the ministry of environment. I was just really very fascinated. So on the government side, I would look at advocacy and what does it mean to be energy efficient? How does electricity work, we need to educate even the civil servants at that time to help them get to know what the ministry of energy did.
And then on the private side, at Unilever, I worked in the research and development departments. But because I was very, very passionate about sustainability, I was very fortunate to be at Unilever, when they were just launching the Unilever sustainable living plan, and I just threw myself into learning about how the private sector could drive sustainability, how they could make decisions internally on how their products and processes run, to really drive sustainability. And, I just got involved in that space, and volunteered some more work with several organizations, pro bono.
As someone who was really young, I wanted to learn as much as I could. And then I eventually got a full-time paid job with an E-commerce firm in Nigeria. And because I was very passionate about sustainability, of course, I still reached out and pitch the sustainability department, which was actually approved. And I did that for a bit before I decided to go and get a masters. I always thought I didn't have a master's in sustainability and that limited me to an extent. And for some reason, I always say it's fate, I wasn't able to go for my masters, because my visa was not approved. And I had already resigned from my job. And that left me with no choice but to either go back to the job market, which was very, difficult, still is, in Nigeria, or start up something on my own.
So I actually started Susty Vibes as a blog. it was just a WordPress blog, where I wanted to talk about sustainability from a young person's point of view. And I started to write about the Sustainable Development Goals, which had just been launched the year before. Susty Vibes was launched in 2016. And there was a lot of interest, a lot of people wanting to hear, or read my articles wanting to contribute, wanting to know more about this passion.
And I just realized that there were so many people like me, young people who are passionate about sustainability but never had the platform to express themselves. And sometime in April 2016, we decided to have a meet and greet, to find out people who read the website, who read the blog, who engaged and we had over 50 people in attendance and there and then I just realized this is something to actually try and grow. This is a platform that can really turn into something. And that was really the birth of Susty Vibes as an organization as a youth-led platform for sustainability projects in Nigeria. And of course, that just tied into climate activism.
And just being someone who's pro-environmental protection, as well as gender and women's issues. And that has really been the journey. That's how I started being in this space, talking about climate change, looking at Nigerian policies, but also, most importantly, driving youth-led initiatives in tree planting, cleanup initiatives, massive advocacy, on climate change.
There's so much to do, whether digital, whether we go offline to the streets, so much to be done in terms of making the average Nigerian know about the climate crisis and how it impacts them, and what they can do on an individual level to protect the environment or to be more responsible stewards of the environment.
Why is it important for women to be part of making decisions on climate action? Climate change doesn't impact everyone in the same way, for example, women and men are affected differently. Can you share with us how this plays out? And what can be done to address it?
Every time people ask about the importance of women's participation in climate action climate policy, I always, ask back to say, why not? You have a world that consists of multiple genders. And you want representation. How can I trust that someone who's not been in my shoes, who doesn't understand what it means to be a woman can thoroughly make decisions or provide solutions that would suit my needs? So, it's always important for us to have a gender lens to climate action to solutions, whether it's mitigation or adaptation.
So this is why should women be in that seat making decisions for their future for their children for their generations to come. It's something that shouldn't even be asked as it is important. More importantly, we know from experience, from everyday living in the average African community or rural area, that women bear the brunt of the climate crisis, women are the ones who are closer to natural resources.
So if water is scarce, for example, in the village, the women and girls who would know, or notice it on time, and they would need to go further to go and look for water because it's sort of their primary role. We see that also play out in the scarcity of firewood and drought. So, women bear the brunt of the climate crisis. When you have a climate disaster, for example, it's the women and girls and children and people who live with disabilities that get to suffer the most because there are never enough safety nets to cater to their needs. And that's why we always need to have a gender lens in solving this climate crisis and preparing solutions.
Agriculture's importance and challenges have really come to the fore during the Covid-19 pandemic. How do you see the sector's role in addressing climate challenges?
I mean the idea of agriculture now or looking at nature-based solutions, looking at environmental-based systems, and just going back to conservation as an important way to protect the environment and protects people, in particular, I think it's really key. What Covid-19 taught us was that when humans don't encroach on the world, the world is better for it.
So we saw how the lockdown for a very brief moment, restored cleaner air, reduced plastic pollution, and all of that. So I think it's in the same line to say, the environment needs to be conserved and protected as much as possible. And in terms of agriculture, it's the way we produce food. So it has always been a theme. So I would say more and more people are looking at ways to plug-in.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
In Nigeria, for example, there are more investment opportunities for young people to be part of the agriculture ecosystem that's coming up a lot, so definitely needs to be applauded, and supported as much as possible with the right operating environment.
How would you define climate justice?
I'll define climate justice as putting a face, a human face to the climate crisis and recognizing that it's two sides of the same coin with social justice, that climate change impacts real people. People are marginalized and disproportionately impacted by the crisis, which was also caused by another set of people. So there's a power dimension. And climate justice seeks to restore balance, looking at the climate crisis more from a political and ethical perspective to say that the communities and countries who did not contribute the most to cause the crisis we are in, who at the same time are suffering for it need to be supported.
That recognition needs to be there that there's loss and damage in the process, people's cultures and way of life and livelihoods are being lost to the climate crisis and they deserve justice. Climate change is not just polar bears dying. I mean, those are very important, but also people, it's also people losing their livelihood. It's also people dying and catastrophes and disasters. And justice means that we recognize it, we support them. And climate finance, there's that recognition that this is also something that's personal and something that's political at the same time.
In your work with Susty Vibes, you work a great deal with young people. What are the ways we can encourage young people to become active on climate and sustainable development challenges?
Susty Vibes is youth-led and youth focused at the same time. So we're basically young people doing things for ourselves by ourselves. So that means it's easier to relate to. So we'll always think of, what would we want to see in the world? What kind of world do we want to see? And yeah, so it's us doing things on our terms make it easier to engage. We've also employed pop culture a lot. So making our language, messaging, and advocacy processes and projects very user-friendly, very fun, and simple, relatable, actionable at the same time.
We are just leading by example, to say, we want to see this change in the world, we are also doing it in our own community, and recognizing that sustainability is very imperfect, as it says, and that it takes imperfect people to keep pushing every day to do the work. I think that really is our way of thinking about the work, we try not to sort of guilt ourselves into what we should be doing, what we haven't done, how far we've come, and it makes us realize that we're in a marathon and not a sprint with climate action and environmental sustainability.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
