Thursday, April 21, 2011

European Partnership on Integrated Urban Sustainability Management launched in June!

The CHAMP project consortium is launching a European Partnership on Integrated Urban Sustainability Management on the 4th of June in Brussels, in connection with the Resilient Cities Conference.

The European Partnership aims at establishing a long sustaining support structure for local sustainability. It will further develop the goals of CHAMP and serves as a competence network for exchange and knowledge growth. Moreover, it will provide members with training on integrated sustainability management and increase the interaction various campaigns and initiatives. The Partnership targets organizations that can facilitate and train local authorities in using the Integrated Management System, but it also welcomes interested local and regional authorities.

For more information about the event and the European Partnership, have a look at the CHAMP website and join us in the launching event!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Thinking about the gender-climate link

The developing countries are experiencing the impacts of climate change first-handed. Especially women in those countries are vulnerable to ethe ffects of the changing climate. Recognizing the gender-climate link is only one point of view to the issue, but it's still a significant one.

Men and women are affected by the climate change in a different way . This is caused for instance by the distribution of work and cultural norms. Being poor makes people more vulnerable to the effects of climate change no matter if you are a man or a woman. However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 70 % of the world's poor are women. The impacts of climate change are expected to increase poverty and thus lead to increased gender inequality, too.

Should we look at the gender aspects of climate change also in the rich north? The differences are not only visible in developing countries. For the Nordic people in general are not used to heat waves and especially the elderly, most of them being women, are severely affected by the hot weather. Certain professions in the European countries are strongly dominated by women or men. If certain professions are suffering from the changing climate, also gender effects could be notable. What is certain is that more information on the impacts of climate change from the gender point of view is needed both in the south and in the north.

Photo: UNWOMEN
More information:
UNDP Resource guide on Gender and Climate Change
Gender into Climate Change: Toolkit for climate experts and decision-makers