Women More Vulnerable to Global Warming, UN Report Says
UNFPA
New Bedford Standard Times
Burcu Karakas
Boston University Washington News Service
11.18.2009
WASHINGTON- Women are likelier to be affected by and to suffer from climate change than men are, according to a United Nations Population Fund report released Wednesday.
Timothy E. Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, said bringing women’s issues into the climate change debate is essential since women are already the greatest victims of AIDS, violence and refugee problems. “Climate change is making these problems worse and worse,” Wirth said at a press conference at the National Press Club.
Wirth noted that as the temperature of the Earth’s surface increases, food production will decline across the world, which will add enormously to the pressure on women who are responsible for sustaining their families.
The report supports the idea that family planning, reproductive health care and gender relations, particularly in developing countries, have the potential to influence the future of climate change.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., emphasizing the unequal burdens climate change places on women, said women are likelier than men to die from conditions related to climate change.
Robert Engelman, vice president for programs at the Worldwatch Institute, a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, said integrating gender considerations into the climate change framework is a new but crucial concept.
He said women who are in charge of their own lives have the power to change global warming by contributing to slower population growth, and their own efforts are “practical, necessary and hopeful.”
Rapid population growth and industrialization affect the levels of gas emissions, he said, and the world is running out of time to reverse this trend. This is a long-term problem, which is not only a governmental commitment but also a “fundamental human issue,” Engleman said.
Jose Miguel Guzman, chief of the population and development branch of the fund, said the way people organize their lives and achieve sustainable life styles is relevant to climate change.
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