Women, Most Renewable Resource: Oxfam's "Sisters on the Planet"

[Triana]

Women have a unique and vital role to play in conservation of our natural resources • • • and climate changes hit women and the poorest the hardest - just like all environmental disasters, political upheavals, and wars do • • •


The world's poorest are affected the worst by global warming and women get the brunt of it. Struck with drought and dwindling resources in developing countries, women scrape for food, water, livestock, and fuel for children and the elderly, as men leave in search of jobs. Oxfam's "Sisters on the Planet" program may sound like a 1970's feminist gathering, but it's dealing with pressing environmental issues, focusing on empowering women who shoulder the burden to find solutions. Considering a Swedish study determined women's carbon footprint is 25 percent smaller than men's, is it time for a revived women's movement?

In Ghana, women spend hours searching for wood for cooking. In Bangladesh, more women than men (five times as many) have died in flooding from cyclones when confined to their homes. Women in Senegal fend for families amidst crop failure and lack of clean water. Scarce farming and grazing lands in Darfur have contributed to the conflict in Sudan. There's sexual and domestic violence, and increases in young girls dropping out of school.

Sisters Doing It For Themselves

Oxfam estimates by 2020 up to 250 million in Africa could face severe water shortages, as a result of climate-related drought, which exacerbates poverty and hunger. Janet McKinley, chair of Oxfam America described the help needed for women farmers coping with Mali's degraded land and the salt water encroachment in Da Nang, Vietnam. Speaking at its Sisters on the Planet event, after the Governor's Climate Change Summit in LA last Friday, she shared a video about the situation.

Focusing on grassroots programs, the following initiatives help women adapt (the operative word now, instead of eliminate) to existing problems:

• Innovative techniques to increase rice paddy yields in Cambodia
• Homestead gardening, floating gardens and duck rearing in Bangladesh
• Disaster preparedness systems in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala
• Planting dense mangroves to diffuse storm waves in Vietnam coastal towns
• Reviving canals in Peru to provide both moisture and drainage for farmers
• Planting evergreens and mangroves for fuel and reducing erosion in Uganda
• Tree planting in Kenya's Green Belt Movement improves farm production

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http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/women-most-renewable-resource-oxfam.php