Engendered climate change impact and response knowledge, and its implication for adaptation, vulnerability and resilience in Sub Saharan Africa

Abstract

Gender is a socio-economic variable which can be used to analyze adaptation, vulnerability and resilience of people against climate change and variability in local communities in Sub Saharan Africa (Assan, 2014). Climate change refers to the variation in the global or regional climates over time. It describes changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere over time scales ranging from a decade to millions of years (Ayoade, 2003). Gender-differentiated impacts of climate change on women and men in developing countries will have detrimental effects on agricultural productivity, biodiversity and ecosystem services. This is because they have the least capacity or opportunity and knowledge to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate given their limited resources (Nelson et al. 2010). According to Nellemann et al., (2011) adaptation, vulnerability and resilience of people to climate change depend upon a range of conditions. These vary from their degree of exposure and dependency upon weather patterns for livelihoods and food security, to varying capacities in adaptation, which are influenced by gender, social status, economic poverty, power, access, and control and ownership over resources in the household, community and society. Climate change is a global phenomenon, with impacts that are already being experienced on a human level, and around the world, many of the most vulnerable communities are already struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that climate change is reshaping human civilization and our knowledge on how we respond to climate change calamities will determine the future of mankind. It is recognised that it is those who are already the most vulnerable and marginalised who experience the greatest impacts (IPCC, 2007), and are in the greatest need of adaptation strategies in the face of shifts in weather patterns and resulting environmental phenomena. There is need for gender sensitive adaptation strategies in the face of existing climate change impacts on human activity and food security, including how these are manifested in different contexts. Men and women  experience particular gendered vulnerabilities in climate change induced disasters, therefore there is need to identify the ext