Parliamentarian Action #6 | Gender equality action for climate resilient food systems: parliamentarians' perspectives

Worldwide, the climate crisis is accelerating faster and more severely than previously anticipated. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report predicts that the world will reach 1.5°C of warming in two decades, much earlier than anticipated. As the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) approaches and as leaders make new and ambitious commitments at the UN Food Systems Summit, it has become clear that collective action is necessary for enhancing gender-responsive and climate-resilient food systems. 

While the link between gender and climate change is not always obvious, evidence increasingly demonstrates that women and men experience climate change differently, that climate change increases women’s vulnerabilities, and that gender inequality worsens women's coping capacities. How do international policies and legal frameworks address the gender, climate change, and agriculture nexus? How does gender inclusion in climate change policies and the international debate improve the effectiveness of climate action? These are some of the questions that we explored during this event.

The sixth virtual dialogue of the Parliamentarians Actions for Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems in Response to COVID-19 series, was  held on September 29, 2021, 14:00–16:00 CEST, and focused on the nexus of climate change, food systems, and gender equality.

Watch the recording of the event in English

Watch the recording of the event in French

Moderator: Kulthoum Omari-Motsumi, Gender and Climate Change Expert, IISD

Panellists

• Sekou Sangaré, ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources
• Zitouni Ould Dada, Deputy Director, FAO
• Angie Daze, NAP Global Network, IISD
• Hon. Joseph Kamano, MCA Maela and Chairman of the Sectoral Committee in Water, Sanitation, Environment, Energy and Natural Resources at Nakuru County Assembly
• Pacome Guiraud, Gender Expert, UNDP, Cote d’Ivoire
• Hon. Marie-Virginie Kouassi, President of the Caucus of Women Parliamentarians of Côte d'Ivoire
• Colette Benoudji, Co-ordinator, LEAD, Chad
• Hon. Barthelemy Kassa, Member of Parliament in Benin
• Tasila Banda, National Project Coordinator, Zambia Integrated Forest Landscape, Government of Zambia
• Nisreen Elsaim, UNFCCC constituency of Youth Non-Governmental Organizations (YOUNGO)

This virtual meeting is the sixth in a series of dialogues organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), IISD, and Oxfam as part of their policy support to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Network of Parliamentarians on Gender Equality and Investments in Agriculture and Food Security. The objective of the series is to enhance the role of African parliamentarians in mitigating the gender-differentiated impacts of COVID-19 on food systems.

Event hashtag: #ParliamentAction2020