Women s entitlement to land, water & other productive resources In the context of Climate Change Expert Consultation and Round Table Workshop On Gender and Adaptation to Climate and Socio Cultural Change Presented by Govind Kelkar 1 Women and Climate Change IPCC/2007: Those in the weakest economic position are often the most vulnerable to climate change They tend to have limited adaptive capacities, and are more climate dependant on climate sensitive resources such as local water and food supplies. The IPCC/ 2007 observed: Widespread increases in temperature globally; The current global crisis of food and energy; Negative impacts of climate change on human livelihoods. 2 1
Vulnerability, Women & Climate Change The questions are: Who are in the weakest economic position and therefore most vulnerable to climate change? How have their capabilities, assets (land, water and other resources) and production activities been affected by climate change. What can be the mutual learning and sharing of experiences of indigenous and agricultural women and men in the Hindu Kush Himalayas 3 Major sectors where women working: Agriculture Official date for 2001 in India reported that 53% of male workers and 75% of all women workers and 85% of all rural women workers are in agriculture. Compared to men, women have much poorer access, control and ownership of land and other productive assets (8 to 9%). Gender wage differentials (50 to 75%) in agriculture. These have been reducing Incentive problems: Principal - agent scenario (men as the land owners) ensure that the agent (women as laborers) has an incentive to bring about the maximization of income. But this does not happen Women s right to land: Who are the farmers? Where technology and extension are directed? So the quality of production/ productivity and women s economic agency. 4 2
Access to Finance/ microfinance Mushrooming of Self-help Groups (SHGs) / microfinance Credit and savings/microfinance groups in Bangladesh. In spite of problems, change in gender relations: 1. Women acquiring land in their own names; 2. Re-defining samman with links to sampatti; 3. Aspiring for freedom to be mobile; 4. Aspiring for freedom to be in local markets as sellers and negotiators. 5 Women Water & Climate Change Provisioning of water for household from long distances, critical for household food security Women s increasing work in irrigation Climate change has effected timing, duration and intensity of water precipitation- more snow & rain, snow melts, floods and droughts Playing havoc with agriculture, dependent livelihoods and food securities. Lac dependent communities in Jharkhand and vegetable farming in north east India Water conservation & harvesting of rain water ( Tamil Nadu Women s Collective and farmers in Nagaland and Jharkhand) Numerous areas covered under NREGA 6 3
Erosion in Indigenous & Rural Women s Position Indigenous women have a major role in organic agriculture, they make a significant contribution to reducing emissions of GHGs and its consequent potential to sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the soil; They have extensive knowledge of nutritional and medicinal properties of plants and roots which are of central importance in coping with shortages during climate disasters; The introduction of mainstream development programmes in adivasi areas has resulted in the loss of land, the decimation of women s unique knowledge and a decline in their social position. 7 Gendered Pattern of Vulnerability Differential effects on women and men because of increased stress of traditions, resource use patterns and gender specific roles and responsibilities; Women s access to land and other productive resources have been declining with the growth of exclusion and rapidly growing privatization in favour of men; Women s responsibility for food security forces them to look for any available means of livelihood, making them vulnerable to violence and human trafficking; 8 4
Gendered Pattern of Vulnerability Women experience greater livelihood insecurity than men do; Adivasi/ Indigenous women experience a triple discrimination: as women in Nepal, as members of the indigenous community, and as women of the indigenous community (Lucky Sherpa, 2006). Chronic problems of extreme poverty, insurgency, violence, discrimination & plunder of material resources by external factors; Little representation or voice in village councils, even in matrilineal communities. 9 Climate Change Effects on Indigenous/Rural Livelihoods Consequent upon the integration of socio-economic and gender systems of adivasi people into the global economy, there are changes which foster: Privatization of access to resources, such as, land and forests; Production for sale in the market, as against the earlier forms of production for self-consumption; The growing dominance of men in community management, ownership and control of land and forests; Large-scale involvement of women in agricultural production, including livestock, fisheries and NTFPs, a phenomenon called the feminization of agriculture. 10 5
Climate Change Effects on Indigenous/ Rural Livelihoods Women agricultural producers, however, have only marginal, limited rights to land and the produce and to cash obtained from the sale of such produce; Separation of land from labour, in terms of labour not giving them claims to land; also some having claims to land without labouring on it; The gradual or rapid decline of NTFPs in the unregulated commons and the domestication and shift of valuable NTFP species into the home gardens or privately-owned fields; The growing atomization of households and individuals, as against the earlier forms of social reciprocity, e.g. mutual exchange of labour and support for human and economic security. 11 Gendered Impact on Livelihoods How do such market-driven processes further weaken the position of indigenous/ rural women and thereby lower their capacities? Women s increased involvement in agriculture, forest and livestock has not resulted in increasing their ownership and/or control rights to such livelihood resources and their produce; Atomization of the household, along with the increased role of women in agricultural production and out migration of men, has only made women responsible for all household work; These increased responsibilities have not led to their visibility as farmers and/or the main contributors and decision-makers of the community, and economy. 12 6
Gendered Impacts on Livelihoods The major constraints in the development of people: Increasing male control of resources with privatization & marketdriven processes; Interventions from outside, which have by and large been extractive; Indigenous / mountain people s own fragile production structures, further threatened by these extractive external relations; Weakening of institutional mechanisms to deal with the new processes. 13 Challenge & Change to Livelihoods Women s increased work in agriculture without any increase in management or control rights; Women are worst affected as they have little or no say in community affairs; and their contacts with the outside world are minimal. And when they do come into contact with external factors, these usually are exploitative. There is some change in this trend. Women are coming up to be financially independent, seeking inclusion in labour market, control over the products of their labour and to regain some of their lost control over forests, and over their own livelihoods. 14 7
Change in Land & Water Use 15 Women s Voice on Priorities for Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change Some encouraging cases of major interrupters of economic vulnerability as stated by women: Ownership and control rights to land, livestock, housing, fish ponds and water bodies Crop diversification. Flood and draught resistant varieties of crops. Extension knowledge in sustainable use of manure, pesticides and irrigation water. Capacity building with new skills, training and information. Flood protection shelters to store their assets, drinking water, seeds, and fodder and food for animals. 16 8
Women s Voice on Priorities for Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change Easy access to health care services, doctors, pharmacists and veterinarians; Access to affordable and collateral free credit for production, consumption and health care; Access to markets and knowledge on value addition and marketing so that they would be able to trade their agricultural produce and NTFPs with confidence and not feel cheated and exploited by outside traders; Equal participation of women in community affairs, management of resources, livelihoods and financing of adaptation strategies. 17 Alternative Livelihood Strategies A Tharu woman Sawari, from village Suryapatwa,Nepal: The flood took away some of them but I managed to rescue the majority. But during floods the muddy road that takes one to Taratal and Sanoshree market is blocked so I am not able to sell the fish in the market. If I had been able to go to the district headquarters for training, I think I could have done a great job with both vegetables and fishery. A farming woman in Maharashtra articulates When the land is in my husband s name, I am only a worker. When it is in my name I have some position in society and my children and husband respect me. So my responsibility is much greater to my own land and I take care of my fields like my children 18 9
Non Farm Strategies by Women Shawl woven by Naga women like in the case of Ukhrul district of Manipur, India; Bell metal works & wooden sculptures by Kond women and men in Bastar; Jatropha cultivation on part of Jhum lands by Naga women; along with planting of Soya bean (multicropping) to meet her household subsistence needs; Water harvesting and horticulture by women in Nagaland and Jharkhand 19 Policy Priorities in Building Capacities for Adaptation and Mitigation Further research and action In the absence of adequate research on the subject, policy and actions can be ineffective, or not introduced at all. Limited knowledge limits innovation and efficacy of public and action. Gender sensitivity on differential impact of climate change: Gender sensitivity may result in reducing the gendered social constraints or likely factors which have led to greater risk for women in time of climate change hazards. Individualization of capacities for self-esteem, social worth, dignity and identity The more assets women have the less vulnerability they experience in the face of risk, insecurity and violence by patriarchal socio- political structures. 20 10
Policy Priorities in Building Capacities for Adaptation and Mitigation Capacity building for alternative livelihoods: There are three embedded aspects of such capacity building for alternate livelihoods: Upgradation of traditional knowledge and skills; Introduction of new knowledge and technologies; and Women s unmediated access (not through the household or the head of the household) and control rights of land, water, new technologies and other productive resources. Entitlement to assets help women to move out of income poverty and enhance their own well being and education of children 21 22 11