ADVANCING GENDER IN THE ENVIRONMENT · and across IUCN offices and programmes ... • Countries divided into 5 categories of triple nexus prevalence based on standard deviation categories:

ADVANCING GENDER IN THE ENVIRONMENT:

The triple nexus of gender inequality,

state fragility, and climate vulnerability

Sneak Peek EventGeorgetown University | July 16, 2019

IUCN Global Programme on

Governance and Rights

IUCN GPGR’s work includes ● Strategy to further enhance and mainstream its social science capacity and its

ability to address social issues in conservation

● Focus on recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples; gender equality and the

empowerment of women; strengthening governance; and human rights

How we achieve impact● Provides technical support to members and partners in every region of the world

and across IUCN offices and programmes

● Innovative methodologies to deliver results across policymaking, advising

implementation and convening networks to forge the path towards a more

sustainable and just world

Gender equality and

women’s empowerment

o Development of sector-specific

gender tools, data and research

o Capacity building and trainings for

government ministries and

agencies, civil society, and

development organizations

o Technical expertise to support

development of frameworks on

gender-responsive approaches

and analyses

Advancing Gender in the

Environment (AGENT)

AGENT is a 10-year program launched

in 2014 by USAID and IUCN working

across E3 offices and sectors

o Increase the effectiveness of USAID's

environmental programming through

gender integration

o Improve gender equality and women's

empowerment in a range of

environmental sectors

Gender-based

violence

Fisheries

AdaptationEnergy

Forestry Urban Services

AGENT’s Impact

5,000+ women and men

policymakers trained

on gender and

environment linkages

worldwide

100+tools and knowledge

products created- including research reports,

guides, data, briefs, factsheets

and webinars

16,350+times resources

have been accessed

AGENT Adaptation – Triple Nexus

Strengthen the knowledge base on the “triple nexus” of

gender inequality, state fragility, and climate vulnerability

● Identify, analyze, and map critical indicators across each of the priority areas –

to gain an initial understanding of where these issues are most prevalent

● Literature review and consultations with USAID and other experts helped form a

framework for this research and identify indicators

USAID Definitions

Gender equality “Gender equality concerns women and men, and it involves working with men and boys, women and girls

to bring about changes in attitudes, behaviors, roles and responsibilities at home, in the workplace, and in

the community. Genuine equality means more than parity in numbers or laws on the books; it means

expanding freedoms and improving overall quality of life so that equality is achieved without sacrificing

gains for males or females.“

State fragility"Fragility refers to the extent to which state-society relations fail to produce outcomes that are considered to

be effective and legitimate.“

Climate vulnerability "Climate vulnerability is the degree to which something or someone can be harmed by or cope with a

climate stressor.”

Gender inequality – Climate vulnerability

Differentiated roles, responsibilities, access to, and control over resources

• Women and girls among poorest in the world

• Differentiated livelihood strategies dependent on natural resources

• Lack of tenure rights reduces control over land

• Unpaid labour contributes to limited capacity for paid labour or climate adaptation

activities

• Women responsible for collection of water and firewood

• Differentiated impacts of and ability to respond to natural disasters

• Differentiated levels of participation in decision-making

• Distinct knowledge and skills related to adaptation to climate change

These all contribute to greater overall climate vulnerability for women

Climate vulnerability – State fragility

Relationship is complex and multidirectional

• Climate change can contribute to conflict and act as a “threat multiplier”

• No single cause of conflict

• Climate-related events contribute to migration

• Conflict can increase climate vulnerability, fragile states lack the ability to adapt

There is a need for integrated policy responses

State fragility – Gender inequality

Gender inequality is a central feature of state fragility

• Differentiated impacts in health, education, employment, income and violence

• Women and men play multiple roles in times of war

Women are increasingly vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV)

• Increase in political violence against women across the world

• Perpetrators of GBV include militaries, government actors, community members, and

even peacebuilding forces

Women should be recognized as being part of the solution

• Various ways in which women and men can contribute to peacebuilding efforts

• Examples of women’s successful participation

Triple Nexus

Research confirms that:

• Differentiated impacts of climate vulnerability and state fragility on women and men,

with disproportionate impacts on women and girls

• Women’s vulnerability to climate events is exacerbated by fragility and vice versa

• Women have distinct adaptive capacities and potential to act as agents of change in

climate adaptation, conflict resolution and peacebuilding

Examples of studies considering triple nexus are limited

Case study: Darfur, Sudan

• Complex set of interacting factors led to 2003 war

• Climate change, land degradation and

competition over resources claimed to be among

root causes of conflict

• Devastating human and environmental impacts

• Women and girls victims of GBV

MethodsPrevalence of the triple nexus

• Covers 122 countries: 98 USAID missions and 24 represented by regional missions

• Contains 27 quantitative country-level indicators across 6 sub-groups

• Missing data estimated: expectation-maximization algorithm and regional averages

• Data normalization for comparability: 0-1 range for each indicator

• Unweighted aggregation to calculate sub-group scores

• Average of the two sub-groups to get a score for each issue area

• Countries divided into 5 categories of triple nexus prevalence based on standard

deviation categories: very high, high, moderate, low, very low

Gender inequality indicators

Legal rights Gender parity

1. Laws against gender-based violence

2. Access to natural and economic resources

3. Inheritance rights of widows and daughters

4. Parental authority of women in marriage and divorce

5. Literacy ratio

6. Basic education ratio

7. Labor force participation ratio

8. Political representation ratio

State fragility indicators

Effectiveness Legitimacy

9. Violent conflict

10. Government effectiveness

11. Undernourishment

12. Maternal mortality

13. State use of political terror

14. Voice and accountability

15. Control of corruption

16. Child marriage

17. Social group equality

Climate vulnerability indicators

Exposure and sensitivity Adaptive capacity

18. Natural disasters

19. Urban concentration

20. Agricultural employment

21. Low elevation population

22. Water stress

23. Access to drinking water

24. Access to electricity

25. Mobile phones

26. GDP per capita

27. Biodiversity and habitat

Results: Prevalence of triple nexus issues

Results: Countries with very high

prevalence of triple nexus issues

Rank

(out of

122)

CountryGender

inequality

State

fragility

Climate

vulnerability

Triple

nexus score

1 Somalia 0.69 0.95 0.96 2.60

2 Yemen (tied) 1.00 0.79 0.78 2.57

2 South Sudan (tied) 0.69 1.00 0.88 2.57

4 Afghanistan 0.95 0.71 0.84 2.50

5 Chad 0.84 0.77 0.88 2.49

6 Democratic Republic of the Congo 0.70 0.79 0.94 2.43

7 Central African Republic 0.68 0.92 0.82 2.42

8 Sudan 0.81 0.79 0.80 2.40

9 Mauritania 0.84 0.47 0.84 2.15

10 Syrian Arab Republic 0.74 0.75 0.63 2.12

Results: Top results per region

RegionRank

(of 122)Country

Gender

inequality

State

fragility

Climate

vulnerability

Triple

nexus score

Asia and the

Pacific

4 Afghanistan 0.95 0.71 0.84 2.50

13 Pakistan 0.74 0.60 0.65 1.99

17 Myanmar 0.51 0.61 0.78 1.90

Eurasia

52 Uzbekistan 0.30 0.39 0.61 1.30

63 Turkmenistan 0.31 0.44 0.45 1.20

66 Tajikistan 0.26 0.39 0.49 1.14

Latin America

and the

Caribbean

21 Haiti 0.39 0.57 0.86 1.82

74 Paraguay (tied) 0.23 0.38 0.41 1.02

74 Guatemala (tied) 0.27 0.42 0.33 1.02

Middle East and

North Africa

2 Yemen 1.00 0.79 0.78 2.57

9 Mauritania 0.84 0.47 0.84 2.15

10 Syria 0.74 0.75 0.63 2.12

Sub-Saharan

Africa

1 Somalia 0.69 0.95 0.96 2.60

2 South Sudan 0.69 1.00 0.88 2.57

5 Chad 0.84 0.77 0.88 2.49

Limitations

Country coverage

• Limited to country level

• Some countries (particularly small island states) are missing data for indicators

• Kosovo was removed from the analysis due to a lack of data for a sufficient number of indicators

• Only analyzed countries where USAID has country/regional presence

Data gaps and methodology

• Lack of data available for certain key issues (e.g., GBV)

• Persistent data gaps are a critical limiting factor for understanding the actual implementation of laws that

provide equal rights for women and men

• The results of this analysis are presented in terms of triple nexus prevalence relative to the other

countries included in the study, rather than the presence of issues under the triple nexus

Conclusions

• Issues are connected: The literature review and analysis of the framework revealed strong

evidence for the connections between triple nexus issues.

• Regions of highest prevalence: Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa.

• Integrated approach: The findings of this study reinforce this need in addressing gender

inequality, state fragility, and climate vulnerability, in all countries included in this study.

• Co-benefits of empowering women: Ensuring women’s rights, needs, and agency is not only

a moral obligation from a human-rights perspective, but also empowering women and reducing

gender inequality contributes to more resilient, legitimate, stable, and climate-smart societies.

Recommendations and opportunities

Knowledge building

More research is needed to fill knowledge gaps and to better understand the complexity of the

interlinkages, as well as entry points for addressing them together.

Example research questions:

• Data is often lacking for small island nations, though it is known that they are particularly vulnerable to

impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise and warming and increased natural hazards, and

action is urgently needed. What are the unique vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities of small island

nations, and in what ways can women be (or are women being) agents of change to support enhanced

adaptive capacity and state resiliency?

• There currently exists a knowledge and data gap in understanding the scope of GBV in areas of high

climate and conflict vulnerability. What quantitative and qualitative data can be collected and analyzed to

support closing this data gap?

• How have policies and narratives of climate change, migration and conflict affected international and

national priorities and action to mitigate these challenges?

Recommendations and

opportunitiesProgramming

• Upon identifying the specific drivers within a country

that contribute to issues of gender inequality, state

fragility, and climate vulnerability, integrated

approaches can be better tailored for and targeted to

addressing these issues and can support sustainable

development goals.

• Investing in convening actors working on each of these

three issues, as well as data and statistics experts,

should be a priority in developing and implementing

effective policies to increase knowledge and enact

positive change.

Recommendations and opportunitiesPolicy

• It is imperative that the international policy agenda raises awareness and addresses these three

issues and the interlinkages between them. This can support the goals of donor and

development agencies and international institutions working on advancing progress on each or

all of these areas, including as related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• Dialogue and awareness around the

interlinkages between gender inequality,

state fragility and climate vulnerability are

important as opportunities to address the

three issues in an integrated manner,

including in policy development and

implementation.

Next steps

• Peer review is being finalized

• Fall 2019 – Paper launch

• October 2019 – Present the paper at the first International Conference on

Environmental Peacebuilding

• Exploring building on this research with more regional or country specific “deep dives”

Thank youAcknowledgements:

Ruta Aidis

Craig Beatty

Cate Owren

Corinne Hart

Pete Epanchin

Jennifer Hawkins

Chai Shenoy

Peer reviewers:

Ali Raza

Nastaran Moosavi

Galeo Saintz

Elaine Hsiao

Seline Meijer, Ph.D. – [email protected]

Emmett Boyer, M.Sc. – [email protected]

Molly Gilligan, M.Sc. – [email protected]

Special thanks to the Georgetown Institute

for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)

Jennifer Parsons

Allie Smith

@IUCN_Gender

#AGENT_usaid

@GIWPS