Successful breakfast meeting on gender and climate change

Last updated: 18/11/2011 // On Tuesday 15th November 2011, the Ministry of Water and Environment and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development hosted a high level breakfast meeting for the Ugandan delegation going for the 17th Conference of Parties (COP) in Durban. The delegates will take part in the international climate change negotiations. The dialogue was on why and how to increase the focus on gender when the delegation goes to Duran in the end of November. The event was supported by Denmark, Iceland and Norway.

The meeting was well attended and graced by personalities such as the Chairman of IPCC, the Minister of Water and Environment, as well as the Icelandic Chargé d’affaires a.i. and the Norwegian Ambassador. The dialogue was good, and we got a strong impression that the delegation found the topic interesting, relevant and timely.

A recent study by Makerere University and Climate Change Unit, the national coordinating body on climate change in Uganda, shows that women are more vulnerable to climate change in Uganda than the men. To be able to make sustainable policies and programmes at international, national and local level, it is important to know how the impacts of climate change and climate change mitigation and adaptation affects different groups within the communities, such as children, women, men and elderly. When this information is available

The study and the meeting are two of several interventions that Denmark, Iceland and Norway are supporting, to ensuring gender sensitive climate change adaptation and mitigation in Uganda. After the COP 17, we will have a follow-up meeting to review the outcomes from the negotiations, and discuss how to mainstream gender in the future policies and programmes. We have also agreed to support a short training programme on gender sensitive climate change mitigation and adaptation. This will start from next year. All together we hope these initiatives will enhance Ugandan women, and thereby communities, resilience to the effects of climate change.


Source: Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kampala   |   Share on your network   |   print