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Handbook of Climate Change Communication: Vol. 1 pp 171–185Cite as

Inclusion of Gender in Africa’s Climate Change Policies and Strategies

Part of the Climate Change Management book series (CCM)

Abstract

Concerns of climate change impacts and adaptations have continued to receive much attention in both local and international climate change debate. It is now understood that the challenge of climate change cannot be addressed as a standalone issue but within different social, economic, and environmental contexts. It is currently acknowledged that Africa’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is insignificant. Except for South Africa, all the countries in Africa contribute below the global average of 3.5 m/ton of CO2 per capita. However, Africa is very vulnerable to climate change given its low capacity to respond and adapt. Furthermore, progress in enhancing better understanding of gender variations on the impacts and adaptation to climate change has been relatively limited. The differentiated impacts of climate change at local level add to the complexities of developing gender sensitive response strategies. With the endorsement of the Paris Climate agreement of 2015, African countries are now gearing up to implement international and national climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives. While progress has been in developing polices and strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation, it is critical to ensure that these do not lead to further inequalities during implementation. This chapter, therefore, aims at reviewing climate change related policies and strategies in East and West Africa through a gendered lens. The countries are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania in East Africa, and Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa. Drawing upon a common framework/guideline, we examined commonality in policies, while recognizing the complexity in the social, economic and ecological systems of each country. The chapter further assesses the importance of integrating and mainstreaming gender into Africa’s national adaptations plans of actions (NAPAs), and Intended Nationally Distributed Contributions (INDCs), and the need for better gender oriented climate change policies, programs and plans.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya

    Mary Nyasimi, Ayansina Ayanlade & Catherine Mungai

  2. Department of Geography, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

    Ayansina Ayanlade

  3. Department of Forest Science, School of Natural Resources, University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Sunyani, Ghana

    Mercy Derkyi

  4. African Institute for Science Policy and Innovation (AISPI), Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

    Margaret O. Jegede

Authors
  1. Mary Nyasimi
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  2. Ayansina Ayanlade
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  3. Catherine Mungai
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  4. Mercy Derkyi
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  5. Margaret O. Jegede
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary Nyasimi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Prof. Walter Leal Filho

  2. Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace, Orestiada, Greece

    Dr. Evangelos Manolas

  3. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Prof. Anabela Marisa Azul

  4. Department of Biology and CESAM, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Prof. Dr. Ulisses M. Azeiteiro

  5. University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Henry McGhie

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Nyasimi, M., Ayanlade, A., Mungai, C., Derkyi, M., Jegede, M.O. (2018). Inclusion of Gender in Africa’s Climate Change Policies and Strategies. In: Leal Filho, W., Manolas, E., Azul, A., Azeiteiro, U., McGhie, H. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Communication: Vol. 1. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69838-0_11

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