In recognition of Mother’s Day today, we are taking a closer look at how climate change will affect the lives of women worldwide.

People living in least developed countries are very vulnerable to climate change because they have less access to resources to cope with the impacts. Women from least developed countries are even more marginalized from information about and participation in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Mr Rence Sore, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology, says that women and children are at the heart of climate change vulnerability.

“We are not wrong to equate climate change vulnerability to poverty,” he said. “ But what is wrong is that we are not digging deep into the vulnerability of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.

“At the heart of this vulnerability are women and children and not just because women around the world represent the majority of people living in poverty but because women in rural societies, like Solomon Islands, provide us with much of the food we eat.

“Inundation of salt water into fresh water supplies and gardens is becoming a major problem.

“Food is harder to grow, there are water shortages on many islands that heavily depend on rainfall, thus mothers find it increasingly difficult to provide for their families.”

Both women and men often have specific roles in communities and therefore climate change will impact on them differently. Many women are dependent on natural resources for their livelihood because they have a responsibility to secure fresh drinking water, food from gardens and firewood for cooking. Climate change impacts may increase women’s workload or make their jobs harder to achieve.

Some areas in Solomon Islands might experience increased drought conditions, as seen in Reef Islands, which will decrease the amount of fresh drinking water available, meaning women may have to walk further to find it. Prolonged drought would affect food gardens, making them less productive.

Other regions in Solomon Islands may see increased extreme weather events like flooding which will also badly affect food gardens. In low lying areas, like Ontong Java, salt water from the ocean may enter food gardens or the fresh water supply, making a woman’s job of providing vegetables and fresh water more and more difficult.

Because women have these roles of care giver, agricultural worker and water provider, they will need to have a significant role in helping their families and communities adapt to climate change because human health, gardening and fresh water supplies will all be affected. While women have knowledge that will be useful in planning and implementing community level adaptation strategies, they are not always given the opportunity to voice their ideas.

Men and women have different types of traditional knowledge, all of which are important for planning ways that communities can cope with the impacts of climate change. Women’s specialized traditional knowledge can be useful in predicting extreme weather events like cyclones or can help communities in drought to find water.

In the Federated States of Micronesia, women’s ancestral knowledge about the island’s water supplies allowed them to easily find places to dig wells for fresh water during a serious drought. In Solomon Islands, women understand ways to store and preserve food so that it can be used after natural disasters such as cyclones, floods or droughts.

Women‘s input into climate change issues is also important at an international level. Mr Sore says that country driven negotiations about climate change adaptation strategies and financing must ensure that the decisions made reflect the concerns of all groups in society.

“Ownership and accountability is not guaranteed without participation of women and children,” he said.

“Monitoring and evaluation of adaptation projects will not be effective without the participation of women and children.

“It is unfortunate that our negotiations talk only of countries but not people”.

Last year the Solomon Islands Government accredited three young women to be part of their country team at the United Nations Climate Change Negotiations in Copenhagen, giving them a chance to not only learn about climate change issues internationally, but to represent the voice of Solomon Islands women at an international level and bring vital information back home to people in their country.

When the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology is developing the country’s climate change policy, officers will be specifically considering how women will be affected by climate change and ensuring that all groups of society, women, men, children, youth and elderly are consulted with at a community level.

“Let us remember this Mother’s Day the role that women play in our society and how these roles may help us respond to the impacts of climate change. Our women need to know about climate change, they need to understand the potential impacts and their suggestions for adaptation will be important for long term sustainability,” Mr Sore said.