More than 80% of farms are less than two hectares in size and produce more than a third of the world’s food. Women comprise more than half of smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia, supplying their families with food and contributing to food security - for example through the preservation of biodiversity, plant genetic resources, and traditional knowledge of hardy and nutritious indigenous plants.

Speaking in Session 5A, Yiching Song from the Farmers' Seed Network in China reported that more and more scientists were wanting to join the Seed Network. She said that when COVID-19 hit China severely last year, the cities closed down, but illages were able to keep sowing seeds because they relied on their own seeds. 

The Seed Network has released a new video about how farmers are using traditional seeds and farming to adapt to climate change. You can watch in on YouTube: Root for Adaptation Stone Village China

Annette McGill

How can budgeting and finance for climate change adaptation at country level be inclusive and gender responsive?

Government officials and civil society organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America  have been working to support inclusive climate change adaptation budgeting and finance. This includes preparatory work for reforms across the budget cycle, including transparency and accountability and gender responsiveness.

In session 5C, we heard from different country representatives about their work on gender-responsive climate change budgeting.

Neil Cole from the Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI) kicked off the session by discussing the links between gender equality and climate change. He said women are disproportionally affected from the impacts of climate change, which in turns exacerbates already existing gender inequalities. But women are key agents in building community resilience, so applying gender mainstreaming strategies to climate adaptation is essential.

Sandra Guzman, founder of Grupo de Financiamiento Climático para América Latina y el Caribe (Climate Finance Group of Latin America and the Caribbean) discussed how Mexico has been mainstreaming gender and climate change in public budgeting and accountability in the context of austerity policies. 

She says: "It’s not just the reduction in public expenditure, but the allocation of a lot of money to entities and sectors that are increasing these problems [climate change and gender inequality]. It’s not only a matter of not cutting resources, but to allocate the resources better with a climate change and gender agenda in mind, which is very important for the development of the country.”

Fred Sabiti is national technical advisor on environment mainstreaming at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He said: “We need to make sure that environmental, climate change and gender mainstreaming practices are taken into perspective into all decision-making in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning [of Rwanda]."  (See presentation slide below)

Annette McGill