When Gufasha Maureen was 13 years old, a severe drought hit her village in Uganda's Kayunga district. All of her family's crops were destroyed and they fell into an economic crisis.
The eldest of five children, she had to quit school and work at home to help her mother with things like fetching water, cooking, and raising children. One day an older man visits their home and she tells Maureen's father that she wants to marry him.
In desperate need of money, Maureen's father agreed as he saw no other option. Maureen got married and became pregnant, but in the same year she died during a complicated childbirth.
“This is just one of many heartbreaking stories that show how climate change is impacting young girls around the world. If the drought hadn't hit her village, Maureen… stayed in school and her life could have been different.,'' said Joan Kembabazi, Maureen's close friend and founder of Gufasha Girls Foundation, a community-based nonprofit that advocates against child marriage and promotes girls' education.
Young girls and women face multiple challenges in Uganda.That's not all be unduly influenced due to climate change But they also have access is restricted to modern contraceptive methods and have not comprehensive Sexual and reproductive health education In schools (banned by Congress in 2016), that makes them even more vulnerable.
Kembabazi believes family planning is an essential tool for climate change resilience. That's why she is committed to empowering girls and women through education and contraception. “I myself come from a large family and I know how difficult it is for a father to support 24 children,” says a young Ugandan feminist activist. “If we had two or three, it would be a lot easier.”
Gufasha Girls Foundation is one of many organizations around the world working to address the nexus of poverty, food insecurity, climate change, family planning, and the need to empower girls and women through education and family planning. is.
Healthy community, healthy environment
In the Philippines, PATH Foundation Philippines, Inc. (PFPI) is a pioneer in approaches that address population, health, and the environment. Founded in the 1990s as a public health organization to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS prevention, the foundation worked with young girls who had moved to cities to raise families at home and work in the sex industry.
PFPI staff knew that if they wanted to prevent young girls from becoming infected with HIV, they needed to look at the root causes of why young girls entered this profession. They visit the impoverished fishing villages where the girls come from (namely the Danajon Embankment and the Verde Island Passage, which are very rich in marine biodiversity), where fishermen are trying to find more fish to support the growing population. I learned that I was under pressure to catch fish.
However, the number of fish decreased over the years because the fish stocks did not have time to regenerate. This meant that families had less food and income and were more likely to send their daughters away to contribute to the budget.
From 2008 to 2013, PFPI worked with other organizations and local communities to improve the management of 2,000 hectares of marine reserves. To give fish stocks time to regenerate, areas where fishermen can fish and areas where fishing is prohibited have been designated.
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In five years, fish stocks have increased and food security and economic conditions have improved. Fishermen also began branching out into other ways to make money, such as selling produce from vegetable gardens, livestock, and poultry farming, running small businesses, and tourism.
In addition to sustainable management of resources, PFPI also addressed the health needs of local communities. In these remote areas, where access to contraceptives was limited to a few clinics, the company partnered with small convenience stores and began selling condoms and oral contraceptives in every village.
The foundation worked with local leaders (mainly young people, couples, women, and fishermen) to educate their peers about the benefits of family planning, HIV prevention, water and sanitation, and malnutrition. Through these educational companions and local television and radio educational programming, PFPI was able to reach her 1.5 million people. As a result, contraceptive prevalence among married women of reproductive age increased from 31 percent to 45 percent.
Building on its success in the Philippines, PFPI has advocated for this integrated approach to address climate change, food insecurity, and public health needs elsewhere around the world.
lack of awareness
At the local level, this approach is reproduced in many parts of the world,including Venezuela, Columbia, madagascar, uganda and Nepal).but At the national level, climate change and ensuring gender justice are not necessarily priorities for policymakers.
Women were underrepresented at COP28 in Dubai last year, with only 15 of the 133 world leaders in attendance being women. “When it comes to decision-making power, you can't make decisions with the whole world in mind unless half the population is present,” says Carissa Patrone Maicri, a climate and regional development expert.
According to the Feminist Climate Justice Report, by 2050, Up to 158 million more girls and women could be pushed into poverty Because of climate change. Nevertheless, many countries' adaptation plans still do not mention sexual and reproductive health and rights or universal education as essential human rights or as important adaptation strategies.
Currently, more than 218 million women People in low- and middle-income countries want to avoid pregnancy However, they do not use modern contraceptive methods. Worldwide, almost half The Unexpected of All Pregnancies.
change the flow
It stands to reason that when women can choose when, with whom, and how many children they have, they can further their education, have better access to job opportunities, and improve their own and their health. is. their family. But the connection to climate change can be more difficult for people to recognize.
Patrone Maicri is one of those working to spread the message that family planning can make women more resilient to environmental and climate shocks and stressors. She said: “Many climate stakeholders do not understand how sexual and reproductive health and rights can be protected. [are] As a result, they avoid the conversation as it relates to climate resilience,” she says. “But in recent years, there has been a small movement to look at climate action in a more holistic and cross-cutting way.”
A growing number of international organizations are advocating for gender equality and the reproductive rights of women and girls to be integrated into climate solutions and climate justice. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is highlighted. Voluntary and rights-based family planning It was featured as a climate adaptation strategy in the 2014 assessment report. And in 2023, UN Women called for: A new feminist climate justice approach.
According to Karina Hirsch, director of advocacy and policy at , the tide is changing. non-profit organization Margaret Pike Trust. She said there is a growing coalition of health-focused organizations advocating for both the climate change and conservation sectors at the national level, and the growing support from donors to fund this type of work. He pointed out that there is a growing interest in
One of the most exciting recent events for her was presenting at COP28. UK will provide £16 million in funding We focused on the importance of reproductive choices as part of building climate resilience.
Husbu Poudel, program coordinator at reproductive rights nonprofit organization Ipas Nepal, thinks this is a welcome change.Nepal is One of the countries most susceptible to climate change Ipas Nepal helped local governments develop local adaptation action plans that integrated gender, climate, sexual and reproductive health and rights. “Investing in women, children and youth is one of the most impactful climate change actions countries can take,” said Poudel, who attended COP28.
Hirsch says the urgency is clear. Climate change is going to happen no matter what, and we know it,” she says. “The least we can do is make the people hardest hit by climate change, especially women and girls in remote areas, more resilient.”
