Building climate resilience: Intersectionality in practice

Abstract

Climate change affects women and men differently according to multiple overlapping factors such as intersectionality. Fair distribution of the benefits of climate-resilient agriculture matters given that some people, and communities, are more vulnerable to risk than others. Agricultural systems are at particular risk from climate change. As evidence shows, poor and vulnerable people disproportionately experience the worst climate impacts. Smallholder farmers, especially women and young people, are particularly vulnerable given structural inequalities that limit their access to resources, services, and agency, which ultimately limits their capacity to build resilience. If climate-smart and climate-resilient interventions do not adequately take gender differences into account, they might exacerbate gender inequalities in food systems.