Identifying gender vulnerabilities in context of climate change in Indus basin

Abstract

Changes in temperature and hydro-meteorological patterns in Indus basin due to climate change are believed to be impacting farming communities in different ways. From a gender perspective however, impacts of change vary from place to place, household to household and for individual members of the household due to a multiplicity of factors including expectation of individual members of a household to take additional responsibilities in difficult times. As an unavoidable coping strategy, the affected communities in upper Indus basin are compelled to send male members away from home in search of alternate sources of livelihoods. This compels women to take additional responsibilities at farm, household and community levels which ultimately increase the vulnerabilities of local women. However, scenario is different in mid-stream, where women have an additional workload to manage water requirements for household and livestock. While in downstream of the basin, women are culturally and socially dependent on men which increase their vulnerability many folds. Therefore, differentiated analysis of climate change impacts, based on gender roles and responsibilities, is crucial in climate change research. This paper presents gendered vulnerabilities at different scales in up, mid and downstream of the basin.