According to International Union for Conservation of Nature there is a common perception that ‘it is men who are the farmers’. Contrary to this perception, women in Pakistan produce 60-80 per cent of food consumed in the house.

The phenomenon of climate change in years 1999 and 2000 clearly indicated the vulnerability when thousands of poor families had to flee from drought-hit areas of Balochistan where women and children were seen the most suffered sections of the society.

A report of World Bank also showed that in Pakistan, especially in the mountainous regions, men out-migrate for livelihood opportunities (from 50% to 63% of the households) and it is the women who look after the family’s agriculture piece of land along with many other responsibilities.

According to an official report climate change could hamper the achievement of many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including those on poverty eradication, child mortality, malaria, and other diseases, and environmental sustainability.

The report said like other poor countries, climate change is harder on women in Pakistan, where mothers have to stay in areas hit by drought, deforestation or crop failure.