‘Climate change affects women most’

LAHORE:A large number of women, between 50-80 percent are food producers while 70 percent of the livestock is managed by women in rural areas. Women cook food for family so when short of fuel they go about looking for it and ensure the household gets food. All these responsibilities put them on the forefront and they are the first to be affected by any change in climate.

These views were expressed by Nilofar Bakhtiar, Chairperson National Commission on the Status of Women at a consultation with stakeholders on Women and Climate Change - ‘Impact, Challenges, and Solutions’ here Friday organised by the UNDP Pakistan, through its Punjab SDGs Support Unit. She also demanded the government appoint Chairperson Punjab Commission on Status of Women. Shaheen Atiqur Rehman, former minister and social worker called for changing the definition of working women and include those working in the agriculture sector in that. She regretted that the government had taxed solar energy at a time when the country was short of fuel. Dr Shabnam Sarfraz, Member Social Sector & Devolution, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives said the speed with which Pakistan’s population is growing, is really alarming and if we could focus on just that - reducing the population for six month it would be worth it. Others seconded her.

She gave two presentations on ‘National gender policy framework’ and ‘Women at Work’. The priority domains are to establish gender transformative governance structures and equip women with employable skills among others.

There was a consensus that there have to be more women in the decision-making. The UNDP held a similar consultation at Gilgit-Baltistan last December, this consultative session too was a part of a recent collaboration between UNDP Pakistan and the National Commission on the Status of Women, aimed at conducting country-wide dialogues with relevant stakeholders aligned with the current theme of the 66th Global Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.” Pakistan became member of Global Commission on Status of Women (CSW) last year. “At UNDP, we are committed to ensuring that women’s priorities and needs are reflected in climate change planning and funding. We strongly believe that it is critical to ensure gender-sensitive investments in programmes for adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, and capacity building in Punjab,” said Ammara Durrani, Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP Pakistan.

Through Planning and Development Board, UNDP is providing technical support to ensure localisation of Agenda 2030 for sustainable development equitably across Punjab.