Gender-responsive rural climate services: a review of the literature

ABSTRACT

This review assesses the empirical knowledge base on gender-based differences in access, use and benefits from rural climate services to analyse gender equality challenges and identify pathways for making climate services more responsive to the needs of rural women and men. While existing research is limited, the review identifies key gender-related factors and processes that influence inequalities in access and use. Differential access to group processes and to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) can significantly limit women’s access to weather and climate information. Moreover, socio-cultural norms that define women’s and men’s labour roles can also influence the resources and decisions under women’s and men’s control, affecting their differing climate information needs and demand. Ways forward suggested by the literature concern inclusion of women’s groups and networks in communication channels and development of ICTs that respond to women’s preferences. Furthermore, meeting women’s climate information needs and pursuing cross-sectoral collaboration will be important to enhance action on climate information. Research opportunities include analyses of the potential for women’s and mixed-gender groups to enhance women’s access to climate information; evaluation of the communication processes that improve women’s understanding of climate information; and further connection with the body of knowledge on intra-household decision-making processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate services
• gender
• agriculture
• climate risk
• empowerment

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the comments of consortium members of the Climate Information Services Research Initiative (CISRI) on an earlier draft of this paper. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. Many thanks to Alison Rose for her previous comments and for her inputs on tables developed, as well. This work was implemented as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), which is carried out with support from the CGIAR Trust Fund and through bilateral funding agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors. The views expressed in this document cannot be taken to reflect the official opinions of these organizations. It also contributes to the USAID-funded Learning Agenda on Climate Services https://www.climatelinks.org/projects/learningagendaonclimateservices

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Tatiana Gumucio is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist based at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), at Columbia University, New York. Her research analyses how social differences such as gender, ethnicity and race influence smallholder farmers’ risk perceptions, climate information needs and capacities to respond and adapt to climate variability and change. She seeks to inform effective and equitable decision-making and programme development related to climate in the agricultural and food security sectors. She holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Florida.

James Hansen is a Senior Research Scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), at Columbia University, New York, where he has worked since 1999. Since 2010, he has also worked with the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), where he leads the Flagship on Climate Services and Safety Nets. His research focuses on finding practical, equitable and scalable solutions to the challenges of making smallholder livelihoods more resilient through improved climate risk management, climate services, climate-related insurance and food security management. He holds PhD in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the University of Florida. He has served as Editor of Agricultural Systems.

Sophia Huyer is Gender and Social Inclusion Leader at the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Programme (CCAFS) as well as Director of Women in Global Science and Technology (WISAT) based in Brighton, Ontario. Recent publications include the chapter ‘ICT in a changing climate: A path to gender transformative food security’ in Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Digital Equality published by EQUALS Research at UNU Macau, and the introduction to a special issue on Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change in Gender, Technology and Development. Currently, she is Guest Editor on a special issue of Climatic Change on Gender Transformative Climate-Smart Agriculture: An Action Framework.

Dr. Tiff van Huysen has a PhD in ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry. She recently graduated from the MA Program in Climate and Society at Columbia University, having returned to school to pursue her interest in working at the interface of physical and social science. Since graduating from the MA program, she has contributed to publications on the intersection of gender and the provision of climate services for smallholder farmers as part of a consultancy with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), served as a Guest Editor for a special issue of Climate Risk Management on the scalability of climate services for smallholder farmers, co-authored a publication on the role of the Green Climate Fund in Africa for the journal Climate Policy, taught a course on climate change for The Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability, contributed to a ClimaSouth Project concept note on the establishment of a climate change Center of Excellence in Egypt and is co-authoring a primer on the environmental sustainability of food and farming (to be published by Columbia University Press). She was also guest lecturer and teaching assistant for the MA Program in Climate and Society and the Summer Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduates (SEE-U) agroecology class at Columbia University. Prior to returning to school to pursue her MA degree, Tiff worked for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service managing an applied research programme.

ORCID

Tatiana Gumucio http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9389-2703

James Hansen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8599-7895

Sophia Huyer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6267-8667

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Several of the publications were multi-country studies, including countries from different regions. One publication (Caine et al., 2015) referred to sub-Saharan Africa without significantly identifying countries.

2 Climate Smart Villages are territories distinguished by high-climatic risk and wherein CCAFS partners have established strong links with local communities. (https://ccafs.cgiar.org/climate-smart-villages#.WyO5cUxFxXI).

3 This is the Livelihoods as Intimate Government (LIG) (Carr, 2013) approach, discussed further in Section 4.

4 Men reported unfavourable season more frequently than women as a barrier to implementing information (Stats4SD, 2017).