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Impacts of Climate Change on Rural Communities in Sindh, Pakistan
Tabasum BhattiRoots for Equity, Pakistan
Empowering Marginalizied Women to Impact Climate Change, APWLD
October 4, 2009
Climate Change and Women’s BurdenFocusing on Lower Sindh, Pakistan
• Generally Drought Area
• But Some Changes that have been felt in the past few years:
Before:
• Before normally low 30s• maximum 37 C
Now :• temperatures are normally in high 30s;• Can go as high as 47-48 C
Climate Patterns
• Lower rainfall• Out of season rainfall• Very high wind tornado type
storms• Extremely high rainfall in a very
short span of hours
Climate Change Impacts
• Sea levels rising• Women tell
about hearing the ocean at night although it was not so before
• Water increasingly brackish
Women’s Burden• Have to travel far to carry
out normal duties of washing, collecting water
• Less fuel present for looking after daily cooking so have to go far to collect wood
General Understanding on Impacts of Climate Change on Women
• Case Study of Sunflower
• In Lower Sindh:• Increased sowing of sunflower
which is sown after rice using the same water as from rice
• Sunflower a new form of crop• Very little work for women
during the entire crop production
• Paid Rs 25/day during harvest
Rural Migration
• Low Livelihood from sunflower• Rural Migration for food crops
• Children takenn away from school
• Insecurity for women
• Fights over water collection
• No community where children can be left
Urban Migration
• Seasonal Migration• Although large
number of rural women and girls are seen in Karachi in particular season, little is known about what they do and how they cope
Community Mobilization
• Need to educate women and communities on climate change impacts
• Need to combine issues of climate change and globalization impacts– Eg corporate agriculture giving thousands of acres of
land to foreign investors– Promotion of GMO seeds – Promotion of agrofuels
• Need to promote ecologically based agriculture