“Women farmers’ leadership on agriculture, sustainable

development and climatechange”

Alexandra Spieldoch

CSW – 55

February 22, 2011

Network of Women of Ministers and Leaders in

Agriculture • CSD• ECOSOC• World Food Summit• Beijing + 15• CFS• UNFCCC (and other relevant negotiations that link

agriculture, NRM and women’s rights)• Rio + 20

UN CSW -54, Beijing + 15

• WOCAN - Huairou – FAO Partnership  

Consultation with grassroots women in Africa, Asia and Latin America on food security concerns and coping strategies

24 organizations in 23 countries

Africa

• Over 656 grassroots women and men in nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa participated in 28 focus group discussions – Oct 2009- January 2010. Extreme weather affects yields:

1. Cameroon and Benin – high temperatures

2. South Africa - hotter and wetter summers with colder and drier winters.

3. Zambia and Ethiopia – water scarcity

4. Tanzania – long-term drought reduces livestock production

Asia

• Bangladesh (hosted by Participatory Development Action Project);

• The Philippines (hosted by the Asian Farmers’ Association),

• Pakistan (hosted by the NGO Himawanti), Nepal (hosted by Lumanti)

• Two regions of India (Swayam Shikshan Prayog in Maharashtra and Covenant Center for Development in Tamil Nadu).

Asia Continued

• Pakistan - climate change has affected wheat and potato production

• Philippines - recurring banana crop loss due to typhoons

• Downward spiraling of debt and less food supply and income from agricultural production.

Latin America

Nine organizations:

• Jamaica• Nicaragua• Honduras• Brazil• Argentina

• Bolivia• Perú• Guatemala• Ecuador

Latin America Continued

• Groups from Brazil, Argentina and Jamaica pointed out that their ongoing practices of small scale farming were a sustainable strategy for responding to multiple crises . They also felt that small scale farming uses irrigation technologies that waste less water and use fewer chemical inputs for farming, thus preserving the land and the environment.

Women’s resiliency

Survival strategies include traditional knowledge, water harvesting, crop diversification, collective farming, seed saving, food banks and food reserves as well as training on agricultural techniques and crop management.Women’s cooperatives and Self-help

groups (Nepal and Brazil)

Women farmers promote measures for adaption

• early warning systems, • community based disaster preparedness

and management,• early weather forecasting systems, • flood /drought resistant seed varieties,• and community-based, small scale

renewable bio-energies.

Adaption continued

• integrated, diversified farming, • organic farming, • bio-composting, • use of local and select seeds, • herbal pesticides, • crop diversification, • terracing, • systematic crop intensification, and community

based irrigation

Women Leaders in Cancun

• .Women Leader’s Network on Climate Justice headed by Mary Robinson and government leaders

• Gender and Climate Change Alliance• Women producer groups/experts in

agriculture• Women in REDD• Women’ Caucus

Women’s Caucus in Cancun

• Women’s Declaration Against REDD +Implementation of CEDAW and INDRIP Land Rights and end to DeforestationCritique of market-led approach to

reforestation

Potential Value of REDD +

• WOCAN believes that reforestation, particularly if community based and managed, can provide tremendous support to developing countries’ mitigation and adaptation effort.

• ‘Women in REDD’ with WOCAN, IUCN and Norway – making sure that women farmers benefit from climate finance flows to the South

Quote from Asian Farmers Association

Esther Penunia –

“There is only one way to measure the success of a climate agreement, and that is based on whether or not it will effectively reduce emissions to prevent runaway climate change.

UNFCCC text

• Barely includes agriculture, except in a footnote and small reference in REDD +

• No clear gender language in the text or emphasis on the involvement of women the many actions that can be done to adapt and mitigate climate change

• Negotiations moving ahead without binding targets for reducing emissions

COP – 17Durban South Africa

• Proposal to organize a space for advocacy on women rights, agriculture and climate at the COP 17 in Durban, South Africa to strengthen these linkages moving in the UNFCCC.

Rio + 20: a Comprehensive Approach to Development?

• The CSD 2012 will focus on a 20-year review of the Earth Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro 1992 to : a) renew political commitment to sustainable development, b) assess the progress, and c) address new and emerging challenges.

• Themes of Rio + 20: the green economy in relation to sustainable development and poverty eradication and an institutional framework to strengthen the Agenda 21 from the original Earth Summit and the Johannesburg Plan of Action.

Women and Rio + 20

• offers a political moment for women’s organizations to develop a more comprehensive advocacy agenda relating to sustainable development

• a window to expand the number of rural women leaders and women’s organizations with expertise on women and agriculture who will participate.

Rio + 20 Continued

• UN Women and the CSW will be involved in preparations for Rio + 20, and it will also be a moment where high-level officials will meet.

• The Women’s Major Group has drafted a Rio + 20 Position Paper for the preparatory process that include strong references to land, technology, agriculture, water and climate change.

• THANK YOU

“Women farmers’ leadership on agriculture, sustainable

development and climatechange”

Alexandra Spieldoch

CSW – 55

February 22, 2011