Speakers at a workshop stressed on the urgent need of addressing the ‘gendered’ impact of the overlapping risks of climate change and urbanization.
The workshop on ‘Understanding the overlapping risks of climate change and urbanization: building a response to gendered well-being’ was held in Dhaka city on Tuesday (July 18, 2023).
The University of York, York Environmental Sustainability Institute, International Centre for Climate Change and Development, ActionAid Bangladesh and ARK Foundation jointly arranged the workshop.
Moderated by Dr Anika Haque and Professor Helen Elsey from the University of York in the UK, Farah Kabir, country director of the ActionAid; presented the keynote speech.
She said that urbanization needs to be analysed in the context of patriarchy, climate risk analysis needs to add the gender lens and the solutions can only be found through a feminist lens.
Professor Dr. Rumana Huque from ARK Foundation and government, NGO, academic and civil society representatives from environment, health, gender and development sectors took part in the daylong workshop.
The participants of the workshop agreed that the systemic risks of climate change and urbanization are becoming more disruptive and dangerous. It was acknowledged that these risks are overlapping and creating new sets of more dangerous and damaging risks. For example, the natural drainage in the city is severely hampered due to the ongoing encroachment of the city water bodies in the name of development and this is amplifying the risks of floods and water logging. Also the unplanned urbanization in the city accompanied by the rapid loss of soft (green) surfaces and increase of hard surfaces are further exacerbating the risks of heat stress. These risks are not uniform across the societies- women are one of the most exposed groups to these risks.
The speakers of the workshop said that there is a significant lack of gender specific data related to urban climate risks and hence it is difficult to identify areas for intervention.
They also said that the focus has historically been in rural areas. Women activists participated in the workshop further added that despite having gender specific policies, women’s voices are heard neither at the decision-making processes nor at the implementation.
The speakers urged for a multi sectoral coordinated approach to address the gendered impact of the overlapping risks and acknowledged that co production and sharing of knowledge incorporating the knowledge holders at all levels, including local communities, and sectors is essential here and it is also crucial to ensure meaningful inclusion of women’s voices in this process.
