Women Lead the Way in Disaster Risk Reduction

In the face of a rapidly changing planet, environmentalists are working to not only lessen the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere but also to address the impacts that communities are feeling right now from climate-related disasters. This practice, called Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), can take a myriad of forms, ranging from a community evacuation plan for tsunamis to Early Warning Systems (EWS) such as an alarm to signal the arrival of a typhoon or tornado. In the southern United States, DRR can be seen in architecture, where many homes are raised on stilts high above possible flood levels. As climate change continues to heighten both the frequency and intensity of storms, the field of DRR is of the utmost important. Earlier this month, I, along with advocates, policy leaders, and community practitioners, convened in Geneva, Switzerland, for the biannual Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction.

Learn more about DRR in this video from the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR):

Understanding both the unique vulnerabilities and the proven leadership of women in disaster risk reduction, the Women’s Major Group at the 2019 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction platform highlighted many of the ways that gender and disaster risk reduction go hand in hand. This group of gender and human rights activists from civil society emphasized how identity disproportionately informs how impacts are felt, especially by women.  For example, women are often responsible for farming land and caretaking property, yet they lack legal and financial rights to utilize these assets post-disaster. Adding to this conversation, we, the Sierra Club Gender Equity and Environment Program, launched a companion paper to our report Women on the Move in a Changing Climate released during the UN climate negotiations in December 2018 in partnership with UN Women. This paper shared the inspiring story of the leadership of Jeanette Vidal in Napo Barangai in Loon, Philippines. After a devastating earthquake destroyed much of her community, Jeanette dove into to action becoming the Captain of her community and leading DRR efforts to ensure that they would be better prepared for the next disaster. 

While the Global Platform was just one moment in an ongoing campaign for improved gender and DRR work, it was exciting to see the momentum brought by women leaders to the conference. At a reception we cohosted with Norwegian Refugee Council and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), we created space for a warm gathering of more than 30 women leaders, activists, and representatives from different organisations attending the GPDRR 2019 to share experiences, insights, and be in community. 

Feminist leaders convene in Geneva at the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in June 2019 at an event hosted by Norwegian Refugee Council, the Sierra Club, and WEDO. | Photo by Bridget Burns of WEDO

As a collective of women and gender leaders, the Women’s Major Group urged state and local governments to consider further integrating gender into the existing frameworks. This included demands to

A) protect, promot,e and fulfill women’s human rights -- including the right to land and other assets, mobility, formal and informal education, and information;

B) to ensure inclusive engagement of civil society, including women’s organizations, within national platforms such as the Global Platform and Paris Agreement; 

C) to focus on women’s participation, leadership and decision-making within local, regional, and global platforms for DRR and beyond, by committing to addressing gender parity at all levels;

D) to ensure that DRR monitoring and evaluation strategies are gender responsive by using tools such as sex, age, and disability-disaggregated (SADD) data and gender analysis; and 

E)  to emphasize that government policies must prioritize gender funding, gender budgeting, and gender mainstreaming. Women’s organizations must have direct access to funding on DRR.

One week is certainly not long enough to address all of the challenges and solutions we face in a rapidly changing climate. Nevertheless, the energy that we felt in that space continues in the advocacy being led by our partners around the world to build safer communities and ensure gender considerations are a part of all DRR conversations. 

Read more about how women lead in DRR in Women on the Move in a Changing Climate and more about the positions of the Women’s Major Group here.