Updated 27 July 2011

(Please see below for related articles and resources)

Impact of earthquake on women, children and the elderly and actions taken

Quake’s aftermath weighs heavily on women http://www.globalissues.org/news/2011/04/15/9299

From the GDN mailing list: http://groups.preventionweb.net/scripts/wa-PREVENTIONWEB.exe?A0=GDNET-L

Please see below notes, focal points and links to agencies and organisations involved in response and recovery provided by women from Japan. With thanks to Dr Jane Henrici, Study Director of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research http://www.iwpr.org for compiling the list.

Tamiyo Kondo, Associate Professor at Kobe University Graduate School of Engineering and Department of Architecture, provided the following information:

-Some academics sent some recommendations to the national government, mainly about gender issues in disaster response and recovery phases.

-Volunteer coordinator centers are going to be set up soon. Those who would like to send supplies for women can coordinate with these centers.

-Japanese academics and planners are seeking out how to contribute to the national government’s efforts for better response and recovery.

The links below are provided by Keiko Ikeda, Shizuoka University and Yoko Saito, UNCRD Disaster Management Planning, Hyogo Office.

Announcement from the Government of Japan http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/topics/2011/earthquake2011tohoku.html

Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan
http://www.mofa.go.jp/index.html

International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering http://iisee.kenken.go.jp/special2/20110311tohoku.htm

+++Reports of NGOs+++

AAR Japan
http://www.aarjapan.gr.jp/english/

ADRA Japan
http://www.adrajpn.org/

AMDA (Medical assistance)
http://www.amdainternational.com/english/index.php

The NGO Collaboration Center for HANSHIN QUAKE Rehabilitation
http://tohoku-pacific-eq.seesaa.net/ (Provides daily briefings on the aftermath of the earthquake and support extended to affected prefectures)

JOICEP (Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning)
http://www.joicfp.or.jp/eng/

IVY (International Volunteer Centre of Yamagata) This organization coordinates NGOs in the field. http://www.ivyivy.org/e/ (Yamagata is a prefecture bordering with worst hit Miyagi)

JANIC (Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation) apex body of Japanese NGOs
http://www.janic.org/en/ (Their English-language site does not have information on the disaster)

Peace Winds Japan
http://www.peace-winds.org/en/

SEEDS Asia
http://www.seedsasia.org/eng/index.html

Situation reports and appeal http://www.seedsasia.org/eng/projects-japan.html

World Vision Japan
http://www.worldvision.jp/english/index.html (Their English-language site does not have information on the disaster)

+++Information in multiple languages for affected foreigners+++

FM Waiwai
http://www.tcc117.org/fmyy/index.php

Tohoku area Pacific offshore earthquake multi-language support center http://eqinfojp.net/

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Looking back at the Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake

In 1995, a 6.8 moment magnitude earthquake struck the southern part of the Hyogo prefecture in Japan, killing more than 6,000 people. A women’s group called Women’s Net Kobe was at the front line to give support to abused women following the earthquake. Below are some resources produced by Women’s Net relating their experiences and observations after the earthquake.

Earthquakes and women http://www.ajwrc.org/english/sub/voice/15-2-2.pdf

Discussion among women six months after the earthquake: http://homepage2.nifty.com/bousai/pdf/Discussion_eplogue.pdf

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This day highlights the milestones women across the world have achieved in the midst of patriarchal capitalist societies, hostile regimes and disaster events. Dating back to the Bread and Roses rally in New York where women immigrants marched for better working conditions in the garment factories, March 8 a century later reflects the continuing struggles of marginalised women everywhere: women who are denied access to basic human rights, silenced by bullets and maimed by poverty. If we are to change this oppressive world order, the task ahead is enormous; we need to forge alliances and work together amidst our diversity. 

Do you have something to say? Email your 100 words for women at: gdn@gdnonline.org and become part of the global GDN Digital Quilt project.

By Rachel Gordon

There were far too many parallel events at the UN Commission on the Status of Women’s annual meeting in New York over the past two weeks to even contemplate attending them all. I was able to represent GDN at several events toward the end of the CSW, however, and hear from inspiring women about the incredible and incredibly challenging work happening at the grassroots. We all know it’s happening. Like a number of other GDN members, though, I spend most of my time sitting in front of a computer. I am very far removed from the plains of Bahia, Brazil or the slums of Manila, from where several of the speakers traveled to take part in the activities.

The Huairou Commission sponsored a Grassroots Women’s Speakout to UN Women on Wednesday, March 2, where a number of their members and grantees stood up to tell Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile and new Under-Secretary General and head of UN Women, about their work and their recommendations for the new agency. Women spoke of their communities in Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Nigeria, Uganda, Peru, Rwanda and the Congo, Brazil and Cameroon.

Haydee Rodriguez, a producer from Nicaragua and president of the Las Brumas Cooperative, came to represent 20 Nicaraguan women’s cooperatives with 1200 members. She spoke first and suggested that UN Women should hold a preparatory meeting with grassroots women’s groups prior to the next CSW. Her recommendation was echoed and supported by many of the subsequent speakers in the meeting, and picked up by Ms. Bachelet herself in her closing remarks before she left the meeting (early, with another UN Women representative staying in her place).

Several main threads ran through the speaker’s comments. Most revolved around the importance of the work that women’s organizations are doing at the grassroots and the necessity of UN Women having real engagement with that work if it is to have any hope of succeeding at the mission with which it has been charged, which is to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, including-if not especially-the world’s poorest and most marginalized women.

Speakers’ other recommendations included a grassroots advisory board to UN Women, a fund to support women community leaders to travel to important gatherings and make their voices heard, and the official adoption of a vision of food security rooted in the needs of small- and medium-scale producers, particularly women farmers, and the long-term environmental sustainability of agricultural land. For the most part, the speakers simply urged Ms. Bachelet to pay attention to what is happening far away from the halls of power, and to support them in their work.

And she listened. She assured them that they need not worry about how to convince her of the importance of their recommendations; she came into the room convinced, and was there instead to hear their comments and transmit them to rest of the UN, where concern for poor women so often fails to translate, as we know, into real action to support them, much less respect for them as agents of change rather than subjects of pity and aid.

She also spoke of the tension that UN Women must navigate in almost every aspect of its young existence: between needing to have an accessible presence on the ground and not building another UN bureaucracy; between validating the money already dedicated to its work and securing the additional funding necessary for doing the work well; and between leading the fight for gender equality and women’s empowerment without allowing other UN agencies to abdicate their similar responsibilities for gender analysis and mainstreaming.

Other events in my brief visit to the CSW included a Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) panel on “Learning from Local Initiatives: Women’s Low-Carbon Innovations Inform Policy” and a Women of Color United discussion of “Southern Synergies: South-North Collaborations on the MDGs,” as well as a panel on “Social Change: Women, Networks and Technology.” These events highlighted the same significant North-South power imbalances brought up in the morning’s Huairou event. An audience member from the Philippines commented to the WEDO panel on the need for women to be taken seriously, proclaiming that “we don’t want microcredit; we want credit! We want access to real banks and real funding that will support the important work we are doing in our communities!” I wished for nothing more than another Speakout, this time not to Michelle Bachelet, but to the presidents of HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

Throughout my stay in New York I heard quite a bit of discussion about gender equality, and rightly so: it is at the core of the mission of UN Women and one of the major goals of many women’s organizations at both the grassroots and the highest levels of officialdom. I can’t help but wonder, however, if a focus on equality without critical examination of the social, economic and political structures within which women and men live out their gender roles isn’t an argument for a larger piece of a poisoned pie. Like Nereide Segala Coelho, the leader of the Adapta Sertao Network in Brazil and a member of Huairou Commission who spoke out to Michelle Bachelet about the need for definitions of food security rooted in long-term environmental sustainability rather than short term agricultural yield, I believe the bigger picture must change.

Of course, the need for equal rights and access for women is critical. At the same time, we must fight not only for more power, but for a different framework in which to exercise that power.  Equality is one thing, but equity and justice are equally key concepts. The women who traveled from all over the world to the CSW are fighting for all of these goals. Hopefully, last week’s events allowed everyone not only to forge new connections and networks for their efforts, but to convince the UN that the real agents of change are at least as likely to be found in the fields and community centers of Peru and Papua New Guinea as in the office buildings of New York and Geneva.

by Ros Houghton

Just before 1pm on February 22, 2011, Christchurch New Zealand experienced the largest disaster in New Zealand’s recent history. A 6.3 magnitude earthquake that was 5km deep and centred 10km outside the city struck and caused widespread damage to the central city. Unlike the previous earthquake in the same region in September 2010, this earthquake has caused over 100 deaths and at least 300 people are still reported missing to date. Because of the time day, many people were in the central city at work or on lunch breaks. This coupled with the relatively shallow depth of the quake has meant the impact of this earthquake dwarfs that of the September quake.

The Red Cross and Salvation Army have immediately begun welfare response work and donations are pouring in from across the globe. Our Prime Minister has declared a National Emergency and described this earthquake as one of New Zealand’s darkest days. The damage has been estimated at $6Bil (NZ) to date but this is sure to rise, as will the death toll. Many homes have been destroyed and this has made the existing housing shortage from the previous earthquake, even worse. Students had just returned from University vacation as well, meaning even less accommodation was available.

Women’s Refuge immediately assembled a team to respond to the need in Christchurch. The Chief Executive, 3 trained advocates and myself travelled down via ferry with two vans loaded with donated supplies. We have already heard the domestic violence callouts are up overnight and upon arrival in the city, it became clear the situation was pretty grim for the Refuges, with damage to vital buildings and offices, staff unable to work, and no power, water or sewage. Those with open safehouses are full to capacity. The team will meet tomorrow with all Refuges to establish a plan for continued services in the coming months.

If you would like more information on this, here are some great websites:

www.stuff.co.nz
www.nzherald.co.nz
www.womensrefuge.org.nz

If you have any information you’d like to share or further questions, please contact Ros Houghton (rosalindhoughton@hotmail.com)

Gender-based violence in the conflict zones of Africa has reached epidemic proportions yet remains a silent disaster in the continent, invisible in the media and beyond donors’ reach.

Gender based violence increases during and after disasters as already fragile structure of law and order breaks down. The Global Fund for Women reports that more than a million women were raped, mutilated and abused during and after the civil wars in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. Boys and girls are also affected. Boys served as cooks, porters and messengers while girls are forced into marriages and abducted as sex slaves.  Men, despite being often portrayed as perpetrators, are raped, killed and suffer from psychological trauma.

It is therefore important to understand that women, men, boys and girls experience disasters in different ways. In many reports after disasters, women are shown to be disproportionately affected because of their low social, economic and political status in society even before violent conflict and disaster strike. In their everyday lives, women and girls are often exposed to abuse when fetching water or gathering firewood. Women are restricted access to credit and are prohibited to inherit or own land. In disasters, women refugees are often forced to trade sex for survival, while relief policies favour refugee men.

However, despite the circumstances that women find themselves in, evidence from the ground has started to dismantle the ‘women as victims’ myth. Time and again, women continue to show their resilience in the face of disasters. They help build shelters and soup kitchens, organize self-help groups, and mobilize community to take action. Post-conflict, they play crucial roles in formal and informal peacekeeping initiatives. In 2003, Liberian women mobilized and demanded an “unconditional ceasefire, a negotiated settlement and an international community presence in Liberia.” In Ghana, during the peace negotiations in which women were markedly absent, “a group of women held a parallel meeting resulting in The Golden Tulip Declaration. They physically barricaded the stalled peace talks using their bodies as human shields and demanded that an agreement be reached.” Women in Monrovia formed the West Point Women’s Action Group to prevent rape and other violence.

Similar stories of women’s capacities and resilience abound and there is a need to systematically document these accounts in support of evidence-based research that could inform risk reduction policies and programmes and the development agenda.

There is also a need to build networks and coalitions to amplify the advocacy on gender justice and women’s rights in post-conflict and disaster situations. Writing on the status of women in Africa, Pumla Dineo Gqola, a feminist writer and academic, argues for a “coalition of women across the continent to further the cross-pollination of strategies, experience and research.” Gqola emphasised on taking advantage of the opportunities provided by ICTs.

One initiative of this nature is the Gender-based Violence Prevention Network. It was initiated by Raising Voices and UN Habitat’s Safer Cities Programme in response to the disconnect with other like-minded organizations and the need for space to share programs, approaches, strategies and ideas on GBV prevention. At the global level, the Gender and Disaster Network (GDN) draws on the interconnectivity provided by the World Wide Web to generate, share and exchange knowledge on gender and disaster risk reduction (GDRR) by documenting, analysing and transmitting the experiences of women and men; girls and boys, before, during, and after disasters and highlighting their capacities as agents of change.

Preventing gender based violence, addressing a culture of impunity and upholding women’s rights in disasters are not easy tasks. Collective action coming from the ground with support from governments, international NGOs, donors and the media is imperative to achieve fundamental change in the way society treats and views women and other marginalised social groups.

——————–

References:
Bennett, T.W. Using Children in Armed Conflict: A Legitimate African Tradition? Criminalising the Recruitment of Child Soldiers. ISS Monograph Series No. 32 December 1998. Institute of Security Studies South Africa. http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/monographs/no32/UsingChildren.html (accessed 15 November 2010)

Cape Town Principles on the Recruitment of Children into the Armed Forces on Demobilization and Social reintegration of Child Soldiers in Africa. Cape Town, South Africa, 27-30 April 1997.

Gcola, P.D. The Status of Women in Africa. In Gender Instruments in Africa Consolidating Gains in the Southern African Development Community,ed. Ruiters, M. Institute for Global Dialogue, South Africa. 2008.

Global Fund for Women Annual Report 2009-2010. http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/what-we-do/publications/reports/latest-annual-report/1826 (accessed 10 November 2010)

Marsh, M. , Purdin, S. and Navani, S. ‘Addressing sexual violence in humanitarian emergencies’, Global Public Health, 1:2, 133 – 146. International Rescue Committee, New York. USA. 2006.

Neumayer, E. and Plumper, T. The Gendered Nature of Natural Disasters: The Impact of Catastrophic Events on the Gender Gap in Life Expectancy, 1981-2002. Final Version. Social Science Research Network. January 2007. http://www.gdnonline.org/resources/SSRN_Neumayer_Plumper_GenderedNature_NaturalDisasters.pdf accessed 10 November 2010

Reproductive Health Matters. Conflict and and Crisis Settings: Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Rights. Ed. Petchesky, R.P. http://www.rhm-elsevier.com accessed 10 November 2010

Scanlon, H. and Muddell K. Gender and Transitional Justice in Africa: Progress and Prospects. In African Journal on Conflict Resolution. Vol. 9, No. 2. ACCORD 2009.

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Note: An excerpted and edited version of this article appeared in the Genderlink website.

(Personal reflections from the field – KPK and PUNJAB)[1]

Maira Zahur, Social Research Initiative (SRI)

The floods – 2010 have played havoc all over Pakistan and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions. Heavy rains in the last week of July 2010 which caused super flooding in the vast network of rivers along with the hill torrents have severely affected millions people in nearly 79 districts of the country. According to the preliminary estimates by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 1,754 people died due to floods, 2702 are injured and more than 20 million people are directly affected by the floods. The infrastructure and agriculture losses run into billion of dollars and million have been made homeless.

According to some preliminary data from the field, as expected, the hardest hit were the most vulnerable i.e. women, children, disabled, elderly etc. The disaster response (EWS, evaluations, relief provided) which was to a large extent gender insensitive, has further added to their already existing vulnerabilities.

Though exact data is not available there is a common perception with the range of stakeholders that around 15 to 20% of the affected population didn’t evacuate timely i.e. were not able to leave with their valuables (livestock, documents and other assets). This untimely evacuation can be attributed to a number of reasons. Firstly, the lack of proactive coordination among the various government departments involved. The district governments got a response time of nearly a week (in both Sindh and Punjab) but they were unable to estimate the magnitude of the flood and to prepare in accordance with it. Secondly, in the affected areas of Punjab and Sindh, the population is scattered and to reach out to a population which fall in thousands of kilometers was another challenge. Thirdly, the households who were reached on time were not able to perceive the magnitude of the floods. The floods of a similar magnitude struck the area way back in the 1927. Since then there have been floods but this time they were unprecedented in nature. Hence the risk perception also played a major role in the untimely evacuation. Fourthly, the sentimental value attached to the land, homes and livestock also played an important role in the untimely evacuation. Please also note that according to a rough estimate, from every fifth house of the affected area, men have gone to the other cities for work. Some of the females also shared that without the man of the house, it was difficult for them to decide and leave. So until men came back from the other cities, the evacuation was deferred.

The affected households who evacuated in the last hour were not able to bring their legal (ID cards, property papers etc) and education documents. According to a rough estimate around 15 to 20% of the affected population comes under this category all over the affected area. Apart from the lost ID cards, a large number of affected, mainly females didn’t have them in the first place. For the displaced card, NADRA (state agency responsible for the making the national ID cards and other registration documents) with the help of their mobile vans is making copies of the ID cards, but there is absolutely no provision of fresh ID cards for the affectees. Please note that the compensation process (house, crop, livestock etc) in both early recovery and recovery phase would require ID cards as a basic requirement.

In the response phase, the displaced population can be divided into the three groups i.e. in camps, under open spaces and with the host families. Please note according to the estimates provided by the respective provincial disaster management authorities, only 15 percent of the affected population has made it to the camps. For the other two categories, according to the estimates, 10-15 % has moved with the host families and around 70% of the affected population remained on the road sides or stayed stranded in the higher attitudes.

The ones, who moved to the camps, were better off as far as meeting of basic needs is concerned. Still one can find issues like protection (3 girls from a camp in DG Khan were kidnapped), purdah issues (no segregation), the same toilets for men and women etc.

The ones who were stranded in the open on road sides or on higher altitudes are/were the ones who were affected the most. They have issues from food, to water, to protection. The food relief for this group is patchy and more or less they rely on their livestock and stored wheat. The food consumption pattern of the households, especially for the women and children was observed to be extremely poor. For drinking water collection, mainly women are responsible; and now try to collect in an environment which is new to them. Though no harassment issues were brought out, females are generally feeling insecure. The same goes for defecation, new environment and open spaces.

According to a rough estimate, from every fifth house of the affected area, men have gone to the other cities for work. They are mostly from the landless families. The remittances sent by the migrant workforce constituted a good part of the family income and were also spent on basic needs. Since the floods, men have returned to take care of their families and are under lots of emotional and financial stress.

The flood affects are unprecedented in nature and district governments have never in the past responded to a similar situation. The district government is doing whatever is possible but still there are lots of challenges. The district governments have so far not been able to a register the affectees. This is giving an opportunity to non-affectees to get hold of the relief provided by a range of stakeholders. It is turning out to be a huge issue in the response phase and will create greater challenges in the recovery and rehabilitation phases and this issue has huge potential of further marginalizing the most vulnerable especially women/child-headed households, people with disabilities etc.

At this stage in time it is also very important to mention that there is so far no sex-disaggregated data regarding death, injures or disabilities. The collection of sex-disaggregated data provides insights on the different societal processes adding to the disaster vulnerabilities and is useful for planning for the later stages.

Gender and women’s networks around the world appealed for a gender-sensitive approach to the Haitian earthquake. Below are some links to news, solidarity statements issued by women’s groups, and resources for humanitarian and emergency responders:

SOLIDARITY STATEMENTS

GDN reaching out — how can we help?

Deklarasyon AWID sou kriz imanitè ann Ayiti apre Tranblemandtè janvye 2010 lan
Statement on Haiti issued by The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)

Rekòmandasyon sou politik Kowalisyon Entènasyonal Fanm Defansè Dwa Moun (Creole)
Policy recommendations from the International Coalition of Women’s Human Rights Defenders (English)

RESOURCES

Gender and Disaster Network

Gendering DRR — Resources for emergency responders and humanitarian workers
Reducción del Riesgo de Desastres con Enfoque de Género. Recursos Claves

NEWS

Tens of thousands of pregnant women at risk

After the quake, depend on women

Haiti earthquake situationer reports

Haiti’s children most vulnerable after massive quake - aid agencies

An Open Letter to UNIFEM Director Ines Alberdi and other emergency responders in Haiti

Dear Colleagues:

I wish you all the best with your meeting today and wish I was there.  CAFRA now has two members (from the French and Creole-speaking islands) in Haiti and they have been sending the usual disturbing accounts of the situation there, after meeting with many of our Haitian members who survived the earthquake.  Some of the most critical points to raise with Director Ines Alberdi are as follows:

1)  Please let her know that there are many areas where distribution of aid is not reaching women and children. They pointed out to the lack of respect for the dignity of victims because of the way victims are allowed to run and walk long distances to get relief.  Those who survive the long lines are sometimes given only one bottle of water and asked to share it.  They point to a major calamity faced by grass roots women who are the worst affected in this scenario.  Areas like Cite Soleil, Croix-des-Bourgetts and Jacmel are some examples.  In some areas, there is still a major rush for supplies, which places women and girls at risk.

2)  They came across women who are literally dying because of the lack of medical supplies and in some cases no refrigeration for critical medication required for diabetes etc.  They pointed to several perfectly treatable conditions which are now life threatening because of the situation.  Pregnant women are especially at risk and something needs to be done urgently about the situation.  Because there are so many women and children who are unable to move because of injuries, disability etc. something needs to be done to reach out to them where they are

3)  The increase in rape and sexual abuse in the camps is frightening and needs to be addressed urgently.  Our members met with some of the victims but they are generally reluctant to report it.

Regards,

Flavia

———

Flavia Cherry is the Interim Chairperson and National Representative for Sta. Lucia of CAFRA (Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action). She also shared the following photos and text showing the chaotic queues for food and supplies leaving women injured in the process:

In Haiti, the lack of respect for human dignity and basic human rights standards is astounding

They leave people without food for days and then throw the relief supplies in all directions, so that desperately hungry people can fight for it. Women who dare to get food for their children are crushed in the struggle.

Women can hardly survive this indignity for food supplies.

It is always the women who are least able to survive the long and agonizing hours on the lines

Some improvements have been made but even when they provide supplies for women only, in most places, they make no effort to create orderly lines, but instead they create a mass of confusion with desperately hungry women pushing each other against barbed wire, to get food for themselves and their children.

This is not only genocide, it is racism in its purest form.

(Photos are from CAFRA)

Links from Flavia’s other reports:

http://www.creative-i.info/2010/02/05/haiti-from-the-front-lines-by-flavia-cherry/

http://www.normangirvan.info/cherry-it-is-genocide-flavia-cherry/

http://womenoftheafricandiaspora.com/2010/02/02/from-the-front-lines-flavia-cherry/

On December 10th 2009, the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB), the team behind the Adaptation Fund (AF), in the Conference of Parties (COPs)-15 tried to address the concerns by the parties and civil society around the adaptation funding mechanisms.

AFB has made it clear that incoming funding for the Adaptation Fund would not be diverted from the Official Development Assistance (ODA) rather a legally-binding separate funding arrangement, would be created. The funding regime for the AF is something parties would be working on before the end of the COPs- 15.

The concerns of civil society on the Global Environment Fund (GEF) handling the AF have also been noticed. According to the AFB team, a separate mechanism, though under GEF, would be responsible for the disbursement of the funds and efforts would be made to make it efficient. Lessons from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would also be considered.

Adaptation fund would be accessible by National Implementing Entities (NIE). NIE will be the ‘legal entities nominated by Parties that are recognized by the Board as meeting the fiduciary standards established by the Board’. Along with NIE, Multilateral Implementing Entities (MIE) will also be there. MIE can be the Multilateral Institutions and Regional Banks that meet the fiduciary standards provided by the Board. In case the party is unable to set NIE, MIE mechanism can be used to access the funds. NIE or MIE will ‘bear the full responsibility for the overall management of the projects and programs financed by the AF and will bear all financial, monitoring, and reporting responsibilities’.

Civil society feels that AF is a step in the right direction but it still has some underlying issues:

The chair of the AFB has requested for billions of dollar annually to meet the adaptation needs of the most vulnerable. World leaders in the COP-15 are working towards a decision regarding the AF. Civil society is pushing for a mechanism based on equality and human rights instead of some market system underlying the principles of give and take and something as complex as CDM.

Another concern which has come to the forefront is the role of civil society in accessing the resources from the AF. The resources would only be channelled by the MIE/NIE. Keeping in mind the mistrust which exists between governments and the civil society, this may negate the role of civil society in the adaptation process. Here we have to keep in mind that the civil society, especially in the developing world, plays a very important role in working with the communities on adaptation issues.

To meet the adaptation needs of the CC vulnerable groups, billions of dollars annually would be required. As shared by the AFB, so far they are not very sure about the criteria for the selection of projects, but this is something which is to be directed towards the most vulnerable, least developed and small island countries. Civil society fears that AF may not be able to streamline a criteria by March 2010. In March 2010, AF is looking for the first round of adaptation proposals.

I’m closely following the adaptation text and the decisions around it and hoping that by December 19th 2009, I will have something positive to report back.

Maira
Dec 16, 2009
Hopenhagen

The Adaptation Fund (AF) with an overall goal to support concrete ‘adaptation activities that reduce the adverse effects of climate change facing communities, countries, and sectors’ is a result of negotiations in Bali during COP-13. The criteria for projects under adaptation fund will be level of vulnerability, level of urgency and risks arising from delay, ensuring access to the fund in a balanced and equitable manner, lessons learned in project and programme design and implementation to be captured, securing regional co-benefits to the extent possible, where applicable, maximizing multi-sectoral or cross-sectoral benefit and adaptive capacity to the adverse effects of climate change. Two type of funding would be available i.e. small-size projects and programmes (proposals requesting up to $1 million); and regular projects and programmes (proposals requesting over $1million). The AF will be only funding projects endorsed by the requesting government.

According to the Chair of the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) hundreds of billions dollars would be required annually to meet the Climate Change (CC) adaptation requirements of the world. So far the funding mechanism of AF i.e. by the monetization of certified emission reductions (CERs), will produce around 500 million USD till 2012. Considering that the catering of CC adaptation needs would require a lot of attention in 2012 post scenario, mere 500 million USD would be opening another set of issues.

Apart from the funding, parties like India, Bangladesh, Nigeria etc along with the civil society has serious concerns regarding Global Environment Fund (GEF) handling the adaptation funds. In explicit terms it has brought out that instead of GEF, which has a non-proven track record, let there be an independent body to handle the adaptation funds.

Parties like Germany are trying to convert their Offical Development Assistance (ODA) into the adaptation funds. Serious voices of concern have been raised in COP-15 around the issues.

Above mentioned issues were raised by Gender CC on December 9th, 2009, in a statement at the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). GenderCC in its statement also showed its concerns regarding the gender neutral procedures of the adaptation fund.

Statement would be soon available at the web site of GenderCC (http://www.gendercc.net).

Maira
09 December 2009
Copenhagen