Sanbi projects help rural women manage the impacts of climate change

Climate change deniers need simply speak to African women, and especially to rural African women, to learn the truth. Shifting weather patterns and extreme weather events resulting from climate change have dire consequences, especially for rural people, many of whom are women.

Rainfall patterns have shifted, causing extreme drought and flash floods. Wildfires destroy vast tracts of land. Soil erosion exacerbates the crisis. Summers are markedly hotter. Crops that once produced reliable harvests no longer flourish. Livestock struggle. Families go hungry or make do with less.

This all affects the ability of people to take care of the health and nutrition of their families. It makes subsistence and communal farming way more difficult than it was before.

The deputy minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment, Makhotso Sotyu, is on record saying that climate change poses a greater risk to African women than it does to other groups. She told the 66th Commission on the Status of Women in New York earlier this year that climate change is causing “massive livelihood losses for African women”, further widening the gender gap.

There are two ways to respond to climate change. The first is through mitigation, which aims to limit or prevent activities that contribute to increases in greenhouse gas emissions. The other way is through adaptation: looking for ways to live with the consequences of a more turbulent climate. 

It is important, especially for already marginalised groups of women, to acquire adaptation strategies and tools that help manage the impacts of climate change. Empowering women and girls to be equal players and climate change decision-makers is critical and must continue.

This is exactly what the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) aims to achieve through its Groen Sebenza climate change internship project. The three-year Groen Sebenza internships are placing 18 young black professionals in Sanbi and its partner institutions across South Africa. Of the 18 interns, 12 are young women.

As part of the community adaptation small grants facility project, Sanbi has been working in the Namakwa (Northern Cape) and Mopani (Limpopo) districts to insulate homes, construct animal shelters, provide mobile herder shelters, build water storage reservoirs, develop climate change-resistant food gardens, install tanks to harvest rainwater and propagate food crops.

In the Namakwa district, Sanbi has supported community-based interventions that have introduced hardier livestock breeds and helped farmers develop climate-resistant grazing plans for their animals. Food security and livelihoods have been improved through the establishment of communal gardens in the rural villages of the Mopani district. Most of these communal gardens are managed by women-led cooperatives.

The uMngeni resilience project, currently being implemented in the uMgungundlovu district in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, is benefitting more than 900 smallholder farmers, 75% of whom are women. Sanbi is implementing the project with the uMgungundlovu district municipality and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Through support provided by the project to grow a diverse range of nutritious and drought tolerant crops in climate-resilient and innovative ways, smallholder farmers have been able to establish several cooperatives, many of which are headed by women. The cooperatives supply local supermarkets with fresh vegetables. It’s an economic empowerment success story.

Sanbi’s climate change adaptation work is about focus, intention and building capacity. It prioritises gender mainstreaming; it works alongside communities and in partnership with communities to manage climate change risk and help people – especially women and the youth – adapt to the effects of climate change. It provides rural South African women with the means for sustainable production, consumption and land use, giving them tools for climate-resilient livelihood practices.

Mandy Barnett is the chief director of adaptation policy and resourcing at the South African National Biodiversity Institute. 

Marilyn Martin is the gender mainstreaming and safeguards officer at the South African National Biodiversity Institute.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian.