Women, worst hit and overlooked in climate change debate: United Nations

UNITED NATIONS: Women farmers, particularly in poor countries will be worst hit by climate change as they make up the larger share of the agricultural work force and also because they have fewer access to income-earning opportunities, a new UN report has said.

The report, Facing a changing world: Women, Population and Climate, released here, stressed that the majority of the 1.5 billion people living on one dollar a day or less are women, and they have so far been overlooked in the climate change debate.

"With the possibility of a climate catastrophe on the horizon, we cannot afford to relegate the world's 3.4 billion women and girls to the role of victim," United Nations Population Fund chief Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said. "Wouldn't it make more sense to have 3.4 billion agents for change?"

Women particularly those in poor countries will be affected differently than men, according to the study by the UNFPA that launched its report in more than 130 cities around the world.

"They are among the most vulnerable to climate change, partly because in many countries they make up the larger share of the agricultural work force and partly because they tend to have access to fewer income-earning opportunities," it noted.

The UNFPA study said that the poorest populations while having contributed the least to climate change are the most vulnerable to the crisis. "Our impending climate disaster is perhaps the most inequitable threats of our time," Richard Kollodge of the UNFPA, told journalists here.