CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW
2.5 Vulnerability to climate change impacts
33 longer distances (ranging from 10 to 15 kilometers a day) to fetch water because of the increasing frequency of droughts in northern Kenya (Parikh, 2007). In addition to the increasing time allocated to water collection and the longer distances walked to access water, Bob and Babugura (2014) revealed that girls were exposed to gender based violence in the Eastern Cape and KZN as they walked further and further from home in search of water. The more time women spend searching for water means they have less time for other household tasks, increased time poverty, and may have to forego opportunities for economic development and other income generating activities (Goh, 2012; Terry, 2009). The differential impacts of climate change are also evident here (Goh, 2012). Moreover, water scarcity coincides with an increasing human population and the increasing practice of irrigation which may lead to increased risk of conflict over water resources (Besada and Werner, 2015). Thompson (2016) argues that gender cannot be the only category used to understand the social dynamics of water. She further notes that from an intersectional perspective water use, access, and control are determined by intersecting categories.
Hence, the importance of the intersectional perspective applied in this study.
34 2013). Vulnerability to climate change will create new vulnerabilities and intensify existing vulnerabilities (Meyiwa et al., 2014). Dube et al. (2014) assert that vulnerability highlights the need for adaptation. Thus, the first step to planned adaptation is understanding vulnerability (Adger, 2006).
Figure 2.5.1: Climate change vulnerability (Lonescu et al., 2005 as cited in Babugura et al., 2010:15)
2.5.2 Low vulnerability = climate change victims
According to Gentle et al. (2014) higher vulnerabilities to climate change impacts exist in the following categories: developing countries; geographically remote areas; communities’ dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods; the poor; and women in societies based on patriarchy. The southern countries and communities who have contributed the least to climate change will be worse off due to low adaptive capacity, while the major emitters, the industrialized northern countries, have greater resources to adapt (Gorman, 2016). Among the southern countries, developing countries are the most vulnerable to climate change impacts because of their reliance on climate-sensitive sectors (such as fisheries, forestry, agriculture) and limited adaptive capacity (Ford et al., 2015). However, some level of vulnerability does exist in developed nations hurricane Katrina demonstrated this in the United States of America - USA (Eakin et al., 2014).
Among the developing regions, Africa is believed to be the most vulnerable to climate variability and change due to its reliance on agriculture, over dependence on natural resources, poverty, prevalence of HIV/AIDS, conflicts, food insecurity and water shortages (Ndaki, 2014). Africa’s susceptibility to climate change is further exacerbated by existing development challenges, inter alia, limited access to
35 capital, disasters, ecosystem degradation (Figueiredo and Perkins, 2013), illiteracy, weak technical institutions, limited and inadequate infrastructure and poor technological development (Ndaki, 2014).
Given that, South Africa lies in Africa - the continent identified as being amongst the most vulnerable to climate change – South Africa faces the same vulnerabilities (Schulze, 2011). In addition to climate change, South Africa faces environmental, economic, and social stressors (Pasquini et al., 2013). Gentle et al. (2014) and Ndaki (2014) further assert that it is the poor and economically disadvantaged individuals, groups and communities in developing countries who are the most vulnerable and severely affected by climate change. Seventy-two percent of the rural population in South Africa is poverty stricken, with the poorest provinces consisting of the former homeland areas: Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KZN (Neves and Toit, 2013). The latter province is believed to be the most vulnerable to climate change impacts in South Africa (Shezi and Ngcoya, 2016). KZN’s vulnerability is attributed to low adaptive capacity (Linkd Environmental Services, 2013; Shezi and Ngcoya, 2016) and biophysical sensitivity (Linkd Environmental Services, 2013).
Areas prone to climatic changes within KZN are the Midlands, the northeastern corner of the province, the south coast and areas subjected to poverty and high densities (Thornhill et al., 2009). Rural inhabitants are particularly vulnerable to climate change because they depend on natural resources for subsist (Lookabaugh, 2015; Molnar, 2010). Climate change has already increased the probability of failure of some rural livelihoods (Dube et al., 2014). Therefore, the rural poor are in greatest need of climate change adaptation initiatives to develop sustainable livelihoods (Goh, 2012; Sapkota et al., 2016). Until recently climate change was viewed as a development issue and now it is increasingly recognized as a gender issue as well (Chikulo, 2014). Vulnerability is rarely uniform at the local level, across genders and even within a gender group (Goh, 2012). Contemporary literature reveals that vulnerability is largely shaped by roles, responsibilities, and entitlements associated with various social categories including gender, class and caste (Carr and Thompson, 2014).
2.5.2.1 Women’s vulnerability to climate change
This section focuses on women’s vulnerability, it examines how and why climate change affects women.
Climate change is said to affect the poorest populations the most, women form the largest group of the world’s poor (UN, 2008). Specifically, women constitute 70% of the world’s 1.3 billion people living in poverty (Hackfort and Burchardt, 2016; MacGregor, 2010). They are therefore unlikely to have resources to respond to climate change impacts (MacGregor, 2010). Furthermore, given the women- nature link, they are keenly affected by any environmental changes (Karanja, n.d.) and as such, this matter is of feminist concern (Cuomo, 2011) and gender analysis is justified in terms of distributive
36 justice (Edmunds et al., 2013). Edmunds et al. (2013) further add that gender analysis is justified because of gender differentiated impacts of climate change and because climate change interventions affect men and women differently, and as such understanding gendered impacts can provide early warning about inequities and where change is needed.
Women’s vulnerability is not attributed to natural weakness (for example, because of their sex) but rather because of gendered roles ascribed to them as women by feudal-patriarchal discrimination (Resurrección, 2013; Vincent et al., 2010). Women’s triple role as ascribed by traditional gender norms includes the reproductive, productive and the community-managing role (Tasli, 2007). Reproductive role includes domestic work, childbearing and rearing responsibilities and care of the current and future work force (Tasli, 2007). Women’s productive role includes work done for payment in cash or kind and women’s community managing role includes provision and maintenance of scarce resources at the community level (Tasli, 2007). Rural women are especially more vulnerable to climate change impacts due to increased household duties and agricultural work from male out-migration (Gaard, 2015; Huyer, 2016; Okali and Naess, 2013) and lack of knowledge on the potential dangers posed by climate change (Karanja, n.d.). In the face of climate change the sense of familiarity and predictability for rural women no longer holds true, because their environments are changing owing to circumstances beyond their control (Meyiwa et al., 2014).
Vincent et al. (2010) expounds on women’s vulnerability and attributes it to the following factors:
• Limited access to resources- Women either have no access or limited access to resources essential for their livelihoods such as land, livestock, credit and tools. When they do have access they have limited control over these resources, without ownership, they cannot make decisions regarding its use.
• Dependence on natural resources and gendered division of labour- As users and managers of natural resources women are highly reliant on resources at risk from climate change. Climatic changes will in turn change the availability of natural resources.
• Lack of formal education and access to information- Boys education is still a priority in developing countries. Due to this perception when resources are limited girls are pulled out of school. Consequently, girls receive fewer years of education than boys do. With no or limited formal education women are disadvantaged as they have less access to important information and fewer means to make sense of that information. This in-turn affects their ability to understand climate related information and act on that information.
• Limited mobility- because of their gendered roles and responsibilities women are restricted to their households, and cannot migrate, a coping strategy often used by men. In addition, with limited education, their chances of finding employment are less when compared to their male
37 counterparts. Accordingly, women stay behind in high-risk areas and miss out economic opportunities and development that migration affords men.
• Structural exclusion from decision-making- Women’s’ voices are often sidelined in their households and at the community level. This is unfortunate given women’s close relationship to nature and awareness of conservation and potential adaptation strategies. According to Röhr et al. (2008:6), “the degree to which women participate in decision making on climate policies is small”.
Gender is not the only category to consider when analyzing vulnerability to climate change impacts.
Vulnerability varies widely even between women. Differences in women’s vulnerability can be attributed to a number of social categories including class, race, age, ethnicity (Djoudi and Brockhaus, 2011; Tandon, 2007; Hankivsky, 2014), indigeneity, sexuality, geography, religion, migration status, disability/ability (Hankivsky, 2014.) and other socio-economic categories (Djoudi and Brockhaus, 2011;
Kaijser and Kronsell, 2014). For example in the context of vulnerability to the impacts of climate variability and change “wealthy women with diverse livelihoods might have more in common with wealthy, similarly employed men than they do with poorer women who are reliant on rain fed agriculture for their food and income” (Carr and Thompson, 2014:183). Therefore, simple binary gender analysis may group people with varying levels of vulnerability, making it difficult to identify and address challenges faced by the most vulnerable (Carr and Thompson, 2014). Several Asian studies confirm the intersection of multiple categories, such as caste, economic class and gender, shaping differentiated vulnerability to climate risks and disasters (Ravera et al., 2016).
Within the group ‘rural women’ female-headed households will be disproportionately affected by climate change impacts (Constable, 2015). Studies conducted in South Africa, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique have found female-headed households to be more vulnerable (Tibesigwa et al., 2015). Approximately 41.9% of households in South Africa are headed by females and this number seems to be growing in sub-Saharan Africa (Tibesigwa and Visser, 2016). Djoudi et al.
(2016) explains female-headed household’s vulnerability: Firstly, female heads of households generally have a lower level of education when compared to male heads of households this contributes to their vulnerability. Secondly, lack of or limited formal education and low social status of female heads of households limits their access to loans, thereby increasing their vulnerability. Thirdly, female headed households generally lack a reliable source of non-farm income and female heads engagement in resilient livelihood strategies is limited because of their social standing which is often on the edges of their community’s social network. Adaptation research has to be informed by vulnerability research (Sapkota et al., 2016). Hence, women’s vulnerability in the context of climate change is explored in this
38 study using qualitative methods, particularly resource and hazard mapping, vulnerability matrix and FGD.