Newshook:

ActionAid presentation  4 June –  side event at Parallel NGO forum, Terra Preta at 6pm.

For interviews: Harjeet Singh, ActionAid’s climate change advisor and Livia Zoli, policy analyst with ActionAid, Italy.

To download ActionAid’s report on climate change adaptation and women in South Asia, We Know What We Need visit: http://www.actionaid.org/main.aspx?PageID=343

We Know What We Need - Women respond to climate change challenge

As the food crisis escalates, women are bearing the brunt of the burden, jeopardising their chances of working outside the home or attending school, warns ActionAid.

“Women are responsible for more than 50% of household production but according to FAO they own only 2% of land and receive only 1% of the resources allocated to agricultural enterprise,” Livia Zoli, policy analyst with ActionAid Italy.

“This means that women and girls are disproportionately poor and, as unpredictable weather patterns impact adversely on agriculture, they are more vulnerable to its effects,” she added.

Although women farmers are adapting to these changes using local knowledge and experience, they lack access to cheap credit, information and technical assistance and women are still left out in the cold when it comes to international decision-making.

At the parallel NGO forum at Terra Preta this evening (Wednesday 4 June) at 6.pm, ActionAid will be asking governments to put women at centre stage in climate change adaptation policies.

“We want women to be able to access cheap credit, be involved in decision- making and receive training to diversify their agricultural skills, and to improve their access to natural resources, said Harjeet Singh, ActionAid’s climate change advisor.

“In addition, we need to clarify how funding guidance will identify and target vulnerable populations; reserving a minimum percentage for adaptation needs of women,” he added.

ENDS

Note To Editors:

Women are responsible for 75% of household production in sub Saharan Africa; 65% in Asia and 45% in Latin America. (FAO)

ActionAid is an international anti-poverty agency working in over 40 countries taking sides with poor people to end poverty and injustice together. www.actionaid.org

ActionAid’s HungerFREE campaign calls on governments to deliver on their commitment to halve world hunger by 2015.