Strengthening Gender-Inclusive Climate Action: A Roundtable Discussion

On Friday 8 July 2022, in collaboration with Keble College at the University of Oxford and the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust, NatCen International hosted a roundtable discussion on the opportunities and challenges of strengthening gender-inclusive climate action within the context of intersecting crises in Africa.

While there is growing evidence on the intersecting crises of climate change, conflict and displacement, not enough is being done to understand gender-specific adaptation and mitigation strategies. Moreover, there has been limited engagement with the challenges faced by “immobile” communities – those who stay behind, either by choice or by circumstance, and the gendered dimensions of immobility. Held under the Chatham House Rule, the roundtable discussion explored the opportunities and challenges of developing context-specific pathways towards strengthening gender-inclusive climate action in Africa. 

The discussion focused on four questions: 

• How can climate action be more intersectional and responsive to gender and other vulnerabilities?  
• What is the state of gender-specific adaptation and mitigation strategies? What is the nature of vulnerability especially for immobile or “trapped” populations? 
• How can international engagement strengthen gender-inclusive climate action in intersecting crises? 
• How can complementarity between international and local actors be supported and where necessary, redefined? 

The roundtable was chaired by Dr. Sherine El Taraboulsi-McCarthy, Director of NatCen International. Attendees from Keble College were joined by an expert panel of speakers from the Niger, Kenya, the USA, UK and Italy:     

• Dr. Irina Fedorenko-Aula, Co-CEO of Vlinder Climate   
• Dr. Martin Atela, Programme Manager, Partnership for African Social and Governance Research  
• Dr. Salamatou Abdourahamane Illiassou, Senior Lecturer, University of Diffa   
• Dr. Ersilia Francesca, Professor, University of Naples “L’Orientale”  
• Dr. Lauren Fletcher, Co-Founder, Beta Earth  

Download the full report: Strengthening Gender-Inclusive Climate Action in Intersecting Crises: A Roundtable Discussion (PDF)