A/HRC/41/26 improvement in food security in developing countries between 1970 and 1995 came from women’s empowerment.4 7. Many smallholder farmers are women whose livelihoods and food sources – as well as the food security of their families and communities – are at risk from climate change. Climate change-related food insecurity also affects women differently because of their nutritional needs during pregnancy, lactation and childbirth. 5 Poor nutrition is a factor in the prevalence of anaemia among women, which has risen in women of reproductive age from 30.3 per cent in 2012 to 32.8 per cent in 2016, worldwide.6 Discriminatory food allocation within families can also affect nutrition, as women are often the first to skip meals or reduce consumption during times of scarcity. 7 Rural women are among the most likely to suffer when food prices escalate.8 8. Male-dominated structures often govern land ownership, 9 making it difficult for women to access fertile land and agricultural extension services, which limits their ability to practise climate-smart agriculture and increases their vulnerability to climate change.10 The unequitable distribution of domestic and care work can also impede women’s adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change, by limiting the time available for other activities. When discriminatory laws and practices restrict women’s ownership of, access to and use of land, women’s vulnerability to climate change-related food price volatility may increase.11 Even when women own land, inhibited access to financing, extension services, resources, tools, seeds, technology, information, fertilizer and water can limit the land’s productivity.12 According to FAO, if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20 to 30 per cent, potentially reducing global hunger by 12 to 17 per cent. 13 B. Health 9. Climate change can disproportionately affect the physical and mental health of women. 14 During extreme weather events, women are more likely to die than men, and women who survive have a decreased life expectancy. 15 Climate change reduces the quantity and quality of available water, which can contribute to numerous health risks for women. Water scarcity increases the burden on women, who often have primary 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 4 Gender Equality and Food Security: Women’s Empowerment as a Tool against Hunger (2013), available at www.fao.org/gender/background/en/. Charlotta Rylander, Jon Øyvind Odland and Torkjel Manning Sandanger, “Climate change and the potential effects on maternal and pregnancy outcomes: an assessment of the most vulnerable – the mother, fetus, and newborn child”, Global Health Action, vol. 6 (2013). See www.fao.org/3/I9553EN/i9553en.pdf. Global Gender and Climate Alliance, Gender and Climate Change: A Closer Look at Existing Evidence (2016), available at http://wedo.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GGCA-RP-FINAL.pdf. See Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women. Tzili Mor, “Towards a gender-responsive implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification” (UN-Women, 2018), available at www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2018/towards-agender-responsive-implementation-of-un-convention-to-combat-desertification-en.pdf?la=en&vs =3803. Gender and Climate Change: A Closer Look at Existing Evidence. Ibid., and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “Gender, climate change and food security” (2012), available at: www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/gender/Gender%20and%20Environment/PB4_Africa_Gend er-ClimateChange-Food-Security.pdf. Gender and Climate Change: A Closer Look at Existing Evidence. FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture: Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development (2011). See A/HRC/32/23. UNDP, “Gender and disaster risk reduction” (2013), available at www.undp.org/content/dam/ undp/library/gender/Gender%20and%20Environment/PB3-AP-Gender-and-disaster-riskreduction.pdf.