Ensuring integration of women and LGBTI people’s needs in health and climate change action: a community consultation

Dear Colleagues,

A warm welcome to the public consultation on ensuring integration of women and LGBTI people’s needs in health and climate change action in the Asia-Pacific! We’re looking forward to hearing from all of you over the next four weeks. This discussion will be open 24/7 until 19 March; please feel free to drop in at any time at your convenience and leave us your comments on one or more of the questions, or read what others are saying and respond.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a painful reminder that in times of crisis those who are already at the margins bear the worst of the impact, and have the least support and resources to respond. If the pandemic has been a kind of dress rehearsal for the drastic impact climate change will have on human health and well-being on a global scale, it is clear we need to do better next time.

It takes time to build the kind of systems, policies, programmes, and mindsets that are truly inclusive and work for everyone. The time to act is now.

Health equity, climate justice, and gender and SOGIESC inclusion are all complex topics in their own right, and few of us are experts in three. Our work is too often siloed, and cross-sectoral collaboration challenging. However, collectively we have a wealth of information and experience and we believe that joint efforts can and will break the siloes.

What do we already know about the marginalization of women and LGBTI people that drives health-related vulnerabilities? How will climate change impact those dynamics? What have we learned about participation and leadership that is crucial for setting up the inclusive conversations that need to take place? What are we doing that is already working, and how can we add that extra dimension, be it consideration of the impact on climate change in health-related work, or taking a deeper look at gender dynamics and health in climate change action? What support, resources and information needs to be made available for our efforts to succeed? Where are the pain points, the absolute priorities that need to be tackled to make progress?

We invite you to dream big with us. What should a multi-sectoral collaboration on climate justice and health for women and LGBTI people look like if we were serious about moving the needle on these issues? How could UNDP help you make a difference?

Dear colleagues,

Welcome again to this consultation!

We are so proud to be able to collaborate with UNDP on this. As Katri Kivioja stated, this 4-week, round the clock global consultation will allow a diverse set of actors to speak to one of the most pressing social justice issues of our generation. These conversations will help shape innovative solutions, forge strategic partnerships and truly ensure that no one is left behind in the SDGs - especially women and LGBTI+ persons.

Equal Asia Foundation is an LGBTI+ think tank and innovations incubator based in Thailand. Since August 2020, we have been engaging with a number of stakeholders to explore the intersection of LGBTI rights with Climate justice. With a small grant from UNDP, we were able to map stakeholders, review literature and develop advocacy products that demonstrate the impacts of climate change on LGBTI+ persons and communities in Asia. More importantly, we were able to articulate how climate change is a good entry point to speak to the multiple and intersectional vulnerabilities of LGBTI+ persons and communities. It is the queerness of this issue that is exciting and holds immense promise for recovering and rebuilding better.

Over the next few weeks, we will share insights from our own journey with respect to this project as well as how we coped with the pandemic. There are undoubtedly many lessons to learn from these seemingly related events. We hope you will come along with us on this adventure, trust us with your stories and share your resources and expertise with all of us.

Asia Pacific Alliance is a regional civil society network that mobilizes action for fulfillment of SRHR.  APA prioritizes rights issues such as sexuality, comprehensive sexuality education, and access to safe and legal abortion, focusing on vulnerable and/or marginalized groups. 

The interconnections between SRHR and climate change are complex and dynamic. Deeply embedded harmful norms of gender inequality increase vulnerability of women and girls and LGBTIQ people in particular to the negative effects of climate change. Climate change worsens the cycle of poverty, and intersects with other forms of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sexuality, HIV and/or migrant status, amongst others.   While displaced, trading sex for money or precious resources may be the only way to support themselves and their families, and  the risk of sexual and gender based violence is exacerbated.

Furthermore women’s roles as primary caregivers and providers of food and fuel also make them more vulnerable when flooding and droughts occur due to climate change. As the financial resources of families dwindle, adolescent girls are forced to marry at younger ages, contributing directly to school drop-out, early pregnancies, maternal morbidity and mortality, and a life of domestic servitude. 

As the numbers of climate-related displaced populations increases, it leads to an increased number of people in need of SRHR services and/or protection from gender-based violence.

And increasing access to SRHR has been recognized as a prevention strategy, by increasing environmental sustainability and mitigating the effect of climate change.  When people have their SRHR fulfilled and have bodily autonomy, their capacity to engage in climate change adaptation actions is greater. They can make decisions to better manage risks, pursue new livelihood strategies, and this enables them to be more resilient to the impacts of climate and active contributors to climate solutions, including through local knowledge.  

Despite this, few governments in the region have harnessed the potential of SRHR and integrated it into climate change efforts such as National Adaptation Plans.  Efforts are often siloed, with separate ministries of the government working on SRHR, gender and climate change.   Civil society mirrors the divide, with few NGOs that work on SRHR addressing climate change, and vice versa.

The linkages between climate-related decision-making and rights-based approaches including SRHR, should be strengthened. This means ensuring that the voices of vulnerable groups and marginalized groups of LGBTIQ and women, indigenous people, amongst others, are included in decision making and policy development at all levels.   Ensuring bodily autonomy is respected and protected, and that people are able to make decision over their bodies, sexuality, and SRHR from coercion and discrimination and to access quality SRHR services, is an enabler to participation in climate action and achieving sustainable development.

Finally, a greater emphasis on policy coherence is needed and more strategic utilization of tools already in existence.   Development frameworks like the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action -  the first process to link human rights, gender equality and the sustainable development-  Agenda 2030 and Beijing Platform for Action are spaces to place  greater emphasis on this nexus and be used to ensure government accountability.   Likewise SRHR should be better integrated into processes like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change .

Hi Everyone, Vanessa from Youth LEAD here, the regional network on young key populations in the Asia Pacific.

Whilst the intersection of climate justice, gender, and LGBTI is something we haven’t fully explored yet, the COVID-19 pandemic has really highlighted how global disasters can impact the livelihoods and wellbeing of young key populations in the region, especially when it comes to accessing health care services. As such, we believe that organisations must be equipped with the skills to better prepare for emergencies and other disasters that may occur as a result of ongoing climate change.

Young people play a vital role, not only as effective advocators of climate change and health issues but also as drivers of action-oriented, long-term impacts on the ground. We’d like to see data on how climate change affects certain YKP groups, and how youth- led organisations can contribute to ongoing efforts to mitigate the effects on the most marginalised, including young key populations. I really look forward to following the conversation over the next few weeks and engaging with any experiences other youth-led organisations share.

Thank you Vanessa Monley for your reflection.

Lack of data continues to be one of the major blindspots in this sector - especially when we want to understand the multiple and intersectional vulnerabilities of key populations and other vulnerable communities.

However, in the absence of data, we still have some powerful stories of young people at forefront of the climate justice movement in our region. Their voices help us understand how young people across Asia are making leaps of faith and imagination in addressing challenges posed by this climate crisis. Here is one such story of an LGBTIQ+ climate change activist in the region.

Marvin is also a member of the Pride team in Iloilo city!

https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/story/3064/for-equality-and-climate-action-a-qa-with-2-filipino-lgbtq-and-climate-activists/?fbclid=IwAR13R5JaaAwJ15EZSK2yA0JF3KAU5rx2hlWb3_4YB7H9_MzmMTC4YGIzxuI

Welcome to day 3 of the consultation!

Today I wanted to share with you a statement of from LGBTI and indigenous women affected by climate change.

This statement articulates the challenges that women, indigenous persons and LGBTI+ persons from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines face. Also included are the people-centred recommendations that these organisatoins have proposed.

"That we experience/suffer discrimination and impacts from climate change.

We, women from the indigenous communities, who depend on natural resources for livelihood, have experienced loss and extinction of our traditional plant species, and our planting pattern indiscriminately altered by climate change. This causes crops failures that affect our food security. We, our children and the elderly in our communities, frequently get sick because of the changing weather system.

This situation has added more burden to us women, as our children are forced to migrate out of our communities to find work to help their families. This has restricted and lessened our time to be able to participate in community affairs including participating in climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in our communities.

LGBTI experience various forms of discrimination and risks when climate change crises happen. Since most ASEAN governments do not recognize LGBTI in their laws, they cannot access in support service for disasters and are not allowed to participate in adaptation and mitigation plans.

We deplore the way we are blamed for the disasters, and with this, hatred is built up against us, making us even more vulnerable to violence and marginalisation.

We deplore the way we are left out of decision-making processes, to an issue such as climate change which affects us in the same way as any other citizens in our countries. We are concerned that we are denied access to vital information about climate change and are left out of the conversation from our communities, and at the local, national, regional and global levels

We are concerned that our potentials to contribute to addressing climate change, through our practices and traditions are not tapped.

We lament that ASEAN government do not have a common negotiating position on climate change at the global level as this will weaken the delivery of  sufficient support to our countries for adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage;

We are concerned further that gender equality and human rights are not integrated in the negotiating position of ASEAN countries, and adherence to the basic principle of common but differentiated responsibility is not used enough to demand the accountability and obligation of developed countries to provide developing countries with the means of implementation (finance, technology transfer and capacity building) to address climate change.

Lastly that the development model of ASEAN countries, which is extractive, export-led and makes use of dirty energy such as fossil fuel and coal, continue.

It is in this context that we forward the following recommendations to the governments of  ASEAN:

• Develop a common negotiating position for the adoption of the new Paris agreement that is based on strict adherence to the CBDR principles, and non-use of market mechanisms
• Should include human rights and gender equality perspectives in all actions related to mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and means of implementation of the new agreement.
• Establish the Environmental Pillar as the 4th ASEAN Pillar and adopt a common position on climate change, commit to the elimination of all fossil fuel and the use of 100% renewable energy by 2050, undertake regional collaboration in terms of adaptation and mitigation, focus on the protection of food and natural resources, and increase use of renewable energy and provision of long-term finance, especially for mitigating loss and damage.
• Support small-scale, locally owned and developed ecological responses ensuring food sovereignty and traditional knowledge, including indigenous knowledge
• Retain, recognize and promote tradition and historical practices of indigenous and rural women that are friendly to the environment
• Provide information on a regular basis on warnings on the onset of climate change events, for people to be prepared.
• Include the most affected by climate change, particularly women and LGBT people, in decision-making processes at the local, national and regional levels.
• Establish an accountability mechanism that binds both States and private actors, particularly for their responsibility in climate change.
• Commit to a radical and just transition from extractive and profits based economies to people-centred models that are just, equitable, gender-sensitive and locally driven.
• This transition should be based on the development justice model ensuring redistributive, economic, gender and social justice as well as accountability.

Signed

Togetherness for Equality and Action (TEA); Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, Climate Watch Thailand; CamASEAN Youth’s Future; (CamASEAN)

Dear Colleagues - Welcome to Day 4 of the consultation.

Today, I wanted to reflect on the impact of climate change events on the mental health of LGBTI+ persons and communities. Much of the literature available focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Associated Asia Research Foundation highlights the lack of research in other mental health conditions in these settings; ‘diagnosable depressive and anxiety disorders and substance misuse are under-represented in the published data. Most people’s psychosocial needs are met through their close relationships with their families, friends and communities’ (AARF, 2018). With this in mind, the increased social isolation and loneliness that LGBTIQ+ individuals face during a climate disaster would affect their mental health, as being made displaced means many are separated from their support networks. IGLHRC (2011) found the lack of safe spaces in Haiti after the earthquake impacted LGBTIQ+ individuals mental health; “When asked to identify the greatest impact of the earthquake on their lives, the majority of LGBT people interviewed for this paper indicated that it decimated the already limited physical spaces, social networks and support services available to them. According to one Port-au-Prince lesbian, “Loneliness, invisibility, and social isolation are persistent problems for us.”

This is exacerbated when individuals are faced with the LGBTIQ+ community being blamed for the disaster. This was documented in Haiti, post-hurricane Katrina and Fiji’s Cyclone Winston (Dominey-Howes, 2014). In Haiti, some gay and bisexual men were assaulted for ‘causing the earthquake’ (Dominey-Howes, 2014), whereas in Fiji church pastors claimed the cyclone was caused by (LGBTIQ+) ‘sin’ (EdgeEffect, 2018). In Brisbane after serious flooding, it was documented that the church refused to give out food parcels to gay relationships (Gorman-Murray, 2017).

Out of the limited case studies available on LGBTIQ+ impacts from disasters very few comment on the mental health impacts. Pincha (2008) does comment on the physical and psychological harm’ of aravanis but it fails to go into further detail or list any mental health issues they suffered.  Whilst studies show the increase of PTSD amongst disaster victims (AARF, 2018), (Grant, 2008), (Hechanova, 2008) no studies could be found that included the queer community.  Evidence shows how evacuees with a history of trauma are especially vulnerable to post-disaster stress reactions (Grant, 2008).

Considering this, the knowledge that LGBTIQ+ individuals have a heightened vulnerability during climate disasters and their vulnerability to mental health disorders prior to disasters, further research into this topic would be highly valuable.

Here is one study that might give us some insights about the Asia region

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325571399_Evaluation_of_a_resilience_intervention_for_Filipino_displaced_survivors_of_Super_Typhoon_Haiyan

Have a wonderful day and I am looking forward to hearing from you

Hello colleagues

I wanted to remind you about the 7th Asia Pacific Adapation Forum that starts next month.

Register here to attend some exciting plenaries and dialogues.

http://www.asiapacificadapt.net/adaptationforum2020/registration/

Hosted by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MoEJ), Government of Japan, together with the APAN Secretariat at UNEP, the 7th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum will be held virtually on 8-12 March 2021 under the theme: Enabling Resilience for All: The Critical Decade to Scale-up Action, sharing learnings from actions towards climate-resilient development. Resilience is the unifying theme of the Forum, which is structured around four thematic “streams” focusing on (i) inclusive resilience; (ii) nature-based resilience (iii) economic sector resilience; and (iv) communities and local resilience.

Resilience embodies the desired end-point of adaptation, applicable to natural, human, economic, and engineered systems. Adequate enabling conditions through which resilience may be built on, maintained, and strengthened are identified as a) climate governance; b) planning and processes; c) science and assessment; d) technologies and practices; e) finance and investments.

Dont miss this very exciting Inclusive Resilience dialogue (I've attached the speakers profiles below)

7APAN_Inclusive-Resilience-Webinar_Speakers_0.pdf1.39 MB

Dear Ryan,

Thank you for your insights on LGBTIQ experiences of climate change impacts, and for the examples of how mental health is a critical yet often ignored issue in the context of climate change human impacts. In my desk research I could find little to no research on the gender dimensions of mental health for those affected by disasters. I wondered if members of this community could comment on attitudes to mental health in their countries, and on available services. Where are the gaps and good practices? How gender and SOGEISC-sensitive are services, when they are provided? Any examples would be most welcome. 

Thanks also to Ryan for sharing the statement from LGBTI and indigenous women affected by climate change in the Asia Pacific region. Are there any examples of local or country-level initiatives to raise awareness of the issues and bring together voices and hearts from affected communities? 

Welcome all to Day-5 of the consultation

Thank you to everyone who made time to comment and share. It was quite a hectic week for many of us. I will hand over the moderator baton to Divya Chandran who will take over next week. Equal Asia Foundation will continue to engage with all of you on the platform throughout this consultation and we look forward to hearing from more of you in the coming weeks.

Dear colleagues,

A very warm welcome to Week 2 of the global consultation on ensuring the integration of women and LGBTI people's needs in health and climate change action. I am delighted to be moderating the consultation with Mashida Rashid this week. You are welcome to use the guiding questions at the top of this page when adding your voice.

Thank you very much to Ryan Joseph Figueiredo from Equal Asia Foundation for starting us off on this journey of exploring and unpacking the linkages between gender, SOGIESC inclusion, health equity, and climate change. This global consultation aims to build bridges between discourse and praxis in the context of people-focused, gender-transformative, rights-based, and equity-oriented approaches to health in the face of challenges posed by climate change, pandemics and other shocks.

Last week, we heard from Alexandra Johns (Asia Pacific Alliance) on the important, yet often overlooked, interconnectedness between sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and climate change. Alexandra highlighted the importance of harnessing the potential of SRHR in mitigating the effects of climate change and the current operational gaps of integrating this into National Adaptation Plans. Breaking down operational and programmatic silos is the first step towards greater policy coherence on SRHR and climate change in the region. Last but not least, I was particularly drawn to Alexandra's framing of bodily autonomy and access to quality SRHR services as an enabler to participation in climate action and achieving sustainable development. When women, girls and LGBTI people in all their diversity have full bodily autonomy, we are empowered to make informed decisions about our health and future. In short, when we have full bodily autonomy, the planet benefits.

Vanessa Monley from Youth LEAD reminded us of the pressing need to centre young key populations when we think about health and climate change: how can we meaningfully engage young people in developing gender-transformative and rights-based climate policies? How can we address some of the disproportionate social, economic and political barriers faced by marginalized young people? 

Many thanks once again to Ryan, Shane and Alyson for providing insightful nuggets and brilliant resources on LGBTIQ+ voices, mental health, and regional examples throughout the first week of this consultation. I hope we can continue these much-needed conversations in the coming days.

In solidarity,

Divya

Hi Divya and colleagues, thank you for the invitation to join this consultation. I am glad to see this initiative and the focus on the Asia-Pacific region. I am reminded of a World Bank Risk Report from a few years ago that outlined: 5 of the most at-risk (to climate change and disaster) countries are from the region with 90% of global deaths from disasters come from Asia. My name is Khadijatul Kobra and I work as a GBV Case Management Officer at UNFPA Bangladesh. I am a clinical psychologist and previously worked at the Bangladesh Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA) where I provided mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services to the Rohingya community. As a Bangladeshi, I have witnessed multiple dimensions of climate-related hazards and shocks in my surroundings, often resulting in extremely negative impacts for women, girls, and marginalised communities.

Based on the guiding questions, I would like to focus my contribution on the linkages between GBV, health and climate change - I feel this should be a priority especially in a consultation that is looking at women and LGBTI people’s needs in health and climate action. GBV (including sexual violence) is a pervasive problem across all countries and evidence shows that women, girls and the LGBTI community are at greater risk of GBV during and after disasters. Disasters exacerbates existing gender inequalities and we know that GBV is rooted in gender-power differentials. This in turn affects the ability of women, girls and others with marginalised identities to access life-saving information, services and care in the aftermath of disasters. The impacts of GBV affect all members of the community and the intergenerational trauma from violence perpetuates a vicious cycle of abuse. Health impacts include post-traumatic stress disorder, unwanted pregnancies, pain, mental health problems, and sexually transmitted infections. While humanitarian actors do integrate gender analysis and GBV risk assessment into various rapid (and otherwise) protection assessments, more needs to be done to ensure the safety, security and dignity of women, girls and LGBTI people are at the forefront of preparedness and response efforts.

Despite the proliferation of global guidelines and inter-agency guidance on incorporating gender in humanitarian action, there’s still resistance and backlash to meaningfully engage with decision-makers on issues related to gender equality. As a result, the status quo remains: women and girls continue to be left behind and are not able to access decision-making and leadership opportunities to exercise their agency in the aftermath of climate-related disasters. While we know that disasters do not discriminate, the impacts do. Gender and social norms dictate how different groups are expected to respond, behave, cope, manage and exist. What needs to be in place for humanitarian and development actors to play a meaningful role in ensuring the rights of women and LGBTI people are integrated into health and climate action is, ultimately, political will. Decision-makers and senior management need to ensure gender equality isn’t merely an AOB item at agenda-setting coordination meetings: it must be a top priority of all actors.

I have been reading the comments on the links between GBV, health, gender and climate change with interest. Emerging research is also reflecting the magnifying effects of COVID-19 on exposure to GBV for women, girls and LGBTI people, which is very concerning. A UN Women report from 2020 found that lock down has left many women in already difficult situations unable to escape from abusive situations in the home, and also has left many with reduced support networks and financial capacity, further hampering any desire to flee. In countries that include Argentina, Cyprus, France and Singapore, reports of domestic violence and calls to abuse hotlines increased during the first weeks of the lock down. Yet, at the time when it has been most needed, safe access to support services and emergency measures, including legal assistance and judicial remedies, has been curtailed in many countries with key support staff such as social welfare workers, health care professionals and police already over-burdened by the demands of the pandemic.  

COVID-19 is also a key driver of intensified violence experienced by LGBTI individuals. Government directives to stay at home are leading to increased threat of domestic violence from hostile family members, particularly for elderly and younger LGBTI people (UN IE on SOGI 2020). Furthermore, participants in an Outright International study reported either feeling at increased risk themselves or knowing others at increased risk of violence and abuse within their homes due to forced cohabitation with unsupportive family or abusive partners during quarantines or lockdowns. The closure of counselling and other services is also leaving victims of abuse without support.

Thanks Alyson Brody . Also, UNFPA Asia Pacific (and UN Women, Quilt A.I, and ILO) just published their newest report on 'COVID-19 and Violence against Women: The evidence behind the talk'

"

Big data analysis shows that Internet searches related to violence against women and help-seeking rose significantly during COVID-19 lockdowns in eight Asian countries, buttressing evidence of the particular dangers faced by women confined to homes or restricted in their movements.

In response, government and private service providers should boost their online reach and engagement with survivors of violence, says this new report.

UNFPA and UN Women partnered with the analytics company Quilt.AI to focus on eight countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The analysis spanned periods from September 2019 to November 2020 and covered about 20.5 million unique searches; 3,500 keywords on violence against women; 2,000 posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and ShareChat; and the Facebook pages and social media posts of 32 service organizations.

The report says searches related to physical violence increased significantly between October 2019 and September 2020. Searches using help-seeking keywords increased in almost all countries. Online misogyny rose, including trolling, sexual harassment and victim-blaming. However, online support for survivors also increased as did campaigns by service providers.

This analysis of big data gives a better picture of exactly what different women need most urgently, and how all support agencies - government, private-sector, international organizations and civil society - can improve the ways they reach out to these groups. 

The study clearly shows the crucial role digital platforms can play in helping address violence against women, and underscores the urgent need to provide digital literacy skills to disadvantaged populations, to ensure access to potentially lifesaving online tools. Supporting women and girls impacted by the digital divide must be a priority for governments and partners as countries build back better in a post-pandemic world."

covid-19_and_vaw_insights_from_big_data_analysis_final.pdf3.05 MB

Hi everyone,

My name is Suraj Girijashanker and I am an Assistant Law Professor at Jindal Global Law School in India. Thank you for organising this online consultation. I’ve found the information and resources shared on this page to be useful. I hope to include a few in future course readings.

As a specialist in international refugee law, I am naturally drawn to the linkages between climate change and disaster displacement. The Global Compact on Refugees recognises  ‘climate, environmental degradation and natural disasters increasingly interact with the drivers of refugee movements.’ The health implications of displacement are widely documented and so are the gaps in adequately responding to the needs of women, girls and LGBTIQA+ persons in humanitarian response. In fact, Khadijatul’s powerful contribution reminded me of how GBV was not historically considered a lifesaving priority in humanitarian response. It is because of the relentless activism and powerful advocacy work (often met with backlash within our own humanitarian/development communities) by women’s rights activists and feminist movements that we have secured hard won gains in this area of work. While gaps remain, especially in the context of LGBTI+ inclusion in humanitarian and development interventions, I do believe more stakeholders and actors are aware of the importance of integrating LNOB considerations into their work.

The call for a gender-transformative and rights-based approach to integrating women and LGBTI people’s needs in health and climate action should be accompanied by an honest assessment of political will (as mentioned earlier this week by Khadijatul) and the commitment of states and other duty-bearers to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. I think it is also important for organisations like the UN to take stock of how UN agencies are (truly) implementing a human rights-based approach to development cooperation and for the purpose of this consultation, on gender and SOGIESC inclusion across UNDP’s thematic priorities. Though quite dated, the United Nations Common Understanding on the Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) to Development Cooperation is a model widely recognised and adapted by various UN sister agencies in programming. It recognises principles like universality and inalienability, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness, non-discrimination and equality, participation and inclusion, accountability and the rule of law. The main outline the UN’s Common Understanding on HRBA:

Goal: All programs of development cooperation, policies and technical assistance should further the realization of human rights as laid down in the UN Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.

Process: Human rights standards and principles guide all development cooperation and programming in all sectors and phases of the programming process. 

Outcome: Development cooperation contributes to the development of the capabilities of ’duty-bearers’ to meet their obligations and/or of ’rights-holders’ to claim their rights.

I think there’s a lot to unpack in the complex, multi-layered relationship between ‘duty-bearers’ and ‘rights-holders’, especially in settings that are hostile to women and LGBTIQA+ persons. In terms of entry points, I believe UNDP is uniquely positioned in the development space given its longstanding work with line ministries. While I am not fully aware of how UNDP incorporates HRBA into its work with government agencies and especially in the context of SOGIESC inclusion, I recognise how challenging this can be. Yet, we know too well that it is through movement-building, sustained advocacy and multilateralism (and navigating the politics that comes with this) that we will get to where we’d like to be. As the UNSG remarked a while ago, it is not that multilateralism isn’t fit for purpose, “..the problem is that today’s multilateralism lacks scale, ambition and teeth. And some of the instruments that do have teeth, show little or no appetite to bite..”

Thank you Divya for encouraging me to join this conversation. I look forward to hearing and learning from other colleagues.

Hi all,

Thank you Divya for your kind invitation to add my voice to this consultation. 

My name is Hussain Paisawala and I’m the General Manager of a trust set up to undertake India’s largest inner city renewal project. I am also part of the British Council’s Future Leaders Connect global network of emerging policy leaders. 

Working in the urban development space has piqued my interest in exploring the intersections between climate change and urban renewal. As a disability rights advocate, I believe the future of urban spaces is about wellness, in all forms, at all levels, and for everyone. When we look at urban design, it is mind-boggling to observe how gender-blind, discriminatory and inaccessible the built environment can be. Housing, social services, and geographical location are some of the most common social determinants of health. Add climate hazards, shocks and disasters to the mix with generous servings of chaos resulting from breakdown of essential services and infrastructure: we are left with a situation where multiple social injustices intertwine to cause wide scale loss and destruction. Therefore, adaptation strategies, disaster preparedness and infrastructure-building in anticipation of impact is particularly important for people with disabilities.

I understand this consultation focuses on the linkages between gender, health and climate change with an emphasis on the integration of women’s and LGBT people’s needs. I would like to dive deeper and look at disability inclusion - this is not meant to divert attention from what is being discussed, instead it is to highlight a persisting gap that still remains in discussions around climate action.

I want to echo Khadijatul’s point on the importance of leadership and meaningful participation. The central tenet underpinning all social justice movements - women, youth, LGBT, disability rights - is the right to non-discrimination. The doctrine of “nothing about us, without us” needs to be operationalised at all levels - while in theory, we have multiple global commitments calling for inclusion, we are still actively excluding groups, intentionally or unintentionally, in many decision-making spaces. 

In 2019, the Human Rights Council adopted a historic resolution on climate change and the rights of people with disabilities. The resolution calls on governments to adopt a disability-inclusive approach when taking action to address climate change. This was followed by a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change. The report highlights and offers recommendations on states’ human rights obligations in the context of climate action. 

What struck me was how OHCHR led by example: they also produced the report in an easy-to-read format. It takes one simple step to make a process more inclusive, yet we often do not operate beyond the status quo. Similarly, when we speak about how gender, health and climate change intersect, we should look at the ways in which we create invisible and visible ‘barriers’ for different groups to engage meaningfully with key processes that impact our collective future.

Dear colleagues, we are now reaching the end of Week 2 of this community consultation. Thank you very much for taking time off your busy schedules to comment and share valuable resources. 

I am ever so grateful for your thoughtful and in-depth contributions, more so as we continue to navigate a global pandemic and the general uncertainty of the times we live in. 

I am passing on the moderator baton to Alyson Brody . I look forward to hearing from the rest of our participants in the coming weeks.

Welcome everyone to week 3 of this discussion, and a very happy international women's day!! As Divya has said, I will be the moderator for this week and I am very excited about what this week is going to bring. I am based in the UK and will aim to post every day in the morning here, which will be afternoon for those of you based in the Asia Pacific region. 

I have been very interested in the discussions so far on the gaps and concerns in the face of gender and health equity in the context of climate change. It would be great to hear contributors' thoughts on creating gender and SOGIESC-responsive health systems in the face of climate-related risks. In addition to identifying gaps, are there any examples of what is working? To provide a little context and stimulus here are a few thoughts:

COVID 19 has taught us that health is and must be a priority, and that our societies are only as strong as our most vulnerable members. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated fault-lines of social injustice that dramatically increase risks to health for already vulnerable groups. The global disaster has provided a stark reminder that health is the most fundamental cornerstone of humanity and that, as the UN Secretary-General has stated: “we are only as strong as the weakest health system in our interconnected world.”

Many of the steps taken to prepare in the longer term for unexpected shocks, such as a pandemic, are similar to those required to adapt to the extremes of weather and new threats expected from climate change. These steps include the need to identify vulnerable populations, assess the capacity of public health systems, develop and invest in preparedness measures, and emphasise community resilience and equity.

The WHO has emphasised the central role of effective health systems for tackling the impacts of climate change and creating greater human resilience. It has developed an operational framework with the goal of “enhance [ing] the capacity of health systems to protect and improve population health in an unstable and changing climate. It notes the critical importance of developing health systems that are flexible, adaptable and able to respond to shifting health risks as a result of climate change. The WHO framework focuses on 1) reducing overall vulnerability, for example by creating local-level resilience through community mobilization, and information dissemination; and 2) developing public health and health system capacities that are attuned to climate realities by guiding professionals working in health systems and in health determining climate-sensitive sectors that include water and sanitation, food and agriculture, energy and urban planning.

This framework provides a useful starting point for thinking about what is needed in terms of developing and improving climate-responsive health systems. Yet we know that women and girls - particularly the poorest – often face barriers to accessing health care services due to lack of economic assets, decision-making power and cultural or practical restrictions that may prevent them from travelling to seek health care.

Emerging research also indicates that LGBTI disproportionately experience victimisation, biases, discrimination and stigmatisation when seeking healthcare, in ways that present significant barriers to healthcare utilization. For example, there are indications that LGBTI people are delaying care-seeking in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic because of concerns about discrimination and negative attitudes (See for example Outright Action International 2020). discrimination and exclusion can deepen poverty of LGBTIQ+ people, increasing their vulnerability to climate-related impacts and coping capacity and dramatically reducing their coping capacity. These negative experiences are often a function of health professionals’ poor understanding of the specific health needs of LGBTI people or of SOGIESC-related issues, particularly in rural areas.

What good examples are there of gender and SOGIESC responsive health systems within the Asia Pacific region? Are there any initiatives that are taking into account the intersections of climate justice, health equity and gender equality)?

What approaches have proved effective during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are there any examples of good practices that respond to the needs of women, girls and LGBTI people that could be adapted for a climate resilience context?

Welcome to the second day of this week’s consultation. I wanted to start today by returning to the very pertinent questions raised last week of how climate change responses and decisions move beyond the tokenistic inclusion of women, girls and LGBTI people towards their meaningful involvement in re-framing the issues and solutions.  The recognition of women, girls, LGBTI people and other groups disproportionately affected by climate change represents an important step beyond the previously gender-blind framings of climate change policy and planning in many countries, but their agency and experience is all too often side-lined or invisible in these processes. Their exclusion not only has the effect of perpetuating the myth of their victimhood. Failing to include their voices and reflect their needs in critical decision-making that affects their lives, livelihoods and those of future generations means that any potential solutions remain at the level of the political, falling short of responding to real, human concerns. It also ignores the enormous potential learning from women, girls and LGBTI people who are, in many cases, already responding to climate change through community initiatives and beyond.

An Action Aid/IDS study from 2007 still resonates loudly in its message that women farmers directly affected by climate change have an implicit understanding of what is needed to adapt to the changing circumstances in order to protect their and their families’ food security and their livelihoods.

In the Ganga basin that connects Nepal, India and Bangladesh essential crops are being systematically damaged by increasingly erratic weather patterns which bring a combination of severe flooding and drought. As part of a study that revolved around reflecting women’s voices, Nim, a poor female farmer living the area said: “As we never know when the rain will come, we had to change the way I prepare the seedbed so that we don’t lose all our crops. I am also using different crops depending on the situation…”

Another woman from Nepal said: “With the support from neighbours and relatives we started cultivating vegetables…the floods destroyed all the vegetables this year. We would have suffered a lot during these floods if we had not thought of setting fisheries recently….My husband goes to India for seasonal labour so I have more responsibilities looking after my children and taking care of the vegetables, farm and fisheries. It would be good to have small cottage industries in our village, so that it could provide many jobs for many men like my husband. To scale up the vegetable farm and fisheries we would need more skills and markets.”

Another great example demonstrating the enormous value and importance of integrating women’s perspectives into climate change responses comes from an Oxfam project in Badin, Pakistan (read more about this and other examples in the December 2020 Gender and Development Journal). The ‘Women and Marginalised Groups, Natural Resource Management and Peace-building’ project focuses on inclusive and accountable water governance through strengthening women’s and marginalised groups’ participation in formal water governance and related peace-building and policy processes. An integral part of Oxfam’s implementation review visits was regular interaction with female community members. Through this interaction care work emerged as a primary concern, with increasing water scarcity resulting in women’s time spent fetching water increased by three to four hours daily. Yet the link between climate change and care work is notably one that is systematically ignored in mitigation and adaptation processes and also remains unexplored in academic literature.

Research conducted by Oxfam adopted a case study approach to gathering primary qualitative data, exploring different women’s experiences of climate change and its impact on their work in Badin. Stories gathered from the women reflect the enormous pressure the effects of climate change is placing on women whose lives are already stretched to the limit by the demands of subsistence farming and the expectations of safeguarding their families’ nutritional needs.

The article concludes that Climate-centred policies and programmes need to focus on the reduction of women and girl’s time spend on unpaid care work as it is likely to have a positive generational impact, particularly on the lives of rural women and girls, whilst improving their resilience towards climate change.

We would be very interested to hear of similar examples where the voices of women, girls and LGBTI people are informing research, planning and interventions in direct ways as knowledgeable agents

Hi everyone, 

Thank you Divya for encouraging me to join this conversation. I look forward to hearing and learning from other colleagues. 

My name is Renita Edwin, I'm a New Delhi based independent consultant who works primarily with and within global South-based feminist movements. Previously, I've worked with CREA, OutRight Action International, the Center for UN Reform Education, and Sakhi for South Asian Women. 

I would like to focus my contribution on the intersections of criminalization, urban health, and climate justice. On a separate but certainly related note, I'd also like to dive a little deeper into this group's ongoing conversation about leadership and meaningful participation of women, girls, and LGBTI individuals in decision-making processes and arenas. 

We agree that climate change perpetuates existing cycles of marginalization. On that note, I don't think we can (or should) overlook the reality that climate change and natural disasters often also perpetuate and exacerbate cycles of criminalization and the application of punitive and discriminatory laws. I refer to 'criminalization' here as the process by which states (and society) label certain behaviors and people as criminals - in this case, because of their choices related to sexuality, or their real or perceived gender identity and expression. 

I think this is a particularly relevant consideration when talking about women and LGBTI people's needs in health and climate action for two reasons. 

First, as already mentioned by others on this thread, in the wake of a disaster, displaced poor and working-class women and LGBTI individuals often end up on the street or pushed further to the urban periphery with limited or no access to adequate social services or their support systems. In effect, their vulnerability to criminalization, discriminatory policing, and coercion by law enforcement authorities and the public increases. This impacts not just their capacity to access basic information about health and/or relief services, it also affects individuals' - particularly LGBTI individuals' - willingness or inclination to access these services. I think this is particularly relevant within contexts characterized by the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure, exposure, and transmission, or the criminalization of drug use or possession, or sex work, for example. I think it is also worth noting here that post-disaster, discriminatory policing and laws criminalizing alternate forms and practices of sexuality have a disproportionate impact on those most vulnerable within LGBTI communities: youth, trans women, people of color, LGBT migrants who have fled persecution and/or are not legally documented, and those who have had to become economically independent at an early age with minimal support. 

Second, I think criminalization is an inherently strategic entry point in exploring, unpacking, and addressing the deeply intersection nature of vulnerabilities related to gender, SOGIESC inclusion, health equity, and climate change. It elevates and exposes clear linkages between a number of critical but often overlooked issues already raised by colleagues on this thread - including women and LGBTI people's heightened vulnerability to GBV post-disaster, constricted access to SRHR services, the compounded vulnerabilities experienced by youth and people with disabilities, urban health and structural homophobia, LGBTI mental health, limitations on economic and livelihood opportunities, and disaster displacement, among others. In short, I believe addressing the gendered dimensions of criminalization allows one to build connections between a wide ambit of issues that are critical to health and climate justice.

Listing a few resources and potential opportunities for joint work below. A couple of these resources may be dated but I hope it can still bear relevance. 

• Human Dignity Trust, "Criminalizing Homosexuality and LGBT Rights in Times of Conflict, Violence, and Natural Disasters"
• Ongoing Campaign by Accountability International (and partners) - Challenging Criminalization Globally, Un-Policing Identity, Morality, Sexuality, and Bodily Autonomy. From my understanding, I believe the Yale Global Health Justice Partnership has also engaged with the campaign and in similar work.
• See also, if helpful: http://www.aidsaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AAI-CREA-GHJP-CCG-Meeting-Concept-Note-16-February-2018.pdf 
• For effective approaches and best practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, can see RESURJ Beyond Criminalization Dialogue Series - Collective Reflections. Perhaps of note, DIVA for Equality, Fiji shared examples of how the feminist collective were responding to urgent community needs in the context of climate crises, the global Covid pandemic, and rising rates of GBV including in LBTI communities. 
• See also, if helpful: https://www.spc.int/updates/blog/2021/03/covid-19-pacific-community-updates

On a separate but related note, I would also like to express particular appreciation for others' responses re: leadership and meaningful participation of women, girls, and LGBTI people in agenda-setting arenas. I would just like to add that when addressing the issue of meaningful participation, I think it is also important to acknowledge that, as the conception of intersectionality makes powerfully clear, each individual is a complex carrier of multiple significations and stratifications. It is important to recognize (and address) that what we might cautiously refer to as the 'LGBTI community' for the sake of ease of communication, is diverse in itself, and also carries its own forms of stratification, inequality, and imbalances of power.

So, when reflecting on/facilitating the meaningful participation of women and LGBTI individuals in decision-making processes and arenas - whose participation do we refer to? Do we consider the representation of all our collective struggles, or those of the most powerful amongst us? Do our processes around climate action intentionally include voices at the very margins of LGBTI movements and communities themselves: for instance, LGBTI Muslim women, migrant women, Dalit women, Roma women, trans women, women with disabilities, youth, etc.? What about affected women and LGBTI communities that do not currently operate with the capacity, resources, and/or a political environment that is conducive to formally organizing as social movements or strong civil society organizations? How can we bring these voices into the conversation? Going a step further, what would it take for these voices to be centered? 

Thank you again, Divya, for your thoughtful invitation to add my two cents to this consultation. I look forward to continued participation over the next two weeks. 

Further to my post about the Gender and Development Journal, here is a link that will give you free access to the introduction and four articles, including the one on 'care givers at the front line of addressing the climate crisis' in Pakistan: 28:3 Climate Crisis - Gender and Development

My name is Oyuna (full name - Oyuntsetseg Oidov) and I’m a Chairperson of the Development Horizons Foundation (DHF) of Mongolia.

DHF is a national non-governmental organization evolved from the Gender Center for Sustainable Development (GCSD). In 1995-2010, we[1] conducted a series of studies on women’s economic situations during the transition period, provided support to the women’s movement and carried out various capacity building activities. Since 2010, DHF has served as a leading voice towards maintaining inclusive and sustainable development through mainstreaming gender in the policy planning processes at the national, local and community levels. Through the ongoing programs, DHF team works hard towards maintaining meaningful cross-sectoral cooperation keeping human development and gender equality principles central, promoting community-level public health initiatives, restoring healthy eco-systems as well as combating the threat of climate change to traditional herding ways of life and the preservation of environment of the steppe. DHF works with the public and private sector institutions, civil society partners and international development organizations.      

The intersections of health equity, climate justice, gender equality and LGBT related issues hasn’t been properly examined yet as these issues have been analyzed and reviewed from respective sectoral perspectives in my country.

And I’d like to thank the organizers of this community consultation for providing us a platform to learn from each other and share experiences on the cross-sectoral cooperation addressing the above issues and finding solutions for effective realization. 

And my apologies for the long text.

1. Priorities:

Cross-sectoral cooperation on gender equality, climate justice and health equity by principal ministries, agencies and pertinent research institutions and civil society groups;

Establishment of a unified system on pertinent data collection and consolidation for identifying gaps, building needed capacities, M&E and effective joint actions;

Creation of a platform for consultations, discussions, learning and sharing best practices;

2. Relevant current efforts:

The following is a brief on DHF activities towards promoting gender equality:  DHF acts as an adviser to the National Committee on Gender Equality (NCGE) and played a key role in developing of the National Programs on Gender Equality (NPGE) (2002-2015) and (2017-2021). Worked with the pertinent sectors employees and decision-makers, and developed the sector-specific gender policies:

1. The Environment Sector Gender Strategy (2014-2030)
2. The Mid-Term Gender Strategy of the Finance Ministry (2016-2024)
3. The Gender-Responsive Integrated Policy of the Ministry of Justice (2016-2020)
4. The “Education, Culture, Science and Sports Sector Gender-Responsive Policy” (2017-2024).
5. The “Construction and Urban Development Sector Gender-Responsive Policy” (2018-2025)
6. The “Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Sector Gender-Responsive Policy (2018-2025)
7. The “Population, Labor and Social Protection Sector Gender-Responsive Policy (2018-2024)
8. The “Guidelines for Development of the Gender-Responsive Local Sub-Program” (2017)
9. The “Gender-Responsive Local Sub-Program of Dornogobi aimag” (2018-2021)
10. The Gender–Responsive Local Sub-Program of Selenge aimag” (2018-2021)
11. The “Guidelines on Gender-Inclusive Work Place Designed for Private Sector Entities” (2018)
12. Mongolia Gender Situation Analysis: Advances, Challenges and Lessons Learnt since 2005.
13. DHF participation in the pertinent international conferences and events including the annual CSW sessions and this year worked on the Mongolia’s voluntary presentation on ensuring that normative, legal and policy frameworks are gender-responsive and non-discriminatory.

The following is a brief on DHF activities on climate justice: DHF is an accredited organization to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and UN Environment Assembly (UNEA)[2] and an observer organization to the Green Climate Fund (GCF)[3]. Having a formal consultative and observer status with UN Environment, we seize the opportunity and make our voice heard through commenting on the relevant policy documents and that of the permanent representatives’ meetings. Engaging as a partner in the Asia-Pacific regional Major Groups and Stakeholders group on the civil society and women’s  empowerment issues, DHF has been actively participated in the regional network activities (mostly online) bringing emerging and critical issues to the table and in helping foster broad-based support for UN environment mission.

In 2018, DHF carried out the “Assessment on the Integration of a Pro-Poor and Inclusive Approach in Green Development Policy and Planning Processes in Mongolia” followed with consultation meetings and participatory discussions among civil society organizations and policy makers.

The “Ulaanbaatar Declaration” was adopted at the “Sustainable Development Goals: Gender and Development” International Conference held in Mongolia in 2018 where the team acted as the principal national consultants. As a follow up of the conference, DHF team is working forward for making its contribution towards climate change adaptation and mitigations as well as improving the livelihoods of rural women and girls.

In 2020, we worked on the “Promoting Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation in the Eastern Steppe of Mongolia” project as a part of the GEF-7 Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes global program. This report analyzed gender and social issues facing the project beneficiaries as well as differentiated needs of women and men. It provided a set of recommendations to be reflected in the project planning and implementation processes of the Gender Action Plan (GAP).

A team member is currently working on the “Gender Analysis of the UNDP NDC program vis-à-vis the Construction, Road and Transport sectors”.  Though, the construction, road and transport sectors are intending to integrate the environment, climate change and gender related issues in their planned activities, there are no specific gender studies and analysis in place yet. The sector-specific gender policy implementation processes are unsteady, limited to trainings and discussions around basic gender issues only.  Meantime, the NCGE Secretariat is lacking human resource capacity in charge of environment and climate change related matters, etc.     

The Environment Sector Gender Strategy (2014-2030) was developed in support of the Mongolian Green Development Concept/Policy that recognized the need in acknowledging differentiated impacts of climate change on women and men as well as encouraging women’s role and contributions towards climate change adaptation, mitigation processes and protecting the surrounding environment. However, nothing has been done yet towards linking the climate actions with activities of the Environment Sector Gender Strategy neither at the national nor inter-sectoral levels. 

Finally, the country’s medium and long term development policy documents including, “Mongolia’s long-term development policy Vision 2050” and the “Government Action Plan” (2020-2024) insufficiently integrates the environment, climate change and gender equality concerns in a coherent way. For example, the “Green development” section of the Vision-2050 did not reflect anything on gender and social participation in general. The Government Action Plan has no content on promoting social participation and gender equality except stipulating (5.1.5) that an enabling legal environment will be created to recognize and reward the “individuals and economic entities engaged in the green development processes by planting trees”.

The following is a brief on DHF activities on health equity:

Public health promotion, preventive measures and related activities have been carried out through the public health education campaign, organization of the health promotion day, health check-ups and counseling services at the community level.

”Healthy life is the best wealth” is a motto of the health promotion day that is being organized every April on the “World health Organization” (WHO) day. The purpose of this event is to provide the citizens with information on preventive health & health protection and improve the health education among citizens as well as facilitate intensifying the local institutions’ cooperation and partnerships.

DHF community team in Tolgoit area of Ulaanbaatar participated in the joint study entitled the “Adolescent children’s situation in Ulaanbaatar”. The conclusion and recommendations based on findings of the study pointed out the need in conducting health education and training sessions designed for adolescent girls and boys to prevent them from health risks. A series of activities and training sessions have been carried out on providing health related information to students of the PS65 and PS42, organizing health check-ups and providing medical services.

The “Food supply to vulnerable children and their families living in Tolgoit area” project was implemented in spring of 2020 funded by Fondation Dufresne Gauthier (FDG).   

The “Hot meals and food supply distribution to vulnerable households” and related survey project funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was implemented during 11 weeks from 7 July till 18 September 2020 in the selected 1st, 3rd, 4th, 26th, 35th and 36th khoroos of the Songino-Khairkhan District, with an objective of conducting a survey on the “food consumption patterns and nutritional balance” among 96[4] households and distributing hot meals & food supply to 612 persons.

This project and the “Food consumption patterns and nutritional balance among selected households survey” carried out in Tolgoit area of the Songino-Khairkhan District (SKhD) was a timely support to people who lost their jobs, people with minimum income and experiencing food shortage due to COVID-19 pandemic and brought some positive changes towards soothing their physical and mental health condition and improving relations among the family members. 

Here, I’d like to share with you some findings of the “COVID-19 impact on women, girls in Mongolia” assessment jointly conducted by the National Committee on Gender Equality (NCGE), UNDP and ADB in Nov-Dec 2020. In terms of social services:

• Compared to men, more women are working on the front lines and fighting against the coronavirus
pandemic. Women make up 81.9 percent of all health workers in Mongolia and the dependents of the front-line workers need explicit care and attention. The societal and parental roles
of health care workers also need to be taken into account. Their dependents, especially children of all
ages, elderly parents and disabled family members are spending the day without care and attention.
As of 15 December 2020, 41 health workers in Mongolia have been infected with COVID-19. While the data provided are not disagregated by gender, given the high proportion of women in the sector it can be assumed that more women than men in this total have been infected.

• During the quarantine period, it was difficult for women, especially women with disabilities and
pregnant women, to get urgent medical services. Some people with disabilities could not get their
necessary medicine during the quarantine. Maternal mortality increased by 27.8 percent during the
pandemic period comparing to the past three years. From March to October 2020, there were five
registered cases of maternal mortality in Bayan-Ulgii aimag and the reasons were connected with the
fear of spreading coronavirus from the hospital and primary health services.
• Women have more mental health risks than men due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the women
interviewed confirmed that, due to prevention measures and lockdowns, crowding indoors and the
increased burden of unpaid work at home have negatively impacted women’s mental health and
increased their emotional distress.

• Mental health challenges faced by parents during quarantine negatively impact children’s
behavioral, physical and emotional well-being.

• Domestic and gender-based violence is on the rise during as the country put in place various levels of
restrictions and lockdowns to tackle the coronavirus. Although helpline calls for domestic violence
are decreasing, domestic violence crimes listed by the police are on the increase. The COVID-19 crisis
has increased the risks for women and girls, the elderly and disabled, to experience violence, neglect,
exploitation and abuse.

In relation to vulnerable groups:

• Pre-existing poverty and inequality are likely to increase with the impacts of COVID-19, with a
significant negative impact on vulnerable women and girls including herders, people with disabilities,
older women and migrants, especially those in rural areas. Many of them are at high risk of slipping
into deeper poverty due to unemployment, underemployment and income loss.

• The pandemic has impacted the nutrition security of many poor households, including its members
who are women and girls.

• The COVID-19 crisis has increased risks for young girls and women, the elderly and disabled to
experience or witness violence, neglect, exploitation, or abuse. Also, the pandemic has contributed
to increased anxiety, stress and depression among mothers of single-headed households due to the
burden of household work and teleworking.

• The digital divide widens inequality in education for the most vulnerable groups, especially children
and youth from rural areas with vulnerable backgrounds. Children from remote or rural areas,
including ger district in Ulaanbaatar, have had challenges accessing remote schooling due to a lack of
electronic devices or Internet access. So, students from rural areas could not attend lessons and had
limited access to teachers and peers.

• Herder households and their female family members, especially those having fewer livestock, are the
most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the pandemic and dzud are negatively affecting the
livelihood of many herders and their unpaid household work has increased along with children’s
online education.

Dear Oyuna,

Many thanks for your great contribution to this discussion and for sharing with us the very important work of DHF. Often, little information about Mongolia is included in analyses of the Asia Pacific region and it is very interesting to read about the very specific context of climate change and Covid 19 there, as well as learning about the effects on vulnerable groups. Many thanks for sharing this very detailed picture of the issues with us. I was wondering if there are any examples of successful interventions to support these groups and increased their resilience at the local or national levels? 

Welcome everyone to day three of the discussion this week. Today I wanted to bring us back to the idea of climate justice, which reminds us a) that all climate action needs to have people at its centre, and b) that all people - regardless of where and who they are – have the right to quality of life, good health and decent opportunities. Too often this notion of climate justice is being lost at the level of policy and in strategic mechanisms such as the NAPAs and NDCs, for political reasons but also perhaps because it is perceived as a rather abstract ideal. Yet, as the Covid pandemic has revealed fault-lines within societies all over the world along the lines of inequality, poverty and injustice, we are reminded of the singular importance of ensuring no one is left behind in the collective mission to save the planet. I wanted to share here some of the principles developed through a global collaborative process by the Mary Robinson Foundation to underpin the concept of climate justice. Though they overlap with points already made in this discussion over the past weeks I think they provide a useful reminder of some key points of entry for gender transformative, rights-based climate action.

To what extent could these principles provide the foundations for more interconnected, less siloed approaches to climate change that begin and end with people in ways that are truly transformative in terms of gender, SOGIESC and other intersecting forms of disadvantage?

To what extent are they already informing collective action in the form of advocacy and/or practical responses to climate change in the Asia Pacific region?

Climate Justice Principles

1.Respect Highlight gender equality and equity

There is no climate justice without gender justice. The gender and SOGIESC dimension of climate change must therefore inform all climate action. The voices of women and LGBTI people must be heard and their priorities supported as part of climate justice. In many countries and cultures, women and LGBTI people are at the forefront of living with the reality of the injustices caused by climate change. They are critically aware of the importance of climate justice in contributing to the right to development being recognised and can play a vital role as agents of change within their communities

2.Respect and Protect Human Rights

The international rights framework provides a reservoir for the supply of legal imperatives with which to frame morally appropriate responses to climate change, rooted in equality and justice. The guarantee of basic rights rooted in respect for the dignity of the person which is at the core of this approach makes it an indispensable foundation for action on climate justice.

3. Support the Right to Development

The vast gulf in resources between rich and poor, evident in the gap between countries in the North and South and also within many countries (both North and South) is the deepest injustice of our age. This failure of resource-fairness makes it impossible for billions of humans to lead decent lives, the sort of life-opportunities that a commitment to true equality should make an absolute essential. Climate change both highlights and exacerbates this gulf in equality. It also provides the world with an opportunity. Climate change highlights our true interdependence and must lead to a new and respectful paradigm of sustainable development, based on the urgent need to scale up and transfer green technologies and to support low carbon climate resilient strategies for the poorest so that they become part of the combined effort in mitigation and adaptation.

4. Ensure that decisions on climate change are participatory, transparent and accountable

The opportunity to participate in decision-making processes which are fair, accountable, open and corruption-free is essential to the growth of a culture of climate justice. The voices of the most vulnerable to climate change must be heard and acted upon. It must be possible to ensure that policy developments and policy implementation in this field are seen to be informed by an understanding of the needs of the poorest in relation to climate justice, and that these needs are adequately understood and addressed.

5. Harness the transformative power of education for lasting change

The transformative power of education under-pins other principles, making their successful adoption more likely and inculcating into cultures a deeper awareness of human rights and climate justice than is presently to be found. To achieve climate stabilisation will necessitate radical changes in lifestyle and behaviour and education has the power to equip future generations with the skills and knowledge they will need to thrive and survive.

6. Use effective partnerships to secure climate justice

Climate justice requires effective action on a global scale which in turn requires a pooling of resources and a sharing of skills across the world and within global regions. Openness to partnership is a vital aspect of any coherent approach to climate change, and in the name of climate justice, this must also involve partnership with those most affected by climate change and least able adequately to deal with it – the poor, marginalised and under-resourced.

Welcome to day four of this week’s discussion. Today I wanted to start by drawing your attention to two recent articles outlining innovative and inspiring approaches to enabling what Renita Edwin referred to as ‘meaningful participation’ in climate-related adaptation and mitigation. The first article:’ Intersectionality and collective action: visioning a Feminist Green New Deal in the US’ reflects Renita’s comments about intersectionality, providing an example of targeted movement-building around the recognition that  “each individual is a complex carrier of multiple significations and stratifications” in the context of climate and Covid impacts. The example is drawn from the USA but could provide inspiration for similar movements in Asia Pacific countries.

The article outlines the formation by feminist climate justice activists of a Feminist Coalition to campaign for feminist principles to inform the New Green Deal, introduced in the US House of Representatives in 2020. The Coalition advanced an intersectional feminist analysis as part of the national conversation about the Green Deal and calls for an alternative economy centred on principles of care and regeneration. This emerging Coalition emphasised and prioritised the inclusion of youth, black, indigenous and persons of colour (BIPOC), and queer activists, whose voices were vital to both demonstrating and exploring the intersectional lens. The article draws attention to ways in which Covid 19 and climate change impacts are intensified by interlocking systems of oppression on the basis of SOGEISC, age, race, class, national origin, Indigenous identity, disability and other axes of difference. One member of the coalition notes: “Without the recognition of how some are exposed to increased dangers and discrimination by virtue of their intersecting identities, we cannot shape policy that truly works for all. And when we learn from the solutions advanced by the most vulnerable, who sit at these sites of intersecting identity, we can ultimately shape better, more-inclusive policy that improves resilience for everyone.”

The second article, ‘Feminist Participatory Action Research as a Tool for Climate Justice’ discusses the Asia Pacific Forum for Women Law and Development (APWLD’s) use of Climate Justice Feminist Participatory Action Research (CJ-FPAR) tools in building collective feminist movements and strengthening advocacy of grassroots women in the area of climate justice. CJ-FPAR supports young women researchers (YWRs) and their mentors to undertake participatory research with their communities on gendered issues of climate injustice and generate knowledge that empowers collective advocacy for enhanced climate ambition and women’s human rights.

The CJ-FPAR theme for 2017–2019 was ‘Climate-induced Displacement’, supporting communities previously displaced or facing displacement, either voluntarily or forcibly, as a result of climate change. Participating countries included Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. In each country, YWRs and women in their communities used FPAR to document the interrelation between gender injustice and climate change with the aim of demanding action by policymakers and stakeholders. They produced national reports sharing findings on how FPAR tools were used to mobilise grassroots women as climate advocates to effect positive change in their communities. For example, women in North-East India talked about erratic rainfall, flooding, erosion, and unseasonal weather changes that have reduced agricultural production, depleted natural resources, and deepened poverty. They said that many women cannot meet their basic daily needs and they do not own land or resources. They borrow rice from neighbours or take loans, accruing debt they cannot repay. With lower nutritional intake, they suffer from body aches, stomach pains, menstrual irregularities, and eye problems. There is no health-care facility and domestic violence is increasing

Outcomes of the process included women’s mobilisation to participate in local government welfare processes such as seed distribution and amplification of  their voices in village development plans. Women are now invited to public Panchayat hearings to give their inputs on cases of human rights violations and corruption, and identify entitlements and benefits for villagers. In domestic violence cases, these women help police with the investigation, providing counselling

The article concludes that CJ-FPAR has amplified women’s voices, with women’s movements for climate justice in all participating countries becoming stronger, and more and more women engaged in adaptation activities.

Please share other examples of intersectional feminist participatory approaches that address issues of climate change in ways that promote mental and physical health and wellbeing, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. What are the challenges and opportunities in relation to these types of approach? Where are the gaps in terms of resources, information and political will? What could UNDP do to support these types of approaches?

Welcome to day five of this week's discussion. I will not start by posting my own thoughts today as I am very much hoping to hear thoughts and reactions from the community. 

This is your opportunity to share your experiences and insights with UNDP in order to inform policy and practices in ways that are targeted and meet the specific needs of countries in the Asia Pacific region as well as helping UNDP to build on what is already working. I realise many of you are very busy but I would urge you to take a little time today to consider the following questions. All your voices and experiences count and any contributions will be very welcome!

Relevant current efforts

2. What partnerships/initiatives/programmes/projects/policies do you have or know of that are currently operating in this intersection of at least two of the issues (climate justice, health equity, gender equality)? What are the current activities?

 Entry points

3. What promising good practices, initiatives, programmes or policies could be replicated in other settings or brought to scale?

 Evidence

4. Where are the key gaps in data on climate change, health equity and gender equality?
    
5. What information (e.g. indicators, cause-effect understanding) or capacity (e.g. health impact assessment, vulnerability assessment, cost-based policy comparisons (cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis)) would be most helpful to you?

Capacity and support needs

6. What needs to be in place for your organization/community/constituents to have a meaningful role in tackling these issues? What support do you need to create positive change?

This week contributors were encouraged to share good practices on gender and climate justice and health in addition to identifying priorities and gaps.   Oyuntsetseg Oidov the Development Horizons Foundation in Mongolia shared examples of their great work in promoting climate justice and green growth in ways that are gender responsive, and of efforts to assess health needs among the poorest groups in Ulaanbaatar and other areas.

Oyuna also shared findings of the “COVID-19 impact on women, girls in Mongolia” assessment jointly conducted by the National Committee on Gender Equality (NCGE), UNDP and ADB in Nov-Dec 2020.  The study revealed the disproportionate impacts of the virus and quarantine on women in Mongolia. Constituting over 81% of health workers many women have been trying to balance the risks of front-line work with unpaid care responsibilities for children and elderly relatives at home, which has contributed to increased levels of mental health issues than for men. Especially concerning is the reality that the COVID-19 crisis has increased risks for young girls and women, the elderly and disabled to experience or witness violence, neglect, exploitation, or abuse. Deep dive gender analyses of the pandemic provide a window on the broader linkages between gender, health equity and climate change, and could provide templates for further research on these interconnected areas.

Renita Edwin provided insights on the ways in which climate change and natural disasters often compound existing forms of marginalisation, perpetuating cycles of poverty and stigma particularly for women and LGBTI people as those affected are forced into increasingly risky, criminalised activities which in turn reinforce negative perceptions about them. She noted that this can compound existing peripheralisation in terms of access to vital services. She highlighted the critical importance of enabling the meaningful participation of women and LGBTI individuals in decision-making processes and arenas relating to climate change and health in ways that are truly inclusive, not simply box ticking. Renita reminded us also of the need to move beyond homogeneous constructs of ‘women’ or ‘LGBTI’ groups and to focus instead on reflecting the complex intersectional nature of gender identities and disadvantage.

I shared some examples of good practice that could provide inspiration for adapting to other contexts. One example was the Feminist Coalition in the USA that has advanced an intersectional feminist analysis as part of the national conversation about the Green Deal and calls for an alternative economy centred around principles of care and regeneration. Another was APWLD’s successful mobilisation of Feminist Participatory Action Research as a tool for enabling climate and health justice with groups of displaced women in multiple Asian countries.

Finally, I suggested a clearer articulation of climate justice meaning and principles could provide key points of entry for gender transformative, rights-based climate action.

I will hand over now to Mashida, who will be the discussion moderator next week.

Welcome to the 4th and final week of consultations on ensuring women and LGBTI people’s needs in health and climate change action. I am delighted to be the moderator this week, and participating in what has been extremely insightful and engaging discussions thus far.

Several themes evolved in the last week: post disaster, women, girls and LGBTI communities are at greater risks of gender-based violence, there is an exacerbation of gender-power differentials of which the impacts of are long lasting and pervasive and perpetuates a vicious cycle of abuse. These vulnerable groups continue to be left behind and are not able to exercise their agency or decision-making power.

Policies, programmes, and funding decisions should be informed by knowledge, expertise, and experience of women’s and LGBTI rights activist movements. Long term resources should be invested in supporting and sustaining local, national, and regional women’s rights and LGBTI movements.

The realization of human rights as laid down in the UN Declaration of Human Rights needs to be mainstreamed in the development cooperation, policies and technical assistance, with human rights principles and standards guiding all steps. Development cooperation contributes to the development of the capabilities of ’duty-bearers’ to meet their obligations and/or of ’rights-holders’ to claim their rights.

Another important point that was raised was about displaced, poor, working class women and LGBTI individuals who often end up on the street in the wake of a disaster, and pushed further to the urban periphery with limited or no access to adequate social services of support systems, increasing vulnerability to criminalization, discriminatory policing and coercion by law enforcement authorities and the public.

The COVID-19 pandemic has cruelly highlighted the weaknesses in the social fabric, especially among vulnerable groups, with a rise in poverty, nutrition insecurity, gender-based violence, and mental health impacts.

This week, we invite you to contribute to our discussions: what are the current efforts in the climate justice, health equity and gender inequality intersections? What are the entry points? How can we support in creating positive change?

Thank you for your thoughts, experiences, ideas and expertise,

Many thanks dear Mashida Rashid for welcoming to the 4th week of the consultations. And I'd like to share with you the following on the GBV and domestic violence situation during the pandemic in Mongolia:

Domestic and gender-based violence in Mongolia is on the rise as different levels of COVID-19 related restrictions and lock-downs were put in place throughout the country.  Though helpline calls for domestic violence are decreasing according to reports, domestic violence crimes listed by the police are on the increase. It is likely that vulnerable groups have suffered more since the domestic outbreak of the pandemic. Single mothers, who are widowed, divorced, separated or single by choice, face huge challenges during the pandemic due to job or income loss, and additional burdens of taking care of children. Their social support systems such as schools, kindergarten, day-care centers and community and family assistance have collapsed, and their work burden has increased.

Statistics say that a total of 1,044 crimes of domestic violence were recorded in the first 11 months of 2020 in the country which was an increase of 7.6 percent compared with the same period of the previous year. Also, 9,786 misconducts of domestic violence were recorded in the first 11 months, 18.9 percent higher than the previous year. Although daily calls for domestic violence incidents decreased during the strict lock-down period, the number of registered crimes of domestic violence increased by 42.7 percent, and misconducts increased by 0.7 percent from the previous month. The lock-down forced women to stay with perpetrators over more hours, and it is evident from the reduction in calls that it has become even more difficult for women to call for assistance and protection. Violence against women and girls has been increasing under COVID-19 related restriction and lock-down measures, making their homes increasingly unsafe.

As outlined in the “UN Policy Brief on the Impact of COVID-19 on Women”, the national-level pandemic response plans need to prioritize support for women, girls and vulnerable groups by implementing the pertinent measures by:

• Integrating prevention efforts and services to respond to VAW into the national response plan;
• Designating domestic violence shelters as essential services and increasing needed resources to them, and to civil society groups;
• Securing safe spaces for women where they can resort abuse without alerting perpetrators, e.g.
• Stepping up advocacy and awareness campaigns, including targeting men at home, at work and public places.   

On the other note, the DHF team in Mongolia expresses their gratitude to the organizers of this online public consultations and appreciates the moderators and those who provide valuable reading documents. My colleague, Ms. Onon, DHF Program Director and other team members found the "Mapping the linkages between climate change, health, gender and SOGIESC" review compiled by Alyson as very useful, informative and inviting. And the following points were highlighted while reading the document and the team is happy working together towards addressing and incorporating the specific needs of vulnerable and most needy population groups in building resilient, accessible and equitable health services and communities:

Point1:  p4 Inequality... end of the para1.

It‘s so important to bring up uneven income equality between the countries, as it’s obvious that no country would be able to mitigate the climate change processes alone.  Therefore, it would be critical to discuss about impacts of the cross-countries’ uneven equality including in-country inequalities on the climate change mitigation.

Point2: p7 Socially mediated effects…Internal migration in Mongolia particularly ever increasing city-ward migration of rural women could be explained in relation to the climate change processes. Moreover, it is needed to study impacts of desertification and dzud (heavy and severe snowfall) related long-distance otor (the pasturing of animals seeking good pasture land away from the original place of pasture) that has become more and more frequent on the livelihoods and well-being of women and children. Ever aggravating desertification process and land degradation negatively impact on the livelihood of herders so, they face challenges of reducing the number of their herds and learn to live close to each other. And there is a need to forecast possible challenges that would arise later.

Point3: p8 Para 2….drought, flood or storm, dzud in Mongolia

Point4: p11 Para 4 Gender-specific norms and codes also influence men and boys’ health risks in extreme weather events. ‘Toxic masculinity’ can compound male susceptibility to disaster… and this is related to Mongolian men particularly, male herders who are vulnerable and disaster-prone

Point5: p12. Para1…In general, there is a high number of cardiovascular-patients in the country and men are particularly prone. There could be differences vis-à-vis people living in different geographic regions which needs careful check in the health statistics…

Point6: p12. Para 3 …also increasing risk of …due to dry weather/air the forest and prairie (steppe) fires have become more frequent as well as fires of buildings and facilities…. 

Point7: p12 Last para…Rivers, lakes and ponds are drying up and the water substance might change becoming more saline.

Point8: p14 Para1 Due to the rise of temperature different insects unforeseen earlier and infective agents might enter and therefore, pertinent studies need to be conducted and quarantine procedures introduced.  

Point9: p16. Para1  Climate change impacts mediated by human systems…Mongolia’s situation is specific due to a number of issues and challenges in relation to the pasture land…

Point10: p17 Para3…The challenges are related to reduced crop harvest, runt animals, reduced pasture land. The irrigation system is useful but would bring negative impacts later.

Point11: p19 Para 1 Increasing suicide cases in the country particularly men making up 80 per cent of them might be related to the climate change….

Point12: p24 Para3…There are various participatory mechanisms in place in the rural areas including, the cooperatives, joint management teams and pasture land-users groups. However, urban- residents do not have a variety of communities....

Point13: p25. Disaster risk reduction…Cell phone messaging that is quite common communication in the country might become a good practice. The cell phone use is quite high throughout the country. However, urban residents are lagging behind…. 

Point14: p26. The Paris Agreement is intended to become fully effective in 2020 (2021?)

Dear Oyuntsetseg,

Thank you for your detailed inputs. It is indeed eye opening to see that even though the calls to domestic violence helplines decreased, that the incidences have increased, pointing to the lack of safety women face in their own homes, that would act as a deterrent to seeking help. Stronger policy action needs to be taken in the wake of the pandemic, as suggested, by integrating prevention efforts to respond to VAW to national response plans, making domestic violence shelters an essential service, securing safe spaces for women, and ramping up advocacy and awareness campaigns.

I completely reiterate your point on the mapping study on the linkages on climate change, health, gender, and SOGIESC, as very useful and informative, and appreciate the DHF team’s interest to address the specific needs of the most vulnerable and needy populations: the herder communities that are affected by the extreme weather conditions in Mongolia; men and boys, who are more susceptible to disaster risks, victims of toxic masculinities; urban communities, that cannot tap into the participatory mechanisms of cooperatives, joint management teams, and pasture land user groups, among many others.

Thank you for taking the time to add a wealth of knowledge to our ongoing discussions.

There are three more days left to this consultation, so we encourage you all to add your voice now!

I want to highlight a few examples from the desk review mentioned in the previous post, on the linkages of climate change, health, gender, and SOGIESC:

"Research from the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and other natural disasters shed light on the ways LGBTI individuals are often ignored or side-lined during and in the aftermath of emergencies (Outright International 2020; Pincha, Chaman et. al. 2007; Knight 2016). According to a senior technical advisor at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre: “prior to a disaster, members of the LGBTQ community may not have access to the same assets, resources, and information as the general population because of potential exclusion, isolation, and restricted social networks…This can affect resilience and how a person might experience a climate shock.” For example a smallholder farmer in Nepal who identified with a third gender was excluded from helping build and take cover in shelter houses  - which are often sex-segregated - designed to protect the community from extreme weather events (Devex, September 2020). Research by UNDP, ODI and GALANG (2020) similarly found evidence of LBT women being excluded from disaster relief and livelihood initiatives in the Philippines, including being unable to access housing"

There are physical, and social impacts, exacerbated by gender inequalities:

"As they are often responsible for fetching water for households, many women and girls are faced with the physical and psychological burden of travelling further to access supplies and carrying heavy loads over increasingly long distances. A family of five people needs approximately 100 litres of water, weighing 100 kg, each day to meet its minimum needs. Consequently, women and sometimes girls may need to walk to the water source two or three times each day, often returning with water in pots or buckets balanced on their heads or hips.  During the dry season in rural India, 30% or more of a woman’s daily energy intake is spent fetching water. Carrying heavy loads over long periods of time can also cause cumulative damage to the spine, the neck muscles and the lower back, leading to early ageing of the spinal column (Mehretu and Mutambirwa, 1992; Dasgupta 1993; Seaforth, 2001; Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, 2005; Ray 2007).Travelling long distances to remote areas can also increase women and girl’s vulnerability to sexual harassment or violence, potentially resulting in physical and mental trauma (Skinner 2011)."

The pandemic has played its role in amplifying inequalities among vulnerable populations:

"A report from India indicates that the COVID-19 lockdown has left the country’s estimated two million transgender people at heightened risk of poverty and ill health, since many survive through work on the streets (Bannerji, A., 2020). In his statement on the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on May 17, 2020, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “Already facing bias, attacks, and murder simply for who they are or whom they love, many LGBTI people are experiencing heightened stigma as a result of the virus, as well as new obstacles when seeking healthcare”. A rapid SOGIE assessment of Jakarta by Sanggar SWARA  found that 90 % of transgender women surveyed were at high risk of contracting COVID-19 due to their living conditions in slums and cramped areas, and their work involving high degrees of interaction with other people (UN Women 2020)."

We look forward to your participation and concluding thoughts over the next few days!

Jenny Collste Lager and Erica Villborg Lindstrand, Swedish Embassy in Bangkok, development section, implementing Sweden´s regional strategy for Asia-Pacific. Jenny and Erica have a special focus on democracy, human rights and gender equality. The regional strategy is implemented in an integrated manner, where environment and climate, democracy, rule of law, human rights and gender equality are mutually reinforcing. 

 
Priorities

1. What are the priority issues in the intersection of climate justice, health equity and gender equality for your community/constituents/organizations? What 3-5 top advocacy issues would you want to tackle?

For Sida in general: 

• Climate change push people into migration, displacements and refugee situations - entails increased risks for gender based violence. Migrants don’t have equal access to health care. Access to SRHR is often more limited.  Advocacy need: SRHR integrated in health care and MISP in crises
• Rising seawater increases salinisation of drinking water which induces miscarriages. Advocacy need:  develop climate change adaptation plans within local and national health plans.
• Health systems are affected by climate change. Advocacy need:  Build climate change resilient health facilities offering service incl SRHR with access for all, women, girls, men, boys, LGBTIQ
• Female climate and environment human rights activist are more often under attack and exposed to violence.  Advocacy need: National and international legislation and its implementation needs to be strengthened.
• Within the LGBTIQ community, Sida has a focus on lesbians, bisexual and transgender persons due to a global vulnurability analysis and gap. 

For the regional strategy in specific:  

• The COVID-19 crisis has revealed an ever more urgent need in terms of building adaptive capacity and resilience against future shocks, including climate change. In the regional strategy for Asia Pacifc, Sida works in an integrated manner, to address the fact that environment, climate and human rights are closely interlinked

• Youth engagement in democratic processes and in environment and climate action,  protection of HRDs, Women HRDs, environmental HRDs, (both online and offline),  freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and continues to be highly relevant issues. We use an intersectional perspective.

• Gender equality and normative change is also a prioritized area. Both men and women, boys and girls should be included in this work, including an aim to to strengthen the rights of LGBTIQ persons.

• The Swedish strategy for Asia Pacific is a regional strategy, meaning that activities to be supported needs to have a regional added value. Regional coordination and learning between LGBTIQ+ organisations and environmental oriented organizations is encouraged to be fostered    

Relevant current efforts

2. What partnerships/initiatives/programmes/projects/policies do you have or know of that are currently operating in this intersection of at least two of the issues (climate justice, health equity, gender equality)? What are the current activities?

Within the regional strategy for Asia Pacific, Sida and the Swedish embassy in Bangkok support between 40 and 50 collaborations with regional actors, integrating environment and climate, human rights and gender equality. Health is not a specific thematic area, but health issues are integrated in the HRBA. The main focus in the current strategy is to strengthen capacity for regional actors. 

 Entry points

3. What promising good practices, initiatives, programmes or policies could be replicated in other settings or brought to scale?

Sida and the Swedish embassy believes that initiatives should be designed together with stakeholders in the communities. Strong local ownership and programming built on an inclusive HRBA-approach. 

 Evidence

4. Where are the key gaps in data on climate change, health equity and gender equality

According to ESCAP, Access to data is increasing in the region, since more countries are prioritizing the follow-up on SDG:s. Still, nearly 40% of the goals are lacking data, and gender equality is one of the targets with biggest gaps. 

Due to Covid-19, new data and statistic is relevant to follow up on the pandemic and on the parallel shadow pandemics, such as increased GBV, people in vulnerable situations falling back to poverty, access to justice etc. 

4. What information (e.g. indicators, cause-effect understanding) or capacity (e.g. health impact assessment, vulnerability assessment, cost-based policy comparisons (cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis)) would be most helpful to you?

There is limited actionable information about consequences of environmental and climate change challenges  on LGBTIQ+ people in many countries,  due to exclusion from government data collection. It is important to ensure that the gender analysis which include needs and priorities of LGBTIQ+ groups is there from the beginning of the project design. Systemic discrimination and violence should be always addressed in any interventions.  

Capacity and support needs

6. What needs to be in place for your organization/community/constituents to have a meaningful role in tackling these issues? What support do you need to create positive change?

Since Sida and the Swedish embassy is not an implementing organisation, we are relying on partnerships with local, regional and global strategic organisations. For organisations to be able to tackle complex development challenges, it is important for our partners to be flexible and agile. Sida also see a need for an increased coordination between actors, including UN, delivering as one. 

Hello. My name is Nicky from APCOM, the regional network for gay men, men who have sex with men (MSM) and other SOGIESC people in the Asia Pacific region. Thanks for the opportunity to join in this important consultation.

The current prioritization and investments in the gay men, other MSM and transgender people response in the region is not only inadequate, but also lacks the minimum level of coverage and scale-up in services. Also, the existing interventions for these communities are consistently met with significant challenges, particularly under restrictive environments in countries where same sex acts are criminalized.

To end the HIV AIDS epidemic in the region by 2030, there is an urgent need to prioritize support for gay men, other MSM and transgender people, one that put a much greater emphasis on inclusion and non-discrimination of our community in its articulation, demonstrate clear aspiration to address health, human rights and development needs of the community as well as outline how progress achieved in this area can be monitored.

For Asia and the Pacific region, attention must be put into MSM- and transgender-led interventions and scaling up innovations, sustainability of quality services for key populations and key population-led organizations and networks. There should be a regional strategy that respond to community-specific needs and wants and integrate flexibility to be adapted in specific contexts, including emergency crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This must include the implementation of community-led differentiated service delivery (DSD) and other innovative approaches utilizing technological advancements and scaling-up innovative interventions that we know work such as PrEP, U=U and HIV self-testing (HIVST) which has received considerable aspirations in recent years. Also needs to be noted that gay men, other MSM and transgender community oftentimes face cross-cutting vulnerabilities that require specific attention, for example the epidemic of sexualized drug use (chemsex).

Besides the above, there is also greater need for the development and implementation of innovative programming that will achieve impact to end the HIV AIDS epidemic in 2030. Systemic responses to address human rights and gender-related barriers are very much needed, along with program development that promote norm changing and affirmative action from key stakeholders. With intensified and flexible funding, the regional community-led organization can support strengthening innovation, scale-up and sustainability at the country level, which is tailored to the needs of gay men, other MSM and transgender communities.

For the human-centered approach, perhaps we should change the way that we look at monitoring and move to more qualitative indicators - from the quality of services provided and received in community settings and/or at health facilities, to organizations being competent to work with and provide services for key populations. A strong and sustainable community-led monitoring (CLM) and data sharing mechanisms will support this idea, through the development of community friendly tracking measures to assess performance indicators and overall quality of programmes, along with data safety and security assurance for our community. The focus on CLM to generate input from recipients of HIV services in a routine and systematic manner that will translate into action and change in HIV services will contribute towards addressing health inequity and ultimately lead to improved HIV outcomes among key populations. Collection, analysis and use of data on key populations will need to ensure safety and security considerations, especially in countries where same sex acts are criminalized.

Thank you Jenny and Erica for elaborating on SIDA's regional development strategy for the Asia Pacific. The COVID-19 crisis has indeed revealed an ever more urgent need in terms of building adaptive capacity and future shocks, including climate change. Health issues need to be thematically interlinked with the Human Rights Based Approach, and we also believe that initiatives should be designed together with stakeholders and communities. There is a need for data on parallel shadow pandemics such as GBV, the rise of poverty, and lack of access to justice, and the environment and climate impacts on LGBTIQ+ communities. We thank you for highlighting these needs and where the action is required, which is very much parallel to what our thinking is on these issues.

Nicky from APCOM has also drawn our attention to the need for the development and implementation of innovative programming that will achieve the end of the HIV AIDS pandemic in 2030. Systemic, gender-responsive, affirmative action program development from key stakeholders are needed, tailored to the needs of gay men, other MSM and transgender communities. We agree that the way we look at monitoring needs to change, if we are to look at it from a human centric approach, with more focus on qualitative indicators.  A strong and sustainable community-led monitoring (CLM) and data sharing mechanisms will support this idea.

We thank our participants today for their insightful feedback.

There are a few hours left to this consultation. We invite you to continue to dream big with us!

Since its inception, ARROW has worked towards enabling women, in all their diversities, to become equal citizens in all aspects of their life by ensuring their sexual and reproductive health and rights are achieved. While the goal of gender equality is still a distant one, it is also important to think beyond the binary view and pursue action with an intersectional lens.

1)  Priorities for action

Policy makers and practitioners must have a gender perspective that understands that women are not a homogenous community and inclusion of all marginalized women in all their diversities irrespective of their race, caste, class, age, (dis) ability, marital status has to be ensured. Policy making processes and action in the domains of climate change and health must also be inclusive of sexual orientations and diverse gender identities in order to eliminate sex and gender-based discriminations also for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) individuals to ensure adverse climate impacts are managed and that healthcare is truly universal.

(a) The acknowledgement that gender has diversified itself beyond the binary conceptions of man and women is fundamental to action. This is lacking and therefore policies and programmes tend to be blind the needs of marginalized women and LGBTIQ people. Many countries also legally do not recognise LGBTIQ people and this legal recognition is long due.  

(b) For climate policies and programmes to be inclusive, they have to be informed by data. There should be an increased focus on evidence generation on actual climate change impact on the health of marginalized women in all their diversities and LGBTIQ people to guide the design of policies and programmes. Root causes of barriers that they experience in access to healthcare services must also be identified for effective action. 

(c) Health for all, including sexual and reproductive health, without any discrimination must be viewed as a fundamental right which is the foundation for equality and not merely empowering. 

 2)  Entry points and opportunities for joint work

There are some domains where UN Agencies and CSOs can work together:

(a) Change practices of data collection: All surveys/ questionnaires should include a third gender option besides woman/man (for example ‘other/none,’, ‘other gender identity’ or ‘other gender’). Collaborate for or insist on procuring data disaggregated not only by sex but also by other gender and social variables with other agencies especially the governments.

(b) Jointly work towards establishing a comprehensive minimum initial service package (MISP) in emergency situations that is inclusive of health needs, including sexual and reproductive needs of marginalized women and LGBTIQ people.

(c) Capacity Building of policy makers to understand the impact of climate change on the health of LGBTIQ people, adverse impact on marginalized women, the sexual and reproductive health needs and the barriers in accessing in healthcare

(d) Comprehensive sexuality education to include climate change impact on the health and access to healthcare of women in all their diversities and LGBTIQ people.

(e) Collaborate for more research and evidence generation on actual climate change impact on the health of LGBTIQ people and marginalized women in all their diversities; and the root causes of barriers that they experience in access to healthcare services. These findings can be used in advocacy spaces to call for action.

3)  Innovative solutions that could be replicated or brought to scale

ARROW advocates the importance of  comprehensive sexuality education in the education system as a way to destigmatize and create more awareness on various topics related to sexuality including relationships, human development and diverse genders and sexualities. Only more acceptance and inclusion of LGBTIQ people will lead to the awareness and recognition of their specific health needs and the way they are being impacted by climate change. Comprehensive sexuality education that also includes generating innovative ideas in the interlinkages of climate change, intersectionality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights is the need of hour. 

ARROW has worked in building the capacity of environmental/climate change civil society organisations on the nexus between sexual and reproductive health and rights , climate change and innovation, to create the best advocacy and programmatic solutions for the interlinked challenges faced at all levels in its WORTH Initiative http://worthinitiative.org/

4)  Letting us know how we could best support your organization and community in addressing these issues

UNDP can create and facilitate more dialogue spaces for engagement of CSOs, LGBTIQ Community members and representatives, women change makers and policy makers to discuss the issues and work out inclusive, sustainable, practical and implementable solutions.

AG_2019_REVISED_Web-1.pdf1.98 MB

ARROW-AFC_25_1_2019_WEB.pdf1.63 MB

ARROW-RP-CSE-AP-WEB.pdf1.78 MB

E-Module_InterSEXionality.pdf5.53 MB

Response from Mukta Sharma, Regional Advisor (TB, viral hepatitis, HIV and STIs); and Nabeel Mangadan-Konath, Technical Officer (viral hepatitis, HIV and STIs), Department of Communicable Diseases, WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia.

Many thanks to Katri Kivioja for inviting us to this discussion.

We went through the responses by members on this platform with great interest. Most of them offer important points to learn from a personal and professional point of view. We could also relate to some of the issues that we come across in our work supporting the response to communicable diseases such as viral hepatitis, STIs, HIV and TB. Glad to see response from Nicky Suwandi, APCOM, who has elaborated on few of these aspects. 

On specific health related aspects of climate action as it intersects with equity issues, particularly those pertaining to women and LGBTI, we would like to recommend Anjana Bhushan from the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia who would be a great resource person to share further insights.

Here in this response, we would like to draw attention to few resources that could be reviewed and considered as this discussion and its outcomes are taken forward.

Leading the realization of human rights to health and through health

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/255540/9789241512459-eng.pdf

This report summarizes the work of a high-level working group on health and human rights of women, children and adolescents that was established in May 2016 by WHO and the OHCHR. Other than emphasizing the general aspects of vulnerabilities and equity related issues as faced by women, there is a specific section that addresses climate change in relation to women’s and adolescents’ health and human rights. In addition to discussing the special needs of women and adolescents owing to the additional layers of vulnerabilities, the report emphasizes how they can also be “effective actors and agents of change in relation to both mitigation and adaptation”.

Quality criteria for health national adaptation plans (HNAPs)

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/quality-criteria-health-national-adaptation-plans

This document emphasizes the need to have a consideration of vulnerability factors in designing and targeting adaptation actions. It is recommended that vulnerability and adaptation assessment (V&A) in relation to climate change and health be undertaken as part of HNAP, inclusive of LGBTI and other who could be vulnerable based on gender and other aspects. V&As have been recommended as an integral component of WHO’s Operational framework for building climate resilient health systems. It is expected that such V&As will assist in identifying the most vulnerable people and could also help in exploring how this vulnerability may shift in the future. Further, it recommends that HNAPs consider the different contextual aspects pertaining to those who are vulnerable in identifying priority climate-sensitive health risks and include these considerations in planning and prioritizing of climate actions.

Mainstreaming gender in health adaptation to climate change programmes

https://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/mainstreaming_gender/en/

This is a basic guide for programme managers who work in climate change and health adaptation and provide practical information as well as guidance on how to mainstream gender in all aspects of their work pertaining to climate action, including identification of issues and priority actions, formulation and design of programmes, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.

Look forward to learning further on this important topic and appreciate everyone's inputs and the work by moderators in facilitating this discussion.

Dear Prakriti Naswa 

Thank you for highlighting the role of ARROW in enabling gender equality. You have made some very important points: the understanding that women are not a homogenous community, and inclusion of all marginalised women, irrespective of their race, caste, class, age, (dis) ability, and marital status has to be ensured in the policy making processes and actions in climate change and health, which must also be inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender diversity, to ensure that health care is truly universal. The acknowledgement that gender is diversified beyond the binary is fundamental to action. Climate policies and programmes can only be inclusive if they are informed by data. Finally, health for all must be viewed as a fundamental human right.

You have  also illustrated what action needs to be taken, and how UNDP can facilitate spaces for different actors to convene to discuss issues, and work out inclusive, sustainable, practical and implementable solutions. 

Nabeel Mangadan-Konath and Mukta Sharma, from WHO SEARO, thank you for sharing the resources on health and human rights, which emphasizes how women and adolescents can be effective actors and agents of change in relation to both mitigation and adaptation; The resources on quality criteria for health national adaptation plans (HNAPS) and mainstreaming gender in health adaptation to climate change programmes will be very useful documents for us. We look forward to engaging more on these issues.

The discussion board "Ensuring integration of women and LGBTI people's needs in health and climate change action: a community consultation," is closing. 

We want thank all our participants for lending their voice to this consultation. While some comments validated what we know and feel about this issue, others have influenced us to think in bolder ways. All of you have strengthened and enriched this co-creation process.

A special shot out to our excellent moderators  Ryan Joseph Figueiredo  Divya Chandran and Alyson Brody  for keeping the conversations flowing, and adding to the wealth of knowledge during the discussion.

If you still want to address specific issues in the coming days please reach out to [email protected].

Thanks once again, and let's stay in touch!

Mashida 

Hi colleagues,

There is sometimes a perception that older persons do not care about climate action. Here is an interesting paper developed by one of our partners HelpAge calling for various stakeholder to engage with older persons in climate justice conversations.

They also held a webinar in partnership with ADB titled - https://ageingasia.org/event/webinar-intergenerational-action-on-climat…

Older People in Climate Action_briefing_18032021.pdf667.12 KB