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The Conversation: Understanding the impact of climate change on women

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Asmeret Berhe Asefawe and Katharine Vincent

01/11/2021 GMT

Understanding the impact of climate change on women

BBC World Service - The Conversation, Understanding the impact of climate change on women

Why climate change hurts vulnerable women most and what can be done to support them

Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe and Dr Katherine Vincent tell Kim Chakanetsa why climate change hurts vulnerable women most and what can be done to support them.

It’s understood the climate crisis will disproportionately disrupt the lives of women around the globe. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two academics about the work they do and the impact of changing weather patterns on women. 

As the primary food growers and water collectors, women are hardest hit by floods and droughts. They’re also less financially equipped to flee when natural disaster strikes, and vulnerable to gender-based violence. 

Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a biogeochemist  – a soil scientist – at the University of California, Merced. Her research is focused on understanding how disturbances in the environment affect the cycles of essential elements such as carbon and nitrogen through the soil system. While extreme weather events often result in the degradation of soil, she says effective land restoration could play an important role in sequestering CO2 and slowing climate change.

Dr Katharine Vincent is a British geographer working in southern Africa. Her research has focused on vulnerability to climate change and the adaptations that can be made. She’s particularly interested in how these changes impact men and women differently, investigating institutional aspects of climate change, adaptation, food security and social protection. 

Produced by Jane Thurlow

IMAGE 
L:  Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, credit Teamrat A Ghezzehei
R: Katharine Vincent, credit Klaus Wohlmann

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