The impact of climate change on the women of Vanuatu is the focus of a new journal article titled “Women and Climate Change in Vanuatu, Pacific Islands Region”, published earlier this month.
The article, published in peer reviewed academic journal, Gender, Place and Culture and is available to read online for free, is based on the Vanuatu Klaemet Infomesen blong Redi, Adapt mo Protekt (VanKIRAP) Project’s work on gender and social inclusion in climate information services.
Based on focus group research undertaken with women from five communities throughout the country in 2020-2021, the article details how climate change has affected women’s lives, and impacted their livelihoods and food security. The research also points to the ways the impacts of climate change further exacerbate gender inequalities in Vanuatu.
For example, several women quoted in the study point to hardships that follow extreme weather events like cyclones. Women say they are expected to do most of the household and garden labour.
“We don’t waste a single day… we’re the managers [of our households],” one group of women is quoted as saying. Women who have lost homes and food gardens speak of the struggle to earn enough money to support their families and rebuild.
“We don’t have large food crops like before, so we don’t have good food to sell and earn income,” a woman from Espiritu Santo Island said.
The article also provides anecdotal evidence of the impact of climate change on Vanuatu. Women interviewed say their crops are affected by cyclones, unpredictable seasons and rising temperatures. Women from Epau village on Efate Island report declining marine resources like corals and mangroves, and poor fishing.
Women from Port Resolution, Tanna Island observed that sea level rise is cutting away at their beaches, and one woman speaks of her shame in only being able to provide small yams at her sister’s wedding, when once they were much larger.
Women from Greenhill, Tanna highlight their inability to find enough wild cane to use in building their homes as a result of climate change.
The research also documents the resilience of Vanuatu’s women in the face of adversity caused by extreme climate events: women from Sarakata, Santo explain how their “lives have improved” thanks to the co-operative they formed to grow produce to sell.
Vanuatu’s women are also connecting the dots between local changes and the global climate.
“Climate change is the main global issue affecting us today,” say the women from Port Resolution. “We are women of resilience… [climate change] tries to push us down, but we come back up and stand our ground… we come to sit and listen and contribute to global issues.”
The Acting Manager of the VanKIRAP Project, Mr Sunny Kamuta Seuseu said amplifying the voice of women in the fight for survival against climate change is extremely important.
“I am delighted to see this paper published in a leading European journal, and highlighting the GEDSI work we are undertaking in ‘last mile’ communities in Vanuatu,” he said.
This activity was coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) together with the Vanuatu Government and the University of Newcastle through the VanKIRAP Project with funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
