Tiếng ViệtGENDER AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, CLIMATE CHANGE
With a long coastline, Vietnam is one of the top 10 countries affected by climate change. Over the past two decades, Vietnam has witnessed an increasing number of natural disasters or extreme weather events such as droughts, extreme cold, floods, storms and floods, causing great loss of life and property. In 2020 alone, Vietnam suffered 576 natural disasters, including 14 storms, 2 tropical cyclones, 264 thunderstorms, lightnings and hails, 132 flash floods, landslides and 90 earthquakes. Economic damage was estimated at nearly 40 trillion VND. In Vietnam, women are both the subject of impacts and the subject of significant contributions in the preparation, prevention and reduction of natural disaster risks and adaptation to climate change. However, the role and capacity of women has not been fully recognized, their voice and influence in decision-making on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction is still limited. To enhance the role of women in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, CECR focuses on activities such as:
- Promoting initiatives on gender mainstreaming in climate change response and disaster risk reduction through models of women conserving water, pioneering women in the plastic waste management chain.
- Researching and developing scientific tools to measure women’s participation in greenhouse gas reduction.
- Promoting a network of women pioneers in climate change adaptation and response for effective policy advocacy.
Our typical projects/programs in the fields of:
Strengthening the participation and management capacity of women’s organizations in developing climate change response and disaster risk reduction policies (2019 – 2022): Through funding from UN Women, CECR successfully initiated and coordinated the Network of Pioneering Women to respond to climate change. Through the project’s capacity building, gender equality promotion and women’s empowerment activities, the Women’s Network has been active in Hanoi, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Ben Tre, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Yen Bai and have made significant contributions to the implementation of the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NAP) and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in Vietnam. In particular, for the first time CECR successfully developed a tool to calculate women’s contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the field of waste management in Vietnam; CECR also developed 18 messages to COP 25 and 26; and 03 briefs and policy proposals on gender mainstreaming in water resource management.
Other activities/projects that mainstream gender in environmental protection: CECR collaborated with the Stockholm Environment Institute to complete a study “Evaluating women’s participation in environmental impact assessment in two infrastructure projects in Vietnam (2015)” and “Developing a guide to participation of women in environmental impact assessment (2017)”. At COP 22 in 2016, CECR also had representatives to participate and contribute voices on gender inequality in disaster risk (https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/stories/2016/11/take-five-on-the-front-line-of-disasters). In 2019, with the support of the Canadian Embassy, CECR completed a research report on Enhancing the status of women in the plastic waste value chain in Vietnam.