Contextualising and conceptualising gender and climate change in Africa

This overview provides the conceptual and contextual foundation for the issue on 'Gender and climate change'. Drawing on a literature review and appraisal of the contributions in this issue, we foreground the current key climate change debates. There is consensus that climate change is a global challenge with devastating impacts at different scales. It is also established in the literature that some communities and groups are more vulnerable than others. In mapping the issues we provide an overview of the gender and climate change debates, as the thematic focus. The importance of engendering policy development, research as well as adaptation and mitigation strategies are underscored. The discussion then provides a brief overview of climate change trends and dynamics in Africa, the continent which is viewed as the most vulnerable to climate change impacts due to persistent poverty (including socio-economic inequalities), unsustainable and insecure livelihoods, high reliance on the natural resource base, limited access to information and technologies, and weak institutions and state fragility. This is followed by a thematic examination of the key issues related to gender and climate change in Africa which include women as consumers, access to land and natural resources, agricultural production and food security, health aspects, security issues and adaptation and mitigation support. Finally, concluding remarks are forwarded which resonate with the contributions by writers in the issue.