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CLIMATE GOVERNANCE AND GENDER: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED FROM ETHIOPIA'S CLIMATE RESILIENT GREEN ECONOMY STRATEGY [Abstract ID: 0605-03]
In response to the effects of climate change and extreme weather events such as drought and flooding, the Ethiopian government has issued different adaptation and mitigation strategies at national, regional and sectoral levels. In 2011, Ethiopia launched its Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy during COP 17 in Durban, South Africa. CRGE entails mitigation and adaptation strategies, notably the Green Economy Strategy (GES) and the Climate Resilient Strategy (CRS). CRGE is a comprehensive approach that integrates the national development agenda. The crosscutting nature of climate change related problems across sectors demands inclusive and integrative climate governance. Consequently, the Ethiopian government established a Ministerial Steering Committee to govern CRGE that involves main ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource, the Ministry of Water and Energy and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and powerful and influential national actors such as the Prime Minister’s Office. This research seeks to analyse the gender responsiveness of national climate governance and to identify opportunities and challenges. The result reveals opportunities regarding the existing institutional arrangement that guarantees a seat for the Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs (MoWCA) in the top national climate governance i.e. the Ministerial Steering Committee. In addition, experts and representatives of MoWCA have been given opportunities to reflect on emerging issues. With regard to the challenges, the important ones include the dominance of technocratic and managerial approaches to climate change, which gives little space for gender, the lack of a strategic approach from MoWCA, and the absence of coordination among women representatives and gender interest groups. In order to make effective use of the available opportunities in the contemporary institutional arrangement, therefore, the research suggests that MoWCA needs to broaden its scope to include gender interest groups with the intention of developing a substantive women’s concern and gender equality agenda in the country’s climate change responses.