Loss and Damage Fund: Towards a gender-responsive approach and climate justice for women in local communities in Africa

 Oluwatoyin Adejonwo
 LLM (Lagos) LLD (Dundee)
 Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria
 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2909-658X
 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 Edition: AJCLJ Volume 1 2024
 Pages: 57 - 74
 Citation: O Adejonwo ‘Loss and Damage Fund: Towards a gender-responsive approach and climate justice for women in local communities in Africa’ (2024) 1 African Journal of Climate Law and Justice 57-74
 https://doi.org/10.29053/ajclj.v1i1.0003
 Download article in PDF

Abstract: This article examines the critical role of the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) in addressing the challenges and advancing gender equality and climate justice for women in African local communities. It highlights the current state of climate-induced loss and damage, the potential of the LDF, and the importance of a gender-responsive approach that will achieve equitable climate resilience and ensure climate justice. The article concludes that gender equality and climate justice in the context of the LDF may be achieved through several strategies, including a purposeful implementation of women’s rights as guaranteed in the African Women’s Protocol, access to climate finance and funding targeted at women and women projects, improved women’s participation in climate decision making, and access to climate finance through gender-transformative decision-making and delivery procedures that are people-centred and human rights-focused.

Key words: climate finance; gender and climate justice; loss and damage; Loss and Damage Fund

1 Introduction

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, with devastating consequences for ecosystems, economies and societies worldwide. This is due to its interwoven complexity with science and other socio-economic issues, such as poverty, climate-induced conflict, violence, forced migration and food security, and it is a threat to the attainment of sustainable development.1 Climate change has a devastating effect across the world, causing loss and damage that adversely affect livelihoods, human health, ecosystems and cultural heritage.2 However, the effect and impact are disproportionate. Many of the countries and communities experiencing severe loss and damage are developing countries that have contributed the least to human-induced climate change, and typically have low technical and financial capacity to address the impacts and build resilience to it.3 Several factors contribute to a lower adaptive capacity, including poverty, limited access to information, social inequality, weak governance and institutions, and lack of technology and infrastructure.

There is no formally-accepted definition of ‘loss and damage’.4 Loss and damage (non-capitalised) refer to the residual impact of climate change or the incurred impacts of anthropogenic climate change. Loss and Damage (capitalised) refer to the political debate on losses and damages and raises issues of responsibility and justice, and it refers to plans and policies focused on addressing loss and damage.5 According to Åberg and Jeffs, ‘loss and damage’ refer to one of three scenarios: all negative impacts of climate change; harms that occur after limits to adaptation have been reached; or the most critical and irreversible negative impacts of climate change.6 There is an emerging understanding that loss and damage relate to those impacts that cannot be avoided through mitigation and adaptation efforts. Loss is often understood as irreversible (for instance, loss of lives, species or habitats) while damages can be repaired.7 The most accepted use of the term ‘loss and damage’ is in reference to climate change impacts not avoided by climate change mitigation and adaptation.8 It is estimated that major climate and weather events in developing countries in 2022 caused more than US $109 billion in losses.9

The article explores the role of the LDF in addressing the vulnerabilities of African communities, particularly women, to advance gender equality and climate justice. The article argues in favour of a gender-responsive approach to loss and damage as a means to achieve gender equality and climate justice for women in African local communities. The article highlights the climate disparity between developed and developing countries in Africa, the current state of climate-induced loss and damage in African communities, the potential of the fund, and the importance of a gender-responsive approach that will achieve equitable climate resilience and ensure climate justice. This article concludes that gender equality and climate justice in the context of the LDF and access to climate finance can be achieved through climate funding targeted at women and women projects, emphasising the need for gender-transformative decision-making and delivery procedures that are people-centred and human rights-focused.

2 Climate disparity between developed and developing countries and loss and damage10

The 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report on climate impacts, adaptation and vulnerability estimates that the intensification of climate change is exceeding the capacity of human and natural systems to cope.11 This results in unavoidable and, in some cases irreversible losses and damages. According to Chakma and others, many communities are close to reaching their adaptation limits and climate impacts can no longer be addressed through mitigation such as cutting down greenhouse gas emissions or managing through adaptation such as changing practices to adapt to the environmental changes caused by climate change.12

African countries have contributed the least to climate change and they are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.13 The latest reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR6-IPCC)14 indicate that, even if global warming is kept within the 1,5oC limit as set out in the Paris Agreement,15 the impacts of climate change will become more pronounced in Africa and increase vulnerability across the continent. The contribution of countries to climate change and their capacity to prevent it and cope with its consequences vary enormously from developed to developing countries. There are significant disparities among countries in terms of their impact on climate change, their ability to mitigate it, and their capacity to deal with the consequences. The factors influencing these variations are often categorised into developed and developing countries. Developed countries, typically characterised by higher levels of industrialisation and technological advancement, have historically been major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.16 This is primarily due to their extensive use of fossil fuels and their industrial activities.

Developing countries, on the other hand, contribute less to overall emissions. Developing countries often face challenges in adopting cleaner technologies due to several factors, including capacity and financial constraints. The cost of mitigating and adapting to climate change, especially in developing countries, is enormous.17 Developing countries often face challenges in adopting cleaner technologies due to financial constraints. They may prioritise economic development over environmental concerns, leading to a reliance on conventional, emission-intensive practices. Furthermore, they may face challenges in providing adequate health care, ensuring food security, and protecting vulnerable populations.

Africa is highly vulnerable to climate change, although the impacts across the different geographical zones vary in extent, severity and intensity.18 According to the Germanwatch 2021 Climate Change Vulnerability Index,19 global warming affects developing countries the most and they are most vulnerable to climate change.20 Germanwatch estimates that eight out of the ten countries most vulnerable to extreme weather impacts in 2019 were low to lower-middle income countries and they also have a lower adaptive capacity for such events.21 The 2018 Global Climate Risk Index indicates that loss and damage from climate-related events is already having a significant impact on developing countries.22 It is instructive to note that the ten countries ranked with the most exposure to climate risk were all developing countries, thereby indicating that the need for loss and damage financing is already significant.

African local communities are particularly susceptible to climate-induced loss and damage due to their reliance on rain-fed agriculture, weak and limited infrastructure, poverty, unequal access to resources, and weak social safety nets.23 As climate change leads to more frequent and severe weather events such as droughts, floods and storms, these communities face increased risks of food insecurity, displacements and economic loss.24 Women being one of the most vulnerable groups are highly susceptible to these impacts.25 Women often find themselves in the frontlines of climate-induced loss and damage, facing a multitude of challenges, including food insecurity, displacement and loss of income.26 Agriculture is a primary source of income and nutrition in many African communities. Women are often responsible for farming and food production, making them particularly vulnerable to crop failures and reduced agricultural productivity caused by climate change.27 Women in African communities are frequently engaged in informal and low-income sectors, making them more susceptible to economic losses resulting from climate impacts.

3 Gender-differentiated impact of loss and damage on women in African local communities28

Climate change-induced vulnerabilities and their impacts on livelihoods and well-being are gendered.29 Research indicates that women experience climate change and its associated impacts differently from men. Women have unequal access to decision-making power, knowledge, skills, assets and networks, which translates into gender-differentiated exposure and sensitivity.30 Furthermore, even among women, their experiences vary, depending on access, opportunities and rights to assets or capital that are defined by institutions and gender roles in the context of socio-cultural norms.31

In the context of climate change, women are often disproportionally affected by the consequences of climate change, including extreme weather events, food scarcity and displacement.32 The unique challenges faced by women in the face of climate change include impact on agriculture and food security,33 access to water resources,34 access to clean energy,35 migration patterns due to environmental degradation, and health in the context of climate change.36

Loss and damage exemplify climate injustice. Loss and is now considered the ‘third pillar’ of climate change, the first being mitigation and the second adaptation.37 This part will trace the development and trajectory of the LDF and will highlight its role in contributing to gender equality and climate justice for disadvantaged women in African communities. The term ‘loss and damage’ first appeared in the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP13) texts during the 2007 international climate negotiations in Bali.38 Loss and damage subsequently gained momentum in 2013 when parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to establish the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts (WIM).39 The Mechanism is meant to facilitate dialogue, fill knowledge gaps, enhance action, promote the implementation of approaches to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, and support including finance, technology and capacity building for those experiencing loss and damage.

Loss and damage gained further prominence at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21), in Paris, France in 2015. Article 8 of the Paris Agreement to the UNFCCC states that parties recognise the importance of averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow-onset events, and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of loss and damage.40

The loss and damage mechanism continued to gain prominence in subsequent UNFCCC climate negotiations. At COP25 in Madrid in 2019, countries agreed to establish the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage.41 The Santiago Network aims to galvanise the technical assistance of relevant organisations, bodies, networks and experts, for the implementation of relevant approaches for averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage at the local, national and regional levels, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

The Glasgow Climate Pact is one of the significant outcomes of the UNFCCC Climate negotiations at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.42 It includes a dedicated section on loss and damage that urged developed-country governments and relevant organisations to provide ‘enhanced and additional support’ for activities addressing loss and damage.43 The Group of 77 (G77) and China, a negotiating bloc for developing countries, jointly called for the establishment of a dedicated loss and damage finance facility.44 The proposal for a dedicated fund did not gain adequate support and was not included in the Glasgow Climate Pact.45 However, the parties agreed to establish a ‘dialogue’ to discuss the arrangements for the funding of activities to avert, minimise and address loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change.46 The UNFCCC climate negotiations at COP27 were held in Egypt in 2022 and closed with a breakthrough agreement to establish funding arrangements, including a dedicated fund for loss and damage funding for vulnerable countries hard hit by climate disasters. Known as the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, parties expressed deep concern regarding the significant financial costs associated with loss and damage for developing countries, resulting in a growing debt burden, and impairing the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).47 Parties also acknowledged the need for finance to respond to loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, and countries finally reached consensus to establish funding arrangements, including a dedicated fund for loss and damage.48

Finally, the UN climate change negotiations at COP28) held at the United Arab Emirates opened with a historic launch of the LDF49 and Decision-/CP.28-/CMA.5 operationalised the LDF as an as entity entrusted with the operation of the financial mechanism of the Convention, which would also serve the Paris Agreement.50 The new fund will be hosted by the World Bank for an initial period of four years, and it aims to allocate resources to address loss and damage, with a minimum percentage allocated to least-developed countries and small islands developing states.51 Local communities in Africa are particularly susceptible to climate-induced loss and damage due to their reliance on rain-fed agriculture, limited infrastructure, and weak social safety nets. As climate change leads to more frequent and severe weather events such as droughts, floods and storms, these communities face increased risks of food insecurity, displacement, increased poverty and economic loss.

3.1 Impact of climate change on women in African communities

Decision -/CP.28-/CMA.5 acknowledges that, when taking action to address climate change, parties should respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on gender equality, empowerment of women and inter-generational equity.52 Therefore, the LDF should play a pivotal role in advancing gender equality and climate justice across African local communities.53 Patriarchy reinforces gender imbalance against women by preserving certain benefits in favour of men.54 This is a major factor for the disproportionate effect of climate change on women because it exacerbates their vulnerability, and acts as a threat multiplier to already-existing issues associated with gender inequality.55 Women generally face challenges that are common to women across the world. For example, women face challenges in accessing education, suffer disproportionately from the effects of poverty, and experience discrimination in many spheres, including at work and in accessing land.56 Regrettably, climate change magnifies all these challenges, and its impacts are felt most acutely in vulnerable regions such as Africa, where women often bear the brunt of the consequences, including extreme weather events, food scarcity and displacement.57

Women in local communities in Africa are in a more vulnerable position to climate change as they depend on environmental resources for their sustenance such as water, fire wood and other forest products and agriculture. Women often are responsible for tasks such as collecting water and fire wood, tending to crops, and caring for their families.58 These responsibilities become even more challenging as climate change leads to resource scarcity, forcing women to walk longer distances or find alternative resources, which can expose them to dangers, including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).59 Women in African communities have restricted access to land ownership, credit and technology, hindering their ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions or engage in income-generating activities that can help them mitigate and adapt to climate-related challenges.60 Climate change has the potential to disrupt agricultural activities, thereby undermining women’s ability to provide a livelihood for themselves and their families.61 Furthermore, women’s lack of decision-making power and access to information often leave them more vulnerable to climate hazards.62 For instance, they may not receive early warnings about extreme weather events or have the authority to decide when to evacuate.

The costs of climate losses and damage are estimated to rise to US $400 billion per year by 2030, rising to US $1 to $1,8 trillion a year by 2050 for low-income countries alone.63 These costs may be classified as economic and physical losses and non-economic impacts such as gender-based violence and deteriorating mental health. It is estimated that losses and damages are estimated to cost developing countries between US $290 billion and US $580 billion annually by 2030, rising to between US $1 132 billion and US $1 741 billion by 2050.64

3.2 Economic and physical loss and damage

Climate change-induced loss and damage affect everyone, but not equally. In particular, women living in rural communities, who are least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, are experiencing the worst impacts of the climate crisis and the greatest losses and damages.65 This is due in part to their dependency on natural resources for their income, sustenance and health. It is also the result of pre-existing gender and other structural inequalities that prevent women from accessing the resources they need and from participating in decision-making spaces.66

The economic loss and damage that women in rural communities in Africa experience include loss of livelihood, threat to food security, famine due to drought, infrastructure damage and loss. Non-economic loss and damage include climate-induced forced migration, increased social burdens placed on women, loss of safety and security leading to gender-based violence, shrinking educational opportunities for girls and a rise in negative coping mechanisms, and damage to women and girls’ health and well-being. For women, this devastation is more pronounced because they are the burden bearers of their families and the community.67

A study of the impact of loss and damage on the livelihoods of women in four countries, namely, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zambia, finds that women experience loss of livelihood due to droughts, floods, irregular rainfall and seasonal shifts in weather patterns.68 Communities are experiencing damage to crops, as well as damage to infrastructure including houses, buildings, schools, roads, bridges and markets, which in turn lead to financial insecurity. Women, particularly women in rural communities in Africa, are heavily reliant on small-scale agriculture and rain-fed farms. With climate change loss and damage, these communities are experiencing droughts, floods, and lack of rain during the planting period, thereby disrupting their livelihoods, and creating precarious situations for women and girls.69 Flooding has a disproportionate impact on women, and also creates a domino effect. The destruction of farm lands means that they must go further to collect fire wood, exposing them to various forms of violence, including SGBV. It also affects the way in which women perform their domestic and income-generating activities and threatens their sources of income from their farming activities.70 The impact of loss and damage on women is aggravated by the fact that women have limited access to land ownership and credit.71 Households headed by women are further impacted due to their reliance on agriculture and the limited alternative livelihood options open to them.72

3.3 Non-economic loss and damage

Non-economic loss and damage include trauma, mental distress, physical health issues, loss of a sense of belonging, risk to reproductive health, and increased risk of gender-based violence.73 There is a non-economic dimension to the impact of loss and damage on women. Case studies of the lived experiences of loss and damage survivors in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe propose the following as the non-economic dimensions of loss and damage from climate impacts: psychological, cultural, social, ecological and biophysical.74 Psychological distress includes trauma and mental distress that is experienced due to the death or injury of family or community members, often in chaotic and frightening circumstances.75 Cultural identity may be disrupted due to loss of and damage to cultural heritage.76 Social connections are impacted if those connections are broken due to the deaths of family and community members, displacement, and loss and damage to social structures such as schools.77

Human mobility that occurs in the context of climate change, including displacements and migration, is further fuelled by loss and damage.78 Loss and damage are made more pronounced due to dwindling natural resources, causing forced and placed migration in search of sustenance and results in escalating inter-community conflicts.79 For women and girls, emerging evidence indicates that the adverse impacts of climate change exacerbate all types of gender-based violence, including physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence.80 In several parts of Africa, the combined impacts of environmental degradation, scarce natural resources and conflicts have increased human mobility and further exposed women and children to SGBV.81 Several countries along the Sahel and West Africa are experiencing the impacts of climate change and the consequent aggravation of existing vulnerabilities. While not all these risks are climate induced, many of the challenges are, and the challenges of climate change serve to aggravate pre-existing social and geographical vulnerabilities.

The UN Commission on the Status of Women has acknowledged that climate change, environmental degradation, and more frequent and intense disasters caused by natural hazards often result in the loss of homes and livelihoods, and the displacement of women and girls and their families and communities. It has also recognised that, because of displacement (including protracted displacement), women and girls face specific challenges, including separation from support networks, homelessness, and increased risk of all forms of violence, including SGBV.82 There is emerging evidence of the linkages between climate change impacts, girls’ education and declining educational opportunities for girls, and early marriage as a negative coping mechanism.83 Research indicates that poverty, community resettlement due to climate change, and the destruction of educational infrastructure by extreme weather events were pushing children out of school, with girls being the first to be removed.84

4 Role of the LDF and the importance of a gender-responsive approach

Equity remains one of the core foundations of the framework conventions and protocols guiding the climate change process. It is crucial that loss and damage finance is provided in line with these principles, including equity, historical responsibility, polluter pays, and respective capability.85 Furthermore, funding should be new, additional, predictable, precautionary, adequate, and provided in response to needs and best available science.86 The LDF recognises that climate change can result in irreversible loss and damage, and it aims to enable vulnerable countries to respond to and recover from climate change impacts.87

The LDF aims to provide financial assistance to countries that are most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change by providing financial resources, enabling these countries to recover from losses incurred due to extreme weather events and to adapt to future climate challenges. The fund embodies the principles of climate justice by acknowledging the historical responsibility of developed countries in contributing to climate change. It advocates compensation and support to those who are unfairly bearing the brunt of climate impacts, empowering African nations to rebuild and strengthen their resilience. By addressing the economic loss and damage caused by climate change, the fund contributes to sustainable development in Africa. It helps nations adopt resilient practices, invest in climate-smart technologies, and promote environmentally-sustainable policies, fostering long-term resilience and prosperity.

The LDF is an essential instrument in addressing the intersection of gender inequality and climate change in local communities in Africa.88 A good starting point is acknowledging linkages with the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (African Women’s Protocol). The LDF can contribute to the fulfilment of the rights of women as contained in the Women’s Protocol.89 A responsive and transformational approach is needed that will shift power relations, safeguard women’s rights, and enable women to participate in climate decision making. Despite challenges, women on the frontlines of the climate crisis are leading climate change responses and are central to effective climate action. When disasters strike, women often are the first responders and play a critical role in rehabilitating their communities.

The fund can contribute to advancing gender equality and climate justice for women in several ways, such as providing financial resources to communities affected by climate-induced losses and damages. These resources can be allocated to projects that directly benefit women, such as building climate-resilient infrastructure, improving water access, or supporting women-led sustainable agricultural practices.90 The fund can support capacity-building initiatives that empower women in these communities by funding training programmes on climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and financial literacy, enabling women to take on leadership roles and make informed decisions about their livelihoods.91 The fund can also play a crucial role in raising awareness about the gender-specific impacts of climate change and highlight gender-responsive approaches to climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.92

The LDF established a transitional committee (TC), tasked with providing recommendations on the institutional arrangements, elements of the funding arrangements, and sources of finance for the fund. According to Schultheiß and others, the terms of reference of the TC raise two pivotal questions: How can the LDF learn from existing funds and enable comprehensive responses to loss and damage? How can the fund best serve the needs and priorities of vulnerable and marginalised communities facing loss and damage?93

4.1 LDF and gender-responsive solutions to climate change impact

An integrated gender-responsive approach to climate governance will allow the LDF to serve the needs of vulnerable women in marginalised communities facing loss and damage due to climate change. An integrated gender-responsive approach involves gender mainstreaming, which is the process of assessing the implications for girls and women of any planned action, including legislation, policies and programmes on climate change. It is a strategy for making women’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of climate change policies and programmes to prevent that inequality is perpetuated.94

There is an increasing awareness of the importance of gender mainstreaming into climate change policies and various development strategies at regional, state and local levels. It is imperative for the LDF to be gender responsive and implement programmes and decisions with gender-specific mandates. Research indicates that the implementation of climate policies and programmes with gender-specific mandates has been uneven and implemented in a superficial manner or as an add-on activity.95 Policies aimed at developing the adaptive capacity at the community level, especially among agricultural and pastoral communities, often fail to recognise and respond to the gendered nature of women’s experiences.96 The LDF presents another opportunity for intentional response and approach that will engender the implementation of decisions with gender-specific mandates.

The success of the LDF will depend on its ability to implement gender-responsive measures. Some traditional financing instruments such as social protection, contingency finance, catastrophe risk insurance and catastrophe bonds, and climate finance sources and instruments such as green bonds, concessional loans, grants and donations, could be used to deal with loss and damage.97 However, it is doubtful if these funds are geared toward a gender-responsive approach. Others have called for equitable financing instruments such as windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies for people struggling with rising food and energy prices and to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis; debt for loss and damage swaps;98 international taxes; community window, which is a mechanism for funds to reach the local communities at local level without going through national, regional or global intermediaries and more easily respond to local needs;99 and a dedicated finance facility for loss and damage under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.100 A broadened donor based and innovative finance tool would be needed to respond to the magnitude of loss and damage.

A gender-responsive approach to implementing the LDF will include a gender-sensitive legal and institutional framework; gender-responsive financial services and opportunities for women; women’s representation and participation in decision making; climate information services for women; and sex-disaggregated data and relevant gender indicators. These measures will ensure that the LDF serves the needs of vulnerable women in marginalised communities facing loss and damage due to climate change. An integrated gender-responsive approach includes the full involvement and participation of women in energy transition, agriculture, social economy, environmental health and biodiversity protection. Reports and studies have stressed that gender equality and women’s empowerment are fundamental tools for improving economic, social and political conditions, reducing poverty, and encouraging economic growth.101 A gender-responsive approach aligns with the objective of the LDF which aims to provide new, additional, predictable and adequate financial support to assist developing countries and communities that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change by providing finance for economic and non-economic loss and damage. To key into the aim of the LDF, African countries must adopt strategies to strengthen the role of women in response to climate change and in reducing their vulnerabilities to its effects.

5 Recommendations and conclusion

5.1 Recommendations

Both the LDF and a gender-responsive approach are integral components of effective climate response and action in Africa. The fund provides crucial financial support to communities in Africa that suffer irreversible and severe damage as a result of climate change, helping them cope with the aftermath, while a gender-responsive approach ensures that climate policies are inclusive, equitable, and considerate of the specific vulnerabilities and strengths of women in the continent. Together, they contribute to building a more resilient and sustainable future for Africa in the face of climate change. To advance gender-responsive approach to the implementation of the LDF, this article offers the following recommendations.

A gender-sensitive legal and institutional framework starts with a national policy on gender and a dedicated national action plan on gender and climate change. A national action plan on gender and climate change focuses on effective strategies for integrating gender into the implementation of national climate change initiatives including loss and damage. It ensures that gender considerations are mainstreamed into climate change processes to guarantee inclusivity in the formulation and implementation of climate change initiatives, programmes and policies.

A gender-responsive financial service and opportunities for women will ensure that policies and financing for loss and damage are gender transformative. Micro-finance and insurance schemes should be introduced that specifically cater for women engaged in climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and enable women to access funds for climate-resilient technologies and practices. The LDF should be flexible, readily accessible to women by working to remove the barriers that impede women, particularly those in local communities in Africa from accessing climate finance and funds. For example, small-scale funding ensures that locally-appropriate funding is available to enable communities to address the loss and damage they are facing. Small-scale funding will ensure greater accessibility at the local level and enable greater local ownership. This approach allows for simplified due diligence requirements and greater funding flexibility, and it ensures lower levels of risk for funders. Such funds may be channelled through community-based organisations that already have strong connections to local communities. National policies should improve women’s access to resources such as land, water and finance. It is also important that such policies improve access and other means to enable women to implement sustainable agricultural practices and improve their income. Discriminatory customs and traditions that perpetuate gender inequality, such as restricted access to land, finance, participation and technology, should be discouraged at the regional, state and local levels.

To ensure inclusivity and active participation of women at community levels, climate information services tailored for women are essential for addressing the unique vulnerabilities and challenges that women may face in the context of climate change. These include local weather and agricultural advisory services, livelihood diversification guidance that provides opportunities and information for alternative livelihood options that are climate-resilient, including training programmes and resources for women to acquire new skills and diversify their income sources. Community-based adaptation programmes are also essential to facilitate women in decision-making processes and to promote women’s participation in identifying and implementing climate-resilient solutions at the community level.

5.2 Conclusion

Climate justice can only be achieved when based on the foundations of gender justice. A systemic and transformational approach is needed that will shift power relations, safeguard women’s rights, and enable women to lead. The LDF, through its financial support, capacity-building initiatives, advocacy and research, can play a pivotal role in advancing gender equality and climate justice for women. More importantly, the LDF can tackle the gaps that current climate finance institutions such as the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund do not fill by recognising the unique challenges that women face, particularly those in rural communities, and directly addressing these, to adequately address climate change. It is imperative to build an effective response, effective implementation of existing gender policies, strengthening relevant institutions, and ensuring effective institutional coordination among relevant agencies to tap into the fund once it comes into operation. The LDF should contribute to building resilient, sustainable and equitable communities in the face of a changing climate. It is imperative to prioritise and support women to achieve gender equality and climate justice in local communities in Africa.