Photo: UN Women .

Responses to climate change not only have key implications for gender
equality, but can support broad-based sustainable development and
poverty reduction. To do so, policy and practice need to be grounded in an
understanding of how intersecting forms of discrimination and inequality,
based on gender, class, ethnicity, migration status, age, disability, and other
factors, create differentiated vulnerabilities and limit people’s ability to
influence and equally benefit from climate action.

Against this backdrop, the report on the State of Gender Equality and
Climate Change in ASEAN is a product of joint effort led by the ASEAN
Committee on Women (ACW) in consultation with the ASEAN Senior
Officials on the Environment (ASOEN), Senior Officials Meeting on Rural
Development and Poverty Eradication (SOMRDPE), ASEAN Committee
on Disaster Management (ACDM), ASEAN Coordination Centre for
Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre), and ASEAN Centre for Energy
with the support of the ASEAN Secretariat Poverty Eradication and Gender
Division (PEGD), UN Women and the UN Environment Programme. The
report is prepared and drafted by the research team of the Stockholm
Environment Institute (SEI Asia). It aims to support the development of
effective, equitable and inclusive policies. It provides a gender-based analysis
of climate mitigation and adaptation in 10 ASEAN Member States, with a
focus on three key sectors: renewable energy (RE), disaster risk reduction
(DRR), and agriculture. In addition to the regional overview, it offers closer
analysis at Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam, with detailed
reviews of relevant policies. Finally, the report draws lessons and best
practices that could be emulated across the region.

This policy brief consolidates the key points of the assessment report
and aims to guide action towards climate commitments that put gender
equality and social-inclusion at its core. The brief presents a summary of
current efforts towards integrating gender in the key sectors and provides
recommendations for more gender-transformative climate responses by
focusing on the following key themes:

  • Transforming normative frameworks
  • Improving coordination and facilitation
  • Allocating resources
  • Building knowledge and capacities
  • Promoting gender data, monitoring and evaluation, and accountability.