Climate Change Threatens Food Security for Women, Girls -WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), has decried the negative impact of climate change on women and girls, saying it exacerbates pre-existing inequalities, jeopardises their food security, and feeds instability and migration.

The Assistant Executive Director, WFP, Valerie Guarnieri, in a message to mark the 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD), tagged: “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow: Break the Bias”, said women and girls often lack appropriate access to disaster information, financial services and participation in community decision-making and resource allocation.

She noted that such inequalities undermine the ability of women to prepare for, cope with and recover from climate shocks and stresses.

“Women are the bedrock of food security and yet are hardest hit by climate shocks and food insecurity, a sustainable future is only possible when women and girls have what they need to adapt to the changing climate. “

In Nigeria, WFP worked with UN Women and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to implement a resilience development and livelihoods project funded by the European Union (EU), the project supported some 140,000 conflict-affected households in Borno State, including over 53,000 female-headed households, with the skills and inputs to restart their agriculture-based livelihoods activities and enhance food security, the key aims of the initiative are to boost food security and to empower the benefitting households with various inputs to restart agricultural production in the state.

She continued, “Under the project, WFP provided cash transfers to the supported households to safeguard investments in agriculture and sustain the food consumption levels of the families,

some of the cash was provided through bank accounts, thereby contributing to financial inclusion among the vulnerable populations, equally, the fresh food vouchers component of the project helped to link the local farmers to the consumers who are vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity. “

In a year when humanitarian needs are on an upward trend, and aid agencies are stretched thin, supporting communities vulnerable to the harsh realities of the climate crisis is the need of the hour.”

source Agro Nigeria