Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women s Contribution and Climate Change

1. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Presented at the Annual Conference, FAU 2010 on �Development that Matters: Religion, Social Movements, Livelihood and Entrepreneurship� Copenhagen, Denmark Kanchan Lama WOCAN in Nepal 19 March 2010

2. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� MDG on poverty alleviation faces challenges due to: Rising food scarcity and high food prices low production due to climate change, reduced investment in agriculture ignorance about nutritional aspects deep-rooted discriminatory socio-cultural and religious practices on food consumption habits

3. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� United Nations estimated 840 million undernourished people in the world The majority (799 million) live in developing countries, mainly in Africa and Asia

4. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� At least 70% of the population in the developing countries lives in rural areas Smallholder farmers and landless Many farmers do not own the land Lack of incentive to produce

5. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Increasing commercialization � Appropriation of agricultural land for commercial purposes such as industrialization and tourism displace small farmers from their land

6. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Feminization of agriculture due to Male migration to urban areas Climate change effects Lack of alternative rural employment Women are overburdened

7. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Impact of migration Remittance HIV/AIDs Men over burdened with loan Suicide

8. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Women left behind alone to manage livelihood with scant resources No access to information Lack of agriculture services /inputs and exposure Knowledge ignored

9. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� 1996 World Food Summit defined food security as a situation in which all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life

10. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� the root causes of food insecurity : poverty, war and civil conflict, corruption, national policies that do not promote equal access to food for all, environmental degradation, barriers to trade, insufficient agricultural development, population growth, low levels of education, social and gender inequality, poor health status, cultural insensitivity, and natural disasters

11. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Vulnerable groups include: victims of conflict ; migrant workers; marginal populations ; dependent populations women of reproductive age; ethnic minorities; and low literacy households

12. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� �food security depends more on socio-economic conditions than on agro climatic ones, and on access to food rather than the production or physical availability of food� (FAO)

13. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Climate change continues to threaten rural livelihoods and food production Lower production-Less food �lower nutrition among women and children Women face critical situation

14. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� In Nepal, 67 percent of the population is engaged in farming About 78.2 percent of the female are in farming as their main profession But they are not recognized in this role

15. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Discrimination in food access against women Denied nutrition food Eat at last Menstruation- do not touch �pure� food

16. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� 70 percent of women in Nepal suffer from malnutrition and anemia 1.7 million children under five years of age in the country are stunted

17. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Rural women manage resources tactfully, are knowledgeable about adaptation to climate change by small scale initiatives However women�s knowledge, skills, needs, interests not counted appropriately for development plans

18. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Women are preservers of genetic seeds, traditional knowledge of indigenous plants and seeds, organic manure Much of women's productive activity is localized in the informal economy and is not represented in official statistics on food supply and movement

19. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Although women grow about half of the world�s food, they rarely own land and their contribution is not acknowledged by agricultural policies and programs Unless it is a donor funded project, agricultural programs do not involve women in making decisions about seeds, inputs, irrigation, climate change, exposure opportunities

20. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Case study from Timor Leste Women are marginalized when agriculture gets mechanized �tractors are supplied for increased production Despite good intention, political vested interest and commercialization efforts hamper sustainable food security

21. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Leasehold forestry program in Nepal: creating access by rural women and men to forest land for agro forestry not only enhanced women�s empowerment but also improved livelihood of the poor and landless�nutritional impact

22. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Lessons learnt that gender responsive social mobilization process is important people-oriented research methods are essential to establish data Collaboration among diverse actors is effective

23. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Communities and families should be enabled to control the development process local capacity building has hardly been a priority of the government collaborative efforts of international agencies and the UN, have sufficiently targeted women farmers

24. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� It is crucial to reorient the organizational systems of service providers, donors and international agencies to engender policies, structures, systems and organizational culture responsive to the needs of women The global campaign for gender equality should empower rural women to enhance household food and nutrition security Develop international policy based on grassroots learning.

28. �Food Security and Livelihoods: Nutrition, Women�s Contribution and Climate Change� Thank you