In Zambia, gender issues related to climate change have not been adequately considered in most environmental policies. Women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as higher mortality during disasters, increased risk of water-borne disease, and greater domestic burdens from impacts like drought. As women rely more on natural resources and face more severe effects of declining agricultural productivity, they are disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation and climate change. While Zambia faces numerous environmental problems, more work is still needed to advance women's empowerment and gender equality, which are key to achieving climate change goals. Empowering women and utilizing their knowledge can help develop effective strategies for climate change adaptation, mitigation, and disaster risk reduction.

1. Gender Inequality and Climate Change in Zambia
In Zambia, most of the fiscal policies that relate to environment and development has not
considered the link between gender and climate change. According to the Green Climate
Fund (GCF/B.08/19 6 October 2014), gender and climate change is important because of the
following:
 Women's mortality from climate-related disasters is higher
 Women are more vulnerable to water-borne diseases
 Various manifestations of climate change, such as drought, exacerbate fuel wood and
water scarcity add more to women's domestic burdens than to men's
 As women tend to rely more on natural resources for their livelihood,
 the decline in land and biomass productivity a3ects women more than
 men, especially in rural areas, and exacerbates their poverty (women are already
among the poorest, representing about 70% of the people who live on less than US$1
per day (Food and Agriculture Organization in the United Nations, 2011)
 In urban areas, after climate-related disasters, it is harder for poor women than for
poor men to recover their economic status and welfare
 Women as well as men significantly contribute to combating climate change as
knowledgeable small-scale farmers and leaders of climate-change adaptation and
mitigation initiatives
At present, Zambia is suffering from various environmental problems, such as land
degradation, deforestation, air pollution in the mining areas, water pollution and inadequate
sanitation, and wildlife depletion. Although, various attempts to curb these problems had
been done in the past, which focused on the analysis of environmental problems and the
roles played by a3ected institutions in mainstreaming gender in their strategies and work
programmes, there is still much to be done, especially in advancing women's empowerment
and gender equality, which is a key aspect to achieving climate change goals.
There is a need to find leverage points, which can lead to better solutions to the above-cited
problems, aside from formulating policies that will take time to be implemented. As the UN
suggests, it is crucial to identifygender-sensitive strategies to respondto the
environmental and humanitarian crises causedbyclimate change. Womenare vulnerable
to climate change, but they are effective actors or agents of change, both mitigationand
adaptation. Women’s strongbody of knowledge and expertise canbe used in climate
change mitigation, disaster reductionand adaptation strategies. And, they have a leverage
over men because of their responsibilities inhouseholds andcommunities, as stewards of
natural and householdresources. Thus, We can very well contribute to livelihood
strategies adaptedto changing environmental realities.