The Malala Fund is helping to support the next generation of female students in Nigeria , right . A young girl engrossed in her work outside in Kolkata , India , opposite page .
found that women make up 80 % of those displaced by a climate emergency . The most vulnerable countries are in sub- Saharan Africa , followed by South Asia . Natural disasters and economic shocks hit resource-poor communities hardest . And women can be disproportionately affected due to gender inequality .
Natural disasters , which are expected to increase with climate change , can have disproportionate negative effects on women ’ s health . Storms and floods can hamper access to reproductive health services , and women and girls are often the first to skip meals after a disaster . Droughts can also disrupt girls ’ education in low-income countries as the girls spend more time fetching water or get married early to save their family expenses . The UN
reported an increase in girls being sold into marriage after a 2011 drought in Ethiopia .
Yet investing in girls ’ education can help families and communities cope better with disasters . For teens like Jemmy in Uganda , learning to build a solar food dryer helped her make dried vegetables and fruits to sell . This increased her family ’ s income with technology that didn ’ t consume more fossil-fuel-based electricity .
Such improvements in household resources can scale up . According to the University of Notre Dame ’ s GAIN Index , which measures a country ’ s vulnerability to climate change , for each additional year of education girls acquire , countries ’ resilience to climate disasters increases 3.2 points . Additionally , Project Drawdown , a climate mitigation nonprofit , estimates that educating girls and family planning could limit population growth — which means fewer people to consume energy and food — and result in emission
savings of 85 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050 .
“ Women are at the center of climate impacts ,” says Ndivile Mokoena , project coordinator of
Gender CC South Africa , part of a global network of activist organizations called Women for Climate Justice . “ Our resilience needs to be built around women .”
Focusing on education will not just help women but whole nations , she says .
CREATING LEADERS THAT THINK “ GREEN ”
Research shows a link between women leaders and pro-environment decisions .
Studies have shown that companies with greater gender diversity on their boards are less often sued for environmental infringements , that women members of parliament
in Europe were more likely to advance environmental protection , and that
Of course , there are many instances of women representatives following the same policies as the men in their party . “ It ’ s not that we only need more female leaders , we also need more feminist leaders ,” says Kwauk , adding , “ We want boys and girls to have the same risk perception and sustainability mindset .”
The next generation of female climate leaders will benefit from the trail blazed by others , from Christiana Figueras , the former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change , and Gina McCarthy , the National Climate Change Advisor , to teen activist Greta Thunberg and Nemonte Nenquimo , an Indigenous activist from Ecuador ’ s Amazon forests and a UNEP ( United Nations Environment Program ) Champion of the Earth .
Those are the kinds of leaders that
Girl Rising , a nonprofit focused on girl ’ s empowerment , hopes to help nurture by tapping into storytelling as a tool to promote gender equality and climate awareness . Its fellowship program supports “ rock star young people ” working at “ the intersection of climate change and gender equity ,” Girl Rising CEO Christina Lowery says . “ We help them develop their voices , gain storytelling skills , and get their important stories heard .”
Girls are impacted first and worst by climate change , and yet are also leading the way in ambitious solutions , she explains . “ We need to hand over the microphone to these young people and hold them up as powerful role models for the world to see .”
PHOTOGRAPH BY JANE HAHN FOR MALALA FUND
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