Bridging the gender, climate, and health gap: the road to COP29

Kim Robin van Daalen; Laura Jung; Sara Dada; Razan Othman; Alanna Barrios-Ruiz; Grace Zurielle Malolos; Kai-Ti Wu; Ana Garza-Salas; Salma El-Gamal; Tarek Ezzine; Parnian Khorsand; Arthur Wyns; Blanca Paniello-Castillo; Sophie Gepp; Maisoon Chowdhury; Ander Santamarta Zamorano; Jess Beagley; Clare Oliver-Williams; Ramit Debnath; Ronita Bardhan; Nicole de Paula; Alexandra Phelan; Rachel Lowe

doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00270-5

Bridging the gender, climate, and health gap: the road to COP29

Lancet Planet Health. 2024 Dec;8(12):e1088-e1105. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00270-5. Epub 2024 Nov 11.

Authors

Kim Robin van Daalen¹, Laura Jung², Sara Dada³, Razan Othman⁴, Alanna Barrios-Ruiz⁵, Grace Zurielle Malolos⁶, Kai-Ti Wu⁷, Ana Garza-Salas⁵, Salma El-Gamal⁸, Tarek Ezzine⁹, Parnian Khorsand¹⁰, Arthur Wyns¹¹, Blanca Paniello-Castillo¹², Sophie Gepp¹³, Maisoon Chowdhury¹⁴, Ander Santamarta Zamorano¹⁵, Jess Beagley¹⁶, Clare Oliver-Williams¹⁷, Ramit Debnath¹⁸, Ronita Bardhan¹⁹, Nicole de Paula²⁰, Alexandra Phelan²¹, Rachel Lowe²²

Affiliations

¹ Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain; British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Heart and Lung Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Leipzig University Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany.
³ University College Dublin Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Education and Innovation in Health Systems, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁴ The National Ribat University, Khartoum, Sudan; ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain.
⁵ Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico.
⁶ College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines.
⁷ European Citizen Science Association, Berlin, Germany; Department of Geography, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.
⁸ International Labour Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁹ Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
¹⁰ Period Futures, Wish for Wash, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹¹ University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹² ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.
¹³ Centre for Planetary Health Policy, Berlin, Germany; Research Department 2, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany.
¹⁴ Women in Global Health, Washington, DC, USA.
¹⁵ The Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
¹⁶ Global Climate and Health Alliance, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Public Health Specialty Training Programme, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁸ Cambridge Collective Intelligence and Design Group and climaTRACES Lab, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Caltech-Cambridge Climate and Social Intelligence Lab, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA; Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India.
¹⁹ Sustainable Design Group, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Cambridge Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
²⁰ Women Leaders for Planetary Health, Berlin, Germany; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.
²¹ Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center for Health Security, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
²² Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain; Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health and Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona, Spain.

Abstract

Focusing specifically on the gender-climate-health nexus, this Personal View builds on existing feminist works and analyses to discuss why intersectional approaches to climate policy and inclusive representation in climate decision making are crucial for achieving just and equitable solutions to address the impacts of climate change on human health and societies. This Personal View highlights how women, girls, and gender-diverse people often face disproportionate climate-related health impacts, particularly those who experience compounding and overlapping vulnerabilities due to current and former systems of oppression. We summarise the insufficient meaningful inclusion of gender, health, and their intersection in international climate governance. Despite the tendency to conflate gender equality with number-based representation, climate governance under the UNFCCC (1995-2023) remains dominated by men, with several countries projected to take over a decade to achieve gender parity in their Party delegations. Advancing gender-responsiveness in climate policy and implementation and promoting equitable participation in climate governance will not only improve the inclusivity and effectiveness of national strategies, but will also build more resilient, equitable, and healthier societies.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Climate Change*
Female
Gender Equity
Global Health
Humans
Male
Sex Factors