According to Ahram online, Reviewing the names of the thematic days of the UN COP27 Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh may have drawn some people’s attention to the fact that there is one exclusively devoted to women. It is obvious that everyone is being impacted by the climate crisis, but the poorest people on earth and those who are most at risk, particularly women and girls, are the ones who experience the most severe environmental, economic, and social shocks.
However, the same women and girls are also early adopters of new agricultural technologies, first responders in times of emergency, and significant energy and waste decision-makers in the home. Therefore, excluding women from climate action will not result in success or sustainability.
According to reports, women and girls, especially those belonging to marginalized groups and the poor, are more affected by climate change than many groups of men due to reasons that include the way males and females are brought up in many societies.
According to UN estimates, women made up 80% of individuals who were displaced due to climate change in 2018. However, these effects might also serve as a major impetus for women to take the lead in global climate action.
The ministry of the environment is currently working in Egypt’s nature reserves to teach women how to produce goods from natural resources, to become a part of protecting nature, and to help reduce the effects of climate change, particularly through crafts and eco-friendly projects. This work includes the idea of linking climate change with biodiversity and the role of women in protecting it.
The ministry is discussing initiatives that will be launched during the COP27 Conference, and women personalities who have contributed to the environment will be identified and selected as successful models.
Egypt’s Vision 2030 Strategy emphasizes that women are an essential component and an effective factor in achieving hoped-for changes in dealing with various aspects of climate change and have a role in achieving the development agenda. Disparities in the issue of climate change not only place women among the most affected groups.
One example of a pioneering female environmental leader is Noha Samir Donia, dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies for Environmental Research at Ain Shams University in Cairo. Under her leadership, the faculty was able to win first prize in the category of development projects for women in the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects organized by the ministry of planning and economic development under the patronage of the president of the Republic.
The faculty received the award for its Shams B Green project, which encourages recycling of solid waste on the university campus. The initiative built an integrated and sustainable programme that works methodically to help accomplish the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Egypt’s Vision 2030 under its patronage. Its Green Transformation Unit is the first of its type in Egyptian colleges.
The waste management project on the campus is the first stage of the project, which will later be extended to other areas. Donia emphasized that in this project women had been the main pillar of the transition to green and sustainable production.
