OTTAWA, Canada – On International Women’s Day, Harjit S. Sajjan, minister of international development and minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, reinforced Canada’s commitment to putting women and girls at the heart of climate action by announcing $67.5 million in international assistance funding for eight projects.
Canada recognizes that immediate support is needed for women and girls, who are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and natural disasters. The effects on women and girls increase existing social inequalities and threaten their health, safety and economic well-being.
Minister Sajjan recently met with Leticia Ama Deawuo, executive director of SeedChange, to talk about one of these eight projects, Rural Women Cultivating Change, and the important work SeedChange is doing in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania as part of this project.
The projects Canada is funding will support women’s leadership and decision making in all aspects of climate change adaptation, mitigation and sustainable natural resource management. They will help ensure that climate-related and nature-positive planning, policy-making and financing address the particular needs and challenges of women and girls and that they support employment and business opportunities for women in the climate and natural resource sectors.
“Women and girls are disproportionately vulnerable to the devastating effects of climate change, biodiversity loss and natural disasters. Women and girls are the ones most impacted by natural disasters and the first to go without food when crops fail. At the same time, they are essential change leaders and knowledge keepers in adaptation and mitigation efforts. More needs to be done to take their needs and expertise into account, which is why we will continue to support increasing the participation of women as leaders in climate change action around the world,” said the minister for Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada.
