supplies, having serious implications to maintain equity
rights to access adequate fresh water.
Climate change can increase the burden on water by
changing rainfall patterns; this means it reduces the available
areas that depend on rain instead of usual irrigation methods,
thus putting more pressure on water demand. Limited water
access for agriculture has called for using treated
waste-water for food production, which puts poor people at
risk of disease infection (The Global Gender Office of the
International Union for Conservation of Nature 2012). Furthermore, the lack of reliable water infrastructure in most of
the MENA region can add to the heavy burden on water
supply and agriculture. In addition, by 2050, projections on
annual river runoff estimate a decrease by around 10–30% in
the dry areas in the MENA region, which can cause water
insecurity (Arafa et al. 2007). Women are often in charge of
household tasks, agriculture, and water collection, and when
coupled with the impacts of climate change, the burden on
women will widen. Their reliance on livelihoods activities,
which depend directly on the natural environment, makes
them highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, both in
rural and urban areas.
Several economies have begun programs for mainstreaming gender in the climate change policies. Adaptation
and risk management practices for the water resources sector
have been developed in different areas. The MENA Development Report provides several definitions for adaptation;
for instance, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) defines adaptation to be “adjustment in natural or
human systems in response to actual or expected climatic
stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm …. beneficial
opportunities”.
The
Organization
for
Economic
Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance
Committee (OECD-DAC) defines adaptation projects as
“those that—reduce the vulnerability of human or natural
systems to the impacts of climate change and climate-related
risks, by maintaining or increasing adaptive capacity and
resilience” (The World Bank 2012). Despite the wide range
of adaptation definitions, there is a common basic perquisite
for any adaptation policy, which is information. Generating
information is crucial, regardless of the method that people
will use in responding to implement simple or sophisticated
adaptation techniques.
Insufficient information is one of the main lessons that
should be considered when integrating gender into adaptation responsive measures. For instance, it is expected that
Jordan will witness a rise in temperature, drop in rainfall, a
reduction in water availability, and an increase in the frequency of heat waves as well as dust storms. Jordan is one of
the economies that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of
water scarcity problem, since its annual per capita share is
150 m
3 of water resources, which is lower than the international identified water poverty line (i.e. 1000 m
3 ). The
Jordan River secures 75% of the country’s water supply.
Climate change and overuse are undermining the river as
well as the Dead Sea (The Global Gender Office of the
International Union for Conservation of Nature 2012).
That is why the case of women in Jordan explains the
important role that women play to manage water scarcity.
For instance, they rationalize the use of household water by
adapting to new water-saving techniques. Women cope with
drought and sustain their home gardens by focusing on hand
irrigating short season vegetable crops in winter, and they
use different methods, such as plastic sheets, weed residues,
wood chops, and fabrics to maintain soil moisture. They also
plant seeds deeper in the soil, where moisture is better, and
they reuse gray water from cooking to irrigate their gardens.
When planting seeds, women learn to reduce the distance
between seedlings to protect the bare soil from direct sun
exposure and conserve moisture. But women are often
excluded from decision making and critical information that
would empower their families and communities. Lack of
information about the climate change impacts hinders the
ability of women farmers who experience hardship to take
preventative actions that would protect their water resources.
3.2 Agriculture
Women are the backbone of the agricultural labor force in
several developing economies. In particular, statistics indicate that women either worked as paid or unpaid labor, and
they constitute in some economies, for example, Egypt and
Morocco, over 50% of the total labor in agriculture. In other
economies, such as Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and
Sudan, women labor force constitutes at least one‐third of
the labor of the total agriculture labor (Arafa et al. 2007).
The extent to which rural women in MENA are engaged in
agricultural production depends on several factors, such as
the degree of mechanization used on the farm, farm size,
available male workers, and their economic and social status
within the household and ecosystem characteristics.
The division of labor in agricultural activities varies
between men and women in the region. For example, women
in Yemen are involved in all yield production stages particularly rained agriculture in the high altitude areas, whereas
in Lebanon, women are engaged in sowing, weeding, harvesting, and processing. In Egypt, men are responsible for
land preparation and pest control, whereas women are
engaged in all other stages of crop production. Women are
also engaged in marketing activities. In Syria, women are
involved in sowing and weeding. In Jordan, women work in
planting, harvesting, and packing. Yet, as more men migrate
to the cities or to the Gulf economies to find jobs, women
became mainly responsible for water resource management
in both irrigated and rained agriculture. In addition to their
The Existence of Modified Environmental Kuznets Curve …
241
rights to access adequate fresh water.
Climate change can increase the burden on water by
changing rainfall patterns; this means it reduces the available
areas that depend on rain instead of usual irrigation methods,
thus putting more pressure on water demand. Limited water
access for agriculture has called for using treated
waste-water for food production, which puts poor people at
risk of disease infection (The Global Gender Office of the
International Union for Conservation of Nature 2012). Furthermore, the lack of reliable water infrastructure in most of
the MENA region can add to the heavy burden on water
supply and agriculture. In addition, by 2050, projections on
annual river runoff estimate a decrease by around 10–30% in
the dry areas in the MENA region, which can cause water
insecurity (Arafa et al. 2007). Women are often in charge of
household tasks, agriculture, and water collection, and when
coupled with the impacts of climate change, the burden on
women will widen. Their reliance on livelihoods activities,
which depend directly on the natural environment, makes
them highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, both in
rural and urban areas.
Several economies have begun programs for mainstreaming gender in the climate change policies. Adaptation
and risk management practices for the water resources sector
have been developed in different areas. The MENA Development Report provides several definitions for adaptation;
for instance, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) defines adaptation to be “adjustment in natural or
human systems in response to actual or expected climatic
stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm …. beneficial
opportunities”.
The
Organization
for
Economic
Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance
Committee (OECD-DAC) defines adaptation projects as
“those that—reduce the vulnerability of human or natural
systems to the impacts of climate change and climate-related
risks, by maintaining or increasing adaptive capacity and
resilience” (The World Bank 2012). Despite the wide range
of adaptation definitions, there is a common basic perquisite
for any adaptation policy, which is information. Generating
information is crucial, regardless of the method that people
will use in responding to implement simple or sophisticated
adaptation techniques.
Insufficient information is one of the main lessons that
should be considered when integrating gender into adaptation responsive measures. For instance, it is expected that
Jordan will witness a rise in temperature, drop in rainfall, a
reduction in water availability, and an increase in the frequency of heat waves as well as dust storms. Jordan is one of
the economies that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of
water scarcity problem, since its annual per capita share is
150 m
3 of water resources, which is lower than the international identified water poverty line (i.e. 1000 m
3 ). The
Jordan River secures 75% of the country’s water supply.
Climate change and overuse are undermining the river as
well as the Dead Sea (The Global Gender Office of the
International Union for Conservation of Nature 2012).
That is why the case of women in Jordan explains the
important role that women play to manage water scarcity.
For instance, they rationalize the use of household water by
adapting to new water-saving techniques. Women cope with
drought and sustain their home gardens by focusing on hand
irrigating short season vegetable crops in winter, and they
use different methods, such as plastic sheets, weed residues,
wood chops, and fabrics to maintain soil moisture. They also
plant seeds deeper in the soil, where moisture is better, and
they reuse gray water from cooking to irrigate their gardens.
When planting seeds, women learn to reduce the distance
between seedlings to protect the bare soil from direct sun
exposure and conserve moisture. But women are often
excluded from decision making and critical information that
would empower their families and communities. Lack of
information about the climate change impacts hinders the
ability of women farmers who experience hardship to take
preventative actions that would protect their water resources.
3.2 Agriculture
Women are the backbone of the agricultural labor force in
several developing economies. In particular, statistics indicate that women either worked as paid or unpaid labor, and
they constitute in some economies, for example, Egypt and
Morocco, over 50% of the total labor in agriculture. In other
economies, such as Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and
Sudan, women labor force constitutes at least one‐third of
the labor of the total agriculture labor (Arafa et al. 2007).
The extent to which rural women in MENA are engaged in
agricultural production depends on several factors, such as
the degree of mechanization used on the farm, farm size,
available male workers, and their economic and social status
within the household and ecosystem characteristics.
The division of labor in agricultural activities varies
between men and women in the region. For example, women
in Yemen are involved in all yield production stages particularly rained agriculture in the high altitude areas, whereas
in Lebanon, women are engaged in sowing, weeding, harvesting, and processing. In Egypt, men are responsible for
land preparation and pest control, whereas women are
engaged in all other stages of crop production. Women are
also engaged in marketing activities. In Syria, women are
involved in sowing and weeding. In Jordan, women work in
planting, harvesting, and packing. Yet, as more men migrate
to the cities or to the Gulf economies to find jobs, women
became mainly responsible for water resource management
in both irrigated and rained agriculture. In addition to their
The Existence of Modified Environmental Kuznets Curve …
241