New graphics: UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library

Labour migration from Nepal

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:00 -0200

As numerous studies have demonstrated, women bear the disproportionate burden of the costs of disasters, if their rights are not ensured and if gender, socio-cultural and political-economic inequalities within the context of gender relations and institutions are not addressed (Mehta, 2007). When disasters hit, more women than men die because of lack of information, mobility, decision-making, access to resources and training, gender-based cultural norms and barriers, and high rates of male out-migration. This graphic shows gender proportion in labour migration from Nepal.

Gender (im)balance in the delegation of parties (COP) on climate change

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:00 -0200

Critical importance is the under-representation of women in policy and decision-making institutions, in dialogue on adaptation to climate change, in the governance of natural resources and in other important livelihood dimensions. Numerous position papers on climate change recognise and argue the importance of integrating gender issues and increasing women’s participation in climate change negotiations and processes (IUCN – The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Gender CC – Women for Climate Justice, GGCA – Global Gender and Climate Alliance, etc.). This is important, but critical bodies on climate change have an under-representation of women, and in particular, women from the South (MacGregor, 2010).

Gender division of labour in agriculture and household activities - Nepal and India

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:00 -0200

In Nepal, the gender division of labour is highly skewed, especially when agricultural, pastoral and wage labour is combined with household, community and casual labour, and when high rates of men’s out-migration to urban cities, towns and cross-border destinations in the region and beyond, are considered. Recent comparative research on the ‘feminisation’ of agriculture and natural resource management, undertaken by ICIMOD and supported by IFAD, illustrates this trend, whereby in some mountain regions in India women undertake 4.6 to 5.7 times the agricultural work men carry out. In Nepal, the range is skewed even more with women carrying out 6.3 to 6.6 times the agricultural work that men carry out (ICIMOD, forthcoming). Furthermore, national reports often present up to 64% of the population of women in South Asia as being “non-active or non-reported”, reflecting that much of women’s work in rural areas is informal, non-formal, unpaid and not counted, and thus goes unrecorded (FAO, 2010a). This graphic shows hours a woman and men spent in agriculture and household activities.

Trafficking of women and girls in Nepal

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:00 -0200

Some estimates from Maiti Nepal suggest that trafficking from Nepal may have increased from an estimated 3-5,000 per year during the pre-war times (1990) to possibly 12-20,000 per year in 2010. This includes internal and external trafficking. Internal trafficking increased extensively during and after the ten years of armed conflict in Nepal, though great uncertainty exists about such estimates.

Gender division of labour in agriculture and household activities - Nepal and India

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:00 -0200

Human trafficking in Nepal - Patterns

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:00 -0200

Maiti Nepal rescues an estimated 2,000 thousand girls each year, including children and women intercepted at borders and victims liberated from brothels and from various forms of abuse and exploitation. It provides them with education, protection and rehabilitation. Current estimates are that Maiti Nepal receives over 4,000 thousand reports of missing young women suspected of being abducted every year. The majority, an estimated 70%, are sold and forced into prostitution; the remaining 30% are sold for forced labour. Foreign destinations of the missing women include India, China, the Gulf and the Middle East.

Recent flood events in the HIndu Kush-Himalaya region

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:00 -0200

Recent studies focus attention on the radically changed flood patterns, including heavy rainfall that leads to landslides and soil erosion. For example, in Nepal women and men have noted increased frequency and damage caused by the floods over a twenty-year time-span (Gautam et al., (2007). During floods, rivers may cut into agricultural land, inundate crops or wash the fields away in their entirety. Economically poor and marginalised households are affected because they often only have access to marginalised land, such as that which is close to rivers and more acutely prone to flooding. Many rural farmers depend solely on natural resources for their survival and therefore, changes in monsoon patterns have devastating effects on their livelihoods and agricultural and pastoral practices.

Climate change vulnerability

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:00 -0200

Vulnerability of human populations to extreme climate related events and changes in major climate parameters over the next 30 years.

Cheetah and Wildebeest in East Africa

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:54:00 -0200

Protecting the Cheetah’s range also benefits other migratory wildlife, including those not currently protected by international agreements such as Appendix I of the CMS. The Serengeti- Mara-Tsavo landscape, for example, is home not only to a globally important population of Cheetahs, but also to vast numbers of migratory Wildebeest, Zebra, Eland and Thomson’s Gazelle. In 2011, the Tanzanian government ensured that the proposed commercial road network would not bisect the Serengeti and all roads inside the park remain under the park management. This will help to maintain the integrity of the ecosystem and safeguard all of these populations.

Migration of grassland birds in America

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:26:00 -0200

The grasslands of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay in southern South America represent important habitat to numerous migratory and resident bird species. These birds play vital roles in the ecosystem by dispersing seeds and controlling insect populations. Some species, such as the Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis), migrate some 20,000 km from their breeding grounds along the Arctic coast to their non-breeding range on the pampas of southern South America.