Vulnerability of Ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change: a typology

Climate change, increasingly recognized as a hurdle to achieving sustainable development goals, has already begun impacting the lives and livelihoods of people around the world, including on the African continent. Vulnerability is a concept often employed in the context of climate change to identify...

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Main Authors: Friedman, R, Hirons, M, Boyd, E
Format: Journal article
Published: Taylor and Francis 2018
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author Friedman, R
Hirons, M
Boyd, E
author_facet Friedman, R
Hirons, M
Boyd, E
author_sort Friedman, R
collection OXFORD
description Climate change, increasingly recognized as a hurdle to achieving sustainable development goals, has already begun impacting the lives and livelihoods of people around the world, including on the African continent. Vulnerability is a concept often employed in the context of climate change to identify risks and develop policy and adaptation measures that address current and projected impacts. However, it is situated in a broader social context, driven by factors such as land tenure and access, livelihood diversification, and empowerment, which single out historically marginalized groups like women. This paper applies a vulnerability framework to a case study of cocoa farming in the Central Region of Ghana, depicting not only the variety of factors contributing to climate change vulnerability but also different narratives on vulnerability that emerge based on a woman’s relation to cocoa production itself. The paper conveys how homogeneous representations of women farmers and the technical focus of climate-orientated policy interventions may threaten to further marginalize the most vulnerable and exacerbate existing inequalities. This has implications for both climate change policy design and implementation, as well as the broader social development agenda that has bearing on vulnerability.
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spelling oxford-uuid:332eb7ae-1154-4fe7-a21b-85b478120b2b2022-03-26T13:18:50ZVulnerability of Ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change: a typologyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:332eb7ae-1154-4fe7-a21b-85b478120b2bSymplectic Elements at OxfordTaylor and Francis2018Friedman, RHirons, MBoyd, EClimate change, increasingly recognized as a hurdle to achieving sustainable development goals, has already begun impacting the lives and livelihoods of people around the world, including on the African continent. Vulnerability is a concept often employed in the context of climate change to identify risks and develop policy and adaptation measures that address current and projected impacts. However, it is situated in a broader social context, driven by factors such as land tenure and access, livelihood diversification, and empowerment, which single out historically marginalized groups like women. This paper applies a vulnerability framework to a case study of cocoa farming in the Central Region of Ghana, depicting not only the variety of factors contributing to climate change vulnerability but also different narratives on vulnerability that emerge based on a woman’s relation to cocoa production itself. The paper conveys how homogeneous representations of women farmers and the technical focus of climate-orientated policy interventions may threaten to further marginalize the most vulnerable and exacerbate existing inequalities. This has implications for both climate change policy design and implementation, as well as the broader social development agenda that has bearing on vulnerability.
spellingShingle Friedman, R
Hirons, M
Boyd, E
Vulnerability of Ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change: a typology
title Vulnerability of Ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change: a typology
title_full Vulnerability of Ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change: a typology
title_fullStr Vulnerability of Ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change: a typology
title_full_unstemmed Vulnerability of Ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change: a typology
title_short Vulnerability of Ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change: a typology
title_sort vulnerability of ghanaian women cocoa farmers to climate change a typology
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AT hironsm vulnerabilityofghanaianwomencocoafarmerstoclimatechangeatypology
AT boyde vulnerabilityofghanaianwomencocoafarmerstoclimatechangeatypology