Expectations for COP29: Participation of women from Middle East and North Africa in fight against climate change

According to the United Nations, 70% of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty are women. In urban areas, 40% of the poorest households are headed by women. Women predominate in the world's food production (50-80 per cent), but they own less than 10% of the land.

The situation with women is the same in climate issues. Women's vulnerability to climate change stems from a number of factors -- social, economic and cultural. Women represent a high percentage of poor communities that are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood, particularly in rural areas where they shoulder the major responsibility for household water supply and energy for cooking and heating, as well as for food security. During extreme weather such as droughts and floods, women tend to work more to secure household livelihoods. This will leave less time for women to access training and education, develop skills or earn income.

“Women have limited access to and control of environmental goods and services; they have negligible participation in decision-making and women are less able to confront climate change," as noted at the webinar titled “Celebrating Success Stories of Young Women in the MENA and COP 29 Expectations”, organized by the Center for Sustainability and Climate (CSC) and moderated by Professor Mohammad Nurunnabi, Founding Director – CSC, the 1st Think Tank on Sustainability and Climate in Saudi Arabia.

The panelists included HH. Princess Abeer S. bin Farhan Al Saud (Founder – Dinar, Advisory Board Member and Ambassador – Center for Sustainability and Climate), Saudi Arabia; Ms. Arwa Alnesafi (Accounting Lecturer at Al Yamamah University), Kuwait; Ms. Delma Iris Ramirez (CEO and Founder of Noharm), UAE; Ms. Ayah Sharif (Canadian University of Dubai), Lebanon.

Regarding the discussion of expectations from COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Ms. Delma Iris Ramirez mentioned that “as a young woman I think we should really consider climate change seriously and not as taken for granted.”

Ms. Ayah Sharif said: "What I expect from COP29 is to bring aggressively on the table the climate finance since we know that developing countries really are suffering from social economic crisis, and they often seek financial support from developed nations to implement climate mitigation and adaptation measures."

Princess Abeer S. bin Farhan Al Saud also said she believes 2024 is a unique year because "it is the first time in the history of the United Nations…where all three RIO conventions are happening from October to December."

Based on our findings of SDG Ranking Data and Status, 81% (39 of 48 countries) of African countries have major challenges in achieving the SDG 11. Importantly, 63% of the countries’ progress has been “stagnating” and 21% countries’ progress has been decreasing.

Middle East and North Africa, Oceania, and Sub-Saharan Africa have major challenges in the SDG5: Gender Equality. In particular, low-income and lower-middle-income countries have major issues on SDG 5. There are 473,479,856 of 7,894,188,716 population in the MENA region representing 6% of the world population.

A remarkable progress happened in Saudi Arabia, according to Saudi Vision 2030. Saudi Arabia has the highest growth rate in the world of Female Labor Force Participation (2017-2023) which reaches 106%. In Q1 of 2017, the Female Labor Force Participation was 17.4% and in Q3 of 2023 it was 35.9%.

However, globally, less women are actively being part of the global labor market, compared to 72% of men, according to the International Monetary Fund. It will take 131 years to close the global gender gap, according to the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2023 - up from 100 years pre-pandemic. Closing gender gaps in agri-food systems could reduce food insecurity and boost global GDP by nearly $1 trillion.

67% (12 of 18) of the countries in the MENA region have major challenges on SDG but only 7 of 18 countries have major challenges in climate action, the data shows.

Professor Mohammad Nurunnabi, Founding Director – Center for Sustainability and Climate (CSC), Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia