Nalini Singh

COP20: Nalini Singh, Arrow

COP20 (10/12/14) – Arrow works in the Asia Pacific, and highlights the indirect linkages between how climate change impacts women’s reproductive health. She explains that changes in rainfall patterns due to climate change has impacted food security in Nepal. In Nepalese patriarchal societies women are the last to eat and eat the least nutritious food. In a situation where climate change is impacting food security it is women’s nutrition that is impacted most, with consequences on their reproductive health and rights.

Singh specifically points out that the the narrative of women’s reproductive health and climate change focuses on the implications of climate change, instead of viewing women’s reproductive health as part of the solution to climate change. Singh explains that reproductive health and rights is a contentious issue, as it is a topic in the private sphere. Although reproductive health comes under the health remit, and there is a new working program on gender equality, if women’s reproductive health is not specifically mentioned, the issue will not be reflected in national action plans.