Why is oil considered to be a site of struggle towards climate justice and gender justice? Oil industry development projects have additionally burdened already marginalised communities, especially women. Climate change has disproportionate impacts on women; for instance, drastic changes to natural resources complicate their traditionally held jobs of collecting firewood and water.However, women should be seen as stakeholders rather than victims of climate change.

Despite the overt United Nations (UN) commitment requiring all UN processes to abide by the principles for mainstreaming a gender perspective, the international climate change negotiation process has not complied with these principles by assuming men and women can be treated identically and by failing to engage in gender-analysis. This failure has not only resulted in the process coming up short on gender equity principles, but also this has had, and will continue to have, injurious effects on the process in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

Trade in medicinal and aromatic plants is big business. How can Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protect female practitioners of Traditional Medicinal Knowledge (TMK)? Although IPRs may, under certain circumstances, assist traditional medicine holders, they are limited in the extent to which they can protect indigenous collective TMK systems and women, who play important roles as custodians of such knowledge, and producers and consumers of traditional medicines.

Why is it that extractive industries often bring massive short-term benefits to 'boom towns' but harm weaker social groups, including women, in the process? This study shows that two oil projects (the US$3 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Export Oil Pipeline 'BTC' in Azerbaijan and Georgia and the Sakhalin II oil and gas projects on Sakhalin Island) have caused considerable social and gender difficulties in local communities.

Water is fundamental to the well being of women and men both in the household and productive activities and is key to poverty reduction and development. Water is also a strategic resource in that its control is a source of power. Interventions that change the control, use of and access to water resources inevitably raise gender issues and opportunities. This report provides key considerations and recommendations in this area drawing on lessons learnt from case studies in Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Sudan.

The 46th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded that a gender perspective must be incorporated into the development and implementation of disaster prevention, mitigation and recovery strategies. This report briefly outlines why. It is not just about the vulnerability of women in emergency contexts - they also have a vital role in disaster reduction, response and recovery. Being able to respond to a disaster in a way that enhances gender equality and empowers women requires targeted capacity building including of emergency authorities.

Tackling climate change is one of the greatest environmental challenges humanity faces today. This report provides essential information and advice on how to facilitate the integration of climate adaptation into development processes. The guidance provides a key reference for Development Cooperation and Environment Ministries and Agencies in their co-operation with developing country partners in support of adaptation to climate change.

This paper presents the research and learning approach of a World Bank study, and offers emerging findings on policy, as well as institutional questions surrounding adaptation arenas in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Ghana and Mozambique.

Residents of informal settlements often bear the brunt of extreme weather and associated flooding. This guide is intended to strengthen participatory risk assessment capabilities for a wide range of municipal and development professionals and practitioners. It is also relevant to professionals involved in housing, social development, health, adult education, CBOs and NGOs. Although it was originally produced to help develop the resilience of residents in most vulnerable areas of the Western Cape, South Africa, it contains valuable lessons for other contexts.

Effective adaptation is based on a solid understanding of vulnerability to climate change. The impacts of climate change affect people differently based on their capacity to respond. What this means is that many of the factors which shape vulnerability to climate change have nothing to do with the climate. Issues of power, access to information and services and control over resources are important in determining people's capacity to adapt to climate change.