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.

It is increasingly realised that mitigation and adaptation should not be pursued independently of each other but as complements. Integrating mitigation and adaptation into climate change concerns is not a completely new idea in the African Sahel where the local populations in this region, through their indigenous knowledge systems, have developed and implemented extensive mitigation and adaptation strategies that have enabled them to reduce their vulnerability to past climate variability and change.