The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is helping cities in Latin America and the Caribbean to adapt to climate change with a project titled Building climate resilience of urban systems through Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in Latin America and the Caribbean. Funded by the Global Environment Facility, the project aims to reduce the vulnerability of communities to climate change in three cities - Xalapa (Mexico), Kingston (Jamaica), and San Salvador (El Salvador) using a practice known as ‘Ecosystem-based Adaptation.’
Coffee represents the backbone of the economy in El Salvador, with the vast majority produced by small-scale farmers. Women represent about a third of all coffee producers in El Salvador. Women coffee producers have less access to land, resources and credit than men, limiting their capacity to earn a living and leaving them more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. However, changing temperatures make growing coffee more difficult, while dependence on coffee alone leaves producers vulnerable to fluctuating prices on the global market.
This case study examines the importance of integrating the dimensions of gender into ecosystem-based adaptation and the consequent lessons learned in El Salvador.
