Building Regional Resilience through Strengthened Meteorological, Hydrological and Climate Services in the Indian Ocean Commission Member Countries (Hydromet Project)

The report assesses gender-based vulnerabilities and socioeconomic baselines in Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles to ensure that climate information services (CS) and early warning systems (EWS) are inclusive. It identifies systemic barriers, such as gendered access to information, time poverty, and gender-based violence, which can hinder the effectiveness of climate adaptation. The assessment recommends tailoring CS products to end-users in vulnerable sectors like agriculture and fishing, utilizing local knowledge, and addressing the specific socioeconomic disparities of each member state to maximize regional resilience.

• Gender-specific differences in resource access, power, and economic activities create unique vulnerabilities to climate change across the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) countries, which can undo progress toward gender equality.
• Women in the region face significant barriers to accessing early warning systems and adaptation solutions, including restricted access to public information spaces like mosques in Comoros and limited access to radios in Madagascar.
• Gender-based violence (GBV) is a persistent issue in the region and is often exacerbated by climate-induced disasters and extreme weather events.
• High levels of 'time poverty' among women, driven by the burden of domestic, care, and reproductive work, limit their ability to adopt technical adaptation options or explore new economic activities.
• In Comoros, poverty is characterized by a heavy reliance on the informal economy and remittances, with a rising proportion of the bottom 40% of households being headed by women, increasing from 18.6% in 2004 to 27.9% in 2014.
• Madagascar is identified as the poorest country in sub-Saharan Africa with high multidimensional poverty (over 55%), making its population extremely vulnerable to even minor external shocks.
• Despite being an upper-middle income country, Mauritius experiences rising inequality and low female labour participation due to traditional domestic roles and a labour market where women from poorer households lack access to productive resources.
• Seychelles has the highest GDP per capita in Africa but suffers from significant income inequality and a severe drug addiction epidemic, particularly among unemployed young men, which acts as a barrier to climate resilience.
• There is a significant gender gap in access to and usage of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), particularly in Comoros, where women reported a lack of access to mobile phones within the household.
• The assessment recommends hybridizing traditional local knowledge and social networks with modern technology (such as SMS and radio) to ensure that impact forecasting and climate services reach the most vulnerable groups.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2020). Building Regional Resilience through Strengthened Meteorological, Hydrological and Climate Services in the Indian Ocean Commission Member Countries (Hydromet Project). https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp161-gender-assessment.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Building Regional Resilience through Strengthened Meteorological, Hydrological and Climate Services in the Indian Ocean Commission Member Countries (Hydromet Project). 2020. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp161-gender-assessment.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Building Regional Resilience through Strengthened Meteorological, Hydrological and Climate Services in the Indian Ocean Commission Member Countries (Hydromet Project) |date=March 2020 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp161-gender-assessment.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2020building, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Building Regional Resilience through Strengthened Meteorological, Hydrological and Climate Services in the Indian Ocean Commission Member Countries (Hydromet Project)}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2020}, month = mar, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp161-gender-assessment.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }