Enhanced climate resilience of rural communities in central and north Benin through the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in forest and agricultural landscapes

The report assesses the gender-specific vulnerabilities and socioeconomic barriers facing rural communities in central and north Benin to ensure the 'Enhanced Climate Resilience' project is gender-responsive. It identifies significant gaps in land ownership, education, and decision-making power between men and women, noting that women are more susceptible to economic shocks and 'time poverty'. The assessment proposes a Gender Action Plan to mainstream gender equality into forest management and agricultural interventions, aiming to prevent the marginalization of women as EbA strategies are implemented.

• Benin faces significant gender disparities in development and health, ranking 146th out of 157 countries on the Gender Inequality Index (GII) and placing in Group 5 of the Gender Development Index (GDI), indicating a high absolute deviation of gender parity.
• There is a stark divide in land ownership between genders; 81% of women do not own any land compared to 57% of men, and only 7% of women own land solely in their own name, whereas 35% of men do.
• Women in Benin experience significant educational gaps compared to men, with only 16% of women having received 'some secondary education' compared to 31% of men, and an average of 10.5 years of schooling versus 13.7 years for men.
• Climate change and environmental degradation are creating a 'vicious cycle' of poverty, particularly for rural households who are twice as likely to be poorer (64%) than urban households (32%).
• Women suffer from 'time poverty' due to the heavy burden of non-remunerated domestic work, spending an average of 8 hours per week fetching water and 4 hours per week collecting fuelwood.
• Environmental degradation is shifting the collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), traditionally a female domain, toward men as agricultural earnings decrease.
• Despite constitutional and legal protections against discrimination, customary laws and traditional norms—including polygamous unions—continue to erode women's land rights and access.

APA

Boral, D. (2019). Enhanced climate resilience of rural communities in central and north Benin through the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in forest and agricultural landscapes. Green Climate Fund. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-sap005-unep-benin.pdf

Chicago

Boral, Debasmita. Enhanced climate resilience of rural communities in central and north Benin through the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in forest and agricultural landscapes. Green Climate Fund, 2019. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-sap005-unep-benin.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Boral |first1=Debasmita |title=Enhanced climate resilience of rural communities in central and north Benin through the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in forest and agricultural landscapes |publisher=Green Climate Fund |date=3 May 2019 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-sap005-unep-benin.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{boral2019enhanced, author = {Boral, Debasmita}, title = {{Enhanced climate resilience of rural communities in central and north Benin through the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in forest and agricultural landscapes}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2019}, month = may, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-sap005-unep-benin.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }