UBC EnviroMed

Canadian Context

Despite the fact that gender is recognized as a health determinant both nationally by Health Canada as well as internationally by the World Health Organization and the United Nations, it remains absent as a distinct category of analysis within Public Health commentaries of climate change impacts and action in Canada. [9] Moreover, there is an overwhelming exclusion of women’s voices and leadership on matters of environmental policy and climate change strategy in Canada. [10] The absence of information on climate change and women underscores the importance of future research that is gender-sensitive. 

Heat Waves & Gendered Impacts of Climate Change in Canada:

• Women are more likely than men to live in lower-income housing, rental properties and basement suites and therefore be unable to afford, access or upgrade their homes with sufficient air conditioning systems. [5,6]
• Women of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to live in urban centers and be exposed to the harmful effects of “Heat Islands”. [7]
• Gendered division of household labor implies that women are primarily responsible for caring for the elderly and children during heatwaves. [8]
• Pregnant women are physiologically less tolerant to extreme heat as their ability to thermoregulate is compromised and extreme heat may contribute to: [9]
  • Pre-term birth.
  • Low birth weight at the time of delivery.
  • Increased admission of neonates to ICU.
  • Increase in stillbirth rates.

A Global Scale

What we can learn from the United Nations Overview of the Linkages between Gender and Climate Change:

Climate Change and the Gender Gap [4]

• Eighty percent of people displaced by climate change are women.
• Globally, women earn 24 percent less than men and hold only 25 percent of administrative and managerial positions in the business world; 32 percent of businesses have no women in senior management positions. Women still hold only 22 percent of seats in single or lower houses of national parliament.
• Nine in 10 countries have laws impeding women’s economic opportunities, such as those which bar women from factory jobs, working at night or getting a job without permission from their husbands.
• A study using data from 219 countries from 1970 to 2009 found that, for every one additional year of education for women of reproductive age, child mortality decreased by 9.5 percent.
• Over four million people a year die prematurely due to illness caused by indoor air pollution, primarily from smoke produced while cooking with solid fuels.
• More than 70 percent of people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami were women. Similarly, Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans (USA) in 2005, predominantly affected poor African-Americans, especially women.
• Women do not have easy and adequate access to funds to cover weather-related losses or adaptation technologies. They also face discrimination in accessing land, financial services, social capital and technology.

References

[1] Perkins, P.E. (2015). Gender and Climate Justice in Canada. Climate Change, Gender and Work in Rich Countries. Retrieved from https://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/climategender/WorkingPapers/2017/WP-Perkins.pdf

[2] UNDP . Training Module 1—Overview of Linkages between Gender and Climate Change, Global Gender and Climate Alliance. United Nations Development Programme; Gender and Climate Change.

[3] Ibid 2.

[4] Ibid 2.

[5] Rochette, A. (2016). Climate change is a social justice issue: The need for a gender-based analysis of mitigation and adaptation policies in canada and quebec. Journal of Environmental Law and Practice, 29, 383.

[6] Gronlund, C. J., Sullivan, K. P., Kefelegn, Y., Cameron, L., & O’Neill, M. S. (2018). Climate change and temperature extremes: A review of heat- and cold-related morbidity and mortality concerns of municipalities. Maturitas, 114, 54-59. doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2018.06.002

[7] Ibid 5.

[8] Kuehn, L., & McCormick, S. (2017). Heat exposure and maternal health in the face of climate change. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(8), 853. doi:10.3390/ijerph14080853

[8] Ibid 5

[9] Whyte, K. P. (2014). Indigenous women, climate change impacts, and collective action. Hypatia, 29(3), 599-616. doi:10.1111/hypa.12089

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4. Environmental Displacement

Climate Migrants

Climate change has displaced an average of 26.4 million people around the world every year since 2008. The 2020 World Migration Report issued by the International Organization for Migration details that climate related disasters are responsible for the displacement of more people than war and conflict related events.[1] By 2050, the United Nations estimates that there will be as many as 1 billion climate migrants. [2]

Climate Migrants are unwillingly forced from their homes by the climate emergency, are fleeing situations in which their health is put at risk, but subsequently find their health threatened by the vagaries of an international system that is struggling to keep pace with the many harmful aspects of the climate crisis. [3]

Postmigration

Postmigration factors, such as access to housing, employment and a sustainable income, language skills and social support, as well as experiencing discrimination and social isolation, must also be considered to understand the psychological effects of the refugee experience. The asylum system, however, is unpredictable and is characterized by a lack of transparency as well as individual control. Someone else, usually a refugee programme administrator or service provider, tells you where to live and how to fill your days. Another person decides your fate, on grounds that are often arbitrary and hard to understand. Most asylees find it difficult to seek help and use services because of the aforementioned heightened sense of distrust and insecurity. Moreover, the operational difficulties such as language barrier and lack of secure and safe relationships, make it more difficult to connect again to others in the new host country. [14]

“Sexual minorities might be among the most neglected and at-risk populations in circumstances of migration. The stigma associated with being LGBTI can subject individuals to bullying and abuse or force them to remain invisible. There appears to be little training for health and humanitarian aid professionals currently to meet the health needs of sexual minorities…We know very little, for example, about the health of undocumented migrants, people with disabilities, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, or intersex (LGBTI) individuals who migrate or who are unable to move.”

— Lancet Commission on Migration & Health

Recognizing Displacement in a Climate Context: The Syrian War

In 2007, Syria experienced a major drought that lasted several years and resulted in the mass migration of internally displaced people towards urban city centers. [4] Precipitation, temperature and sea-level pressure data collected over a century in the area confirmed that the probability of this kind of relentless drought was increased by a factor of 3 due to climate change. [5]       

The influx of 1.5 million people from rural farming areas toward urban centers destabilized the fragile social, economic and political fabric of Syria. The urban peripheries of major cities in Syria were inundated by displaced people and characterized  “by illegal settlements, overcrowding, poor infrastructure, unemployment, and crime”. [6] These settlements were “neglected by the Assad government and became the heart of developing unrest” that galvanized the onset of the Syrian civil conflict in 2011 and eventually led millions of people to flee the country. Ultimately, the confluence of climate change, water mismanagement, a decline in crop yield and of livestock herds, unstable farming practices and a repressive government regime were largely responsible for driving people from their homes and destroying their livelihoods. [7]

The United Nations Refugee Agency attributes the increase in forcibly displaced people from 43.3 million in 2009 to 70.8 million in 2018 primarily to the Syrian conflict. [11] In 2018, Canada admitted the largest number of resettled Syrian refugees (28,100 out of the documented 92,400 refugees). [12]

Arrival to Canada – or any other country of asylum – does not necessarily imply an easy fix to the number of health concerns described by the International Organization for Migration. The profound stress and uncertainty inherent in fleeing one’s home – compounded with the difficulties of navigating language and cultural barriers and coping with stigma in their country of asylum – shapes future health outcomes in refugees. [13]

Displacement in a Climate Context: Canadian Wildfires

In 2017, an overwhelming 12,000 square kilometers was burned in British Columbia during the wildfire season. While the dryer weather in the summer months naturally results in forest fire activity, climate change has increased the area burned by a factor of 7-11. [15] The destruction of land resulted in the displacement of 65,000 people.[16] The forest fire season of 2018 burned 13,000 square kilometers of land, surpassing the record-breaking devastation caused by the year earlier and caused the provincial government of British Columbia to declare a state of emergency. [17]

Some of the Health Effects of Wildfires:

1. Direct Injury and death from contact with fire
2. Exacerbation of chronic respiratory and cardiac conditions
   • Wildfire smoke can increase pollutant levels up to 10-fold and contains particulate matter, which has damaging cardiopulmonary effects. [18,19] Smoke inhalation has been shown to increase respiratory morbidity and mortality, in addition to an increased risk of cardiovascular incidents, such as cardiac arrest. [20,21]
3. Stress of displacement
   • Evacuees and communities on the periphery of wildfires in evacuation limbo experience prolonged stress associated with increasing rates of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. [22] Ensuring that mental health professionals play a role in wildfire response and are readily available for patients in affected areas, contributes to positive health outcomes in these individuals. [23] Patients at a higher risk of mental health illnesses following wildfire (such as those with pre-existing mental health conditions) benefit from early intervention and support. [24]

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