Climate change adaptation, gender, and mainstreaming: the role of gender in Fiji's relocation initiative

Abstract

Climate change has elucidated already existing gender inequalities associated with unequal access to resources, decision-making processes, and higher exposure to environmental shocks and stressors. Growing acknowledgment of the gender-differentiated implications of climate change in recent years has placed gender equality as a focal point in international discourses on climate change adaptation. The policy perspective of gender equality is universalized, but how it transcribes in local climate change adaptation projects remains elusive. Using the relocation of Vunidogoloa, Fiji, this article explores the tension and compatibility between the way gender equality is discussed and how it is implemented in climate change adaptation projects.