Integrating gender equality into the Nationally Determined Contribution of Mongolia
Mongolia faces rates of warming far higher than the global average, with average temperatures already increasing by more than 2 °C between 1940 and 2015. Agriculture is a primary source of income for 40 percent of Mongolians, both in rural and peri-urban areas. Changing climatic conditions such as sudden extreme precipitation and atypical seasonal pattern pose significant challenges both to traditional livelihoods and arable farming in Mongolia and, in agriculture, tend to have a disproportionate impact on women than men.
The Mongolian Law on Promotion of Gender Equality adopted in 2011, and food, agriculture, and light industry sector gender-responsive policy approved in 2018, both can be recognized as best practice in the region. However, there is insufficient implementation at national and provincial level according to a recent gender report of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) project in Mongolia on “Rural Women Leading Climate Actions”. Also, the sectoral policy document states that gender statistics analysis, gender disaggregated data and other relevant indicators are lacking to facilitate gender-responsive sectoral budgeting and policy planning.
SCALA Mongolia is contributing to women´s empowerment and gender equality across all project activities, including enhancing multistakeholder coordination and institutional capacities for the incorporation and update of a gender-responsive Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in the agriculture and land-use sectors; and including gender dissaggregated data in the development of the sectoral Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system within the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry’s (MOFALI) IT system.
Workshop engaging sectoral stakeholders on NDC & NAP gender response
To support the government of Mongolia to address gender issues as a part of its reponse to climate change, SCALA Mongolia and partners organized a training workshop on March 5th, 2024, for gender-responsive NDC in the agriculture and land-use sectors. The workshop was delivered in partnership with the line Ministries, MOFALI and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), as well as gender and social inclusion experts from UNDP, FAO and Climate Change ad Development Academy. Around 170 attendees joined from line ministries, research institutes, climate change and gender civil society organizations, international development organizations, the National Committee on Gender Equality, as well as local environmental and agriculture administrations, local sub-branches on gender, NDC focal points and representatives from local women entrepreneurs’ groups.
The workshop was opened by the State Secretary of the MOFALI, Mr. Jambaltseren T.; Head of the Climate Change Policy and Planning Department of the MET, Ms. Tserendulam Sh.; and the Resident Representative of UNDP, Ms. Mathilda Dimovska.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Jambaltseren pointed out the five different system level assessments that are being conducted within the implementation of the SCALA Mongolia programme and their significance for scaling up the existing NDC in the agriculture sector to take transformative climate actions.
Photo credit: SCALA Mongolia
During the first part of the training workshop, six presentations were delivered by speakers from the government, United Nations bodies and academia. The speakers focused on gender mainstreaming and addressing gender-differentiated needs in the NDC of Mongolia, gender equality in agriculture, and climate change responses of Mongolia. They also presented the gender vulnerability assessment results in National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process. They stressed the need for considering gender-related issues when updating the NDC in upcoming year, focusing on gender analysis of climate policy and programmes, participation of gender representatives in implementation of NDC actions, results of NDC implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of the NDC, as well as budget allocation to support gender actions in the NDC. Also, it was pointed out that enhancing data and statistical information and gathering, enhancing coordination and collaboration among stakeholders, and improving climate change awareness and knowledge and gender-related issues are vital.
Photo credit: SCALA Mongolia
In the second part of the training workshop, participants were involved in a live survey to gather their views and insights. Most of the participants agreed that, in Mongolia, women often face barriers in terms of land-use rights that leads to them having less power in household decision-making processes. Participants concurred that equal participation is one of the most vital factors for implementing climate actions in agriculture. Participants highlighted a need for monitoring and evaluation of the impacts on men and women of the livestock tax law, which aims to reduce overall herd size and related emissions, and a need for training on climate change.
On behalf of their representing organizations, the respondents suggested their potential contributions to integrating gender and social inclusion into the current policy, planning and budgeting in the agriculture sector as well as in the NDC of Mongolia. Most said that they can contribute via conducting research, surveys, evaluating local policies, organizing training, raising awareness, developing modules, providing the related advice, changing budget planning trends as well as educating young male herders on these issues that have not been considered extensively to date.
Finally, about 90 percent of the participants replied that the event on gender and climate change was helpful. This indicates that such types of training workshops combining the two significant issues of gender and climate change are in high demand (please see more here).
Conclusions
The training workshop raised awareness among all the related parties that Mongolia is lagging on integrating gender into its NDC compared to other countries in the region. In this regard, the related parties understood they need more training and policy involvement in gender and social inclusion aspects and more evaluation of their existing policies for promoting equal opportunities for all.
This workshop was part of the broader efforts of UNDP and FAO through the SCALA programme to support the government of Mongolia to implement multiple strategies to meet climate change adaptation and mitigation goals in agriculture.
For more information about the event, please check a workshop report (link here) and press releases of MOFALI (link here) and UNDP Mongolia (link here).