Gender assessment for SAP055: Strengthening the Health Resilience of Communities Vulnerable to Climate Change in Benin’s ABD (Adjohoun, Bonou and Dangbo) Zone

Green Climate Fund Projects

Strengthening the Health Resilience of Communities Vulnerable to Climate Change in Benin’s ABD (Adjohoun, Bonou and Dangbo) Zone

Gender action plan for SAP055: Strengthening the Health Resilience of Communities Vulnerable to Climate Change in Benin’s ABD (Adjohoun, Bonou and Dangbo) Zone

Project Approved

Under Implementation

The Adjohoun, Bonou and Dangbo (ABD) health zone in the lower Ouémé valley of south-eastern Benin is highly vulnerable to seasonal and extreme flooding, rising temperatures and humidity. They lead to multiple climate-related health impacts, most notably vector-borne diseases such as malaria, and non-communicable conditions including acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Flood events exacerbate challenges by damaging health infrastructure and equipment, disrupting essential health services, and restricting access for vulnerable populations. Women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly are among the groups most at risk.

Benin’s health sector is underfunded and ill-equipped to deal with how climate change affects people’s health. The country’s public resources are stretched thin, and there is limited flexibility to invest in building a climate-resilient health sector. Additional barriers include the lack of knowledge and awareness of climate-health linkages, limited health technologies, infrastructure, and early warning systems, reduced access of populations to health facilities in climatic events, and limited participation of vulnerable groups in decision-making processes.

The project seeks to address climate-sensitive health risks by strengthening the resilience of public health systems and vulnerable communities. This will be pursued through the integration of climate information into disease surveillance systems to improve health early warning systems; enhancing the operational capacities of health personnel to manage emergencies during extreme weather events; climate-proofing health infrastructure and providing essential equipment; supporting climate-resilient community livelihoods; and raising local awareness.

The project’s comprehensive, community-based model aims to address the critical nexus of climate change and health. Its multi-pronged design targets high-risk groups while strengthening local capacities and systems, positioning the project as an innovative model for Locally Led Adaptation.

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

Financial actors and resources that are primarily directed towards climate change mitigation, adaptation and compensation.

An enterprise or financial institution that is usually majority-owned, backed or significantly controlled by nation-state governments.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

Households employing domestic workers, for activities like cooking, cleaning and subsistence farming, for their own use.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

An integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, that enables individuals, communities, governments, businesses and others to take timely action to reduce disaster risks in advance of hazardous events.

Energy derived from biological compounds that are renewable due to their short life cycle within the carbon dioxide cycle.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

This sector provides medical services, manufactures medical equipment, and develops pharmaceuticals to maintain and improve health.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Activities that provide lodging, food, and entertainment services to guests, including hotels, restaurants, and resorts.

Work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for all, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity.

Financial support to help individuals manage the effects of unexpected events, securing their livelihoods and increasing the resilience of people and businesses to the changing climate. It’s especially vital in developing regions where everyday risks, climate-related weather extremes, or crop failures can push people into poverty. Without insurance, people may have to resort to selling assets or cutting consumption to cope with losses.

Actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience of societies and the economy to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

Production of electricity and heat from solar irradiation.

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

Dedicated pool of financial resources for climate-related projects.

Climate change impacts our society by disrupting the natural, economic and social systems we depend on. Physical hazards and underlying vulnerabilities can lead to increased resource competition for food and water, which can heighten the risk of conflict.

This sector provides communication services, software development, and IT solutions.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

People whose health, both mental and physical, makes them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change

Finance that is primarily directed towards climate change adaptation, including increasing resilience and robustness to actual or expected climate change and its effects.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment to individuals or businesses, typically provided as a government cash payment or a specific tax reduction.

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Using laws and the legal system more broadly to protect vulnerable entities

Direct investments by the governments using public funds. This can be to support climate initiatives or integrate climate into other projects.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Actions to adapt and increase the resilience of rural and urban infrastructure and settlements to climate change.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Social protection systems consist of policies that help people manage social risks in order to prevent poverty and maintain decent incomes and living standards

Compulsory, required payments to the government that are levied more-or-less in proportion to the services provided. Fees and charges range from entrance fees to national parks, charges on land-based sewage discharge.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Activities involving the management, development, and sale of property assets.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

People who have left their homes, whether through force, voluntarily, or a mixture of both

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

A loan is a policy instrument where funds are provided to a borrower with the expectation of repaying the principal plus interest.

The processes through which enterprises can identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their actual and potential adverse impacts. Due diligence is the idea that reasonable precautions should be taken to avoid causing harm to people, the environment, or society. It also involves identifying and mitigating risks before they occur.