Why should the green economy become inclusive?

According to international experts, if current trends continue, by 2050 the global use of natural resources per capita will increase by 70 percent. Awareness of this fact has forced, at the global level, to initiate the creation of a comprehensive system of interconnected economic, social, and environmental obligations reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The issues of fair access to natural resources, distribution of benefits, and minimization of risks arising from climate change for various social groups were at the forefront.

It is obvious that the poor in many countries are more dependent on environmental conditions; their households are less able to adapt to climate change due to limited financial and social resources. The widening wealth gap is exacerbated by gender inequality. By 2025, climate change is projected to trap an additional 158 million women and girls into poverty worldwide and an additional 236 million women into hunger. The climate crisis is fueling escalating conflicts and forced migration.

In these conditions, the concept of an inclusive green economy has emerged, which not only can create new opportunities for sustainable economic growth but also can ensure the implementation of the principle of “Leaving no one behind” with special attention towards women and girls.

In recent years, the Kyrgyz Republic has been making efforts to transition to a greener economy. But why does it have to be gender-oriented?

Women of Kyrgyzstan: what do the numbers say?

Poverty exacerbates gender inequality. Over the past decades, the overall poverty level of the population of the Kyrgyz Republic has gradually decreased (from 49.9 percent, that is, half of the population, in 2003, to 20.1 percent in 2019). However, since 2020, including as a result of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic (every second household in the country reported a decrease in income, with 61 percent in cities and 43.4 percent in rural areas), the share of the poor population has increased. By the end of 2022, the poverty rate rose sharply to 33.2 percent.

First, this is due to a decrease in the share of women in the labor market: the participation rate of men in the labor force in 2022 was 75 percent, and women - only 46 percent. Among the economically inactive population, the share of women is 69 percent.

One reason for inactivity is unemployment, which is higher among women than among men and forces people to look for work in other countries. A feature of migration processes in Kyrgyzstan, in contrast to other Central Asian countries, is that in the age and gender structure of migrants, there are no significant differences in the ratio of men and women, that is, women leave to earn money on an equal basis with men, and at the age of 55 years and older the number of women even noticeably prevails.

Of the total number of those leading the households, 97 percent are women. Women spend much more time on unpaid housework, while men, both urban and rural, spend only about one hour a day on housework; for urban women - about four hours, for rural women - about five hours. Climate change is affecting water availability and quality in the Kyrgyz Republic due to the rapid melting of glaciers. As a result, water shortages will become more severe and droughts will become more frequent, especially in the south of the country. As a result, women bear even more of the reproductive and physical burden of unpaid domestic labor and caring for children and elderly family members.

Reduced harvests could lead to the spread of hunger in regions where livelihood options are limited. This is even though today about 50% of pregnant women in the country suffer from anemia, which increases the risk of maternal and neonatal mortality.

The loss of guaranteed income for men which occur due to persistent gender stereotypes, can lead to a loss of self-esteem and increased violence on their part towards women and children. In 2022, about 10 thousand people applied to crisis centers and other specialized institutions that provide socio-psychological assistance to the population in cases of domestic violence, 92 percent of them are women. However, it should be noted that the conversion rate is very low.

The lack of constructive mechanisms for fair access to natural and social resources can lead to an increase in the number of social conflicts. This is especially important in the conditions of border areas in the Fergana Valley, where about 15 million people live on a piece of land of approximately 22 thousand square km (650 people per sq. km). At the same time, women, who traditionally prefer non-forceful methods of resolving conflicts and regulating relationships, show great initiative in conflict prevention and restoration activities, but rarely have access to decision-making, especially in law enforcement agencies.

Thus, in the Kyrgyz Republic, as in most countries of the world, women take on disproportionately greater unpaid care responsibilities and have fewer economic resources and access to decision-making than men.