How are vulnerable populations in marginalized areas coping with or adapting to climate change, and what external support is required to build their resilience?

1. Key finding

Overall
Climate change affects livelihoods and wellbeing. Women and men experienced
the impacts of climate change differently.

Women and girls-related
Climate change and its associated impacts affected women negatively. Compared to men, women often skipped meals to feed other family members in times of hunger and also reduced their food consumption so that the male members of the household could have enough to eat. 

2. Short summary

This literature reviewed that climate change induced vulnerabilities and their impacts on livelihoods and wellbeing were gendered. Increased climate variability reduced agricultural productivity with unequal impacts on women’s and men’s human, natural, physical, social, and financial assets. Men and women adapted differently to climate change. Malnutrition was seen in women as they skipped their meals as a way of coping so that the male members could get adequate food. National policies are needed to support women’s access to other assets and services, such as education, land, finance services, and diverse income-earning opportunities.

3. Long summary

3.1 PICOS  

Population: Women and marginalized groups in Africa affected by climate change.

Intervention: Analysis of gendered climate impacts and adaptation strategies.

Outcome: Identification of gendered climate risks and policy solutions.

Study design: Literature review of studies from 1992 to 2022 on climate and gender.

3.2 Risk of bias  Not assessed

3.3 Publication bias Not assessed

3.4 Findings

Coping and adapting

Malnutrition among women owing to the impact of climate change occurred because women: often skipped meals to feed other family members in times of hunger; traveled further for water and fuel. 

When food shortage was prevalent among communities in northeastern Kenya, a common practice among women was to reduce their food consumption so that male members of the household could have enough to eat.

External support

There is a need to address the underlying inequalities and adopt proactive measures to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. These include women’s rights to participate equally in lawmaking and governance, and equality in access to land and other productive resources, all of which contribute to women’s capacity to respond to and cope with climate-induced shocks.

Women’s participation in decision-making could be increased by adopting a range of supporting actions, including adopting flexible meeting timings that don’t conflict with women’s domestic obligations, and recognizing potential safety concerns when determining meeting venues, mobility, and duration of meetings.

There needs to be a deep and long-term commitment to women’s economic power by investing in training and capacity development to increase labor participation and institutional support to women-focused and women-led organizations.

More research is needed to understand how members of households, men and women, perceive climate risk, make decisions about how to respond, and the place of technology in adaptation.

National policies need to support women’s access to other assets and services, such as education, land, finance services, and diverse income-earning opportunities. Without these provisions, especially education and alternative livelihood options beyond subsistence farming, economic choices and off-farm work and income opportunities for women will remain limited.

3.5 Sensitivity analysis Not assessed

4. AMSTAR 2 assessment of the review

5. Count of references to the following words 

1. Key finding

Overall
Climate change perceptions and adaptation were highly contextual and considerably varied by gender and different intersections. Women and men had different adoption strategies to climate change.

Women and girls-related
Women adapted differently to climate change as compared to men. Women were found adopting different structural adaptation strategies like water harvesting, pen reinforcement, digging wells and boreholes, building water tanks and construction of trenches to control bushfires. Women changed cropping techniques and also limited their consumption of food and substituted their meals with wild plants.

2. Short summary

This systematic review, gave an understanding as to how climate change perceptions and adaptations differed on the basis of gender in agriculture across the countries worldwide.

Existing gender roles, farmers’ age, education, knowledge, marital status, intra-household power structure, religion, social status and ethnicity intersected with gender and climate change perception and adaptation. Apart from gender and intersectionality, access to resources, social networks and local institutions were found to be important correlates of adaptation strategies by farmers. Among the financial adaptation strategies, selling assets and taking credit was the most preferred financial adaptation. Women were found adopting different structural adaptation strategies like water harvesting, pen reinforcement, digging wells and boreholes, building water tanks and construction of trenches to control bushfires. Managerial adaptation strategies included change in cropping, and use of fertilizers. Socio-cultural adaptation included reducing consumption of the number and amount of meals and using wild plants to make traditional food to fight against drought. Livelihood adaptation included diversifying income through temporary non-farm activities. Seasonal or temporary migration was another form of adaptation.

3. Long summary

3.1 PICOS

Population: Farmers worldwide, particularly in Africa and Asia, with a focus on gendered perceptions of climate change.

Intervention: Analysis of gendered differences in climate change perception and adaptation strategies in agriculture.

Outcome: Identification of gendered climate risks, adaptation strategies, and policy recommendations for gender-transformative climate actions.

Study design: Systematic review of 41 studies using the PRISMA protocol, incorporating qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches from 2005 to 2019.

3.2 Risk of bias  Not assessed

3.3 Publication bias  Not assessed

3.4 Findings

Adaptation to climate change took various forms across technical, financial, structural, managerial, socio-cultural, and livelihood strategies, with distinct roles for men and women. Technically, both men and women adopted new crop varieties, diversified agriculture, and used improved technologies. Financially, the most common strategy was selling assets or taking credit. Structurally, men often handled flood-preventive measures like land elevation, house reinforcement, micro-irrigation, and drainage construction, while women focused on water harvesting, pen reinforcement, digging wells, building tanks, and creating fire-control trenches. In terms of management, women emphasized crop changes and fertilizer use as part of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), showing more conservative use of natural resources, while men leaned toward conservation agriculture, composting, and improved feed. For fishermen, fish rearing in ponds and lakes was key, while women highlighted seasonal forecasts and post-harvest technology. Livestock adaptation also varied—men reduced herd sizes and diversified feed, while women shifted toward raising small ruminants and non-ruminants. Both genders saw lending land to sharecroppers as a vital adaptation. Socio-culturally, women coped with drought by reducing meal sizes and relying on wild plants, while their agricultural roles expanded to include small-scale livestock rearing as men migrated or pursued sharecropping. In livelihood adaptation, women engaged in non-farm activities like domestic work, food processing, and charcoal production, while men diversified into fishing, crab-fattening, herding, collecting forest products, carpentry, masonry, and informal labor. Migration, especially seasonal or temporary, was a common adaptation, with men in pastoralist communities following traditional patterns of relocation during droughts.

3.5 Sensitivity analysis Not assessed

4. AMSTAR 2 assessment of the review

5. Count of references to  the following words