Climate change is disproportionately affecting the incomes of rural women, the poor and older populations, who also have the least capacity to adapt to extreme weather events, a new report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) revealed on Tuesday.

The Unjust Climate report highlights the reality that every year in low and middle-income countries, female heads of households in rural areas suffer significantly greater financial losses than men.

On average, female-headed households lose eight per cent more of their income due to heat stress and three per cent more due to floods compared with male-headed households.

This translates to a significant per capita income reduction of $83 due to heat stress and $35 due to floods, totalling $37 billion and $16 billion, respectively, across the most impoverished countries.

If average temperatures were to increase by just 1°C, these women would face a staggering 34 per cent greater loss in their total incomes compared to men. The study suggests that if it is not addressed, climate change will greatly widen these gaps in the years ahead.

Powerful impact

“Social differences based on locations, wealth, gender and age have a powerful, yet poorly understood, impact on rural peoples’ vulnerability to the impacts of the climate crisis”, said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.

“These findings highlight the urgent need to dedicate substantially more financial resources and policy attention to issues of inclusivity and resilience in global and national climate actions”.