Gender, agrifood value chains and climate-resilient agriculture in Small Island Developing States

Book excerpt: In the current context of climate change, focusing on gender equality in the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) can drive improvements in resilience, food security and nutrition. This document seeks to enrich the knowledge and evidence base on gender, food systems and resilience in the SIDS of the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS) region, providing evidence from Barbados, Cabo Verde, Comoros (the), Palau, Saint Lucia, Samoa and Sao Tome and Principe. It focuses specifically on gender-related roles, gender gaps and traditional knowledge in agriculture and natural resource management to better support women’s participation in value chains and the benefits they receive from value chain development. It calls for radical transformations to build resilient livelihoods, overcome gender inequalities and help rural women and men reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. Furthermore, the transformations called for, which focus on gender equity, will increase the resilience of rural livelihoods to unforeseen events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in view of the critical role women play in ensuring food security and nutrition.