Hlahla Sithabile
Centre for Transformative Agricultural and Food Systems, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering, and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Future Water Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Front Sustain Food Syst. 2022 Nov 8;6:719913. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.719913.
The water, energy, land and food (WELF) nexus has been touted as a cross-sectoral systems approach that presents an opportunity to address the grand challenges related to poverty, unemployment, inequality and climate change, especially in the global South. However, as with any other developmental approach, the WELF nexus needs to mainstream gender, which often lies at the heart of poverty, unemployment, and inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. Access to water, energy, land and food is gendered, and so are livelihood strategies and climate change responses. Inequitable access to these resources, gender inequalities, socio-economic vulnerability and cultural norms contribute to women's susceptibility to the impacts of climate change and limit their ability to harness opportunities arising from it. Reducing women's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change in SSA and improving equity in natural resource access and resource use efficiencies will require transformation of gender relations and the active participation of both men and women in decision-making processes. Moreover, policies and interventions that cater to the WELF nexus need be updated to be more gender-aware and sensitive, as this will also contribute to addressing Sustainable Development Goal 5, in addition to Goals 1, 2, 6, 7, and 15.
水、能源、土地和粮食（WELF）关系被视为一种跨部门系统方法，为应对与贫困、失业、不平等和气候变化相关的重大挑战提供了契机，尤其是在全球南方地区。然而，与任何其他发展方法一样，WELF关系需要将性别问题纳入主流，而性别问题往往是撒哈拉以南非洲贫困、失业和不平等的核心所在。获取水、能源、土地和粮食存在性别差异，生计策略和应对气候变化的方式也同样如此。对这些资源的不公平获取、性别不平等、社会经济脆弱性和文化规范，导致女性更容易受到气候变化的影响，并限制了她们利用气候变化带来机遇的能力。要降低撒哈拉以南非洲地区女性对气候变化影响的脆弱性，并提高自然资源获取和资源利用效率方面的公平性，就需要转变性别关系，让男性和女性都积极参与决策过程。此外，适应WELF关系的政策和干预措施需要更新，以提高性别意识和敏感度，因为这除了有助于实现可持续发展目标1、2、6、7和15之外，还将有助于实现可持续发展目标5。
