Climate Change and Food Security: A Study of Women Farmers in Northeast Ghana

Thursday, March 2, 2023
4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Armstrong Hall- AH 222

Emmanuela Opoku (Minnesota State University, Mankato) 

Emmanuela Opoku is a Doctoral Fellow with the Department of Philosophy at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Her research interests revolve around ecofeminism, climate science, environmental and distributive justice, and human rights to provide gender analysis of climate policy, including climate finance. She earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of North Texas and has also held positions at the Center for Sustainable Development Initiatives (CENSUDI) and World Vision International.

Abstract: This presentation will assess the capacity of climate policy and climate finance to forestall climate changes in the current and future impacts on food security for women and children in northeast Ghana. The presentation will focus on a) The disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and children and why these are ethical and human rights concerns b) How climate change is contributing to the humanitarian crisis in food security globally, in Ghana and in northeast Ghana in particular, and c) The inadequacies of policy and finance initiatives to provide the needed support for women.

The presentation will focus on recent research on the Adaptation Fund Project in Ghana - Increased Resilience to Climate Change in northern Ghana through the Management of Water Resources and Diversification of Livelihoods) and its terminal project evaluation report.

The presentation aims to draw attention to the ethical underpinnings of these issues. Make the plight of the women in northeast Ghana known and seek interdisciplinary collaborations in this area to affect and change policy to alleviate if not minimize the impacts of the crisis of food insecurity for the women.