6.2 Understanding the Right to Family Life in the Context of Climate Change Mitigation Policies The right to family life has interesting intersections with climate change mitigation. The promotion of equal rights for women and men in marriage, and specifically the legal empowerment of women to control property and other valuable resources, and to participate in decision-making processes, is beneficial for climate change mitigation. Women are generally more vulnerable to climate change than men, as they constitute the majority of the world’s poor and are more dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods. In many areas, they also face social, economic and legal barriers that limit their capacity. However, women can also be the most active agents of change in terms of transitioning to sustainable livelihoods and mitigating climate change. Due to their position in many households and communities as stewards of natural resources, women are more likely to be aware of, and responsive to, the need for the sustainable use of these resources. They may also be responsible for meeting their families’ energy needs. Strategies aimed at climate change mitigation, to be successful, should therefore consider a gender empowerment perspective. Important concrete measures in terms of the right to family life that can benefit climate change mitigation include, for example: - Improving the social status of women through financial and technical support to women’s groups. Improving women’s access to and control over resources such as land and water, but also technological inputs, information and access to credit. Ensuring that legal frameworks empower women and provide for gender equality, and that related organisational structures provide for participation and representation of women. Reducing women’s workloads in order to allow for diversification of activities. Providing leadership and entrepreneurial capacity-building to women. Such measures will improve the sustainable use of natural resources, which is an important element of climate change mitigation. The relationship of voluntary family planning to climate mitigation is much more controversial, linked to the fear of coercive family planning programmes and issues relating to women’s autonomy. Some studies have suggested that empowering women to time their pregnancies, presumably by reducing overall births and the subsequent increase of pressure on natural resources, could reduce global carbon emissions by 8 to 15%. Certainly, government policies aimed at disseminating information and resources with regard to voluntary family planning are beneficial for women’s sexual and reproductive health, and overall opportunities for lifestyle choice. 51