While developed countries have contributed most to exacerbating climate change, developing countries face the overwhelming burden of coping with its effects: greater variability of rainfall, intensified and more frequent natural disasters, increased food and economic insecurity and negative health impacts. In many cases, the impact of climate change will be felt most severely by women, the majority of and poorest of the poor.
If developing countries are to cope with climate change, they must have financial resources; how those resources are allocated will determine, in part, how effective their adaptation and mitigation
strategies are. Recognizing the differential impact of climate change on women and men is an important part of this.