Week of Awareness: Disaster Reduction + Rural Women + Food
Oct 22, 2024
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#IDDRR, #InternationalDayOfRuralWomen, #WorldFoodDay
This week marks the observance of three important international days of awareness. On Sunday, October 13, we observed the International Day of Disaster Reduction, with the theme “Empowering the next generation for a resilient future.” On Tuesday, October 15, it was the International Day of Rural Women, focusing on “Rural Women Sustaining Nature for Our Collective Future: Building climate resilience, conserving biodiversity, and caring for land towards gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.” Today, Wednesday, October 16, we celebrate World Food Day, highlighting the theme “Right to food for a better life and better future.”
These three days illustrate the profound interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health, often referred to as One Health. Each of these challenges—disaster reduction, rural women’s empowerment, and food security—requires holistic approaches, and they significantly impact one another. Central to this paradigm are rural women, who play a crucial role in sustaining both human and environmental health.
Rural women are often the stewards of agricultural systems, essential for food production, security, and nutrition worldwide. They work tirelessly to conserve biodiversity, serve as custodians of natural resources, and preserve traditional knowledge. Moreover, rural women are at the forefront of health and well-being in their communities, comprising a large part of the rural healthcare workforce, particularly in areas such as water and sanitation, zoonotic disease control, occupational health, and other public health services.
As the United Nations highlights, rural women are vital to the One Health approach as both food providers and protectors of the environment. However, they face significant challenges, with climate change being one of the most pressing. As the climate crisis intensifies, natural disasters increasingly disrupt ecosystems, leading to a cascade of issues such as waterborne diseases, food insecurity, and displacement—threatening human, animal, and environmental health. The International Day of Disaster Reduction raises awareness of these risks and emphasizes the need to empower future generations to tackle these environmental challenges, which are integral to the health of the planet and all its inhabitants.
For World Food Day, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) emphasizes that agrifood systems are highly vulnerable to disasters and crises, especially those driven by climate change. At the same time, current agricultural practices contribute to pollution, soil degradation, water and air quality deterioration, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity loss. However, by transforming agri-food systems, there is a significant opportunity to mitigate climate change and support resilient, inclusive, and sustainable livelihoods for all.
World Food Day brings attention to the global challenge of ensuring access to safe and nutritious food. Sustainable agricultural practices are crucial for maintaining healthy soils, conserving biodiversity, and reducing the spread of zoonotic diseases. To secure food for future generations, rural women must gain greater access to productive resources, communities must be better prepared for disasters, and young people must be educated on sustainable practices and resilience.
By observing these international days, we are reminded that tackling global challenges like disasters, gender inequality, and food insecurity demands a One Health approach—one that integrates the health of people, animals, and the environment—to ensure a sustainable, resilient, and healthy future for all.
Relevant Rural Women infographic (last updated in 2021): https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/multimedia/2018/2/infographic-rural-women
World Food Day – What can YOU do?
https://www.fao.org/world-food-day/take-action/what-can-you-do/en
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