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Health Risks to Amazon Women and Adaptation of Riverine Communities to Dry Hazards

Project description

Protecting women on the frontlines of climate hazards

The Amazon Basin is threatened by climate change, deforestation, and forest fires. Drought has increased in duration and severity over the last two decades, occurring in conjunction with heatwaves and fires. Research suggests these hazards disproportionately affect women, through social roles and physiological susceptibility. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the HER-AWARD project aims to investigate the health impacts of compound dry hazards on women’s health in riverine communities in the Brazilian Amazon. Juxtaposing scientific and local knowledge with a gendered approach, the project endeavours to inform interventions which empower and support women experiencing the region’s most severe climate impacts.

Objective

The Amazon River Basin is under threat due to climate change, deforestation, and forest fire. Hydroclimatic records show an increase in both the duration and intensity of droughts with remarkable events occurring in the past 20 years in the region. Climate projections indicate overall drier conditions for most of the Amazon in the next decades, together with a higher frequency of extremes such as droughts and floods. By means of positive feedback between climate change and deforestation, changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, and air temperature exacerbate extreme droughts, which frequently co-occurs with heatwaves and forest fires, the three of them being referred to as dry hazards. Compound dry hazards pose health impacts that can be felt differently according to gender, with increasing evidence suggesting that women suffer more intensively because of social norms regarding gender roles as well as due to physiological factors related to reproductive health. HER-AWARD (Health Risks to Amazon Women and Adaptation of Riverine Communities to Dry Hazards) is an interdisciplinary research project aimed to elucidate the intersectional dimensions of health risks associated with dry hazards among women from riverine communities of the BR Amazon. The project seeks to understand the overlapping impacts of compound dry hazards and their cascading effects on women's health. The research is organized into primary components that explore two different spatial scales: starting from a basin-wide perspective and zooming in to a community level. By integrating these scopes, HER-AWARD aims to generate actionable insights and inform effective interventions tailored to the unique needs of riverine women in the Amazon, grounded on scientific and local knowledge through a gender lens. The project is based on an interdisciplinary methodology, combining large-scale environmental modelling, hydrological and spatial analysis, as well as case study social science methods.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01

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Coordinator

HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITAET ZU BERLIN
Net EU contribution
€ 202 125,12
Address
UNTER DEN LINDEN 6
10117 Berlin
Germany
Region
Berlin Berlin Berlin
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data

Partners (2)