Essay by Eric Worrall
As Ordinary Britons struggle with skyrocketing power bills and a cost of living crisis, the British Government is boasting of all the cash they are spending on gender issue trained climate mitigators in Mexico.
World news story
UK PACT helps mitigate the effects of climate change in Mexico
UK PACT supports coffee producing communities in Veracruz, Mexico with projects to mitigate the effects of climate change.
From: British Embassy Mexico City Published3 October 2022
UK PACT implements a project in Mexico to help coffee producing communities in the state of Veracruz to mitigate the effects of climate change, seeking to improve their quality of life through planting tree species that favour the conservation of the biodiversity of their ecosystems and that have a wider benefit for these communities.
The project consists in developing a methodology for the selection and agro-ecological management of species with high potential for carbon sequestration, as well as an effort to conserve the native tree species of the Veracruz mountain range. The project also aims to benefit the small coffee producers by planting trees that contribute to a higher quality of life for the communities, taking into account the possible utilities and cultural aspects of each species.
Before commencing activities, the implementing partners of the project received training on gender equality and social inclusion. During three days of participative workshops, two gender experts – from Mexico’s National University (UNAM) and the FCDO – led sessions around gender, the role of masculinities and about effective communication with a gender perspective.
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A key objective of the workshops was to raise awareness about the provisions established in British law, that oblige all international cooperation programmes to account for a gender equality and social inclusion perspective. As such, this project is expected to implement with the care of acknowledging the realities and perspectives of women and other vulnerable groups that participate in the cultivation of coffee. This has the purpose of making sure that the benefits obtained from this programme contribute to closing gender gaps and promoting an authentic inclusive economic growth.
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So Britons, next time you look at your pay packet in horror, or skip a few meals to pay your skyrocketing energy bills, you can be happy that your tax money has ensured that somewhere in Mexico coffee growers understand what a COP conference is, and can now list the 74+ genders they might encounter in their rural backwoods.
