Women’s issues should be integrated into national climate change policies as the fairer sex is more vulnerable to the consequences of natural disasters, said experts at the release of a UN report Thursday.

“It [climate change] is also an issue of population dynamics, poverty and gender equity,” said Bruce Campbell, UNFPA representative in Vietnam, in his opening statement at the release of the report. “Women often manage households and care for family members and this limits their mobility and increases their vulnerability to sudden weather-related natural disasters.”

The UNFPA official estimates that there are more than 12 million female farmers in Vietnam that are highly dependent on land and natural resources to generate income and support their families.

Phan Thi Thien, a 41-year-old resident of Hai Lang District in Quang Tri Province who was invited to speak at the event along with two other women from the same area, said her family had been badly affected by climate change as her husband, a fisherman, was unable to catch enough fish due to increasingly negative weather.

“My husband used to give me between 50,000 to 70,000 VND per day for cooking, but now he can’t fish everyday and our income has been reduced,” Thien told the UN team that interviewed her for a documentary on the effects of climate change on women in Vietnam.

Tran Thi Thu, chairwomen of the Hai Lang District Women’s Union, told the event’s participants that adverse weather conditions had caused many local men to migrate to other provinces seeking jobs, leaving the women deal with family chores, farming and any natural disasters alone.

In addition, she said the fact that local men had lost their jobs could lead to problems such as drinking and domestic violence.

Suzette Mitchell, United Nations Development Fund for Women Country Representative, suggested Vietnam develop assistance policies to help women cope with natural disasters, such as obtaining loans, additional financing and emergency training.

Considered one of the most natural disaster prone countries in the world, Vietnam suffered an estimated US$800 million in damage this year due to Typhoon Ketsana, which killed 163 people and affected three million residents.

Typhoon Mirinae, which hit about three weeks ago, left at least 123 dead.

Reported by Huong Le