Gender and environmental change: recent debates and new perspectives in anthropological research

Abstract

Environmental change is omnipresent and occurs worldwide at a worrisome pace and extent. The current human impact on our planet is unprecedented and has resulted in lively debates about the Anthropocene. This proposed epoch in which humans significantly impact the earth’s ecosystems challenge us to rethink the relationship between humans and ‘nature’ (Haraway et al. 2016, p. 535). Environmental change and increasing environmental degradation present one of the biggest future challenges for humanity. These manifest on a global scale and in specific local phenomena, embedded in complex relationships. As we show in this special focus, of crucial importance here is the fact that all these processes of environmental change are gendered.