A/75/298 D. Harmful cultural practices 48. Climate change has been reported to play a role in increasing harmful practices against women such as child marriage of girls and female genital mutilation. 84 Humanitarian assistance such as in disasters attendant on climate change tends to ignore caste dynamics and caste-related power structures, thus exacerbating existing caste-based exclusion. 85 E. Cultural rights of women 49. The gendered impacts of climate change, resource scarcity and disasters, which may result for women in increased caretaking responsibilities 86 and time poverty, 87 may create further obstacles to their ability to participat e in cultural life and access educational opportunities. The resulting increased poverty makes it harder for women to continue education, to have time to participate in cultural life, and to have resources (such as money or transportation) to engage in cultural events and activities. Cultural restrictions on women’s mobility can limit their access to environmentally friendly methods of transportation such as cycling. 88 Climate change and poverty together increase the barriers to access and enjoyment of cultural rights. 89 Work towards gender equality, including with regard to culture, is vital for improving climate change response. F. Impact on cultural rights of indigenous peoples 50. Climate change-induced damage and destruction of culture and cultural heritage can have a particularly significant effect on indigenous peoples, for whom connections to place, land and landscape and relationships with culturally important animals, plants, habitats and ecosystems play such an important role in shaping heritage, laws, worldviews, practices and identity. 90 The Special Rapporteur was grateful to receive numerous submissions regarding effects on indigenous peoples ’ cultural rights. Some submissions stressed both commonalities in the experiences of indigenous peoples and their diversities. 51. Lack of respect for land rights and rights to natural resources exacerbates the vulnerabilities of indigenous peoples to grave cultural losses due to climate change. As explained in one submission: “There has been no life for us since we moved out of the forest.” 91 Structural causes of the disproportionate impacts of climate change must be addressed. 52. The implications of climate change for food, agricultural practices and land tenure security, such as limited ability to harvest culturally relevant foods, are also of __________________ 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 14/23 Minority Rights Group International, Minority and Indigenous Trends 2019 (see footnote 77), pp. 84 and 85. International Dalit Solidarity Network, “Equality in aid: addressing caste discrimination in humanitarian response” (September 2013), p. 3. Climate change, disaster and gender vulnerability (see footnote 12), 72–82. Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, International (WECAN), “Unleashing the power of women in climate solutions”. Available at www.wecaninternational.org/why-women. WHO, Gender, Climate Change and Health, p. 23. See contribution by International Action Network for Gender Equity and Law. Kathryn Norton-Smith and others, Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: A Synthesis of Current Impacts and Experiences (United States Department of Agriculture, 2016), pp. 12 and 13; See also contribution by British Columbia Assembly of First Nations. See contribution by Minority Rights Group International. 20-10595