A/70/287 preparedness and adaptation strategies. 28 Migration as a result of natural disasters, climate change and conflict also has a disproportionate effect on women, increasing the difficulties of providing for their families, including children and the elderly. This affects in particular women living in rural areas and among the urban poor. 37. The empowerment of women by way of education, secure property rights and technology is paramount to tackling climate change and at the same time eliminating hunger and poverty by using the knowledge and experience of local women. At the national and local levels, rights-based practices can contribute to climate justice. For example, women in Maradi, Niger, traditionally lacked access to rights, making them particularly vulnerable to food crises caused by recurrent droughts. Rights-based approaches have been used at the community level to improve women’s access to and control over land as well as their access to information and credit. Enabling women to adapt their agricultural practices improves household nutrition and generates income. Helping women and other vulnerable groups to claim their rights is therefo re essential to climate justice. 29 Similarly, the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, in Behar, India, organized a series of training programmes to promote women ’s empowerment and leadership to fill the knowledge gap in climate change. 30 Indigenous peoples 38. Indigenous peoples are already among the world’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities in many parts of the world owing to discriminatory policies. They are highly dependent on natural resources, with subsistence agriculture, hunting and gathering forming a core part of their livelihoods, and they often have very limited additional income from other activities. Additionally, they may face situations where the land tenure and access rights of their communities are not legally recognized. 39. Indigenous peoples often live in physically isolated and harsh environments and rely on fragile ecosystems that are particularly susceptible to climate change and natural disasters. Such ecosystems include tropical rainforests, arctic regions, deserts, low-lying and coastal areas, small islands, open grasslands and mountainous areas. Damage to these ecosystems threatens indigenous peoples ’ resource bases and traditional ways of securing food. As a result of a decline in biodiversity, t raditional subsistence food is being lost in these regions, along with access to medicinal plants traditionally used to ward off pests and disease. 40. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognized that climate change in polar regions will affect the informal, subsistence-based economy of indigenous peoples, with changing sea ice conditions likely to reduce their ability to hunt the marine mammals that are a significant source of both food and livelihood. 31 __________________ 28 29 30 31 10/25 FAO, “FAO Programme: Food Security”. Available from www.fao.org/gender/gender-home/ gender-programme/gender-food/en/. Mary Robinson Foundation — Climate Justice, “Human rights and climate justice”, position paper, 27 June 2014. Available from www.mrfcj.org/media/pdf/PositionPaperHumanRightsand ClimateChange.pdf. Dharini Parthasarathy and Cecilia Schubert, “Empowering w omen to take the lead on climate change adaptation”, 3 March 2014. Available from https://ccafs.cgiar.org/blog/empowering women-take-lead-climate-change-adaptation#.VZuStxaEzzJ. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability: Part B: Regional Aspects (see note 2 above). 15-10041