ABSTRACT
The effects of climate change are far-reaching and do not affect all categories of people in the same way. Women are vulnerable in a disproportionate way to the vagaries of climate change and variability because of their intimate relationship with, and dependence upon, natural resources. This chapter examines the gendered character of climate change with reference to the Tonga people in Binga District in Zimbabwe by focusing in particular on the basket-weaving of Tonga women in Ward 7. This entails interrogating basketry as a source of livelihoods for women in the face of climate change, including any mitigation, coping and adaptation strategies adopted by women in trying to undercut the negative effects of climate change on basket-making. Of particular significance is the implication of climate change for the local availability of the ilala plant and reeds used for basket-production, with declining precipitation and rising temperatures in Binga making the growing of ilala plants near impossible, thereby causing their increasing scarcity.
