Oxfam: In pictures - women fighting climate change

Natalie Brook explains the how climate change often has a disproportionate impact on women.

As obvious as it sounds, climate change affects everybody. From the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina in 2005, through to the floods that covered Pakistan in July this year, we're all in this together.

But what's less well understood is that the impacts of climate change are much more likely to hit women the hardest.

It's not the easiest idea to understand. After all, everyone gets affected during a flood. But because in many parts of the world it tends to be women who grow the family's food, fetch fuel and water, and bring up the children, it's women who are most likely to be in harm's way when disaster strikes. So when clean water becomes harder to find during a drought, or when crops are destroyed by floods, it's often up to women to find solutions.

The slideshow below is a snapshot of the problems – brought on by climate change – that women are facing, and some of the many ways that they're fighting back. It includes examples from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Malawi, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand and Uganda.

At climate change negotiations taking place in Cancún this week, Oxfam is working to raise awareness of the critical role that women play in tackling climate change and is pushing for a much greater repsonse from the international community to meet women's needs.