Blogs & Opinions

Empowering Women Peacebuilders

Dec 6, 2024 | Editorials
Editorials

After the United States assumed the presidency of the Security Council for December, its first signature event focused on the role of women in peace…

COP16: Empowering Women Environmental Defenders

Nov 7, 2024 | Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental
IUCN

Women Defenders in the Amazon RegionEighty-five percent of the 196 murders of environmental defenders recorded internationally in 2023 occurred in Latin America, according to Global…

Beyond Food Security: The Potential Gendered Consequences of Food Aid

Oct 21, 2024 | Caroline Delgado and Simone Bunse
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

In conflict-affected humanitarian settings where there are high levels of food insecurity, women and men face distinct challenges that can deeply affect gender relations. The same…

Water, War, and Women in Gaza

Sep 18, 2024 | H. Patricia Hynes, Common Dreams

In late 2020, a report titled Saving Gaza Begins With Its Water stated:

The water crisis in Gaza is a problem of daunting proportions, with grave implications for…

Women Hold the Solutions to Tackling Climate Change and Hunger. Just Ask Them

Sep 4, 2024 | Michelle Nunn

In Diffa, one of the poorest regions of Niger, climate change has led to more frequent droughts and floods that have created severe food insecurity and malnutrition.…

The Price of Victory in the Gaza War: Women, Climate, and Peace

Aug 28, 2024 | Amira Saber

Amira Saber, member of the Egyptian Parliament, looks at the environmental damage caused by the war in Gaza. She underscores the compounding ill effects of…

The Toll that Wars Take on Women

Jul 31, 2024 | Candice Helfand-Rogers

For women in war-torn regions, suffering, displacement, pain and death are daily prospects, for themselves and their children – whether they’re soldiers or not. And they’re usually…

Why Women Are Key to Managing Afghanistan’s Water Crisis

Jul 22, 2024 | Katrina J. Lane

Afghan women’s livelihoods are the most impacted by water scarcity. Involving them in water policy and resource management could provide sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience…

Advancing Women, Peace, and Security through Security Cooperation in NATO

Jul 12, 2024 | Courtney Clarksen, Tyler McAnally, and Kathleen McInnis

This series—featuring scholars from the Futures Lab, the International Security Program, and across CSIS—explores emerging challenges and opportunities that NATO is likely to confront after…

A Roadmap For a Greener, Gender-Inclusive Future

Jul 2, 2024 | Nathalie A. Gabala and Emmanuel Nyirinkindi

Many companies in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) are now prioritizing climate action and advancing gender inclusiveness. However, there are still too few bringing…

Conflict, Land Dispossession, and the Struggle for Gender Equality in Cameroon

Jul 2, 2024 | Dean Peacock

This interview with Lotsmart Fonjong is part of series of interviews by WILPF to reflect on the original research produced by the Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace…

In Cameroon, Breaking Barriers for Women in Restoration

Jun 29, 2024 | Monica Evans & Laurianne Mefan

Restoring land and reducing its degradation is crucial for Cameroon’s sustainable development and long-term resilience. Over 70 percent of the population depend on agriculture for…

Tackling Gender Disparity in Land Ownership in FCT

Jun 27, 2024 | Emmanuel Chisom

Land is one the most valued properties in the world. It is not for nothing that famous economic scholar, Adam Smith, classified it as one of the…

Health Equity and Gender Equality in a More Violent World

Jun 26, 2024 | Valerie Percival

Violence and instability are rising around the world. Researchers recorded 2022 as the "deadliest year since the Rwandan genocide in 1994" and 2023 as experiencing the highest number of…

How to Make Locally Led Climate Adaptation Finance More Gender Responsive

Jun 25, 2024 | Ntezi Mbabazi & Rose Pinnington

Northern donors are making efforts to fund local actors more directly and enable greater local leadership, notably within climate adaptation programming aiming to promote gender equality. And…

How to Advance Peace and Security Through a Climate and Gender Lens? Reflections From Youth at the UN Women’s GEN-Forum 2024

Jun 25, 2024 | Clare Steiner & Khaing Su Lwin

The unfolding triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution in the Asia-Pacific region has critical implications for human security, conflict, and inequality. Climate…

Barriers to the Engagement of Women in UN Peace Operations

Jun 24, 2024 | Eleanor Gordon

Women’s meaningful participation in peace operations is critical to building sustainable peace. Yet, women continue to be marginalised, especially in senior roles, because of organisational,…

“Now What?” Addressing the Climate-Gender-Security Nexus at NATO

Jun 20, 2024 | Siena Cicarelli and Cori Fleser

At the 2021 Brussels Summit, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) endorsed its first-ever Climate Change and Security Action Plan, with the aim to “mainstream…

Climate Change, Conflict, and Gender Inequality in the MENA Region

Jun 18, 2024 | Zeina Moneer

The Middle East and North Africa is one of the world’s most gender unequal regions; it will take an estimated 140 years for MENA countries to establish parity…

Climate Change and Gender Roles: Women’s Active Role in Adaptation

Jun 12, 2024 | Sarah B. Barnes

“The success or failure of any adaptation strategy or action highly depends on the understanding of the capacities of a community or an individual to…

USAID's Climate Strategy in Action: Colombian Youth Committed to Environmental Leadership and Conservation

Jun 11, 2024 | Andrea Arias and Sonia Borja

Colombia is home to 10 percent of the world’s biodiversity and has the eighth largest forest area globally. Its forests and wetlands not only sustain the…

The Critical Role of Gender Equality in Climate Change: Empowering Women to Heal the Planet

Jun 10, 2024 | Daniel Salvador

The rain had been relentless. It washed away the fragile soil that Mariam depended on for her crops, her only means of feeding her children.…

How Setting Gender-Sensitive Targets Can Boost Climate Action

Jun 5, 2024 | EIGE

Climate change affects everyone, but not equally. Women are often disproportionately affected by it, in particular single mothers, single women, women with disabilities and elderly…

Breaking Gendered Barriers: Exploring the Nexus Between Youth, Climate Change, Migration, and Gender

Jun 5, 2024 | Yasmina Benslimane

Climate change has emerged as one of the most pressing issues of our time, triggering consequences that reverberate across all borders. As the planet's climate continues to…

Land Degradation Neutrality and Restoration: Does Gender Matter?

Jun 4, 2024 | Sharon S. Thawaney and Debosmita Sarkar

Marking the 30th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) Convention to Combat Desertification, this year’s World Environment Day is focusing on a related key pillar of…

Women, Peace, and Security & the Climate Change Agenda

Jun 3, 2024 | Alicia L. Alvarez

Climate change is a critical threat to 21st-century peace and security, with significant gender dimensions influencing how insecurity is experienced and managed by women and…

Women Are 14 Times More Likely to Die in a Climate Disaster Than Men. It’s Just One Way Climate Change is Gendered

May 29, 2024 | Carla P. Leahy

When we think of climate and environmental issues such as climate-linked disasters or biodiversity loss, we don’t tend to think about gender. At first glance,…

Climate Change Doesn't Have to Result in Greater Gender Inequity in the Carribean

May 29, 2024 | Wazim Mowla

The Caribbean is one of world’s most vulnerable regions to the effects of climate change. Hurricanes and strong tropical storms, changing precipitation patterns, and sea level rise…

Tackling Gender Inequality in a Climate-Changed World

May 22, 2024 | Clara Ceravolo, Ilaria Sisto, Lauren Whitehead, Matthew Walsham, Morane Verhoeven, and Shalini Roy

Air pollution, rising temperatures, crop failures, and water shortages are increasing pressures on health and agrifood systems. During these crises, households often reduce food consumption,…

‘I am starting to panic about my child’s future’: Climate Scientists Wary of Starting Families

May 10, 2024 | Damian Carrington

"I had the hormonal urges,” said Prof Camille Parmesan, a leading climate scientist based in France. “Oh my gosh, it was very strong. But it was:…