Climate Change
Climate change is increasingly recognized as a global threat to peace. Effective responses to conflict prevention and peacebuilding in affected countries and regions require strengthening social inclusion and leveraging the agency of women – especially local women – who are on the frontlines of climate change.
Climate change impacts people’s abilities to perform gender roles; in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, different forms of insecurity and violence can emerge when these gender roles are frustrated. At the same time, climate change can also contribute to social shifts that lead to new responsibilities and opportunities for women and men in economic decisions and activity, political engagement, community arbitration, and mediation.
Responses to climate change are also gendered. Decisions about or related to climate change are most often taken by (elite) males, and thus do not systematically consider how they may impact the security and livelihoods of other genders, and males who are less privileged. Furthermore, they rarely take into account how gender roles have been impacted by climate change or how opportunities to strengthen political and economic gender equity could be supported through climate-related decisions.
Until recently, however, significant gaps in our understanding of how gender, natural resources, climate, and conflict are linked have constrained effective responses. Over-simplistic analysis of gender has also been an obstacle, leading to important oversights in understanding how different identities – gender and otherwise – intersect and compound marginalization. These oversights have serious implications for understanding the security risks and implications of climate change and its responses, like preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation, and recurrence of conflict.
Key Resources
The Women, Peace and Security Agenda and the Climate Crisis: Inextricable Links
This talk was presented as part of the research seminar, African Perspectives on the 20th Anniversary of UNSCR 325 - Gendering Peace and Security, The…Climate Change in Women, Peace and Security National Action Plans
This SIPRI Insights paper explores how the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) national action plans (NAPs) of 80 states frame and respond to climate change…Women and Climate Change: Impact and Agency in Human Rights, Security, and Economic Development
This report comes at an important time of international observance when new commitments to action will be made, coinciding not only with the fifteenth anniversaries…Gender and Environmental (In)Security: From Climate Conflict to Ecosystem Instability
For decades, scholars, policy makers, and the media have discussed the connections between security and climate change. These actors have utilized various discourses and narratives…Gender, Conflict, and Global Environmental Change
Gender has long been identified as an important variable in both conflict (de-)escalation processes and vulnerability or adaptive capacity toward global environmental change. We understand…Women’s Resilience to Disasters Knowledge Hub
The WRD Knowledge Hub brings together a network of people who support women and girls affected by disasters and climate change.We champion women’s agency and…
Resources
Taking Out the Trash: Tourism Waste, Women’s Environmental Insecurity, and the Foundations of Community Fragility in Coastal Asia-Pacific
Spotlight
It’s August in Boracay, Philippines. The beach bars, restaurants and luxury resorts are packed with revellers and tourists — up to 2.1 million visiting in…
Global: OSCE Tackles Gender and Climate Change Nexus
International
A major OSCE conference in Vienna brought together experts to examine the gendered dimensions of climate change and associated security risks across the organization's 57…
Niger: How Community Shelters Protect Children and Help Women Restore Degraded Lands in Niger
International
Washington, USA, 03 April 2026 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Community-built shelters in Niger are enabling mothers to participate in land restoration work by providing shaded…
Liberia: New, Community-Led Conservation Delivering Promises
International
Years ago, women in Wedjah and Jaedae Districts in Sinoe County processed cassava with their bare hands. Their story has changed for the better. They…
South Sudan: UNMISS Strengthens Capacity of Women-Led Organizations to Combat Climate Shocks
International
Every year, communities across South Sudan are devastated by severe flooding, due to climate change and inadequate infrastructure to cope with the impact. Those most…
How CIMMYT is Advancing Women-centered Agriculture in Africa
Blog
Across Africa, women play a central role in producing food, managing farms, and sustaining household nutrition and incomes. Yet their contributions are still too often…
Emphasize Gender Equality in Water Management Elsewhere
Blog
Only three per cent of the world’s water is freshwater. However, 2.5 per cent of all the world’s water is locked in glaciers, ice-capped polar…
Uganda: How Women are Still Walking Miles for Water and Paying the Price
International
In the vast, sun-scorched plains of Uganda’s northeastern region of Karamoja, the search for water begins before the day has properly broken. In scattered homesteads…
Latin America: From the Amazon to Mesoamerica - Women, Science, and Policy are Shaping Resilient Agri-food Systems in Latin America
International
Across Latin America, the transformation of agri-food systems is being driven by a powerful convergence: science, public policy, and the leadership of women farmers and…
The Kenyan Kalaazar Caregivers Holding the Line Against a Deadly Disease That Chooses No Tribe and No Child
Spotlight
March 2026, West Pokot: For three days, the rain has fallen without pause. The road leading to Sigor Subcounty Hospital, usually a lifeline for families…
Uganda: Alupo Launches African Pastoralist Women Network to Boost Land Rights
International
Vice President Jessica Alupo has officially launched the African Pastoralist Women Network (ARPWN) and a Learning Centre aimed at advancing gender justice, climate resilience, and…
Brazil: Landless Women Mobilize for Agrarian Reform and Against Violence by Brazil
International
This year’s National Day of Landless Women’s Struggles began on March 8 and runs until next Thursday, the 12th, with mobilizations in all regions of…
Why Women Are Central to Resilient Food Systems
Blog
As climate change, economic instability, and biodiversity loss place increasing pressure on global food systems, building resilience has become an urgent priority. But resilience is…
Uganda: Women Are Leading Uganda’s Environmental Transformation - Are We Supporting Them Enough?
International
As Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark International Women’s Day 2026 under the theme “Give to Gain”, we must look beyond celebration…
Environmental Justice through Gender-Sensitive Debt-for-Nature Swaps in the Caribbean: An SDG Policy Perspective
Library
In an era of climate crises and debt burdens, debt-for-nature swaps offer debt relief in exchange for environmental conservation, holding promise for Caribbean small island…
Free Bodies, Free Territories: Reflections on the Right to Land, Water and Territories for Gender and Sexually Diverse People in Rural Contexts
Blog
How can land and agrarian reform create safe spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community? What does it mean to struggle for recognition and rights to land,…
L'Adaptation au Changement Climatique : Vers une Transformation Structurelle du Secteur de L'Aide Internationale
Library
If current trends continue, the world is on course for a temperature increase of almost +2.9°C by the end of the century, resulting in more…
'Still Struggling with the Commons': An Overview of Progress & Problems Securing Community Lands in Africa (Brief No. 08 of "Transforming Conservation: From Conflicts to Justice" Series)
Briefs & Development
This Brief provides main findings from a study of all land and resource laws in force in Africa in 2025 to assess the legal status…
Integrated Assessment of Climate-Related Security Risks for Peace and Security in Blue Nile, Sudan, and Their Gender Dimensions
Library
The Blue Nile State in Sudan is grappling with a severe and escalating crisis, marked by an intensifying conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)…
Conflicts and Trends to Watch in 2026
Report
Entering 2026, the global security landscape is defined by record-high levels of armed conflict, democratic backsliding, geopolitical fragmentation, and an accelerating climate crisis—dynamics unfolding alongside…
Why Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Belong in Climate Action
Blog
A conversation with Ipas research expert Sally Dijkerman on why climate action must include sexual and reproductive health and rights, and what it will take…
Gendered Dimensions of Climate-Related Security Risks in the OSCE Area
Report
This report examines how climate change is exacerbating security risks across the OSCE region through gendered and intersectional pathways. Drawing on policy mapping and stakeholder…
Reimagining the UN’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda: Climate Resilience and Women’s Peacebuilding in Lake Chad
Blog
As Lake Chad’s waters shrink and droughts intensify, pastoralists and farmers clash over the remaining oases. Amid this crisis, rural women – farmers, water-keepers, and…
The Duty to Cooperate in Addressing the Adverse Impact of Environmental Chronic Emergencies: Ensuring Gender-Sensitive Responses (chapter in "Gendering International Legal Responses to Environmental Chronic Emergencies")
Book
This chapter examines the content and scope of States’ duty to cooperate in responding to the gendered effects of ECEs by exploring various forms of…
Herder-Related Violence, Labor Allocation, and the Gendered Response of Agricultural Households
Library
Violent conflict between nomadic herders and settled agricultural communities in Nigeria occurs as both groups clash over the use of land and natural resources, in…
Gender Responsive Climate Security Assessment for Sri Lanka
Library
Commissioned by the UNDP–DPPA Joint Programme and UN Women with the support from the Government of Australia, and conducted by adelphi research, this pioneering assessment…
Pacific Islands: Climate Security in the Pacific: Emerging Trends, Priorities, and Solutions
International
Pacific Island countries are among those most affected by climate change. Rising sea levels, shifting rainfall patterns and increasing extreme weather events threaten land, livelihoods…
Call for Proposal: Gender, Climate, and Social Cohesion
Announcement
Given Afghanistan's increased climate vulnerability and the dispropotionate impact on women anand girls, this CfP aims to (1) leverage media platforms (TV, radio, digital initiatives)…
When the Smoke Clears: How Hybrid Warfare Exploits Gender Vulnerabilities in Climate Disasters
Spotlight
The hurricane passes. The wildfire is contained. The flood waters recede. Then the real fight begins.
We are beginning to understand how the vulnerabilities exposed in…
Mali: Combating Climate Change for Peace in Mali
International
Mali is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change in the world. Between 1970 and 2020, the country experienced at least 40 major…