NEW DELHI: A sobering fact sheet released this month by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) highlights the disproportionate impact of climate insecurity on women and girls, while exposing their continued exclusion from peace and climate governance.
The report, Climate, Peace and Security Thematic Fact Sheet: Women, Peace and Security 2025, draws on data from the UN, IPCC, and World Bank to reveal a grim reality: by 2050, climate change could push 158 million women and girls into poverty—surpassing the 142 million men and boys similarly affected.
Today, 26.7% of women face food insecurity compared to 25.4% of men, underscoring a persistent gender gap in vulnerability. In 2023, women accounted for 40% of civilian conflict deaths, children 30%, and men the remaining 30%, reflecting the specific and uneven risks women endure amid climate-related conflicts.
These numbers lay bare the fact that climate insecurity is neither gender-neutral nor benign. The report details how women’s daily survival activities—such as fetching water or collecting firewood—expose them to increased abuse.
Overcrowded water points provoke domestic conflict, and long journeys to distant resources heighten vulnerability to assault. Displacement intensifies these dangers; in Somalia, for example, displaced women live under a constant threat of sexual violence.
Despite bearing these burdens, women also play vital roles in community resilience.
In Chad, women constitute 60% of the agricultural workforce, maintaining production despite drought and land degradation.
In Yemen, women’s committees have successfully negotiated access to water resources with tribal leaders and military groups, easing tensions and providing critical relief. Yet, their presence in formal peace and climate decision-making remains marginal.
Between 1989 and 2018, women’s groups participated in just 9% of formal peace talks in Africa and the Americas and only 12% of non-violent peace initiatives. At the 2024 COP29 climate summit, women made up only 35% of delegates, while from 2015 to 2023, women held just 22% of permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
The fact sheet outlines four key pathways through which climate insecurity affects women: impacts on livelihoods, migration, armed actors, and grievances. Communities reliant on farming and pastoralism face acute vulnerability to environmental shocks.
Men’s migration for work, observed in countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, and Mali, leaves women with heavy responsibilities amid scarce resources. Armed groups exploit these vulnerabilities—ex-combatants in Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria cite climate pressures as recruitment drivers; in Uganda’s Karamoja, drought-induced cattle losses fuel raids.
Children, especially girls, are recruited in Myanmar and Sierra Leone under similar stresses, while women environmental defenders in Colombia face threats from armed and security forces linked to clean energy projects.
Policy responses remain inadequate. Although over three-quarters of agricultural policies acknowledge women’s roles, only 19% explicitly prioritise gender equality.
National climate adaptation plans often mention gender superficially, resulting in a fragmented landscape where climate policies ignore gender, and gender policies overlook climate. The report calls for urgent measures: increased funding for grassroots women’s groups via the UN Peacebuilding Fund and Green Climate Fund; stronger protections against gender-based violence and forced recruitment for displaced people; enhanced involvement of local mediators and Indigenous leaders; and integrating climate as a core issue in Women, Peace and Security national action plans.
Importantly, it emphasises including men and boys in gender-responsive approaches, recognising how evolving masculinities under climate stress can either escalate conflict or promote peace.
The study concludes with a stark warning: climate change amplifies existing dangers and inequalities. Without placing gender at the heart of policy, cycles of inequality and violence will intensify, undermining both peace and security.