Pacific Women’s Leadership in Climate Change, Peace, and Security: Inclusively Responding to Crises

Mar 17, 2021 | Sharon Bhagwan Rolls
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Engaging with women peacebuilders in the Pacific to address climate change can transform regional responses, making them more inclusive and focused on human security, Sharon Bhagwan Rolls writes.

The Pacific region is commonly portrayed in tourism postcards that gloss over human security reports on the impact of rising sea levels and intensifying local and regional disasters. It is a region where these risks mean the loss of livelihoods, threats to cultural identity, and harm to the dignity of communities.

Women from 22 Pacific Island countries and territories are working at multiple levels in multiple ways responding to the impact of climate change. For them it is a daily reality, but they face further marginalisation, often regarded only as victims or beneficiaries of work in the Pacific, despite their unique identities, indigenous and traditional knowledge, and crucial role in building peace and enhancing human security in Pacific homes and communities.