Gendering the Climate-Conflict Nexus

Aug 29, 2023 | Tobias Ide
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The security implications of climate change have been high up on the political agenda for several years now. The UN Security Council, for instance, discussed the risk associated with sea-level rise in February this year. Likewise, the Women, Peace and Security agenda is a cross-cutting issue for many UN institutions, foreign ministries, donors, and NGOs. Both subject areas are also increasingly well-researched. The role of women in peace and conflict figures prominently in political science research and the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) discusses climate-related conflict risks in various chapters.

I argue that, so far, debates on climate change and conflict and discussions around women, peace and conflict are largely taking place in separate silos. Rather than acknowledging the numerous intersections of those two topics and enriching each other’s work, there has been little engagement between experts on both issues. Notable exceptions, such as reports by the United Nations and Monash University, are few and far between, and remain strongly focussed on human security.