Blogs & Opinions

Women Land and Water Defenders Are the Real Peacebuilders

Nov 27, 2019 | Gabriela Jimenez

Large-scale resource extraction often perpetuates violence, even in countries with peace accords. Those who mobilize to protect the land and water to build peace are…

Women in Climate Change Hotspots Face Greater Burdens When Under Environmental Stress

Nov 26, 2019 | Suzannah Lyons

Climate change has a negative impact on women's ability to make meaningful decisions in their lives, according to new research looking at climate change hotspots…

Sleepwalking into Catastrophe - Climate Change

Nov 26, 2019 | Linda Witong

Special Advisor to SI Advocacy, Linda Witong, takes a closer look at how and why climate change aggravates inequalities and increases the risks to women…

A Gender Lens is Essential to Sustaining Peace: Evidence from Mozambique

Nov 25, 2019

Despite decades of relative peace and recent efforts to promote gender equality, women and girls in Mozambique continue to experience a disproportionate amount of insecurity.…

Climate Change is Brutal for Everyone, but Worse for Women

Nov 25, 2019 | Matt Simon

The climate crisis is so epic, so vicious, so wide-reaching, that at this point there are few aspects of the human experience it isn’t transforming.…

Forest Conservation Must Address Violence Against Women

Nov 25, 2019 | Jeanette Sequeira, Juana Vera Delgado, and Ruth Nyambura

November 25th has been designated as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women by the United Nations. The day also marks the beginning…

Three Provocative Ideas in the First Environmental Peacebuilding Conference

Nov 25, 2019 | Laura Betancur

Under the umbrella of “environmental peacebuilding”, a growing community of researchers and practitioners are framing their efforts in relating the natural environment and the peacebuilding…

The Ethics of Violent Conservation

Nov 25, 2019 | Dan Brockington and Rosaleen Duffy

Conservation practices and decisions have repercussions for people, and different repercussions for different people. Conservation is inevitably a human enterprise. Conservation itself – if ever…

Climate Change: Feminists Have Pushed for Marginalised Voices to Be Heard

Nov 25, 2019

As calls grow for climate action to be more responsive to frontline communities, CIVICUS spoke to Maria Nailevu, a feminist climate activist from Fiji, about…

Colombia Must Protect the Women Risking Their Lives to Defend Black Communities

Nov 23, 2019 | Duncan Tucker

Danelly Estupiñán will never forget the first threats she received back in 2015. First came the text message declaring “Danelly, your end has come.” And…

Climate Change Affects Women More. What Can the State Do to Intervene?

Nov 19, 2019 | Sara Hayat

Climate change is affecting us all, but certain demographics more than others. Marginalised communities — and within them, women in particular — feel the discriminatory…

Mohamed's Story: The Climate Conflict Trap in the Lake Chad Basin

Nov 19, 2019 | Noah Gordon

Years ago, Mohamed’s family had enough to eat, despite being poor. His daughter owned a vegetable stall at a bustling market in northeastern Nigeria. The…

Land Portal at CFS46: Empowering Advocates for Women's Land Rights Through Open Data

Nov 15, 2019 | Laura Meggiolaro

At CFS 46, the Land Portal had the opportunity to be the co-organizer of the side event How the VGGT have changed rural women’s lives:  Key…

Countering the Caliphate in North Africa: Three Expert Views on Gender and the Need for Collective Action

Nov 15, 2019 | Sherine El Taraboulsi-McCarthy, Rachel George, and Melanie Pinet

While the transnational nature of violent extremism across North Africa is becoming increasingly clear, international and national prevention remains restricted by state borders and often…

"Creating the Future Together": SCARA Symposium on ICT and Innovations in Agriculture

Nov 14, 2019

The SCARA Symposium on ICT and innovations in agriculture, “Creating the Future Together“  under the APPEAR project “Strengthening Capacities for Agricultural Education, Research & Adoption in…

Peace, Security and Conservation on Central Africa's Radio

Nov 13, 2019 | Tiffany Gibert

In northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and eastern Central African Republic (CAR), high-frequency radios are helping to cultivate peace, security, and, more recently, conservation.…

Myanmar Risks Losing Forests to Oil Palm, but There's Time to Pivot

Nov 13, 2019 | Nanditha Chandraprakash

Indonesia and Malaysia have long occupied the spotlight for oil palm plantations and their adverse consequences, including deforestation, habitat loss, climate change, and struggles with…

The Many Historical Courses of Gender and Water in India

Nov 12, 2019 | Indu Gupta

Water is essential for human survival and development, but the ongoing water crisis in India, despite 70 years of policy-making is widening the circle of…

Why Should We Care About the Gender Dimension of Climate Change?

Nov 11, 2019 | Renz Louie Celeridad

Women farmers encounter a great deal of challenges that constrain their agricultural activities. Differing societal roles, unequal access to and control of resources, and women’s…

New Challenges for Women's Land Rights in Africa

Nov 11, 2019 | Hosaena Ghebru

A new wave of gender-related land reforms has swept across Africa south of the Sahara in recent years. These reforms have incorporated innovative approaches to…

Debate Urges Broader Thinking on Diversity

Nov 11, 2019 | Kristie Batten

Despite its name, the debate focused on broader themes of diversity, based around the topic ‘a diversity debate that begins and ends with gender is…

How Feminist Research Can Help Confront the Climate Crisis

Nov 11, 2019 | Maria Tanyag

Humanity is now at a point where we can no longer afford to examine climate-related risks and their impacts on humans independent of other ecosystems,…

A Lifelong Fight for Gender Equality: In Conversation with Carmen Barroso

Nov 8, 2019

On a recent rainy morning in Portland, USA, Carmen Barroso, aged 75, stood amongst thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets to advocate for…

Science as a Catalyst for Peace and Development

Nov 8, 2019 | UN Environment

Despite the benefits of indigenous knowledge, today the relationship between what some call “Western” science and traditional knowledge is difficult at best. Today, Western science…

How Often Does the UN Security Council Use a Gender Lens? Not Often Enough

Nov 6, 2019 | Katelyn Jones

The WPS agenda was instituted in October 2000 via the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, which marked the first formal…

Can Women Make the World More Peaceful?

Nov 6, 2019 | Paulino Akon Yel Dut

A genuine comprehensive analysis shows that involving women in peacebuilding increases the probability that violence will end in an easy manner. Hence we should thank…

Rooting for the Environment in Times of Conflict and War

Nov 6, 2019 | UN Environment

Eighteen years ago, on 5 November 2001, the United Nations General Assembly declared 6 November the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in…

The Environment Has Become a Hostage of Armed Conflict

Nov 6, 2019 | Wim Zwijnenburg

This year, 2019, marked a new nadir for the environment that may reflect an ominous trend in warfare: Environmentally sensitive targets are being weaponized and…

Sudanese Women Urge Gender Balance in Country's Peace Process

Nov 5, 2019 | Amy Lieberman

 Sudanese women were influential in the widespread protests that led to the military overthrow of the country's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in April. Six months…

Gender Equality in African Agriculture: An Innovation Imperative

Nov 5, 2019 | Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg

President Barack Obama once highlighted the importance of leveraging the talents of Africa’s women using the analogy of a football match. He pointed out that…