Seasonal Change, Climate Adaptation, and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Sep 15, 2022 | Marisa O. Ensor

The Autumnal Equinox (September 22nd) has historically marked the beginning of fall in the Northern Hemisphere – and heralded spring in the Southern one. Climate change has however disrupted the traditional concept of four seasons. As the planet warms up, the tropics have been expanding by 0.1 to 0.2 degrees of latitude every decade; places that once had four seasons are shifting to having just two; even in regions that still have four seasons, weather and temperature patterns have been profoundly modified. This altered seasonality is sending shock waves through communities dependent on climate-sensitive activities for their livelihoods, and exacerbating conflict risks. Scaled-up adaptation efforts that support those most severely impacted – often women and girls – are urgently needed.

Seasonal changes in precipitation and temperature affect soil moisture, evaporation rates, river flows, lake levels, and snow cover. The resulting changes in vegetation affect the type and amount of food available for humans and other organisms. Women and girls represent a high percentage of poor communities that are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood. In rural areas, they are primarily responsible for household water supply and energy for cooking and heating, as well as for food security.

It is also well documented that climate change exacerbates conditions that drive insecurity and violent conflict, with disproportionate impacts on women and girls. Climate change is thus becoming a critical consideration for the field of Women, Peace, and Security (WPS). The various resolutions that collectively comprise the WPS framework have the potential to improve climate outcomes by promoting women’s engagement in addressing climate-related security risks.

In their most recent report, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security examines how the meaningful inclusion of women in climate adaptation could be a benefit multiplier – in contrast to the common understanding of climate change as a threat multiplier – by strengthening climate response, gender equality, and security.

Titled Inclusive Adaptation: A Benefit Multiplier for Climate Action and Women, Peace and Security, this report focuses on women’s meaningful participation in local-level climate action. It focuses on the agriculture and energy sectors, which are two key entry points for climate change adaptation. It identifies five key actions for inclusive adaptation that can increase the potential for interventions to generate positive outcomes for climate resilience, gender equality, and security:

• Address barriers to inclusion to ensure that women have equal access to project participation and resources.
• Increase women’s access to information, education, and technology.
• Provide training and support for women as entrepreneurs and design consultants.
• Address critical gaps in knowledge through additional research and case studies.
• Obtain buy-in and funding for gender-responsive, community-centered climate solutions.

This and other recent work notwithstanding, the field has to date largely centered on the gendered impacts and vulnerabilities of the climate crisis. The focus has often been on the myriad ways in which gender inequality constraints women’s lived experiences which also hamper their resilience and adaptive capacity. Women’s potential for inclusive climate response to address overlapping forms of insecurity has received less attention.

Yet, despite being underrepresented in environmental decision-making at all levels, women—and especially indigenous women and those living in the global south—are leading frontline climate action and activism. Interventions around natural resources, environment and climate change provide significant opportunities to empower women politically and economically, and to strengthen their contributions to conflict prevention and peacebuilding in conflict-affected countries.

This requires adaptation initiatives that identify and address gender-specific impacts of climate change, particularly in areas related to water, food security, agriculture, energy, health, disaster management, and conflict. Women must be part of the decision making at national and local levels regarding allocation of resources for climate change, conflict resolution and peacebuilding initiatives. Inequalities in access to resources, including credit, extension and training services, information and technology must also be corrected. At national levels, efforts should be made to mainstream gender perspectives into national policies and strategies, including those focused on building peace and climate resilience.

As the equinox heralds the arrival of a new season, climate mitigation and adaptation efforts can also represent unprecedented opportunities to engage in transformative action for a more gender-equitable, safer, and more peaceful planet.

Dr. Marisa O. Ensor is an applied environmental and legal anthropologist currently based at Georgetown University’s Justice and Peace Studies Program. She is also the current Chair of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association’s Gender Interest Group (ExPAx-GIG).