On 4 February 2020 Marisa O. Ensor wrote in the New Security Beat an informative piece “Unsung Sheroes, Climate Action, and the Global Peace and Security Agendas“.
The December 2019 workshop on Gender, Peace and the Environment convened by the London School of Economics’ Centre for Women, Peace and Security and the University of Rosario’s Law School in Bogotá, Colombia, brought all of these interrelated perspectives together. Among other conclusions, the workshop acknowledged that indigenous women and girls are vital to more effective climate solutions, including building climate resilience in communities affected by violent conflict. However, their work is becoming increasingly fraught with danger. Criminal gangs, paramilitary groups, and private security forces from industries like mining, logging, dam construction, and agribusiness often target these indigenous environmental and human rights activists……
London School of Economic’s Keina Yoshida, one of the participants in the workshop on Gender, Peace and the Environment, reminded us of the “gender power structures, which result in violence against environmental, indigenous and women’s rights defenders such as Berta Cáceres.” Yet, as Ambassador Melanne Verveer notes in her Foreword to the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security’s report on Women and Climate Change, women are contributing to both adaptation and mitigation efforts and are creating innovative and localized solutions to build resilient communities. There is a reason for hope.
The article contains a helpful listing of relevant reports and documents on the role of women human rights defenders and climate change:
- Indigenous women and girls are making significant contributions to the parallel Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) global agendas. With their traditional knowledge of natural resource management, they can offer valuable insights on how to cope with the negative impacts of climate change. Yet, they are often the targets of violence.
- Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), which the Security Council adopted in 2000, was the first resolution to link women’s experiences of conflict to international peace and security. Seven related resolutions have been adopted since then. Among them, Resolution 2242 (2015) is particularly relevant, given that it was the first to recognize that climate change connects with the WPS framework.
- The joint UN report, Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential (2013). It views women’s access to natural resources as a key component of peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
- The 2016 UN Women report, Indigenous Women & The Women, Peace and Security Agenda, also examined these linkages.
- Subsequent related efforts include the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 2017 adoption of a global Gender Action Plan (GAP), which seeks to achieve gender-responsive climate policy and action.
- Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) adopted in 2015 was the first international policy framework to recognize young people’s positive role in this field. It was followed by Resolution 2419 (2018), which stressed the need to consider young people’s views in security‑related discussions.
- Impacts of Climate Change on Youth, Peace and Security (2017),
- The Missing Peace: Independent Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security (2018),
- Young Women in Peace and Security: At the Intersection of the YPS and WPS Agendas (2018).
For some of my earlier posts: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/women-human-rights-defenders/
Unsung Sheroes, Climate Action, and the Global Peace and Security Agendas
Pastor Simon Anthony addresses the Kuchu Memorial Day service in Kampala. Kasha Nabagesera stands beside him. (UhspaUganda photo)
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 