Blogs & Opinions

Chitra Nagarajan on What’s Changed for Women in Lake Chad Region

Mar 27, 2020 | Wania Yad

“Women and men face very different risks and challenges,” said Chitra Nagarajan, a writer and journalist who covers climate change, conflict, and gender. She spoke in…

Beyond Title: How to Secure Land Tenure for Women

Mar 26, 2020 | Celine Salcedo-La Vina

The international community now fully recognizes the need to secure women’s land rights. The Sustainable Development Goals, the world’s blueprint for development, include women’s land ownership…

The Future of Climate Change and Peace

Mar 26, 2020 | Maxine Burkett and Maya Soetoro-Ng

As fires rage in Australia and in the Amazon, hurricanes ravage the Caribbean year after year, and glacial melt threatens entire communities in the high…

Women and Peace and Security in the Time of Corona

Mar 25, 2020 | Sanam Naraghi Anderlini

2020: It was always going to be a big year for the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda; twenty years since the UN Security Council’s…

Women Lose Most from the Climate Crisis. How Can we Empower Them?

Mar 24, 2020 | Tharanga Gunawardena

Extreme climate events are increasingly threatening countries and livelihoods. Devastating natural disasters and unpredictable weather have made communities more vulnerable and impoverished, especially women. According…

Women & Climate: Planting a Global Forest in a Connected World

Mar 23, 2020 | Rita Ann Wallace and Cynthia S Reyes

In January of this year, Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, shocked much of the world when they…

Gender and Climate-The Importance of Women's Leadership in Climate Action in Singapore and Hong Kong

Mar 23, 2020 | John Sayer

At the most recent UN climate talks in Madrid in December 2019, one positive outcome was the approval of a new Gender Action Plan that…

Promoting Peace in Deserts of Sun and Wind: Renewable Energy Cooperation between India and Pakistan

Mar 23, 2020 | Mirza Sadaqat Huda

 South Asia is one of the most conflict-prone regions in the world, in addition to facing chronic energy shortages and extreme vulnerability to climate change.…

Kabul River for Peace and Development

Mar 23, 2020 | Nisar A. Memon

Kabul River (KR) is key resource for large territory of both Pakistan and Afghanistan. About 10 percent of Pakistan’s total water supply comes from the…

Global Famine Predicted in Even a Limited India-Pakistan Nuclear War Due to Soot and Firestorms

Mar 22, 2020 | Earth Institute

The concept of nuclear winter — a years-long planetary freeze brought on by airborne soot generated by nuclear bombs — has been around for decades.…

Herstory: 10 Guatemalan Women Who Changed the Course of History

Mar 20, 2020 | Melissa Vida

Guatemala’s Indigenous peoples make up 60% of the country’s population, yet somehow Indigenous people—and especially Indigenous women—rarely made it into history books. Overall, there seems…

Climate Change and National Security

Mar 17, 2020 | Cecilia Tortajada and Theodore Lai

Climate change, natural resource pollution, and scarcity of various forms have become part of the national security agenda in countries all over the world. Although…

6 Reasons Gender Equality Is Crucial to Achieving the UN's Global Goals

Mar 16, 2020 | Joe McCarthy

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envision a world without poverty, hunger, and conflict; one with access to health care, education, and economic opportunity — in short,…

How Natural Resources Could Help Build Peace in Afghanistan

Mar 16, 2020 | Elizabeth B. Hessami

Potential water wars due to plans for multiple dams, violent opium cartels supporting world heroin markets, and many conflict-financing minerals including everyday talc used for…

Why Feminine Leadership Is Essential for the Clean Energy Transition

Mar 13, 2020 | Sarah Golden

Feminine leadership is essential to solving society’s largest, intractable challenges, according to Sarah Shanley Hope, executive director of the Solutions Project. 

The Solutions Project is a small…

Why I Marched for the Environment on International Women's Day

Mar 12, 2020 | Katy Wiese

Last Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), a ground-breaking resolution that set out objectives in 12…

Women and the Environment: Roles, Risks and Rights

Mar 12, 2020 | Theresa W. Devasahayam

“Each year, the month of March is a crucial time for women’s organisations worldwide as we take stock of the progress women and girls in…

Launch of NextGen Climate Forecasting System in Colombia [Video]

Mar 11, 2020 | Francesco Fiondella

In August of 2019, Colombia’s national meteorological service, IDEAM, launched a state-of-the-art climate forecasting system called NextGen. You can read more about this milestone in the latest report about…

Scaling-Out Gender Transformation for Climate Change

Mar 9, 2020 | Sophie Huyer and Heidi Braun

Climate change has enormous implications for women in the developing world through increased workloads, food insecurity, threats to health, and more responsibilities due to male…

An Ambitious Year for Climate Action Is a Big Year for Women's Empowerment

Mar 9, 2020 | Frank Rijsberman and Ingvild Solvang

This year, the Paris Agreement’s effectiveness as a global response to the climate crisis is being tested as governments are preparing to submit more ambitious…

Upcoming Conflict Minerals Regulation Does Not Cover Major Technology Companies

Mar 9, 2020 | Sebastian Kovig Skelton

Technology companies are unlikely to tackle the controversial use of so-called conflict minerals in their products because of weaknesses in a forthcoming EU regulation.

The European…

Enhancing Water Security and the Role of Diplomacy in Africa's Mara River Basin and Beyond

Mar 9, 2020 | Ladeene Freimuth

The Mara River traverses nearly 14,000 kilometers in Kenya and Tanzania, flowing through the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is…

Power Structures over Gender Make Women More Vulnerable to Climate Change

Mar 8, 2020 | Adelle Thomas

As the global community assesses progress made for women’s rights during the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, it is timely to take stock…

Want to Go for Inclusive Climate Action? Then Start with Integrating Gender Equality into Climate Finance

Mar 8, 2020 | Verania Chaeo and Koh Miyaoi

Gender equality and women’s rights have progressed immensely since the adoption of the most visionary agenda on women’s empowerment, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for…

Strategies for Integrating Gender in Sustainable Ecosystem Management

Mar 8, 2020

Understanding men and women’s different roles and responsibilities related to the use, management and conservation of ecosystems and addressing the barriers to gender equality are…

Can Green Development Be Fair Development?

Mar 8, 2020 | Helen Schneider

Aceh is Indonesia’s westernmost province, situated on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra where the Andaman Sea, Malacca Straits and Indian Ocean converge.…

Women's Rights Are Early Casualties of War

Mar 8, 2020

When conflict and crisis strike displacement, hunger, and poverty follow. But, all too often, it is women’s rights that become the early casualties of war.…

Women's Safety Means Earth's Safety

Mar 8, 2020 | Jessica Carey-Webb

Across the world, women are actively protecting the natural environment. In Latin America, despite consistent threats of violence and widening gender inequality due to climate…

Supporting More Than Equal Numbers in International Climate Debates

Mar 8, 2020 | Brianna Craft and Samantha McCraine

#EachforEqual is the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day. It recognises that equality requires everyone’s support and that, when we all support each other, we…

Reframing the Debate Around Women, Peace and Security

Mar 8, 2020 | Shreen Abdul Saroor

When a peace deal is struck between warring factions, it is widely understood that peace has been achieved. However, when key sections of society—in most…