Push for leaders to see climate as gender issue
Pacific women and girls bearing the brunt of the climate crisis are demanding governments listen to their lived experiences as they make global commitments at a major upcoming conference.
Ahead of COP31, a major summit on climate change in November, leaders are being urged to measure their commitments against humanity rather than the economy.
Floods that destroy crops, depletion of resources for cultural fabrics and economic hardships that fuel gender-based violence, and human-induced global warming harm women, especially in the Pacific region.
Session on climate change at the meeting Women Deliver The conference explored how leaders can better respond to the realities facing women and communities living on the front lines of climate change.
Pacific feminists have made 17 urgent demands for systemic change to protect the future of Pacific people, lands and oceans.
The climate crisis and the gender equality crisis are not separate emergencies, but the same, Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Penitala Teo told Wednesday’s hearing.
“These are crises produced by the same system, a system organized around a single logic: Colonialism said these lands are not yours, exploitative economics said these costs are not mine, and patriarchy said women’s jobs are not jobs,” she said.
“The defining injustice of our time is that the people who bear the costs of these decisions are never invited to be a part of them.”
Annual climate talks will be held in Türkiye, but with Australia in the role of “chairman of negotiations”. A pre-COP meeting will be held in the Pacific islands.
Mr Teo acknowledged that there was not much optimism to be drawn from the COP process, but it was the only tool states had to participate in global climate discussions.
But he said the pre-COP meeting would allow leaders to see first-hand the extent of Pacific countries’ vulnerability to climate change and sea level rise.
“What happens between this week and COP31 will absolutely determine the fate of women and children,” she said.
“Will they inherit a country, or will they inherit the memory of a country that once existed?”
Human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson was among the team that received the landmark advisory opinion on climate from the International Court of Justice in 2025.
It was decided that states designated as advisors had a duty to prevent serious damage to the climate system, and that wealthy nations causing climate change had a legal obligation to assist nations harmed by these impacts.
“This means that if Australia continues to approve fossil fuel mines, legal action could potentially be taken by Vanuatu or other climate-sensitive countries,” Ms Robinson said.
What was needed now was for frontline communities to make claims, but Ms Robinson accepted they would need funding to support the court case.
“If we are to bring this extraordinary, historic ICJ decision to life, we need to start litigating in our local and regional courts and international bodies, but we need to support communities so they can bring these cases,” he said.
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