Climate change shifts the priorities of communities and security providers. How can we measure climate impacts on rural and indigenous women’s security to make better policies and decisions?
In their recent publication DCAF, the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, highlighted the voices of indigenous and rural women to give recommendations on how to address Climate Security Risks in Colombia. The study traced climate impacts on women’s human security, showing that they go beyond traditional conceptions of the climate-security-nexus and require programming and institutional responses specific to local contexts.
Acknowledging the disproportionate effects of the climate crisis on rural women, the study adopts an ecofeminist perspective to develop local context-specific indicators to collect evidence on the ground. The project facilitated dialogue with rural and Indigenous women, female activists, and police officers. This method reflects the principles of participation and responsiveness of good security sector governance. The goal of the study is to evaluate existing global indicators to measure climate and security risks, and to create a list of new variables to develop local indicators.
The findings highlight that rural and indigenous women’s perception of security is “closely related to the protection of ancestral practices, access to healthy and sufficient food, elimination of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), access to electricity and clean water, financial stability, protection of resources and the soil, as well as the protection of environmental activists and local organizations”.
The study highlights the importance of support for local environmental leaders and activists, as well as for local communities in transmitting ancestral and environmental knowledge. National authorities should ensure provision of gender- and climate-sensitive security, which includes improving women’s land ownership, justice provision, and protecting soils and natural resources. Implementation would be enhanced by dialogue between the National Police and rural and Indigenous women, as well as specific police trainings on gender and environment.
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