We believe that without ecological justice (by which we mean environmental and climate justice) and gender equality that there can be no permanent peace. Nobody and nothing is left untouched by the ecological crisis before us.
WILPF works for the regeneration of the planet by promoting peace and by amplifying feminist practices of mutual care and respect for the planet and all of its inhabitants.
Through our work, we seek to deepen our feminist analysis on the impacts of militarism on the environment, the climate crisis and on populations experiencing marginalisation.
We seek justice for people and communities most impacted by climate change and environmental destruction.
The time is now.
The ecological crisis we face is a result of capitalism, militarism, patriarchy and colonialism. This crisis poses very real and existential threats to life on the planet as we know it.
Why? Militarism and military activity and conflict are both significant drivers of the ecological crisis. They fuel violence in the name of security, deepen inequalities and continue to destroy the environment. No living being on the planet is left untouched by militarism, which exerts its influence on decision-makers, in our societies, in our communities, in our schools and in our homes. This disproportionately impacts people experiencing marginalisation, such as women, people of colour or Indigenous peoples.
We advance anti-militarist and ecofeminist perspectives in international frameworks such as UN human rights instruments, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Guided by ecofeminist perspectives — an approach that analyses relationships between the environment and humans, with a focus on how destruction of nature disproportionately impacts women’s lives — WILPF raises awareness and offers feminist solutions for sustainable peace and ecological justice at the local, national and international levels in collaboration with Sections, Groups and partners across the globe.
We campaign for reduction and redirection of military spending to meet social and planetary needs, including care, social and community infrastructure and the guarantee of people’s rights to education, housing, a clean environment, health and work.
We promote and advocate for accountability and solutions to the climate and environmental crisis, including a transition to fossil fuel-free and nuclear-free sustainable energy, legally binding and gender-responsive measures to rein in corporate power and progress towards sustainable practices at all levels of society.
WILPF’s Environment Working Group (EWG) promotes the inclusion of ecological perspectives in our work towards feminist peace. The EWG consists of diverse members from across the globe and is a space for exchange, collaboration and implementation of joint projects. The EWG meets every four weeks, and is open to all WILPF members. Please reach out to Katrin Geyer, WILPF’s Environment Advisor, if you would like to join!
Drawing on our history of environmental advocacy and activism, WILPF’s work on peace, feminism, and environment is guided by ecofeminist perspectives.
Ecofeminism, a movement spanning a broad range of fields, analyses linkages and relationships between the environment and humans, with a focus on how destruction of nature disproportionately impacts women’s rights, lives, and livelihoods. The movement views the reduction of the environment into “resources” to be acquired, extracted, developed, sold, and consumed as driving a fundamental disconnect between humanity and Earth’s ecosystems.
WILPF recognises that a just, fair, and sustainable way of living will not be possible without a radical transformation of society. Transformation needs to be rooted in decolonisation, demilitarisation, degrowth, and fulfilment of human rights, justice, peace, and deep respect for and understanding that humans are a part of nature, not apart from it.
WILPF continues to raise awareness, offering feminist solutions for sustainable peace and environmental justice at the international level as well as at national and local levels, collaborating with WILPF Sections and partners across the globe.
As a result of human activity driven by capitalism, militarism, patriarchy, and colonialism, climate change and environmental destruction now threaten the very existence of people, animals, and the lifegiving ecosystems on which we all depend.
Along with nationalism and racism, these systems of oppression uphold the status quo and fuel inequalities between people and nations, as they create the conditions that allow governments and corporations to exploit the earth, and extract and consume at the expense of people and the planet. Those in power have undermined our collective struggles to achieve peace, universal human rights, and the sustainable protection of the planet – putting the future of the Earth, and all living things on it, at risk.
For people – particularly those living in the Global South, in countries affected by conflict, and those in communities in marginalised situations – the ecological impacts have meant growing rates of poverty, lack of access to safe and nutritious food and clean water, forced displacement, greater vulnerability to violence, including gender-based violence, and other types of human rights violations. Ecological destruction also exacerbates direct and indirect drivers of conflict, especially in fragile contexts.
Militarism, colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy, amongst other systems of oppression, have created a vicious cycle that affects the planet’s health and resilience. These human-made systems have led to excessive extractivism, pollution, and the climate crisis. As a result, there are sudden onset stressors which are more visible and more immediate, such as extreme weather events like droughts, heatwaves, and floods, among others. Some other impacts are longer-term, which are referred to as slow-onset events such as land and forest degradation, loss of biodiversity, sea-level rise, desertification, ocean acidification, and increasing temperatures, among others.
In November 2024, WILPF’s delegation is heading to Baku, Azerbaijan, to participate in COP29, the 29th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Representing WILPF’s global feminist, anti-militarist perspective, our delegation will advocate on the urgent need for governments to redirect their military spending — which reached an all-time high in 2023 — to climate mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and human security needs.
This focus is especially imperative now: At COP29, states will come together to negotiate key points of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), a financial target and framework to help developing countries meet their climate goals.
The Conference of Parties (COP) is the largest global climate summit where world leaders, government representatives, civil society, activists and businesses meet each year for 12 days of talks.
In 2015, COP21 adopted the Paris Agreement that commits all countries to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees, to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate and to make money available to deliver on these aims.
The decade out to 2030 is the last chance to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
WILPF has participated in many COPs over the years and has brought messages of peace to the climate movement.
The Conference of Parties (COP) is the largest global climate summit where world leaders, government representatives, civil society, activists and businesses meet each year for 12 days of talks.
In 2015, COP21 adopted the Paris Agreement that commits all countries to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees, to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate and to make money available to deliver on these aims.
The decade out to 2030 is the last chance to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
WILPF has participated in many COPs over the years and has brought messages of peace to the climate movement.
Through analysis, advocacy and activism, WILPF is raising awareness of the gendered impacts of the ecological crisis, drawing attention to the root causes of the crisis and pushing for feminist solutions to mitigate and prevent further destruction. Take a look at some of the latest achievements and projects from WILPF International Secretariat and our members and partners around the world.
At COP27, our delegation of 10 feminist peace activists from around the world came together in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, to advocate for climate action rooted in demilitarisation and gender justice.
We endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, joining hundreds of thousands of individuals, organisations, scientists, cities and governments in a global call to ensure a quick and effective shift away from the use of fossil fuels.
A feminist peace activist with WILPF Cameroon collaborated with local organisations and schools to empower students to create a greener future.
In collaboration with the Conflict and Environment Observatory, WILPF contributed a white paper to a compendium of lessons learned, visions for and recommendations towards the future of environmental peacebuilding.
Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or suggestions about our work.
WILPF strives to build a future of peace and human security through divestment, disarmament, and demilitarisation efforts. This means that WILPF challenges militarised thinking, systems, and technologies at the global and local levels. WILPF is also working to highlight and raise awareness of the links between militarism, military activity, and environmental degradation and their gendered impacts. We seek to mobilise feminist, peace, and environment movements in this work.
WILPF US launched the website Military Poisons, with the aim to expose the military’s role in PFAS contamination and its connections regarding water, food, and health.
WILPF Canada is actively involved in a campaign to urge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to say no to new fighter jets with harmful environmental, climate, nuclear, financial, socio-cultural, and gender-based impacts. To that end, WILPF Canada published a Parliamentary Petition and a 48-page report Soaring: The Harms and Risks of Fighter Jets and Why Canada Must Not Buy a New Fleet.
WILPF Italy carried out a series of workshops focused on helping teachers and students from schools across Italy in particularly militarised areas to understand the links between climate change and militarism.
WILPF Germany held the conference Peace, Disarmament & Climate Justice: Connecting the Dots, which offered a learning space to explore topics such as demilitarisation and climate justice.
WILPF Ghana participated in a multi-stakeholder workshop to develop a roadmap to facilitate Ghana’s ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to get closer to a world without nuclear weapons, which are posing devastating risks to the planet.
WILPF Spain organised the joint campaign 10 Razones: Firma TPAN (10 reasons to ratify the TPNW) to demand its government to sign and ratify the TPNW, which entered into force in January 2021, to ensure the protection of all life on Earth.
WILPF Zimbabwe organised awareness-raising workshops for women in local communities about the links between militarism, military spending, and the climate crisis, and why it is important for Zimbabwe to join all relevant disarmament treaties.
WILPF centres prevention in our feminist advocacy to reflect the importance of sustainable, intersectional, and gender-responsive solutions to crises, including the climate crisis. Too often, diplomatic actions designed to promote peace, including peace agreements, elevate a liberal concept of development that prioritises economic growth within the existing capitalist system, despite the fact that this system is often a significant driver of environmental destruction and inequality.
WILPF addresses the environmental impacts of conflict as well as the issue of conflict over natural resources. The latter is likely to increase in the coming years, in part due to the increased demand for minerals and rare earth materials required for technologies needed to transition towards renewable energy. Conflict over these resources is likely to continue to predominantly impact regions of the Global South.
In our approach towards conflict prevention, WILPF adopts ecofeminist perspectives in our advocacy and work on the implementation of multilateral agreements, resolutions, and plans for action on gender, disarmament, human rights, and environment.
WILPF Burkina Faso and Groupement Mixte des Apprenants – a local grassroots association – teamed up to open discussion spaces to address the consequences of preventing women from exercising their land rights, which has direct impacts on women’s ability to address climate change, particularly in the context of food security.
WILPF Sweden established an environment climate crisis working group, which brought recommendations to the Feminist Policies for Climate Justice Report on the intersections between the challenges facing women climate activists, climate change, and conflict.
WILPF Sudan and WILPF Central African Republic (CAR) organised awareness-raising workshops with women from their local communities about the impacts of armed conflict on the environment.
WILPF UK’s climate justice exhibition, in advance of the United Nations’ COP26, focused on different topics related to the climate crisis such as environmental displacement, financing for climate justice, legislation to protect the Earth, as well as how the military contributes to the climate crisis.
Every economic policy must contribute to the protection and regeneration of ecosystems, which current principles of competition and consumer-driven capitalism do not serve.
WILPF raises awareness about how unsustainable economic practices and policies, at the global, regional, national, and local levels, are contributing to and exacerbating the climate crisis and environmental destruction – and how these gendered practices drive conflicts. This work is anchored in local perspectives and realities and also linked to the analysis of the environmental impacts of global systems such as financial institutions, trade agreements, and corporations.
As a solution, WILPF members seek feminist alternatives to these damaging economic policies, promoting an economy of sustainability, care and solidarity.
WILPF New Zealand addressed a letter to its government expressing dismay at their granting offshore drilling rights to international companies.
WILPF Canada advocates to prevent construction of pipelines and protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
WILPF DRC made a submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Democratic People’s Republic of the Congo on the gendered impacts of artisanal mining. It also refers to mining’s devastating environmental impacts.
WILPF Kenya conducted Mama Boma Project, a series of training sessions on financial literacy and environmental sustainability. Some women who took part in the project started their own small green businesses by converting fallen tree branches, which are usually wasted, into mats that can be sold in local markets.
WILPF Pakistan brought 5,000 Moringa tree samplings to the 12th Annual Rural Women Conference held in Pakistan, sharing with the attendees the properties of this tree as a natural pump to hold the water content close to the ground surface, helping Pakistani women access water in arid areas.
WILPF Afghanistan carried out a nationwide tree-planting campaign A Tree for Green Afghanistan along with the government and schools, planting over one million trees across the city of Kabul.
WILPF Senegal works with rural women to build resilience and adaptation capacities to climate change, promoting access and security of land for women, reforestation, adoption of sustainable land management, and water retention techniques to strengthen agricultural activities and the use of renewable energy.
Although conflict, environmental destruction, and the pollution and destruction of land, air, and soil have a particularly devastating impact on women, people of colour, Indigenous Peoples, and other people in marginalised situations, these populations are underrepresented in decision-making spaces, particularly in countries affected by conflict. This leads to a lack of gendered or culturally sensitive perspectives and solutions to conflict prevention and ecological regeneration.
With the focus mainly placed on environment-focused movements and initiatives that are dominated by white men, it is critical to support and follow the lead of women and Indigenous Peoples and to centre their rights for a future of environmental justice and sustainable solutions. It is crucial that conflict prevention efforts reflect the importance of intersectional, gender-responsive solutions to the ecological crisis.
WILPF therefore promotes the meaningful participation of women and other marginalised groups in political and social transformation processes related to peace and environmental justice at all levels, from the local to the global. Importantly, for WILPF, “meaningful” participation is not just about counting women – rather, it is about making women count.
WILPF seeks to hold governments, corporations, militaries, and other actors accountable for their ecological impacts and for the human rights violations and abuses that arise from those impacts. This includes, for instance, WILPF’s advocacy for legally binding measures to regulate transnational corporations and other businesses and for the recognition of the human right to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment under international law. We strive to prevent oppression in all its forms, including conflict and environmental destruction, and to secure gender-responsive justice, including through accountability mechanisms.
Peacebuilding dialogues must also support the meaningful participation of diverse women and girls as leaders, defenders, and frontline responders to the ecological crisis, including through participation in the development of early warning systems that identify the potential emergence of conflict.
WILPF Pakistan set up a Climate Change Conversation Corner (CCCC) at the Annual Rural Women Conference in Islamabad that was attended by 3,000 women from across the country. WILPF members shared information about citizens’ responsibility to protect the planet and also shared information about Fridays for Future. WILPF Pakistan member Sameena Nazir met with youth climate activist Greta Thunberg in September 2020 during her visit to Washington, DC.
WILPF DCR, in synergy with the Association Action du Bas Fleuve (AFEBAF), has accompanied women of the Bas Congo region in their committed approach to the preservation of forests and nature. Each year on International Rural Women’s Day, WILPF DCR conducts awareness campaigns among women farmers, explaining the problem of climate change and the role that women must play in this area.
WILPF Germany organised a parallel event at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) entitled “Connecting the dots between (de)militarisation, gender and climate justice,” with the aim to raise awareness about the inextricable link between climate justice and militarism to achieve sustainable peace and gender justice.
WILPF Lebanon made a joint submission with two other civil society organisations to the UN Universal Periodic Review. In the report, they outline adverse environmental impacts of the World Bank-funded dam project as well as impacts of forest degradation, and call for concrete policies and measures to address these situations.
WILPF Zimbabwe submitted a report to the UN Universal Periodic Review of Zimbabwe, including feminist political analysis and recommendations to address environmental destruction and the climate crisis.
Capitalism relies on growth and consumerism. It is a system that creates a vastly unequal world and it is deeply interconnected with colonialism, militarism, and racism.
For example:
Colonialism has always been charged with violence, extraction, and environmental destruction as oppressors seek access to new territory, resources, and labourers, exploiting the land and people. Today, as many people in the Global North live and consume at the ecological expense of communities in the Global South, we also see the rise of climate colonialism and environmental racism.
Rich industrialised countries outsource waste, as well as pollution from industrial activity, to countries in the Global South, all in the name of profit, power, and convenience.
It is increasingly clear that systemic oppression, racism, and environmental collapse are inextricably linked.
Ecological destruction and patriarchy are closely tied together. Both are the product of the notion that other living things and the planet can be dominated with violence and exploited. Patriarchy prioritises and privileges men’s experiences, power, and access to resources over other beings, including women. This closely links to entrenched assumptions of humans’ dominance over nature and their sense of entitlement to extract and use no matter the costs – detrimental beliefs that sit at the root of the climate and environmental crisis.
The power granted to men by patriarchy decreases men’s vulnerabilities to climate change, whilst traditional gender roles in many societies mean that women and girls are more likely to bear the brunt of climate change and environmental destruction.
Militarism is underpinned by the assumption that the use of force or the threat thereof is the most appropriate response to conflicts. This idea is fuelled in large part by profitability for governments, corporations, and individuals.
Military activity directly contributes to environmental destruction through pollution of land, air, and water, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, land grabbing, land clearing and use, the development and production of nuclear weapons, the production and dumping of massive volumes of hazardous waste, agricultural degradation due to landmines and cluster bombs, contamination from heavy metals and other toxic materials in weapons production and use, justification of military action on the basis of securing fossil fuel resources, and much more.
Despite the devastating consequences of militarism on human security and the environment, each year governments around the world waste nearly two trillion dollars on military expenditure rather than investing these funds into public infrastructure and environmental protection and regeneration efforts.
Intensifying the problem, many nations and organisations are also promoting militarised responses to the climate crisis and environmental destruction, perpetuating and deepening the role of militarism and reinforcing its underpinning patriarchal ideologies. In this regard, it is therefore not enough to simply “green” the military-industrial complex.
Climate change and global warming have intensified risks to food security and threaten to reverse the progress made so far in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. Climate change exacerbates food security in all its dimensions by modifying the conditions under which agricultural activities are conducted (for example, in light of impacts from droughts or floods).
Women involved in agriculture activities, who often bear the primary responsibility of gathering and managing resources such as food and water, are the most disproportionately affected by changing weather patterns. Women farmers are particularly disadvantaged due to the lack of land rights, unpaid work, insecure employment and exclusion from decision-making and political representation.
The agricultural sector provides the primary source of livelihood for more than 44 per cent of the world’s total workforce. Local and regenerative food production systems are threatened by large agro-industrial enterprises. They displace local communities and overuse chemical fertilisers that destroy the resilience of soil and entire ecosystems. The environmental price of industrial agriculture creates greater exposure to climate risks that trigger shocks and volatility of agricultural production, food prices, and food availability.
The adverse effects by the climate crisis and industrial agriculture have negative impacts on agricultural production in low-income countries and put livelihoods of large numbers of rural populations at risk.
It is important to recognise that women and girls, Indigenous Peoples, and individuals in marginalised situations, poor people, as well as people living in the Global South are disproportionately impacted by the ecological crisis.
People who are marginalised due to gender, age, caste, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, legal status, socio-economic status, and ability, amongst others, are more likely to suffer from the most severe impacts of environmental disasters. Among other impacts, climate change exacerbates vulnerable contexts and negatively affects people’s rights to health, housing, water, and food.
Patriarchal privilege, traditional gender roles and pre-existing structural discrimination based on gender in many societies decrease men’s vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change and mean that women and girls are more likely to bear the brunt of climate change and environmental destruction.
For instance, socio-cultural barriers that deprive women of access to resources, decision-making, information, and agency, among others, are exacerbated by the ecological crisis. For instance, gender-based violence (GBV) in all its forms is reported to increase in the context of natural disasters. Other examples include increased rates of child marriage during prolonged times of drought, as it is used by families as a strategy to cope with scarcity of food and income. Domestic violence also increases with increasing economic pressure on households. This also includes acts of GBV against environmental and human rights defenders, as a tactic to intimidate and silence them.
There are also other disproportionate impacts that are correlated to marginalised identities. For example, in the aftermath of natural disasters, only set to become more frequent and intense as the climate changes, LGBTQ+ individuals are routinely excluded from response, relief, and recovery efforts.
Particularly alarming is the increase in violence in large-scale agriculture, mining, and logging sectors against environmental (Indigenous) defenders. In 2020 alone 227 environmental and land defenders were killed for protecting their homes and the planet.
The interplay between climate, conflict, poverty, and persecution significantly increases displacement rates. It’s important to note that displacement is the result of a complex process with many drivers, and is subject to demographic, historical, social, political, and economic factors. The climate crisis interacts with all of these factors.
The gendered impacts of forced displacement are another area of concern. There is a gendered displacement gap, referring to the gendered impacts of displacement due to structural gender discrimination, often exacerbated by poverty and instability. Indigneous women and ethnic minorities are often more impacted by displacement because their communities do not hold formal land or property titles. Displaced women suffer from lack of safety, gender-based violence, and disproportionately low access to economic opportunities.
Less than three per cent of the world’s water resources is freshwater, and it is increasingly scarce. Decades of misuse, poor management, and over-extraction of groundwater, as well as contamination of freshwater supplies, have exacerbated water stress. Furthermore, demand for water is rising due to urbanisation and increasing water needs from a range of sectors, notably agriculture, energy production, and industrial activities.
Water insecurity is exacerbated by climate change and global warming through the disruption of weather patterns, leading to extreme weather events, unpredictable water availability, water scarcity, and the contamination of water supplies. Such impacts can drastically affect the quantity and quality of access to water that populations need to thrive. Rising temperatures can lead to deadly pathogens in freshwater sources, making the water dangerous for people to drink. Rising sea levels are causing fresh water to become salty, compromising the water resources millions of people rely on. The dwindling access to water leads to increased competition. If coupled with bad governance and other factors, this can lead to conflict and forced displacement.
The above mentioned risks disproportionately affect women and girls who usually bear the responsibility of finding and bringing clean water to their families. It is estimated that around the world, they spend around 200 million hours per day collecting this resource. These gendered impacts of water insecurity only exacerbate existing problems such as food insecurity, personal safety concerns and education setbacks in womens’ lives.
Ocean acidification is another manifestation of water insecurity and produces changes in marine ecosystems that have direct consequences for human societies that depend on the ocean for food and income-generating activities. It also hinders the ocean’s ability to store carbon and regulate the climate.
Environmental destruction and the climate crisis correlate with the likelihood of (prolonged) conflicts. When impacts happen in a context of bad governance, corruption, and corporate capture, conflict-affected populations are more vulnerable in the wake of climate-related shocks, as normal coping mechanisms are unavailable. As well, environmental destruction and the climate crisis can pave the way towards perpetuation of conflict since armed actors can become the only alternative for livelihoods. Armed conflict related to control over natural resources also weakens communities’ capacity to adapt to the ecological crisis, and to explore avenues for conflict prevention and resolution.
Armed conflict and violent conflicts destroy and damage the environment, with militaries being one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels, further exacerbating global warming. The entire lifecycle of weapons’ production, testing, and use, from small arms to explosive or nuclear weapons, have huge repercussions, including biodiversity degradation, poisoned soils, and the pollution of water and air. These impacts only exacerbate the vulnerability of communities that depend on these vital resources.
All of these aspects of (armed) conflicts create a vicious cycle and conflict trap, with devastating impacts for the planet and people.
Freshwater withdrawal is defined as freshwater taken from ground or surface water resources, either permanently or temporarily, and moved to a place of use. Withdrawing water faster than it can be replenished can undermine water resources’ ability to recharge, causing uncertainty around its ability to meet both present and future needs. Overexploitation of global fresh waters, such as pumping water into the ground for oil and gas extraction, can cause significant problems. This includes aquifer and lake exhaustion and contamination, saltwater intrusion into drinking water supplies close to seaside territories, as well as the loss of groundwater. Freshwater withdrawals hurt ecosystems, especially those that rely upon shallow ground water or streams.
Chemical pollution is the presence of chemical pollutants that are not naturally present. Most of the chemicals that pollute the environment are human-made, resulting from activities in which toxic chemicals are used, such as oil refineries, coal power plants, construction, mining and smelting, transportation, agricultural use of pesticides and insecticides, as well as routine household activities such as cooking or cleaning. Airborne chemicals from products such as shampoo, perfume, and cleaning solutions eventually escape outside and contribute to ozone and fine particle formation, making up an even greater source of global atmospheric air pollution than cars and trucks do. These chemicals are to a large extent responsible for air pollution, the production of greenhouse gases, ozone depletion, and contamination of water and soil.
Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional, and global climates. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. Changes observed in Earth’s climate since the pre-industrial period are primarily driven by human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, raising the average surface temperature. These human-produced temperature increases are commonly referred to as “global warming”.
The term “global warming” is frequently used interchangeably with the term “climate change”, though the latter refers to both human- and naturally produced warming and the effects it has on the planet.
Changes in global surface temperature have a broad range of observed effects such as global land and ocean temperature increases; rising sea levels; and more frequent and severe extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, floods, and precipitation, to name just a few.
Ocean acidification is the direct chemical effect of human-made carbon dioxide being absorbed into the oceans. Ocean acidification reduces the amount of carbonate, a key building block in seawater. The ocean becomes more acidic, which is eroding the shells of vital marine species including clams, oysters, urchins, and pteropods. These animals are part of the foundation of an enormous food web. Furthermore, ocean acidification could wipe out most coral reefs. Over the past 240 million years, they have evolved into one of the most important and complex ecosystems on the planet and are home to more than 25 per cent of marine species.
Land conversion occurs when land is converted for human use. Forests, grasslands, wetlands, and other vegetation types have primarily been converted to agricultural land or for other economic activities, damaging or removing the habitat for wildlife and disrupting natural cycles.
Industrialised agriculture constitutes a major problem, especially in the form of monocultures. This is a form of agriculture that is based on growing only one type of a crop at one time on a specific field. It upsets the natural balance of soils, requires higher amounts of water and the use of pesticides and herbicides, and decreases biodiversity. More recent effects of land use include soil erosion, soil degradation, salinisation, and desertification.
Land-use change, together with the use of fossil fuels, are major human-induced sources of carbon dioxide, a dominant greenhouse gas.
Biodiversity loss is defined as the decline in the number and variety of plant and animal species. This detrimental loss, caused by environmental degradation and global warming, throws off the balance and function of ecosystems. Loss of biodiversity means that plants and animals are more vulnerable to pests and diseases, posing a threat to humans and the planet. Biodiversity is rapidly declining. According to the IUCN red list of threatened species, a critical indicator that provides information about the health of the world’s biodiversity, there are currently more than 142,500 species under threat, including more than 40,000 species threatened with extinction.
Air pollution is defined as the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of living beings. Pollutants of major public concern include carbon monoxide, which mainly comes from cars, trucks, and other vehicles or machinery that burn fossil fuels, and nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, whose emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity that is used for electric power generators, manufacturing, oil refineries, and other industries. Emissions of both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are particularly dangerous since they deposit in water, on vegetation, and on soils as a form of precipitation known as “acid rain”. This precipitation is harmful as it causes adverse effects on flora and fauna by altering their ability to develop their natural cycles.
The ozone layer is a natural layer of gas in the upper atmosphere that protects living beings from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation (UV). Ultraviolet radiation affects wildlife and inhibits the growth processes of almost all green plants. Plants form the basis of the food web, prevent soil erosion and water loss, and are the primary producers of oxygen. They are also the primary storage site for carbon dioxide.
Certain human-made chemicals have been responsible for the creation of the Antarctic ozone hole and the global ozone losses. Since the ban on halocarbons (chemicals including solvents, fire-fighting agents, and refrigerants), the ozone layer has slowly been recovering. Nevertheless, the mitigation of ozone depletion is still very fragile and more action is required to remove pressure on the ozone caused by ozone depleting substances (ODS).
Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.
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Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.
Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.
Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.
In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region.
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WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.
Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.
Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.
WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.
In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.
In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.
