17.

Integrating gender, peace and environment:

The gender dimension of environmental
peacebuilding
Sarah Mead and Marie Jacobsson

1. INTRODUCTION

The interlinked nature of environmental protection and natural resource management on

the one hand, and peacebuilding on the other, has been clearly established in the foregoing
chapters.1 This chapter contributes to a better understanding of this interplay by examining
environmental peacebuilding from a gender perspective. Women have a key role to play in
peacebuilding: their involvement in peace processes enhances both the likelihood of con-
cluding peace agreements, and the durability and implementation of the same.2 Women are,
however, persistently excluded from peacebuilding processes.3 This is particularly unfortunate
in the context of environmental peacebuilding given the gendered nature of environmental
knowledge and natural resource management. The UN Environment Global Gender and
Environment Outlook Report notes that almost all available evidence makes clear that, ‘within
a household, resource use, priorities and decisions are gender-differentiated. ... Many environ-
mentally consequential decisions made within households are filtered through gender norms
and roles’.4
This chapter advocates for an integrated approach to environmental peacebuilding which
takes due account of the interaction between gender, environmental protection and manage-
ment, and peacebuilding. It proceeds as follows. Section 2 tracks the emergence of a gender
perspective in international environmental law (IEL) and peacebuilding respectively. It
highlights the need to move beyond dual interactions to better understand the ‘triple nexus’,
i.e., the interaction between gender, environment and peacebuilding. A review of international
policy documents shows that progress is being made towards understanding this nexus: the
Joint Programme on Women, Natural Resources, and Peace established by four UN agencies

1
See also: Daniëlla Dam-de Jong, International Law and Governance of Natural Resources in
Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations (CUP 2015). ‘From Conflict to Peacebuilding: The Role of Natural
Resources and the Environment’ (United Nations Environment Programme 2009). Marie G Jacobsson,
‘Third Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed
Conflicts’ UN Doc A/CB.4/700 (3 June 2016). Susi Snyder (ed), ‘Witnessing the Environmental Impacts
of War: Environmental Case Studies from Conflicts Around the World’ (November 2020).
2
Thania Paffenholz et al, ‘Making Women Count - Not Just Counting Women: Assessing
Women’s Inclusion and Influence on Peace Negotiations’ (The Graduate Institute of International and
Development Studies and UN Women 2016) 6 www​.inclusivepeace​.org/​sites/​default/​files/​IPTI​-UN​
-Women​-Report​-Making​-Women​-Count​-60​-Pages​.pdf accessed 23 March 2023. See Section 3.
3
Council on Foreign Relations, ‘Women’s Participation in Peace Processes’, www​.cfr​.org/​womens​
-participation​-in​-peace​-processes/​ accessed 23 March 2023.
4
UN Environment, ‘Global Gender and Environment Outlook (GGEO) 2016’ (2016) 9.

381

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382 Research handbook on international law and environmental peacebuilding

leads the way in this regard. Section 3, however, presents evidence that shows that progress
in policy is not yet widely reflected in practice. Women continue to be excluded from peace-
building initiatives, contrary to international law. This leads to section 4 which explores what
an integrative approach to environmental peacebuilding might look like, using the example of
freshwater governance. Finally, section 5 explores the challenges associated with adopting an
integrated approach.

2. GENDER, ENVIRONMENT AND PEACEBUILDING:

MOVING BEYOND DUAL INTERACTIONS

The need to pay greater attention to women and better integrate them into international devel-
opment programming came to the fore in the 1970s. The Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), signed in 1979, led the way: ‘[r]ecalling
that discrimination against women violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for
human dignity’.5 A focus on the role of women and women’s rights emerged in the fields of
IEL and peacebuilding later, in the 1990s and 2000s respectively. Today, a ‘gender main-
streaming’ approach is widely promoted in development programming at all levels. A ‘gender
mainstreaming’ approach is:6

… the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including
legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making the con-
cerns and experiences of women as well as of men an integral part of the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres,
so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal of main-
streaming is to achieve gender equality.

A focus on gender is intended to draw attention to the social, political and economic context
informing gender relations in society more broadly,7 while also avoiding relying on essential-
izing and universalizing perceptions of women.8 A focus on gender still tends to translate into
a focus on women: the terms ‘gender’ and ‘women’ are frequently used interchangeably in

5
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (adopted 18
December 1979, entered into force 3 September 1981) 1249 UNTS 13, preamble.
6
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Agreed Conclusions 1997/2. See
Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-second Session, Supplement No. 3 (A/52/3/Rev.1),
chap IV, para 4.
7
UN Environment (n 4) 4. Gender is the socially constructed distinction between the roles,
behaviours, activities, and attributes that a society considers appropriate for men and women. Gender is
distinct from sex in the biological sense, which refers to the differences between men and women that are
biologically determined. See World Health Organisation, ‘Gender’ www​.who​.int/​health​-topics/​gender
accessed 23 March 2023. See also: Hazel Reeves and Sally Baden, ‘Gender and Development: Concepts
and Definitions’ Bridge, Report No 55 (February 2000).
8
As noted in an inter-agency UN report, ‘[p]erpetuating a simplistic view of women in conflict
settings as more “nurturing” and “peaceful” can not only strip women of their agency and reinforce patri-
archal values, but also result in roll-backs and marginalization for women in the peacebuilding phase’.
See Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential’ (UNEP, UN Women, PBSO
and UNDP 2013) 14.

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 Integrating gender, peace and environment 383

international law and policy documents.9 In the context of environmental peacebuilding, this
is justifiable insofar as structural inequalities continue to limit women’s agency in this area –
from unequal land ownership rights to a lack of engagement in peacebuilding processes. This
chapter therefore also takes as its focus the need to better include women in environmental
peacebuilding processes. In order to be successful in that regard, however, an integrative
approach (as discussed in section 5) requires taking into account the division of roles in society
more broadly, and the role of other intersecting factors such as ethnicity, sexuality, disability,
socioeconomic status and age.
Before shifting the lens forward, this section looks backwards to track how a gender per-
spective emerged in the fields of IEL and peacebuilding respectively. This reveals a shift from
a focus on dual interactions to an emerging understanding of the interconnections between
gender and environment and peacebuilding.

2.1 Gender and Environment

There are few – if any – traces of a gender perspective in connection with the first United
Nations conference on the human environment that led to the 1972 Stockholm Declaration
of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.10 By contrast, the 1992 UN
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, also known
as the ‘Earth Summit’, clearly incorporates women into the environmental agenda. Chapter
24 of Agenda 21 adopted during the Summit is focused on ‘global action for women towards
sustainable and equitable development’.11 Principle 20 of the Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development further notes that ‘[w]omen have a vital role in environmental management
and development’ and recognizes that ‘[t]heir full participation is therefore essential to achieve
sustainable development’,12
A gender perspective is also evident in the key environmental treaties concluded in the
1990s. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), adopted in 1992, recognizes
in its preamble ‘the vital role that women play in the conservation and sustainable use of
biological diversity’ and affirms ‘the need for the full participation of women at all levels
of policy-making and implementation for biological diversity conservation’.13 The UN
Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), adopted in 1994, similarly stresses ‘the impor-
tant role played by women in regions affected by desertification and/or drought, particularly

9
For instance, the targets associated with Sustainable Development Goal 5 to ‘achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls’ are all aimed at women. This has been subject to criticism.
See Christiane Fröhlich and Giovanna Gioli, ‘Gender, Conflict, and Global Environmental Change’
(2015) 27 Peace Review 137. The authors highlight several ‘gender myths’ that they consider act as
a barrier to advancing an intersectional approach to environmental conflict studies and peacebuilding –
among which is considering gender as synonymous with women.
10
Lars-Göran Engfeldt, From Stockholm to Johannesburg and Beyond: the evolution of the interna-
tional system for sustainable development governance and its implications (The Government Offices of
Sweden 2009).
11
Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992, UN Doc A/
CONF.151/26 (Vol II), Annex II.
12
Declaration of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992, UN Doc
A/CONF151/26 (UNCED).
13
Convention on Biological Diversity (adopted 5 June 1992, entered into force 29 December 1993)
1760 UNTS 79 (Biodiversity Convention).

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384 Research handbook on international law and environmental peacebuilding

in rural areas of developing countries, and the importance of ensuring the full participation of
both men and women at all levels in program[ing]’.14
Building on this foundation, ‘women and the environment’ was recognized as one of the
12 critical areas of concern in the Platform for Action during the Fourth World Conference
on Women held in Beijing in 1995.15 The Platform for Action expressly recognizes that
women ‘have an essential role to play in the development of … approaches to natural resource
management’16 and that their skills in relation to natural resource and environmental man-
agement, conservation, protection and rehabilitation too often remain marginalized.17 Among
the strategic objectives of the Platform are ‘involving women actively in environmental
decision-making at all levels; integrating gender concerns and perspectives in policies and
programmes for sustainable development; [and] strengthening or establishing mechanisms …
to assess the impact of development and environmental policies on women’.18
Recent developments in IEL and policy highlight a continued recognition of the impor-
tance of adopting a gender perspective. The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, notes in the
preamble that parties should promote gender equality and the empowerment of women when
taking action to address climate change, and calls for ‘gender-responsive’ adaptation and
capacity-building projects.19 The preamble of the Global Pact for the Environment similarly
emphasizes ‘the vital role of women in sustainable development matters and the need to
promote gender equality and the empowerment of women’.20 The adoption of Gender Action
Plans by the governing bodies of many IEL treaties, such as the CBD and the CCD, also con-
tinue to ensure the development of gender-responsive policies in the environmental sphere.21

2.2 Gender and Peacebuilding

It was later (than in IEL) that the international community began to recognize the important
role played by women in peacebuilding. In 2000, the Windhoek Declaration and Namibia Plan
of Action called for the mainstreaming of gender perspectives in peace operations and peace

14
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious
Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (adopted 14 October 1994, entered into force 26
December 1996) 1954 UNTS 3, preamble.
15
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at the 16th plenary meeting on 15 September
1995 during the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing from 4-15 September 1995, para 248.
www​.un​.org/​womenwatch/​daw/​beijing/​platform/​ accessed 23 March 2023.
16
Ibid., para 246.
17
Ibid., para 249.
18
Ibid., paras 253–258.
19
Arts 7 and 11. Decision 1/CP.21, Adoption of the Paris Agreement 2015 (UN Doc FCCC/
CP/2015/10/Add 1 (29 January 2016)). See also the Lima Work Programme on Gender and its Gender
Action Plan, UN Doc FCCC/CP/2019/L.3 (12 December 2019).
20
Draft Global Pact for the Environment (2017) https://​g​lobalpacte​nvironment​.org/​uploads/​EN​.pdf
accessed 23 March 2023. See also: UN Resolution, ‘Towards a Global Pact for the Environment’, UN
Doc A/72/L.51 (7 May 2018).
21
For example, CBD Gender Plan of Action 2015-2020, adopted 17 October 2014, UN Doc UNEP/
CBD/COP/DEC/XII/7, www​.cbd​.int/​gender/​action​-plan/​ accessed 23 March 2023; and the Gender
Action Plan to accompany implementation of the UNCCD 2018–2030 Strategic Framework, 17 January
2018, www​.unccd​.int/​publications/​gender​-action​-plan accessed 23 March 2023.

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 Integrating gender, peace and environment 385

processes.22 The Namibia Plan of Action, which accompanied the Declaration, highlighted
various entry points for gender mainstreaming in multidimensional peace support operations.23
The landmark Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security adopted
in the same year formalized the UN’s commitment to increasing the role of women in peace-
building.24 Resolution 1325 reaffirmed ‘the important role of women in the prevention and
resolution of conflicts and in peace-building’ and stressed ‘the importance of their equal
participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace
and security’.25 The Resolution urged all member States to ‘ensure increased representation
of women at all decision-making levels … for the prevention, management, and resolution
of conflict’,26 and called ‘on all actors involved, when negotiating and implementing peace
agreements, to adopt a gender perspective’.27
Nothing in Resolution 1325 imposed specific obligations on States – yet it has played
a crucial role in embedding the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Framework in the work of
the UN and ensuring that matters relating to peace and security are also matters where women
play a role. The four pillars underpinning the framework are:28

PARTICIPATION: Full and equal participation and representation of women at all levels of
decision-making, including peace-processes, electoral processes (both candidates and voters), UN
positions, and the broader social-political sphere.
PREVENTION: Incorporation of a gender perspective and the participation of women in preventing
the emergence, spread, and re-emergence of violent conflict as well as addressing root causes includ-
ing the need for disarmament. Address the continuum of violence and adopt a holistic perspective of
peace based on equality, human rights and human security for all, including the most marginalized,
applied both domestically and internationally.
PROTECTION: Specific protection rights and needs of women and girls in conflict and
post-conflict settings, including the reporting and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence;
domestic implementation of regional and international laws and conventions.
RELIEF AND RECOVERY: Access to health services and trauma counselling, including for survi-
vors of sexual and gender-based violence.

Since the adoption of Resolution 1325, a further nine Security Council WPS resolutions have
been adopted.29 These resolutions together form the international WPS policy framework.

22
UN Doc A/55/138-S/2000/693 (14 July 2000), Annex I.
23
Ibid., Annex II, Namibia Plan of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional
Peace Support Operations.
24
UN Doc S/RES/1325 (2000).
25
Ibid., preamble.
26
Ibid., para 1.
27
Ibid., para 8.
28
Peace Women, ‘Women, Peace and Security: National Action Plan Development Toolkit’ (New
York 2013), www​.peacewomen​.org/​assets/​file/​national​_action​_plan​_development​_toolkit​.pdf accessed
23 March 2012; see also SIDA, Gender Toolbox Brief, Women, Peace and Security (March 2015), www​
.sida​.se/​contentassets/​3a8​20dbd152f4​fca98bacde​8a8101e15/​women​-peace​-and​-security​.pdf accessed
23 March 2012.
29
Resolutions 1820 (2008); 1888 (2009); 1889 (2009); 1960 (2010); 2106 (2013); 2122 (2013); 2242
(2015); 2467 (2019); and 2493 (2019). A draft resolution presented by Russia in October 2020 (UN Doc
S/2020/1054) failed to be adopted.

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386 Research handbook on international law and environmental peacebuilding

Physical safety, in particular sexual safety, is a key theme of the resolutions.30 Later resolu-
tions, however, reflect a shift towards a broader view of conflict and safety: Resolution 1889
(2009), for instance, extends the emphasis on women to all post-conflict phases, and highlights
the need to provide support for ‘better socio-economic conditions’ in addition to securing
women’s physical safety.31 Building on this, Resolution 2122 (2013) explicitly affirms an
‘integrated approach’ to sustainable peace.
We have also seen a gradual recognition within the WPS framework of the role of the envi-
ronment in peacebuilding.32 Resolution 2242 (2015) highlights the ‘changing global context
of peace and security’, and the significance of climate change for the WPS agenda for the
first time. The Resolution notes ‘the impacts of climate change and the global nature of health
pandemics’, and reiterates ‘its intention to increase attention to women, peace and security as
a cross-cutting subject in all relevant thematic areas of work on its agenda’.33 Subsequently,
Resolution 2467 (2019) makes the critical link between the illegal trade of natural resources
and sexual violence, recognizing as it does ‘the link between sexual violence in conflict
and post-conflict situations and the illicit trade in natural resources, including so-called
“conflict-minerals”’.34
Despite sustained advocacy on the part of civil society, the implementation of the WPS
agenda has not been straightforward. Resolution 1325 was successful in bringing women into
the ‘peace and security’ dimension of international law-making.35 A lack of specificity – par-
ticularly in the earlier resolutions – has however minimized the impact of the resolutions at
the country-level. In 2009, the Security Council expressed ‘deep concern’ regarding the slow
progress with respect to the implementation of Resolution 1325.36 To mark the 15th anniver-
sary of the adoption of Resolution 1325, the Secretary-General requested a Global Study of the
implementation of Resolution 1325 from UN Women. The report identified some progress but
highlighted that more work was required to realize the commitments contained in Resolution
1325.37
This remains the case. The year 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of Resolution 1325. As
noted in a report by Kvinna till Kvinna:38

30
See in particular, Resolutions 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), and 2467
(2019).
31
See further: Dina Haynes, Naomi Cahn and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, ‘Women in the Post-Conflict
Process: Reviewing the Impact of Recent U.N. Actions in Achieving Gender Centrality’ (2012) 11 Santa
Clara Journal of International Law 189, 200.
32
See further: Keina Yoshida, ‘The Protection of the Environment: A Gendered Analysis’ (2020) 10
Goettingen Journal of International Law.
33
UN Doc S/RES/2242 (2015), preamble.
34
UN Doc S/RES/2467 (2019), preamble.
35
Haynes, Cahn and Aoláin (n 31) 199.
36
UN Doc S/RES/1889 (2009), 2. On the request of the Council, the Secretary General prepared
a report: ‘Women’s Participation in Peacebuilding’, with an action plan for ‘gender-responsive peace-
building’. See UN Doc A /65/354–S /2010/466 (7 September 2010).
37
Radhika Coomaraswamy, ‘Preventing Conflict Transforming Justice Security the Peace: A Global
Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325’ (UN Women 2015).
UN Women was asked by the UN Secretary-General to complete this report in response to Security
Council Resolution 2122 (2013). The need for more effort is a common theme in the resolutions passed
since Resolution 1325 (2000).
38
Bella Kapur and Ola Saleh, ‘A Right Not a Gift’ (Kvinna till Kvinna 2020) 7 https://​
kvinnatillkvinna​.org/​wp​-content/​uploads/​2020/​05/​A​-Right​-Not​-A​-Gift​.pdf accessed 23 March 2012.

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 Integrating gender, peace and environment 387

During the past two decades we have witnessed contradictions; progress and set-backs, globalisation
and nationalism, glass ceilings breaking and women being held back. What we know is that when
women’s participation and rights are advancing, it is thanks to feminist movements tirelessly fighting,
challenging power structures and not taking no for an answer.

The WPS agenda has ensured that women are not overlooked in peace and security conver-
sations. However, the challenge remains the same: despite a will to bring women into the
dialogue of peacebuilding, the implementation and execution of that will is still lacking.39

2.3 Gender, Environment and Peacebuilding

The connection between gender-and-environment and gender-and-peacebuilding has thus

been clearly made by the international community. Recognition of the interconnected nature
of gender-and-peacebuilding-and-environment has been more elusive. As recognized by
Frohlich and Gioli: ‘while the understanding that gender is an important intervening variable
in resource-related conflicts has been formulated on a regular basis in the past, only very
few and very recent studies explicitly analyze the nexus between gender, environment, and
conflict’.40
This is clear from a brief review of reports in the field of peacebuilding. On the one hand,
there are reports that make the link between gender and peacebuilding but fail to recognize
the role environmental factors play. For instance, the Peacebuilding Commission’s Gender
Strategy (2016) which aims to strengthen the Commission’s engagement on gender-related
aspects of peacebuilding makes no mention of the environment, natural resources or climate
change.41 The Secretary General’s report on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace (2018) is the
same: the report refers to gender several times but makes no reference to the natural environ-
ment, natural resources or climate change.42 On the other hand, there are reports that make
the link between conflict and the environment, but ignore the role of gender. For example,
the purpose of the Report of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace: ‘A Matter of
Survival’ (2017) was ‘to study the nexus between water and peace, in light of the experiences
of our era and to make recommendations for water as an instrument of peace’.43 The report
acknowledges that ‘much still needs to be done to empower women in decision-making pro-
cesses related to water’.44 However, it makes no recommendations towards achieving this: the
recommendations section avoids any reference to women or gender. The follow-up report of
the Panel in 2019 represents progress insofar as it identifies ‘the importance of looking at the

The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation promotes women’s rights in over 20 conflict-affected countries in the
Middle East, Africa, Europe and the South Caucasus. It supports more than 130 local partner organiza-
tions across the world. Women, Peace and Security is one of its four focus areas.
39
This was the same conclusion drawn in 2012 by Haynes, Cahn and Aoláin (n 31) 214–15.
40
Fröhlich and Gioli (n 9) 142.
41
UN Peacebuilding Commission, ‘Gender Strategy’ (2016) www​.un​.org/​peacebuilding/​sites/​www​
.un​.org​.peacebuilding/​files/​documents/​07092016​-​_pbc​_gender​_strategy​_final​_1​.pdf accessed 23 March
2012.
42
UN Doc A/72/707–S/2018/43 (2018).
43
‘A Matter of Survival: Report of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace’ (2017) 3 www​
.genevawaterhub​.org/​resource/​matter​-survival accessed 23 March 2012. The panel comprises 12 men
and two women.
44
Ibid., 37.

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388 Research handbook on international law and environmental peacebuilding

role of women water leaders in peacebuilding and resolution of conflicts’, but no clear actions
are recorded.45
The Joint Programme on Women, Natural Resources, and Peace highlights that progress
is being made. In 2013, four UN agencies – namely UN Environment, UN Women, the UN
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) – released
a report titled: ‘Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential’.46 The
first of its type, the joint report analyses how ‘women’s empowerment and the sustainable
use of natural resources can be pursued together to help build lasting peace’.47 The Joint
Programme on Women, Natural Resources and Peace was established on the basis of the
report’s findings. The Joint Programme is premised on the view that interventions around
natural resources, environment and climate change in gender-related peacebuilding program-
ming provide ‘significant opportunities to empower women politically and economically, and
to strengthen their contributions to peace’.48 To date, the Joint Programme has overseen the
design and implementation of pilot projects in Sudan, Colombia and the Great Lakes region,
and launched a knowledge platform on gender, natural resources, climate and peace.49
Recognition of the ‘triple nexus’ and the opportunities it presents for better engaging
with communities is thus emerging in international policy documents, though it remains
inconsistent.

3. THE CHALLENGE: PITFALLS IN PRACTICE

As alluded to above, the key challenge in achieving gender mainstreaming in the field of envi-
ronmental peacebuilding is in practice. The CEDAW Committee has observed:50

42. While women often take on leadership roles during conflict as heads of households, peacemakers,
political leaders and combatants, the Committee has repeatedly expressed concern that their voices
are silenced and marginalized in post-conflict and transition periods and recovery processes.

Women are still largely excluded from peacebuilding processes. A study of women’s roles in
major peace processes from 1992 to 2019 indicates that women made up only 6 per cent of

45
‘Determined Steps: Follow-up activities and implementation of the recommendations of the
Report of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace “A Matter of Survival”’ (March 2019), 26.
46
‘Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential’ (UNEP, UN Women,
PBSO and UNDP 2013).
47
Ibid., 5.
48
‘Women, Natural Resources and Peace: A Joint Programme of UN Environment, UN Women,
the UN Development Programme and UN Peacebuilding Support Office’, https://​www​.unep​.org/​explore​
-topics/​disasters​-conflicts/​what​-we​-do/​environment​-security/​women​-natural​-resources​-and accessed 23
March 2023.
49
Knowledge Platform on Gender, Natural Resources, Climate and Peace, www​.gender​-nr​-peace​
.org/​accessed 23 March 2012.
50
CEDAW, ‘General Recommendation No 30 on Women in Conflict Prevention, Conflict and
Post-Conflict Situations’ CEDAW/C/GC/30 (18 October 2013) para 42 www​.ohchr​.org/​Documents/​
HRBodies/​CEDAW/​GComments/​CEDAW​.C​.CG​.30​.pdf accessed 23 March 2023 (emphasis added).

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 Integrating gender, peace and environment 389

mediators, 6 per cent of signatories, and 13 per cent of negotiators during this period.51 The
majority of peace agreements signed since 1990 have included no female signatories: only one
woman has signed a final peace accord as chief negotiator, and only one current peace process
is led by a woman chief mediator.52
The exclusion of women from peacebuilding processes is contrary to international law.
There is no treaty that specifically stipulates that women must be part of a peace process.
However, international human rights law applies which requires their equal participation.
Article 3 of CEDAW provides that (emphasis added):

States Parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political, social, economic and cultural fields,
all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of
women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and funda-
mental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.

This is supplemented by Articles 7 and 8. Pursuant to Article 7 States parties are required to
ensure women’s equal representation in political and public life, in particular ‘to participate in
the formulation of government policy … and hold public office and perform all public functions
at all levels of government’. Even if States are not willing to include women in government,
women are at a minimum legally guaranteed the right ‘[t]o participate in non-governmental
organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country’.53
Article 8 further guarantees women’s representation at the international level and participation
in the work of international organizations, such as the UN. Taken together, States parties are
under an obligation to ensure that women are part of each stage of the peacebuilding process
– at the local, national and international levels – on an equal footing with men.
General Recommendation 30 of the CEDAW Committee drills down into what these
guarantees mean in the peacebuilding context. The Recommendation clarifies that States
have obligations to take measures to address the broader context of gender discrimination and
inequality in conflict-affected areas, in addition to the barriers to women’s equal participation.54

51
Council on Foreign Relations, ‘Women’s Participation in Peace Processes’, www​.cfr​.org/​
interactive/​womens​-participation​-in​-peace​-processes accessed 23 March 2023. See also: Pablo Castillo
Diaz and Simon Tordjman, ‘Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections between
Presence and Influence’ (2012) www​.academia​.edu/​2962479/​_With​_Pablo​_Castillo​_Diaz​_Women​_s​
_Participation​_in​_Peace​_Negotiations​_Connections​_between​_Presence​_and​_Influence​_UN​_Women​
_2012​?auto​=​download accessed 23 March 2023; and Christine Bell and Catherine O’Rourke, ‘Peace
Agreements or Pieces of Paper? The Impact of UNSC Resolution 1325 on Peace Processes and Their
Agreements’ (2010) 59 International & Comparative Law Quarterly 941, 954.
52
Stephanie Williams is acting head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya. Aside from
this, Miriam Coronel Ferrer of the Philippines and Tzipi Livni of Israel are the only women to serve as
chief negotiators. Coronel Ferrer is the only woman to have signed a final peace accord as chief nego-
tiator. See Council on Foreign Relations, ‘Women’s Participation in Peace Processes’, www​.cfr​.org/​
interactive/​womens​-participation​-in​-peace​-processes accessed 23 March 2023.
53
Art 7(3).
54
CEDAW, ‘General Recommendation No 30 on Women in Conflict Prevention, Conflict and
Post-Conflict Situations’ CEDAW/C/GC/30 (18 October 2013) www​.ohchr​.org/​Documents/​HRBodies/​
CEDAW/​GComments/​CEDAW​.C​.CG​.30​.pdf accessed 23 March 2023 para 44. See also: ‘Guidebook
on CEDAW General Recommendation No. 30 and the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women,
Peace and Security’ (UN Women) www​.unwomen​.org/​en/​digital​-library/​publications/​2015/​8/​guidebook​
-cedawgen​eralrecomm​endation30​-womenpeacesecurity accessed 23 March 2023.

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390 Research handbook on international law and environmental peacebuilding

Specifically, the Committee recommends that States parties ‘[e]nsure that legislative, execu-
tive, administrative and other regulatory instruments do not restrict women’s participation in
the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts’.55 These obligations apply to all States
parties involved in the peacebuilding process, including third-party States.56
Other international human rights instruments further support a role for women in peace-
building processes. Article 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR),57 for instance, requires that States parties ‘ensure the equal right of men and women
to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant’. States
parties are required to ensure that ‘every citizen’ has the ‘right and the opportunity’ without
discrimination and without unreasonable restrictions to take part in the conduct of public
affairs, to vote and to be elected, and to have access to public service. Similar guarantees and
protections are afforded to women in respect of their economic, social and cultural rights via
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).58
Research indicates that including women in the peacebuilding process, as required by inter-
national law, has benefits beyond securing their human rights. A positive outcome to peace
processes is more likely when women exert influence over the process. An investigation of
peace processes from 1989–2014 concluded that: ‘the strength of women’s influence is posi-
tively correlated with agreements being reached and implemented’.59 Furthermore, the partic-
ipation of women appears to make the resulting peace agreements more durable.60 Research
carried out on peace processes conducted between 1989 and 2011 found that women’s partic-
ipation carried ‘a significant and positive impact on peace’:

In the short term, peace processes that included women as witnesses, signatories, mediators, and/
or negotiators demonstrated a 20 percent increase in the probability of a peace agreement lasting at
least two years. This percentage continues to increase over time, with a 35 percent increase in the
probability of a peace agreement lasting fifteen years.61

There are also benefits associated with women’s participation in the negotiation of ceasefires,
truces and cessation of hostilities.62 Taken together, this has led one expert to conclude that
‘[t]he empirical evidence is overwhelming: where women’s inclusion is prioritized, peace is
more likely – particularly when women are in a position to influence decision making’.63

55
Ibid., para 46.
56
Ibid., para 44.
57
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into
force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171.
58
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted 16 December 1966,
entered into force 3 January 1976) 999 UNTS 3.
59
Paffenholz and others (n 2) 6.
60
Marie O’Reilly, Andrea Ó Súilleabháin and Thania Paffenholz, ‘Reimagining Peacemaking:
Women’s Roles in Peace Processes’ 42, 12 Annex II (citing research by Laurel Stone).
61
Ibid.
62
Olivia Holt-Ivry, Allison Muehlenbeck and Michelle Barsa, ‘Inclusive Ceasefires: Women,
Gender, and a Sustainable End to Violence’ (2017) Inclusive Security: Issue Brief.
63
Marie O’Reilly, ‘Why Women? Inclusive Security and Peaceful Societies’ (Inclusive Security
2015) 11 www​.inclusivesecurity​.org/​wp​-content/​uploads/​2020/​02/​Why​-Women​-Brief​-2020​.pdf
accessed 23 March 2023.

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 Integrating gender, peace and environment 391

4. AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH
As recognition grows that the natural environment is a factor in many armed conflicts, and that
environmental degradation has specific gender-related impacts, conflict prevention efforts must
necessarily account for these factors. Women’s knowledge of the natural environment and resource
scarcity can play an integral role in early warning systems for climate-related resource scarcity and
conflict, and in developing a sustainable response to conflict.64

In order to turn policy into practice, this chapter advocates for the adoption of an integrative
approach to environmental peacebuilding. This requires going beyond sectoral thinking and
considering the interaction between human rights (including women’s rights), environmental
sustainability and conflict prevention. As a starting point, an integrated approach requires:

(1) The integration of principles and standards derived from international human rights
law, especially CEDAW, ICCPR and ICESCR. As evidenced above, international human
rights law already provides a normative framework for gender-responsive environ-
mental peacebuilding initiatives. This normative framework – which is supplemented
by international environmental law (IEL) – needs to be implemented, which requires
political will at both the local and international levels.
(2) An improved understanding of the gendered impacts of conflict and the use of and
access to natural resources, along with recognition of the knowledge and expertise
of women when designing environmental peacebuilding initiatives. An integrated
approach requires obtaining an understanding of the implications of gender on the
ground. Women are not a homogenous group: the experience of women and girls differs
from one local community to the next. Compounding such differences is the role of
intersectionality, i.e., how gender intersects with factors, such as ethnicity, sexuality,
disability, socioeconomic status and age. For example, a Dalit woman in Nepal faces
‘double-discrimination’ – she explains: ‘Although Nepali law grants me equality, in
reality I still face double discrimination as a result of my caste and my gender’.
(3) Meaningful, informed and effective participation of women at all stages of the peace-
building process. No discussions about women should take place without women. The
influence wielded by women will be the defining factor.65 As explained by Salvesen and
Nylander in respect of the Colombian peace process:

the mere presence of women around the negotiating table will not necessarily make a difference:
rather, women must be able to influence the decision-making process. Gender equality is not just a
‘women’s concern’: it is the responsibility of all individuals and of society as a whole, and it requires
the active involvement of both women and men.66

64
Coomaraswamy (n 37) 212.
65
Paffenholz and others (n 2) 6. The Report notes that ‘the direct inclusion of women does not per
se increase the likelihood that more peace agreements are signed and implemented. What makes a differ-
ence is the influence women actually have on a process.’ 5.
66
Hilde Salvesen and Dag Nylander, ‘Towards an Inclusive Peace: Women and the Gender
Approach in the Colombian Peace Process’ (NOREF Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution 2017) 5.

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392 Research handbook on international law and environmental peacebuilding

The example of post-conflict freshwater management highlights the benefits of adopting an

integrative, rights-based, and gender-responsive approach to environmental peacebuilding.67
Water scarcity can trigger or drive conflict. It can also lead to compromised freshwater sup-
plies due to damage to infrastructure or a lack of investment.68 This has more severe effects for
women.69 Women, particularly in rural areas, are usually responsible for collecting water for
the household, placing them at greater risk of suffering from the increased physical burden as
a result of compromised water services.70 Inaccessible water supplies also give rise to threats
to personal safety,71 and lead to complications with sanitation and hygiene.72
The water crisis in Yemen is illustrative of these challenges. The conflict has exacerbated
existing pressures on freshwater supplies in an already water-scarce country.73 Since the begin-
ning of the war, the Pacific Institute has recorded 133 attacks on water infrastructure.74 The
Covid-19 pandemic has added to the problem, as households need more water for handwash-
ing.75 Research highlights that chronic water shortages and the rising cost of water purchased
from private actors mean that women spend several hours more each day collecting water.
Long trips to public taps also expose women and children to violence and abuse, while inad-
equate or insensitively designed pumps exacerbate challenges related to menstrual hygiene.76
The problem is compounded by an absence of women in decision-making relating to water.
At the household level, men are generally responsible for the finances, and may not prioritize
the purchase of water – either because they do not understand the household’s needs or are
less affected by the shortages.77 At the community level, the water user committees are also
managed almost exclusively by male local leaders, providing no representation for women.78

67
See generally, Erika Weinthal, Jessica J Troell and Mikiyasu Nakayama, Water and Post-Conflict
Peacebuilding (Routledge 2014) www​.routledge​.com/​Water​-and​-Post​-Conflict​-Peacebuilding​-1st​
-Edition/​Weinthal​-Troell​-Nakayama/​p/​book/​9781849712323 accessed 23 March 2023.
68
‘A Matter of Survival: Report of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace’ (n 43) 6.
69
Ibid.
70
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), ‘Women, Water, Sanitation
and Hygiene’ (2015) www​.sida​.se/​English/​publications/​159436/​women​-water​-sanitation​-and​-hygiene/​
accessed 23 March 2023. ‘Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential’ (n 46)
23.
71
General Comment No 30, para 36. See also: Murray Burt and Bilha Joy Keiru, ‘Strengthening
Post-Conflict Peacebuilding through Community Water-Resource Management: Case Studies from
Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Liberia’ (2011) 36 Water International 232.
72
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) (n 70).
73
Knoema, ‘Total renewable water resources per capita (cubic meters per year)’, https://​knoema​
.com/​atlas/​Yemen/​topics/​Water/​Total​-Renewable​-Water​-Resources/​Renewable​-water​-resources​-per​
-capita) accessed 23 March 2023. In 2017, renewable water resources per capita for Yemen was 74.3
cubic meters per year – among the lowest in the world.
74
As at 17 January 2021. Pacific Institute, Water Conflict Chronology, www​.worldwater​.org/​
conflict/​list/​accessed 23 March 2023.
75
Margaret Habib, ‘Blog Post: COVID-19 Exacerbates the Effects of Water Shortages on Women
in Yemen’, Wilson Center (20 August 2020) www​.wilsoncenter​.org/​blog​-post/​covid​-19​-exacerbates​
-effects​-water​-shortages​-women​-yemen accessed 23 March 2023.
76
International Rescue Committee, ‘Narrowing the Gender Gap in Yemen: A Gender Analysis’
(2019) 13. See also: Burt and Keiru (n 71). Leonie Nimmo ‘International Women’s Day 2020: Women,
war and water in Yemen’ Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) Blog, 6 March 2020.
77
International Rescue Committee (n 76) 13.
78
Ibid.

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Involving women in freshwater governance can be an opportunity – both for building

sustainable peace and enhancing women’s status. Evidence suggests that women more often
demand the inclusion of water issues in peace agreements,79 and prioritize the equitable dis-
tribution of natural resources.80 The gendered division of labour also often means that women
have ‘accumulated knowledge about water resources, including location, quality and storage
methods, as well as insights in common habits and problems within a community, which are
important information for programming’.81 An inter-agency UN report has identified that ‘in
cases where women and men are equally consulted in terms of location and placement of water
and sanitation infrastructure, the installations are more frequented, better maintained and tech-
nically appropriate’.82 For women, the social upheaval that often accompanies conflict can also
lead to new roles and responsibilities which challenge traditional gender roles and unequal
gender relations.83 Yemen, for instance, is ranked last in the Global Gender Gap Index (2020),
with the lowest rate of female participation in the labour force in the world (6.3 per cent).84
The war has however unsettled traditional gender roles, with women seeking paid work to
supplement dwindling household incomes.85 This may open up space for women to take on
more non-traditional roles in the post-conflict stage – an opportunity that stands to improve
the situation for women, but also the management of the natural resource and the prospects of
sustainable peace.
International human rights law provides a sound starting point for an integrated approach to
designing gender-sensitive post-conflict interventions in the field of freshwater governance.
The right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation has been recognized as a human
right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.86 States must therefore

79
This was noted during the Security Council open debate on water, peace and security on 22
November 2016, chaired by Senegal. UN Doc S/PV.7818 (2016), 3 – citing the example of the Darfur
peace process.
80
‘Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential’ (n 47) 10. Citing Ivan
Cardona and others, ‘From the Ground up: Women’s Roles in Local Peacebuilding in Afghanistan,
Liberia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sierra Leone’ (Institute of Development Studies 2012). See also: UN
Environment Programme, UN Women and UNDP, ‘Promoting Gender-Responsive Approaches to
Natural Resource Management for Peace in North Kordofan, Sudan’, (2019) p 39.
81
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) (n 70). See also Burt and Keiru (n
71).
82
‘Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential’ (n 47) 23. See Case
Study 4 on ‘Gender dynamics in water management in the West Bank’ 22.
83
Cardona and others (n 80) 14. Liberia is a case in point, where the women’s peace movement was
instrumental in bringing about an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003 – in relation to which
Leymah Gbowee received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. Nobel Women’s Initiative, ‘Leymah Gbowee:
Liberia 2011’, https://​n​obelwomens​initiative​.org/​laureate/​leymah​-gbowee/​ accessed 23 March 2023.
84
World Economic Forum, ‘Global Gender Gap Report 2020’ (2019). Furthermore, the estimated
earned income of women is on average 28 per cent of what men earn. In six countries the ratio is less than
one-fifth.
85
Fawziah Al-Ammar, Hannah Patchett and Shams Shamsan, ‘A Gendered Crisis: Understanding
the experiences of Yemen’s War’, Sanaa Center, December 2019 https://​sanaacenter​.org/​files/​A​
_Gendered​_Crisis​_en​.pdf accessed 23 March 2023.
86
See General Assembly Resolutions, UN Doc A/RES/64/292 (3 August 2010) and UN Doc A/
RES/70/169 (22 February 2016); and General Comment of the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural No. 15: The Right to Water (Arts 11 and 12 of the Covenant), adopted on 20 January 2003
(contained in UN Doc. E/C.12/2002/11). Recognition is also provided in the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child (‘To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary

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394 Research handbook on international law and environmental peacebuilding

ensure that access to water is enjoyed without discrimination, with particular concern paid to
rural women.87 As recorded in a resolution of the General Assembly of 2019, this includes
ensuring access ‘to safe and affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation
and hygiene for all women and girls, as well as for menstrual hygiene management’; taking
measures ‘to empower women and girls for preparedness in humanitarian emergencies and
crises, including in times of armed conflict or natural disaster’; promoting ‘both women’s
leadership and their full, effective and equal participation in decision-making on water and
sanitation management’ and ensuring ‘that a gender-based approach is adopted’; and protect-
ing ‘women and girls from being physically threatened or assaulted, including from sexual
violence, while collecting household water and when accessing sanitation facilities outside
their home’.88
An integrated approach also requires a better understanding of the various dimensions of the
conflict, and how gender and freshwater resources interact with the conflict. The collection of
gender-disaggregated data as regards the use and management of water is an essential part of
that process.89 Finally, participation is both the aim and the vehicle for an integrated approach.
Women have long been acknowledged as playing a central role in the provision, management
and safeguarding of water.90 Already in 1992, principle three of the Dublin Statement on Water
and Sustainable Development adopted during the International Conference on Water and the
Environment (ICWE) read:91

This pivotal role of women as providers and users of water and guardians of the living environment
has seldom been reflected in institutional arrangements for the development and management of
water resources. Acceptance and implementation of this principle requires positive policies to
address women’s specific needs and to equip and empower women to participate at all levels in water
resources programmes, including decision-making and implementation, in ways defined by them.

The international legal framework supporting the equal participation of women in freshwater
management therefore needs to be implemented in the post-conflict phase, with an understand-
ing of how gender and intersectionality play out on-the-ground, towards building sustainable
peace and creating opportunities for women.

health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision
of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of
environmental pollution’) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘To ensure
equal access by persons with disabilities to clean water services, and to ensure access to appropriate and
affordable services, devices and other assistance for disability-related needs’).
87
Article 14(2)(h), CEDAW. See also ‘General Comment No. 15: The Right to Water (Arts. 11 and
12 of the Covenant), Adopted at the Twenty-Ninth Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights on 20 January 2003’ UN Doc E/C.12/2002/11 (2003) para 16.
88
UN Doc A/C.3/74/L.33/Rev.1 (12 November 2019).
89
See e.g., the gender analysis undertaken by the International Rescue Committee: International
Rescue Committee (n 76).
90
See also: The Beijing Platform for Action (2005); Rio Principle 20 (1992); Africa Water Vision
2025; The AMCOW Strategy and Policy for Mainstreaming Gender in the Water Sector in Africa (2011);
and the Mekong River Commission Gender Policy and Strategy (2013).
91
Available at https://​www​.gdrc​.org/​uem/​water/​dublin​-statement​.html accessed 23 March 2023.

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 Integrating gender, peace and environment 395

5. THE CHALLENGES: WHY ARE WOMEN NOT BEING

INCLUDED?

So, what is preventing policy- and law-makers from connecting the dots with respect to the
gender dimension of environmental peacebuilding? And what is preventing those policies that
do connect the dots from being put into practice? While recognizing that barriers persist at
the local and national levels,92 this section identifies several barriers at the international level.

5.1 Legal

The variety of applicable international law norms presents an initial hurdle. International
human rights law (including women’s rights) plays a critical role in the field of environmental
peacebuilding, as well as IEL treaties and principles such as the principles of sustainable use,
inter-generational equity, prevention and precaution.93 The legal and political principles of
permanent sovereignty over natural resources and sustainable development will also likely
apply.94 Finally, rules from international investment law and international humanitarian law, in
particular as they relate to the protection of the environment during conflict,95 are also relevant.
This panoply of applicable norms raises difficulties. As noted by one of the authors in her
capacity as Special Rapporteur in the ‘Third Report on the protection of the environment in
relation to armed conflicts’ concerning post-conflict situations:

266. The main findings of the three reports presented by the Special Rapporteur indicate that there
exists a substantive collection of legal rules that enhances environmental protection in relation to
armed conflict. However, if taken as a whole, this collection of laws is a blunt tool, since its various
parts sometimes seem to work in parallel streams. A holistic approach to the implementation of this
body of law seems to be lacking at times. In addition, there are no existing or developed tools or pro-
cesses to encourage States, international organizations and other relevant actors to utilize the entire
body of already applicable rules.96

The fact that various specialized areas of international law contain provisions, rules and refer-
ences to the role of women bolsters the argument for an integrative approach to the interplay
between gender, environment and peacebuilding. This factor however indicates that the law
alone will only take us so far. The law needs to be buttressed with political will, applied with
a gender lens.

92
Barriers to women’s participation in peacebuilding at the local and national level include restric-
tive social norms and attitudes that reinforce gender norms that make it difficult for women to participate
in peacebuilding activities in a meaningful way, violence against women and girls, poverty and inequal-
ity, and inequality in access to education. Cardona and others (n 81) 5–6.
93
See Philippe Sands and Jacqueline Peel, Principles of International Environmental Law (4th edn,
CUP 2018).
94
See Dam-de Jong (n 1) and Jacobsson (n 1).
95
International Committee of the Red Cross, Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural
Environment in Armed Conflict: Rules and Recommendations Relating to the Protection of the Natural
Environment under International Humanitarian Law, with Commentary (September 2020).
96
Jacobsson (n 1) para 266. The main focus of the third report is to identify rules applicable in
post-conflict situations.

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5.2 Political

Environmental management, especially at the global level, is a politically controversial

topic: environmental issues are typically seen as national issues. As noted by Dam-de Jong
in the context of environmental peacebuilding, ‘the right to exercise permanent sovereignty
over natural resources is an essential component of State sovereignty’.97 The involvement
of the international community (for instance, via the Security Council) in environmental
post-conflict activities is therefore often viewed with scepticism and caution. There has been
some reluctance in the Security Council – at least on the part of certain States – to identify
environmental factors as contributing to a threat to the peace, or as representing a threat to the
peace in itself.98 This is slowly changing. Facilitated by Presidential Statements,99 the Security
Council has increasingly referred to the environment and natural resources in its resolutions
alongside references to women and gender.100 Resolution 2349 (2017) on the Lake Chad Basin,
for instance, recognizes the adverse effects of climate change and ecological changes on stabil-
ity in the region,101 along with the need to ensure the ‘full and equal participation’ of women in
efforts to prevent and resolve conflict.102 The bridge between these factors (environment, con-
flict and gender) is overlooked, but the resolution represents progress. There is also growing
recognition of the need to adopt an integrative approach by the Security Council. In the
Presidential Statement on Peace Consolidation in West Africa, the Council ‘emphasizes the
need for an integrated gender perspective in the design and implementation of comprehensive
strategies to address the root causes of the crisis’103 and, more generally, ‘for a more integrated,
cross-pillar approach across the development, humanitarian, and peace and security nexus...’.104
The Security Council is therefore increasingly recognizing that environmental factors exac-
erbate existing threats and the need for integrating a gender perspective into the peacebuilding
process. These are positive developments, but the practice is limited and interlinkages between
gender, environment and peacebuilding are often overlooked.

97
Dam-de Jong (n 1) 35.
98
Christopher K Penny, ‘Greening the Security Council: Climate Change as an Emerging “Threat
to International Peace and Security”’ (2007) 7 International Environmental Agreements: Politics,
Law and Economics 35; Peter Aldinger, Carl Bruch and Sofia Yazykova, ‘Revisiting Securitization :
An Empirical Analysis of Environment and Natural Resource Provisions in United Nations Security
Council Resolutions, 1946–2016’ in Ashok Swain and Joakim Ojendal (eds), Routledge Handbook of
Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding (Routledge 2018).
99
For instance, UN Doc S/PRST/2011/15 (2011).
100
Aldinger, Bruch and Yazykova (n 98) 163. The authors note that through to the end of 2016, 336
Security Council resolutions (14.4 per cent of all resolutions) had addressed natural resources or the
environment (144). On 22 November 2016, the Security Council held an open debate on water, peace and
security chaired by Senegal (UN Doc S/PV.7818).
101
UN Doc S/RES/2349 (31 March 2017), para 26. See also the Report of the Security Council
Mission to the Lake Chad Basin region (Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria), 1–7 March 2017. UN Doc
S/2017/403 (5 May 2017).
102
Ibid., para 14. See also para 27. See also UNSC Peacekeeping Resolutions, including Resolution
2429 (UN Doc S/RES/2429 (13 July 2018)), renewing the mandate of UNAMID; Resolution 2408 (UN
Doc S/RES/2408 (27 March 2018)) renewing the mandate of UNSOM, and Resolution 2423 (UN Doc S/
RES/2423 (28 June 2018)) renewing MINUSMA's mandate.
103
UN Doc S/PRST/2018/16 (10 August 2018) 2 (emphasis added).
104
Ibid., 4.

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 Integrating gender, peace and environment 397

5.3 Structural

This emerging political will is hamstrung by structural impediments.105 The UN has long
been criticized for its siloed approach to exercising its mandate. Conca argues that: ‘The core
problem is that the UN has institutionalized a highly selective approach to environmental chal-
lenges – one that defines the task too narrowly, fails to connect it to key elements of the organ-
ization’s mandate, and leaves unused some of the UN’s most important tools.’106 He criticizes
the UN for having framed the problem as concerning only the development and international
law components of its mandate – at the expense of seeing environmental problems as central
to peace and international security and a core component of human rights.107
The 2015 Report of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding
Architecture highlights the fragmented nature of the UN’s peacebuilding architecture and the
effect this has on gender mainstreaming in peacebuilding. It notes:

… the same issue of United Nations fragmentation is sadly visible when it comes to the Organization’s
women and peacebuilding efforts. The case studies for the review tended to reveal a weakness in
bringing together the peace and security dimensions and the socioeconomic dimensions of the par-
ticipation of women. Mission components tended to concentrate on narrow but important questions
of political participation and the prevention of conflict-associated sexual and gender-based violence,
while the United Nations country teams worked on gender-sensitive approaches to economic recov-
ery and inclusion without always bringing a peacebuilding lens fully to bear. Again, separate funding
silos and institutional imperatives reinforced those tendencies. Better coherence and integration
between missions and country teams in the delivery of gender-oriented United Nations peacebuilding
must urgently be built. 108

The Report makes a series of recommendations towards ensuring that the gender dimension
of peacebuilding is recognized and properly addressed in all peacebuilding activities.109 In
particular, it recalls the Secretary-General’s target to ensure that at least 15 per cent of
UN-managed peacebuilding funds are dedicated to projects aimed at women and advancing
gender equality, and recommends that its achievement ‘should be written into the performance
compacts signed with senior United Nations leaders on the ground, in mission and non-mission
settings, and backed up with an enhanced system for monitoring and tracking achievement’. It
also calls on the PBSO to ‘work closely with other pertinent parts of the United Nations system
to ensure that gender expertise is available for the Commission’s integration of gender into its
country-specific and region-specific engagement’.110

5.4 Procedural

The international community has a key role to play in ensuring that women are part of the
process, but there must be support from the local level if women are to have real influence.
Reflecting on the success of the Colombian peace process, Salvesen and Nylander explain

105
Ken Conca, The Global Environment and the Four Pillars of the UN System (OUP 2015).
106
Ibid.
107
Ibid., 212.
108
UN Doc A/69/968–S/2015/490 (30 June 2015), para 80 (emphasis added).
109
Ibid. See for instance paras 159, 182, 183, and 190.
110
Ibid., paras 182 and 183.

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that, while ‘there is a need for dedicated people within the negotiating delegations to move the
agenda forward… [i]t would have been highly problematic – if not counterproductive – had
the pressure for gender inclusion only come from the international community. Mainly thanks
to these dedicated people in both delegations, the gender approach was maintained, and the
language improved in the new agreement’.
A barrier in this regard is the lack of procedural avenues for women to engage in the process,
and in some cases, the dangers associated with doing so. Women environmental defenders
are a case in point. UNDP has reported that, while more men environmental defenders are
murdered each year, women are ‘particularly vulnerable to environmental-related violence’.111
UN Environment has adopted a New Environmental Defenders Policy to address this.112 The
vulnerability of women environmental defenders ‘who are prone to multiple, aggravated or
intersecting forms of discrimination’ is expressly recognized.113 The policy comprises a Rapid
Response Mechanism which is intended to provide defenders with a means to contact the UN
Environment directly if they have faced violence or are in danger of violence.114 Another key
component of the policy is to strengthen inter-agency partnerships and the linkages between
human rights and the environment.

5.5 Climate Change

Finally, climate change intensifies existing threats to peace and security. At the same time,
insecurity makes adapting to climate change more difficult. A report by the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) indicates that the impacts
of climate change are more severe for women.115 Climate change impacts the vulnerable more
acutely, and women are both generally poorer and more often directly dependent on threatened
natural resources as their primary source of food and income. In a break from the usual silos,

111
‘In Defense of Nature: Women at the Forefront’ (UNDP) www​.undp​.org/​content/​undp/​en/​home/​
blog/​2018/​in​-defense​-of​-nature​-women​-at​-the​-forefront​.html accessed 23 March 2023. According to
UNDP, ‘about 10 per cent of these murders were of women, most of them indigenous, and this number
continues to grow every year’. See also Global Witness, ‘At What Cost? Irresponsible Business and
the Murder of Land and Environmental Defenders in 2017’ (2018), in particular 35 ff on ‘Women:
Defending land, life and equality’.
112
The policy defines an Environmental Defender as: ‘anyone (including groups of people and
women human rights defenders) who is defending environmental rights, including constitutional rights
to a clean and healthy environment, when the exercise of those rights is being threatened.’
113
The policy refers to General Assembly Resolution 68/181 (30 January 2014): ‘Promotion of the
Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote
and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: protecting women
human rights defenders’.
114
UN Environment, ‘Promoting Greater Protection for Environmental Defenders Policy’, www​
.unenvironment​.org/​explore​-topics/​environmental​-rights​-and​-governance/​what​-we​-do/​advancing​
-environmental​-rights/​uneps accessed 23 March 2023.
115
‘Analytical study on gender-responsive climate action for the full and effective enjoyment of the
rights of women: Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’, UN
Doc A/HRC/41/26 (1 May 2019). See also UN Doc A/HRC/41/L.24 (2019) on human rights and climate
change.

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 Integrating gender, peace and environment 399

five UN human rights treaty bodies issued a Joint Statement in 2019 highlighting the risk
climate change presents to human rights – particularly that of women.116 It notes that:

… climate change and disasters affect women and men, girls and boys differently, with many women
and girls facing disproportionate risks and impacts on their health, safety and livelihoods. Situations
of crisis exacerbate pre-existing gender inequalities and also compound intersecting forms of discrim-
ination that affect disadvantaged groups of women and girls, particularly those with disabilities, to
a different degree or in different ways than men or other women.

A recent report of the Joint Programme (discussed above) cautions against a ‘climate blind’
approach to WPS programming, which threatens to deepen existing inequalities and aggravate
environmental and security threats.117 The UN Secretary-General acknowledged this risk in
his 2019 Annual Report on Women, Peace and Security, noting the ‘urgent need for better
analysis and concrete, immediate actions to address the linkages between climate change
and conflict from a gender perspective’.118 The CEDAW Committee has prepared specific
guidance for States parties on the implementation of their obligations under CEDAW in light
of the significant challenges and opportunities presented by climate change and disaster risk.119

6. CONCLUSION

A sustainable peace process lays the foundation for resilient institutions that promote eco-
nomic, political and social emancipation for all. Women are half the population. It is thus not
surprising that their exclusion leads to an incomplete picture of what causes conflict and what
contributes to peace. It is repeatedly stated that ‘development, peace and security, and human
rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing’.120 This means that initiatives need to be
inclusive and ensure women are part of the conversation – not as victims, but as critical agents
of change. International law provides a sound normative framework for designing integrative
and gender-responsive peacebuilding initiatives. Hence, the legal basis is there. While tools

116
Joint statement on human rights and climate change, issued by the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination Against Women; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Committee on
the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; Committee on the
Rights of the Child Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (16 September 2019), www​
.ohchr​.org/​en/​NewsEvents/​Pages/​DisplayNews​.aspx​?NewsID​=​24998​&​LangID​=​E accessed 23 March
2023.
117
UNEP, UN Women, UNDP, UNDPPA/PBSO, ‘Gender, Climate & Security: Sustaining Inclusive
Peace on the Frontlines of Climate Change’ (2020) 13.
118
‘Women and peace and security: Report of the Secretary-General’ UN Doc S/2019/800 (2019).
119
General Recommendation 37 on Gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the
context of climate change, UN Doc CEDAW/C/GC/37 (7 February 2018). The need to take account
of climate change in peacebuilding has also been recognized by international research institutions. See
in particular: Farah Hegazi, Florian Krampe and Elizabeth Seymour Smith, ‘Climate-related Security
Risks and Peacebuilding in Mali’, SIPRI Policy Paper 60 (April 2021) www​.sipri​.org/​publications/​2021/​
sipri​-policy​-papers/​climate​-related​-security​-risks​-and​-peacebuilding​-mali accessed 23 March 2023; and
Karolina Eklöw and Florian Krampe, ‘Climate-Related Security Risks and Peacebuilding in Somalia’
SIPRI Policy Paper 53 (October 2019) www​.sipri​.org/​publications/​2019/​sipri​-policy​-papers/​climate​
-related​-security​-risks​-and​-peacebuilding​-somalia accessed 23 March 2023.
120
For example, in UN Doc S/RES/2282 (2016), 4.

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400 Research handbook on international law and environmental peacebuilding

could be developed to assist in identifying the various applicable norms towards preventing
norm conflicts, the broad range of applicable norms should be seen as bolstering the case
for an integrative approach. Further challenges are on the horizon. Climate change threatens
to increase the risk of violent conflict,121 with heightened impacts on women.122 Embedding
integrative and gender-responsive environmental peacebuilding practices has therefore never
been more imperative.

121
IPCC, ‘AR5 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2014’ 16 www​.ipcc​.ch/​report/​ar5/​syr/​accessed 23
March 2023.
122
Analytical study on gender-responsive climate action for the full and effective enjoyment of the
rights of women: Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN
Doc A/HRC/41/26 (1 May 2019).

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