24 July 2024
Can the Pacific Island Countries Lead the Way on Merging the WPS Agenda and Climate Security?
Abstract
Highly exposed to climate change risks, Pacific Island Countries (PICs), are leading the way in merging the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda with climate security. The recent Pacific Islands Forum held in December 2023 unveiled the region’s most gender-inclusive implementation plan, recognising womens’ intersectionality and role in peacebuilding. However, implementation faces major hurdles that have time-and-again kept action on WPS agenda in a state of suspension. For the WPS agenda and climate security to be mainstreamed successfully in the Pacific, core inequalities pervasive in the daily lives of women and girls in the region need to be urgently addressed.
The region is familiar with the WPS agenda, having developed the first regional WPS Action Plan in the Asia-Pacific. It is also deeply concerned with climate security, as a region that is mostly ocean, or a “Blue Continent” struck by sea level rise, high seas hazards, cyclones and other natural disasters.
This paper examines how PICs are mainstreaming the WPS agenda and climate security at regional and national levels. The region is incredibly diverse. Uplifting and mainstreaming gender equality and women’s human rights remains a challenge across the region. Using the example of the Cook Islands, a large ocean state and one of only two countries in the Pacific classified as high income, we begin to see how core inequalities can keep these climate-vulnerable nations from meeting regional commitments on women and climate security.
Abstract
Highly exposed to climate change risks, Pacific Island Countries (PICs), are leading the way in merging the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda with climate security. The recent Pacific Islands Forum held in December 2023 unveiled the region’s most gender-inclusive implementation plan, recognising womens’ intersectionality and role in peacebuilding. However, implementation faces major hurdles that have time-and-again kept action on WPS agenda in a state of suspension. For the WPS agenda and climate security to be mainstreamed successfully in the Pacific, core inequalities pervasive in the daily lives of women and girls in the region need to be urgently addressed.
The region is familiar with the WPS agenda, having developed the first regional WPS Action Plan in the Asia-Pacific. It is also deeply concerned with climate security, as a region that is mostly ocean, or a “Blue Continent” struck by sea level rise, high seas hazards, cyclones and other natural disasters.
This paper examines how PICs are mainstreaming the WPS agenda and climate security at regional and national levels. The region is incredibly diverse. Uplifting and mainstreaming gender equality and women’s human rights remains a challenge across the region. Using the example of the Cook Islands, a large ocean state and one of only two countries in the Pacific classified as high income, we begin to see how core inequalities can keep these climate-vulnerable nations from meeting regional commitments on women and climate security.
