With a swiftly changing climate comes rapidly rising sea levels, more frequent storms, and rising inequality. Slow yet consistent events like sea-level rise, as well as extreme events like hurricanes and other climate disasters, can force women and families from their homes. As the climate continues to change, adaptation will become more difficult, spurring some to leave home in search of safer ground. In the face of climate-induced instability, women are not just on the frontline of impacts, but also at the forefront of solutions.

Women Among the Most Impacted by Climate Displacement

Comprising 70 percent of the world’s one billion poorest people, women are disproportionately at risk of being affected by the changing climate, most dramatically by natural disasters. A number of studies find that women and children are more likely to die during an extreme weather event.

The International Office on Migration reports that since 2008 disasters have displaced an average of 26.4 million people per year from their homes—equivalent to one person every second. The risk of displacement is increasing, as more vulnerable people are living in disaster-prone areas, in many cases due to gender inequality. And in some of these places, communities may no longer able to adapt to the threats of more intense and frequent storms.

In the United States, low-income and ethnic communities have been disproportionately affected by severe weather. For instance, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Public Policy Research lab found that African-American women faced the most obstacles in their attempts to return home in the months and years after the storm, particularly if they had lived in public housing.

Around the world, women and children make up the majority of displaced persons. Their perilous journeys can include grueling and dangerous evacuation routes and violence at the hands of the smugglers. Displaced women and adolescent girls are at greater risk of sex trafficking or other forms of bonded labor, and some may be forced to trade sex with border guards or other officials for safe passage.  In the aftermath of climate-related disasters, the risk of sex trafficking and sexual violence increases as livelihoods are lost —and this risk rises even more sharply if families are displaced. Following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, for instance, the country saw a spike in sexual violence with more than 5,000 cases reported in the month following the storm.  

Legal Protections for Climate “Refugees” Are Lacking

Whether sudden or slow, the impacts of climate change may force people to move. But to date, most people displaced by climate change are not migrating across borders, but instead relocating to safer locations within their own countries. The U.S. citizens fleeing Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, for example, are mainly relocating in other parts of the United States.

Though some journalists and advocates call these people “climate refugees,” in the vast majority of cases, they do not fall within the legal boundaries of the definition of refugee, who must be seeking asylum from conflict or repression. According to international law, there is no protection or services for those who cross national borders to escape climate disruption; legally, “climate refugees” do not exist. Adding provisions on climate disruption would require significant changes to the UN Refugee Convention, which was established over 50 years ago—and is not likely to change anytime soon. Even internationally recognized refugees fleeing climate-fueled conflicts—such as the civil war in Syria, which some hypothesize was spurred by a climate-related drought— are not considered climate refugees.

In addition, because of certain negative associations with the word refugee, many frontline communities find this misnomer to be offensive. Civil society advocates from Pacific Islands are asking instead for “migration with dignity,” including planned relocation, as opposed to broadening international refugee guidelines.

 Women at the Forefront of Climate Solutions

The good news is that women around the world are already tackling the impacts of climate change in their communities and in international policy processes—starting at the top. For the last eight years, the  United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been led by two women,  Christiana Figueres (2010-2016) and Patricia Espinosa (2016-present). Their leadership in the UN climate process has been bolstered by the tireless advocacy of women’s organizations who work collectively in the Women and Gender Constituency and the Women’s Major Group. In addition, women leaders at the community level draw on their intimate knowledge of social dynamics and ties to resource gathering and cultivation to take the lead in developing local solutions. In Papua New Guinea, for example, Ursula Rakova is spearheading her community’s climate-induced relocation. As the Salt Lake City’s mayor, Jackie Biskupsi said earlier this week at #Women4Climate in Mexico City, “Women must not wait to be invited into conversations. They must lead them. It doesn’t push people out of the conversation—it brings people in.”

Currently, there is little research and few policies addressing the gender-specific aspects of climate-related displacement. We need more gender-disaggregated data and studies to improve our understanding of the links between gender and migration in the face of climate impacts. Without this data, both governmental and non-governmental actors will struggle to support women and their families as they rise to meet the challenges of climate change. At the same time, journalists and advocates can share the stories of women working to find and implement climate solutions in their communities. And national policymakers in countries around the world can consider legislation, like the recently proposed U.S. Women and Climate Act, that addresses the disparate impact of climate change on women and seeks to support their efforts of women to adapt to it.