Climate change poses a grave threat to human rights due to its tendency to exacerbate already present inequalities globally. A significant inequality that receives relatively little attention is the impacts of climate change on women, particularly in terms of gender-based violence. Climate disasters Furthermore, these women often do not have access to the economic resources needed to stay afloat if their jobs are impacted by a climate disaster. This often leads to women having to seek illegal, and often environmentally-damaging, work such as logging, illicit crop cultivation, and wildlife trafficking. Research shows that involvement in such activities also increases cases of sexual exploitation particularly for women. Alternatively, women may seek refuge in camps which also have a tendency to make women vulnerable to gender-based violence. Finally, in many of these communities there is a reliance on women to provide food for their families, and when climate change impacts this, the resulting stress and frustration can exacerbate domestic violence. Research also shows that gender-based violence has been used to intimidate and prevent women from making land claims which creates further environmental consequences by making the region less resilient to future climate disasters. This article highlights how the effects of climate change on women constitute a negative feedback loop where its impacts drive further environmentally detrimental practices and harm women.
