ActionAid UK report: Climate crisis worsens gender inequality in conflict, with 90% GBV surge in DRC and 84% dropout rate in Somaliland.
At COP29, ActionAid UK has launched its latest report, Leading Climate Action: Women Confronting Loss and Damage in Fragile and Conflict Affected States. As food and water scarcity worsens, women and girls are bearing the brunt of the economic and gendered consequences of climate change. The report, supported found that:
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In the DRC, 90% of women reported an increased risk of GBV due to conflict and climate change
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In Nigeria, over two-thirds of the women (65%) attributed girls' school dropout to climate change or conflict. School dropout rates lead to higher risks of GBV in Benue State (39%) compared to Nasarawa State (26%), while women in Nasarawa State reported higher risks of poverty, early marriage, and pregnancy
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In Somaliland, 84% linked girls' school dropout rates to climate change or conflict. Nearly half (46%) viewed the risk of poverty as a likely consequence3
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In all three contexts, women are building resilience to climate change. At COP ActionAid is calling for increased finance to help women to cope as climate shocks worsen
Women interviewed revealed that conflict and climate change forces them to walk further for water, increasing their risk of sexual violence. In the DRC, Nigeria, and Somaliland, these pressures drive resource scarcity, migration, and displacement, threatening women's safety and security. This dangerous mix erodes their resilience and forces harmful coping strategies
“Even if you are insulted you still go back the following day without shame,” a woman interviewed in Benue State, Nigeria, told ActionAid. She added: “Women are raped sometimes, abducted or kidnapped due to the conflict situations. When you go searching for water far away from the home, the men will follow the younger women and begin to demand sex. They sometimes rape them.”
Women also noted that armed groups in the DRC exploit the absence of state authorities to commit crimes against women while they are accessing water and wood, including violence, kidnapping, and rape. Women in the Lwado study group highlighted the constant threat of “rape and drownings on their way to find water.” They also mentioned instances of “kabanga” or strangulation by rope occurring to women fetching water. Similar dangers are faced by women in Nigeria, as one research participant in Makurdi explained: “women face the danger of rape, murder, and kidnapping in isolated areas.”
In Somaliland, the report found that an increasing number of girls are dropping out of school entirely as the financial strain of climate change bites hard.
“Children's education is disrupted when their family needs to relocate to safety. Financial difficulty hinders the poor and the IDPs from accessing education.” Another woman added, "Many girls had to drop out of school due to safety concerns" Another factor mentioned was the increasing number of students due to the growing displaced population from neighbouring villages of Ainabo. Another woman in the research group said: “I work in the education sector, and in our school, education is free, but the burden has increased because the majority of those who migrated are now in Ainabo.” Another research participant in Ainabo added: When girls migrate to Ainabo, a place they are unfamiliar with and where they have needs, mothers often go to the mountains to collect firewood to sell. Girls are then left to run the household and care for their siblings while the mother is outside.
Yet, amidst these challenges, powerful stories emerge from Nigeria, Somaliland, and the DRC, where women are transforming degraded lands and spearheading environmental and economic recovery through initiatives like reforestation and rainwater harvesting.
ActionAid UK is calling for a feminist approach to climate finance at COP29, demanding increased funding for Women-Led Organisations (WLOs) and Women’s Rights Organisations (WROs) on the frontlines of the climate crisis, particularly in severely-impacted conflict affected countries. The report calls for climate finance to be directed towards grassroots women’s moments.
Zandi Noella, a climate leader and mother of five living in Kabare, the DRC, aged 30, spoke about how climate change is destroying her income. Interviewed separately from the report, Zandi said: “These rains are destroying everything for us. They destroy our fields and cause hunger if we don’t get to eat, we go to sleep hungry, and most people spend the night under the stars to sleep during the day. It’s also difficult to rest during the day due to erosion waste they must take houses and spades to clear them.”
“The trees dry up this leads to a hunger problem the plants are cut up early to make up for the need for food education or healthcare for children maybe it's 1/1000 waiting for the tree to reach maturity most trees are cut down early without waiting for them to mature to satisfy different needs and that is one way to destroy environment they live in two-storey houses, while we live under the straw.
Zandi's leadership in sugar cane reforestation projects in Kabare empowers women and protects their communities from climate-induced disasters. By stabilising the soil and reducing erosion, sugar cane cultivation helps mitigate the impacts of landslides and floods while boosting local women’s incomes.
Zandi added: “I learned how to plant sugar canes and with that, I was able to buy a goat and school supplies for children, they've had a great start to the new school year. I have also planted potatoes and after harvesting we were able to pay for school fees for the kids in secondary school, and with the rest, it's all about self-sufficiency.”
Zandi helps to prevent landslides through sugar cane reforestation. (Esther N'sapu / ActionAid)
As global leaders gather at COP, Zandi has a powerful message for big polluters like the UK who are failing to live up to their commitments to communities like hers: “We live there, our children grow up there and they keep polluting our environment they will increase the number of deaths here because you can't live well in huge stress when we think about how well they live but they still destroy our environment because we live in the village this wouldn’t change anything. We would ask polluters to stop anything that can be harmful towards us, but they earn a profit whilst destroying us.”
The report recommends funding women-led agroecology initiatives to help communities build resilience against climate change. In Somaliland women like 64-year-old Habiba are turning to agroecology to cope with repeated droughts. Habiba and other women have established networks of fruit and vegetable gardens, implementing agroecological practices, and helping their communities create sustainable and resilient water sources.
Interviewed outside of the report, she said: “I grow fruits like mango and oranges, and I also grow onions and tomatoes. The main struggle is that I don’t have enough water. I use plastic sheets to collect water when it first comes. [There have also been] devastating insects that [have] destroyed the crops.
Habiba, 64, Maroodi Jeex Region, Somaliland (Khadija Farah/ActionAid)
The drought affected my farm because there is no water and without water the farm is not producing.
Last year we stored some water in a pool [that] I [lined with] a plastic sheet. I have been using the water sparingly, just [sharing it out] among the trees to give each a little water to survive. I have been doing that throughout the drought. Two months [ago], we had a small [bit of] rain that also [brought] a little water [into the pool], so again, I used that little [bit of] water to sustain the life of the trees on my farm.
[Because] of the lack of rain we are not farming anything, we just kept some cereal seeds aside so that in case it rains we can grow a little. This year there is no income, zero income. I have suffered droughts before. This is not the worst drought in my life. But this time around, the old vegetation has been devastated and it if it rains next year there is not enough vegetation to improve the situation.”
Nura Mohamed, Country Director at ActionAid Somaliland, said: “In Somaliland, climate change is devastating for women and girls. Droughts threaten livelihoods, while gender-based violence and FGM/C surge amid never-ending climate disasters and economic upheaval.
Change will never happen unless major polluters stop dodging responsibility and fulfil their promises to women like Zandi and Habiba. The time for delay has long passed. As climate shocks threaten our very existence, we are demanding climate reparations now.”
Zahra Hdidou, Senior Resilience Climate Specialist at ActionAid UK, added: “It’s heartbreaking to see women facing soaring rates of domestic violence and girls leaving school due to climate change.
As the fourth largest historic polluter, the UK bears significant responsibility for climate damages in Global Majority communities that have contributed the least to global emissions. So far, the UK has failed to meet its commitments on climate finance as communities teeter on the brink. At COP, the UK Government must take unprecedented action and deliver vital funding to frontline women climate leaders.”
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Notes to editor
The ActionAid UK team in Baku and available for interview. To arrange interviews, please contact Charlie Ensor on charlie.ensor@actionaid.org or +447804494771 on SIgnal or on WhatsApp
Zahra Hdidou and Nura Mohamed are at the COP summit and available for interview on request. Please contact the press office to arrange.