UN Women launches Women, Peace and Climate Security guide for Asia and the Pacific
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A new UN Women Guidance Note offers practical ways for policy and decision-makers, women’s organizations and diverse peacebuilding stakeholders to embed climate change considerations into Women, Peace and Security (WPS) efforts.
Launched on 3 June 2025 in the lead-up to World Environment Day, the Guidance Note: Integrating Climate Change into National Action Plans for Women, Peace and Security – In Focus Asia and the Pacific is the first comprehensive resource to address the linkages between climate, peace and security through the WPS framework.
Although its primary focus is on Asia and the Pacific, the Guidance Note is also relevant for other regions around the world.
Developed with the support of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Note highlights case studies and suggests pathways for action with the aim of fostering resilient and secure communities, including through the leadership and meaningful participation of women in response to the escalating climate crisis.
“I believe this Guidance Note is going to prove very useful for practitioners, governments and non-governmental organizations that are dealing with the subject of integrating climate change into women, peace and security activities in general, but also particularly into National Action Plans,” said Dirk Platzen, Director, Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion Multilateral Section, Gender Equality Branch at DFAT, during his opening remarks.
During the launch webinar, Christine Arab, UN Women Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, underlined the benefits of integrated solutions that link gender, peace, rights and development.
“While climate change is disruptive, it also gives us the chance to rethink peace and security, to invest in resilience, and to put women’s leadership at the heart of inclusive and sustainable solutions,” said Arab.
The Philippines’ experience is highlighted in the Note as a best practice in integrating climate change into a National Action Plan on WPS, which was further detailed at the launch by Assistant Secretary Susana Guadalupe Marcaida, Executive Director, Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, Philippines.
While outlining how to assess climate-related security risks using Adelphi’s weathering risk methodology, Lukas Rüttinger, Senior Advisor on Environmental and Climate Security at Adelphi, emphasized the need for a collaborative approach.
“Working closely with local stakeholders is key to ensuring the assessment takes into account central context factors, such as gender and intersectionality, that have been shown to shape both risks and resilience,” said Rüttinger. “Locally grounded research and response measures are important because climate security dynamics and conflicts often differ widely between countries, but also within countries,” he explained.
In sharing the Pacific perspective, Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, Network Coordinator at the Pacific Women Mediators Network, said: “Building on our legacy of women-led peacebuilding and activism across the Pacific Islands region, we’re weaving together the strands of work for gender justice and climate justice and focusing on much-needed institutional reform.”
The discussions also underscored that the WPS agenda offers a viable and non-securitized approach to climate, peace and security challenges by emphasizing inclusion, local leadership and gender-responsive climate action.
Embedding women’s leadership into WPS National Action Plans strengthens the path towards more inclusive, sustainable peace.
This launch is UN Women’s latest contribution to mark 25 years of the WPS agenda in 2025 – under the theme “women lead, peace follows”. This agenda recognizes that peace is inextricably linked with gender equality and women’s leadership, and is based on UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and nine additional WPS resolutions.
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