A Case Study Analysis of the Gender, Conflict, Climate Nexus

Women environmental and human rights defenders (WEHRDs) and LGBTIQA+ activists have long worked at the intersection of gender, conflict, and climate justice, but policy and research frameworks have yet to fully reflect and integrate their contributions. While climate-nexus-thinking is gaining traction, it often remains fragmented, shaped by securitised narratives that overlook lived realities and deeper structural inequalities. Mainstream approaches frequently frame climate as a “threat multiplier,” reduce gender to a tick-box, and overlook how conflict shapes people’s capacity to adapt. Yet it is the knowledge and leadership of people working the land, community peacebuilders, and movement organisers that offer grounded, intersectional solutions essential for just and sustainable responses.

community-based organizations and movements from Brazil, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Using feminist participatory action research grounded in a strong Do No harm approach, trans:verse created space for these partners to define the gender-conflict-climate nexus on their own terms and link their everyday struggles to global systems. Accompanying partners through the data collection process included targeted trainings and workshops, for example on risk assessment and mitigation, ethical visual representation and using the Kobo Toolbox to complement qualitative with quantitative data. Subsequently, we co-created a series of case studies capturing diverse insights into the linkages between gender, conflict and climate change. These included, for example, the impacts of extractivism and climate change in Nigeria and the DRC, Indigenous women’s resistance to militarisation and extractivism in the Philippines, and women’s use of dialogue and advocacy to defend land rights and promote climate change adaptation and mitigation in Mozambique.

The participatory process deepened partners’ understanding of the gender, conflict and climate nexus and strengthened their advocacy with donors and decision-makers. LGBTIQA+ partners valued working with a team that reflected their identities, fostering trust and belonging, while those in high-risk contexts appreciated the rare space for reflection and strategizing based on the data they collected. For GAGGA, the research provides a grounded, nuanced basis for advocacy rooted in lived experiences. The collective analysis informed GAGGA’s engagement during CSW69 and will inform their work at COP30 in Brazil. The process also reinforced our commitment to co-creating knowledge with care, rigor, and solidarity across movements and contexts.