Climate Meets Gender: Lessons from young Europeans in Africa

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In the summer of 2025, twenty young people from ten different European countries joined two international camps in Madagascar and São Tomé and Príncipe, as part of the DEAR project Ecoality. The experience was designed to explore how global and local environmental challenges intersect with gender inequalities, and how these realities affect communities in different ways. 

Climate injustice accelerates gender injustice because women and girls often have fewer resources to cope with climate impacts. “Women and girls are shockingly 14 times more likely to die in natural disasters, including increasingly frequent extreme weather events, than men. Reasons include limited swimming ability and responsibilities like caring for children or the elderly during evacuations. It also seems to be the case that warnings often reach women later than men during such disasters” (from Caring For Our Planet: the ECOALITY Guide for Youth, 2024). In addition, in many regions, droughts and economic pressure increase child marriage and reduce girls’ access to education, putting girls and women at greater risk than other members of the community.

International camps participants engaged directly with local organisations and residents, listened to personal testimonies, and reflected together on how environmental and social injustices are interconnected. What emerged was a shared understanding: addressing the climate crisis must also mean advancing gender equality.

For Lebreton, 23 years old, from France, the experience brought a new perspective. “The camp helped me explore the link between gender and climate change in a completely new way,” he said. “These issues affect the whole world, but the impacts are felt differently across countries. In Europe, we often think that tackling inequality and climate change is a job for political institutions, but I realised how crucial civil society is in driving change.”

Sacha, 26, also from France, reflected on how climate change can deepen existing inequalities, especially for women. “Access to water, for example, can become a dangerous issue. In some places, women have to walk long distances to fetch water, putting them at risk of assault,” she explained. “And the lack of access to sanitary products leads some women to resort to harmful methods that risk their health.” 

Celine, 24, from Finland, reflected on the importance of education and awareness. “I learned about the urgent need to educate boys and young men on human rights and women’s rights,” she said. “There are very brave and hopeful people who continue this work despite great challenges. The relationship between gender and climate justice may seem complex, but I’ve learned not to treat it as an impossible problem.”

During their time in São Tomé and Príncipe, the group visited women-led cocoa and coffee cooperatives. They witnessed first-hand how climate change, through phenomena such as declining crop yields, affects local economies and often places a heavier burden on women. Yet, they also saw the resilience and creativity with which these women support their communities.

“We met Eloneid, a woman who, despite working, studying, and taking care of her home and children, started a sustainable business making brooms from recycled plastic bottles,” shared Asia, 19, from Italy. “It showed me that women are not just more affected by climate change, they are often the first to act and create solutions.”

For many participants, the camps were the first opportunity to see the intersection between climate and gender justice. “The sessions, stories and discussions felt like pieces of a puzzle that helped me understand the interlinkages more clearly,” said Efty, 28, from Greece. “Nature and women are both silenced and exploited, and we need to protect them both with urgency and care.”

Through these shared experiences, participants discovered that learning about climate and gender justice is not only about understanding problems. It is about seeing, listening, and working together to create solutions rooted in justice and care.