The effects of climate change are leading to an increase in violence against women and girls in many parts of the world.
How does climate change increase violence against women? The DW website explains that:
- Throughout Africa, families send their girls to be married because they can no longer feed them due to food shortages caused by floods or droughts.
- In the global south, creasing desertification means women and girls have to walk further to find water and wood – placing them at risk of sexual assault by armed gangs.
- As fish become scarcer, fishermen now not only expect money as payment, but also demand sex. This practice is so common in western Kenya that it has a name: the Jaboya system.
A study entitled: Gender-based violence and environment linkages produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature highlights many more examples of violence that are magnified by climate change.